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).

Shallow Alto, Shallow Wallet

Big surprise. Coldwell Banker released the results of their national survey of home prices. Eight of the top twenty cities nationwide with the most expensive housing markets are located right here in the Bay Area: Palo Alto (4), San Mateo (7), San Francisco (8), Oakland Hills/Montclair (15), San Jose (16), Santa Cruz (18), Fremont (19), and Pleasanton (20) (link here). A typical home in Palo Alto averages $1.21 million. Insane. The top ten is comprised almost entirely of California cities with La Jolla (1), Beverly Hills (2), and Santa Barbara (3) heading up the list. With the severe budget issues plaguing state and local governments in California, the high assessment of home values is a necessary lifeline. The question is will the revenue generated by high property taxes help counties work their way through the budget mess. And what happens when valuations, i.e., home prices, begin to fall. Oye.

Corgi Uncorked

Amusing article about a Geyserville winery's recent shindig for its dog-owning club members (link here). Is that a Westie terrier I see in the first photo?

Weekend in Hawaii: Sun, Surf, and Sand... oh, and Southern Cal

It was announced earlier today that the much anticipated USC (#1) versus Cal (#10) game in two weeks will be nationally televised on ABC and will be billed as the college game of the week. Should be an epic matchup. USC just barely escaped Stanford Stadium with a win over the lowly Cardinal on Saturday. They were 22+ point favorites going into the game but barely managed to scrape by with a 3 point margin of victory. The question everyone in college football is asking after that shocker: is USC vulnerable? Or was it a needed wake-up call for a dominant but increasingly complacent squad? Paper tiger or waking lion? Cal fans can only hope it is the former and not the latter. Jake Curtis of the San Francisco Chronicle summarizes it best in his column (link here). Looks as though T and I will be in Hawaii for Vincent and Allison's wedding that weekend. Given the time difference, I may have to get up extremely early to catch the broadcast. Wonder if there is an all-night sports bar in Kona.