Trip 09 : Detroit

Wednesday, Sept 30 :
Tuesday night, we were just thankful to get in after our airport nightmares... so my parents picked us up at the DTW, and we just chilled at their house, and snacked. Wednesday morning we made our way around to hit the array of stores I still remember... the disorganized but wellstocked Rock of Ages record store, the diverse and adventurous pet store House of Pets. Then more memory lane - went to Dobby's Formal Wear, where I had my first job as a teen (sorry to hear Sam Dobby & wife had passed; it was nice seeing Moe again), and Franklin High School, my alma mater (hadn't been inside since college days, none of my teachers were still there). Then caught dinner with Allison, Ben and Lila, and my parents, at Mama Mia's, a fine Italian restaurant. After dinner, went & watched Glee at their house (funny show, and well done).

Thursday, Oct 1 :
Made our way to Ann Arbor, with Ron along. Ann Arbor is such a great town - so many interesting stores (mostly Encore Records, and Dawn Treader.) Caught up with Matt Sullivan from the bus stop co-op - he's now a Sociology grad student at U-M, he made the trek around with us. Then he split off to study a bit, the 3 of us made a few more blocks, then we all met up again with John Turner & son Brody for dinner at Jerusalem Garden. Thursday night, went over to Ron's place, Andy came by, and we filled the evening with music. His band "S/N" is putting together some fantastic low-down industrial metal stuff.

Friday, Oct 2 :
In the morning, we went over to the Livonia Rec Center, for a workout and to see what the cutting edge . Then hit a few museums - MOCAD, Detroit Historical Museum, and Arab American National Museum. By then, we went back to HQ, and went to our chosen dinner place, Buddy's Pizza, I was pleased with a good turnout of folks (Floyd B, Tom M, Jenny Bags, Stef, Rebecca made it, too)! After all the festivities, went over to stay at my brother Gordon's place, since he had just gotten in from his drive across-state (he's been working in Benton Harbor, about 2.5 hours drive).

Saturday, Oct 3 :
Brunch with Gordon & family. Had some drama on the drive back to my parents' : the windshield wiper broke and got stuck off to the side of the window. After getting that all sorted, got lunch from a Chinese restaurant. The evening was a planned gathering at Andy's place, but not a lot of people made it out - thx to John for making the trek from A squared! Later that night, I had reconnected with a couple guys from my high school band, and it so happened their band was playing that night at the Lager House in Detroit! So Ron, Andy & I made it down there, and had a rockin good time.

Sunday, Oct 4 :
Last day in Detroit! Got to catch up with old friend Dan Wilson, his wife Michele and their son Ethan, we went to the DIA. Very nice being able to do a destination like that, and visit with friends at the same time! Finished at DIA, just enough time to get back, load up the car, and head for the airport. Great trip, all around!
Next up : Bonnie had to get back to work the next day, but I was taking another week off. Monday morning, I drove our house guest, Leyba, up to Sebastopol, and started on my road trip to Los Angeles!

Trip 09 : Niagara Falls

Monday, Sept 28 :
It was about an 1 1/2 hour drive to Niagara Falls, drove thru town and checked in at the Fallsview Marriott. They tried to put us in a 5th floor room, which had a view of the restaurant roof and a sliver of the river - we had a talk with the desk, who offered a 'partial fallsview', finally got a full view of both falls... Dropped our stuff off then went out to 'Maid of the Mist' for a boat tour. Pretty awesome - takes you right along the landings of both falls (can't see much of the Horseshoe Falls thru the mist). Then checked out some of the touristy Clifton Hill (think SF Fisherman's Wharf, complete with all the wax museums!), We went into Ripley's Believe it or Not 'museum' - outside : neat facade, makes it look like the building is sideways, with Kong hanging out on top; inside : fun exhibits, including a survey of people who have gone over the Falls! Then made a drive to see some of the actual town of Niagara - rather grim and rundown. We stopped at a bottle shop, then back to the room. We didn't like the fare at the Marriott restaurant, went to the Sheraton next door, and were given the high hat. We saw a restaurant at the Ramada hotel, menu looked OK, so we went in. The concierge at the front desk was very polite, even gave us a discount coupon. We went up to the 22nd floor, there were only 3 other couples in the restaurant, but the staff was very pleasant. Food was excellent (awesome baked brie), view was wonderful (the view of the falls, too 0:>). Lovely evening. Back to the room for some hot tub for more views...

Tuesday, Sept 29 :
Made our way down to the walkway to get a closer look at the Falls (the observation deck is about 5 ft from the drop-off of the Horseshoe! Then back to the car, and the drive over the bridge back to U.S.! Off to Buffalo Airport...

I was considering just driving to Detroit from Niagara, but it was an extra $200 for the drop, so we took our scheduled flight. Oh, hindsight is 20/20. The flight out of BUF was delayed an hour, then canceled. Meaning, we couldn't make the connecting flight out of Chicago. Thankfully, I was nosy and up at the front of the line, so we were transferred onto a direct BUF-DTW flight on Delta (apparently, there's no more Northwest Airlines anymore). Had to go out, pick up our luggage, recheck at the ticket counter, and go thru security. I forgot that I had picked up a bottle of Buffalo Hot Sauce (when in Rome...), so that was confiscated, even though I showed the TSA guard that the gift shop where I bought it was about 15 feet from the security checkpoint... Fortunately, it was only about $5.
We boarded the plane an hour or so later, THAT flight was delayed because high winds at DTW, they were metering the flights... so, all told : what couldve been a ~4 hour drive, became a 9 1/2 hour excursion waiting in airports and stressing out.
But, by 7 that night we were settling in at my parents' place in Westland. Ready to visit Michigan folks - next!

Vacation Madness!

So, just finished up a whirlwind vacation period (as I write this, still have 1 more day til I go back to work, and that Sunday is packed, but I am done traveling). I took 12 days off work (18 total with wkends); flew between 3 cities (Toronto, Niagara Falls/Buffalo, Detroit); and logged over 1100 miles roadtripping to Los Angeles and back. This is the first major travel I've done in over 2 years (since June of 07; Bonnie & I have done a few extended weekend trips to San Diego, Portland, O.C. and N Carolina, but nothing more than 4 days). Overall - it was exciting, and frustrating in some regards, and exhausting & unsettling by the end (I've slept in the same bed on consecutive nights only twice in that whole time : 2 nights in Toronto, and 3 nights at my parents'), but I realized the best part about all of it was visiting with family and old friends.
So, I'll write up summaries/observations of each segment of the international tour (Toronto, Niagara Falls, Detroit, and Los Angeles), hopefully in the next few days. Here's Toronto:

Toronto

DAY ONE, Saturday:: Had a direct flight from SFO to Toronto. Started with some drama, when I realized I had booked the Shuttle pickup for the wrong date... Bonnie kept a cool head in a crisis, we tracked down a cab, and made it to the airport in plenty of time. It was technically an international flight, so that added extra steps to the travel of course, but the flight went smoothly (on-demand entertainment: I watched Star Trek, Wolverine (for the first time), and Night at the Museum 2). We (OK, all Bonnie) made our way on public transit from the airport (I got cranky cos we had a long wait, and the bus was crowded, and because the subway stop took us through a shopping mall with all our luggage). We caught a cab in the rain, through especially crowded streets, but soon got to the Gladstone Hotel. Very neat place - an old boarding house that's had the rooms redecorated by local artists, along with old school manually-run elevator. We were staying on Queen Street West, in the heart of one of Toronto's several hipster BoHo districts, fun & artsy things going on, so we walked down the street to get a taste, stopped at some galleries and bakeries, got some authentic poutine (fries, with melty cheese curd, and gravy), then caught Karaoke night at our hotel. Then back to the room to strategize the rest of our weekend.

DAY TWO, Sunday:: Walked further down along Queen Street West, caught some breakfast (Canadian bacon!), stopped at the Mocca(they had a hockey-themed exhibit, go figure); and passed through Chinatown and the very gentrified but hip Kensington Market. Utlimate destination was the Royal Ontario Museum, and the Word on the Street festival. The WOSF was pretty amazing - to see that caliber of production, and that number of people showing up for a lit fest. Plus I got to meet webcomic Ryan North, originate of Dinosaur Comics! Then we walked through the gay Church-Wellseley Village neighborhood : had lunch at a cafe, a 50-ish expatriate, ex-Navy guy struck up a conversation after seeing the tourbook on the table, he had some interesting insights into how Toronto had changed. Then back on the subway & bus, to catch dinner at an Italian restaurant (we wanted to go there, based on how busy it was the previous night).

DAY THREE, Monday morning:: This was the day for us to drive over to Niagara Falls, so we took the bus & subway Downtown to see the CN Tower, one of the tallest buildings in the world, where you can allegedly see for 50+ miles on a clear day. Unfortunately, it was socked in with fog, but we got a a few breaks in the clouds and saw some nearby sights... Picked up our rental car a few blocks away, and then drove back to checkout of the hotel. Had a bear of a time getting back onto the freeway (no onramp near the convention center?? REALLY??) - we had to go a few km East, then turn around to get back on the Westbound freeway, ugh. But we made our 1 1/2 hour drive to Niagara Falls, which will be the next chapter in the blog!

My Angry Letter

OAKLAND TRIBUNE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, SEPT 11

The Oakland Tribune newspaper printed my 'Letter to the Editor' on Friday, Sept 11! A little background for those who don't live in the San Fran Area : the Bay Bridge is the main arterial roadway between San Francisco & Oakland/East Bay (260k cars every day), and during the Labor Day weekend (in 09 as well as 06 and 07), it was closed down for seismic improvements. This year, the planned closure was Thursday night-Tuesday morning, but Caltrans inspectors on Saturday found a crack in one of the supports, and warned that the Bridge may not open as planned Tuesday morning. Indeed, at 5pm Monday, they announced the bridge would remain closed til 5am Wednesday.
That sent commuters into worry and despair - Friday it had been closed, but many people had days off planned, etc etc. Tuesday would be a nightmare, and they encouraged people to get an early start on Wednesday's commute.
Lo and behold, Caltrans called a press conference at 6:15am Tuesday, to announce the Bridge would reopen at 7am. OK - it was great to have it open. But Caltrans obviously knew hours ahead of time exactly when they could get it open. Why did they not inform local news at 4am or even 5am, of the specifics?? Because - they wanted to be glory hounds and hold people in sway. Read on, for the text of my letter :

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I congratulate the difficult tasks the Bay Bridge workers completed in an incredible amount of time this weekend. However, I am irked at the atrocious timing of Caltrans' announcement reopening the Bay Bridge.

It was absurd to have waited until 6:15 a.m. to declare the bridge would reopen at 7 a.m. By this time, thousands of commuters were already stuck in traffic at the other toll plazas, or crammed onto BART, or huddled at ferry terminals. All of whom were getting an early jump on expected traffic, at Caltrans' behest.

Why wasn't this announcement made earlier, or at least released to local media, at a time when more commuters could have used this information? I know why — because Caltrans wished for a grand stage, a bright spotlight, to soak up accolades and make themselves look heroic.

There was a similar incident recently, in which repairs to a steel panel on the lower deck were finished ahead of schedule. Instead of waiting for traffic to quell, Caltrans actually shut the bridge down at 7 p.m. on a weekday, completely stopping eastbound traffic for more than an hour, just so the local news would give them undivided attention. Unbelievable and disgraceful.

Perhaps if they truly had the best interests of commuters in mind, we would have much smoother traffic flow, and not just news conferences and talking heads.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Support your local media!

Summer Goes

Here it is, September 1. So, where has the summer gone? Well, I've been working a lot. Since my last update, most every Saturday, even a bunch of Sundays. In fact, this past weekend was the first day off after 28 in a row... And this week, already put in an 18-hour day (something I don't think I even did at Weta). The end is in sight, but still could be a few days out. (They're yet debating whether people will be called in on Labor Day). One other work event : they had scheduled the company picnic for Saturday the 18th, but, in deference to people's workload, they brought the picnic to us. They set up grills in the parking lot between the hangars, put up a bouncy house and inflatable slip'n'slide for the kids, and had live music. Bonnie came out and got to see the workplace, and meet some of my coworkers. And I got to catch up w/ people's families that I hadn't seen in a while.
Anyway, enough about work, here's what I've been doing for play : July 24th, saw the new Miyazaki film, Ponyo. Magical tale, about the sea squaring off against man's encroaching progress, and a bond of love that bridges the gap between worlds. Pretty simple story, one of MIyazaki's more simple and juvenile movies, and a little creepy to have such a strong romantic-style dynamic between 6-year-old characters (esp to a Westerner who isn't steeped in Japanese tradition and honor code). The fun aspect was that this was an advanced screening, Ponyo didn't come out at theatres till a couple later. Miyazaki himself spoke at a presentation at UC Berkeley the following day, but I decided not to go.
The next weekend, I got to see an old-school metal band, Sadus at the new Oakland Metro, and meet my favorite metal bassist, Steve DiGiorgio . The strangest part about the show was the pre-teen daughter of one of the band members was there with all her school friends. Like the crowd at a Jonas Brothers, but backstage at the Metro... Saturday evening we got comps for the Joe Goode Dance Performance at the SF Old Mint. Really oustanding performance, they made use of the space where audience moved from room to room, dancers came in and out, and the interacted or played out scenarios between the rooms. Sunday, we saw Shotgun Players' free outdoor theatre performance of "Animal Farm", done as a hiphop musical, in a Mad Max world. Came across very well, very engaging and very physical.
The next weekend was Nicole's birthday, Bonnie took her out of town for some camping/hiking in Yosemite. And my college friend Joe Behl was in town! (Dark Side represent!). We met up with him, and another ex-coworker friend of his who lives in SF, for drinks at Jupiter, then I got togther with them Saturday night for Memphis Minnie's BBQ and beers at The Toronado. The weekend after (Aug 15 / 16), Saturday was "the Big Idea" at YBCA arts museum (of which I am a member). Sunday, had some friends (Ed, Nina, M) over for a BBQ.
Let's see... trying to piece together the itinerary from my Edgar Allen Poe planner calendar... can't recall what was up for Aug22/23rd. Worked both days, and I did have to cancel band practice, partially because Jimmy had technical problems. Still bums me out to do it, feel like I'm losing out, and losing ground with getting the band gigs... Saturday we caught "Film Night in the Park" : "On the Waterfront". Bonnie had never seen it & didn't realize how iconic it was ("I coulda been a contender"). Ah yes, because mine (and Bonnie's) evening was suddenly freed up, on a whim we went out to the Solano Drive-in in Concord. Fun movie-going time, and it's great to see a place like this still open. Concessions was unbelievable - only $18 for a pizza, pretzel, popcorn, 2 drinks, and candy. Oh, we saw G.I. Joe, which was awful but mildly entertaining, and we were able to make fun of it loudly the whole time. It's a double feature at the drive-in, but I couldn't handle the thought of watching Transformers 2 starting at 11 PM, and facing a half-hour drive home after that... Oh, other movies we've seen in that stretch are "Food, Inc" (scary stuff, know what you're eating!), and "500 Days of Summer" which was well-done and stirred some interesting conversation between us.
During the week, caught later dinner with Tom Gilx at Marc 49. The next weekend (29th/30th) : Friday, the 28th was a show by Shelley Doty at Caffe Trieste in Berekeley. Awesome night with a lot of folks, pulling out all the stops! Saturday, after work, we went into Oakland for the Eat Real Festival. It was nice to walk around outside and sample a variety of foods (and beers) but the lines were very long, and places were closing down by that time of day.
Sunday, I actually took a day off & we went down to the Niles Flea Market , which is basically a big yard sale in an old-town district of Fremont. But it really does spark the community - you walk around the side streets, and every other house has a yard sale, people hanging out, kids running lemonade stands. I mainly went down to catch up with some old friends and hang out (some of the very first people I met when I moved to the Bay Area and started at Tippett Studio), so that was great.
That brings us to the present - after the day off, I put in an 19 hour day (well, with a lunch break) to get our sequence ready to finish this week (got home after 2am). Like I said, the end is coming up this week (or next) - it'll be great to see everyone's hard work payoff!
Just a note for Michigan folk reading this - the "Chistmas Carol" Train tour makes its stop, at the Henry Ford Museum! Check it out.