San Francisco - Sat 8/30/08

On Saturday, Ed, a hometown friend of Tom's, took the train into SF from his home near Lake Tahoe. Ed met us at our hotel and came upstairs to our room for a nice visit.

Then the three of us caught a cab to North Beach, aka "Little Italy" and had lunch at one of the many Italian cafes. After lunch we walked through Chinatown, which is adjacent to North Beach. From there we took a cab to Union Square because Ed wanted to pick something up at Gump's. What a kewl store!

We then took yet another taxi - this one to Haight Ashbury. The Haight district is a counter-cultural wasteland populated mostly by hippies and punks. It was quite a shock to my conservative sensibilities! We popped in and out of several shops. I didn't make any purchases but Tom and Ed both did. From the Haight we headed back to the hotel where we said goodbye to Ed.

On Thursday I had spotted an In-N-Out Burger along Fisherman's Wharf and had been craving an In-N-Out burger ever since. I had eaten at In-N-Out many times before on previous vists to California. As luck would have it, Tom and I wanted to have a low key dinner on Saturday night so we took a cab to Fisherman's Wharf where I got my In-N-Out fix! Yeah! Fisherman's Wharf was super crowded. I couldn't believe how many people were out walking around.

Top pic is Tom and Ed in the Haight-Ashbury district.
Middle pic is me, Tom and Ed in cab on way back to hotel.
Bottom pic is me - taken on roof garden of our hotel after we returned from dinner.

Tribute to Del Martin

The GLBT community lost a pioneer on Wednesday with the death of lesbian activist Del Martin. I'm sure my politics are quite different than hers; nonetheless, the fact that Del & wife Phyllis Lyon, were together for nearly 60 years is an accomplishment worthy of respect. The top pic is a rainbow flag flying in the Castro district - note it is flying at half mast. The bottom pic is a makeshift memorial set up for her in the heart of the Castro.

San Francisco - Fri 8/29/08

Today we took the muni (light rail) to the Castro, which is the largest gay district in San Francisco. The Castro spans for several blocks and has both a commercial district and residential area. We enjoyed strolling through the Castro and browsing in the shops. The place we ate at for lunch was great for people watching since it was on a bustling corner, but the food was rather forgettable.

On our way back from the Castro, we accidentally got off the muni at Civic Center which meant we had to walk an extra six blocks to the hotel - gee thanks Tom! LOL. Pic one was taken on Market St. between Civic Center and Union Square. Before heading to the hotel we hung out for a while in Union Square & took some pics.

For dinner we took a cab to the ocean and ate at Sutro's at the Cliff House, which is another of the restaurants that my boss recommended. Sutro's has floor to ceiling windows facing the ocean, offering spectacular views! Unfortunately it was a foggy evening which reduced the visibility. Delicious food combined with the perfect ambiance made for a memorable evening nonetheless! The bottom pic is at the Cliff House.

Pics from SF - Thurs 8/28/08

Top pic is at Twin Peaks. Bottom two pics are at the Golden Gate Bridge. More San Fransicso pics on Flickr.com.

Well, wouldn't ya know? Tom & I almost always fly either American Airlines or Southwest Airlines, but since it seems like AA is always running late we decided to give another airline a chance. We chose to fly United Airlines to San Francisco. I guess we should have stuck with AA - our United flight was delayed 3 hours on Wednesday night. We finally got into SF at 1am SF time (3am Dallas time).

By the time we arrived at our hotel (the Fairmont on Knob Hill) they didn't have any more rooms available in the tower. The hotel clerk apologized and upgraded us to a super large suite (the Danzig Suite) so everything worked out fine.

Thursday morning we walked down to Union Square for a little shopping/browsing. Of course, Tom felt right at home amongst Neiman Marcus, Saks & Brooks Brothers. Then we spent most of the afternoon on a tourist bus, which took us all over the city. It was fun and informative.

For dinner, we took a taxi to Absinthe, a restaurant that my boss had recommended. It's located in the Civic Center area. The food was superb - and the cocktails were darn good too!

It's Palin!

Two thumbs up on John McCain's choice of running mate. Sarah Palin solidifies the Republican ticket & will make a great VP!

Barack the Barbarian - Killer Issue Not Going Away

It should now be obvious to all that Barak Obama is a heartless barbarian. His support of infanticide is going to be the KILLER issue in this campaign - and it should be. Obama's campaign is toast. No moral person is going to vote for a man who thinks killing live babies is a-ok.

Here are three more articles that discuss Obama's extremist support of infanticide and how he continues to LIE through his teeth about it.

1. http://townhall.com/columnists/AmandaCarpenter/2008/08/18/obama_calls_pro-lifers_liars

2. http://townhall.com/columnists/RichLowry/2008/08/18/barack_obama_-_abortion_extremist

3. http://townhall.com/columnists/KathrynJeanLopez/2008/08/18/dems_will_never_abort_pro-choice_mission

Barack the Barbarian - More

http://townhall.com/columnists/GuyBenson/2008/08/17/obamas_infanticide_disgrace

Happy 10th Birthday Rusty!

Happy Birthday to my itty bitty baby kitty who turned ten on Friday 8/15/08. It's hard to believe that Rusty is already ten years old. He was just six weeks old when I got him. I can still remember the day as if it was yesterday.

I had been wanting a kitten for some time so one Saturday afternoon my friends Mike & Karen took me to look around for one. Rusty was the first kitten that we saw that day. He was the last of six in his litter to be adopted and I could immediately see why - the little dummy was asleep in his litter box! I couldn't help but feel sorry for him and think that nobody is going to want such a dumb kitten.

When I held him though I felt an immediate bond. He was very affectionate and was starving for attention. We left the store without him however because I wanted to look at other kittens before making up my mind. We went on to three more places and saw several other kittens. The whole while though I couldn't get Rusty out of my mind. I knew I had to go back for him.

My baby has been with me ever since and we have lived in three different cities together. Rusty truly turned out to be a diamond in the rough. The people who passed over him have no idea what they missed out on!



Pics taken 8/17/08.

More on Barack the Barbarian's Strong Support of Infanticide

Here are two more articles about Obama's enthusiastic support of infanticide.

http://townhall.com/columnists/PatrickJBuchanan/2008/08/12/a_catholic_case_against_barack

http://townhall.com/columnists/AmandaCarpenter/2008/08/12/obama_lied_about_abortion_record

Dallas Heat Wave

Update 3: Finally - relief! Wednesday's (8/6/08) high temp was just 95 degrees. We even got a touch of rain which provided much needed relief!

Update 2: Tuesday's high temp was 102 - the 12th consecutive day over 100 and 26th of the year.

Update: The high temp on Monday was 105 degrees, the 11th consecutive day over 100 and 25th of 2008.

The temperature reached 107 degrees in Dallas on Sunday. This marked the 10th consecutive day & the 24th day in 2008 that the mercury has reached 100 degrees. The forecast calls for a high of 107 again today. I love hot weather but this is even too hot for me. Not only is it scorching hot but we have had very little rain - just 1.65 inches in the June/July timeframe.

Barack the Barbarian

It bewilders me that so many people can't see Obama for the cruel and heartless barbarian that he is. Obama's opposition to the IL Born Alive Infants Protection Act should horrify anyone who possesses a sense of decency. Certainly nobody with a conscience can vote for Barack Obama. I realize that most of Obama's supporters are non-Christians but come on now.

Even the overwhelming majority of pro-abortionists draw the line at killing a LIVE baby - but not Obama. Seriously, how much more wicked can a person be than to favor murdering innocent LIVE babies? I don't know what is more frightening - that Obama thinks it is ok to kill LIVE babies or that millions of Americans don't seem to care.

Read Jill Stanek's article titled "Why Jesus would not vote for Barack Obama" which can be found at http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51121

McCain's "Celeb" ad

John McCain's "Celeb" ad is spot on. Obama may be a celebrity but if that is the only qualification to be leader of the free world, we may as well elect Paris Hilton as she would be just as qualified as Obama.

Sadly, one of the worst traits of young people today is their narcissism. McCain can actually benefit from the desperate need that the younger generation has to feel respected. Here's how:

McCain (without saying so) has cleverly exposed Obama's supporters as the mindless groupies that they are...and nobody wants to be thought the fool. It is a fact though that most young Obamaniacs cannot articulate an intelligent response when questioned about why they support Obama for President of the United States.

This ad forces them to do that. As they struggle to come up with an answer, young people may finally start to learn about the real Obama. That will be Obama's undoing. It's just not possible that normal young people will support Obama once they truly get to know him. Of course, Obama will still have the support of the kooky left fringe but thankfully that is a small number of voters.

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