Busy Happy Time (a letter from Dinah) 2002

Hello all,

I'm well and having a lovely birthday. It started early last Saturday with an afternoon trip with my super splendiferous boyfriend Chris to the relaxing hot tub spot Watercourse Way in Palo Alto and then a prolonged and excellent dinner at La Fondue in Saratoga. That restaurant is amazing; during our two hour meal we had a wonderful wine (99 Benziger Cabernet Sauvignon), fancy salad, a delicate cheese fondue, many different meats cooked in a seasoned red wine broth and dipped in 6 different sauces, and a dark chocolate dessert fondue which we were a bit too full to do justice to. We overstuffed ourselves and had to go laze around in the summer evening sun in the grass in Cuesta Park in Mountain View before we could drive back to San Francisco and giggle incoherently in a digestive stupor while watching the second Austin Powers movie (which I'd not seen and which is not as good as the first one but still has some amusing moments).

Sunday and Monday were mostly concerned with various casual activities around the apartment and some small chores. Tuesday I did a lot of tidying up around the house and preparations for my last day of having a company car (I haven't owned a car for years), but I made up for it in the evening when I was treated to dinner and a rock concert at The Fillmore with They Might Be Giants by my friends B.J. and Beverly. Big big fun! One of the best concerts I've ever been to.

Wednesday I woke up slow and then scurried around on various errands - picking up Chris's guitar from the shop, buying things for Edmond at REI and mailing supplies to him on the Pacific Crest Trail (read his exploits at www.meinfelder.com), turning in the car and signing final paperwork re: my departure from SoftDevices. After all that, my dear friend Fil picked me up, drove me back to San Francisco and treated me to dinner at Frjtz, a crepes & Belgian fries place 2 blocks from my apartment. We sat in the window seat eating our dinner while the live dj spun tunes. After dinner we walked a block around the corner to Momi Toby's Coffee House and had after dinner coffee while a violinist performed various classical pieces. Then we we walked to a new bar in the Tenderloin called Julip. Very classy and yet low key and approachable. Soft lighting, interesting decor and a knowledgeable bartender. I had a Mojito - a classic cocktail involving fresh mint, rum & lime juice - and it was absolutely perfect. I'll definitely go there again; I vastly prefer a single perfect drink to an evening of mediocre wine, beer or drab drinks. From Julip we wandered down Larkin street to a bar/independent film screening room called Jezebel's Joint which was populated by only a handful of customers and, apparently, a resident dog named Claire, but which had a friendly atmosphere like a neighborhood pub. Again worthy of another visit with a larger crowd of friends. We walked back to my place through the cool evening air and I was thinking how great it is to live in one of the finest cities in the world. To have all these imprompteau pleasures on a Wednesday night is such a treat!

Today and Friday I'll continue my celebration by doing whatever the heck I feel like - I'm done with the old job and the new one doesn't start until August 1st - which will might involve long wandering walks around San Francisco. I'm still working on my project of walking every street, every block of this fair city and I'm making good progress.

Ah, and soon I begin an adventure: my first real trip to the midwest. I'll be flying to Minneapolis to meet Chris's family and attend his sister's wedding. According to reports from Chris, who went out there a few days ago, the weather has ranged from sweltering to incapacitating. Mm. Well, at least it will be a new experience. Assuming I don't get sucked dry by mosquitos or melt, I'll let you know how it goes. I expect I'll be spending a fair amount of time indoors reading and drinking gallons of cool water.

Oh, the new job. Right. Well, it's just perfect for me. I'll be working for a company [which do to my googlability I'll just refer to as Yi], one of the premier (if not The premier) library automation software companies. That means they make the computer programs which libraries use to manage catalogs, circulation, acquisitions, etc. They've been around over 20 years and have about 260 employees. They're based in Emeryville, which is just a short BART train ride away from me, so I won't need to get a car - a mercy in this city of too little parking! I'll be working as the Product Manager for one of their six products and will be focused on their Web Online Public Access Catalog. In normal English that means the catalog the public uses in the library or via the Web to look things up. It's one of [Yi]'s biggest products, so it's an important position and I'm excited by the challenge. The Product Managers act as the key person for their product, educating and evangelizing about it both inside and outside the company. They also act as a communication conduit between customers and the development team working on future versions. It's very exciting and ties in perfectly with my experience. I'm really looking forward to it. It will be great to have a challenge and to be with a big stable company after this past year of waiting for new projects and taking reduced pay from a struggling little company.

Well, even though it's now technically no longer my birthday, I don't think I'll let that stop me from continuing to celebrate for another few days. There are many interesting walks to have and shops to putter around in, ah, and mornings to sleep in on. That was definitely a good way to start today. :)

Keep enjoying the summer everyone! Don't forget to squeeze in lots of fun! As Grandpa Bob taught me, via Pogo, "Don't take life so serious, it ain't nohow permanent."

Comments

Busy Happy Time (a letter from Dinah)

Hello all,

I'm well and having a lovely birthday. It started early last Saturday with an afternoon trip with my super splendiferous boyfriend Chris to the relaxing hot tub spot Watercourse Way in Palo Alto and then a prolonged and excellent dinner at La Fondue in Saratoga. That restaurant is amazing; during our two hour meal we had a wonderful wine (99 Benziger Cabernet Sauvignon), fancy salad, a delicate cheese fondue, many different meats cooked in a seasoned red wine broth and dipped in 6 different sauces, and a dark chocolate dessert fondue which we were a bit too full to do justice to. We overstuffed ourselves and had to go laze around in the summer evening sun in the grass in Cuesta Park in Mountain View before we could drive back to San Francisco and giggle incoherently in a digestive stupor while watching the second Austin Powers movie (which I'd not seen and which is not as good as the first one but still has some amusing moments).

Sunday and Monday were mostly concerned with various casual activities around the apartment and some small chores. Tuesday I did a lot of tidying up around the house and preparations for my last day of having a company car (I haven't owned a car for years), but I made up for it in the evening when I was treated to dinner and a rock concert at The Fillmore with They Might Be Giants by my friends B.J. and Beverly. Big big fun! One of the best concerts I've ever been to.

Wednesday I woke up slow and then scurried around on various errands - picking up Chris's guitar from the shop, buying things for Edmond at REI and mailing supplies to him on the Pacific Crest Trail (read his exploits at www.meinfelder.com), turning in the car and signing final paperwork re: my departure from SoftDevices. After all that, my dear friend Fil picked me up, drove me back to San Francisco and treated me to dinner at Frjtz, a crepes & Belgian fries place 2 blocks from my apartment. We sat in the window seat eating our dinner while the live dj spun tunes. After dinner we walked a block around the corner to Momi Toby's Coffee House and had after dinner coffee while a violinist performed various classical pieces. Then we we walked to a new bar in the Tenderloin called Julip. Very classy and yet low key and approachable. Soft lighting, interesting decor and a knowledgeable bartender. I had a Mojito - a classic cocktail involving fresh mint, rum & lime juice - and it was absolutely perfect. I'll definitely go there again; I vastly prefer a single perfect drink to an evening of mediocre wine, beer or drab drinks. From Julip we wandered down Larkin street to a bar/independent film screening room called Jezebel's Joint which was populated by only a handful of customers and, apparently, a resident dog named Claire, but which had a friendly atmosphere like a neighborhood pub. Again worthy of another visit with a larger crowd of friends. We walked back to my place through the cool evening air and I was thinking how great it is to live in one of the finest cities in the world. To have all these imprompteau pleasures on a Wednesday night is such a treat!

Today and Friday I'll continue my celebration by doing whatever the heck I feel like - I'm done with the old job and the new one doesn't start until August 1st - which will might involve long wandering walks around San Francisco. I'm still working on my project of walking every street, every block of this fair city and I'm making good progress.

Ah, and soon I begin an adventure: my first real trip to the midwest. I'll be flying to Minneapolis to meet Chris's family and attend his sister's wedding. According to reports from Chris, who went out there a few days ago, the weather has ranged from sweltering to incapacitating. Mm. Well, at least it will be a new experience. Assuming I don't get sucked dry by mosquitos or melt, I'll let you know how it goes. I expect I'll be spending a fair amount of time indoors reading and drinking gallons of cool water.

Oh, the new job. Right. Well, it's just perfect for me. I'll be working for a company [which do to my googlability I'll just refer to as Yi], one of the premier (if not The premier) library automation software companies. That means they make the computer programs which libraries use to manage catalogs, circulation, acquisitions, etc. They've been around over 20 years and have about 260 employees. They're based in Emeryville, which is just a short BART train ride away from me, so I won't need to get a car - a mercy in this city of too little parking! I'll be working as the Product Manager for one of their six products and will be focused on their Web Online Public Access Catalog. In normal English that means the catalog the public uses in the library or via the Web to look things up. It's one of [Yi]'s biggest products, so it's an important position and I'm excited by the challenge. The Product Managers act as the key person for their product, educating and evangelizing about it both inside and outside the company. They also act as a communication conduit between customers and the development team working on future versions. It's very exciting and ties in perfectly with my experience. I'm really looking forward to it. It will be great to have a challenge and to be with a big stable company after this past year of waiting for new projects and taking reduced pay from a struggling little company.

Well, even though it's now technically no longer my birthday, I don't think I'll let that stop me from continuing to celebrate for another few days. There are many interesting walks to have and shops to putter around in, ah, and mornings to sleep in on. That was definitely a good way to start today. :)

Keep enjoying the summer everyone! Don't forget to squeeze in lots of fun! As Grandpa Bob taught me, via Pogo, "Don't take life so serious, it ain't nohow permanent."

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