Friday Randomness
Looks like I didn’t do a Friday Randomness last week, so let’s get caught up.
This week uber-creative blogger Michelle and her husband were in San Francisco for a medical appointment (thankfully great news there!), and when they asked if I wanted to pop over for dinner, of course I said yes! As always, meeting a blogger is like meeting a friend, because they ARE a friend, just one that you haven’t met in person before. In this case I got a bonus, because her husband joined us for dinner. It was lovely to get to know them a bit in person, and hear about their very rural life, which is so very different from my semi-urban life in the Bay Area, and reminded me in some ways of my childhood in Fairbanks, Alaska. My only complaints were that we forgot to take a picture of us, and she didn’t bring her dollhouse for us to play with. (Can you imagine what an undertaking that would be? HA!) Going into the City for dinner presents the question of public transit vs. driving. It’s cheaper to drive, assuming you can find free parking. Their hotel was in a neighborhood where I might find street parking, but it’s always risky. Also, as much as I love SF, I do not love driving there. I’m comfortable doing it, but it’s never fun with so many cars, people walking in front of you in the middle of a block, one way streets, and the parking issue. So I decided to take public transportation. I live about 2 blocks from a BART station, so that part was easy, but getting from the BART station to their hotel was more complicated. Should I take a bus? Walk? Take the cable car? Walking is fine, but there are some very steep hills on the most direct route and I didn’t want to get there all sweaty. Buses are fine but kinda boring. The cable car is the best, kind of fun and also pretty direct. But spendy. Riding the cable car is $9 each way, so would more than double the cost of my trip. Oh well, it’s only money, right? And Michelle and her husband were kindly treating me to dinner, so overall not too expensive. I remember when I lived in San Francisco that sometimes if you hopped on the Cable Car a few blocks along on the route, they wouldn’t bother to collect a fare from you. The last 2 times I have tried this, it has not gone my way and I’ve had to pay, but this time I got lucky, and not just once but twice! Yay! Thank you, kind Cable Car operators! And thank you Michelle and Pat for a lovely dinner and conversation! If you get a chance to hang out with Michelle, I highly recommend it.
The other morning I was out for my morning walk, and happened upon a long line of folks in front of Best Buy waiting for them to open. I asked someone what the deal was, and they said Pokémon cards. True? Who knows, but it made me kind of happy to see them out there doing their thing.
There are 3 units for sale in our townhome complex. Now that we have our pretty siding up and the construction is over, it’s a good time to sell. Or it was a couple of months ago when 2 units sold for $X. 2 of these 3 asked for that same amount, but the 3rd went about $100k less. What? Why? These are townhouses, and pretty identical. Some difference could be explained by upgrades in the kitchen or whatever, but not $100k worth. I’m sure this is really messing with the other 2. I’m glad we’re not trying to sell right now.
There are still 5 kittens at the rescue where I clean kennels a couple of days a week. Look at this one, all stretched out. Cute tummy.
I went to the Farmers’ Market on Sunday, when it was 97 degrees and disgusting out. Right after I took this picture, the vendor moved the grapes from these bins into the shade. Not sure if that was for the grapes or for the shoppers, but I was happy about it and bought a bunch. I love August and September grapes around here, so good. I also got berries and tomatoes. I had money left, and was going to look for some vegetables, but it was too hot and I was sweating and didn’t want to think anymore. So I took my fruit and went home.
I saw this random photo on Facebook. True? Fake? Don’t know, but I liked it! You know, except the idea that someone dumped a broken printer on a street corner. And clearly it’s not current, since July 3 was on a Friday this year (I know because it’s our anniversary, so I pay attention.)
What else. Well, I had a money win this week. I told you all a while ago about Capital One Shopping. The basic idea is that you sign up for it (you do not have to use or even have a Capital One credit card or account), and then they send you emails with offers. You go to those websites through the links, and shop, and you get points that you can use to buy gift cards. Of course they track your browsing and send you deals that are related to what you shopped for, which is surely how they make money. ANYWAY, I bought something or another and had $45 worth of gift cards at Ulta. THEN the shampoo we use went on sale, 2 for $48 (instead of $68), so I snapped it up and was pretty proud of myself. With tax, I ended up paying $7 something for my shampoo. I mean, I could save a lot of money by using a drug store shampoo, but this stuff really works well for us, and as I’ve gotten older my hair is more picky.
Today I’m going to dinner with my darling friend Neva. Thankfully the weather is perfect (cool and breezy) rather than the stupid 100 we had last week. Tomorrow we’re having Ted’s parents over to celebrate their 51st wedding anniversary.
I hope you have wonderful blogger meetups, and beautiful weather, and no wildfire smoke, and family and friend time. Happy Friday!
38 Comments
nance
I desperately want the printer saga to be true. These days, Kindness and Conservation are all the more important (along with Honesty, Integrity, and…the list is endless).
How fun that you were able to meet up with Michelle! I made a very dear friend of over 40 years in a meet-up situation, way back when AOL was a thing and my computer was dialing up the internet. We were part of a huge group/forum that ended up organizing big get-togethers at least once or twice a year. My mother used to say, “Nance! This doesn’t sound safe. They could be axe murderers for all you know!” SPOILER: THEY WERE NOT.
(As always, I love love love your post header image. I always get a good smile/chuckle from them on Fridays.)
J
I was never part of a forum like that, but my mom was and met up with big group and had a wonderful time. They went to Las Vegas. I’ll admit that I was a little worried for her safety, and she said, “Are you kidding? It’s a bunch of women trying to lose weight, not serial killers.” Of course, it could have been a serial killer PRETENDING to be a woman trying to lose weight. Or a serial killer who IS a woman trying to lose weight. The options are endless. And of course, no, it was fine and she had a great time.
Nicole MacPherson
I am so happy you and Michelle met! It’s my dream to meet her one day – and you too!!! It will happen. I am manifesting it!
The grapes are doing their thing around here, harvest is just around the corner and the vineyard crew is gearing up for it. It’s an exciting time of year!
J
You live in such a beautiful place Nicole, and that makes me want to come to your place. Of course, San Francisco isn’t shabby either. (Unless you’re in the wrong neighborhood…)
I love grape season, which is also tomato season. So much delicious produce!
Elisabeth
I am so happy you got to meet up with Michelle. Meeting the two of you is on my Dream List!!!
Great work on the savings. It’s such a thrill, isn’t it!
And enjoy your special lunch with a friend.
51 years… wow!
J
Thanks Elisabeth! Like I commented to Nicole, you live in a beautiful place that I would love to visit someday! And SF is a great place to visit. If you were to visit my little suburb (and why would you when SF is no close?) there is a Mazarati dealership that Indy might enjoy. Does he like looking at fancy cars in captivity like that, or only out in the wild?
Elisabeth
He just loves cars in general! Of course “in the wild” is the most expensive, but he won’t turn his nose up at a dealership, that’s for sure 🙂
J
Noted! Indy is not picky.
StephLove
Having spent most of the last month in a town without a robust public transportation system, I really miss it. I don’t drive and the neighborhood is residential with very little I can walk to, so I feel kind of stranded. Anytime I want to go somewhere (library, drug store, etc.) I have to ask Beth to drive me.
Your grapes come into season earlier than ours. I think it peaks in October where I live, but we start seeing them at the FM in September.
J
This is definitely on the early side for our grapes, but boy, I enjoy it. I’ll bet being without your public transportation has been a real change of pace for you.
Michelle G.
It was so much fun to meet you!!!! I’m happy you got to ride the cable car for free both ways. We still haven’t tried out the cable cars. Something for next time! Because yep, I’ll be back next summer. Those grapes look amazing. 97 degrees sounds miserable, though. Is the weather where you live much different from right in San Francisco, or was it that hot there that day too? I’m glad we had such lovely weather when we were there. We had a little rain last night, which cleared out the smoke, and it’s a lovely day today! I hope you have a lovely dinner with your friend and a nice celebration with Ted’s parents. 51 years is wonderful!
J
Well if you stay at the same hotel, the cable car comes about 1/2 block away, so it’s SUPER convenient. And if you wanted to go down to the wharf again, it will take you there (though you have to transfer). I would be happy to take a day off and show you around if you’re up for it next time. Or I could drive you around and take you over the Golden Gate Bridge. We have options is what I’m saying. I know it’s a stressful trip so maybe these aren’t things you want to try…but if you ever do, I’m up for it!
Oh, the weather. Because of the fog, San Francisco can be a good 30 or 40 degrees cooler in the summer. Like it will be cold and foggy with a lot of wind in the City, 60 degrees (not that that is cold, but it feels cold when it’s windy and cloudy) and 95 – 105 out here only 30 miles away. The high pressure can really hold the fog down low and it doens’t get very far inland. Other times it does make it out this way, over the Oakland hills, and then it’s glorious out here, but cooler. We call it our natural air conditioning.
Central Calif. Artist Jana
I think it was Mark Twain who said, “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco”. Or maybe he said, “San Francisco is the only place you can fall asleep under a rosebush in full bloom and freeze to death.”
J
LOL, yes, I have heard of that quote, which is not correct, but totally true. SO COLD in the summer, right? Lots of expensive sweatshirts sold. I remember wearing my winter coat to work, and seeing coworkers in t-shirts and shorts freezing on their way to the BART station on their way home.
AC
Just the lambslide was good enough for me, but I did read the rest. ?
J
I am friends with my HS trig teacher on Facebook, and he loves these punny memes. Always a good source for me to gather them for my blog.
DB Stewart
I met my first IRL blogger this summer in Scotland. I agree, it’s like seeing friends for the first time.
J
Nice! I know some bloggers (Elisabeth and Suzanne) both happened to be in Paris at the same time and met there, and neither of them live there. Did your friend live in Scotland, or did you happen to be there at the same time?
Margaret
I love blogger meet ups but haven’t had one for a while, probably because I’m not traveling as much as I used to. I enjoy getting to know the stories that can’t be blogged while knowing much about the history and life of the person. It’s a way to fill in the blanks. I’m glad your weather has cooled down! I love the coloring of that cat–don’t tell Mari, she might be offended. 🙂
J
Yes, the unbloggable stuff does make for a deeper connection, I agree, and I really like that part as well.
Tobia | craftaliciousme
I would meet Michelle in an instant. And you of course you as well. Fingers crossed I make it to SF at some point in the future. I mean I have spent 3 days in SF in 2000 but I am sure everything has changed. I think we used the cable car only ones. We walked a lot of those hills. Puhhh.
That sign for the printer is fun. Glad it wasn’t broken and could be fixed but I agree dumping it on the street. Sigh.
J
I would love to show you around if you came to San Francisco again! Seems like there are likely lots of conferences you could attend so you could expense it for work…
Lisa’s Yarns
I love that you got to meet Michelle and her husband! How fun! And I am relieved her appt went well. What a relief!! So far every blogger is exactly who they appear to be on their blog. It’s never been awkward to meet a blogger, for me, since we know so much about each others lives! You ladies honestly know way more than my IRL friends and family members!!
We tried to ride a cable car when we were in SF in 2016 but we must have misread the schedule. We waited and waited and then it started to rain so we called it and got back to our hotel another way. I also would have taken public transportation rather than dealing with driving and parking. Kyria drove Phil and I around SF on that trip and we were SO IMPRESSED with her parking skills. She had a manual transmission and would park in tiny spots on a hill. It was really something!!
J
I remember when I lived in San Francisco with a stick shift is when I got really good at parallel parking on a hill. Sometimes that is the only option if you don’t want to abandon your car in the middle of street, and you have to be fast or you will be blocking traffic and then everyone will be angry with you. I haven’t lived in SF since 1994 though, so those skills are rusty for me.
NGS
I’m so happy (and a little envious) that you got to meet Michelle! You’re such a great host! I bet you both had a great time.
I have been keeping an eye out on kittens at our Humane Society, but I think I have convinced myself that our next cat will be an adult cat. I did not enjoy the kitten stage of Zelda’s life. ANYWAY. I bring this up because KITTY BELLY is the best.
J
Kittens are SO CUTE, and I would never want one. Nor a puppy. An adult is perfect, and they are less likely to get adopted quickly, so it’s a win-win. And yes, kitty belly IS the best!
Diane
Yay for blogger meet up! I aspire to meeting a fellow blogger in real life one day.
There was one summer in the early 2000s when I was working in San Francisco for American Conservatory Theater and I would take the cable car home every night. And I can’t remember why but I never had to pay. It was so romantic to me to get off work in the evening, walk through Chinatown and grab a pork bun, then continue up the street and jump on a cable car and ride it up California to where I was staying – as if I was stepping into another time.
Those grapes! That was another of my favorite things from the summers I worked/ lived in SF – the black California grapes. To this day, those are my favorite kinds of grapes.
I realized last time we went into DC that it is actually cheaper to drive and park the car than to take the metro when I’m going with all the kids. But it is so much less stressful to take Metro than to drive in the city. I will likely always take Metro if i can.
J
Agree, the cable car is kind of romantic, especially at night! Often if you get on part way, and look local, they won’t charge you. You likely looked local to them. Also I think they charge less on the California route than the ones that go to and from the Wharf, though I have no proof of any of this. I was rarely charged when I lived there, but lately I guess I look more like a tourist!
Oh, the grapes here are SO, so good. My favorite are the Thompson seedless. So sweet.
It’s cheaper to drive than take public transportation if it’s just one person here, as long as you don’t have to pay for parking. But if there are several people, it’s DEFINITELY cheaper to drive. But yes, much less stressful to take public transportation, even if you have to transfer.
Tamara
I’m late to read this, and not a cat person, but I would just give anything to scratch that kitty’s tummy – divine! I hope things have cooled down for you, it is difficult for me to imagine heat in the Bay area, but then I never imagined that London summers could feel the way they do now, either. This heat is no joke, I was just reading about how the world’s sea turtle populations are about to collapse because the sand is so hot, over 90% of the turtles born are now female. :-(.
J
Oh no, I love sea turtles! That;s too, too sad.
I live in an area that has always gotten hot. We’re on the other side of the Oakland hills, so if the fog can’t get out here, it heats up. Not saying climate change hasn’t hit us, just that it’s not unusual for it to be hot in the summer.
I like cats fine, but I don’t love them like some people do. I’m more of a dog person.
ernie
Like Nance, I so enjoy your memes. Always a hoot. I’m intrigued by the printer thing. That’s wild. Hooray for the money saving thing. I just met Birchie and Kyria – such fun. I was tickled that they were in my area and stopped to visit. So much fun to meet in person. Your blogger adventure sounds delightful. A blogger husband for a bonus – how great. We are going to Yellowstone in June and I do hope that I might be able to meet up with Michelle when I’m in her neck of the woods. Pokemon cards? Who knew? It’s funny how there are things out in the world that some people are really drawn to and some of the rest of us are totally unaware of (me!).
J
I love that you met Birchie and Kyria on their blogger tour! I hope you get to meet Michelle too, she’s really nice. There’s something in the air with all of the blogger meet ups, right?
Stephany
The printer story is cute! And wouldn’t it be a working printer that someone just didn’t need anymore, since the new owner got it working again? Or maybe I’m reading it all wrong, lol.
So many blogger meetups happening! I am TRYING to not get too jealous about it all, sigh. Your meetup with Michelle sounded wonderful, and man, $9 both ways for a cable car sounds like a steal to me lolol. I just hate walking that I will always pay for convenience.
J
$9 EACH way, Stephany, so $18 round trip, and it’s about 2 miles, plus the $15 (round trip) to get to and from the City from here. The $15 isn’t so bad, but the extra $18 would hurt. However, I rode, so clearly I’m with you and was willing to pay.
Regarding the printer, yeah, it had to be working at some capacity, right? Maybe it was out of ink? (The ink is more than the printer these days, or almost)
Mark T. Petruska
I hated driving in SF when I lived in the Bay Area. Avoided it at all costs! Let’s just say BART was my best friend back then.
Also, I got a parking ticket once from the SFPD. I never took my car up there, and on that particular day, I was in class at SJSU. I just paid the damn ticket, though…it was only $15, and fighting it would have cost more in both money and time. I’m still annoyed about it though, all these years later.
J
I wonder how much money municipalities make off of tickets that are so small that no one fights them? Crazy!
San
How wonderful you were able to meet up with Michelle and her husband in SF! I wish I could have joined you. I haven’t been to the City in so long (which reminds me: we should get together sometime – maybe I come to Walnut Creek. Have I ever mentioned that Jon was born there?)
Awesome frugal win with Capitol One Shopping. I think I am signed up with them too but haven’t taken advantage of any of their offers. I need to pay more attention!
Hope you had a great dinner with your friend and happy anniversary to Ted’s parents!
J
YES, let’s get together! Walnut Creek, or Rockridge, or anywhere!