It's not the driving, it's the parking...

After a long week of work in San Francisco, I was really psyched to have a nice, relaxing a day off and hang out in the city before heading down to L.A. on Sunday. On Saturday I'd planned to meet up with Barry, a friend of a friend who is also an ND grad, and spend the day with him and some other young alums (including my friend Maureen, whom I hadn't seen since college) watching the game and then seeing some sights. At the end of the night, we planned to go see a show, and I parked in the neighborhood where the show was, thinking it would be nice to just get in the car and go home at the end of the night.

Then ND lost to Navy for the first time in 43 years. Ouch. Barry, Maureen, Derrick, Ben and I allayed our sorrow with a driving tour of the city. It was another perfectly clear and sunny day, and we entertained ourselves by reenacting a few scenes from Bullitt. I should mention that I was not driving (Dad) as my car was parked in the aforementioned garage all day, so Barry played the role of Steve McQueen. It was great fun, and after dropping Maureen off, we all went out for sushi and then headed to the show. Dropkick Murphys played a good show, wild, loud, etc., and terrible opening act aside, we all had a great time. All in all, a great day. And then we went to go get my car. *sigh*

Long story short, despite the repeated assurances of the garage attendant that the garage was open 24 hours, it was closed when we got there. And we were told it wasn't going to open until 6:30 the next morning. Fortunately, the guys were really cool about it, and I slept on Barry's couch, and then we got up at 6 the next morning to go get the car so I could head out. Oh, but the night-time phone operator apparently was never told that the garage doesn't open at 6:30 on Sundays--it opens at 10. So I was pretty much ready to kick the door in, but Barry had the presence of mind to suggest breakfast, which turned out much better. We took the driving tour of the city part two, then ate at this great diner called Mama's that is so popular people line up an hour before it opens. And when you have an hour to kill, why not? We had a nice breakfast, did the Chronicle crossword, and it turned out to be a relaxing Sunday morning. When we went to get my car, I was tired and feeling gross after sleeping in my clothes (I hate sleeping in my clothes!), and I was still fuming at the garage and couldn't resist suggesting new signage when the attendant pointed out the sign that tells you, in 12-point font, that they are under new management and the garage closes at 10:30 pm on weekends. But I was actually feeling ok about how it had all turned out, and I had a fantastic time in San Francisco, even with all the parking drama. The city is absolutely beautiful, and the people I met there took really good care of me. And not to sound trite, but as I turned the corner to drive back to Palo Alto and shower, I saw a homeless guy waking up on the sidewalk, which puts spending one night in your clothes on a friend's couch into perspective.

So that was my San Francisco adventure. After all of that, I hurried back to Palo Alto, showered, packed, and headed down to Aptos, CA, near Santa Cruz, to interview Christine Fahrenbach, class of '82. To be honest, I was tempted to call and cancel, because I was really tired, and at this point it was 1:30 and it takes about 7 hours to get to L.A. But I am SO GLAD that I didn't, because it was such a phenomenal interview. Christine is such an amazing woman, very intelligent, very articulate, and so spiritual, and not in a hokey kind of way. She told me that she has just always had this natural curiosity about God and has always understood herself as being very close to him, and I was impressed because that was so evident from the moment I met her. She was refreshingly positive--not bubbly, thank God, I was SO not in the mood for bubbly--but just open and so comfortable in her own skin that it was an easy interview with a lot of depth. I know I'm not describing this very well. Sorry, that's the best I can do, but as I left her house, I actually felt as though I had just woken up from a really restful nap. Which was a good thing, because it was a long drive.