The San Francisco treat

I just got in to LA after a whirlwind week in San Francisco. As those of you that I've been able to talk to in the past few weeks are aware, I was pretty worried about this segment of the trip. Which just means more worried than usual, right? I'd had a bit of trouble getting in touch with the SF Bay Area Club, and I was concerned that their members didn't know about the project. And as it turns out, I was right, but fortunately I ended up getting in touch with the right people, and I got what I think are some of the best interviews of the trip so far in SF.

Highlights from my first few days in San Fran:

—On Wednesday I got to have lunch with Kerry Seed, known to most of you at Salt, Blunt, etc. He was kind enough to take a break from his grad work at Berkeley to come meet me for lunch in Oakland. For those of you who don't know him, Kerry is a very talented journalist and radio producer (check out his work at http://www.kerryseed.org/), and he's helped me out more than once when I had trouble with my stuff. It was great to catch up and hear about some of his grad school projects, and as it turns out one of his profs at Berkeley is a ND alumna. She gave a fantastic interview later that afternoon, the first interview in which my subject carved a pumpkin, which made for some fun photos.

—Halloween was all the rage in SF, and not just the costumes. People on the radio were calling in to tell ghost stories and tell all about their haunted houses, which makes me wonder why I was listening to the radio. But it also turned out to be further confirmation of my deep-seated belief that I myself am haunted...by John Mellencamp. I cannot turn on the radio, in any part of the country, any day of the week, without hearing that icon of the perpetual midlife crisis and his hoarse vocals. Such is the peril of my existence.

—On Thursday I interviewed Larry Soletti, the former president of the Alumni Association, who had not only good stories and great recommendations, but also...a puffin! Well, a little puffin statue on his mantle, a souvenir of one of his trips to Iceland (of course I asked!) He also has the same GPS I do, and he calls her Sibyl, too! I've found my soulmate :) Then we went to a lunch attended by a bunch of East Bay alums, and I met a couple older guys that I spent the afternoon interviewing. I hung out with Jim and Jane Gillis for about 4 hours. Jim played baseball at ND, then joined the FBI, then became a sportscaster, and Jane is from the Bend originally, and grew up on the same street I did. Jim just published his autobiography, so he had plenty of stories fresh in his mind (one of which involved meeting Mel Allen!), and then I helped them figure out how to use their GPS. It was the least I could do.

—Friday was my favorite day in the Bay Area. It was a perfectly clear day, and after an early-morning interview at Stanford, I got to go into San Francisco for the first time since I'd gotten to the Bay Area. I talked to Ted Weber, a '45 grad who was a student of Frank O'Malley's and had actually saved his old papers on which O'Malley had written notes. For those of you non-Domers: Frank O'Malley is one of the famous "bachelor dons," single laymen who lived in the dorms and spent a lot of time with their students. O'Malley started a prestigious club that would discuss literature, films, culture, etc., and many people took that club even more seriously than an actual class. He also famously (or infamously) had a pretty serious drinking problem. But he was beloved by his students, and I've found that his students are among the most interesting people I've ever met. Ted was no exception. And he had a spectacular view of San Francisco from the window of his apartment. All in all, a great time. Then I drove up to Tiburon to speak with Dr. Angelo Capozzi, a plastic surgeon who travels the world doing reconstructive surgery for children in third world countries. When I talked to him on the phone to schedule the interview, he warned me that I would have to take the Golden Gate Bridge to get there. And I said, "Oh, well if I have to..." He lived in one of the coolest houses I've ever seen, with a two-level patio overlooking the bridge, the city, and the bay. And he had one of the most amazing "how I got to ND" stories I've heard so far—I think he's the first person who has actually cried in an interview for this project. It was really touching.

And then that night, I met up with my cousin Jim and his girlfriend Dawn for dinner at a great little Mexican place in their neighborhood, and I got to hear all about their 2-month trip to India. It was the best time! I'd never met Dawn before, but it turns out she's a very talented artist who, among other things, writes and illustrates children's books. I was very impressed.

Anyway, as you can tell by reading this, and by the fact that I haven't written in awhile, I've been really busy with work lately. I'll write more about the disastrous, hilarious day off that followed all of this later.