President of Kosovo

I love living in this city!! I went to the World Affairs Council meeting on Tuesday night to hear the President of Kosovo speak. The title of his presentation was "The Republic of Kosovo: Achievements and Challenges After Two Years of Independence." He entered the room to a standing ovation from about 200 people in attendance and looked to be about 5'9" tall in a sharp suit. He gave a 20 min speech highlighting Kosovo's fight for independence which 64 countries now recognize and their excellent relations with their neighbors in the region (except for Russia and Serbia). The big potential source of revenue lies with their mining activities and their extremely young workforce that largely has been educated by Europe and the US. There is approximately 40% unemployment rate, 90% of public enterprises are now private, a lot of opportunity for foreign investments, but a lack of electricity. Most of the criminal enterprise is centered in the northern part of Kosovo. Russia still thinks that their Declaration of Independence is illegal. Very interesting guy!!

Homemade Chicken Chili, Traitor, and Neverwas

KL made a very nice batch of homemade chicken and white bean chili for dinner on Monday night. Afterwards we checked out a 3/5 star movie called Neverwas starring Brittany Murphy and Harvey Dent. We also watched Traitor with Don Cheadle about a week ago and liked that one too!

Henry Poole and Surveillance

Two decent movies that we watched recently. Although, I like Surveillance more...

45 min bus ride home (AKA Gotta love MUNI!)

There's nothing like doing our best to be good citizens of the city by taking the bus home from North Beach only to be rewarded with 20 minutes of no forward movement with no explanation from the driver. At least we had lots of opportunities to people watch and check out the dead birds hanging in the stores on Stockton street.

Panta Rei and Soccer

We went here for lunch and to watch the Juventus-Milan soccer match with TZL. Even though he was there, we had a great time and really enjoyed the food. The pasta was outta sight and the pizza crusts were thin and crispy. Of course, Eddie had to bring the little dog with him, but he couldn't bring it into the restaurant. So, the little guy had to be tied to a street sign and it looked like he was shivering outside. The owners of the place were super nice and set out a water dish for the him (the dog not Whitey). In the end, Milan won 3-0 and the Juventus fans starting lighting their stadium on fire in protest!!!

Yin and Yang

Nopalito and Madrone

We went over to Whitey O'Shea's place in Nopa for some pre-dinner cocktails with D and L, but he had no bean dip ready. I got to teach him how to make a proper side car and tell the story of how we met. We then trudged over about 2 blocks for a great dinner at Nopalito. Afterwards, we went over to Madrone to check out the scene and get a picture of the deer head with machine gun antlers hanging on the wall.

Dinner at Bix

We had a great time at a dinner at Bix with some of the Celsis folks on Tuesday evening. As always, the food and service were fantastic - I had the steak bavette which was terrific. Afterwards, we headed over to Fuse after getting the major cold shoulder at Mr. Bing's. What is wrong with the guy working there?!?! I guess he doesn't like to make $$!

Ripley's Game

I had never even hear of this movie, but because it starred Malky, I was willing to give it a chance and we were not disappointed. The ending was pretty cheesy, but the rest of it was pretty good.

Barkley SNL Preview

We haven't seen an SNL episode in 10 years, but after seeing the potential trainwreckiness of Sir Charles as Alicia Keys tonight, I'm going to have to Tivo it!

Wilka Warep!!

This sign is on the sidewalk outside the Pet Store across the street from where we live. It's an English word with the Rammaytush translation next to it.

Sweet First Date

I think Whitey O'Shea told me that this is usually how his first dates go...

Indyface

He's trying to eat KL's cameraphone!!

Randy Savage

One of the greatest wrestlers ever!!

TZL's Dish

We found a side effect properly named after TZL at The Lighthouse!

Empty Food Bowl

This cartoon will probably be what happens to me with Indy and Franky.

We saw lots of funny little things during our time in the North Bay including a bobbing turkey, merman and mermaid ornaments, and Dis and Dat.

After our awesome NYE, we headed up to Casa Madrona Hotel and Spa for a day and evening of relaxation. We had a nice little dinner at Poggio and woke up to a very tasty breakfast at The Lighthouse. What a great little getaway!

NYE Dinner

We had an awesome dinner at home together for NYE. The multi course meal started off with some Tsar caviar, homemade blinis, and creme fraiche. I think my little appetizers were put together the best! Even Indy liked the caviar! The Caeser salad was made using KL's special dressing recipe. The last course was cabernet steaks and garlic mashed potatoes. Each course was paired with a sweet glass of champagne or wine. We followed up the dining entertainment with some old classics from Madonna and Michael Jackson until the ball dropped with Dick Clark.

Franky's Ears

Are primed and ready for NYE and Twenty Ten!!