I'd like an order of State...with some Church on the side please

I really don't like to get into political conversations. I have my beliefs I stick to them. I don't need to have a deep conversation with someone about them, especially with someone who feels the same way. So this blog is dedicated to you conservative Christians who are trying to amend our fine state's constitution with a doctrine of hate and discrimination. 

What I remember about history class is that our founding fathers fled King George's England because of religious persecution. They came here with the notion of religious freedom and this became a central value in the shaping of our great country... separation of church and state. So if church and state are supposed to stay separate, why would we want to pass Prop 8. All this would do was make our Constitution read more like Commandments (even though I can't find in the bible where it says gay people should be discriminated against).

So to all you right wing zealots who claim, only after 9/11 mind you, that not flying an American flag is un-American (how many of you were flying a flag before), this is why I avoid political shit, it gets me all riled up and breaking off on tangents. My final point is, a Yes on 8 vote is un-American and hate is just wrong. Vote No on 8.

Radio Show blues

So the morning show on Live 105 AH (after Howard) was actually pretty good. I liked the chemistry they had and the non topic topics they would talk about. They started out as the morning music co-op, which didn't work at all. They tried that for less than a year I think. They then moved on to just a standard run of the mill morning show. Three hosts and two hang arounds. But then something curious happened, they changed the name to the Woody Show basically saying that the other four are now hang arounds. Woody started out fresh, it was good to hear someone new. As soon as it became "his" show the hate started. I know, this is kind of a "wah" blog, but this guy gets paid to put on a show in the city he so loathes and doesn't hide that fact on air. The last straw was when he became Bill O'Reilly Jr. and said he would love to see SF bombed...on air he said this shit. His mantra is "Turn us off if you don't like us". It seems as though he doesn't practice what he preaches. You don't like this city? Then leave.

Isn't it a buyers market?

Not in San Francisco it isn't. 

So I got a text message from Katie while I was at work the other day. It said, "There's a house for sale down the street". I replied "Wanna buy it?". She replied "I don't know but we should definitely call". I was joking around and thought she was too. I was wrong. So I called Katie on my lunch and she told me it was a "For Sale by Owner" property that was being offered as a Lease to Own. Sounded interesting enough, like having an open end lease on a car. So I was now on the proverbial hook.

I drove by the house on my way home, it is 6 doors from ours, to take a look at what our new house would look like. It was cute, had a garage, and no gate on the front door. I was assuming it was 3/2 which would be an upgrade from our 2/1. So I called the next day and talked to one of the owners to set up a time to come and see the place and ask about it. When he told me the price I nearly laughed. I thought this was a buyers market, but $810,000 in San Fran is considered a deal to some. Not to us. We have it pretty good where we are at. We got in before the sub prime crash so our rent is reasonable for the space we have, which includes our own laundry, a backyard, storage. And moving, even 6 doors down, with a two month old would be a chore and a half

Cliche, I know, but...

It seems only a week or so ago that we were bring little Miss V home from the hospital. Me driving as slow and cautious as I ever have, and Katie in the back on cloud nine looking at our creation alive and well and on her way home. Well last week she had her first round of shots which they give at the two month check up. Time flies when your having fun? Sure it does. All I can say is moo is growing up before our eyes. She really does get bigger day by day. I am now picturing V at 5 talking about her first day at kindergarten...AAHH! We'll be there soon enough though which is where, I guess, that cliche comes from.

Golfing at 7 weeks

So it's been a while since we've talked, but I didn't forget about you. I am back. I left you with thoughts about Katie and me and our two week old daughter. Well, Veronica is now seven weeks old (she still weighs less than me when I was born) and I am going to go golfing for the first time in a long while. I have missed it for sure, but no doubt would have missed moo had I gone any earlier. We shall see how much my game has suffered in these months off. 

Notes from the Swaddler

Veronica slept for a seven hour stint three nights ago...Holy crap that was cool

She had her first round of shots on Thursday...Don't know if it hurt her more than us.

She is holding her head more and more steady...And it's only in the 50th percentile

The first two weeks

When Katie and I first talked about getting pregnant we both had a kind of timid approach to the subject. We both worked with kids for a number of years at programs at the YMCA so we felt that was something we could fall back on as far as info was concerned. I don't remember when the conversation was first broached but I feel like when we got married that the intention to have kids was always there. Now a lot of you parents will agree that thinking and talking about it are totally a far cry from walking the walk. When we got married I still worked for peanuts at said YMCA and Katie was just starting out at her new job. I had just taken the test to get into the plumbers union local 38 in the City, so I had hope that would come through pretty quick so I quit the Y and found out that they don't call right away. Man I felt dumb quitting a sure thing but I really was making next to nothing after eight years of service which meant I couldn't even afford a true honeymoon for us. So I had a commercial drivers license in my pocket and no call from 38 yet so I went hunting for a driving job.

What I found was actually a really cool small tour company in Fisherman's Wharf. I'm sure you've seen the bigger ones like Tower Tours and CoachUSA. We were called TravelSF and I got the job fairly quickly because they were expanding to offer more tours. I drove tourists around SF, to Muir Woods, up to the wine country, and I got paid to drop knowledge on them. On one of my first training trips I was co-pilot with Max on a wine country trip. Max seemed cool at first, good looking guy, brought a guitar to play for his tours at the wineries, brilliant if I must say. But I quickly learned that he was misleading his tours with faulty info. Now I am a 5th generation San Franciscan, a rarity nowadays, and I know that I am still learning about my City. I also know that the 1989 earthquake was not the Loma Vista earthquake and it was not epicentered in San Rafael. Is there even a faultline up there? This was just one case of Misleading Max striking. I worked at TravelSF for a year and it was great fun and I made some bread too. I guess you could say I went from peanuts to cashews.

I finally got the call for the plumbers union and so I said so long to driving tourists around. I was out of work for probably 3 weeks before I got my first call to a jobsite. How excited/nervous was I? My whole plan was working. Working at the Y was rewarding mentally but not financially. I signed up for the union so I could provide for my family with a rewarding career. So I get to my first job and two weeks in I get carpal tunnel syndrome in both wrists. Boo! I was off for two months. When I got back to work, it was with the same company that hired me, I busted my ass to show that I really was injured and not just a lazy son of a monkey's uncle. 3 years later I'm with the same company.

I remember starting to talk about having a kid with Katie soon after getting into the union. I was making more money so was she and we weren't getting any younger. The only catch here is that two or three nights a week I was in school (still am) for the apprenticeship from 5-8pm. How would we survive, more importantly, how would Katie and a newborn/infant/toddler get by? So we agreed to wait. We talked about waiting until I got out of the apprenticeship in 5 years. Again, I don't remember dates very well, I'm sure Katie will lend some comments with dates soon, but we didn't wait 5 years. We actually found out we were pregnant the day before we left for England and Scotland in December of last year. This was gonna be our "real" honeymoon. I had a chunk saved up and was gonna treat Katie like a queen. Not that I couldn't now that we saw a blue plus sign or pink equal sign or whichever brand of stick she peed on, it's just that the trip would be different. We have friends who live in Bristol and Katie has known TM and Ali for a while. We couldn't not tell them and then have Katie not drinking so there wouldn't be any debauchery this trip. Still a great trip though. We drove from Bristol up to Edinburgh which is just about the same distance as San Francisco to Ashland, Or. Two countries in seven hours. Granted, we were driving on the opposite side and it was snowing and people drive crazy fast over there.

You can probably tell that the first two weeks are a ways away. They will get here soon, right now though, I must cuddle with my two week old daughter.