I went to California!

The Nicest Guy in the World and I went to San Francisco a few weeks ago to visit an old friend of mine from high school (come to think of it, we've known each other since sixth grade!). Neither of us had ever been to California before, and it was so much fun! We walked through Muir Woods, went to some wine-tastings, ate at delicious restaurants, went to more wine-tastings, took a tour of Alcatraz (factoid: the Birdman of Alcatraz never actually kept birds at Alcatraz, only at Leavenworth), and did I mention the wine-tastings? ;) Although we mostly stayed with my friend, on our last night we stayed at this great hotel in the Union Square section of San Francisco called the Hotel Monaco, which we found through Hotwire.com. How great was it, you ask? So great, they lend you a "companion goldfish" for the night, if you know to ask for one -- which, thanks to my Fodor's guidebook, I did. I'm probably biased, but I thought my fish was extremely cute. I called him/her Blinky, after the fish on "The Simpsons" (even though thankfully s/he didn't have three eyes like the 'real' Blinky).

The sorry state of my musical life

I turned on PBS tonight (yep, another wild Friday night for me!), and Death Cab for Cutie was performing. I decided I like them. I may order their CD "Transatlanticism." Also, I heard this group called Elizabeth & the Catapult on NPR the other week and liked them, too, so I might get their CD "Taller Children." This is a big deal for me, since I don't really buy music anymore. I don't mean that I download it illegally or anything. Sadly enough, I just don't actually listen to much music. My 20-something self would feel so sorry for me. I think it started when I moved to New York in 2000. I always used to listen to the radio in the car, and that's how I would find out about new songs and bands. But when I moved to New York, I didn't have a car anymore, so my radio listening almost completely ceased. And maybe because the city is noisy, my first instinct when I get home isn't to turn on some music, but revel in the quiet. Then when by some miracle I do hear a new song and decide I like it enough to buy it, then I have the format choice to consider. Should I just download that one song, or buy the whole album on CD, or etc. etc. etc. I end up feeling so overwhelmed, I don't buy anything at all.

But Death Cab for Cutie AND Elizabeth & The Catapult are both sitting in my Amazon.com shopping cart right now. I haven't bought them yet, though. There are some books I want to order while I'm at it. But I can't order EVERY book I want -- I have to narrow it down. So that's yet another decision to make. Hmmm.

Oh well...I'll let you know if I actually place the order sometime this century....