Find below some pics from my commute home. These were taken with the camera function on my phone. Traffic home from Oakland to San Francisco over the bridge is always at a crawl, so please don't fear for my safety in taking these.

It gives you a good idea of the range of weather we've been having (though we seem to be drying out now...) and of the beauty, even during traffic, of my surroundings.

This reads chronologically from the bottom up, starting with the blue-toned bridge pictures from February 18th...

Perhaps a clearer perspective on the height of this junk! 

And finally, from yesterday, can you believe how much stuff is piled on this truck? Imagine yourself standing next to the cab -- it must be 15 feet high!! 

Another view of the sky that evening, closer to home...you can get a sense of color from this one.

From last week, a crazy sunset...that pointy thing sticking up is actually part of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was really beautiful but the photo falls short... 

Same night, artsier pic. 

Stuck behind the F muni car in my neighborhood, 3/21/05 at 6:24pm. 

A week later, 2/25/05, at 2:30pm on a Friday... 

Same night, artsier pic... 

From 2/18/05, 6:18pm...my commute home over the bridge. 

The dark pink ones in the picture? Yep, those are mine now. See the story below.

Okay, this has to be one of the funnier things that has happened to me in ever so long a time.

This weekend Leslie and I went to Nordstrom's so she could spend a long-ignored birthday gift certificate. It just so happened that Nordstrom's was having a promotional event for Uggs, the ubiquitous ugly yet ever-so-comfy sheep skin boots seen on starlets for the last few years. This promotion involved signing up for a contest to win Uggs and a $100 gift certificate to Nordstrom's, trying on a pair of uggs in their new spring colors, and then getting free water/juice, a free foot massage, etc. So we decided, why not?

Uggs are comfy but I wasn't all that impressed. Leslie was a bigger fan than I. I could understand buying them if you live in a cold clime, but since my move to San Francisco, it would be way too trendy to rock them...

So naturally, what happens next?

With no warning, a pair of Uggs was on my doorstep this morning. I won the Uggs. In a color called 'Orchid,' dark pink.

I was on my way to work so I have yet to see if they included the gift certificate.

My life is astoundingly serendipitous in a hilarious and frequent kind of way.

So...I tried something new and as it turns out, broke one of my few cardinal rules in life...

The story is that on the 16th Steve and I celebrated another month of being together by going out to dinner at this great restaurant on Market St. -- neither of us had ever been but I'd heard good things about it.

On the menu they were offering sweet meats. Neither of us had ever tried them before, so we thought, why not? This is a good restaurant, I'm sure if anyone will make it taste good, they will...

...and it was delicious. The texture, of course, was weird, and if I thought about what I was eating too much it got a little hard to continue, but other than that, they really made it taste fabulous.

Now for the cardinal rule part. It was VEAL sweet meats. Having driven past a veal farm day after day after day for 6 years on my way to school, I have, for all of my life, declined to eat veal, knowing how those little calves are chained to the equivalent of dog houses, never to frolic, graze, run, or live a free existence. I know that all kinds of things that I eat probably go through the same process, but having been a witness to this so consistently, I just can't eat veal.

So what moved me to eat it this time? For some reason that I can't explain, when they said veal sweet meats, my mind translated it as venison. Now previously I wasn't one to eat venison either, but I tried it for the first time this Christmas because my uncle shot the deer himself and made it himself, and it was delicious. So thinking that I'd expanded my pallet to include venison, I erroneously ate veal.

In retrospect, I'm really sad, though I definitely don't see this as changing the rule -- I'll still avoid veal like the plague. I'll just look out for tricky mental blind spots now too...

Wow, I can't believe it's been over a month since I last posted. I'm trying to think of what's happened in the last month...my position as executive assistant has normalized, I've gotten some kudos about the 'depth and breadth' of my minute-taking, and the transition in nearly all aspects is going very well...and I've learned a lot, which is also nice...HR also seems to have transitioned well.

Things with Steve continue to be great. We're scheduled to go on a Gray Whale watch for the first weekend in April (my Christmas present to him). I'm really excited about that, it will be my first Gray Whale watch and his first whale watch ever. We have back-burner plans to get down to Monterey one of these days to see the Aquarium and generally check out the area, which I've yet to visit. (I'm also still dying to see the hippo exhibit in San Diego some day.) I also went with Steve to his cousin's son's baptism on Sunday -- his extended family is very pleasant and friendly and his grandmother, Martha, is a total riot -- Steve wasted no time in pointing out that we were both Phi Beta Kappas and the intellectual interrogation proceeded smoothly from there.

In my free time I've been finishing up my volunteering; the last volleyball session was this past Saturday, a celebration at which my home-made cookies were a huge success...it was gratifying to bake again after so long and with such praise when I did. I made chocolate chip cookies, 'melt in your mouth' sugar cookies with icing and sprinkles, and the all-time hit, peanut butter and hershey kiss cookies. I've also been reading Margaret George's historical "auto"biography on Cleopatra, getting fat on Steve's fantastic cooking and otherwise trying to stay healthy after all the maladies of February.

Tomorrow deserves a shout-out, and not just because it's St. Patrick's Day...it's also Mom and Steve Sabatini's 3 year anniversary. I can't believe it's only been three years, they seem like they've been together forever...in a good way. (~_-)

April is also going to be a HUGE birthday month -- my Aries/Taurean friends and family include: Steve Sabatini, 2-Dad (he has a milestone birthday this year), Jules, Marian, Alexis, Sanny (if only in spirit), and Sandie. And then shortly thereafter...Dad's 80th birthday celebration on May 15th, being held out here in San Francisco, with all my siblings, half or 'full', in attendance. Though the planning is proving somewhat arduous, I can't wait!

Okay, that's everything I can think of for now...oh yeah, Spring is springing, we've had a nice long spate of high 60's low 70's weather and the flowers are popping up left and right. You have to love March in San Francisco...that whole "in like a lion" thing is almost immediately overcome by "out like a lamb."

Ta ta...

Wow, I really like this test...if you try it, please email me to let me know what you'd be!!

The Mythological Profile Test

http://www.okcupid.com/tests/take?testid=2433319677885706722

Roc You scored 10% Esotericism, 54% Power, and 24% Malevolence!

In Arabian legends, the Roc are gigantic birds, often referred to as 'the Great', and capable of carrying off elephants for food. They are found in various stories of 'The Thousand and One Nights', and are also mentioned to by Marco Polo on his travels. Their eggs, according to Sinbad the Sailor, could measure up to 50 paces in circumference.

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 2% on Esotericism You scored higher than 81% on Power You scored higher than 46% on Malevolence