bin 38...

I happy to see another familiar face working @ Bin 38- Johnny, the dog walker/wine slinger who used to work @ the defunct Vino Venue.

I drink beer @ Bin 38. The owner or one of the owners has a great eye for finding eclectic brews.

The pomme frites are fantastic @ this joint. I didn't know Heinz 57 goes well with chips...

view from my room @ the hard rock...

I'm not going to post another view from my room that shows all the fucking construction going on. UNLV's Thomas & Mack is in the background where I went to the NBA Summer League. The german restaurant Hofbrauhaus right across the street serves decent beer and average food. I have never set foot in that Hard Rock restaurant that has that huge guitar connected to it. One reason is that it isn't even connected to the casino...

BTW, I was in Vegas a week and a half ago.

preparation...

When one goes to a wine tasting event like Rosenblum's 30th Anniversary Open House, it is to your benefit to bring a wine opener. I had one on my person and ended up getting two very nice tastings from my fellow wine lovers who were taking the ferry back to the City...

legion of honor...

In the past, it was hands down my favorite museum in San Francisco. Today, I still have fond memories of all great exhibits I've seen there in the past 25+ years, but whoever runs the museum has fucked it up and many of the people who volunteer or work @ the place are idiots! That's all I have to say...

watermelon wheat beer...

From 21st Amendment in a can. With a slice or two of watermelon, the shit is phenomenal! And we all the know the power of watermelon...

mamma mia the movie...

First of all, Meryl Streep is miscast in the film. She's a good 15 years too old for the role. I've seen the musical on stage and the actress who plays the mother in the Vegas/Mandalay Bay production Carol Linnea Johnson is much prettier than Streep and can sing 100 times better. Plus, she's much younger. Amanda Seyfried who plays the daughter is vivacious in the movie, but her voice isn't as good as the performer who I saw in Las Vegas. I recognize Amanda from HBO's "Big Love."

Pierce Brosnan is a joke singing. MAMMA MIA is entertaining and it showcases the beauty of the Greek Isles. I'm glad I saw it. But, give me a break with the 59 year old Streep playing a character with a 20 year old daughter. She's looked more like Amanda Seyfried/Sophie's grandmother...

neiman marcus...

The cafe that faces Geary in the City. It's called Fresh Market. I really enjoy the 1/2 tuna sandwich with a cup of soup. The coffee is always good and their spiced ice tea(which is basically Tang mixed with tea) is tasty. The cookies are phenomenal and the carrot cake is the best! Like most things @ NM, it's on the pricey side...

circumvent...

My word of the day. CIRCUMVENT- to find a way around an obstacle. Overcome a difficulty or a problem in a clever fashion. Avoid, get around, get past, evade, bypass, sidestep, dodge, and duck.

To circumvent the lines to get into AT&T Park, I enter @ the back of the stadium near the marina.

nba summer league...

I went on tuesday in Vegas to see Marco Bellinelli of the W's score 30 points in their third straight win in summer league play. Marco was getting beat up out there, believe me I know, I was sitting in the second row. He pretty much kept his composure until he was flagrantly fouled just before halftime. Bellinelli looked like he was going to go after the guy. But he kept his cool.

I hope Nelson pulls his head out of his ass and plays Marco this upcoming season?

zirh shave gel...

I don't have a thick beard, but I do have some problem areas in my mustache area. This stuff is gel, therefore it doesn't foam up. I was amazed @ the great shave I got. It's aloe based.

The sweet smelling crap you can get @ Trader Joe's doesn't give you a close shave. The Art of Shaving brand is excellent- it better be with that name. Jack Black shave cream is also good.

I think I'm sold on zirh shave gel and I'm going to try their other products.

darnellia russell...

She was featured in the excellent doc- "The Heart of the Game." I originally saw the film @ the Opera Plaza in the theater that I swear only seats about twenty people. Just last week, I viewed the documentary again on one of the many Encore channels and it made me wonder, "what happened to Darnellia Russell?"

Just this morning, I found out by reading the Seattle Times online that Darnellia will be attending Lakehead University in Ontario, Canada. Strangely enough, she'll have three years of eligibility in Canada, whereas if she attended a D1 school in the states, Darnellia would have only one more year of eligibility or a D2 or lower, she'd have two years left.

Ms. Russell is now 24 years old with two children 5 and 1. She still has her hopes of playing in the WNBA. Apparently, she needs a four year degree to be eligible to play in the WNBA? I wish her well...

tips on writing a review on yelp...

Don't let other yelper's reviews affect how you write your review. Write the review for yourself. I write reviews on yelp to chronicle my life. Don't take it too seriously. And it's your opinion, don't worry about pleasing others...

yogurt shops...

They keep sprouting up all over the place. One called Yocup just opened on Market off of 3rd. It's tart and their flavors are vanilla and blueberry. I had the blueberry with chocolate chips and it was pretty good. I wrote on yelp that I wasn't going to try anymore tart yogurt- I guess I lied. I'm still not a believer in tart yogurt. If I was, I would have tried Pinkberry in Manhattan. Didn't Pinkberry start the tart yogurt trend?

And another yogurt spot opened up in the Metreon. When will this tart yogurt fad end?

peets coffee...

By far, my favorite coffee place around. Okay, I really like Los Gatos Coffee Roasting Company, but I live in the City and I just don't get down to LG that often.

Major Dickason's Blend is what I usually buy whole bean. I'm trying to be green, therefore I reuse the packaging and get a quarter off of my next purchase. I buy beans by the half pound. I was told many years ago that one should use the freshest beans as possible. Plus, I like how Peets gives you a cup of coffee for free with a half pound minimum purchase of whole beans.

Peets is expanding very aggressively- they're in BART stations in downtown San Francisco. I just hope they don't become another Starbucks, because I hate that fucking place...

One added note, the Peets on Mission and 3rd is a great people watching spot while you sit outside. Okay, let me clarify, it's a fantastic place to check out beautiful babes who walk by. Many are attending the Frida Kahlo exhibit @ SFMoMA..

fillmore jazz festival...

What the fuck was I thinking? I forgot it was going on. Tomorrow, I'm going to a Giants game and I'll probably miss my favorite street festival in the City for about the third year in a row. Hopefully, the Giants game ends early so I can catch @ least an hour of the fest...

whole foods soma...

I was going to write a review about this joint on yelp, but I decided against it because I try to stay away from reviewing chains. And I will be the first to admit, I have and just recently reviewed a Duane Reade store in Manhattan, but I do this when I'm traveling to chronicle my trip.

Okay, I shop @ this location quite often, but until yesterday, I didn't realize what a great place it is to sit down and enjoy a cup of coffee and people watch in the seating area that faces 4th St.. And they make a mean americano @ this joint...

Let me translate the above paragraph- there is a bunch a chicks walking on 4th going to and from Whole Foods. This particular day, it was beautiful ladies walking from the Giants game...

kobayashi loses again...

San Jose's Joey Chesnut has beaten Takeru Kobayashi for the second consecutive year in Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest @ Coney Island.

Both competitors consumed 59 hot dogs in 10 minutes, well off the world record of 66 set by Chestnut last year, although last years competition was 12 minutes. This was the first tie in competition history and in a 5 dog overtime, Chestnut eked out a victory over Kobayashi.

Takeru appears to have lost about 40 pounds from the ripped look he had a couple years ago. He must have been on steroids.

Well, I was pulling for Kobayashi, but I must give props to Chestnut, even though he looks straight out of the film DELIVERANCE...

ichiro...

Ichiro Suzuki is batting over .300 for first time since April 9th. He actually broke .300 yesterday and he's currently @ .305. Ichiro is well on his way to another .300 plus season with over 100 runs scored and his usual 200 plus hits. He's on pace for a career low in RBI, but he's on pace for a career high in stolen bases. Just a few weeks ago, Ichiro was criticized by a sportswriter who wrote he's a selfish player only concerned about padding his stats. The idiot wrote that Ichiro wouldn't steal more bases because he didn't want to jeopardize his high percentage rate. That makes no sense since @ 34 Ichiro is well on his way to a career high in steals as I mention earlier in this post. It seems ironic ever since Ichiro moved back to right field, his stats have gone up. Ichiro moved to center two seasons ago to help the Mariners. His natural position is obviously right field.

I do have some issues with Ichiro, because I know he can hit 20 plus homeruns in a season if he wanted to. This would help the hapless Mariners. Ichiro would be a more effective hitter in the 3 spot.

I will never forget that idiot Rob Dibble stating that Ichiro would never hit .300 in the league. Eight seasons later, a .331 career batting average with nearly 1700 hits- Dibble is still an idiot...

comicle @ 75 cents...

What a fucking joke! Who in the hell is going to pay 75 cents for a piece of shit newspaper like the Chronicle. It used to be a decent paper back in the day. It has the worst sportswriters on any major rag in the country- hacks like Janny Hu and Gwen Knapp.

A couple of weeks ago I paid $16 for an eight week subscription for the fri, sat, and sun Comicle. I got a free A's cap by signing up. In retrospect, I got a very good deal.

I wonder how much the Comicle will be @ BART stations? It was a quarter...

samantha brown...

Watching her new show on the Travel Channel Passport to Great Weekends. She was in the City one weekend and Harry Denton was prominently featured. Samantha isn't a raving beauty, but I really enjoy her shows on the Travel Channel and I find her very attractive...

watermelon...

Forget viagra, eat watermelon... Citrulline in watermelon triggers production of a compound that helps relax blood vessels in the body, which is similar to what viagra does. Today, if my I'm not suffering too much from my toothache, I may go down to the Mission and look for one of those watermelon drinks...

seattle supersonics relocate to oklahoma city...

I've had toothache, therefore I haven't been able to really digest how devastating it is to hear the sad news.

I was born and raised in Seattle. I've been an avid sports fan since I was ten years old. That's when the Supersonics came into town. I grew up with the Sonics. Now, a part of my youth is gone.

There are many people to blame for this mess, but my main focus is on Howard Schultz the Chairman and CEO of Starbucks. He's the one who sold the team to a group from Oklahoma City who had no intention of keeping the team in Seattle. I'm not a Starbucks fan, never had been. Rest assured, I will never spend another dime @ any of their stores around the world.

I'm in pain and it's not just my tooth...

'In the Heights' Musical Montage

I recommend this show to anyone who visits Manhattan and wants to see a Broadway musical...

baron davis opts out on the final year of his contract...

He's walking away from a guaranteed $16.8 million. Davis is now an unrestricted free agent. Baron has played his last game with the Warriors. It was a good run, but it will be forever tainted by his benching by Nelson in the last game of the regular season.

I have never liked Don Nelson as a coach and his legacy will be that he can't win the big one. His stubbornness caused Golden State a playoff spot.

If Davis signs with the Clippers, it will only get him back in LA. Dunleavy is another mediocre coach. How can he fall in love with Beno Udrih?

I think the Lakers would be the best fit for Baron. I don't believe the Lakers have the cap room. However, a sign and trade with the Warriors involving Lamar Odom might be a possibility...

Well, Baron signed with the Clippers. C'est la vie...