Weekend Wrap-Up

Well, we survived our first full weekend in the Bay Area.  I'll tell you all about it!

On Thursday, Rainn Wilson (Dwight from The Office) was at the bookstore a few blocks away to talk about his new book, SoulPancake.  I didn't know anything about the book (or the website) before going to this event, but I am glad that I went.  The book is workbook-like guide through 180 of life's questions, and is a good conversation starter for dinner parties or drunken nights at the bar.  The book doesn't have any answers to the questions, but is more of a tool for you to start to work the answers out for yourself.  It can be interesting if YOU are interesting.  So if you're boring and don't have a lot of interesting thoughts, stay away from this book.  Anywhoodle, Rainn is pretty funny in real life and seemed like a down-to-earth, smart guy.  Dirk insists that he must be "the biggest stoner ever," but I didn't get that vibe.  Here's a picture of me getting my book signed:

On Friday night, we went to see The Fighter, which was an awesome movie. Christian Bale was amazing in it, and I'll be really surprised if he doesn't win the Oscar for his role.  I highly recommend that movie.

On Saturday, we met up with on of Dirk's colleagues, Christiane, and her family so that they can meet Penny.  They have agreed to watch Penny during the times when Dirk and I want to do some sightseeing or weekend trips without Penny.  The kids were so excited to meet Penny, and Penny eventually warmed up to them.  We ended up having to go to three different parks before we found one that would allow dogs.   The strange thing is that horses are allowed in most parks, but not dogs on a leash.  That's a concept I just don't understand.

On Saturday night, we ventured out in downtown Mountain View to see what the nightlife was all about.  The first bar we went to was a lot like Kildare's for those of you who are familiar, and Dirk and I had some of the worst rum and cokes ever.  Worse than the ones I make.  Eventually, we found this amazing dive bar at the end of one alley at the suggestion of a bouncer from another bar.  It was a very small bar which probably could hold 30 people, max.  The bartenders were drunk themselves and the strong drinks cost $2.75.   We ended up meeting a very nice Austrian/American who spoke German with Dirk.  I'm sure we'll find ourselves back there again in the near future.

On Sunday, we drove into San Francisco to see Chinatown.  Our strategy is to see the city one section at a time, since we will be in the area long enough to visit the city several times.   Chinatown is full of souvenir shops, dim sum restaurants, and markets.  We ate at Dol Ho, which was the #1 Dim Sum restaurant on Urbanspoon.com.  The food was good, but this place was a hole-in-the-wall.  If I didn't have my new 2011 Adventurous Attitude, I would have run out of that place screaming.  We also picked up some treats at a bakery and watched that abomination of an Eagles game.  Ugh.  That was painful.  Here are two pictures from Chinatown:

Funny Block!

Look - I'm using one of my mom's cup cozies!  Find them at her Etsy Shop!

I was talking to my dear, dear friend Jace Kieffer and we discussed his upcoming visit.  I hope that others are thinking about planning trips out here to the Left Coast as well.  Southwest flies to both San Francisco and San Jose at a pretty cheap price.  Think about it!