Our Fun New Project

Because you know you've missed watching Joe drink beer on a couch:
http://www.beeratjoes.com/
Don't worry, I'll make some appearances eventually. But I'm more of a behind-the-camera, writing the post text, kind of gal.
Eventually, though, I hope to do a women in beer and beer for non-beer drinkers series (if we managed to find a beer my mom likes, I should be able to please anyone!)

Mustang Sally

I finally got up the guts to start asking around about the possibility of transferring to a different department. I was so nervous before talking to the first guy, I felt like I was trying to ask him out on a date! Eventually, I talked to the manager of that department, and he said yes, it was possible, but only when a position actually opens up.
So now I wait. Meh. I want instant gratification! I was so brave!
I still need to let my current manager know I'd like to move. I hope that doesn't make me a traitor.
Meanwhile, I will still try to find a new outside job. It's just that searching for a job is a really special kind of hell. I was sort of hoping to just transfer here. I mean, my 401k is here, and who wants to do all the paperwork of rolling it over? Not me.
Of course, not having this commute would be nice. We'll just see.
In other news, my brother and his girlfriend rented a red Mustang convertible yesterday. They picked me up and we drove across the bridge (it was cool--and cold!) and then we spent some time hiking around on the other side of the bay around cool old abandoned army bunkers. Then we drove to San Rafel (after putting the top up) for dinner.

Belated Valentine's Day

Our real Valentine's Day celebration began, as all good celebrations should, with copious amounts of drinking before noon.
After brunch, we went to the Barleywine Festival over at Toronado on Haight Street. Barleywine is basically really really really strong beer. One kind we tried was 27% proof. Compare that to Bud Lite's 5%. You could buy it in tiny little tasting glasses though, so you would be able to try lots of different kinds. We only made it through 6, mostly because it simply got too crowded in there for us. There are some people who wait outside before the place even opens at 11:30 am, then camp at a table with a picnic lunch and 5 of their best friends. They then proceed to try ALL 50 KINDS! Not that hard with 6 people and only 3 oz glasses, but still amazing.
After that we headed to the Antiquarian Book Fair. I wasn't terribly excited to go, mostly because Joe was excited about the stuff like a Plato manuscript. Which is cool and all, but boooooring.
But there was tons of cool stuff. Recent books, super old books. The most expensive one we saw was a first edition of Gulliver's Travels for $150,000. Wow. Pretty good condition too. There was a first edition of Bartholomew and the Oobleck I would have loved, but what I really wanted, and what I would buy if I had a few tens of thousands of dollars lying around, was a first edition copy of "Where the Wild Things Are." They ranged in price from $18-35,000.
Mom, did you have a copy of this when you were a kid? It was published in 1964. Please say yes.
Then say that you think you still have it up in Grandpa's attic. That would be a great inheritance...
Our final destination was the Cliff House, a restaurant that juts out over the Pacific Ocean (not the Bay, by where Luke works). The food was excellent, though still overpriced as we expected. It was neat. The Sutro Bathhouse used to be there, and the restaurant kept part of the original ceiling. They would pump in ocean water and heat it. 10 cents a swim! You can still see part of the ruins.