Ferry Plaza In SFO

Today, we had an early morning hike. We walked down Columbus and straight ahead to Stockton, and then stopped at Pacific. There, we hailed the Muni Bus Number 12, with the hope that we get into the Latino community at Mission. We wanted to check it out, eat their Mexican deli, have some margarita, and perhaps- shop, et al. The trouble was, we got into the wrong bus. Inside the Muni, husband asked the black driver about how we were to get into our destination. He advised that we stayed on inside and just to get off at Ferry building then hop into the next bus that would lead us then to the Mission District. When bus number 12 passed along Ferry building, we decided to get off instead because I needed to use the loo. Once there, we were invigorated by the hundreds of people who came in to see what's up and about in that area.

Outside the building, there were stalls of vendors that told me of the presence of the local farmers who were selling their organic harvest for the day. While last week was frustrating for us in not seeing the farmers market to be in action, today was unbelievably fascinating that it was there for us to enjoy.

At the courtyard facing the main street, the middle aged colored man was doing his gig and hitting the pots and pans in his great splendor. The spectators were amused. Nearby, was the attraction of the day. They were a bunch of anti- Bush administration who were in an ensemble of aprons in red and beige colors. They were encouraging people to throw away several pairs of shoes (sigh) on the US president's large scale portrait. This was done in the style of the Middle Eastern media man, who almost hit Bush on the head, and who later found a spot in the world news network, for striking a stateman. Did we get the shoes and joined a few of them? Nope. We were better than those imbeciles. Not that we are pro-Bush but husband and I do believe in good manners and right conduct. We advocate respecting other people regardless of race, color, age and political affiliation. After seeing this disturbing scenario, complete with a regalia of cameras, prompters and what-have-not, we had enough of it. We left shortly and headed towards the Ferry building where a battalion of people were walking excitedly. Inside, I suggested to husband to go have some coffee and pastries at Peete's Coffee and Tea while I proceeded to find the loo. Seconds later, he went on his way and I did find mine. It took a short minute, and then I was there.

Going to the ladies' restroom was frustrating because the line never seemed to end. However, after ten minutes or so, my turn came through. I entered the first available cubicle. There, time passed by so quickly. Once done, I washed my hands and wiped them out with a piece of white colored tissue paper. Later, I got out quickly, then walked past a crowd of people. Then, I noticed The Fish Store Restaurant that sells a variety of sandwiches, seafood and salads. There, I found myself getting glued to what I thought was an interesting haven for good food. Immediately, I was drawn to buying fresh oysters drizzled with cocktail dip, white horseradish, lemon and tabasco. Instinctively, I ordered two pieces of them. After a moment, I handed my payment to the young male vendor. I paid him three dollars for the two pieces of oysters which I then placed inside the rectangular box that had no cover at all. Minutes later, I was gliding and walking quickly to where husband was at Peete's Coffee and Tea.

"Surprise! I got us each an oyster!" I said in delirious thrill.

He grinned and responded, "Oh, you just can't resist it, can you?"

"Nope." I quipped.

Immediately, he stood up and offered me his seat. I thanked him and he said his monosyllabic, "welcome."

The place was getting to be swarmed by hungry visitors. It was noisy as well and poor husband was practically situated at the very end of the counter where a young college boy was grinding the black coffee beans. Apparently, he is one of the local employees there who was doing his share of labor to pay off his college fees. Obviously, husband was sitting there for quite sometime and improvised to use the counter as his "table" for lack of having it. It was that crowded he said~ that all he wanted ASAP was to find his space, pull a chair and to sit down. Ok, so now I understand why he had no table!

Once settled, I sat down at his chair and began piercing the oyster with a cocktail toothpick. Husband remained standing while he tried to take off the meat from the shell of his oyster. Then, we were both munching our juicy delight with much satisfaction. It was delicious! But, I had to pinch my nose time again from getting headaches because the horseradish took its toll inside my mouth, sinus, and skull. Yikes! All at once was an explosion of spices insidemy head that made it seemed to be cracking in orbit. Moments later, I asked desperately for husband to please hand me the bottled water he had with him earlier. I drank almost a third of it. After that brief moment of agonizing delight, we headed and walked at the back of the building where the bay of SFO could be seen in a closer perspective. Across us is the famous Bay Bridge. And outside, people from all ages and colors were walking rapidly, while others were shopping, eating, talking, waiting, sunbathing, and glorifying the day's promise of a warm weather amid cool breeze and bright clouds. In one corner near Sur La Table, I was hypnotized to find the farmer I knew who sells my favorite arugula leaves that I find to be enticing when added to a slice of rustic bread or green salad. When I saw her, the old lady with heavily tattooed body dressed in her tank top, looked at me with warm welcome. Initially, she was pacing back and forth to where her little corner of veggies was engineered by stalls of white canvas and steel. Around her were an orchestra of green supplies: chard, dill, arugula, cabbage, rosemary, parsley, sage, romain.

"Where is the arugula?" I asked.

"Oh, it's just there in front of you."

"Oh, ok. Thank you. May I taste it?"

She answered, "Sure, go have a bite."

I told husband, "Ok, I am buying this."

Finally, I got a plastic and filled them with the Italian leaves. I paid two dollars and twenty five cents for them.

As we began to walk further, I started to feel sick.

"I am nauseous. May be it was the oysters." (We had three more each, later upon my return from the restroom).

"But that is impossible." Husband quipped."We ate exactly the same thing but I don't feel sick."

" Yes.But I am more sensitive than you."

His shoulders went up for a little bit then he said, "Oh yes."

We walked some more to check on the lavender, kiwi, jams, cheeses, eggs, and wheat flour. After a while, I was really feeling sick.

"I feel very nauseous and I don't think I could stay any much longer."

"Ok, I need to take you home now." Husband said it firmly.

We walked faster than ever. As the traffic was building up in front of us, a cab was passing by slowly. Husband gestured and raised his right arm to signal the driver to stop. In a minute, he was in front of us and then, hestopped. I was just happy to note that we had a ride and that coming home would be fast and easy. We got in, me and husband. The drive was fast. Soon enough, the driver stopped by our alley and said,

"Be sure you did not forget anything. Have a great day you two!"

That was sweet of him. He was an elderly man from the Middle East.

While walking towards our alley and then to the entrance door of our flat, I was very exhausted and was ready to drop dead in our bed. I went straight to the bathroom and relieved myself from anymore discomfort.

Then, I went to bed and hugged my soft pillows.

I said,

"Now I know what made me sick. I ate two pieces of arugula. And they were not washed and cleaned yet. People were coming to see it, as in touch and go. So, that made me sick and not the oysters."

Husband was quiet as a zombie then went on to his office to do the accounting of our business. I went to nap and woke up just now, to write this entry for this week.

"When the Torres family calls, tell them we can have coffee together. I think I am good now and could join you all later this afternoon."

So this is how my Saturday evolved from the time we left home and gone back home.

Have a great weekend!

My Birthday On January 13th

My birthday this year was plain and simple except perhaps for the time I spent alone when I came to hear mass at noontime. Other than this, it was unique and quiet. Husband was out at work and I was at home, doing the office management. I realized that the older I get, simplicity works best for me. I don't expect outrageous gifts anymore. Things change when one matures.

When I was younger, I had secret wishes for extravagant desires. That is over now. Age gives wisdom and I believe I have it (laughs).

Still, I am touched when family and friends sent in their greetings by email, text messaging, snailmails, and overseas calls.

Really there is nothing much more memorable than being remembered especially when you are living overseas away from your nuclear family you originally came from.

Sunday before January 13th, husband and I decided to workout at the gym on California St. (24 Hour Fitness) after the 9 AM mass we attended at Notre Dame. We took our time and enjoyed our cardio, stretching plus weights routine. The finale was once again at the sauna where we were able to dedicate more time to enjoy the heat in this cold winter time. After that, we headed forth and walked from California St. to the Ferry building, wishing to see more of the farmers market. To our disappointment, there was no farmers market since it is winter. However, we thought there was one since the only way people in the Marina area could shop was through here. But we were mistaken. Nevertheless, the consolation was we were able to have some coffee and lemon scones at Peet’s Coffee and Tea. Moreover, my favorite upscale kitchen shop, SUR LA TABLE was open! There, I bought my alternative birthday gift. Yes! I had a choice and I selected one, a PASTA MAKER. It is an Italian brand, MARCATO and has an interesting features of four types to create from it, like spaghetti rotondi, lasagna, tagliatelle and taglierini.

Last year, in spring I think, husband bought me online, a RAVIOLI ROLLER from Canada. It was a perfect rolling pin because in one rolling, lots of raviolis are formed! However, the sad part was, at that time, I didn’t have yet a pasta maker so the dough made on my KITCHENAID STAND MIXER was manually rolled and it was thick. Ideally, it should be thin. And although it looked great, and tasted delicious, the individual ravioli was a disappointment for me. Now, with this PASTA MAKER, I expected better results doing raviolis and or other homemade pasta types!

At SUR LA TABLE, I was also able to purchase cake and cookie decoration stuff like colored sugars, confetti, and gel candies. I also bought a tart pan that opens at the bottom so when you serve the fruit tart, the shape of the pastry does not get cut off or distorted.

Husband’s original choice of gift for me was a personal computer, the latest mini PC of ACER and HP that I had been eyeeing for last year. I thought they were handy and practical to have, small and ready to travel with me any time and any where. So, he gave me this PC gift to choose from these two contenders. They were both cute and to my liking. But there was a catch. ACER was less than a pound in weight, while HP was a little more. Excellent. But the features were minimal except for its WI-FI go-getter, and that is it. I bailed out. Although it was designed primarily for someone on the go, still it was not perfect. There is not much to these new PCs. It has the basic word program and that is it. To utilize your media needs, you need to add the accessory DVD player which for me is a deal killer. Why design a tiny PC when you have to attach accessories and carry them with you? That's a bummer! So, I told LITTLE BOY BLUE that he could get me this mini PC next year or the year after when the industrial design/technology has already improved. Still, I was thankful for his thoughts.

For my birthday, we had dinner at home. I made eggplant parmeggiano and homemade Amish white bread. I didn’t even drink white wine as I had enough the past days. And the past evenings, we have been eating out a lot at the Italian restaurants here in North Beach. We also had our share of Chinese and Thai dinners, so for a break- on my birthday this year on January 13th, we dined at home minus the pictorial, cake and wine. But it was a day deserving of fond memories. In the evening, I still went on to volunteer and be at the Porziuncola Chapel, two blocks from my domicile, where I stay on to guard it and guide visitors and inform them about its origin and history as a replica of the original St. Francis of Assisi Chapel in Italy. That one is awesome. I have been there in the late 1990s. This one in SFO is a beautiful replica of it, ¾ in scale as compared to the original. But everything else is all there, an original rock from the chapel that St. Francis built is one highlight of it, the stones used are from Assisi, plus the woods, etc. I will write an entry on this later.

Thanks to you all who remembered my birthday: my family~ Philip and family, Franco my brother doctor who is in Tunisia as of this writing, presenting his paper at the World Health Organization conference for cancer pain management; to Balloon and Emilie, my loving sisters; to Tito and Celia, my brother and his wife; to my charming niece Ann, thoughtful as ever, to Emily Putnam, my friend in Florida; to Inday, my friend from my old neighborhood- who called me from overseas; to Lulay and Nikki; to Bernice my friend from Australia who texted me; plus-Ute, my German friend who sent in her birthday card greetings, one week in advance, and to my better half, of course~ who always is there for me in good times and bad times as well. All these people added spice on my natal day’s quiet ceremony. And before I forgot, there was Brenda in Egypt who sent in her ecard.

As simple as it is, it was colorful in my heart and eventful in terms of memories. Thank you all!

TODAY, AT THE SAUNA

Bear with me with my gym experience, ok? But this is another entry that I am sure you'd love!

After working-out, husband and moi agreed to meet at the SAUNA this afternoon, to enjoy some heat during this cold winter time. It was nice to have a quick cold shower outside then back again inside the sauna for some change of temperature. At the sauna, I saw husband enjoying his time on the upper level of the seater while this Chinese woman in her 30s was all by herself on the foot of the seater on the extreme right. Husband was on opposite end.

Dressed in her floral bikini top, and sweaty black jogging pants, she was seated on the lower level much closer to where the heater was. As I entered the sauna, I joined them and sat beside husband.

It was nice to be there having just gotten my cold shower outside near the whirpool. Silence was all around us and it was quite comforting. However, after a few seconds, I was surprised to see this Chinese freak who began doing her stretching, bending, panting, and jogging inside the sauna. Didn't she use the gym for these? As this was happening, my cornea was enlarging and my head was spinning in distaste.

Why is she doing this? What is wrong with her? Didn’t she know the etiquette inside the sauna that complete silence is a must because people want some peace and quiet inside it?

To my irritation, I pierced my look upon her then panned my eyes on husband for approval. He motioned with his hands that it was fruitless to say anything. Why? Because this little monster seemed to be enjoying the thrill of a lifetime as would any exhibitionist in town would feel! Okay, so we kept mum for the mean time. Oddly enough, we had a good but quiet laugh, hoping she'd notice our irritation even in the slightest degree. But she did not. From our perspectove, she looked stupid pushing the heater, kicking the wall, stomping at the pavement and clapping her hands, mind you! Jeez, she better just strip off her clothes so we could have a good look of her! She did this performance for a good 5 minutes at a time with an interval of silence momentarily on her part then the cycle moved on and on. Finally, husband and I had it and left hurriedly to be at our individual shower rooms for a quick shower. Later as I was dressing up, this creature came inside the locker room and undressed totally which was fine but what struck me was this: she began putting on the lotion all over her bvody without even showering first! Now can you beat that? She is not only a weirdo but also a slob! When she finally got dressed, she wore again the jogging pants that she did sweat on while at the sauna. Now, imagine if she were your lover or wife, would you sleep with her? Ayayay!

AND ANOTHER $40.00 PENALTY!

Because husband forgot to diagonally adjust the wheels of our van as he parked on a slightly hilly part of SFO!!! Give us a break, SFO! But we love this city- indeed! But it drives me nuts at times! Can you blame me?

$70.00 MORE!

After husband and I went through a heartfelt trauma dealing with the $200.00 penalty charges for our van getting towed two weeks ago, I discovered to my surprise last week that there was a ticket that was nicely inserted in the wiper of our van. In it was an indication that we had to pay a fee of $70.00 for the penalty and paperwork relative to having our van getting towed! And to make it worse, we had to mail it inclusive with a check. And it had to be sent in by mail ASAP or another charges will be added. What the heck was that? San Francisco, give us a break!!!

WHERE IS THE VAN?

After a good work out, I took a shower then headed out to proceed to the waiting room of 24-Hour Fitness on Montgomery Street. There, husband was seated at the reception and was waiting for me. He smiled and greeted me then suddenly, he stood up and said,

"Our vehicle was impounded."

My heartfelt response was, "Oh give me a break not for a Monday morning!!!"

"Gosh." I addeed. "This is not good." Then, I asked him about where we were to pick it up? He mentioned the address.

Then, I began to talk...

"Well, I thought that this is not working right because the day before, you lost your driver's license and you only had the photocopy of it with you. Now, the van is gone and towed."

Soon enough, we left the gym and walked fast Montgomery. We were lucky on that day since we saw this cab that was parked near the hotel entrance door. On regular days, there are no cabs available. If you need one, you would have to call a yellow taxi company by phone to request for a cab to come at your designated location. But that day, we were lucky to have found one. Husband asked the driver if he was taking passengers. He nodded then off, we got in.

Inside the cab, husband gave the address to the Middle Eastern driver on where to get impounded cars in the city. And after about a fifteen minute hike, we finally arrived at the place near Mission district. We got out of the cab and entered the small concrete building where three Latina women were handling the business end of impounded cars.

For our penalty, we were charged $200.00 for parking on Montgomery Street after 7 AM. Husband paid the penalty using his American Express.

Golly, that was a lot of money to give to the city of SFO!

Fifteen minutes later, we were led to the parking space where all impounded vehicles were parked. I saw ours in the midst of everything. Seconds later, a Latino guy manifested; collected the receipt from husband and said, "WAIT HERE." So we did.

Finally, he zoomed out and drove our van; got off then parked it right in front of us. Then, we hopped in.

Husband drove quietly then in a second, we both had a good laugh.

"Two hundred bucks! Haha! Oh, that's a lot of money!"

Yes. I told him that he better do things right since there are a lot of laws and penalties as far as parking is concerned in San Francisco and I tell you, it is not cheap living in this city!

HER KEYS INSIDE HER LOCKER

I remember being quite surprised one morning at the gym when I saw the look of worry in the eyes of a young Caucasian woman in her 20s. Obviously, she had just finished her workout routine. Quite unexpectedly, I heard her monologue while she was speaking to herself, in a whisper. I heard her saying that she accidentally left all her keys inside her locker and that she couldn't get her stuff inside! Ayayay! That is a nightmare! Is that a big deal? Of course it is. The poor girl was shivering, motionless and desperate. She had this hint of panic in her face. Concerned, I asked if she wanted me to go to the front desk to seek some help.

"Oh no, thank you. Somebody has gone up already. Likewise, thanks a lot."

Right after responding to my query, she became scarlet then smiled faintly and nervously.

Later, I left her and I did my business. After a short while, a heavy weight black woman in her mid 20s came in wearing her tight fitting black terry jacket and leggings. In her right hand was a humongous pliers.

"Where is it?"

"There..." She pointed out right across me (referring to her padlock that was attached to the locker).

Seconds later, I heard the black woman reciting this in clear and sharp tone,

"1, 2, 3! There! It's done!"

My heart murmur said,

"WOW." That was easy (*sigh*).

The Bitch At The Gym

I had always wanted to write my anecdote at the 24-hour Fitness where I work out but it seems time was never letting me do it. However, I am allotting this moment to write it for sharing purposes.

At the Bay Street branch of my gym, the crowd is thin between 5 Am to 5:30 AM. It gets thicker by 6 AM when everyone wants to have a turf to work out just before they hit the road to work or to go to school.

This happened to me a few months back. While I was about to finish my last leg of my weights at the machine, this young Chinese girl with raven eyes and thick eyelashes came right in front of me. To my surprise, she ordered me to exchange the machine I was using to what she had just used. To my annoyance, I took her for granted and acted as if I did not hear her command at all. Next, she came around and said it again.

“Hey, you…can I get on that machine so I could finish up my routine?”

I looked at her as if I was looking at a moron who had no sense of what she was saying. I snorted out and lamented this,

“I just started my routine and I need to finish it. If you want, you wait. Ok?”

Saying these all in a grain of salt, I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and wished she rotted in hell!

Next thing I knew it, she was speaking in crescendo and she repeated her demands about me getting booted out of my preacher curl machine. Can you imagine that?

Well, this time I was not that cool anymore and so I told her these with my eyes opened, chest expanding and adrenalin working like I were ready to metamorphose into a full blown assassin…

“I AM FINISHING UP MY WORKOUT AND THAT IS YOUR PROBLEM IF YOU CAN’T WAIT FOR YOUR TURN! YOU JUST DON’T COME IN HERE AND GRAB WHATEVER MACHINE YOU WANTED TO USE!

I was ready to get physical with the MAO DNA. God, I could kill her right at that moment! But seconds later, she was out of my sight! She walked past me, met her Chinese friends and spoke in her cheap Chinese singsong about what she just went through with me. Good for her!

Two days later, she acted arrogant in front of me while I was using the eliptical machine. I pretended that I did not see her ugly face at all as I did not want to start my day with a sourgrape. When her startegy didn't work, she retreated to the machines where all the men work out. By this time, she may have realized that her backward Chinese ways won't work for me or for anyone who has integrity and principles. And for one, bitches are not tolerated in my domain whether it is at home, at work, at the gym or at the marketplace.

Bow.

Catching Up With Time

While our life is in action and full of surprises, we are still sane and are able to finally to get to working out regularly in the morning for a week now. Changes have been coming in full circle into our life, as husband and wife. For instance, the 24-Hour Fitness center we work out in at Bay Street is under construction! I mean, the bathroom room is leaking through the Safeway section on the second floor of North Point building. But for most of us who are sports buff not being able to shower after an hour and a half workout is a bummer. Who does not want to be refreshed after sweating it out?

When the repair has begun in late December 2008, we decided to move to another location in Van Ness and Montgomery St. The trouble is both of the places are crowded. Then we found another one in California St., three blocks from Market St. (financial district). To our surprise, it has a spa, whirlpool, sauna and steamer- aside from the weights room, pilates/yoga section, cardio area, stretching and free weights! On our first day there, we loved it all at once and decided to go to the Jacuzzi the next morning and we did!

Then, the next day- it was not working as it is under repair. Ayayay!

We went online to check on where else we could go and found another branch along Marina. We drove there early around ten past five in the morning and saw from the outside on how small is the gym. By the time the gym opened at 5:30 AM, we decided to drive home. Just a little before 6 AM, we were home and went back to sleep; later, we were up by 7 AM; rushed to our daily routine then set for our day dealing with our daily rhythm. By day's end at 5 PM, we were back on our feet again and ready to start the spark of the evening with each of us sipping our wine.

It's Been So Long

My life had its changes so I was not able to blog for a short while. CHRISTMAS came through and I was busy with domestic chores. Then, there was the NEW YEAR, too, and likewise, with the emergence of work on my end, it was not possible for me to blog.

November 17, 2008 was the day husband and I ventured into a business we thought was good to keep us busy and would enable us to pay our monthly bills without pain in our pockets. Relatively, money is involved to get this started so we were on the look for investing it right despite the limitation of time and space.

A start-up busines has a lot of promise and risk. For us, it is more for sensibility and sensitivity needs. We played it by ears and by husband's vast experience in the business where his field of expertise speaks high and loud, I was confident it was going to be all right. I am second in command and I do only the minor thing. He is the big force behind it and I support him a hundred percent.

To organize our office scenario and business sense, we bought this costly software that was three grand and learned the ropes of having an office without a paper trail. It is cool but the program is not intuitive or shall I say- not a user friendly type. You need to learn it step by step in a rather methodical way. So for someone like me who learns things fast by exploring and opening up files on the PC and otherwise, it was a raw deal and toughie for me.

The trying times were all about feeding the info right in the software and making sure that it is in sync in all that we do as business partners. When we opened on the first day which was the 17th of November, we were rushed, pressured and vulnerable to do it right.

Moreover, I realized how difficult it is for a husband and wife to venture on a business together. There is a lot of emotional strain that comes in and because you two are connected by the ring of marriage, you can't help but become emotional at times. Stress is the dealer killer but it is inevitable. In time, we were able to cope. Now we are in better shape and in better tone. Thank God!

While our transition time was coming through, I was not able to cook for a week. We ordered food in the neighborhood cafes and bistros or walked into these places in North Beach. Otherwise, we both didn't have the appetite as we were studying the software at the end of the day and up until midnight.

During the first two weeks, husband called in at Washington office of the software company for daily consultation at 7 AM SFO time. He did this because there are some glitches in the program that only the tech support there could simplify for husband to know. Then, he taught me how to do it right.

Our life revolved around the internet and the software for a while. Despite the fact that I hated writing down notes on a huge notebook, I had to do it to keep me on track. When customers called, in the initial days, I get nuts trying to remember how to go to the next available space to enter the call sheets and job sale. It was chaotic but I survived it!

These days, I can bake breads in between times when no calls are coming in!

We had our share of dishonest people who wouldn't want to pay their bills even if the service had already been done regarding their homes. When this became a headache, we just write it off as an issue to deal in SMALL CLAIMS COURT IN SAN FRANCISCO. And the result? The culprit sent a check mid part this week and frees herself of anymore time constraint in court!

The great thing about living in an expensive city like San Francisco is- you get every penny's worth of what you pay the city hall regarding taxes. And all can be done online even in filing a court case. And you get a response ASAP. Now, isn't it great?