new year's eve eve and eve

We started off New Year's weekend with a trip to San Francisco on Friday.  We parked in Noe Valley and took the streetcar all the way to the Ferry Building.  Apparently, the whole F-Market and Wharves streetcar line is now run with vintage streetcars.  We rode to the Ferry Building in one from Milan, Italy.

fun with my camera in the ferry building

 After hanging out at the Ferry Building for a while, we went out and strolled along Market Street.  We stopped by the Humboldt Bank Building, built in 1906, in which I used to work.  Our first floor offices are now a Men's Wearhouse - and the old vault which served as our library now holds shoe stock!

interesting sculpture 

 my desk used to be right here!

 We saw a cable car, still with holiday decorations, turn around, load up, and head off.  Then we walked up to Union Square.  On the way, we found the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile parked in the porte cochere of Hotel Nikko!

 Christmas tree at Union Square

 We headed back to Market Street to catch a streetcar back to Noe Valley, nice and early for a New Year's Eve Eve party!  This time, we rode a vintage car painted in tribute livery to Chicago, IL.  The Gerard's party featured the Benny G Quartet (or something like that).

streetcars from Philadelphia, Chicago, and Milan

 Benny G Quartet

 New Year's Eve was another relaxing day, with a visit to high school friend Karen in the afternoon - bringing the good influence of a Cal T-shirt to her daughter!

And I'll continue with the start of 2012 in the next post!

holidays!

Catch-up time!  I went back to the Bay Area, stopping in Folsom for lunch with Pearl and Rachana.

Next stop - Berkeley!  I strolled around campus for a bit, and did a bit of shopping.

I enjoyed dinner with my good friends Alex and Sharon and their two kids, then taught them how to tune up the edges and then wax their skis and snowboards.

Back in Cupertino, I enjoyed a relaxing time with my parents.  We decorated the Christmas tree, Christmas-shopped, and I read a bunch of books!  We enjoyed Christmas morning opening gifts, then headed out to Fremont Older Open Space for a short hike.

Boxing Day my father and I saw the movie War Horse.  Great movie!  Three days later, we took a trip to Santa Cruz with our bicycles.  We pedaled out to the wharf and saw some sea lions doing what looked to be a synchronized swimming routine!  I looked it up and discovered that it's called a "raft" when they float in a group, and that they stick their fins up out of the water as a means of regulating their body temperature.  We enjoyed lunch on the wharf, a stroll on the Boardwalk, a ride on the Giant Dipper roller coaster, riding out to the marina, the "Secret Garden," and a cool park where I tried the "King Dancer" yoga pose for the first time ever.

riding from the wharf to the Boardwalk

 "King Dancer"

 view of the Boardwalk from the wharf

synchronized sea lions

Next post will continue with New Year's weekend...