The Bay

And now a Tribute to those across the pond:

I think many of the main cities in the US are known for certain specialties w/r/t food. So it is with San Francisco and the Bay Area, with but a slight variation. I think of great food in the Bay Rea, but it is a generalized specialty. Sure there is the Italian of North Beach, and the elegant vegan restaurants near the Tenderloin and in the Mission, but it is the ethnic foods: Chinese, Ethiopian, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Thai, and those I'm failing to mention, that truly stand out here and set the city apart. There are also the historical places to eat, ones that have been recommended but have yet to be visited, such as the Swan Oyster Depot.

I'd like to present a very limited account, based solely on my visit to Clement St., the "New China-town" in the Richmond district. I was with my friend Greg and a friend of his that he had met while teaching English in China, who has now moved over that lake to take a 2-year program at USF. It was definitely a treat to have two accomplices fluent in Cantonese.



As I hopped off the BART at 16th St., Greg took me to one of the best bakeries in the city, with the line out the door. I don't want to dwell too much on the croissants I had b/c they will again incite envy, a deadly sin. But nowhere else can I think of a more stylized, crafted way to indulge in your favorite of any of the seven than in the Bay Area.

So we stopped eating for five minutes to whet the appetite again, and then it was to a Taiwanese restaurant for lunch. The amount of food we ordered and consumed was too large to photograph. We walked it off by exploring the bakeries and stores around Clement St.




What is this?













Or this? I can't answer these questions.










MMMM, Duck's feet





MMMM, Duck's tongue











Or shark fin soup. For those ambitious enough, you can make it at home. Pictures of other exotic foods, like preserved sea cucumbers, were thwarted by the shop's owners. At the risk of saying something extremely stereotypical about picture taking, I let it slide...











Or if you just want prepared foods that you have no idea what they are or what they might taste like, even if they say what they are, there are also stores there for you.









An hour wait at the Indian restaurant led to eating Thai, with numerous options for types of rice (ginger, coconut, pineapple) as well as thai iced tea cocktails, so there was no disappointment.





So I left the way I came, but it was Sunday and the preachers were on the corners, spouting and shouting, this time in Spanish. What a treat.





Still to come is the new M.O.

You're my Boy

Oh, the refrain was such this past weekend.

3rd Paragraph

Press Release

I'm going to try to record the news this evening...
[Update: News had not mention of banner, only that the air quality here sucks.]

39 in 3

We finish:


Set Ropes:















Drill a Bit:



















Voila, but not done yet...


















Still had to hang a little more:























Oh no!!!










I lie. Everything was fine. Here:

Nyleg

Starting out today, with sunrise...




So here is the gig:


An organization termed BringBackBlue has the initiative to address the problem of pollution in the Valley of the Sun. That is, why can you over half the time not even see the surrounding mountains? Traffic? Construction? Farming? Just make it stop.

So the new banner is an artistic approach for their upcoming initial press conference (Tuesday). I'll wait for photos to show you what the banner actually is. But the location is on the Maricopa County Courthouse. We go through fun security daily. The kind that will lose your drivers' license if you're there for over 12 hours. Without further ado, on to the photos of the installation. In one photo, the astute observer can notice the banner hung last week, hiding in the background.
































































Oh, and the Rock and Roll Marathon was today. It was Farqin' cold.

Endeleg

Here it is. Many pictures of the next banner soon, which should be on TV this week. Probably more work by headlamp tomorrow.

Banner Envelopment

Me, right before I decided to play Jonah in a creative reenactment at height, with the banner as the whale.

So this is the New Year (II)

These pictures are from "Media Day" at the Stadium, with Everything ready for the BCS Bowl game held last night. Anything remotely related to the game hanging on the walls came down today.






The banner downtown was finally hung this past weekend. As we were applying the final touches with the use of headlamps, I don't have a full picture of the 100' x 68' ginormosity yet, give me a couple of days...



This here Atifabbit is my talisman. Doing what you might ask. Have a look. I have yet to decide if Atifabbit does anything remotely close to what she is intended to. I'm leaning towards no, but what we've got here is isolated, immediate situations. And we're around that first week in January that has a definite history. I think with the right perspective, Atifabbit might be looking over long term with much more wisdom than I possess. Anyone familiar with the wisdom of Mr. M would know exactly what I mean.







It happened again.

Almost with the stadium

The Fiesta and PCS Bowls quickly approacheth. The stadium sign is on its way to be completed. There have been small hiccups and the job may continue for a bit but the majority of the work is finished. Today I struck down ropes. Walking on a beam. A dusty, rounded, thin beam.

Happy Boxing Day says the Boxing Day Muppet:

From Dawn...

Til Dusk

New Viddles

Ruh-Roh

Sometimes it's all worth it...

of Ph

Slowly, it's happening.

Naming

Little did I know that my job would be self-defeating. In preparation for the Fiesta Bowl, the actual owners of [Pink Taco] want their name installed on all four sides of the [Pink Taco]. That's where we come in. However, I can no longer use [Pink Taco] to describe the area, which is of general disappointment to me. But I suppose creating double entendres whilst using technical gear in [Pink Taco] would be too easy.



This is a photo of the South side of the stadium. University of Phoenix, the nation's largest campus, is the proud owner of this fine educational facility. I think the football games should now all take place online. Of interest is the area below what is labeled "Red Zone" (Please take a moment to just imagine the potential lost). Well when Chase Field (where the Diamondbacks play) was constructed, it was assumed that the desert would provide enough sun for the grass field. Sadly, this was not the case due to the walls of the Field; hence, they have been required to bring in growing lamps, etc. to keep the field green there. Taking that lesson, the architects of the new stadium placed a wide panel approximately 3' tall that opens and the entire field moves outside for its daily sun - much like an inmate. The process takes approximately 45 minutes. More interesting factoids to come, or you could seek out the recent Modern Marvels or whatever program on the History Channel about the stadium.