San Francisco Update

It's been great to be in SF for a week. We are staying at our friend's Craig and Noel's house. They are the best hosts.

Shopping
Got ripped off when I bought a video game (Halo for Mac) from a reputable gaming store. When I got it home and installed it wanted a serial number. Only problem was that there wasn't one! I shoulda suspected from the krappy packaging and more than agreeable pricing  but I figured that it had been out for while and hey it was cheap. Nothing left to do but take it back and threaten to turn the store in for selling bootleg software. Good thing I'm on vacation. The law is taking that kind of thing serious these days. A couple of guys were arrested in New York recently for selling "modded" Xboxes. Modded means "modified" usually to be able to use backup copies of games,  but what happens if you bought a 50 dollar game and your dog eats it? It would be smart to have made a backup copy of the disk - huh? You need to have your gaming console modified to use it either by yourself or someone else. Why is this illegal?

Part 2. Jenn and I spent Sunday Christmas shopping. We drove all over the city from one end to the other and braved the hordes. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it might be, but still not something I would want to do all the time. Highlights were the Patagonia store and the Apple store.

Embarcadero to Ghirardelli Square
Had a great Saturday afternoon eating oysters and crab and hanging out next to the bay. The SF farmer's market was winding down, people were shopping like crazy. We saw huge freighters passing under the bay bridge and military helicopters flying low over the water. Great friends, great food, great sight,  great people watching and a great long walk.

Video Games.
Noel got classic Atari games for her birthday and craig picked up Halo 2 for his Xbox. I finished Halo and started on Halo 2. Halo 2 rocks hard. It's fast, furious, beautiful (especially on Craig and Noel's new gigantic 50 or 60 inch HUGE TV) and the story line is submersive. To bad I don't have an Xbox to play my very own copy on. umm - that's a hint family and friends.

Loch
The only thing not going well is here in SF is Loch. She had a Poosplosion in the car on the way here and has had diarrhea ever since and since she isn't used to the house it has been a constant battle to make sure she gets outside in time. We took here to the vet that Noel and Craig take Ginger and Plato to and a blood test revealed that Loch has abnormal liver and thyroid levels. We immediately reduced her steroids that she has been taking and put her on thyroid balancing meds. I am taking her to an acupuncturist tomorrow. Poor girly is getting old and still finds plenty in life to be happy about but is in a lot of pain and discomfort.

Jenn's work
Jenn spent last week at CAS (California Academy of Science). She was perusing their plant collection and comparing what they had collected to Sequoia's plant database. Kristin - a colleague and friend now working in Yosemite came to help and left this weekend. This week Jenn is taking the BART (bay area rapid transit) under the bay everyday to get to Berkeley and their herbarium to do the same thing. Our friend and co-worker, Cheryl from Sequoia is staying here and helping this week.

All in all Jenn and I are having a wonderful time learning the city and getting a better sense of its personality. As well we are getting to know Craig and Noel better which is great.