Royal Blue

Read the San Francisco Chronicle account of Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla's weekend visit to San Francisco in all of its granola-fest glory; just look at their itinerary: a farmer's market in Point Reyes, Alice Waters' organic schoolyard garden, organic food purveyors at the Ferry Building, the uber-bohemian theatrical mainstay "Beach Blanket Babylon", and a homeless shelter in the Tenderloin (article here). Talk about a real PR job. Can you tell his staff is trying real hard to get him groomed for the crown by making him a man "of the people"? But they used San Francisco as a stand-in for London, where they no doubt fear he and his former mistress have yet to overcome the "Diana factor". Anyhow, I did notice right away on the photos accompanying the article that Chuck was wearing a standard-issue Cal alum tie, dark blue with a lattice of golden bear logos. The article made note of the same and mentioned that he received the tie as a gift during a previous trip to the Berkeley campus three decades ago. Nice touch, dear chap. Almost endears me to the British crown. Almost.

Vancouver, British Columbia

The past couple of weeks, T and I had our first real vacation since our Paris honeymoon, a ten-day excursion to Vancouver and the various small islands off its coast. I say "excursion" with some purpose here. We wanted to "backpack" across the lower coastal area of British Columbia relying only on foot, ferries, and public transportation to get around. We even purchased a mountaineering-style pack for our trip and pared down all of our clothing and travel items to that one pack. Definitely a freeing experience, traveling on foot with only one backpack to worry about.

Terrorist Scare

We had some drama early this morning in the San Francisco financial district. Apparently, there was a large explosion at the Crocker Galleria, a popular shopping arcade in the heart of the area. The blast was so large that it shook skyscrapers within a three to four block area. T phoned saying she could see smoke blowing downwind to the Citibank Center. While on the phone with her, I could hear the emergency sirens whizzing by our offices headed in that direction. Since a bomb could not be ruled out, all of the neighboring buildings were evacuated including Schwab's headquarters. Now that the smoke has cleared, literally and figuratively, it appears the blast may have been the product of a blown underground electrical transformer. Thank you PG&E for the Friday morning drama. With echoes of the recent London bombings, you could definitely sense the nervousness and anxiety on my floor and across the whole of the financial district. Here is a news account in the San Francisco Chronicle of the explosion (including a photo of the now burned and gutted Ralph Lauren store) (link): "...Among [the evacuees] was Tom McGibben, who works at Thomas Weisel Partners at 120 Kearny, which evacuated its employees. 'We saw the lights flicker at 9:50 a.m. We felt a pretty good shake. At first, we thought it was an earthquake. We saw smoke. The alarms in our building came on. At around the 20th floor you could smell something. At that point, we began to think it could be something worse than a quake. There were flashes to 9/11.' Tim Keenan, an employee at Charles Schwab, said he was evacuated from the 17th floor of the same building. 'I saw a flash of light. I looked out of the window. I saw people running and screaming,' he said. 'Our floor warden then asked people to begin to evacuate. To me, it sounded like a big boom of thunder.'" Hard to believe the fourth anniversary of 9/11 is just around the corner. Judging from the collective jitters felt throughout the financial district this morning, September 11, 2001 was apparently not that long ago.

Suisun Valley and Larry's Produce

This past weekend, my parents pointed us to a hidden little pocket of the Suisun Valley, located on the eastern slopes of the mountain ridge dividing Solano and Napa counties. It's a real gem of a place with acres of working farms surrounding a dusty hamlet of matchstick community buildings. One building had an aging wooden sign above the front door with the words "Nissei Club" barely visible, evidence no doubt of the area's long history as a Japanese-American farming community. Our destination was a rustic but thriving roadside produce market, Larry's Produce, at the northern end of the valley. The seasonal selection was immense and the prices were incredibly cheap. Apparently, all of the produce is sourced within the valley and oftentimes on that date of sale. We purchased a large crate of fresh veggies and fruits for a meager twenty dollars. Definitely a well-kept secret amongst the locals here and in the neighboring wine country. I suspect more than a handful of the chefs in Napa come here to source their "locally-grown and seasonal" ingredients. If you're interested in an offbeat alternative to Napa or Sonoma, here is the Suisun Valley community website (link).

Crashing the Tour de Peninsula

Needing a break from my studies, I convinced, or more aptly, suckered Wag into riding from my place in San Mateo, down the Mid-Peninsula through Woodside, Palo Alto, and the Stanford campus, all the way to downtown Los Altos. Early on, riding up Crystal Springs Road to the Half Moon Bay turnoff near I-280, we encountered a massive throng of riders. There must have been three to four hundred, all with race numbers tacked to their backs. It soon dawned on me that we were riding on the same day and for the most part, on the same route as the annual Tour de Peninsula (link). While the race organizers were busy distributing water to the racers, Wag and I snuck past the cones and into the mass of riders. Yep, we crashed the race. No, we weren't trying to pull a "Rosie Ruiz" (see here). Merely trying to avoid having to ride through a longer detour route. Unfortunately though, we jumped in at a less than ideal spot, at the base of the climb up to Sawyer Camp Trail. A long tiresome climb that gets steeper as you get further along. More than a handful of riders had to stop midway to take a breather. I was very close to being counted amongst the casualties. It only got harder from there. Two equally nasty climbs on the way up to the Canada Road approach. My upper legs were burning with lactic acid, my heart was pumping at full throttle, my lungs were panting for oxygen. The sweat from my brow was dissolving the sunscreen lotion into my now stinging eyes. Mental note, don't apply sunscreen to the forehead before a ride! With all the pain and effort, I still got a high from riding with so many cyclists around me. Maybe that's why marathoners get a performance boost on "race day". Group pressure. It definitely helped me through a tough stretch of the route. The best part of the day was lounging on a chair in the shaded streetside cafe along Main Street in Los Altos on a pleasant Sunday afternoon. By then, I was numb to the pain.

Canada, Oh Canada!

Several weeks ago, I finally purchased my first road bike ever, an entry-level Raleigh Cadent (link). Didn't want to blow the bank account by going overboard on a two or three grand commitment. Fairly happy with the purchase given the entire bike weighs less than my laptop bag. For the past couple of weeks, I have been cajoling T into riding with me along Crystal Springs Reservoir. Our first ride from San Mateo down to Woodside along Canada Road and the Reservoir was actually very pleasant (link). Sixteen miles roundtrip with moderate climbs, amazing scenery, and very light traffic. It's no wonder the route is popular with road cyclists. On weekends, Canada Road is a colorful parade of jerseys emblazoned with various corporate logos, all moving in unison in rapid pacelines. It's quite a sight. On reaching our destination in "downtown" Woodside, T and I planted ourselves in the parking lot at Roberts Market (link), the local cyclists' watering hole and rewarded our efforts with a hearty roast beef sandwich. Between that and the buckwheat flapjacks across the street at Buck's (link), we may be biking this route more regularly.

105 Degrees

This past Saturday, we drove out to see T's parents' newest home in Danville, Arizona... I mean, Danville, California. And while it's only forty minutes away, psychologically it seems a state away. This was only exacerbated by the extreme climate change. A pocket of dry arid heat that was sitting over the Tri-Valley area on Saturday. 105 degrees at midday. We got out of the nicely air-conditioned Subaru and the second we felt the rays, my skin began tingling. I had flashbacks to my childhood and the harsh summers of Northern Texas.

Best in Class

Found this amusing article, "Best in Class", in the most recent issue of The New Yorker illustrating just how cut-throat competitive it is nowadays to become a high school valedictorian (article link here). Having been one myself, I can relate to many if not all of the issues discussed including whether it is fair or desirable to reward those who "game" the grade point system. However, in my case, because I and the other four "in contention" for the top award were all fairly close friends, having been in the same classes since primary or middle school, there was always a feeling of camaraderie present that trumped any need or desire to one-up each other. And it helped that our school district maintained a twelve-point GPA system (instead of the customary four-points) making ties less of an issue. Anyhow it seemed as if it was all for naught as the luster of being a valedictorian was soon wiped away; during the first day of freshman orientation at Berkeley's College of Engineering, the Dean asked for a show of hands asking how many had graduated at the top of their high school class. More than two-thirds raised their hands. Two-thirds! I still cringe at the thought. It was like a bucket of cold, wet reality thrown smack at our faces. In the span of a single summer break, we all went from being in the top one-tenth of one percent of our peer group to being simply "average". That was my first lesson as a wide-eyed freshman at Berkeley. Not a lesson in math, science, or engineering, but rather a lesson in life, of the value of being grounded and never taking yourself too seriously. That alone was worth one year of tuition.

Social Entrepreneurship

For three months, I and about twenty fellow MBAs participated in an experimental seminar offered by the business school in conjunction with Silicon Valley's Tech Museum of Innovation (link). We were enlisted to apply our business knowledge for a select group of "social benefit enterprises", all of whom were chosen for the Tech's annual laureate award. "Social benefit enterprises" are a new breed of nonprofits, often aimed at the developing world, that rely on innovation and employ modern business techniques to achieve (1) self-sustainability through some profit-making activity and ultimately, (2) scalability to reach the most number of people with a nominal level of resources. It is revolutionary because of the importance placed on innovation both technological and process-based and on profits for the long-term mission of the organization. The field of social benefit enterprises or "social entrepreneurship" is cutting edge and is just now gaining traction. The b-school at Stanford is a pioneer in the field (link), as are a number of its alums including Jeff Skoll, one of the founders of eBay and now an active contributor to social benefit enterprises through his foundation (link). There is a very strong link between the Valley and the small community that is developing around the field. One reason is that they are oftentimes one and the same group. The more enlightened members of the generation that came into the Valley during the tech boom and became instantly wealthy are now searching for ways to use their money and their knowledge to make a difference in the world. But rather than revert to old-school "contributions", this new generation of donors is demanding results and greater accountability and have transferred their culture of venture capitalism and startups to the stodgy world of nonprofits introducing their standard toolkit of business plans, metrics, return on investment, strategic partnerships, and exit strategies. Our instructor for the course, Eric Carlson, is a prime example of this nexus. Besides being the longtime mayor of Los Gatos, a wealthy enclave in the Valley, he is very well-connected in the Valley having managed and led several established tech firms including a long stint at IBM Research; he, like a number of his peers, is now employing his expertise for the good of society through social entrepreneurship. One of his friends, Walt Jones, dropped by during the final week and advised us on fundraising. In his previous career, Dr. Jones helped found and lead GE's medical devices division for a number of years and was one of the highest ranking executives at GE by the time he retired. As a volunteer, he now heads fundraising for CityTeam Ministries (link), an organization that cares for the poor and homeless in major cities in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest. Commendable and inspirational. It was a real pleasure getting to know both Dr. Carlson and for a brief moment, Dr. Jones. They helped me focus on the task at hand. My particular contribution to the seminar was to evaluate the business plan and funding proposal for Gram Vikas based in Orissa, India (link). For the past decade, Gram Vikas has been providing housing, clean water, and sanitation for hundreds of thousands of rural villagers in one of India's poorest regions. They are now launching a second initiative that seeks to reach a quarter of a million by 2009. Hope they get something out of my forty page report and presentation. I revamped their business plan and recommended some concrete steps they could take as an organization to ramp up their funding. During the course of the seminar, we learned quite a bit about some other notable social benefit enterprises including Ecosystems based in Kathmandu, Nepal (link) and Freeplay based in London and Capetown, South Africa (link). The former constructs wire bridges for peasants traveling between remote villages in the Himalayan mountains, and the latter distributes hand-crank powered radios to the poor children of southern Africa for receiving broadcasts of vital education and health-based programming. It would have been ideal to have included two organizations of personal interest, Unitus (link) and Greenstar (link), both based in Seattle. Unitus is involved in a promising subfield of social entrepreneurship called microfinance, essentially lending to the underserved in developing countries to promote private enterprise and self-empowerment. The high repayment and low default rates are quite amazing when you consider how poor and impoverished the loan recipients are in the urban slums or rural villages of the third world. Many get by on what is the equivalent of a few dollars a month. But the dignity that microlending instills in them produces the desire to make something of the loan and motivates them to stick to the repayment schedule. Amazing. Anyhow, I just heard that PBS will be airing later this month a special four-part series, The New Heroes, hosted by Robert Redford which introduces the field of social entrepreneurship to a larger audience by profiling the work of fourteen influential social innovators (link). Very sweet. And what timing. I'm looking forward to watching all four segments.

Heard the Word of Blog?

Paris, je t'aime

Oui. Paris is and will always be our favorite city in Europe. One reason we chose it for our honeymoon destination. Grand, incredibly vibrant, always relevant, and genuinely foreign. The language, culture, architecture, food, all combine to imbue a "local color" that is truly unique and endearing. Anyone who sits in a streetside cafe along the Seine river on a clear day in Autumn, explores the crooked alleyways of historic Montmartre as the bells of the grand Basilica de Sacra Coeur ring in the distance, or dines for the requisite four hours within earshot of native Parisians arguing politics or literature, will no doubt agree. Don't get me wrong, London is great. But London, like much of the Commonwealth, is just a tad bit "familiar" to most English-speaking Americans, especially amongst Anglophiles like myself who have been raised on the BBC for more than twenty five years via PBS. It doesn't help matters that Brits love and embrace American culture and commerce; it's apparent on any random walk through central London where you can pass the same billboards and storefronts as you would find in New York or San Francisco. By contrast, Paris shuns such cultural and commercial dependencies. One of the reasons it holds a special place in most travelers' hearts. Rightfully so. And soon, there will be a cinematic tribute to this love of the City of Lights. A film project entitled Paris, je t'aime (link) is underway involving twenty well-regarded directors each assigned to one of the twenty districts (or arrondisements) of central Paris. Each director will be creating a five minute vignette that captures the essence of their respective arrondisement. The final product should be spectacular given the vastly different styles of the directors (e.g., Jean-Luc Godard, the Coen brothers, Alexander Payne, Gus Van Sant) and the respectable lineup of actors and actresses (e.g., Juliette Binoche, Natalie Portman, Willem Dafoe, Orlando Bloom) that have signed onto the project.

Field of Dreams

Had a great evening with the equities and commodities traders from the floor who procured the Wells luxury box suite at the Oakland Coliseum for last night's Oakland A's-New York Mets game. There were fifteen of us in the room elevated just above the spectating "sweet spot" between home plate and first base. For the three hours we were there, the catering service kept busy replenishing the food and drink bar. We had a fridge full of premium beer and a side table stacked with a variety of hot and cold food including pulled pork barbeque sandwiches, steamed dimsum dumplings, large bratwurst sausages, and tasty steak fajitas. Now that I've experienced "first-class", I'm not sure I can go back to "sitting in coach". Sat for an inning next to the Executive Vice President for our business group. After seeing him stuff his face with jalapeno poppers and down a bottle of Hefeweizen, I definitely see him in a more human light. Definitely look forward to doing this again, possibly at SBC Park. And yes, the A's won 3-2 with the winning run coming off a dramatic bottom of the ninth, two-out hit by a player traded away during the offseason by the very same New York Mets (game recap).

Embrace the Good and the Bad

While the Jobs speech (separate entry below) is quite serious and high-minded, this one given a while back by Conan O'Brien at his alma mater, Harvard, is decidedly less so (link here). But once you get past the humor and lightheartedness, he does share a nugget that is infinitely more practical and useful to those listening, about the value of taking the good with the bad, of accepting that failure and success go hand in hand, and of not being timid for fear of failure or rejection. In other words, "don't be afraid to fail because failure is a normal part of the process" and "don't be handcuffed by success if you're ready to move on with life even if it means leaving the comfort and safety of the 'cocoon'": I've dwelled on my failures today because, as graduates of Harvard, your biggest liability is your need to succeed. Your need to always find yourself on the sweet side of the bell curve. Because success is a lot like a bright, white tuxedo. You feel terrific when you get it, but then you're desperately afraid of getting it dirty, of spoiling it in any way. I left the cocoon of Harvard, I left the cocoon of Saturday Night Live, I left the cocoon of The Simpsons. And each time it was bruising and tumultuous. And yet, every failure was freeing, and today I'm as nostalgic for the bad as I am for the good.

Find What You Love

With the buzz of university graduations around this month every year, there is typically a handful of commencement speeches that get some notice usually because of the celebrity or cult status of the speaker. This year, it was Steve Jobs' speech at the Stanford commencement (link here). Thought it strange and ironic that a college dropout would be asked to speak at a graduation ceremony, at Stanford no less, but then again, he is Steve Jobs, founder of two of the hottest companies around, Apple and Pixar, he is a billionaire, and he conveniently lives just a few miles down the road in Woodside. His speech was not your typical feel good kind of message; rather, it was a cold bucket of reality with the central message being "you're going to die, so find what is important to you and live life your way": When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that your are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes. This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept: No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Destination: Portland, Oregon

For the Memorial Day weekend, T and I, with parents in tow, drove up Interstate 5 all the way to Portland with stops along the way in Lake Shasta, Ashland (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Eugene (University of Oregon), and various points along the scenic coast including the sandy beach stretch of Lincoln City and the New England-style fishing town of Newport. While our stay in Portland was short, we did manage to visit a number of interesting places including two that we enjoyed on our last trip, the vibrant 23rd Street neighborhood and the Classical Chinese Garden. My favorite memory of the trip was the amazing Sunday brunch we all had at the historic lodge overlooking dramatic Multnomah Falls and the Columbia River Gorge (link here). Great food, one-of-a-kind scenery, and perfect weather. Definitely one of the best brunches ever.

Saving Spiderman

On a whim, this past Saturday, I took us for a long drive south down Foothill Boulevard from its northern terminus on Page Mill Road in Palo Alto to the very southern end in Cupertino where it becomes a small two lane byway that runs alongside Stevens Creek reservoir. The trail winds up over the mountains and then down into a deep, forested other-world where you drive just a few feet away from an idyllic gurgling stream and tall redwoods. On a tight switchback deep in the valley, we noticed a downed motorcycle in a shallow ditch at the edge of the curve and a visibly shaken motorcyclist trying to get up. The remoteness of the locale and the fact that we had not spotted another vehicle on the road for several miles, T thought we should stop and assist. Me being the resident non-samaritan, argued against it. Well, in my head at least. We backed up and I got out of the car to help the cyclist lift his bike out of the ravine. Using all of our might, we lifted it up and motored it out. The cyclist finally took off his helmet and for a good half minute, I stared in disbelief. It was Toby Maguire in the flesh. Yeh, that Toby Maguire. Or someone that looked a whole hell of a lot like him. His brother perhaps? The loud sputter of his engine snapped me out of my celebrity trance. As I got back in the car, he thanked us profusely for our assistance. The entire drive back, I was thinking about how we saved Spiderman that afternoon. Anyhow, the impromptu daytrip was full of other unexpected discoveries including a pleasant walk along the commercial hearts of Los Altos and the charming hamlet of Saratoga. The latter was especially picturesque. The town sits comfortably between the sloping mountainside and the flat valley and is perched above an active creek. The shops and eateries are clearly first rate and quite impressive in appearance and manner. We will definitely have to make a return visit and try one of the restaurants sometime. Everytime I think I know the Bay Area, random drives like this confirm otherwise.

There Goes the Neighborhood...

Arianna Huffington's new weblog (link here) pools together individual blog postings from a number of well-known political and social commentators, e.g., Arthur Schlesinger and Jim Pinkerton, as well as some interesting "teaser" postings from non-politicos, including actor John Cusack, director Mike Nichols, playwright David Mamet, and comedy writer Harry Shearer. Unbelievable who's blogging these days. Julia Louis-Dreyfus? Oye.

Mr. and Mrs. Bussey

My cousin Sandy and her new husband Greg were married a week ago at the lovely Perkin's Chapel at Southern Methodist University in Dallas (link) and held their reception at my uncle and aunt's country club, Brookhaven (link). My mother, "the family representative", was quite impressed with the ceremony. Kudos to the newlyweds.

The Scrum and the Scrumptious

First, the "scrum". This past Saturday, we made it down to the final match of the 2005 National Collegiate Rugby Championships, this year being held at Steuber Rugby Field on the Stanford campus. For those uninitiated into the world of college rugby, one thing should be made quite clear. Cal dominates it and has dominated it for quite a while now. They have won the national title twenty one of the twenty six years it has been in place. And they almost always win convincingly. Case in point, Saturday's title game against the University of Utah. Final score 44-7 (link here). Wasn't even close. We noticed the turnout was substantially greater than the 2003 tournament where T and I had choice seats, front row in fact, at Witter Field in Berkeley where we saw Cal manhandle Navy. The Cal rugby team has had a number of moments in the national spotlight including a few not at all tied to its play on the field. A starting member of its 1991 and 1993 national championship teams, Mark Bingham died on the hijacked United Airlines flight that went down in the Pennsylvania countryside on 9/11; he led the group of passengers that rushed the cockpit and foiled the hijackers plans to crash the plane into the Capitol Building. Representing the Congress men and women that would have been sure victims of the plan, Senator John McCain later delivered Bingham's eulogy: "I know he was a good son and friend, a good rugby player, a good American and an extraordinary human being. He supported me, and his support now ranks among the greatest honors of my life. I wish I had known before Sept. 11 just how great an honor his trust in me was." Not at all surprising that Bingham would use his tackling abilities for the good of others. His previous claim to fame (well known to all true Blues) was as the ardent Cal fan who ran onto the field during the 1992 Big Game and leveled the Tree, Stanford's obnoxious mascot. Bingham was a true patriot, red, white, and blue throughout...just a little less red and a lot more blue, for those in the know. Another national headline grabber for the Cal squad was during the 2001 season when Stanford forfeited its game with the Bears for "fear of injury" (link here). Yes, the team actually wrote a letter to Cal coach Jack Clark bowing out of the game for fear that there would be too many injuries to their side. The sports media had a field day with that one. And to the delight of Cal fans everywhere, Stanford ruggers will have to live with that shame forever. As for me, It's been quite a while since I put on my cleats, but each time now watching a game in person, there's a strong itch to get back into it. Playing on Jeremy Howell's intramural team in college (in the key position of hooker or center man in the scrum) and also, during my stint in New York, practicing with the Village Lions RFC (link) in lower Manhattan were both very memorable experiences. Anyhow, that's it for the "scrum" part of the program. Now on to the "scrumptious". T and I had the chance, finally, to drop in at Buck's restaurant in bucolic Woodside (link), where I eagerly feasted on their trademark buckwheat flapjacks. Verdict? Worth every ounce of the hype. Their food is first rate and the wacky decor will keep you entertained, if not guessing (in our booth alone, I noted a mannequin in a genuine Russian cosmonaut suit hanging from the ceiling, an actual photo of former Israeli leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shimon Peres posing behind his plate of pancakes at Buck's, and some hard to find tchotchkes including a homage to Homer Simpson coveting a pile of donuts). Buck's will definitely be our new "breakfast place" on the Peninsula.

The Big Eye in the Sky (Update)

It was just a matter of time. A handful of bloggers have posted some very amusing images from Google Maps Satellite, including an overview of the homes of Bill Gates and Michael Dell, the customary (Alcatraz, St. Louis Arch, White House, Mount Rushmore, etc.) and not so customary (Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch and the Heaven's Gate Cult Mansion) landmarks strewn across the country, and the occasional snapshot of a commercial plane taking off from the airport or, in one of the posts, a small twin-prop plane making an emergency landing on an interstate highway. Here are just a few of the links (here, here, and here). Enjoy.

Windermere-Stanford Crew Classic

This past Saturday, T and I made it out to the inner waterways of Redwood Shores to watch the third annual Windermere-Stanford Crew Classic (link here), purportedly the largest rowing competition on the west coast. The field included all of the top collegiate and club-level teams in various classes (men's varsity eight, women's varsity eight, lightweight, junior varsity, freshmen) and included defending national champions Cal (link), Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Virginia, Washington, Michigan, Wisconsin, Texas, and Stanford. Watching the Henley-style races along the banks of the waterway, just yards from the passing rowers was intense. You could hear the coxswains barking, the oars cutting the air, the seats gliding on their tracks, and the rowers exhaling. While not yet as large a spectator event as the Head of the Charles in Cambridge, Mass. (link), the annual competition will become much more visible in the coming years, for sure. And yes, the Cal men's varsity eight won the men's title (link). Also found out an interesting tidbit. T's aunt was once the coxswain on the Seoul National University collegiate team. That would explain her aunt's unusually high energy level.

The Big Eye in the Sky

Revolutionary. Google Maps not only provides a traditional online map of any location you input, it now offers detailed satellite photograph images of that same location, in varying degrees of detail. You can input your home address and find a clear satellite image of your roof, your backyard, the street, the trees, neighboring houses, and occasionally even stray people or pets! And you can scroll the image in any direction and also, zoom in and out. Imagine inputting any address and having an actual bird's eye photographic image of that location in seconds. A restaurant in Napa Valley, a cafe in Palo Alto, an office building in San Francisco, the Berkeley campus, a post office in Oakland, the tea garden at Golden Gate Park, the ferry station on Angel Island, the Northstar ski lifts at Lake Tahoe, Larry Ellison's medieval Japanese compound in Woodside... ad infinitem. Without getting into the thorny and inevitable matters of privacy and security, I have to say this will be my new toy for the next few days. Here is our home on Crystal Springs Road as seen via the "satellite" option in Google Maps (link here). And here is the Sawyer Camp Trail part of Crystal Springs reservoir (link here).

Biking Crystal Springs

The past two weekends, T and I have been setting aside some time on Saturday mornings to bike along the six-mile path that runs alongside the lower Crystal Springs reservoir from San Mateo through Hillsborough to the northern end of Burlingame. Each time, the weather has been spectacular. Mild with a gentle breeze from the ocean winds blowing over the hills on the other end of the reservoir. This past weekend, we made it to the end of the trail, a wonderful spot at the rim of a tall dyke with views of the reservoir stretching the entire length south to Palo Alto and north a short ways up to the high cliffs of Pacifica. And on the ride back to the trailhead, we came across some young deer feeding along the edge of the path. This has to be one of the best parts about living on Crystal Springs Road, the "backyard" of scenic and expansive greenspace.

Winter Wonderland

Snow, more snow, even more snow… one feet of accumulation, two feet, three, four… on and on it went. This past week, T and I enjoyed a weeklong vacation up in our hideaway on the northshore of Lake Tahoe. The view from our nest was spectacular. The crystal blue of the lake with its ocean-sized waves lapping up onto the beachside, the snow capped peaks of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the background, and the unending downpour of snow. On our third day, the neighboring children created a makeshift sled run on the natural slope behind our unit. Imagine the entire world around you turning various shades of white. The sky, the mountains, the trees, the dwellings, the ground... everything really. It was amazing. Very much like a dream or a wintry trance. During our weeklong stay, we managed to leave our comfortable roost to hit the customary eateries that have made our trips to King’s Beach so memorable. Old Range Steakhouse for their large-portioned steaks (my vote for the best kept secret on the northshore), Hiro’s Sushi for the most authentic sushi in Northern California (the second best kept secret), Sancho’s for their tasty fish tacos, and Charpit for that late night burger fix. We also had the opportunity to try a few new places including The Log Cabin Café for brunch, Tantara Bakery and Café in the new Squaw Village for an awesome breakfast, and Dragonfly in downtown Truckee for some delicious Cal-Asian fusion dishes like panko-breaded fish and chips. All are highly recommended. The vacation retreat was much needed, allowing us to de-tox and recharge our batteries at least until our next vacation in late summer, early fall. And thankfully, I finally had the chance to finish some of my pleasure reading and catch up on the first two seasons of MI-5 on DVD (an early birthday gift from T). Overall, a wonderful experience.

I (Heart) Powerpoint

Working within the marketing group of a large corporation, I come across Powerpoint presentations all the time, sometimes two to three times daily. Internal presentations to management. External presentations to potential partners or clients. Anything that requires focused communication or more aptly put, "a quick and dirty". Why should senior managers have to waste precious time reading a long-winded tome when a simple one page bulleted summary will suffice? Or so the conventional thinking goes. Regardless, in the span of a mere decade, Powerpoint has become the ubiquitous tool of modern business and is now the primary method of formal management communications taught in every MBA program worldwide. My project groups in the MBA program rely on it almost exclusively for our presentations. But Powerpoint has also been the target of considerable criticism for the very reasons that contributed to its success, namely its simplicity. Critics like Edward Tufte at Yale have blasted its emphasis on form over substance (see Powerpoint is Evil, link here). But recently, an unlikely person has come to Powerpoint's defense. David Byrne, former lead singer of the Talking Heads, has been crowing about the use of Powerpoint as a medium of art. Apparently, he made his "pitch" a couple of days ago to an audience on the Berkeley campus (link here). Lecture, performance art, and tongue-in-cheek commentary all rolled up into one gloriously strange and hilarious hourlong presentation. According to the article, the original two creators of Powerpoint, both Cal graduates apparently, were in the audience, laughing along with the others.

The Gettysburg Address (as a Powerpoint Presentation)

Google "technologist" Peter Norvig parodied Powerpoint by presenting Abraham Lincoln's well-known Gettysburg Address using a Powerpoint slide presentation (link here). Clever.

The Christian Scientist

Apparently, one of the world's preeminent physicists is also an ardent and outspoken Christian. And a Berkeley professor to boot. The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that Charles Townes, a long time professor of physics at Berkeley and co-inventor of the laser and the maser for which he won a Nobel Prize, was just awarded the $1.5 million Templeton Prize, known as the world's richest annual prize, for his lifelong attempts to reconcile science and religion (link here and here). One excerpt from the article: "Townes said that, with findings of modern physics, it 'seems extremely unlikely' that the existence of life and humanity are 'just accidental,' which inevitably raises religious questions about whether the universe was planned." He plans to donate the vast majority of the prize to a handful of local religious and charitable organizations including the First Congregational Church of Berkeley and the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley. Inspiring life to say the least. The seemingly futile issue of reconciling science and religion is strangely reminiscent of the assumption, taught to me in my sophomore physics class at Berkeley, that is made in quantum physics that at the atomic level, all things are both particles and waves (i.e., in science speak, "simultaneously exhibiting localized and distributed properties"). The "duality principle" of quantum theory is ultimately an act of faith made by physicists since it has never been observed or proven in an experiment. Ironic that the same scientists who blast their Christian peers including Townes for their unscientific beliefs are the same ones who oftentimes make similar "leaps of faith" in science that defy observation or even logic.

Montgomery Ward Revisited

The Troutgirl blog has some amusing snipets about all things Korean: "Q: How does a Korean-American pronounce the words 'Caesar', 'seizure', and 'scissors'? A: Shija, shija, shija."; "Q: Why is Korean toilet paper wide? A: Because it's hyu-ji."; "Margaret Cho recounting a phone call from her mother in thick Korean-accented English: 'Two things. Number one, grandma-grandpa gonna die. Not today, not tomorrow -- but they gonna die. And number two, did you get da shampoo I sent you?'"; "My brother telling me about a Korean movie: 'It was the archetypal Korean movie, all about a guy who falls in love with a girl who he can't marry.' Me: 'If it was the typical Korean movie, wouldn't it be all about his parents telling him he isn't studying hard enough?' My brother: 'Of course it's about that too.'"; "My Uncle Kim asked me recently, 'So, did you see that new movie? The, the, Mattress?' I looked at him and thought for a moment. 'Oh, no-no, it's not Mattress,' I replied, 'It's Mattress Reloaded'."

Tea'd Off

Very entertaining account of a confrontation between a waiter and two patrons over some "missing" tea bags (Tea Nazi entry, link here). Tough life being a waiter in New York.

Sunday Brunch

After a long unintended drive through the City and a palpable sense that the other passengers in the car were about to incite a Bounty-like mutiny against yours truly, we stopped for brunch at a place that T and I had been wanting to try for some time, The Magic Flute (link here) in the Presidio Heights area. While the food was a tad overpriced, brunching on their elegant back patio on a warm sunny afternoon more than made up for it. The weather on this particular Sunday was spectacular. Anyhow, their chicken hash and eggs accompanied by an Arnold Palmer (iced tea with lemonade) was definitely a welcome reprieve from my extreme beef overdose from the previous evening. On Saturday night, I had downed a "Sloppy Jose" sandwich (a standard sloppy Joe but with some taco seasoning thrown into the mix) at the Peninsula Fountain & Grill in Palo Alto and quickly followed it up with some sauce-drenched roast beef sandwiches at the Menlo Park Arby's. A bit much? Thomas Jefferson once declared that a revolution every now and then is a good and necessary thing. Just replace "revolution" with "chopped beef sandwich binge" and I would agree wholeheartedly. Anyhow, I didn't have too much to fear as Stanford Hospital (link here), with its excellent cardiology department, was a stone's throw away.

Jeannie's Wedding

Flew down to Los Angeles for J & J's wedding on the weekend of the 26th. Both the rehearsal dinner and the wedding were held in the heart of Koreatown. Happy to report the ceremony went off without a hitch and the newlyweds are off happily honeymooning in Maui. Phew. One more wedding off the list. During trips down to the Southland, I always enjoy a visit to the Koreatown Galleria (link here) and its bustling food court on the top floor of the multi-level mall, presumably located so that the wafting odor of kimchi jjigeh floats safely above the delicate cashmere and silk garments on display in the boutiques below. The concept of blending the uniquely modern American fixture that is the mall food court with a decidedly Korean panoply of dishes and snacks is quite the spectacle. The steaming and pungent pots of soups, stews, and noodle dishes coupled with the bustling noises common to any food court combine to create an experience truly embodying the notion of the hyphenated Korean-American community. During our swing through the gargantuan supermarket on the ground floor, we also came across what was apparently the only American branch of Howondang, an exclusive high-end purveyor of traditional Korean pastries and rice cakes (link here and photos here). Their care in packaging small bite-sized delicacies reminded me of the same care and reverence exhibited by the pastry staff at Fauchon (link here) off the Place de la Madeleine in Paris. During our honeymoon last November, T and I wanted a quick snack during our walk through the food hall at Fauchon. We pointed to a miniature eclair coated in a festive neon-orange-colored icing. The attendant then grabbed the eclair delicately, almost reverently, with a special pair of tongs and then proceeded to wrap the morsel in three layers of packaging with the final step being placing it in an ornate gift box complete with a silk ribbon. The ritual of opening the gift box elevated what would have been an otherwise mundane act of downing an afternoon snack. Places like Howondang and Fauchon are rare pleasures.

Carmel-by-the-Sea

Took a day trip down to Carmel (link here) to enjoy the food and shops along Ocean Avenue, including an afternoon tea at The Tuck Box (link here and here). The torrential rainstorm up and down the Monterey Peninsula that day gave the scenery a surreal, almost dreamlike quality. This was especially true during a stop along the 17-Mile Drive (link here) near the dramatic Par 3 5th Hole at Spyglass Hill that sits atop the sea cliff and is bifurcated by a cove where the violent waves of the Pacific Ocean crash below. The blend of strong winds, blinding rain, blanketing fog, and rugged, coastal beauty are reminiscent of the picture book coasts of Scotland; no wonder golf is considered their other national religion.

Napa Weekend

To celebrate our first Valentine's as a married couple, T and I ventured out to Napa Valley this past Saturday. One of the high points, both literally and figuratively, was our visit to the Sterling winery, situated almost entirely on the summit of a tall knoll, located halfway between St. Helena and Calistoga (link here). To get to the winery at the top, visitors must travel by aerial tram, much like the gondolas you find at ski resorts. Ours was a cozy two-seater and the views of the valley and the fountains below were picturesque. The ride back down was especially nice as the setting sun was bathing the entire panorama in a lush, deep orange hue. Almost as memorable as the garlic fries at Taylor's Refresher a few miles down the road.

Gizoogle

Ever wonder what would happen if you crossed Google with MTV's Pimp My Ride or Cribs? No? Well now you can... with Gizoogle (link here). Hilarious. The spinning rims on the header are too precious. Just for fun, I did a search of "John Ashcroft", former Attorney General and leading proponent of the U.S. Patriot Act. Gizoogle churned out: "Attorney General John Ashcroft . Boo-Yaa!. Call'n him a dawg of bootylicious integrity", "Jizzle Ashcroft crazy up in here. Much like tha Nazis in Casablizzles John Ashcroft enjoys a good song - as long as thugz rememba they place", and "Smizzay tha satire. Freak y'all, into the beat y'all. A picture of Jizzay Ashcroft's face, made entirely of shawty P-to-tha-izzorn people: J-to-tha-izzohn Ashcroft n sh-t. Yes, Jizzy Ashcroft is going pimp porn yeah yeah baby. All pizzy." Call it "Googlebonics" for the internet age.

Virtual Reality

Read in the San Francisco Chronicle about the following incident that happened this morning: "BART is experiencing a computer glitch and other technical difficulties this morning at a number of stations, causing lengthy delays throughout the Bay Area that have stymied the morning commute. A computer at the Embarcadero station saw a 'ghost train' at 7:30 a.m., requiring operators to drive their trains manually at no more than 25 mph, rather than the normal 70 mph, said Jim Allison, a spokesman for the transit agency. That created a backup in the Transbay Tube that saw as many as eight trains inside the tunnel at one time. That slowed the entire system to a crawl, and by 11 a.m. trains headed to the East Bay from San Francisco were still being delayed by 15 minutes." Say again? Did I read that right? "Ghost train"? This should be more than a little frightening to anyone who relies on public transportation systems (and this includes air traffic control systems). Phantom objects showing up on critical systems affecting the safety of hundreds of thousands... yikes. Eerily reminiscent of the closing scenes from the movie Wargames (link) in which the two protagonists (played by Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy), along with the entire war room at NORAD, watch in horror as the large screens display what everyone believes is a nuclear holocaust; but later turns out to have been a self-generated computer simulation involving phantom intercontinental ballistic missiles. Wonder if someone hacked into the BART system much like the Broderick character in Wargames. Or maybe the BART system simply runs on Microsoft XP... that would explain a lot.

"Housing Bubblette"

Interesting article (link here). And yet more evidence of the rising bubblette (link here). PMI Group, the leading mortgage insurer, recently published its 2005 Risk Index (Wall Street Journal link, subscription req'd). It listed the San Francisco Bay Area as one of the top three riskiest areas in the country for potential home price declines. PMI calculates the Bay Area as having a risk index of 479. In other words, there is a 47.9% chance of significant housing price declines within the next two years. That compares to a national risk index average of 161.

The Pen is Mightier than the (Horde)

... horde of marketing, public relations, and corporate communications staffs that is. This article in The Economist (link here) about the weblogging of Robert Scoble, who otherwise works at Microsoft and holds the revealing title of "Tech Evangelist", demonstrates the power and potential of blogs to influence others. In the case of a large, impersonal, and broadly disliked corporation like Microsoft, the ability to reach out to a small but highly influential group of outside software developers. If a blog can persuade and occasionally even convert erstwhile anti-Microsoft zealots, then anything is possible in the new digital world.

"Somewhat Right"... Me or the Test?

According to the following test (link here), I am a "liberal Republican", somewhat right of center. The political figure I most exemplify is former federal prosecutor and former mayor of New York, Rudolph Giuliani. The conclusion read: "When you tell people that you're Republican, they rarely believe you. That's because you're socially liberal - likely pro-choice and pro-gay rights. You're also not so afraid of big government, as long as it benefits people and not politicians. You are the most likely of any Republican type to swing over to the Democrat side sometimes." Hmm. I would have guessed "Libertarian" and disagree with the conclusion that I might tolerate "big government". Government should be limited to a very few necessary activities. Generally, government should serve only to monitor (and occasionally intervene in) the free markets and the free exchange of ideas when that underlying freedom is threatened - for example, price-fixing or other anticompetitive behavior in commerce or when one group suppresses the rights of another group in civil society. Government should also not be in the business of economic redistribution; it's role should be limited to ensuring that the poorest and most vulnerable are taken care of and protected. And I'm not really "pro" gay rights. I just don't believe in the legitimacy of the government to interfere in a person's private life. Maybe having graduated from Berkeley, having interned in the California State Legislature, and having lived in Northern California have softened the knee-jerk Bible-belt conservative values that were the product of my upbringing in suburban Dallas. But I am still a card carrying member of the Republican party... and having lived in a cleaner, safer, and more economically robust Manhattan during his "reign", I am an admirer of Rudy Giuliani and his past achievements. So the test did get two things right.

Google Maps

Google Maps is my new online toy... the level of detail in the graphics and the added search features are simply amazing. Light years ahead of Yahoo! Maps and MapQuest. Give it a whirl (link here).

The Doctor is "In"...

Update: Wagboy advises only going to the link for the test if you have adequate virus software installed as there may be a virus attached to the site... Amusing. Ever wonder which Peanuts character you most exemplify? Here's a quick test (link here). Having actually played Schroeder, the antisocial pianist, in a grade school play, and also having worn a Charlie Brown outfit to a number of Halloween outings during my childhood, I was more than a little disappointed that my result was "Lucy". Great. They should really have a gender filter for the test. I still secretly strive to be more like Lucy's younger brother, Linus, the child-philosopher who steadfastly holds to his belief that the Great Pumpkin will come (a clear reference to the Christian faith) but remains prone to thumbsucking and carrying his security blanket (link to his own human nature). In the Christmas special, Linus was the only one that saw past the commercialism and secularism of Christmas, to the one true meaning of that day. Good stuff. Anyhow, guess Lucy will have to do for now. Could have been worse... e.g., "Peppermint Patty", "Marcy", "Pigpen", "Farmer Snoopy"... T and I really should revisit the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa (link here). We were actually there for the opening ceremony back in 2002.

In Memoriam: Philip Johnson

Philip Johnson, arguably the most influential American architect of the second half of the twentieth century (Frank Lloyd Wright being the most influential during the first half), died yesterday at the age of 98 (New York Times obituary here). His body of work is immense. The ones that have been a backdrop to my own personal life include, in Manhattan, the Museum of Modern Art (the sculpture garden in particular)(here), the AT&T Building with its elegant Chippendale top (here), the Four Seasons Restaurant in the Seagram Building (here), and in Texas, nearly every signature skyscraper in Dallas and Houston including Bank One Center (here), NCNB Center/Pennzoil Place and Transco Tower (here). Not to mention other Dallas/Fort Worth area landmarks like the John F. Kennedy Memorial (here), Thanksgiving Square (here), Amon Carter Museum (here), and Fort Worth Water Gardens (here). The Four Seasons Restaurant (site here), not to be confused with the hotel and resort chain, is a Park Avenue establishment (here) and happens to be a personal favorite for the occasional New York dining splurge. One of the few places that displays a genuine Picasso tapestry along with several Miros and Lichtensteins in its dining room. On our first trip out to New York together, T and I made a point of enjoying a dinner in the legendary Pool Room. The meal and the experience will stay with us for a very long time. This includes our server's surprise treat of an amazing mushroom consomme as well as his knowledgeable instructions on how to get to the Met at Lincoln Center in less than fifteen minutes by avoiding the evening crosstown traffic. That particular evening, we sat across from Andy Rooney, the essayist of 60 Minutes fame, engaging in a very animated conversation with a woman half his age. Hmm. Never a dull moment in Manhattan. As a bit of film trivia, the Seagram Building and the low key facade of the Four Seasons were used as the backdrop of a notable scene between Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard in Breakfast at Tiffany's. In many ways, Philip Johnson has also been a "set designer" for the play that is my life.

During a Layover in "Lay" Country

Just read about the upcoming premiere at the Sundance film festival of the new documentary, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, based on the book of the same name (link here). Last November, during a brief layover in the Houston airport on the way to our honeymoon destination, I searched the bookstands for an "easy read" for the eleven hour leg of our flight from Texas to France. The Enron book caught my eye in an instant. The irony was too compelling. A book about Enron, once the most high profile, fastest growing, and politically connected energy company in Houston, being prominently displayed and sold in the George H.W. Bush Intercontinental Airport in that very same town not long after its epic collapse. I began reading my newly purchased copy soon after take off from Bush airport and was nearly halfway done by the time we landed at Charles de Gaulle in Paris. Truth is stranger and oftentimes, more interesting than fiction. The Enron saga had it all. A true rags to riches story in the form of Kenneth Lay, the founder and longtime chief executive of Enron, who grew up in rural Missouri to a dirt poor family that barely managed to stay housed and fed. Love, hate, power, politics, betrayal, infidelity, ambition, greed, arrogance, deception, fraud, and near the end, a dramatic suicide. Danielle Steele could not have imagined a wilder story for one of her novels. Just hope the soon-to-be-released film is as interesting as the book's account of Enron and its litany of characters.

The Big Six-O

Last Saturday, we celebrated T's mother's sixtieth birthday at the Duck Club in Lafayette (link here). A very nice dinner for a very deserving mother. Koreans traditionally celebrate two birthdays above all others, the first and sixtieth. In earlier times, reaching the age of sixty was quite an accomplishment with average life expectancy hovering somewhere in the fifties. But why the number sixty? Any symbolic meaning? Here is Wikipedia's response to the search request "number 60": (1) in the measurement of time, the number of seconds in a minute, and the number of minutes in an hour; (2) in geometry, the number of seconds in a minute, and the number of minutes in a degree; (3) a common speed limit, in miles per hour, for freeways in many US states; (4) in years of marriage, the diamond wedding anniversary; (5) the maximum number of marbles (game pieces) in Chinese checkers. The last entry was an intriguing possibility. One could humorously proclaim, "I reached sixty and haven't lost any of my marbles". A more plausible explanation for the symbolic importance of sixty may involve the Chinese sexagesimal cycle (link here). Anyhow, three parents down, just one more to go.

Art Alfresco

Apparently, the Chairman of the Board of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has a weekend home in Geyserville, a stone's throw from Chateau Souverain, where he and his wife collect unique, commissioned works of art, primarily large scale pieces of outdoor sculpture (article here). Loved the part about one of the Richard Serra pieces being so heavy that during its trip down from Seattle to Geyserville, three bridges had to be structurally reinforced to accommodate the load. The Oliver Ranch is a mirror of its neighbor to the east in Napa County, di Rosa Preserve (link here). The wine country must have quite a few of these private collections. During a college camping trip to Big Sur with friends, we stumbled across a private sculpture garden in someone's backyard and it was quite an experience. Large colorful contortions of steel sitting alongside the gurgling stream as the steep, fog-encased hills of Big Sur enclosed us in a natural outdoor gallery. It was the perfect "space" for viewing the art. Sadly, we couldn't enjoy the experience for too long. While wading across the stream in knee deep water, Kuangkai slipped on the riverbed. One of his sneakers came loose and began drifting downstream. Needless to say, a long, comic chase involving eight campers ensued.

Mandu Madness

Following Korean tradition, we were fed a thin beef broth-based soup of rice cakes and mandu (meat and vegetable filled dumplings) at my parents' home on Saturday morning. And again at T's parents' on Saturday evening. I must have downed at least thirty of the hearty dumplings over a six hour period. Definitely mandu overkill. But they were tasty and quite addictive. Whenever I think of Korean food nowadays, the following weblog comes to mind (link here). It was recommended to T by a friend of a friend who is an avowed "foodie". The weblogger, an expat working on a project in Seoul, is writing about his various food experiences in the city. His accompanying photos really bring the dishes alive. Literally alive in the case of the nakji (miniature octopus). On a somewhat related sidenote, while stopping at the Andronicos market in Danville, a few streets down from T's parents' home, I perused the wine section and happily found a whopping six different varieties of Chateau Souverain wine. They even carried the Zin.

Won by a Nose (a Nosetackle that is)

And the final tallies are in for our fantasy football league... Dong 1,764 pts, Jeff 1,839 pts, John 1,840 pts (the other six teams all finished below 1,700 and were clearly out of contention in the final week). After seventeen weeks of competitive trash talking, I won by a single point. Thanks to some remarkable play by Larry Johnson, Curtis Martin, and the Bills defense. By far, the closest finish in the history of Sal's numerous fantasy football leagues. With the victory, Texan pride remains intact. Definitely a nice way to ring in the new year.