No snow in sight

Nice late summer weather in Stockholm.

From iPad

Happy Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day ya'll! It's the first time since 2009 I'm not in the US to celebrate. Feels kinda weird. But Sarah's in muggy Hong Kong working and I'm in chilly Stockholm working so we both have to suck it up. No Labor Day holiday for us this year. We're saving it for later ;-)

No fire without smoke

After already arrived in Sweden since a couple days and Sarah in Hong Kong, though with a few days delay via Dubai, we got a pic from our friends in Nevada, close to Reno and Lake Tahoe. The big Rim Fire in Yosemite is spreading and the smoke is spreading even further, actually much further. Maybe you don't see anything special in this pic but the truth is in the distance there should tower beautiful mountains - now it's a smoky haze. Our friends are pretty pissed, because who wants to live in a house that smells like a Ranger's cabin?

The flight

It's a 4-hour flight to O'Hare. Been there before. Sarah doesn't mind the airport but my experience of it is no good. Hope this time will change my opinion.

From iPad

Gate 94

The San Bruno mountains with the ocean layer on top and parts of South San Francisco
can be seen from our Chicago bound gate at SFO this Wednesday morning.

From iPad

Stuffed

Our friendly neighbor Terry is driving us and our luggage to our rental apartment in SF. Sarah and I are flying together to Chicago tomorrow and then Sarah will go for a 3-week working trip to Hong Kong via Dubai. I'll be heading back to Sweden. This is her stuff for her trip. It fills up a whole friggin car (!).

From phone

1st Year Anniversary

1st year Anniversary breakfast! We have the whole day ahead of us to do whatever we want. No one else. Just us. Gotta love that...

From phone

[EDIT: We will be uploading our private photos onto Sarahs FTP throughout the day, so sign in any time you like and browse at your heart's content.]

Playful reference - serious business

A superhero agency is certainly needed to deal with the chaotic traffic situation in the Bay Area...

Bay Bridge opens

Looks like the new Bay Bridge will get its Grand Opening on Labour Day Holiday weekend after all, despite the broken rods and all. Feds have signed off on the temporary fix.

Photo: The Chronicle

Yet another veggie eatery pops up

My old colleagues took me to a relatively new veggie restaurant in Oakland today. Crazy cheap lunch and a crazy amount of dishes and entrees to choose from. The verdict after my sesame "chicken" lunch? So so. I have had better. The soup that comes with the lunch menu was absolutely OK but the spring roll was stale.

From iPad

Vintage SF

At the corner of Geary and Larkin. A piece of vintage San Francisco.

From iPad

Change of theme

Speaking of murals, the good old whale theme on Olive is now gone. Instead there is a clown theme of sorts.

From iPad

Say whaat!

There's a new mural on Geary, one block from our rental on Jones street. I don't know what it's supposed to say. It's well done but it doesn't emit good vibes. It's like it wants to say: You're close to Tenderloin so get 'scared to the bone' and 'jump out of your skin' cuz you're gonna get chopped up anyway. Weird.

From iPad

Filbert street

A part of San Francisco I can never get tired of...

Community BBQ

Every other Sunday we're having a community bbq on the hill. Good for the neighborhood and for maintaining friendships. Today Sarah's the emcee :-)

The "other" America

You can easily tell you're in the Bay Area by the liberal standpoints just about anything. Sweet.

Stay on your toes - and don't scratch

California's got its share of monsters. Real ones.

Garden update

Today we're off to buy some new garden slabs for our backyard.

From iPad

Wildlife

Almost all recreation areas around the Bay Area have info on wildlife and fauna along the walking trails. They tell about snakes and mountain lions. Never seen any though.

Sunday walk

Sunday walk in East Bay.

Fort Mason

Fort Mason in the Marina District, San Francisco, CA.

Nightly activities

Now and then Sarah has to work at night, like when she needs to be online with her clients in China. How she keeps herself awake? Not lots and lots of coffee as what one would expect (she is a tea drinker btw) but with lots and lots of cookie bars. You can tell by the content of the trash can its been a rough night
;-)

From iPad

Odors of a city within a city

Walking through Chinatown makes you encounter a lot of things, like odors for example. Most of them are pleasurable, but some are not. To me Chinatown smells of food and garbage. The major streets are jam packed with vendors selling everything imaginable, edible or not. The back alleys are jam packed too, as you can see.

Heading to our house again

On our way to Sausalito. A tropical storm is heading our way, according to the news.

From phone

Homeworld in HD

This blog isn't about games anymore but I feel obliged to highlight the fact that Gearbox is going to release HD remakes of the RTS golden goodies Homeworld and Homeworld 2 on PC. The company purchased the IP when THQ were sold in the beginning of 2013. Cool.

Vintage SF

A piece of vintage San Francisco. Green street, North Beach. My favorite neighborhood.

The non-typical SF

This is not the typical SF. This is the gluttonous Fisherman's Wharf. Sadly what many tourists will see (and think they have to see) when they tour The City.

The typical SF

A genuine San Francisco building on Columbus. Style, color and atmosphere that's typical for The City.

Gondolas? Here?

No folks, it's not Venice. It's Oakland, CA.

Lakeshore Avenue

Some upscale properties on Lakeshore Avenue, Oakland, CA.

Lake Merritt view

The entire downtown Oakland right there.

Lake Merritt

The farthest corner of Lake Merritt with Our Lady of Lourdes Church to the right.

Saturday in Oakland, CA

Downtown Oakland with the old Hill Castle Apartment Hotel in the center of the photo.

Oakland and Lake Merritt

Part of downtown Oakland taken from Lake Merritt.

The city of Oakland

Sarah went to a meeting today in Oakland and I tagged along. The Lake Merritt offers quite a few beautiful views of the city.

Can't get enuff of 'em!

After a rather confused day we ended up in our favorite pizza restaurant in Marin County: Round Table in Mill Valley. I'm very picky when it comes to pizzas, even pickier than Sarah. But this is da shit. I dream of this pizza for days after we've been here. Just look at this beauty!

From iPad

Bugs?

Perry is worrying about bugs in our garden. Our nutty neighbor is even more worried and thinks he sees termites. C'mon guys, have you ever heard the expression to have bats in the belfry?

From Sarah's iPhone

Born in 1972

The beauty of a giant.

SOMA

Yerba Buena Gardens in the SOMA district. I've been eating my lunch hundreds of times in this park when I worked at Third street.

Flights

You all know of the tragic crash at SFO. Scary. But we know the authorities did a great job and still do taking care of victims and relatives and many airlines are waiving their change-ticket fees for all travellers who have to return home while the airport still has excessive delays. Oakland's and San José's airports are used to take care of diverted flights, which normally are due to foggy conditions on the peninsula. Speaking of flights, we have our plane tickets ready for Sweden on the 14th of July but it looks like we have to cancel them. Sarah got a new "summer contract" a few weeks ago and it ends in early August and is worth a lot of money. So it looks like our trip to Sweden has to wait until later.

Photo: The Chronicle

Holiday "fun"

Some people do the craziest things on their holiday weekend. These guys are very far out on the Bay. There are great whites lurking in the waters here.

From iPad

A favorite place

The Spinnaker restaurant in Sausalito with Tiburon as backdrop.

From iPad

Happy America's Birthday!

At Sausalito/Golden Gate Vista Point we wish you all a Happy 4th of July.

Independent lunch

Stopped by the Epic Roasthouse and had a late 4th of July lunch on our way out of town.

From iPad

The Ferry Building

A conversation between a father and a daughter I overheard the other day:
- Look, there's the Ferry building!
- Fairy building? Fairies aren't real.
- It's a boat, sweetie.
- Oh...

The only way is up

One Rincon Hill North Tower is on its way up. This second tower was put on hold due to the recession in 2008 but now when "all is well" in Wall Street of the West Coast, it shot root in the fertilized soil and started to grow.

Today's special

Can you believe it. This picture is taken in one of the best Indian/Pakistani restaurants in the US. It's actually been rated among the 50 top restaurants in the country. It's authentic, it's shabby, dirty and greasy. It's food heaven. We're talking Shalimar on Jones street, folks.

Strike is here

People around Bay Area are waking up this Monday morning earlier than usual. Much earlier if they rely on the BART. The much feared strike is here. It's gonna take forever to go to work. This is why we have a car AND three different places to stay: Livermore, Sausalito and San Francisco. Yes, I know it sounds awfully crazy but being married to the most pragmatic wife in the world - you got to be omnipresent.

From iPad

Post Parade Activities

The bar downstairs was packed already by 3pm. It's gonna be a noisy night...

Catching breath after the parade

Revellers seeking shade in our street.