concentrate on the flowers

Pardon the elephant's ass here in the second photo ~ of course
these are from inside Macy's yesterday. This morning was a MESS
because msBook had to go to hospital (The Total Mac on Geary,
and thanks for that recommendation Ms. Salon Mistressnik.) I drove
today so I took an extra long lunch (instead of none) and I was the
first distressed computer owner in a line of five. This is when we
we all realize how completely dependent we are on our computers.
Some folks feel the same about their flips (cell phones) too, but
I'm not quite there yet.

Anyway, I needed a new cord adaptor gizmo because it wore out, I
guess. Battery problems and blah blah and I'm out of there for
$64.00. And she's feeling good. But it was a nasty few hours this
morning without my best friend/worst enemy.

Three more work days before vaca! Molto molto bene....

today's lunch time treat

flower show
Originally uploaded by the omster.

Today was the first day of the Macy's annual flower show and it is fabulous as always. The theme this year is "Imagine India" and the colors brilliant. Mostly greens and azaleas inside, but lots of variety in the front windows including some floating lovelies (I don't know their names). It's days like this that I feel so grateful that I work right in the heart of downtown SF. They must have had a crew working all night to have the store looking so spectacular. This lasts until April 14, but of course it's best to visit early when all the flowers are so fresh.

trail mix, warm scarf, handi-wipes and amazing spousal disagreement!

First, thank you for the oh so helpful responses to my
To Do list. From Susan the Tonsil Warrior (currently
residing in Mexico ~ she spent 5 months in Europe in
2004) and The Great Plotnik who has traveled all over
the world too. I am a grateful pre-packer and I purchased
a few more necessities today. I will heed all the sound
advice, including copies of everything to Husbando.

Last night Husbando really loved After the War.
I did not. I thought the best part was the surprise
meeting with the Plotniks during intermission. It
reminded me of Noises Off (which I loved, but this
isn't a comedy) with all the upstairs/downstairs door
slamming stuff. Historically interesting due to the
terrible way we treated all minorities before, during
and after WW II, and because the playwright (Philip
Kan Gotanda) is a local guy. Also that the story is
set on Fillmore Street in SF. But I could not bring
myself to really care about the characters, but again,
this is just me and I was quite tired last night and
could have been verging on "a mood". Oh oh.

see space, fill space

Today I will share packing/travel tid-bits and seek
them too. Husbando hates the way I pack (messy)
and over the years we have (ahem) discussed this
way too much. He is methodical and usually ends
up removing everything from my suitcase and
stuffing strange things into my shoes as he folds
clothing into itty bitty little squares and rectangles.

Here is what I have learned, often the hard way,
about what to do before a trip:

• photocopy passaporta
• photocopy credit cards
• take photo of suitcase(s) w/ dimensions
• create a list in advance and rework it
  
• make sure everything has been worn once or more and is comfortable
• try to anticipate the first night & put that on top
• address list or labels for post cards
  
• pack extra plastic bags, little scissors, magnifying glass
• one dressy scarf, no expensive jewelry
  
• DON'T PACK TOO MUCH

This last one is a huge joke, of course. I did not get
carpel tunnel and sciatica just from working on the
computer and carrying books around big boxes. I
am one of the "well, you never know..." kind of
travelers. My yoga teacher urged me purchase one of
those Travel Cubes®, but I'm not quite sure what
to put inside it. We'll see. And yes, I have the adaptor
and convertor ~ I hate those electrical fires.

As usual it's white and black for me, with blue jeans
and maybe one colorful camisole. I love camis.

Starting to check the weather ~ it's still cool in Italia.

finally, the itinerary!

Thank you for your patience. Today I had lunch with
Dancing Jen and she put my mind at ease by telling
me how to buy and use a phone card to call Husbando
in the USA and not have to deal with Luigi-like
operators. Then when I came home there was an email
from one of the women with whom I'll be traveling.
She will wait for my plane in Florence as she arrives
an hour before me, if everything works. Her name
is Susan I and I believe she lives in Eureka, CA.

OK, here we go ~ only 10 more days!

Friday, April 6 Lufthansa SFO to Frankfurt #LHO455
departs 2pm, arrives Frankfurt 9:35 ~
Sat. 4/7 Lufthansa #LH4060 10:45 FRA to Florence
arrives 12:15 pm

Florence ~ Saturday, April 7 and 8 ~ Villino il Magnifico
Via Orcagna 24-26

Rome ~ Monday, April 9, 10, 11, 12 - Hotel Mozart
Via dei Greci 23 B

Pompeii - Thursday, April 12th, then back to Rome
for the night

Friday, April 13, 14, 15 ~ back to Florence
Villino il Magnifico

Monday, April 16,17,18, 19 ~ Venice
Westin Excelsior on Lido Isle

Friday, April 20 ~ back to Florence Villino il Magnifico

Saturday, April 21 ~ Lufthansa, Florence to Frankfurt 10am
#LH4059 arrives Frankfurt 11:40 and departs at 2pm.
Arrives SFO 4:24pm Sat. #LH9052.

Tomorrow ~ fretting about what to pack.

it restoreth my soul

I have to write Museum on my To Do list at work or
I don't make time to walk a few blocks to go to Moma
on my lunch hour. Today I finally went to the Picasso
as an Influence on American Artists exhibit and enjoyed
myself immensely. Lots of Jackson Pollock, John Jaspers,
de Kooning, even Andy Warhol. The Picasso pieces were
displayed next to the ones that were similar ~ extremely
well done. I need to do this more often, but that's what
I always say.

gentle smiles abound

Richie Unterberger came to the big box this afternoon
and gave an outstanding presentation of music and
a slide show with lots of footage of The Beatles back
in the 60's. He has researched these four so thoroughly
and even mentioned things I would have never noticed.
For instance at one point in a concert Paul loses his
place and what made this group different from the very
beginning, was that they were having so much fun that
they never got flustered and always just kept playing
and singing. Four fresh-faced young men with unusual
talent and some plain old good luck, too. His book is
"The Unreleased Beatles".

We had a great audience of maybe 35 people. Everyone
was happy and one of our daily customers attended.
She is a woman in her 50's who is so glum (chum) and
a little difficult to please. We have "had words" in fact.
Today for the first time in almost 7 years she smiled.
I almost didn't recognize her ~ what a difference.
Even if we didn't sell one book, the event was a huge
success. Good job by the staff, too.

don't know much about electricity

light in garage
Originally uploaded by the omster.

Here is one of our many new curlycue light bulbs. The garage doesn't seem as bright as before, but these things are definitely NOT harsh, much softer, as a matter of fact.

Gas is back to over $3.00 a gallon here in SF. I don't mind that a bit because I notice that our neighbors are shedding those horrid oversized SUVs and buying the Prius and other nice little cars. Our city streets are too narrow and too crowded for SUVs and maybe if I lived in Baskersfield they wouldn't bother me so much. Of course I would have died long ago from boredom, but let's save those thoughts for another post, shall we?

always carry a camera

recharging!
Originally uploaded by the omster.

The other day I was walking on Folsom Street and here was this little car sitting on the sidewalk just like it belonged there. You can see the cord ~ it really is an electrical car, I guess they didn't kill them all. I believe it belongs to the City and I can just hear a staff member saying, "I'm just going to run home for a second and zap the Zapcar."

On this theme, Husbando has replaced almost every light bulb in our home with those curlycue things. They are just a bit dimmer, but are supposed to save a LOT of energy (and money).

My work day was less than perfect, Monday/Fridays always are.

mighty magical day off with pay

ocean & sutro baths
Originally uploaded by the omster.

First, thank you GP for asking what I cooked last night! Husbando is convinced that my fried rice is better than any of the 5,063 Chinese Restaurants in SF. Perhaps that's because they don't make it with left over corned beef?

I was out here walking with Mollie this morning about 8:15 ~ glorious weather and a beautiful way to start the day. Then I had about two hours at home to avoid Luigi while I had more coconut ice cream. Then I met RR and the Blogmaid at the lovely little Central Park in San Mateo and we played pony and slid down some slides and gathered acorns. At almost 3.5, RR has a rich imagination and is such a happy little girl. Even though K reports that she has her moods, I have yet to witness anything but sweetness and perfection.

Tonight is our writing group and I had better get a cup of green tea and a quick nap now so I can sparkle tonight.

Oh, last night we watched "The Prestige" and we both liked "The Illusionist" better, but I believe we are in the minority here...

reworking, redoing, relearning

Here is the correct (I hope) link for One Foot's blog.

And now for Linda's.

wowza ~ godzilla & I link up!

Now how long have I had this blog? Almost 2 years you
say? Well, with un milione sincere thanks to One Foot
I GOT it. I am using Firefox Browser rather than Safari
and I think that is a key. The other is that Un Piede sent
very clear instructions for which I am grateful. Of
course we'll see how I do after I send this post to Publish.

Brian Copeland was wonderful last night ~ not as big
of a crowd as I had hoped for, but that is often the case.
We sold a few books and those who attended had
a fine time. Only two crazies, both women (I think).

It's sunny again and we had lunch outside at this (here
I go again) perfectly delightful Florida Street Cafe.
It's located at 19th and Florida and is a training school
as you can easily tell from the handy blue (red?) link. Very
reasonable prices (two for $20). Lovely weather
today and I need a walk. Yoga calmed my savage
spirit this morning and I'm actually cooking (!) tonight.

Check out the stages of computer emotions in this
fine blog by Linda. I am finally out of the anger stage!
(Well, OK, only one link really works, but the concept
is what counts and there is always domani.)

molto, molto bene!

That's what la maestra wrote on my homework from the previous week.
Isn't it amusing that we are all (I assume) still grade schoolers at
heart, seeking our teacher's approval? It was a fine class and we
worked on words and phrases for securing our hotel rooms (una
camera con bagno e vista, per piacere) and just a few of those
tedious verbs and numbers.

Came home to some Mitchell's coconut ice cream, a bubble bath
and "The Riches", episode 2. Ottimo! (Excellent!)

Tonight is the Brian Copeland event at 7pm. In an email he said
that he mentioned it on his Sunday radio show on KGO and that
will help a lot. I am not feeling as responsible as sometimes, so
we'll just see how it goes.

Light rain this morning ~ two days off a domani. Molto grazie.

the eternal city

mozart1
Originally uploaded by the omster.

This is our hotel in Roma. I've just been futzing around on the internet while Luigi natters away with his endless enthusiasm. I don't have to be at work until 11am, but once I start on this "let's look here and here" on the internet, I'll be in a state about being late. So I will post and scamper.

The Hotel Mozart is en Via del Greci, right in the heart of things. It's (of course) overpriced, but remember we said we weren't going to worry about those silly things on this trip, didn't we? I like looking at others' photos of their travels in Italy on Flickr®, but of course I'm puzzled that one would need pics from inside their rental car. Like all my photos make perfect sense. Now how many cats in the coliseum? Oh, there's a tabby, and one that looks like Uncle Junior and Josie....

everything that has been said ~ and more!

You remember that this was our Personal Best for a ticket price, right?
$99.00 each. I bought these tix back in December, I think. Well, anyway,
our seats were way up in the Mezz and I muttered, "oh oh", and even
things more dramatic than that when we walked up the steps. Will
we be able to see and hear? Was this a huge waste of money?

Well, TGP the so right when he gave this his rare 5 star review. It is a
fabulous show (and I don't particularly like "musicals") with superb
music and elaborate staging. We could see/hear everything ~ really
it was a thrill for everyone (I betcha) in the audience, including this
caustic and jaded woman of retail. Go ahead, splurge on the Jersey
Boys, you won't regret it!

There was a lot of stomach flu today after the St. Pat's celebrations
last night, in fact I'm going to go back in for 3 hours later to help
a fellow manager close the big box. He would do the same for me
and I can use this little act of supreme generousity to garner
favors in the future from Bossman and others.

Now to listen to the CD again ~ "Dawn Go Away..."

doltdom revisited

Well, well, well ~ maybe this will work. I usually just send the photo
directly from Flickr®, but they don't seem to want me to send two.

I was up early (too early) fretting about this computer (for the 8,344
time in my life) and knew somehow I could get this to work. Thanks
GPnik. Re links, I used to be able to add this magical touch when I
sent emails to commano, but that feature seems to be causing me
problems and I haven't been able to figure out WTF is wrong. So
this will work for now, I think. Molte grazie!

My Dream Trip begins on Friday, April 6, and I return home on the
21st. On my list of To Dos is the Itinerary which I will post here.
I land in Firenze about the same time as two other women (both
strangers to me) and maybe we can hook up and share a taxi to
our B&B. At which point I will look the receptionist straight in the
eye and say, "Buongiorno, dove il computer?" That will be on
Saturday, in the afternoon. But I'm wearing the watch....

jonathan's latest!

you
Originally uploaded by the omster.

Of course this appears when I don't have a moment to floss my teeth, let alone work with Luigi. It has a great beginning, however, and isn't that when most of us get hooked on a book? I'll read it when I return from the Dream Trip.

one of my top ten faves

motherless
Originally uploaded by the omster.

Many moons ago the Salon Mistressnik asked for a list of my favorite books. I had a grand plan (and even a file on my desktop, somewhere!) to jot these down, but so far no go. But this book is definitely one of my very favorites and now the author has a new one that I was perusing today at the big box when I should have been kicking a customer awake. The young 'uns love when I do that.

Because I am a dolt and can't figure out how to include two photos in one post, even though everyone in the entire blogging world can do this, I will send you another photo of the new book under separate cover.

are those green gnats?

st. pat's
Originally uploaded by the omster.

No, silly, those are itty bitty glittering shamrocks on the Saint's table. We had a delightful time at our dinner party and Roberts corned beef was the best ever. We love our friends and their many idiosyncrasies ~ not one would ever be considered wishy-washy so as a result strong opinions bounced across the table and rolled out into the street. Topics discussed:
1) stairs
2) SF real estate
3) rest of the world real estate
4) the DeYoung museum (2 guests hate it)
5) license plates and the DMV
6) keys that fit into assorted look-alike cars
7) Germany
8) Italy
9) Oslo, Norway
10) South Africa
11) religion (always, errrr, controversial)
12) passover (ditto)
13) Husbando's white sauce
14) Mitchell's ice cream
15) children when they realize they have to go find a job

The house is back in order today and I even went to the big box for a few hours to take care of a money project. Now to nap...

heart over head and heels

from neti's deck
Originally uploaded by the omster.

I believe this is the view that caused me to fall permanently, overwhelmingly and sometimes irrationally in love with San Francisco. I was living with pre-Husbando in New Jersey and came to visit our friends N & F way back when there were no traffic jams, cracked crab cost about $2 each and we all were ruled by our hearts and never our heads. Try to imagine this view at night with a million sparkly lights and the glow of alcohol and youth.

Yesterday I watched the fog roll in a little from N's home in Twin Peaks as I helped with her computer issues. I always stop for a moment and try to remember how I felt when I saw this the first time. My God.

The rest of the day was spent in a Mrs. O'Dalloway sort of running around tasking and arranging flowers, etc, but I felt relaxed and productive and looking forward to entertaining friends tonight. I'm glad it is not as warm today because our AC is on the fritz. (That is a SF only kind of joke ~ are you smiling?)