What happens in SF gets put on my blog...Family Visit

San Francisco CA

A few weeks ago Sharon (Donna's Sister) visited us. We spent a nice weekend exploring the city and eating its fine food. Here are some photos from the visit.

Both Sharon and Donna close their eyes when photos are taken. It's in their genes. Luckily my 11 years in the Tech Industry has allowed me to meet some of the best digital artists around and one of them was able to quickly make some adjustments to this so that their eyes appear open. Keep in mind this is an altered photo when looking at it. It's amazing what we can do with computers these days.

Here is a shot of Donna and Sharon on the Golden Gate Bridge in the wind. I used my Lensbaby.

Another Lensbaby shot.

And another shot with the Lensbaby.

I was Lensbaby crazy.

Crissy Field in a dream.

China Town was ready for the Chinese New Year

Donna and Sharon took some time to do some shopping in China Town

Just before Sharon's flight we took her to the Irish Bank and she had a nice Ice Tea in a San Jose Sharks Glass.

One A Day - On This Day in 2007

San Francisco CA Chinatown

On this day in 2007 the sky was awesome in San Francisco. I bet if I knew a bit about how to process HDR photos this would be a good one..

Look What I Saw Today!

San Francisco CA

So I have had some time off recently. If you don't know why go back to 9/1/2010 for the surprise. I have been out and about in The City and taking more photos than ever. This is what I saw today through my lenses.

I really cool triangular shadow creeping up a tall building

The blue sky reflecting in these widows up close

The same photo but a less intimate crop.

A Chinatown Foo Dog taken with my Lensbaby.

And Chinatown taken through my Lensbaby

One A Day - On This Day in 2007

San Francisco CA China Town

On this day in 2007 the Star Wars license was skirted in China Town. What do you do when your Millennium Falcon has Mynock pee stains? Why you shoot over to China Town and grab some Star Force Steel Wool.

Out and About with Darrin and Marrk - 2010

San Francisco CA All Over

Last week we had friends come up and visit. We like having visitors so we plan the weekend and try to do it right. It always entails great food, great drinks and fun new things to do. We try not to do too many touristy things because anyone can do those on their own. Everyone knows where Fisherman's Wharf is and how to get there and what to do, but not many know what to do or where to go when you are in The Presidio or what door to enter in China Town for a great meal.

We started the weekend at 1:30 on Saturday when we picked Darrin and Mark up at the Bart Station and when I say picked them up, it was San Francisco style. We walked down and walked with them back to their hotel.

They stayed at the Hotel Carlton. It's a nice reasonably priced hotel. The only issue is that it is almost right across the street from the emergency room so you get to listen to ambulance sirens throughout the night.

After checking in we walked back downtown to shop for a button up shirt. I failed to mention that they would need one for 2 of the places we were going to. Shame on me. We went to Old Navy and found what we were looking for right away. After shopping it was time for a snack and a cocktail. We went to the bar at our local Morten's. It was very nice.

Darrin on the escalator at our Old Navy. It is very vertical for an Old Navy.

The 12.21 bar at Morten's was empty because it was 3pm on a Saturday afternoon. The artichoke dip and bar burgers were great and the beer and cocktails hit the spot.

For our first dinner we went to Hong Kong Clay Pot. It is in China Town up and staircase on Grant that you may never see if you don't know where it is. It was packed but we were seated right away. You can see Darrin "checking in" to the restaurant on 4 Square.

Mark enjoying dinner at Hong Kong Clay Pot. We were the only 4 Caucasians in the place which meant the food was good. We had to wait for some time for the food but when it came it was worth the wait. When we left we could barely get out because the stairwell that we went up to get there was packed with people waiting to eat. Another good sign that the place is good.

Our reservations for Bourbon and Branch were not until 9:00 so we had some time to kill. We walked UP California St. to the top of Nob Hill and then took the elevator to The Top of the Mark. The drinks are lousy and expensive but the view is great so we pretended like we were going to get drinks there, took a few pictures and then left.

We still had time to kill so we stopped off at one of our favorite pubs for a beer. The White Horse is a great little pub. We had a small beer and sat and chatted. At about 8:45 we headed down into the Tenderloin to Bourbon and Branch for cocktails. I don't have any photos because you aren't supposed to take photos and you can't order Cosmos either. That did it for Day 1.

Day 2 started out at the Presidio Social Club for brunch and then over to the Yoda Fountain in front of LucasFilm for photos and then on to The Walt Disney Family Museum. No photos were allowed at the museum either.....

Darrin "checks in" at the Yoda Fountain.

Mark takes his touristy shot at the Yoda Fountain.

After the museum we cabbed over to the Japanese Tea Garden because Darrin had rememberd going there years ago and wanted to check it out. It's a very nice place but it was a wait to get tea so we just enjoyed the garden.

A nice shot in The Tea Garden.

Darrin and Donna braved the steep bridge.

Darrin and Mark taking a break at The Tea Garden

Donna and Mark

Donna blends in with the bamboo

After the tea garden we headed over to the DeYoung Cafe for a snack and beverage.

Here is one of the fun shots I took while we were in the DeYoung Cafe. There are a few outside art pieces you can see without paying a cent.

Donna and Mark in an outside art piece that you can enter.

For Dinner we ate at Bix. It was a lot of fun. We had all kinds of apetizeres and then we spit a few entrees. After dinner we cabbed back to the Hotel Carlton and I took this shot.

On Monday I took them to visit my work. We walked around in the areas that are open to visitors accompanied by an employee. Here is Darrin "checking in" at Boba Fett.

Me taking my touristy shot with Boba Fett

Me and Darth Vader

Mark wants to shake hands with Lord Vader

Darrin gets a Force Back rub from Vader

Darrin on the ILM walkway. There are many props to see

Darrin and Mark with the cool ILM sign

Me in front of the cool ILM sign (gotta do the touristy thing at work once right?)

On Monday night we all went to The Brother's Korean BBQ for dinner. It was a nice dinner to wrap up a fun weekend.

Yummy Brother's

It was a great weekend full of fun and food. It was so fun I needed another weekend to recover.

So if you are in the area, let us know and we will have some fun.

Jon and Donna

One A Day - On this day in 2007

San Francisco CA 2007

Jenna, Eric and Josh visited us in 2007. We showed the around and even took them to our favorite Dim Sum place in China Town. Josh wasn't very fond of the food because it was so different. He took a bit of Pork Bun and then spit it out and accused us of trying to make him throw up. He cheered up for the cable car ride though.

What's been going on? October 21st Update

Hey all,

I hope you enjoying the One A Days. I wanted to do an update on what is going on now so the One A Day will have to wait until tomorrow. And besides Apparently I didn't do anything interesting on October 21st over the past 7 years.

We can start with another Critical Mass photo. I have talked about this before. Every last Friday of every month bike riders take over one popular rout and shut down traffic for a few mile ride. They have a point (bikes have as much right to the road as cars) but they also expect extra rights especially on that night.

Donna at a very old China Town Bar. The bar is called Li Po Lounge. We were seeing a friend's band that night.

This is the sound guy at the Li Po Lounge. The venue is lit by about 2 lights. You can see one here.

Here is someone having a beer before the show. This photo also showcases the other light.

An SF sign so you know where you are.

Here is the band Have Special Power (Formerly The Lag). I guess there was one more light on them so that brings us to a total of 3 lights. SF is so green. The Drummer is Chris. He is the friend we went to see. Chris works at Lucas with me.

1/3rd of Have Special Power. Every band needs a base guitarist.


We were worried that Arnold (our governor) was going to shut down state parks so we went to Angel Island. We didn't want to miss it.

We hiked to the highest peak on Angel Island. It was a nice walk. This was taken before we got to the fog.

A shot half way up down into the main bay on Angel Island.

The hike was very nice. Angel Island caught fire about 8 months ago but this part of the trail showed no sign of it.

There are many military buildings on the island. This is a door to one of the buildings that they use as the museum. It was closed for some reason. Maybe Arnold.

Here is one of the buildings there. It appears to be burnt and falling over. We didn't go inside.

This is Ed. I have worked with him for almost all of my time in Video Games. This was taken on his last day at Lucas. He is moving over to Sega.

This is my special Manhattan being made at the Presidio Social Club. We bought Ed drinks here to celebrate his last day.

We went to The Mission District in San Francisco to go to one of my friends photography gallery show. There are many old theaters in The Mission that are closed. I spotted some cool old theater chairs in an alley next to a theater that is being renovated. I wish I could have taken a few for the apartment.

Here is a shot of shoes hanging from power lines in The Mission. I liked they way the shoes lit up from the lights on the street.

Donna and I took the dogs to Tahoe for the weekend. We had a great time. Here we are on a 3 mile hike.

Here is a cool tree we saw on the hike.

There was a dog beach on the lake near where we stayed. The dogs had a great time running around off leash. It has been a while for them. There is really no place safe for them to run off leash in The City.


We went to Tahoe to celebrate both of our birthdays and our 15 year wedding anniversary. here we are drinking our fancy Bloody Marys waiting for our fancy table at fancy Ciera Steak and Chophouse in the Mont Bleu Resort.

Here are our "0n the house" chocolate dipped strawberries on a plate over dry ice. It was very good and a nice surprise.

That's it for now. Enjoy the One A Days until my next big post. Currently I am taking an ILM Photography Class so I am sure I will have photos from that to post shortly.

Jon and Donna