Indie rock coloring book

I want this book, which I found out about via Nicole's Tumblr.

Want to know what's embarrassing though? The publisher is my account, and the book isn't in Google Books. So ok, that's my fault then. Excellent.

Coastal Cleanup

Does anyone want to volunteer with me to do some coast cleanup with Baykeeper on September 19? It's a Saturday, and why yes, I may be overbooking myself in order to keep busy while Mike is gone, why do you ask?

Good vs evil softball

While on a trip to DC last year, Mike played in a Greenpeace softball game against...Newt Gingrich's staff. As you might expect, Newt's team cheated, and won. Mike has yet to recover.

But now, oh oh oh, redemption! This time around, the Sea Slugs beat the Newt-ralizers to with the D.C. softball championship!

Way to leave your slimy slug trail all over them, guys.

Geek humor

I highly recommend doing a Google search for "recursion".

If you are really my friend

You will quit your job and start doing this with me:

A Fingers Primer

For Kiira, and all those similarly in the dark: Fingers is the greatest drinking game of all time. All you need is a glass, beer, and fingers. If you don't have fingers, just call it Stumps.

The object: to not be the last person left with your finger on the glass.

How to play: everyone in the the group (the more the merrier) places a finger on the rim of a beer glass, which is partially filled with your beer of choice. Each person takes their turn to count to 3 and then guess how many fingers will be left on the glass when they have called a number. Concurrently, all other participants must either lift their finger or leave it on the rim when the caller says a number.

Example of a game with 5 players:

• Player 1: "1, 2, 3...3!"
• Players 2-5: lift a finger or don't.
• Let's say three players lifted, two didn't - Player 1 was wrong, and is, alas, still in the game.
• Player 2: "1, 2, 3...4!"
• Players 1, 3-5: lift a finger or don't.
• Let's say one player lifted, four didn't. Player 2 is a winner, and sits out the rest of the game.

This goes on until the showdown, when two players are left.

(Inevitably at some point someone calls out "2!" and lifts their own finger, leading to hilarity.) The loser has to drink what's left in the glass, which is warm and filtered through lots of finger grease.


The loser then goes first for the next round. It's a lot easier to explain in person, especially when you have already had some beer. But trust me: it's a great game.

Just adorable

"Lombard Street to Become Giant Candyland Game Wednesday"

Check check and check

Friday

• large gathering at a dive bar: check
• playing of Trivial Pursuit and Fingers at aforementioned dive bar: check
• smashing of pinata: check
• middle-of-the-night Safeway run: check
• waking up on Saturday with a hangover and bits of chocolate melted in my hair: check

Saturday

• Ferry Building farmer's market: check
• purchase of overpriced yet delectable fruits, vegetables, beans and prepared foods: check
• wine country visit and attendant imbibing of delicious wines: check
• visit to microbrewery: check
• dinner at friend's fancy hotel restaurant, slurping of raw oysters and mojitos: check
• getting dinner on the house: check

Sunday

• Divisadero farmer's market: check
• strawberry and Nutella crepe at Beanbag: check
• sunning in Dolores Park: check
• bookstore browsing and purchase of new Dave Eggers book: check
• dinner at Indian pizza place: check
• cuddling on the couch while watching The West Wing: check

Participation in anything non-gluttony or -sloth-oriented this weekend: no check.

Attention New Yorkers

Mike and I will be in your fair city starting this Thursday! Also, a few friends have shows in the NYC Fringe Festival, and you should go see them.

The Doctor and the Devils, as written up in Time Out: "Dylan Thomas is best known as a poet and alcohol enthusiast, but he also wrote a few plays—including this one about body-snatching murderers, adapted and directed by Daniel Balkin for Rag ‘N’ Bone Theatre Company, and set to music by—who else?—Tom Waits."

The Meaning of Wife, an awesome show by two Wellesley/Dead Serious alums.

Turtle sex

I can't look away!

Just another day at the office

Peter Bjorn and John played.

And there was a camel.

There was also a "street fair", and Bollywood dancing, and cumbia. At that point I retreated back to my office.

This is the ugliest house ever.

It just is.

Photos

Definitely check out this article on an AP photographer who was just injured in Afghanistan. The 6th photo in the slideshow, of boys in a Pakistani refugee camp blowing up their pants to make them float, is totally precious.

Your WTF for the day

Alice Waters, the queen of the foodies, is from Chatham NJ. New Jerseyans: we're everywhere!

Publishing 2.0

I have loved Amanda Hesser for a very long time. I got interviewed by her (via email) while I was in college, because she did an article for the NYT food section on how college students make their own meals in the dining halls. Apparently my delicious olive oil dip (nuke it for 30 seconds with garlic powder, salt, pepper, and other dried spices) wasn't innovative enough for her. But I am forgiving, especially when the person in question has exactly the life I would like for myself. Or, at least, has the life I wanted to have when I was 19 and thought there would be nothing better than being a food writer in New York.

I still might think that.

But anyway, she's crowd-sourcing a new cookbook, and I feel a little weird about that. Mostly I feel weird about the fact that Harper Studio is publishing it. (If anyone is somehow delusional enough to be interested in my thoughts on Harper Studio's unique business model, feel free to let me know and I shall babble.) In the case of Lianna's I Am Neurotic, the concept of a book created by user submissions is very appealing - look how neurotic everyone is! In the case of a cookbook, it kind of just feels like people no longer know what's going to sell so they're going to do as little work as possible - "Let's let other people create the content for us."

At the same time, this has a pretty long tradition in the cookbook world - many a community organization fundraiser has revolved around getting everyone's mom to hand in a favorite family recipe to collect in a spiral binding and sell back to those same moms. I'm pretty sure that's the source of my impression that in the 50's, everyone ate fish suspended in Jell-o.

Hold on, what? Yeah. So, I feel weird about Ms. Amanda Hesser stooping to get other people to come up with recipes for her. But I'm sure people will be thrilled to submit their own recipes, and I think I still love Amanda, even though she is not as hot as I thought she would be. I also now, in retrospect, think it's lame that she called her boyfriend (husband?) Mr. Latte. At the time it seemed urbane.

But I'm still going to sign up for the cookbook submission project, because I want to see how it works. And because I want to submit my goddamn olive oil dip recipe.

Shaaaaaark!

This is why I will never learn to surf. Ever.

Point Reyes

On Friday we bailed out of work a little early and drove up to Pt. Reyes to go backpacking. We hiked the 6 miles in to Wildcat Camp, which turned out to be gorgeous. There were only a few sites, and we had our own little bluff overlooking the ocean. And since it had been a short hike in, I had brought along some white wine (cougar juice, in fact - thanks Daniela).

The sunset was beautiful, and the moonrise was even better - we thought we were seeing the lights of the city behind the headlands, but then the almost-full moon broke the ridgeline and lit up the ocean and the tall grasses in the campsite. I think it might have been one of our best dates ever.

Saturday started off foggy, but that was ok because we had 8 miles to hoof.

By the time we got to Coast Camp it had cleared up, and we washed the dirt off our legs in the ocean and got some sun. There was an even better sunset than the previous night, and we had the beach pretty much to ourselves.

It was a peaceful night until Mike D showed up at 11 p.m. after having ridden his bike 50 miles. And he had cold beer with him - tallboys no less! So I forgave him for scaring the crap out of us. Note to people: if you are going to try to get the attention of someone in a tent, particularly people who are not expecting you, your best bet is to identify yourself at the outset. And definitely don't whisper. This is the best way not to sound like a murderer.

Sunday we busted out the 6 miles back to the trailhead. I've been on too many gorgeous trails to count, but Woodward Valley is definitely up there on my list.

And then! And then! We drove to Pt. Reyes Station and had lunch at the Cowgirl Creamery! Oh my god I love Cowgirl cheese - their St. Pat's is my favorite cheese in the world.

We capped off the weekend with a show at Cafe du Nord (the second in 4 days), but I've tuckered myself out here, so I'm just going to leave it at that. Epic weekend!

Barbara Ehrenreich is awesome

I mean, right?

You know you have lived in Northern California too long when...

You have a fridge full of good white wine but you're just not in the mood for any of the bottles you have.

What has happened to me?

(For the record, I bucked up and opened a bottle of chardonnay that was actually delicious. I'm sorry about all the smack I've talked on you, chardonnay.)

It is a good week

Thanks to Texas last week, I have what passes for a tan when you are a Brennan. Thanks to See Jane Run in Noe Valley, I have running shoes that are actually appropriate for my stride. Thanks to my cousin visiting, I have tried out three restaurants in three neighborhoods: Weird Fish in the Mission, Suppenkuche in Hayes Valley, and Akiko's in the FiDi. Because of the coffee that I drank before my spin class on Tuesday, I was hyped up enough to whoop some cycling ass, and I figured out at Greenpeace climb night yesterday that if I go up the wall real fast, my fear of heights can't kick in until I'm at the top.

And finally: my backpacking flatware set arrived, just in time for our Pt. Reyes trip this weekend. Two plates, two bowls, two mugs, only 10 ounces. Isn't it beautiful?

Well, Mike might argue that cold cuts aren't the prettiest things. But the containers! Yes!

Thursday night

This Thursday we're going to see The Dry Spells at Cafe du Nord, and you should join us! Mike interviewed them for his radio station at our house on Sunday - they seemed very nice. And like they play music good, too.

Seriously, finally

Best headline of the day award goes to...

Oh, sad

Because bookstores can barely afford to stay in business as it is:

Last Wednesday night at 1 in the morning, two people broke into Common Good Books (owned by Garrison Keillor) and stole the store's safe and damaged the cash registers, taking "a few thousand dollars" that had been left in the store overnight. The store posted surveillance camera photos on their site and sent a Tweet looking for a "goateed loser in longshorts and a Longhorns cap carrying a safe at 1:20 last night."

(from Publisher's Lunch)