new york recommendations, please!

i have been negligent in my trip planning, which is rather unlike me as i typically spend more time planning for a trip than actually on a trip.  call it a hobby, if you will. 

and now i am need of a) a place to stay in about the ~$100/night range that offers a fantastic location, good atmosphere, the opportunity to meet people, and enough space that my 5'2" frame can sleep comfortably.  b) ideas on places to eat that are absolutely delicious, not particularly fancy or expensive, but just tasty.  c) your thoughts on what attractions/sights/museums/events that are not worth my time/money/energy.

for instance, if you were going to travel to san francisco on your own i would offer you the following advice:

a) stay at the mosser where you might have to share a bathroom, but the rates are completely manageable, and the location is ideal. 

b) i would insist that you go to the ferry building martketplace and sample the delicious fish tacos at taylor's automatic refresher (which, a google search tells me has been rebranded as gott's roadside, but i would still insist you eat there because its owners are the same), have a pannacotta at miette, and a cup of coffee at blue bottle coffee.  i would also suggest grabbing a newspaper and hitting the neighbourhood of north beach to savour something on a cafe's brunch menu while you people watch. and i would also suggest going to knob hill for a cappuccino and to poke around the boutiques.  eat anything mexican, mexican sounding or otherwise latino in mission and make a stop at tropisueno for more authentic mexican food. 

c) i would suggest that you make fisherman's wharf your last stop and fit it in only if you need to kill some time, do alcatraz if you really love prisons, self guided tours, or really chilly boat rides, and give the bridge a miss unless you need to see the thing up close.

how do you feel about new york city?  i have 5 days to bust a move about town after spending a week on long island holed up in a conference facility, no where to stay, no itinerary as yet, and a whole lot of scarves to wear to keep warm during february.

san francisco is also beautiful

6 month goal update

1 - get enough sleep. this continues to go well, but perhaps at the expense of other things. things like making it to work on time and waking up early enough to be prepared for my day.

2 - buy a home. done! and eek! and wow, i am an adult! and yay! and scary! but i think i will love my new nest and i cannot wait to be poor while i fill it with the things you need to live like a kitchen table, the internet, and other essential, pretty things.

3 - reduce my level of anxiety. i am winning this battle so much so that soon i will get to take less medication for it and return to my natural state with a few more tools in my toolbox on how to handle sticky and stressful situations.

4 - take better photos. i have been told that the best way to take better photos is to take MORE photos and as far as this goes, i am doing fantastically well. i have some favourite photos from san francisco and thailand and will surely collect more as the summer progresses.

my next step is to find a photography class in the fall to learn more about how a camera even works.

5 - become financially confident. with recent purchases, including a new nest, i am not so sure that i can have confidence in my financial decisions, but i think that is goes along with the enormity of this purchase in comparison to my past financial decisions so i am ok with that. and hello, a new nest! my very own nest!

6 - be happy where i am. although this city can get to me at times, it has been pretty hard not to be happy where i have been lately. things are good. really good.

7 - visit friends who live in other places. i continue to crap out on this goal, but in my defense i did travel around thailand with a fabulous friend and we are now much closer because of our 3 week intimacy of sharing the same room, nursing one another through tropical illness, and overnight train journeys that tested patience.

in addition to thailand, i am also going houseboating with a friend who i've known for years and our relationship has really matured and developed since i have moved home, which i think is equally fantastic. and i hope to have a few new friends at the end of this long weekend, and who doesn't love new friends?!

in a reverse of this goal, there is also a friend from england who seems quite serious about coming for a canadian visit this winter, which would be splendid.

8 - make the best dating decisions for me. (the goal formally known as sort out my relationship). at the moment, this is the goal that frightens me the most, but one that i have made considerable progress on. and by progress, i mean i have been on a lot of dates in the past few months and have met some pretty wonderful men. i am not one to divulge the secrets of my relationship to the world (aka, the internet), but let's just say i have made some good decisions. and we will see where those decisions now lead. and, yay.

tweet tweet

here are a few things i would have tweeted (if i was a tweeter) this past week while in san francisco:

i just witnessed san franciscan road rage: ‘in front of you, fag!’ followed by ‘woah, lesbian bitch!’

just realised that i carry no less than 10 lip glosses around with me when i had to put them in a plastic bag to go through airport security.

i am in heaven. otherwise known as the petite section of banana republic.

i just ate mexican food that nearly made me cry. it still might.

wow, that’s gay.

i am not sure if my bartenders play on my team, but they keep pouring me wine.

just rode an elevator that i’m pretty sure doubles as the homeless’ toilet.

totally rocking the dress/pant combo because i got too cold and had to buy a pair of pants.

going into an unmarked club down an alleyway in an industrial part of a city i do not know. totally safe.

sitting on a balcony in an old victorian house drinking pink champagne overlooking the city and the bay. magical.

in a matter of 5 minutes saw a man preaching abstinence and telling me that jesus loves me and asked to sign a petition overturning prop 8.

just ordered my coffee in spanish, by accident.

in the castro, feels like a pilgrimage. and i am not even a gay man.

iced coffee with mint in the castro with my san franciscan tour guide/bartender/date.

i could live in the fitting rooms of antropologie and come out at night to admire all their wares.

no frye boots in my size. shame.

red wine + clam chowder + view of the ocean + cute hispanic servers = why don’t i live here?

some streets smell considerably better than others. like this one.

seeing black homeless people is strange to me. homeless people in calgary don’t tend to be black, do they. interesting observation.

yowsa! forgot about the terror alert level announcements at the airports. no wonder everyone’s paranoid.

the cure for a hangover = panna cotta + fish tacos + heirloom tomatoes + blue bottle coffee.

organic raspberries are not necessary sweet raspberries.

i think i love facials. and magi, who did mine.

when he asked if he could give me another croissant with my purchase, who was i to say no?

even the people working in the retail shops seem happy to be helping you!

is my flight delayed because my pilot is trying to floss a seed out of his teeth?!

pozole, tamales, empanadas, oh my!

and another amazing restaurant: tropisueno.

the mexican food here was so good, i almost cried. fresh corn tortillas, homemade salsa verde, frijoles. i was in food heaven.

food links if you find yourself in san francisco

i finally got myself up and running yesterday and battled the hangover with a mixture of starbucks coffee (where is a t ho's when you need it?), a panna cotta from miette (it was divine and they gave me a dollar bill back when i returned the jar, which made me smile), two mahi mahi fish tacos from taylor's automatic refresher (oh, i forgot how good real mexican food really is), 3 organic heirloom tomatoes purchased from the farmer's market, and a drip coffee from the bluebottle coffee co.

all of these delights (sans starbies) were found in the ferry building and if you are going to come to san francisco, i must insist that you get yourself to this place to eat your way through it. even if you do not have a hangover. there is a man who sells nothing but mushrooms! and a real cheese shop! and produce that made my insides warm! i do love a market.

continuing on with my theme of food, i went out for passable indian food last night and then to an indy club called popscene to see a band called music for animals. it was good. the beer continued to disappoint, but the company was fun and meeting the band afterwards made me feel sort of like a rock star. or more like a groupie.

and then this morning (hangover free, yippee!), i tried to get to mama's for their famous brunch, but was scared away by the length of the queue and happened upon a gem of an italian cafe called cafe divino that serve some of the best eggs benedict i've had along with an excellent cup of coffee.

and i still have one more evening, an entire day, and another morning to finish eating my way through san francisco!

brain on skull

i insist that you get over to whoopee and read her latest post. it almost made me forget that my brain is sitting on the inside of my skull from drinking red wine last night.

i ordered just one glass and then there i was sitting politely as the bartender continued to fill my glass and then the next thing i knew, i was shooting tequila (really good tequila too!) with the two bartenders at a restaurant called LuLu in san francisco...

now i must find a coffee, lots of water, and some diner that will serve me greasy food within a few minutes' walking distance so i can get on with my exploring of this fabulous city.

first day in the bay city

i love this place! and to save time writing and instead do important things like sleep so that i am rested up for another busy day tomorrow, here you have a bulleted list:

• i've only walked through one cloud of marijuana smoke since arriving
• the BART transit system is rather easy to navigate and the trip from the airport to my hotel was effortless, which is always a relief (but who puts carpet in public transit?!)
• there are a lot of good looking dudes in san fran and most times, i have no idea whose team they play on
• i had a delectable cupcake from kara's cupcakes in ghiradelli square, where i also got to sample some of the famous ghiradelli chocolate
• dinner was lovely (wild salmon, asparagus, mushroom, tomato, and artichoke heart pasta) and gave me another dairy stomach ache (this dairy thing is really getting out of hand)
• there are A LOT of hills in this city
• the twirly whirly road is really cool
• when i needed a caffeine injection to get me up and down those hills, i stopped at boulange de polk for a chocolate croissant and a cappuccino, it was magnificent
• there are some really cute little boutiques in the russian hill/nob hill area of the city and i know i would be a frequent visitor if i lived here
• because the flight this morning was westjet's inaugural flight to sfo, i got a lot of free stuff. who knew that westjet has their own lip chap?
• i forgot that american beer sort of tastes like water until i ordered a pint. i could probably drink 10 of those to match my 5 at home!
• my bird's nest of hair compared to many of the people on the streets of san francisco
• there is an anthropologie within 3 minutes walking distance from my hotel (which is also great!), which could be potentially dangerous

yay for:

• having a McNally's with mr McNally himself (ok, so i had a grasshopper and he had a McNally's) when i met the founders of the Big Rock Brewery at a function they hosted
• the exchange rate of canadian to american dollars being nearly .90 in preparation for my upcoming trip to san francisco
• the sun has decided to grace us with its presence three days in a row
• a reunion of old friends that i had been actively avoiding since returning to my hometown that ended up being a blast and perhaps the beginning of a friendship regeneration (just in time for the friend edit!)
• more nest shopping (but i had to forego camping to fit more nests in, sadly)
• a new hair cut and colour that make me look sort of like meg ryan (but not really, just the hair bit). now i just need to learn how to do it so it doesn't look like a rat's nest or at least like a tamed rat's nest
• dinner tonight at Farm, a restaurant i have been dying to try

a sad day in the golden state

i had really hoped that if, during my trip to san francisco next week, i met a lovely woman who i wanted to spend the rest of my life with, i could have a quickie marriage on the shores of the bay. but that dream was dashed when the california high court upheld the ban on same-sex marriage yesterday.

there are few issues that i see as black and white and this is one of them. i have yet to hear any argument that can even begin to convince me that two consenting adults who love one another do not have the right to marry based on their gender.

and like gloria says, anyone who believes that women's rights are not intimately linked to gay rights is sorely mistaken. any time our ability to procreate is linked to the rights we enjoy, we are taking a step back not only for gay men and women who wish to marry, but to women everywhere.

my time on the rock, booked

i've printed my ticket to go to alcatraz, i have narrowed potential spas down to 3, and i have booked my hotel (recommended in my guidebook, unbeknownst to me before i made the reservation). i am excited to go to san francisco! i just need someone to drive me to the airport and i will be fully sorted.

this is good because in a moment of overwhelmption earlier today, i decided to count down the number of days until i leave and it is only 14 days. that would not be such a big deal if i weren't going to thailand 2 weeks after returning and spending 3 of those interim days at a work function in lake louise!

but it is all good and i am really looking forward to the next month (and entirely missing the calgary stampede this year)!

if i ruled the world

i have had three 'run in's' lately in my jobs. and the phrase 'run in' is probably too harsh because there have been no disagreements or arguments, just situations where i want to shake sense into people so that they would do things my way thereby reducing challenges in the future.

situation 1 - there is a very eager woman who wishes to volunteer her time and energies into doing some work for a cause. we've discussed it and i know she fears that i am moving too slowly, but at the same time, my experience and my relations with law enforcement and knowledge of ethical principles of service provision makes me confident that she needs to slow down before doing unintentional damage. i have tried to explain this to her, but she just seems hellbent on moving forward.

situation 2 - i am involved in a philanthropic endeavour with my full time position and i have a colleague who i am working with on it who doesn't seem impressed that i am overcoming the initial challenges to open lines of communication and get things done. there is a chance that she feels it is her project, but i've been the one actually making things happen.

situation 3 - i am in the middle of a political fight at work. i am supposed to liaise between groups and to ensure processes are followed and implemented so that we don't open ourselves up to being sued or anyone taking legal action against us. but try convincing the people who are in the field that! cripes.

i know that i can be stubborn as all get out and that i like things to be done my way, but what happens when you genuinely believe that your way is the right way? on some things, i can take a step back and just allow the pieces to fall in time (as in situation 3), but sometimes i just wish people would listen to me so that they will stop creating more work for me!

blah. and sorry about the cryptic nature of this rather hum drum post, but even writing about work seems a bit sketchy so i am trying to keep it vague, making rather irritating reading, i am sure.

in other more positive thoughts, i am going to san francisco in 21 days!

just needed a reminder 95 days in

1 - get enough sleep. i had let this one slip, proving that it will be a lifetime's challenge to continually get enough sleep. but last night, i took a nytol and went to bed at 10 (after watching american idol, but of course) and woke up feeling rather refreshed and perky this morning. what a difference a good night's sleep makes.

2 - buy a home. we have progress! well, a phone call with one mortgage broker, a meeting over coffee with another, and the necessary documents collected. not to mention a few perusals on the mls website. but i would gladly subcontract the entire mortgage broker/realtor/nest selection process to someone, i really do not enjoy it.

3 - reduce my level of anxiety. still going strong on winning this battle. not that i do not get anxious any longer, but that i am better able to recognise anxiety and do something to prevent or alleviate its symptoms. like running.

4 - take better photos. i don't think i have make one lick of progress on this goal as yet. but i am hoping my upcoming trip to san francisco will remedy this. bring on the photogenic city!

5 - become financially confident. i am feeling pretty confident about this, which i suppose is the entire objective of this goal. not that i think this feeling will last all year, but i am feel as though i am in a position to travel, to buy a new nest, and call my own shots. pretty sweet deal, if you ask me.

6 - be happy where i am. this one comes and goes as my mood changes and my mind daydreams. however, i have really come to terms with where i am and how i got here, even if it wasn't the way i would have ever planned. i like where i am, i like what lies ahead, and that seems like a way to obtain happiness.

7 - visit friends who live in other places. i am crapping out on this one. i had hopes of visiting with more people. but at least i had two out of town visitors recently. and i am going to thailand with a friend, who i think will be a good travelling chum. and that is something, right?

8 - make the best dating decisions for me. (the goal formally known as sort out my relationship). i am learning how to date again, with all its excitements, disappointments, and challenges and i don't suppose this is going to stop anytime soon so for the remainder of my 28th year, i would like to improve my dating decisions and ensure that they are the best ones for me. i think that i have done this so far, but will just need to keep this in mind moving forward.

a busy week behind and ahead

here are some things i have to say:

• have you seen the movie The Boy in the Striped Pajamas? it is really good. i watched it with my bro and we agreed that it should be shown in high schools when they study the second world war and the holocaust. this movie is great and shows a side of the war that we haven't seen much of - a german soldier's family that lives near a concentration camp and from the perspective of a 10 year old boy.
• i bought my guidebook for san francisco and have started to read it. i cannot wait to get there! and the fact that i am going alone isn't so daunting when i think of all the places i'd like to see, the walking i would like to do, and the photos i would like to take (although anyone wishing to join me is more than welcome!)
• both my presentations went really well this week and i think i have a host of new friends resulting from them, which is great. i have 2 coffee dates with potential new friends coming up and another presentation at a high school next week.
• i slept for 15 hours yesterday and it was all because i had what i think is called a migraine. i have never had something like this before, but i am convinced the universe was trying to tell me something in making me stay in bed for so long. it was weird.
• i have 2 dates next week! and 2 more in the pipeline. it must be spring.
• i seem to have hurt my shoulder, the one that is lacking in the cartiledge department. blech. it feels like i should put it in a sling.
• my sis and i went for an 8km run last night and it was awesome. only 6km more and i can convince her to run around the glenmore reservoir with me (but no wrong turns this time!). my new shoes felt like pillows with great grips on them, which i am sure helped me up those hills.
• i am ready for the sass-travaganza in banff this weekend!

theme-less list

• i have two potential blind dates to look forward to. my dating advice? tell everyone you know that you are dating and that you are open to being set up.
• time at the cabin was wonderful over the easter long weekend. reading books, preparing training materials, winning at monopoly (even though my opponents forfeited), drinking beer in the afternoon, sunburns, dog walks, podcasts, mmmmm...... delicious
• i came into my office building this week to find all the windows painted to cheer on the flames and rogue pucks painted on the twirly doors. who doesn't love nhl playoff season?!
• that billy bob thornton is an ass
• that thailand better get these protests under control. don't they know i am coming?
• my next spanish class is starting up this week. level 6, baby!
• i may need to institute the indicator pants again...
• i purchased a new pair of shoes made by a company called Blowfish. i am really enjoying them and although i cannot link to the exact pair i bought, they have this rather interestingly shaped heel that makes walking easy. now i do not look as though i might topple over when i wear heels (or hopefully i do not appear as unstable as i feel). and yes, they are leather.
• anyone have any good recommendations (or suggestions on where to avoid) for a hotel in san francisco? (or does anyone want to join me? ahem!)
• i am a sneezing machine lately, which i will take over the congestion any day.

UPDATE: there is a really good globe and mail column that makes an interesting comparison to the cbc and media in the states when interviewing celebrities, including billy the bob. article here.

things about which i am excited

• i booked a flight to san francisco! i am going from june 2th - 7th and i am very much looking forward to it. i have never been to the city and with any luck, i will get to have a reunion with this lovely lady, which would sort of be achieving one of the goals i have this year (#7 - visit friends who live in other places). i plan on stopping by dynamo donuts, miette cakes, and at least a few organic/slow food restaurants.
• more dates!
• temperatures that allow me to wear my new spring coats, one green, one yellow
• my hair growing out in a way that doesn't look like a mullet. but do i cut it or keep growing it?
• copywriting jobs
• an invitation to a conference on migration tomorrow where i will pass around my new, most loveable business cards that were specially designed por moi.
• the arrival of my new shoes in the mail, tell me who does not love a pink ballet flat? (and they were only $19.99 when i purchased them, so it is a bit strange that they went up in price)

call me a commie homo-loving son of a gun

milk.

i am sure that enough people have said it, but let me repeat the praise for the brilliant acting of sean penn and the story of harvey milk. i had never realised why gay parades were so flamboyant, why gay groups have marched rather than just rallied, or the thinking behind forcing people out of the closet. more than anything, however, i am truly amazed that just 30 years ago there was public support for removing gay teachers from their teaching positions for, well, being gay.

this movie is just so good. and i think that those who don't identify as commie homo-loving sons of guns should get themselves to the theatre to see this movie just as much as the rest of us.

it makes my heart hurt a little bit when i think that in the last us federal election, proposition 8 was passed, restricting the right of marriage to only heterosexual couples and demonstrating that harvey milk's fight is far from over. and i hope that in 30 year's time, someone makes a film about the 2008 proposition 8 vote and that our grandchildren are appalled by the outcome and that speaking out against the rights of all citizens was acceptable in their grandparents' lives.