neat!

wow, 10 people have visited my blog between 101 and 200 times!

thanks, 10 people, whoever you are! big pats on your backs.
if i had a marketing department i would tell them to send you a tshirt or a cookie or something.

pursuit of stardom

conor and i saw the pursuit of happyness this weekend - for one reason, really - which is that they filmed a scene of the movie right at the end of our block, in duboce park (the adorable little 3 blocks x 1 block park that is a hop, skip, and a jump away from where we live).

filming there apparently meant that they needed to construct a fake BART station (just the entrance). i'm still not totally sure why, since it's not really that critical of a scene from the movie... maybe they liked the sweeping view w/ the victorians in the background? maybe they had extra budget to kill?

anyways, the fake BART station was hilarious... it confused visitors or passer-throughs for weeks. we heard some great comments on the MUNI right before we'd get off at our stop:

"wow! they built a new BART station out here! that was fast!"

"BART runs out here? this is the best neighborhood - we should move!"

(and more like that - you get the point)

i never had the heart to tell them it was fake.
that the "escalators" would lead them down into a pile of dirt.

(i mean - come ON people... you can't build a new line on the BART in a month. & why would the build a station first, before the line? think!)

anyways... the movie turned out to be good. i somehow thought will smith was believable and really fitting for his part. and his son (who plays his son in the movie) is adorable and totally stole over my heart.

the views of the homeless are pretty depressing. i don't know what it was like in the early 80's out here, but the movie gives the impression it was a lot worse than things are now... and it's pretty bad now. but, i can understand... i mean, this is a boom town. the 90's was one of san francisco's biggest booms (nevermind that old gold rush thing) and i'm sure we still are feeling the positive effects of the dotcom era, even though it, too, busted.

right in the beginning, you see a shot of one of our favorite street performers who hangs out in union square in front of saks - look for him in a top hat. i hope they paid him some money!

the scene from our 'hood is super quick... but you get a great panning view, so it's very recognizable (which made us giggle like schoolgirls). if you see the movie, keep your eyes peeled during the scene when he's running from the taxi driver (he does a lot of running near/around taxi's, but this is the only one where he's getting chased).

when he cuts across a little park, right before he goes underground, you'll see a view i see almost daily - my gorgeous, lovely, happy(ness) little duboce park.

monday's guilty pleasure

mmm peeps!



(someone else's picture, but i'm eating one right now and it's sooooooooo delicious)

for sf locals

I got this today as an email foward, and as much as I hate to admit it - it made me laugh. I highlighted some of my favorites in bold.

You know you live in San Francisco if...
- When someone says tenderloin - you don't think steak. You think danger.
- You have a crush on Gavin Newsom
- You have taken the ferry to Sam's in Tiburon
- You make well over $100,000 and you still can't afford to buy a house in the city.
- You know at least a few people who work for Google
- You realize there are far more Rainbow flags in the city than California State Flags.
- The guy who cuts your hair is straight, and your plumber is gay.
- Old friends you haven't talked to in years suddenly call and ask do you have a spare bedroom for a weekend?
- You can't remember…Is pot still illegal?
- A really great parking spot has moved you to tears.
- You know that anyone wearing shorts in June is just visiting from Wisconsin
- A man walks on MUNI in drag. You don't notice.
- You live in an apartment without central heat
- You still can't believe a company doesn't offer domestic partner benefits.
- You have been asked by a tourist how to get to Market street and sent them to the Castro
- When you drive on the Bay Bridge - for one moment you think "earthquake".
- You eat out at a restaurant almost every day
- Everyone you know "runs" in Bay to Breakers
- You despise Fisherman's Wharf and Cable Cars
- You know how to eat an artichoke.
- You realize the only Republicans you know are your Aunt and Uncle in Georgia.
- You know what a striped shirt Marina guy is
- You go to Tahoe in the winter to snowboard and Napa/Sonoma in the summer for wine tasting
- If you work in the city, you go to happy hour often and enjoy a leisurely ride on the bus to work
- If you work outside the city, you have a hellish commute and never make it back into the city in time for happy hour
- You have given money to the bushman because he scared you
- You eat sushi at least once a week
- You say it is FREEZING when it is 50 degrees outside

pick yourself up, dust yourself off

hello blog readers. last week sucked.

i realized, when i walked into my office this afternoon around 3pm, that it was almost like last week was entirely erased... the last thing i remember (hypothetically) was leaving the office around 3pm on tuesday, and such is when i returned again... 7 days later. 7 loooooong days later. 7 long, not very comfortable, not very pleasant, days later.

i can't really say much else without getting into the saga, which i don't want to do here... but rest assured i'm on the path to recovery!

it was nice to be back in the real world again today - particularly with the lovely flowers i found on my desk from my family, and the little sponge bob squarepants "painter" plush toy sitting on my chair, mailed in from my new friends at nickelodeon. thanks all!

tom + megan^2 =

tom + megan^2 =
Originally uploaded by parutron on 5th December, 2006.

polaroid taken at parutron & jeff's instant party on saturday night, where the megans rocked out with the hosts, k-money, tom-diggity, catfoo(d)+friends, <i need a good nickname for conor>, and other tasty delights known as my friends.

see the whole set here:

http://flickr.com/photos/poladroid/sets/72157594406466861/

learning how to run (again)

i have a secret that i've been too ashamed to admit... about three weeks or so after my marathon, i was officially because burned out from running. burned out as in, thinking about it made me want to cry (almost - i never actually did)... as in, i could barely get myself to the gym to go for a leisurely stationary bike ride because i didn't want to feel the tormenting stares of the treadmill. as in, i hated the city and all it's streets i'd grown all to painfully familiar with during my training. as in, i haven't been to practice in a long, long time.

but... after a few weeks of being a sloth combined with the ever-shorter days of winter, i realized that i hadn't actually been outside in sunlight in many a moon.

so, late last week i instigated two new rules in hopes that i'll start feeling a bit more cheery:

1. no more lunches at my desk. i have to eat outside for at least 30 minutes before coming back in the office.

2. i have to wake up every morning and run for 30 minutes before i get dressed and go to work.

three work days into the plan and i already feel a MILLION times better! and, i'm not scared of running anymore.

we'll see how long this 'morning workout' thing pans out, though...

yay!