I moved to State College, PA to get out of Washington, DC and leave being a bike messenger at an even 10 years. At first the town kinda sucked (not the same as this place so don't even email me some lame idea that some day I will feel the same way about NorCal) but the woods were near and I was working in a bike shop in a relaxing place. After a few years- I ended up starting a shop with my friends at the time and racing was treating me well. As all things in life- I ended up moving on to school at Penn State to finish up a degree I started pursuing in 1990. All those kids that frustrated me in their damn school spirit were now my peers- kind of, some found it funny to point out that I was old enough to be their parent....nice. So where the hell am I going with this? Like 99% of the Penn State graduates...Gretta and I geeked yesterday on the PennState win over Ohio in a 13-6 slug fest! Colllege football is not cool to NorCal people. Not at all. That being said- we were asked this morning if Penn State won yesterday from this guy sitting out drinking coffee at a hipster joint fitting in as well as we do. So- now you can count NASCAR and the Sprint Cup points race along with PennState Football on their way to a possible national title bowl game as two things that aid in the "self/other" identification. Off to dream about Carl Edwards over taking Jimmy Johnson in the points race and Penn State going for a perfect season and national title. E
Eric (e-male) Roman, track biking first at checkpoint 3
I can't deal with these people much longer! hell- another few beers and I may just go on about leaving the class trip early for much the same frustrations...how long is grad school? Eye on the prize
1. NORCAL
Cali term that stands for "Northern California."
2. norcal Hella better than shitty socal. We even have the better greens.
3. NorCal
n. An abb. of Northern California. Has no more significance than any other geographic portion of the world but inhabitants of such location would like to point out their "personal superiority", which is in all respects unrelated to the definition. Most commonly identified when inquiring about the word "Hella" (!?!....what ever...east is best!-Eric and Gretta and always- Pepper!!!)
4. norcal The best fucking place on Earth. (again- what?!?!?!?!? e & g & always p)
Really- this is just cut and pasted from the web so it has to be true...that is what the smart people in my school say! for your"enjoyment"- My god we miss you people! At least we can tell you when you are getting on our nerves and you can (and often do) tell us the same!
you better be full of piss and vinegar at our wedding so we feel at home... e & g & always p
size comparison #1
size comparison #2 my how the dog grew in only 5 min.! I'll have what she is eating!- e
"that isn't the best illustration of our sizes...ass"
Lee Freidlander? Not quite...just relaxing in the desert for a rare quiet moment.
venturing out of NorCal has its pluses...my front yard one morning...suckers!
Haven't heard from my boy in two days now, and it seems forever. I'm supposing he is far out in the desert finding and framing beautiful images...meanwhile, back here in SF irony rules the day. The day began fairly harmless with my first taxi ride in the city. Chatty-Cathy (the driver) certainly challenged my morning communication skills. Thankfully I had the wherewithall to make coffee and take with me this am and could pass small talk along the short ride over to my boss's house. In another first (becoming less and less spectacular as novelty) I went to the (oh so surprisingly) uber-wealthy Mountain View. Our task here was to measure a dental office for a renovation. As my second site-measurement trip with the office, I am finding that I can finally do some things fairly confidently and helpfully. Minimal in the overall scheme of working in an office but certainly treasured experience on this end. After what we could only describe as "surviving" through the lite-rock playing in the dental office and trying to maneuvre around the small, nearly inaccessible nooks and reaching around patient patients and doctors to measure the space, we were happy to be back on the road to our comfortable, dirty city. Only... about ten minutes down the road, "WHACK....GLUMP GLUMP GLUMP...." Yeah, we got a flat. And where's the irony you ask? Steve just had the car serviced YESTERDAY (actually at the mechanic just next door to our apartment, ha!)!!! They had found a nail in the tire but said they had removed it... The nail was gone but the slow leak was not and BAM the sidewall popped. So, there we were, just outside Mountain View, Cupertino, Los Altos (aka Silicon Valley) with a popped tire and tight lugnuts. Yep, we were just about to save our own day by changing the tire (thank you, bro Kevin for those invaluable lessons when I was 16 and sitting down on Pruett St with a busted sidewall..."I'm only showing you this once. Don't expect me to drive all the way to town next time...Are you paying attention???"). But, those damned lugnuts just would not loosen. We tried everything and then just decided that two architects were just not fit to use tools. Instead we used those brilliant, sharp (ha!) tools on our shoulders and figured out that Steve had road-side assistance with his insurance and we happily called for help. Two and a half hours, two very kind Mountain View cops, and two bottles of water (from the incredibly nice second cop who was about to go off duty and thought we needed to stay hydrated... quite a redemption for Cali folks :) ) later our rescue arrived...As he strolled up with this amazing (yes, in this situation it was, relatively speaking) jack and crow bar that made our little trunk tools seem quite flimsy, we really could only notice the flash of his---get this---BATMAN belt buckle. He was definitely our hero, and after many many thanks we were off again. We arrived back to the city safely, and I made it just in time to let Pep out...poor little thing was about to pop. I made a pizza, thinking "man, I would just order out if it wasn't so stinkin hard to let people into the building without going down and physically letting them in" and after a long, tedious day of measuring a dental office... I broke a tooth on my lazily half-cooked pizza. Do I sound cranky? Eh, just chalk it up to another day in SF.
How many architects does it take to change a flat??
This was the real rescue of the week though... From our office window we could see the 250 acre wild-fire that was burning on Angel Island across the bay and the amazing force of helicopters and firefighters that put the blaze out by noon.
But, it was too late for the rescue of the Monkey... indeed, this might be the end of orange monkey.
Here's Pep taking out the frustrations of a city dog.
I wouldn't want to disappoint Eric by leading on that anything is "wonderful" about this place, but I will inject here that SoMa and our little nook in the middle of this craziness is starting to feel more and more like home. The apt is still pretty bare. We've been doing what we can in the meantime to fill the space with our newly adapted lifestyle--living on the floor--and we have made HUGE cushions for laying and sitting on. There's this awesome fabric discount warehouse around the corner, and I pulled out the trusty machines. Voila! We now have furniture to add to our storage and cardboard boxes that serve as our office/entertainment center and a bed. This whole no-furniture thing is actually starting to reshape the way we spend our time. Eric has found his reading spot, the new computer and printer have settled into a sweetly convenient place for a morning push of the NPR station or flip of the rockabilly "pepper-comfort" station when we leave, and the bikes seem to fit well on our porch. Speaking of--to revisit how much we adore the "laid-back cali attitude" (aka a lovely blend of preachy, bossy, and passive aggressive)--we found out that our porch should not be used as a drying rack. Apparently the neighborhood is too classy to hang your clothes on your balcony... but we were only trying to be "green" like every other saint in this place. We didn't use the dryer but we can't use our balcony?? I give. But something good did come out of that little convo with the doorman who (passive-aggressively, of course) informed us of this building rule: he's on his way to Antigua in a few weeks...for good! Now, why would we be excited about this? Well, I should say that even though he is nice most of the time, he is also considerably nosy and talkative and loves, loves, loves Pep. You can imagine how much Eric enjoys the little bit of obligatory interaction that has become unavoidable every night on the last pee-run. Ha! Eh...I'm sure we'll miss him once he's gone.
Doorman or whatever...the person missed around here is Eric! Yes, his landscape photography class trip time has arrived and he's off to Nevada (left Friday afternoon actually). We've spent the last week gathering everything he needed, including a swanky (probably not a word he would choose) new down vest. Now, it's really quiet round here...no one waking me up at 5 am to go photograph...no one thumping my knuckles...no one sticking their cold hands to me! And call me crazy, I even miss that! Yeah, I've been talking Pep's ear off poor little thing. I'll be back at work tomorrow so she'll get her daily dose of sleeping on the bed then. Lovin the job...and if I'm going to be able to get up on my own w/o E's help, I'd better be off to bed.
The studious boy pushing through his mounds of reading, and offering occasional advice and thoughts in the process of our furniture making.
packed and loaded... yeah, full of something is right!
Sportin the SC pride ...all over the west
Ah! Done!
Pep doing her part in giving it a test drive...she approves.
All week has been "fleet week," and we've been buzzed all day by the Blue Angels. It's pretty wild to hear these things coming from forever away but not too sure from which direction and then BAM RATTLE BAM they're right over your head and LOW!! It was crazy. Pep hated it. And while this is from our balcony, this has been going on all week...
and oh yeah... my office is only less than five block probably from where this was filmed... fun.
I really hate the west, california, and san francisco...that being said- your neighborhood is simply that- Your Neighborhood! What do I mean by that? This place sucks but it is home (just for now mind you...) So, anyway...we have a TraderJoe's in the 'hood and we like walking there with the dog so we don't have to ride and it burns time some nights without booze or TV. For some reason we have been going through soy milk super fast these days and we always forget to get it on the big nights of shopping. So, after the debate tonight and watching all of the round up comentary we headed off to get our soy milk and some granola and vanilla yogert and some sun flower seeds. Nothing too odd, just the necessitys for life. So on the walk back we see this guy walking towards us and we decide to walk single file on the sidewalk and offer a quick "hi" as most people make a coment about Pepper in passing. Anyway, instead of a simple "hello" we were presented with one of the truest things ever said to me"...you are the whitest honkies I have ever seen." Being who and what I am- I was more than pleased with this observation and kindly offered up that it indeed was not an easy task to undertake but the two of us did our honest to goodness best. I made sure to point out that we even suffer through Freinds as often as we can. Thank goodness he was impressed and continued on with superlatives in our whiteness. I could go into my past in DC and all that but why try to get into self loathing of being who we really are. I take back what I said about people here being passive agressive- it warmed my heart to no end that some guy had an issue with us and put it out there. Honestly- it was really nice to see. I think there might have been and east coast accent or I might have just wanted to hear one. Besides, we really are kinda obviously from somewhere else. Don't belive me? The image above should say it all... thanks to the boys at FreezeThaw for the trailer being sent out here so we can kiss that (g)ass goodbye...I don't care what the government wants to do about oil prices and the desert countries, we are gonna take the bike, trailer, and smiles to the grocery store! Kiss it...Deuce!
eric and (with extreme reservation...)Gretta
PS Kevin and ShayShay- I would think twice before getting too excited about me being around while school is out! Word is I have to learn to shoot animals with Orin. A yankee with a gun might be more than Hooker Switch is ready for. This "inlaw" thing is gonna be fun for me!!!
There's no logical place to begin to catch up on EVERYTHING that has been going on as we settle into our new lives. Needless, to say, we continue to "deal" with the people here. Crazy how the mentality of culture is so different. I remember the biggest lesson from getting to stay in Rome for any extended amount of time being something all together different: "Wow...even an ocean apart, a different language, and extraordinarily diverse histories and nothing is really different--just humanity...living." Perhaps it is the expectation of same-ness that throws the wrench into this hope for familiarity and the making of a place home. But, enough there... MANY good things have been unfolding despite our continuing grouchiness about San Franciscans, and in an uncharacteristic (at least for myself typically) superstitious mood I have avoided writing about the anticipation of any of them on the blog! But, now... it's pretty safe (cross your fingers here [x], please).
First, we sold the car! Yeah...in the space of one week, we "smog-checked" it (Cali is "great" for keeping close tabs on emissions...not so much for keeping tabs on jerks...maybe we could suggest a "jerk-check" to go along with all the other crazy paperwork and hoops you have to jump through at the DMV to register a car...but then...who would be driving??), registered in CA, posted it again on Craig's List...and WHAM! This guy called, we showed it to him on a Saturday and passed the keys off on Tuesday. Acutally, it was the same day that I got a call from Kuth/Ranieri Architects (www.kuthranieri.com) that wanted to hire me! Yeah...I GOT A JOB!
Other than these enormous life changes...we've been doing what we can to make our little haven a home. We spent less than $100 and got a full-size mattress and boxspring, a TV, a DVD player, 5 plates, 2 bowls, a broom, and even a vaccuum cleaner. Thank you Craig's List and Goodwill! We've been sitting on the floor so long now...I think we are becoming pretty accustomed to it. I don't think we would feel right sitting on a couch now, and the dog seems to like it alright :)
Let's see...we scored $5 tix to a Giant's game. Totally lucky. Of course, Eric was kickin the SC pride. "What? You don't know what this obscure little deer is on my hat?? It's only the State College Spikes...New York Penn League?? Oldest league in the nation?? Geez...Whatever, brah..."
Our seats were hell and gone from any type of view of the game but the park looked cool as the sun set and we realized we had a full wi-fi signal at ATT park for the iPhones!!! All was not lost that night!
While we save some dough on haircuts...we've (splurged??) on a SWEET new computer. That's right...I'm writing on this speed machine right now. We've been planning on a new Mac mini for about two months now, and BAM! We went into the Apple store and poor little Oscar (the sales guy there) was so disappointed we just wanted to buy the stupid thing and didn't have any questions...That's right. We're not so into the mindless, nicey chatter. On that note...
Mmmmm...it's OK...this is the new hipster look anyway! Quick- off to my fixed gear bike with my skin tight jeans, messenger bag strapped high and tight, shitty "old school" tatoos, and euro glasses...I have expensive coffee to drink and mediocre art to philosophise about!!!! (unfortunatly there is only one of those things I don't have- tight jeans hurt my junk)
Oh- and just to make sure it isn't lost in Gretta's optimism- San Francisco blows...alot. And all the NASCAR races are listed at east coast time- If I wanted to do math every Sunday to figure out what time to watch them boys turn left for 3 hours I would have gone to a state school...again. Grrrrr. e
So, at this point it isn't a secret that California isn't really what I favor. It has been almost 2 months here and I feel like the place is revealing itself slowly- perhaps for the best. SF is different from Marin County. Take the obliviousness of money and insulation from the "common" people and insert the same lack of personal space based upon urban situation and south american/asian backgrounds. For some reason it is easier to deal with people being rude by taking up the entire eisle at the grocery when it is attributable to their heritage. I think it has everything to do with why people suck and why they are just anoying. Marin people suck to deal with for the most part...city people are just anyoying. The neighborhood is interesting. Gay as you can find- and interesting. Gretta and I are readying ourselves for the Folsom Street Fair in late September. You see, we don't seem to have tourists in the area- we have visitors making pilgramage to the center of thier lifestyle. I have to say- everyone is super nice to deal with and most of the clubs have something on the outside stating that they are responsible for the neighborhood or about being good people or not getting into the bar. Interestingly, if you were to visit us it might seem odd that there are no women around---this is boy land. Big, tuff, hairy, gay boys. I would hate to be some common street thug starting shit with some scrawny guy while his big partner is in the corner store watching...that would suck. School is along the same lines as everything else. Disappointing. The facilitys are lacking in common equipment, the rules are piling up like never before, and you have to "check out a key" to use the darkroom. Anyone who would be reading this knows that I HATE to have resrtictions placed on when I can get things done. It may be a long two years or a quick few weeks...I can't imagine budging and don't think they will find me charming for pushing as hard as I do. So- there you have it. California sucks. SFAI is over priced and full of rules to keep things in order (not very revoltionary, at least in a good way) The people suck. Rich kids don't care about much- just looking cool for the first week of school. Eric
