The Madness that is "Bay to Breakers"

When is Rome, do as the Romans.  Since we've been here in San Francisco, we've all been told about this huge event called Bay to Breakers - it's a must do event while you're here.  There's been stories long and wide about this event, but here's the official history of how it all came about:

At 5:13am on April 18, 1906, a devastating earthquake - destined to become one of history's most notorious natural disasters - rocked San Francisco. The subsequent fire and destruction were unimaginable, and many feared the City would never fully recover. But San Franciscans, displaying their typical fortitude and innovation, immediately began rebuilding the city and orchestrating events to lift their morale. One of those events, the Cross City Race - better known today as ING Bay to Breakers - was first run in 1912 as a precursor to the world-class athletic events planned for the 1915 Pan Pacific International Exposition.


Since then, Bay to Breakers has prevailed as a testament to San Francisco's uniqueness and audacity. Each year the race is a glorious celebration of the human spirit - a giant wave of athleticism, fun, frivolity, and determination flowing across the City from the bay to the ocean. It is one of the largest footraces in the world with 65,000 + participants and 100,000 + spectators annually. As the race grew in size it even set a Guinness Book record, with 110,000 participants in 1986. The course is challenging and beautiful, and consistently attracts world class competitors.

In the true spirit of San Francisco the race is a celebration for everyone. Thousands of costumed participants join with families, and weekend runners and walkers. As they make their way through the heart of San Francisco, energized by continuous bursts of live music, they are cheered on by thousands of spectators lining the route. They also have to dodge the "spawning salmon" which each year make their way from the Finish line, back through the masses, to the Start.

The race is still a quintessential San Francisco experience and a true reflection of life between the breakers and the Bay.

Being that this "is the San Francisco experience", we of course had to partake (in full costume, of course).  Taty, Lorenza, and I put together 80's costumes.  I think we did a pretty darn good job considering the challenges of trying to put a costumer together.  Nate, Dunn, and JB went as Jorts boys (see pictures) and Sunil, Chris B, and Matt went as the wolf pack (their self-proclaimed group).  It was great - and Bay to Breakers was quite the experience.  Not sure if pictures do justice of this event.  Serious runners all take off at the finish line and actually run the event - everyone else likes us - just walks and enjoys the parade.  Yes - there are floats and the whole caboose - all homemade of course.  We made it to mile marker five.

Charmin (Taty's friend who just moved to SF from Minneapolis), Taty, Me, Lorenza, and Charmin's cousin.

The Wolfpack: Chris B, Matt, and Sunil. 

JB, Nate, and Dunn in their Jorts.  (yes, that's a ping pong table in the apartment - the boys all chipped in and bought one.  They have tournaments constantly)

More awesome costumes at the walk/parade:

The Rubik's cubes

Ghost Busters. Check out mullet man to the left.

Pac Man

Origami post-it notes suit. 

Napa

These are pics from our trip to Napa.  There were ten of us that all rented a shuttle and took a day trip out there.  We started out at Del Dotto Caves - our first tour.  Then went to Mumm's, where they make sparkeling wine (aka Champagne), and sat outside on their beautiful coutyard overlooking the vineyards.  It was a dream out there - the sceneary was absolutely beautiful and the weather was perfect.  We had a great day. 

The Girls - Autumn, Taty, Lorenza, Me, and Meredith in the caves at Del Dotto.

Taty, Me, and Lorenza at Del Dotto vineyards.

Taty, Autumn, Lorenza, and I on the patio at Mumms.  The vineyards were magical that day.

Lorenza, Me, and Taty playing in the vineyard.  I love how Lorenza looked that day - she was the perfect little tuscan woman.

Holy Celebrity Weekend!

I must confess, I am a celebrity monger.  I love celebrities.  I'm an avid subscriber to People magazine and thoroughly love anything and everything celebrity. I read it all. Suck it all up. And oh my - this was my weekend.  Friday night was an easy night since we were planning on getting up early Saturday morning for the day trip to Napa. We all went to dinner at Republic to have a nice meal and call it an early night.  As we were leaving, low and behold, Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs comes meantering in.  Apparently, he lives in San Fran not to far from Republic and he was coming to have a few drinks and hang out.  I didn't have my camera with my that night so unfortunately, no documentation; however, I have several witnesses that saw him there.
I thought I had missed my celebritunity, but alas, there was napa.  There were ten of us that all rented a bus and took a day trip to Napa.  It was awesome.  The weather was perfect and the wineries were great - we had a great time.  Towards the end of the afternoon, we were enjoying our tasting when Chris B in our group recognized the gentleman in the group next to us.  It was Dave Grohl.  For all you rock band fans out there, Dave Grohl was the drummer for Nirvana and front man and songwriter for the Foo Fighters.  I was not going to let this opportunity pass me by, so we kindly asked if he would take a picture with us.  He was super nice about it (and I must say - I played it super cool) - and voila - we have this beautiful picture in the wine cellar. Dave was really awesome.  After I told him that Chris B (the one who identified him in the first place) was a huge fan but too shy to say anything, he went over and introduced himself and took a picture with him and Lorenza as well.  It was awesome.  We were happy - and the wine was pretty good too.

This is our life: A CMTP rendition

They're trying to kill us one by one

Two months into the program:  Two cases down, three people to the hospital.

Veronica.  Veronica was our second casualty to the hospital thus far.  Training is intense - many times with 6 day plus work weeks and lots of late working nights.  Caffeine, 5-hour energy, and gum are our best friends.  The stress can be pretty intense and it really hit Veronica this week - not to mention she has a family with two kids she is trying to juggle along with this program.  Her blood pressure went a little wacky - but luckily with some diet control and bit more rest, she should be fine.

Sean.  Sean was our first and most severe trip to the hospital.  Sean and his roommate Sean (yes, we have two Sean's rooming together and two Brandon's romming together.  Lovely) were cooking dinner.  A grease fire broke out over the stone.  In their haste to put out the fire and not have the apartment go down in smoke, he was able to grab the pot and take it out to the balcony and put out the fire.  The boys were smart and didn't put water on the fire to put it out, but given our lack of common household items, there wasn't exactly baking soda around to throw on it.  Unfortunately his hand paid the price.  He ended up with three degree burns on his hand and arm.  He immediately went to the hospital and underwent surgery the next day.  There was no tendon damage, which the doctors were afraid of, but he will have to have skin graphs and lots of rehab.  Not to mention the burn was on his right hand, his writing hand. 

Damon.  Damon - not only is he my birthday twin, but he's also my buddy (they assigned us buddies in class - a commercial background with a real estate background).  Damon has quite possibly the most tragic, and most quetly spoken hospital trip.  Not too much of a story here, just unfortunate circumstances.  After hanging out, Damon didn't have his key to get back into Archstone (aka the dorms) so he decided it would be a good idea to jump the fence to get in.  I guess he landed really awkardly because he broke when he landed, he broke his femur, like in half.  That was an immediated trip to the hospital.  No surgery required that we know of, but obviously walking and getting around will be seriously impaired.  No word on the type of cast/brace/contraption he has going on.  He's out of the hospital now and should return to training tomorrow. Walking to class and back each day should be interesting.

I am loved!

It was just another Monday of a normal week, or so I thought.  As I walked into the office today, Tom asked, "did you see your box that came for you?" It's up in the front, you can't miss it."  You can say that again.  To my delight, as I walked up to the front desk, I saw the most awesome, perfectly decorated, hand wrapped box with my name in big bold letters.  It was the best care pacakge I've ever seen.  My office - Hannah, Gina, and Lauren - you guys ROCK (as Kinzy would say on my favorite radio show Kidd Kraddick.  Love it).  It was the hugest box with the most colorful, vivid, pictures decorated all over it and a ginormous, handmade, styrofoam bow on top.  Hannah, I know that was your handywork!!  It was amazing!! When I saw it, I was in complete awe and had the biggest smile on my face. Everyone around my office, including me, absolutely loved it.  I almost didn't want to open it, it looked so good.  And when I finally did, I laughed so hard my sides hurt.  As I opened the packaged and rifled through the handmade confetti inside, I found the most fantastic loot of office and company goodies inside.  I especially liked the perfectly paired tea packages (matching our concoctions that we would make back in the office) and the hot chocolate.  Oh, and don't forget the oversized 1980's adding machine with a note that said, "you're going to need this for your first case."  Total Awesomness.  Gina and Hannah included a pictures of themselves from the office, which I promptly posted in my cubicle area with the picture frame holder included.  p.s. (Hannah and Gina) - all the boys want to know who those two sexy ladies are?? And I loved the card.  So I proclaim for all the world to hear, I love my office, and my office, officially loves (and misses) me too.  I feel so loved!

Me with my package.  Look how awesome that thing is!!

The box was decorated on all sides.  I almost didn't want to open it.

My super sized addition machine and all my offie goodies. I love you Dallas RCBO.

Biking and the Golden Gate

After the accounting test, we've had some more time to go out and actually enjoy some things around the city. 
This particular weekend, we wanted to experience San Fran to the fullest so we decided to rent bikes and bike across the Golden Gate Bridge and spend the afternoon in sausalito.  It turned out to be an amazing day.  We all met in the courtyard of Melrose Place (aka our apartment, or the doorms, as we affectionately like to call it) at 10:00 and then walked to the bike shop, which is two blocks away right next to Whole Foods.  And then we were off.  We started in SOMA (the area where we live), rode up Folsom, hit the Embarcadero and rode up the Embarcadero past all the piers, up to Ghiradelli square and Golden Gate Park, all the way up to the Golden Gate Bridge.  Riding along the streets and the embarcadero was interesting to say the least, especially with our biker gang of eleven people all following each other.  You'd be dodging cars on your left and people on your right, all the while trying to keep up and not get left behind.  But it was super fun.  You definitely get a new perspective of the city on a bike.  San Francisco is approximately 7 square miles.  Which, back home, is not a huge area.  However, with no car, 7 square miles is alot bigger than you think. Actually having a bike to get around on then, versus those lovely little feet, you can get around so much easier and cover so much more area.  Why have I not invested in a bike sooner?  I definitely want to look into getting for the rest of while out here.

The Biker Gang at the bike shop getting ready to head out.  From left to right, Taty, Me, Alison, Nate, Tony, Caroline, Brandon D, Caroline's husband, Sunil, Brandon B, and Chris.

Biking from SOMA to the Embarcadero. 

Biking and the view along the Embaracadero. Just beautiful.

Me and Taty on our bikes.

The View from Golden Gate Park. Almost there.  Notice how much higher the GG is from the vantage point.  One word: Hills.

Me on the lookout point.  Look how far away the city is in the background.  We've biked far - and still more to go.

Me and Alison on the Golden Gate. 

Sausalito.

All in all, it was a great day.  The weather was great, the views were amazing, and we had a super fun group.  We biked nearly over 14 miles from downtown SF, across the Golden Gate, and down the Sausalito.  The ferry ride back was exactly what we needed, because there was no way I was going to make it back up the hill.  It was a packed day and by the end, we were exhausted.

Alison, my superhero

A little behind on the posting, but I'm back with some more.  This is the story of Alison P, my bud.  And she is a rockstar.  Alison is from the midwest, but her husband hails from Oklahoma City and that's how we first bonded.  The first few weeks out her in San Francisco, she signed up to run the San Fran 12K (that's 7.5 miles).  Being that she's out here in new city and running with about 4000 other strangers, I recruited the girls to go and cheer her on at the finish line.  I think she really appreciated it that we came out to support her, especially being that she woke up around 5 in the morning to take the bus to go run.  She was amazing.  She ran the 7.5 miles in a little over 1 hour.  I ran a 10K in November in about the same time (she's fast!).  The finish line was right at Ghiradelli square just past the golden gate bridge.  The weather was beafutiful, all the runners were great, and Lorenza, Tatyana, and myself were there to greet her as she crossed the finish.  Just awesome.

Me, Tatyana, Alison, and Lorenza at Ghiradelli park.

Alison and all her running awesomness.

The flowers at Ghiradelli square.  We ate lunch at a little diner behind here.

Me and Taty.  You really can't tell, but this is the "treasure map" Alison drew for me on a napkin with the bus route to get to Ghiradelli square.  I still have no idea where I am in the city.  Sad, really.

Just another day in the life of Survivor CMTP

The Friday after the accounting test, our entire group all participated in Habitat for Humanity.  It was for a great cause and provided a really good team building activity for all of us after such a stressful week and a half of accounting.  We met over at Wholesale U where a bus was waiting to take us over to Oakland (just across the bay bridge).  When we arrived at the Habitat site in Oakland, we immediately put on hard hats and walked over to the construction site.  And I mean, construction site.  Instead of building just one house, this Habitat was building a condo/duplex of 16 houses.  All the condos/duplexes were green houses made with natural materials, energy efficienty appliances, and solar energy panels.   We were making the framing, so we didn't see all the "green" features; however, they had some finished buildings there we could see.  After introductions, they quickly broke us up into groups.  I absolutely did not want to do painting or siding, so I was on the "Lumber Jack" team.  Little did I know that it would be the hardest working team that day.  As part of hte Lumber Jacks, our job was to sort through wood 2x4, 3x9, 2x6's, etch, remove nails,  and move lumbar to various locations of the site.  We moved wood.  Lots and lots of it.  We're pretty sure that we moved wood piles around right back where we started.  Kind of like moving paper around on a desk, we did that with lumbar on the site.  Tony's favorite quote of the day (by me), "Where did ALL this wood come from!?  This was not here thirty minutes ago?"  Oh yeah, we had another pile to move.  Not happy.

This is the view of the City as we drove across the Bay Bridge.

Team "Lumber Jacks".  The is the before picture.  Look how nice and refreshed we look.

Port-O-Potty Time Machine.  The weather has been so pleasant since being here - mid sixties to maybe low seventies.  Of Course, the day we do Habitat, it was over 80 degrees and a day full of hot sun.  I had to change into shorts, I was hot (check the red face).  All we had was Port-O-Potties.  We were nastified.

This is me and my girl Alison.  She super fun and I love her.  She was a "LumberJack" as well.

Lunch break.  Geez, I look like hell. Another 3 hours to go.

The ice cream man came around at lunch.  This is Leda (my roommate) with her Dora the Expolorer ice cream.  It looks just like her!

This is our entire group.  Linda applied for a grant from the Foundation and we presented Habitat with a $25,000 check. 

Lorenza and her apprenticeship with Ian.  They were cutting all the step ups for stairs in all the condos/duplexes.  You really can't tell in the photo, but she was completely covered in sawdust.  She looked like she had bathed in it.  It was really funny.

"Lumbar Jacks" at the end of the day with our team lead Andy. 

anybody seen the thermostat?

I can't seem to find it.  (Ohh, that's right, there is no thermostat.  Clermont Ferrand anyone?)

And the Winner is....

The first Sunday, Joanne and Caroline invited all the girls over to watch the Oscars.  It was fun for the girls to get together and just hang out.  Caroline and Joanne were super hosts and as it turns out, they are quite the cooks.  Caroline made these fabulous brushetta with ricotta cheese and honey.  Sounds a little different, but it was awesome.  She wrote down the recipe for me.  I was happy. 

From left to right:  Julie, Caroline, Veronica, Leda, Cynthia, Alison, Lorenza, Tatyiana, Joanne, and me.

At Your Own Risk

No lie, this is posted in the garage in our apartment complex.

Living In a Linear World

ACCOUNTING:  Accounting is the "language" spoken in the financial world, and as such, is a criticial component of CMTP.  Therefore, the first 10 days of CMTP began with the accounting review followed by an 8 hour accounting exam.  The exam counts towards 30% of our overall grade in CMTP and everyone was trying really hard to do well and score high - it is the heaviest weighted component of 5 tests that we will take out here over the next five months.

Monday morning began accounting review.  We had class 8 hours a day, for 10 days, including Saturday, with only one Sunday off.  That totals a year's worth of accounting that we had to learn and would be tested on. Not a typo.  A full year's worth of accounting in 10 days!  On top of hour hours of class, we typically had several hours of homework and or studying every night after class, which totaled to 12 and 14 hour days of accounting.  We were exhausted.  However, considering the long hours of accounting, we did have the best teacher in the world;  CJ Skinner.  CJ has been a professor at both Duke and UNC, is a traning consultant for several, high profile companies, and is currently finalizing publishing his accounting book.  He could quite possibly be one of the smartest people I've ever come across.  He's quite the character.  He describes himself as obsessive compulsive (which he is completely aware of, and even perhaps, like), sleep deprived, and exceedingly organized.  He always wears a suit (including Saturday and Sundays), with braces and french cuffs.  Ties are worn on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and bow ties are worn Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.  He arranges his dollar bills by serial number, socks and undewear are alphabatized (straight from his Bio), and he "charts everything imaginable".  He relates to lines from songs, and starts every class with song lines and movie quotes.  He knows thousands of them.  Given the intensity of the class, he actually made accounting. 

CJ Skinner.

This is CJ "sucking in" for his picture when I told him I was going to post it on my blog.  He wears suits everyday.  Jackets are always worn in the morning, and then can be taken off in the afternoon.

CJ keeps a tally for all of his song lines and movie quotes.  I wasn't so hot on the lines or quotes, but I did know all the celebrity back storis behing them.  First point, knowing that Marvin Gaye was shot and killed by his father. 

Does your brain hurt?  Mine does.

Home Sweet Home.

Upon arriving in San Fran, we quickly moved into our "new home".  Considering the various apartments provided, Leda and I were lucky enough to have an updated apartment with granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, and good sized rooms and closets.  The apartment comes furnished.  While not the most updated, the furniture us nice and purposeful.  And the couch is surprising comfortable.  Included, is all the wonderful pleasantries of the 4 lane highway that is roughly three blocks from our wall of windows.  Yes, traffic, cars, and trucks are my white noise that I get to enjoy 24 hours a day (get excited!).  And don't forget Mr. Dumptruck that comes 5:45 Monday mornings.  Yeah - heard you loud and clear. All in all, we are pretty lucky considering some of the other apartments are straight from circa 1975, but the noise is definitely taking some used to.

We could only take the motel 6 comforters for about 1 day until we decided we just couldn't deal.  On Saturday we walked to Union Square and hit up the local Ross.  Leda and I found the most awesome, soft, fluffy blankets  (for $15!) to replace the cock roach motel bedding.  And being Green in San Francisco, I was able to repurpase the nasty comforter.  It is now my new drape (that has been so lovely nailed to the ceiling - basics people, basics) that blocks out the blinding sun in the morning.

Being here in San Fran reminds me alot of Clermon Ferrand (this one's for you Aundie).  We have all the bare necessities to get by, but that's about it.  We were provided the absolute minimam basics, but other than that, you're on your own.  Saturday we ventured out and went grocery shopping for the next week at Safeway.  Shopping takes on a whole new element when you know you have to carry them home 20 blocks.  Meals were strategically purchased and size and weight had a major impact on our buying decision.  We brought our backpacks and bags to ease the burden of the carry.  But it's all about the experience, right.  We'll be grocery shoppin again in about two days.

Nothing can do justice like some pictures.  Luckily for you, I have included some for your're enjoyment.

Leda and I met at the SFO airport.  Here's me with all of our bags. 

The view from our balcony.  Highway, two blocks, maybe.

My life in five bags.

We've had some technical difficulties since we arrived here in San Fran so I'm alittle late on posting this, but better late than never.  Here's the next five months of my life wrapped up in five bags.  Pretty good I'll say.

March Fouth and Move

Today is moving day.  So crazy - we knew this day was coming but can't believe it's actually here.  Packing was much harder than I anticipated.  Trying to figure out what you are going to need for the next five months was way harder than I had planned. But three suitcases and $160 later, here I am.  Leda, my new roommate, is awesome.   Our flights arrived at the same time in San Fran so we strategically met up and took a cab to our new apartment.  Our pairing could not have been more perfect; we have an uncanny amount in common. Let's review:

Age - check.
Newly Wed - check.
Previous position - check
Time dating spouse - check
Purchased home in Oct 2008 - check.

Yes, Leda and I are two peas in a pod!