Dinner on the Stagecoach

Had dinner last night with the rest of the equity derivatives team at the Slanted Door restaurant in the historic Ferry Building (link here). We ordered a table full of appetizers and entrees along with several bottles of wine and microbrews. It was quite a spread. The buttery halibut with spicy cilantro salad were beyond words as were the tender claypot-cooked shortribs. And the imperial rolls rocked as usual. The best part was passing the bill over to Matt. Of course, a close second was Matt, Steph, and I, the Berkeley contingent, gloating about the success of our football team just to needle the three Stanfordites in our midst.

Weekend Highlights

As we get closer to the wedding date, my thoughts and musings are becoming more abbreviated and fragmented. With preparation for the wedding and honeymoon, marriage planning, work, school, family, friends, and a host of other obligations competing for time and attention, my mind has become one incredibly complex web of interwoven to-do's and queues. One gigantic Excel spreadsheet of the synapses. Anyhow, I did manage to "indulge" in some fun and non-productive things this past weekend. Here's a brief synopsis. Friday night at the Hawaiian (and later Korean) bar on Geary with T and friends for a bachelorette celebration. A personal tour later that night of the Frakes' home in the quiet enclave of St. Francis Wood, guided in part by a doting Schnauzer terrier. Saturday morning enjoying the Cal game on our new Samsung HD-ready widescreen television. Saturday afternoon mountain biking on the Sawyer Camp Trail along the Crystal Springs reservoir with Wag Boy setting the pace. Sunday afternoon with Phil and Suze (after her long sabbatical in Europe) for a dimsum feast in Chinatown and a casual stroll to North Beach for coffee.

Hawaii Lite

This past Friday, Staci organized a bachelorette night for T at a popular Hawaiian nightspot down on Geary in the City. A few of us non-femmes made it out for the last half hour. Before I had a chance to get my seat warm, the drinks came out, one after the other. I don't remember much after that, really. Just bits here and there. The live island music, a pair of raunchy dice, a group tequila shot, a camera phone shadowing my every move, downing a pink Pepto-looking concoction, a small windup toy "swimming" across the table, Wag Boy clearing his throat for an encore performance of the Peking Opera, Christine and Staci looking on in disbelief... hope the night was not a portend of things to come this weekend when T and I are actually in Hawaii... "island living" may be a bit too much for my system. Anyhow, mahalo to Staci for planning the night out and for not hiring a male dancer for the occasion... notwithstanding an inebriated Jonathan doing the Irish jig on the sidewalk after our nightcap at the Korean bar down the street... Riverdance it was not.

The (Real) Big Game

Forget the annual Big Game with Stanford. Right now, THE Big Game is the one on Saturday against USC (link here). USC and Cal are ranked first and seventh in the nation, respectively, and are battling for the Pac-10 title, not to mention, if things go really right, the BCS crown. Just how big is the upcoming Cal-USC game? ABC is touting it as the game to watch and will be televising it nationally. ESPN College GameDay has chosen it as the college game of the week (over the Texas-Oklahoma game) and will be airing their show live from the Coliseum. And the godfather of college football, Keith Jackson, will be doing the play-by-play of the game. The Coliseum has already sold out its 92,000 seats. 92,000! Crazy. And the winner, no doubt, will be an odds-on favorite for the Orange Bowl. Forget the Rose Bowl. If Cal wins on Saturday, they will, for the first time in a very, very, very long time, have a shot at the national title. Bad news, USC is a 7 1/2 point favorite going into the game. Good news, USC was a heavy favorite last season as well, before the Bears upset them in their only loss of the year. As a longtime Cal football fan, I'm flying high (and cashing in on years of agonizing, gut-wrenching losses).