Rocks and Hard Places

Readers, welcome back. I have a sneaking suspicion that this blog is picking up steam, the number of readers may even be in the double digits now! Considering the fact that between Michelle and myself, we have eight parental figures who are "obligated" to at least feign interest in what their children are doing and going through, the aforementioned number of readers loses some of it's shock value. However, it is nice to know that people are interested (still) in what is going on with us, and we have received many wonderful compliments about this blog, so thank you all for everything and to quote Neil Young, "It's lots of fun to have you there".

Now let's get down to business shall we? I find myself at a juncture in my life, a crossroads if you will. "What are these cross streets I am standing at" you ask yourselves? The intersection I am stuck at (with a broken traffic light, I might add), is "What the f*ck do I want to do with my life ave." and "How in Gods name am I going to do it blvd."

On and off over the past few years, I have been pondering this issue with almost an unhealthy obsession (something I have become quite adept at). So let's take a short journey shall we? And for a short (hopefully) period of time, I will hire all (at least eight) of you to work for me at . Sound like a lucrative offer? Well great, let's embark.

We'll start back in high school with a math class I took. Now I know those of you that knew my in high school (Mom and Dad, looking your way here) will say to yourselves, "Math?!? You struggled with math for quite some time". I did for a while, but somewhere along the line, something clicked for me while studying geometry and came to a pinnacle while I studied trigonometry. I became damn good at trigonometry, and actually won an award in high school for it (senior math student of the year). I don't know what it was, but I felt a very deep sense of satisfaction being able to solve complex trigonometry problems. I really felt like I was accomplishing something there, it felt good.

The next point on this timeline will land between my junior and senior years in college when I packed everything I needed in a backpack and traveled Europe for a month. To this day, that experience stands out as one of the best things I have done with my life to this point. I mean, what an absolutely incredible experience. I remember landing at the airport in Munich and thinking to myself as I tried to read signs in German about what was are, "Oh shit.....What have I gotten myself into here". You know what happened? I made it! It was such an amazing experience, and it really taught me about cultural significance, and as an added bonus, I learned a very important lesson although I didn't know it at the time, and still to this day have a hard time putting it into practice. I know you are all on pins and needles waiting for me to divulge my secret, so I won't keep you waiting any longer. I learned that the best things in life are born of fear and anxiety and apprehension. I was terrified initially about Europe, and it turned out to be a quintessential life experience for me. Now, I know that this will come as a surprise to many of you, but in the months, weeks, and days leading up to our move to California, I was beyond terrified. Our families and comfort zones are back in the midwest. You know what though, I lived through it, and believe it or not, I've even managed to have a little fun in the process. That's not to say that this whole endeavor has gone over without a hitch (lack of employment), and devoid of anxiety (that first week i was a wreck), but we are here now, living. I do believe that this will be, like my travels in Europe, one of, if not THE best thing I have done with my life. I would still like to have a little occupational direction and more importantly, passion.

The next stop on the journey train will be at the creation of this blog. Before this, the extent of my writing was for research papers and a few creative writing essays back in school. I had never before written because I wanted to, and I have to say, I am really enjoying it. I feel comfortable and at ease. I enjoy sharing my point of view with folks, and it seems like people are enjoying it (even if they "have" to by the parental code of ethics).

Now these are certainly not the only things I enjoy. Good food, music, outdoors, golf, animals, spending time with friends, family and loved ones amongst others are all incredibly rewarding experiences as well. If you've been wondering where it is you the reader enter into this equation, it is here. You all, my newly hired creative department if you will, are going to be taking on the daunting task of somehow combining the previously mentioned passions into something that will actually earn me an income. And let's not have any half assed answers here like a traveling mathematician who writes about his experiences while eating a meal prepared be a three michelin star chef at the turn of the legendary Pebble Beach Golf Links. We need quality stuff here people!

Disclaimer: I don't want any of you to become to consumed with the task of helping me find my way. After all, I am only 25 and I'm positive (somewhat) that something will present itself to me in the years to come. But if you're bored and thinking about me, which I know occurs more often than not, let's collaborate for the greater good of society!

Once again, thank you all for your support and well wishes!

Love!

Back in the West from a weekend of love

It's been a while since we've updated this blog so I hope you're all still with us and along for the ride!

We are back in the bay (actually, we have been back for nearly a week at this point) after heading back to the midwest for the wedding of some of our closest friends, Matt and Jill Gilmer. The wedding was fantastic, and it was great to see friends and family, even though we couldn't spend as much time with some of you as we would have liked. Another long time friend of mine, Jon Turner got married as well last monday at the Cincinnati courthouse.

Jon's wedding wasn't "typical" wedding as it took place in the courthouse, but after all, the end result is the same, right? Jon being one of my best friends in the world for many many years now, I would have loved to stand there with him on (hopefully) on of the happiest days of his life, alas, that wasn't the type of wedding the two of them wanted, and this, as most (read: all) things often do got me thinking. Now I know you are just riddled with suspense right now asking yourself, "What did this get him thinking about? I'll be it is something really interesting!". If this isn't the thought that is going through your head right now, humor me. Let me believe that people hang onto my every word just dying to know what I'll say next. Side note: I'm really not that shallow, but everyone likes to feel important and interesting now and then. Back to pertinent subject matter, I was thinking about what it actually is that makes you cool.

I don't mean cool as in wearing the hip clothes, listening to popular music, and having people beating down your door to hang out all the time. I mean cool as in being comfortable and confident with yourself and whatever it is that you may be doing. This is something that I have always admired my friend Jon for, is not giving two shits about what other people think, say or do, and just taking part in the things that make him happy. Being cool, in the truest sense of the word means doing what the fuck you want to do, when you want to do it (within reason of course!). People (I) get too caught up with what other people think if you and become self-conscious and self-doubting. Do what you (I) want to do, be who you (I) want to be. Easier said than done as most things are. I feel like I'm well on my way though. I'm living in the city I want to be living in, with the woman I love, and right now, I'm doing what I want to be doing (except for looking for a job, I hate that). Now, you may be thinking to yourself that this paragraph of text seems like mindless dribble, and you'd be correct. I have been thinking lately about my definition of being cool and, if you'll allow me to toot my own horn for just a moment more, Michelle and I are pretty fucking sweet as far as I'm concerned.

This past weekend, Michelle and I went to the Outsidelands Music Festival in Golden Gate Park (pretty high up on the aforementioned coolness scale). There was a point in the afternoon, as we were sitting in the middle of a polo field listening to My Morning Jacket play an absolutely killer set where Michelle looked at me and just said, "I can't believe we are actually sitting in Golden Gate Park listening to live music." to which I replied, "Yeah, and we only have to travel about forty minutes to get home". Once again, pretty God damn cool.

The festival itself reminded me of "simpler" times. A time, for me, where one of my few worries was what concert I was going to go see next. It was pretty great to feel that way again. Sure we weren't rolling joints all afternoon or having profound psychedelic experiences as can certainly be had at music festivals, but you know what? We had a really good time (cool). Highlights were the Levon Helm band, The Pimps of Joytime, My Morning Jacket, and Further. Further, a band made up of some really top notch musicians, including Phil Lesh and Bob Weir, both of the Grateful Dead, played a really cool set. After all, the Grateful Dead lived in the Haight Ashbury district of San Francisco so this was something of a hometown show for them. It was a neat experience to see the surviving members of the iconic band play a show, essentially where it all started. Another cool experience.

It's getting late here, and I am in need of some sleep. I caught a little bit of a cold from being outside in cold (yes, we've already become so accustomed to the weather here that 50's and 60's are considered cold). This is also Michelle's last week before starting school so we are bound and determined to enjoy it, damnit!

It was great seeing everyone recently, congrats to Matt and Jill, Jon and Ruth, and Amanda and Cody (they just had another baby girl). Until next time.

stay cool!!!

Comment!!

I have been trying to figure out how to get the comment box to show at the bottom of our posts but I guess technology has won.... you CAN comment by clicking on "# commments" at the bottom of each post! Even if you don't have a name to sign in, you can click "name/URL" after your comment and type your name in. Email me, parents, if you need more direct instruction :)
We would love to hear from all of you!

(Dan, yes, sharks are very close to us but the only one who enjoys swimming in the extremely cold Pacific waters is our little pig Bailey. I don't think they will be walking up to our door anytime soon!)

***After you write your comment and put your name in you have to click "Publish Your Post" at the bottom!!!

Sharks Motherf***er!

Isn't it cool when you are watching national television and you see things that take place where you live? Yes, yes it is. This week is the beginning of shark week on the Discovery channel, which, in case you have been living under a board for the past few years, is quite possibly one of the most awesome weeks of television all year. It's actually more enthralling and captivating than watching a bunch of no talent ass clowns make fools of themselves and the music industry in general on American Idol. Now those of you that know me, know I have very strong feelings about American Idol and I won't really elaborate on them now because, I realize I am representing the music elitist minority here and, well, not everyone cares what I think about it.

Back to the lecture at hand, shark week is highlighting great white sharks getting medieval on seals and sea lions, and much of this action is taking place a few miles off the coast of San Francisco

Here:

http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en&q=farallon%20islands&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl

And Here:

http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en&q=farallon%20islands&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl

You really should tune in to this series in the evenings as it is quite fascinating in that borderline terrifying kind of way. You will also get some wonderful views of where we live and the depth of nature within a stones throw of our apartment.

Disclaimer: The term "stones throw" is not meant to be taken literally. Neither Michelle, myself, or even Bailey can throw a stone from where we live to where these beasts are. If we could, we would most likely have very lucrative professional baseball careers.

On another note, we are preparing to head back to the midwest in a few days for a weekend of marriage and spending some quality time with friends and family. We are both incredibly excited to come home, see all of you, and eat some WONDERFUL food. Mom, even though I have been talking non-stop about how amazing the food is out here, none of it holds a candle to the culinary genius and grace in the kitchen you possess, so please, pull out all the stops, as there is absolutely nothing that compares to having a home-cooked meal.

We have also found out just how expensive this place is to live recently! 10% sales tax?!? Income tax almost twice what it was in Ohio?!? But I guess "you have to pay to play, right? The latter does not apply to me yet however as I am still unemployed. Parents never fear, I am resourceful, and feel like I am making diligent progress towards getting a job, and if not, Michelle is very marketable, and could easily land a second job while I loaf around and become a beach bum or something of the like! Kidding of course (mom, please don't yell at me for that comment?).

Alas my friends, the time has come for me to embrace sleep. My eyelids grow heavy and I long to be back in that wonderful dream state where I am a famous writer, engorging myself in dionysian pleasures, or perhaps a double agent...The possibilities are endless.

See you all soon!

Love!

Anniversary and Fearlessness

Happy Sunday! We have officially celebrated our 1 month anniversary of living in San Francisco (on Thursday) and have had many first times so far, and still many to go!! When we moved here one month ago, we both agreed that we would turn a new leaf and try new things, conquer our fears/anxiety, and be more outgoing when meeting new people. So far, I feel like we have surpassed all of our expectations of meeting those goals :)
In my opinion (and I think Dan will agree) this weekend was among the most substantial in "first times". As most of you know, Dan is a little obsessed with sushi and has been known to say "I would eat sushi everyday if I could". I, on the other hand, do not eat seafood nor do I like weird textures of food at all. So, living up to this new leaf thing, Friday we went out to a sushi restaurant and I decided to not order my usual fried rice. Instead, I didn't order anything so I would be forced to eat sushi with the others! So I tried it...and LIKED it! So much so, Dan and I went out the next night for more! What a relief for Dan since the seafood out here is unbeatable and I think he thought he would have to eat sushi alone forever.
On top of this amazing sushi discovery, we also took a trip to Half Moon Bay Beach for the day. This was one of the warmer weekends so it was about 63 on the beach (yes, that is warm for a beach here!). We quickly learned that a beach is a beach, you can still get VERY sunburned if it is 63 and overcast. On our way home from the beach, Dan decided he was up for driving on Highway 1! If you don't know, this highway is along the coast of the ocean and has a lot of curves and little between you and the cliff that leads to the ocean so it is very intimidating. Dan, very impressively, pushed all of his anxiety aside and drove up Highway 1 like a pro!! Along the way, we saw many incredible views and breathtaking scenery...it is hard to capture the experience in a picture but I tried.
After all of this weekend's productivity, I begin my new teaching career TOMORROW! Well, sort of, I get to meet my students tomorrow morning and have training Tuesday through Thursday! Lets hope this week goes as well as the past month has been for me...

Love, love, love :)

Dogs Dreaming, Congratulations, and moving music

Do you ever wonder what exactly it is that dogs dream about? I do, especially now with Bailey laying on the couch next to me running after, or away from something. Do they always have the same dream? Is it like the one we have where we feel like we are falling? When they wake up, how do they feel? Angry? Sad? Happy? or just sort of mediocre? These are the things that I am thinking about at 12:13 am on a Thursday morning, and unfortunately, I'm pretty positive my queries will go unanswered forever.

Moving away from my nonsensical dribble and towards a topic with a little substance, in case you haven't heard, Michelle got an amazing job offer as a teacher of autistic children (take that shitty job market!). If you know ANYTHING about her, you already know this is pretty much a "dream job" for her and I couldn't be more proud, excited, and grateful for her. In completely unrelated news, I have started planning for my retirement, which, due to the aforementioned shitty job market may be coming much, much sooner than expected. Parents and Michelle, I'm kidding of course......sort of......hopefully

Of course, this wouldn't be a blog about the San Francisco Bay Area and why we moved here if I didn't take a few moments to brag about some of the things we have been doing that, well, you...just aren't doing (sorry!). The most exciting thing for me over the last week or so has been the Neil Young concerts (yes, the "s" is supposed to be there, I went twice) we went to Sunday and Monday evenings at the historic Fox Theatre in Oakland. Let's just start off with the setlist shall we? My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue), Tell Me Why, Helpless (with a KILLER harmonica solo), You Never Call, Peaceful Valley, Love and War, Down By the River, Hitchhiker, Sign of Love, Leia, After the Goldrush, I Believe in You, Rumblin, Cortez the Killer, Cinnamon Girl, and an encore of Walk with Me. Un-effing-believable. It was really some of the most moving live music I have ever seen. This was a solo show as well, no band, just him on stage with a few guitars, pianos, an organ, and a harmonica. I was hoping for a little more audience interaction a'la the '71 Massey Hall concert, In fact, the only thing he really said to the audience was right before playing Leia. He mentioned this song was "for a lovely little thing, and if we weren't quiet and respectful, we'd scare the hell out of her". It seemed as though he decided to communicate through his guitars and timeless vocals. Definitely a little slower moving around these days, the man can play guitar like only someone of experience can. The huge sound of the guitars left vibrations in your chest like the two of you were sitting in a well insulated garage. Really, if he ever comes close to you, you NEED to see his show live. Yes, tickets will be expensive, but I promise it will be something you will not soon forget.

Goodnight all, Pictures of something will be up in the near future so stay tuned! Also, yesterday was Alice Eagle's 3rd birthday, so if you haven't already, wish her a happy birthday!

Love.

Correction.

Hi everyone! I have to correct Dan's comment saying that I've "retired" from blogging...I have not. I do, however, believe he is better at telling the stories of our San Franciscan journeys.

Anyway...we have had a busy couple of weeks going to county fairs, drinking wine, concert going, trolly riding...you know, the usual (also, still job hunting). It is really frustrating that, although we do something new and exciting almost every day here, our list of things that we want to do or see keeps growing!! It is overwhelming because it seems as though every time we turn on the TV, the host of a travel show or food explorer is somewhere in Northern California. We then look at each other and say "we should do that!" So we find ourselves between a rock and a hard place; we have so much time to enjoy all of these new places (rock) but we have that time because we are not working and, therefore, have no income (hard place). Hopefully all of that will change soon with the few interviews we have scheduled this week! Once we both begin working, LOOK OUT WORLD!

Until then...carpe diem!

New pictures are up, enjoy!
We send lots of love to all of you :)