I have been recruited to teach one of the owners of Nob Hill Grille and his niece a set of Beginner Tango lessons. We'll be doing this at Space Gallery, as Ray has generously donated the hardwood floors to the cause. :) I wrote much of BARFODDER at Ray's old venue in North Beach before he sold it.

The Muppet and I attended their one-year anniversary party some weekends past, and it was full of sublime nibbles and lovely wine. We got to watch them do the photography of the food and guests for the soon-to-be-hatched website, and enjoyed everyone looking very smart in their suits and cocktail casual.

and I have been going there for a year now, and we often take Thumbilina to dinner, as its also her favorite restaurant (ever since they fashioned a birthday candle out of a coffee stirrer and lit on fire atop her creme brulee...tee hee).

Labels: food, tango

posted by Rain at 4:43 PM

Piddly Doings and I Heart Your Longboard

Well, I’ll be darned.

I just attended a meeting of what a portion of our programming looks like…at least, one type of it. Since we all get bogged down with producing the creative, we don’t always get to see what other teams are working on. When you go to a supermarket and there are TV screens at the checkout, what you see on those screens is what we do: it’s an in-store television network of branded or unbranded content. It’s specifically not advertising – but more a customer experience. The idea is not to advertise to the viewer, but rather engage them so they don’t feel agro about the wait time in a line. After all, you have already made your choices at that point, and seeing a commercial while waiting in line is more likely to make you *more* agitated.

I’m pretty stoked about a lot of the things we’ve done, but never really saw (before) this type of content.

Some things to catch you up to speed… The signature sheets for IN LAYMON’S TERMS are nearly on the way. No update on the release of BARFODDER, however.

Had a 50/50 weekend. The nights seemed to go great; the days…meh…not so great. On Friday I hung out with (lets see if I can find a suitable code name, here…hmmm…maybe I’ll go with his cat’s name) Stella and we checked out a Cuban restaurant called Laurel in Hayes Valley, which was pretty good – except for the squid being rubbery in the seafood stew I had. Mmmmmm…chewy tentacles.

The flavors and spices were an interesting mix of spicy-mild but flavorful, which is something I like a lot. Having not seen Stella in ten years (aside from a brief catch-up at Bigfoot last week), re-connecting was a really cool thing. It’s always great to spend time with people you haven’t seen for a decade and feel as if you never lost touch at all.

Saturday evening, I kicked it with Chardonnay at the Cigar Bar, then headed over to the other Cigar Bar for a birthday party for Snake Bite’s friend. There was a live Cuban Salsa band, and we all danced, caroused, and generally had a blast. My salsa (especially Cuban) is very rusty, but I had more than enough willing dance partners. MachoLatino might recall what I said to him years ago, at a hip hop club when we went up to the Salsa room and he started…well…dancing (?). “Oh, honey…you are thinking, ‘I am latin – there-fore I can,’” – and he couldn’t. He could tango, but not salsa. Snake Bite’s buddies were much the same, except only one of them was Latin. One of them had a tattoo of Texas on his arm, too. I give all of them props for having the balls to try, though, and having a heck of a good time doing it. Later, a very good Cuban dancer invited me to dance, but I was much in my martini’s by then. Though I held my own, I wasn’t exactly graceful in the execution, I think.

Sunday I was supposed to surf, but wound up doing laundry at Libitina’s instead. Her husband now has a new nickname: Muppet Man. He prefers Kermit, but I just can’t go there. The inside joke is far too embarrassing for me not to take full advantage of it (think furries…he “found the orifice” once). We spent the day going through Libitina’s closet, tossing old things that don’t fit, trying on things that might still fit, and so forth. It’s extremely depressing to see the girl has dwindled to a size Double Zero (yep, I said it – the 00 word), but she is a tiny thing to begin with, and eating healthy, and doing yoga – so there’s not much to kibosh her with; she’s doing it right.

Muppet Man opened up an amazing French Bordeaux that we had all thought had been aged too long and was spent. When he decanted it, it smelled dead, really. Tasted vinegarish. After 30 minutes, the aroma was of vanilla and slightly floral. It tasted dry, but smooth. Another 30 minutes and that wonderful fall leaves quality was in the nose, and the flavor was incredible – it almost drank like water, it was so smooth and complex, but light on the palate. It was a 1999, but I can’t recall the name…must…ask…the frog.

Was going to hang with Midnight Sunday evening, but got home too late and was too pooped to pip. We rarely get to see much of Midnight these days. He works, and then he works some more, and we all miss him. When he has free time, we try to jump on it. Alas, I had to sleep in stead.

Monday morning I received some beautiful flowers at the office. Played a few rounds of dice after work. Lost miserably (thankfully not money), but the whole gang was there (even Snake Eyes – not to be confused with Snake Bite, though they are both surfers. Snake Eyes you might recall, is of the Ocean Beach Incident. Snake Bite was in Bolinas). At one point it was Muppet Man, Chardonnay, Snake Eyes, WineBob, WineRob (aka Dread Pirate Rob, as he has a sailboat we’ve all been on, and he plunders booty), (c)Superman, Mork-n-Mindy (who are actually two separate people but married, so they are practically the same), Rodney Dangerfield (because he looks and acts just like…yep), and later…even Sparkling Banker With Fruit Garnish and Brit Pop showed up. The gang was all there. I do love the gang. Chardonnay is heading to the east coast next week for her birthday, and I’m going to try and hook her up for drinkies and surf talk with WaterWookie and his girlfriend.

More is on the plate this week: Libitina tomorrow; Corporate shindig Friday (which I may bail on); Stella on Saturday; and Guido’s birthday bbq on Sunday. The Fabulous Home of Large Felines () on Monday for more of her fabulous culinary sKiLLz with on Monday.

Cripes. No wonder I’ve had no time to clean.

On a side note…I’m getting rid of those ghastly huge Monster THX Surround Sound speakers in my livingroom to make room for a longboard. If you live locally (I will not ship them) and want to swap for say…a Johnny Rice longboard or want to just buy the speakers (which would give me the cash for a new board), drop me a note. (raingraves "at" yahoo).

Here’s the info on the speakers. Brand new, never used (because they are HUGE and I live in an apartment – my neighbors would hunt me down and kill me). The monster speaker cables are included with the speakers. The speakers retail for $800 a piece, and the cables usually retail for about $150. So make me a reasonable offer (one that will reasonably buy me a new longboard), and they're yours.

If you've got a longboard to trade - WaterWookie has been helping me figure out what exactly I need: 8’6 to 9 foot, between 2 and 2.5” thick (though not as important as length), that will catch any wave, is easy to paddle and turn, and good for beginners on up. If it's used it's got to be water-tight, like new with no repairs needed, or new and never used, and have progressive rails. Tri-fin set-up. One big fin box with two side biters that can be removed. It can be ugly or even girly, as long as it performs like a dream. I saw a used Johnny Rice women's longboard that was exactly what I wanted...alas, its $500.

Since all the free mad-money is going to PianoMan (lawyer) in May, and I'm still playing catch-up, I will not be splurging unless I sell the speakers.

Labels: friends, surfing, tango

posted by Rain at 3:59 PM