Vacation Time

Ah, vacation. It's about time.

What we've done so far:
Saturday: drove down to Gilroy--the Garlic Capital of the World!--to the Gilroy Premium Outlets to buy stuff. And buy we did...new clothes for both of us, and an unexpected purchase--a new complete set of Calphalon cookware and a new grill pan at their outlet store. Ooh, shiny!
Sunday: not too much...hung out at the North Beach Festival up the hill at Washington Square Park. Had fun listening to a local classical string quartet who were phenomenal, followed by random Clash music between sets. And also found a new restaurant that reminds me of New England (finally--yay!): North Beach Lobster Shack. THEY HAVE CLAM ROLLS. Life is good. :)

Today it's a nice sunny day here in San Francisco, and plans to be a hot one across the bay in Berkeley. Why there? Because emmalyon and I are heading over there via BART later on this morning for a day of walking around, shopping and whatnot. Chances are quite good that a visit to Comic Relief (apparently one of the best comic book stores in the Bay Area, from what I've heard) and the original Amoeba Music store is in order. Emm's a little sad that the yarn store up there is not in the immediate area, but I shall attempt to bring her there or to some yarn store this week. ;) We will also be walking around the Shattuck and Telegraph Street areas, as well as part of the UC Berkeley campus. Pictures of course will be taken.

Other plans this week include:
--The Osamu Tezuka Exhibit at the Asian Art Museum
--A trip up to the North Bay, including the original Taylor's up in St. Helena (as seen on Food TV! :p ), Napa, a yarn store named Muse, and maybe a trip to the Charles Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa (a maybe--we might reschedule that for a different weekend).
--The Great Book Purge. We are definitely planning to weed out our collection and finally get around to rearranging it so it's in some semblance of order. More than likely that will take place later on in the week. Chances are good that we will be posting our purge on LJ for all to peruse for snaggage soon after.
--Watching more of our DVDs that we plan on eventually getting rid of. These are most likely going to be the "bought it because it was cheaper than renting" movies. ;)

...and that's about it.

So yeah, going to enjoy this week, kicking back and having fun. Will post pictures and other stuff soon!

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Oh--and confidential to lynxreign: After a lively conversation about Semisonic/Trip Shakespeare with Emm last night, it occurs to me that a few of our cds are still in your possession, ones I'd taken out of the car and meant to pack when we moved but forgot. I believe there are 2 Semisonic cds, and 2 compilation cds (with the IMF logo drawn on them) in white cd envelopes. If you see them in your unpacking/perusing/purging, PLEASE send them our way!!

(no subject)

Hey ho, back from Berkeley...

It wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be, but it did have its moments. Comic Relief was a rather impressive comic book store and I'm only sad that I forgot to write down exactly which trades I was looking for (the remaining Transmetropolitan books, the 2nd Blue Monday which I swore we had, etc.). I did pick up the last two issues of Strangers In Paradise, just so I had them on hand...now all I need do is wait for the last SiP trade to come out and I have the entire series! :)

CR is right next door to the first of many bookstores we went to, Half Price Books. It was a decent-sized used-and-new store and had a really good selection. I quickly thumbed through the cd section but kept myself from picking anything up...

(NOTE TO SELF: Sometime this week, write down all the Douglas Coupland books I have. I know I'm missing two or three, but I can't seem to remember which ones...)

I should also point out that this is finally the first time that I rode BART, which is a rather interesting experience...it's not often that one rides a train/subway/transit line that has a carpeted floor, comfy cloth seats and plenty of leg room. I was, of course, warned of the Doors of DOOOOOM (they WILL close on you if you're not fast enough, make no mistake). Not used to the train pass system, though...makes sense, but give me the MUNI Pass any day. ;)

Other points/items of interest--
--Bongo Burger, a hangout on Central Street. We didn't go in, but were amused by the name nonetheless. It's like a burger joint straight out of Questionable Content. And we very nearly chose to go to Top Dog as well, but alas we'll have to post at dogs_of_summer at a later point...
--C.U. Japanese Fusion, where we ate (strangely enough, no website!). Amazing how much sushi and chicken teriyaki I got for just $10. I was FULL after that.
--Moe's Books, right down the street from Amoeba. Four--count 'em--four floors of books. They certainly don't have everything you're looking for, but they have a pretty damn good selection and a really good variety of genres and topics. And finding out that Jonathan Lethem wrote Gun, With Occasional Music while working there gives it bonus points. ;) This store reminds me heavily of Johnson's Bookstore in downtown Springfield MA, which is probably why I loved it so much.
--The other (apparently better) Rasputin Records is right down the street from Amoeba. But due to very bad experiences at the Powell Street store, we decided we didn't really need to go there... ;)
--California Theatre looks like a really nice theater I'd like to go to (hell, they're playing Paprika, which I would LOVE to see). One of three different movie theaters we happened by.
--Shall I say that the dollar bin at the Amoeba up in Berkeley ROCKS?!?? The problem at the SF store is that their dollar bin has a boatload of stuff and it's fun to go through, but about 80% of it is utter crap, even by lynxreign's standards. Let's just say that if I had a lot more time and a lot more money and a lot more room, those bins at the Berkeley store would be just a bit more sparse after I was done with it....
--Note to the Bob Dylan wannabe on the BART ride back to SF who felt it was his life's purpose to serenade riders: Please, for the love of music--TUNE YOUR DAMN GUITAR. And STOP STARING AT MY WOMAN, DAMMIT. That, and there are in fact other guitar chords besides E, G, and D...just thought you'd like to know. ;)

So yeah, not exactly a city I'm overly excited about...lots of good stuff, but a bit out of the way and one has to be ready to do quite a bit of walking to go from one shopping strip (Shattuck) to another (Telegraph). And Emm's yarn store is nowhere near the area. It would make more sense to make a day of it by driving up there, but apparently parking is quite the joke. Perhaps another time...?

(I sadly didn't take any pictures, but Emm has taken some and will most likely post them in the future at some point...)