Friday Vine & Dine

Yesterday, we had the good fortune of enjoying a pleasant afternoon on a vineyard in Sonoma. We had a few photos taken in the picturesque fountain garden at the pastoral Vintners Inn (link here). On the drive back down through Marin, we stopped at one of our all-time favorite restaurants, located in Sausalito. Their samosas and freshly-made chutney rock. A Wells colleague and his wife opted for the barbequed oysters at Hog Island Oyster Company (link here) near Tomales Bay. They were determined to "top it off" with prime rib down in the city. Oye.

Our Neighborhood Japantown

With T's move to San Mateo, we have spent a considerable amount of time shopping and dining in the nearby downtown area. It is becoming evident with each subsequent visit just how many Japanese-Americans there are in the area and how intertwined they are with the history of the city. I count more than ten Japanese restaurants within a three block area as well as two Japanese markets, a Japanese-American historical center, and a full-fledged Japanese tea garden (link here)(additional photos). By chance, we stumbled across a genuine Tokyo-style ramen house above one of the markets; the patrons were all Japanese nationals, presumably JAL flight crews on layovers at SFO. One of the markets, Takahashi, apparently dates back to 1906 (link here). Who knew San Mateo had such a thriving Japanese-American community? Will definitely have to try the homemade mochi as well as the fresh, unpasteurized tofu procured and sold at Takahashi.

Grape Press

Encouraged to see a Chateau Souverain offering amongst the list of highly recommended Sauvignon Blancs in a recent San Francisco Chronicle review (link here). T and I have been raving about their Sauvignon Blanc for some time now ever since we first sampled it at their restaurant. Their 2002 seems to get quite a bit of press (yes, pun intended). Maybe if we're lucky, we can score a couple of cases to pour at the wedding in October. Earlier this week, the winery shipped us a bottle of their Viognier as well as a reserve bottling of their Merlot, both of which I am eager to sample, especially now that the audit is winding down at work.

That's Greek to Me

The swimming competitions at the Olympics have been intense. Real nail-biters. Tuesday night's men's freestyle relay final had me on the edge of my seat as the American team just beat out the Aussies by a microscopic 13/100th of a second. It was a little nerve-racking to see the time gap created by Michael Phelps' dominating start vanish with the next two swimmers and to watch as Klete Keller had to battle Ian Thorpe stroke for stroke down the last 50m. That had to have been the closest finish ever. It was also great seeing the American women's team repeat the same feat for gold last night (and for a world record to boot). Natalie Coughlin, the Berkeley phenom, cut through the water like it was air. The men's individual all-around gymnastics competition was even more entertaining. Midway through, the Chinese gold-medal favorite choked when he missed a hold on the horizontal bars and had to completely stop and restart his routine. The anguish on his otherwise stoic face was apparent. The overall favorite to win gold, American Paul Hamm, had choked as well, having fallen over the mat into the scorer's table after he landed off-balance after his vault. The spectators were in collective shock (as were the NBC commentators who were fumbling for words to express the magnitude of their disbelief). This opened the way for the two upstart Koreans who were solid the entire night and were the only ones not to have committed any serious gaffs. By the last rotation, they were almost assured the gold and silver medals. But Hamm had the very last routine in the finals, on the horizontal bars. He stood in fourth place and by his own account, was resigned to battling for bronze. To earn gold, he would have had to score well above 9.80, an unlikely feat given the miserly scoring by the judges that night (there had been only two prior scores above 9.80). Hamm went for the jugular and put on an amazing display. His three consecutive "release and grabs" and his nailing the high arch dismount earned him the gold by the slimmest point margin in history, 12/1,000th of a point. It was quite a show.

$400/Hour

Because of the complexity of some of our deals, I oftentimes have to consult with outside legal counsel. And as with all of our past deals, I rely on the same dependable attorney, a Chicago-based partner at the largest corporate law firm specializing in financial derivatives work. We are on the phone together just about every other week. Only recently did I learn that he had chosen law as a second career much later in his life; Bob attended law school at the University of Chicago in his early forties and was by far the oldest member of his graduating class. Apparently, he had originally pursued a career as a tenure track professor of philosophy after having earned his doctorate at Cornell. Big time philosophy wonk. And on the side, he serves on the board of the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust. Big time architecture wonk. If his billable rate were a bit more reasonable, I would have relished the opportunity to pick his brain about both topics. Sartre, Existentialism, the Prairie School, Falling Water. Discussing the mechanics of a prepaid variable share forward contract on restricted shares held by an insider just doesn't have the same appeal. Maybe that's why the billable rate is so damn high.

Monthly Parking as an Economic Indicator

Economists have often toyed with clever and ingenious ways to gauge the state of the economy. For example, The Economist has long espoused its famous "Big Mac" theory of purchasing power parity. By comparing the cost, converted in U.S. dollar terms, of a McDonald's Big Mac hamburger in various countries, one can determine whether a nation's currency will strengthen or weaken versus other foreign currencies based on the notion that a McDonald's hamburger should cost the same in Seattle as it does in London or Kuala Lampur (link here). In much the same way, I have my own informal measures of how the local economy is doing. One such measure is the "Financial District Monthly Garage Parking" indicator. During the height of the internet boom a few years back, the parking garage across the street from my office building on California Street had a waiting list of more than fifty applicants all wanting to secure a monthly parking spot. The ones that did secure spots had to pay a "courtesy" fee to the garage manager. In third world countries (and New York City), this is better known as a bribe or kickback. But the tech bubble was at its apex. And employee bonuses and stock option gains ran amuck, driving up demand for monthly parking. Anyhow, I inquired at the same garage this morning as to what the wait list number was. The response? "What wait list? Go ahead and pick your spot. Price is a flat $360 monthly." While I am ecstatic about having secured a garage spot so close to work and at cost, what this might say about the ongoing state of the local economy is a bit sobering.