In a Western Place

Closing off a street to build a park is a new, growing trend here in the city. After driving past it several times, I got to walk through the Guerrero Park (formally known as the Guerrero and San Jose Ave. intersection) this morning on my way to St. Luke’s. I like, however these pics I took… I like not so much.

I heard about McLaren Park a few months ago during a news segment about foraging and edible food walks. At first I thought, “neat, a park with food!” Then I realized “wait, I’ve never heard of this McLaren Park. Where is it?” Little did I know that it’s practically across the street from us. Well, more like a highway and 10 streets away, but you can see it from our front window. I always thought that rather large hill covered in grass and trees looked suspicious. Suspiciously delicious.

2 sore subjects: the house and my knee.

My knee continues to heal, slowly. Had a minor set-back last week after an infection developed in my anterior incision (which was completely healed, or so we thought). Apparently a suture was left behind and it wanted out. I’m back on mega doses of antibiotics (blech) — and self prescribed shots of coconut milk kefir to combat the negative effects on my system. The good news is that I graduated from physical therapy last week and I’m allowed to use the elliptical again. Yay, exercise! Yay, no more co-pays!

At least my Orth-pod’s office (where I spend a lot of my time) has a nice view of Bernal Heights.

The weather was beautiful and oh so warm over the weekend! Like, drink coffee on the back deck while wearing flip flops and short sleeves warm! Hooray!

M was recording most of Saturday so I drove up to Sacramento to spend the afternoon with friends. On my way back, I took a detour through a section of Napa. Beautiful.

On Sunday, we stopped by our neighborhood’s annual gig, the Glen Park Festival. Er, festival is misleading, more like a block party with local vendors. We went last year, and like last year, we stayed for a whopping 5 minutes then walked home. More fun for people with kids, I think. Not to disrespect our beloved hood, but Cole Valley does it better.

Because the weather was so unusually warm, we hopped into the car and drove up to Livermore for some minature golf! But first, we stopped by our favorite SF suburb, Pleasanton, for lunch. Despite all the creepy life-like sculptures placed randomly in the downtown area, it’s such a clean, friendly and pretty town. We’d move there in a heartbeat if the weekday commute to SF wasn’t such a drag.

See? Creepy.

See? Pretty.

Aaaaaand here’s Grandpa, playing golf.

I’m going to refrain from writing about our house until all is said and done. The words: “addendum,” “disclosure,” “inspection,” “appraisal,” and even “house” now invoke an overwhelming sense of anxiousness in me. That, and I’d hate to compromise the deal if anyone involved should happen to fall upon this site (not that I would say or write anything inappropriate, I’m just feeling paranoid and nervous). Speaking of things prohibited, we treated ourselves with tickets to see Mr. Conan O’Brien last night at the Nob Hill Masonic Center. Despite what my lousy camera phone shots may indicate, we had pretty decent seats… decent enough to confirm that Mr. O’Brien is, in fact, a very tall man.

And yes, it was funny and very enjoyable and I forgot all about the real world for at least 3 hours. What more could you ask for?

What’s up? Only us Sea Lions out here…

I hella love Oakland. I really do. I’m a proud future resident…

and I find this hilarious:

The scene outside of our bedroom window at about 5:50 am this morning (way before the M and I are regularly scheduled to wake up). Apparently a long semi-trailer attempted a sharp left onto the 280 on-ramp and plowed over a traffic light. We’ve seen (and heard) this happen before. Despite CHP’s presence to hold off traffic while the vehicle backed out, the commuters incapable of figuring out an alternative route stayed in their respective cars and honked. YES! HONKING MAKES STUFF HAPPEN FASTER!

Despite all the racket, it was the cop’s flashing lights that woke me up. It’s amazing what I can sleep through after living 1+ years near a traffic light.

It’s official, our offer on a house was accepted and we’re in contract! Lemons, anyone? We’ll have plenty to share.