We've Lost Dave to the iPhone....

Yes, Dave did it. He drank the Kool-Aid, he sold his soul, he handed over our first child....all for the Apple iPhone.

After seeing our buddy Matt's new condo on Thursday night, we drove past the Apple store in Union Square (the hub of shopping in San Francisco) to see what the action was all about. We went by at about 10:30pm on Thursday night, keeping in mind that the iPhone didn't release until 6:00pm on FRIDAY night. There were a mix of about 40 people outside the shop (honestly not THAT many considering we're in Apple's HQ neighborhood) with a mix of techies to, well...this:

What is he reaching for in his faux-fur jacket pocket you wonder? Oh, just a business card to play naked miniature golf...riiiiight. Completely normal, right? I mean did he possibly think that we looked like his target audience? Hmmm...

Anyways, Friday comes and Dave lines up at about 3:30pm in front of our neighborhood Cingular store. When I spoke with him at 5:00pm, he is 32nd out of 75+ people waiting outside of the store. As the 6:00 hour rolled around, more people lined up and about 6:15pm the store clerk came out to tell the people in the back of the line (about 120 people in line at this point) that they are S.O.L. and might as well just go home. For a PHONE, people! They let in just a few people into the store at a time and whisked people through the sign-up process relatively swiftly. Dave had to make the switch to Cingular and plunked down for the hefty pricetag (about $700 for the phone...I know you are going to ask!).

I must say, it is pretty SWEET. We went to find a Jiffy Lube today while in the car and so I typed "Jiffy Lube, San Francisco" into Google Maps. It immediately has red dots pop up over the screen on a map of SF and I can zoom in (map view and satellite view) to see which one suits me. Then I can click on it to get the address, phone number, etc. Pretty cool.

We just purchased the Apple TV two weeks ago and THAT is pretty awesome too. You can watch YouTube from your TV! It also WIRELESSLY synchs your music, photos, etc. so you can experience all through your TV (and externally through your sound system). Pretty amazing.

Our collection of Apple toys is growing daily, between Dave's Mac Book Pro, iPhone, Apple TV, iPod, etc....Steve Jobs should be calling us any moment now to check in and see if we want to come work for him. Ha ha. I'll let you know when the phone rings (on the iPhone, of course). I leave you with this fun tidbit from SNL:

I Hung Out with an NBA Star Today at Work...How Was Your Day, Honey?

Yep, that's how we roll at Symantec.
Today, our marketing department was visited by Baron Davis of the Golden State Warriors NBA team. . It was pretty dang sweet. There were only about 25 of us in a conference room when he came in to sign autographs and answer questions.

I'm still not exactly sure why he was there, but hey - sometimes we don't need to ask questions! Just another day at the office (not there is something I never experienced when I used to work from home!)!!

Let's Get a Little Red, Y'all....

....Red NECK that is.

Well, I learned something this weekend, y'all. I learned that you can take the people out of the South but you can't never, ever take the South out of the people (must be read with Southern twang).

I found myself in Sonoma, California (yes, the same location as some of the finest wine in all of the U S of A) and I was easily amongst some of the biggest rednecks in my entire life. My best friend, Meg, claims that NASCAR fans are some of the wealthiest sporting spectators around. Let's pause a moment. Meg...I ask you...really? I mean.....really?? With a straight face and everything? One benefit was that we had all walks of life. This guy was two seats over and wasn't sure what Dave said when he offered him a Bud Light for the 3rd time:

And then there was this guy as a complete contrast to the stereotype:

And yet, the reds pulled out all the stops: Confederate Flags flying high (from...say it with me..."The War of Northern Aggression") to tattoo-covered-god-knows-what, to fried everything....THE SOUTH WILL RISE AGAIN! This was the ultimate for me. Two fans who went to the huge effort of actually getting to this location in the middle of absolutely nowhere, only to sit in the hallway of the race and not actually get tickets to go inside. The great thing is they are snug-as-a-bug in their matching chairs. What other public sporting event can you get away with this and not feel weird about it? This brings tailgating to a whole nother level. ONLY NASCAR, BABY!!

But I digress. The day started at 9am where we met at the Palace of Fine Arts for our private bus ride to Sonoma (thank GOD). Many dressed up in "NASCAR-appropriate" outfits including this one from Mike K:

(in case y'all can't read, as I couldn't at first, this is a t-shirt that shouts, "The Eagle is PISSED!" with a good ol' American Eagle overhead and its talons hitched onto a member of that there Tallyyyyyban, y'all.)
I was 3 beers in when we arrived and then the girls thought it would be a great idea to throw on some Playboy Bunny tattoos and shotgun beers. That brought us to about, oh, 10:30am.


The day continued on this way for a bit until the race started around 2pm. Let me tell you, as amazing as it was to watch these cars go the speed of light around the track, it is a long-a$$ day to see these cars go around and around and around and around. And around. All of this effort led to a sleepy Brooke (come on...raise your hand if you are shocked...we all know I am a closet narcoleptic!)

Truly though, Mike & Adrienne got us sweet seats directly behind the pits which was really cool to watch. We happened to be behind the Burger King pit so I couldn't resist a picture of my namesake (or at least my old namesake, but we all know I'll always be "BK"!!!!!)


I think these two photos pretty much describe the day for us:
Mike & Adrienne at the beginning of the day (aww, cute, right?):

Adrienne at the end of the day (yes, she has definitely fallen over from her chair on her a$$!):

Mike, who could be prouder of their fiance than you??? You've got a GEM I tell you! Ha ha!!! THANK YOU, everyone, for a great time and our first christening into NASCAR!

Napa Visit...I could get used to this!

We took a trip to Napa yesterday (Dave's first visit!) with our friends Chris & Valerie. They are really great about going up at least once a month as an excursion out of the city. We went to two wineries, Vincent Arroyo and Benneserre Vineyards.

At Vincent Arroyo, it was a completely private tasting for us! Valerie made the appointment and, after tasting a few wines in the "tasting room", they took us back and let us do two barrel tastings of wines that will be bottled the first week of August and released on September 1st. It was really cool! Here is a picture of the guy pouring a tasting. He got this directly from the barrel behind him.

We then went to GREAT lunch in St. Helena called Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen that I highly recommend. Following lunch, we did one more tasting at Benneserre Vineyards. This was a public tasting and their vineyards were right out the door and you could walk through them and see the tiny grapes. It will be interesting to keep going back to Napa & Sonoma to see how the vines change through the year! September/October are the biggest months in the Napa area (lots of tourists but also apparently the harvest season), so that should be a blast.

We just found out that my friend Kevin from NC (now in PA) is coming out with his wife, Dana, in August! They are vacationing and staying a couple of days in SF before heading up to Napa to veg out and...I'm assuming...get all toasty on wine tastings! We can't wait to have them up (over?).

The Other Love of My Life....

Yes, after 3 years of marriage, I am admitting that there is another man in my life. He is about 1 foot tall and about 19 pounds....Dino!
Meg and Marco came down to Charleston this weekend and we got to spend time with their son, Dino. He is 5 months old now and just as precious as can be. Here are a few pictures from the brunch on Sunday. You can click them to see a few more in the album.




And one more great thing about having Marco and Meg at the wedding was that everyone was CONVINCED that Dave and Marco were brothers! It seems that one person started it by speculating, then the rumor spread and, next thing you know, people are asking Meg if she is Dave's sister-in-law. Ha Ha! Here is a picture of Dave with his brotha'-from-anothah'-mothah':

To the New Mr. and Mrs. Rynearson!

We headed to Charleston, South Carolina for Lindsay's wedding this weekend!! It was action-packed from Thursday to Sunday and we had a great time!
Thursday: "Cocktails and Conversation" in the evening at the hotel, followed by a family dinner with all of our parents!
Friday: Wedding prep during the day (including lovely manis and pedis), then the church rehearsal followed by the wedding rehearsal dinner at Southend Brewery that evening. We had the entire top floor of the restaurant following the dinner which was a blast to see everyone.
Saturday: In the morning, we started with a "Bridal Day Fun Run/Walk" of about 4 miles. We had 12 brave participants walking the bridge spanning the Cooper River Bridge and I got to finish the last 1.5 miles with Lindsay alone which was really great. We then went to get massages which was ideal (lesson learned - never, ever turn down a massage!) and then all of the ladies split off to take care of wedding day items including the seating chart, the table decor, flowers and more! The guys headed out to kayak at Wendy's house (friend of Dad & Carolyn's) and had a great time with their last venture in the great outdoors before Jon walked down the aisle with a ball and chain (ha-ha, love you, Lindsay!). The wedding started at 6pm and was followed by pictures and then dinner at the Charleston Yacht Club. Lindsay looked absolutely radiant the entire day and Jon looked as studly as always!
Sunday: There was a Farewell Southern Brunch at Dad & Carolyn's house on Sunday which was lovely! They served shrimp'n'grits in a martini glass, fresh fruit, ham sandwiches with melted cheese, mimosas and more. Delish!!

More photos can be found here, but here are a few from Lindsay getting dressed in the penthouse suite of the hotel before the ceremony!



Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. We are so pleased to have Jon officially in our family!!!

My Mother-In-Law Will Kick Your A$$....

For a woman who would have to go to confession over the guilt she would feel over killing a spider, my mother-in-law (yes, Dave's mom) can become a complete butt-kicker when it comes to her Red Sox. We went to our 2nd game of the week tonight (and they lost...again... tears) and I snagged a picture of this young A's fan:

Oh yeah, you may think he's cute. But my mother-in-law would SQUASH him for pouncing on her Red Sox. She is the biggest die-hard fan I know. While she would prefer to give her kids "the look" than lay a hand on them in punishment, I have a feeling she would bring a can of whoop-a$$ with her for a situation like this. Unfortunately, the kid in the picture was half right at least -- the Sox were a little Stinky tonight. Manny and Papi were okay, but not absolutely out-of-this-world-incredible (meaning Manny did show up on the field, but we still couldn't force him to move his rear end to actually make a catch that didn't happen to run into his glove). (And yes, we finally broke up...me and Manny...I've moved onto my next obsession, Papi). Te Quiero, Papi!!!!

You Can Take the Girl Out of Boston...

...but you can't take the Boston out of the girl!!! These were the first of many THOUSAND Red Sox fans we encountered on Monday night at the Red Sox vs. As game in Oakland. They were wasted and looked confused when, after taking this picture, Dave teased them that they spelled "socks" (Sox) wrong:

The game was a lot of fun! We went with Mike, Adrienne and a bunch of other BC and non-BC kids. We, being typical WT, tried to bring a flask of Makers in with us and were flat DE-NIED when Dave was more or less frisked at the door (we should have known better with his international-looking-shady-a$$). We'll get smarter next time - I think we'd be safe in the shoe or maybe even in the bra:

We also had the chance to sit with our friends BJ & Abbey for an inning! We went to Umami with them the night prior and it was a bonus to get to hang with them two nights in a row:

The game went to 11 innings before the Sox lost, but we are going back tomorrow (Wednesday) for another game! More fun to come....

(if you look real close, you can see my boyfriend (although I swear he is getting shorter with age...don't tell him I said that), Manny Ramirez, at the bottom of the photo. Papi was up to bat and I am an inch from changing my alliance to Papi from Manny if Manny doesn't start moving his rear end in the outfield!

Get Your Bowl On!

My high school friend, Ben, invited us to go bowling on Saturday night with his delightful date, Tori. We started the night at Oola Restaurant where we had yummy scallops, a melt-in-your-mouth flank steak and a delicious pork tenderloin.

We then headed to Yerba Buena Bowling Center. Interestingly enough, they also have year-round ice skating in there, but I think the bowling was enough exercise for one night for the four of us. Ben took the cake on his suave skillzzzz and we had to capture the moment (click on the black space below).

I can't say we were exactly good at bowling (Ben was the only one to break 100), but we had a great time!

Union Street Festival

Also known as the biggest cluster west of the Mississippi, the Union Street Festival was on Saturday and Sunday of last weekend. I thought this image encompassed the people that we saw at Union Street Festival (vs. San Diego's Pacific Beach Street Fest and how I imagine the Haight Festival that follows this one):

Yes, that is a BABY BJORN for a DOG! Kind of cute, kind of troubling.
Union Street is just two blocks from our apartment and is one of the "main streets" of our neighborhood. We also have Chestnut Street and the famous Lombard Street to the north, which also leads into Polk Street on the east (and you already know I love from previous posts) and Fillmore Street on the west (adorable, though I haven't really blogged about it - yet!). We went out at about 10am (to SBUX...do I even need to mention that or is it just assumed?) and then walked around to the vendors prior to the crowds arriving. We bought two prints from a local photographer (images to come when we get them framed....so we should have images at least by the time we celebrate our 10th anniversary considering we still have stacks of frames on our floor from when we moved in four months ago!), then proceeded to stuff our faces with the requisite polish sausage (what's a street fair without a polish sausage?). We were going to spend some time in the beer garden, but that turned out to be the central focus of the cluster, so we went home to grab a few beers instead.

We then headed over to Jones Restaurant on Lombard Street where we ate - are you ready for this? - FRIED TWINKIE. Yes, it was melt-in-your-mouth goodness and yes I wish I had on each morning for breakfast (and yes, I just turned in my resignation to Crunch Fitness where I still haven't set foot inside since joining!). We also indulged in a grilled PB&J that was equally delicious (somehow this seemed different than the sogginess I experienced in the SuperWoman lunchbox as a kid...was it the $10 price tag that made the difference?).

My First Crush...

...well, Keith Hendricks was my first crush, back in my mature days of kindergarten, but I was introduced to a crush of a different variety on Friday night at First Crush Restaurant. We went with Matt and Chrissy and had a great time! Chrissy's knowledge of wine rivals our knowledge of SBUX employee names, so she picked the goods for the night. The one I remember (and loved) was called Truchard ($30 at BevMo, $54 at the restaurant....not a horrible mark-up I suppose). Another bottle of wine later and growling stomachs due to the damn small plate phenomenon (you'll hear a rant on small plates shortly), and it wasn't long before I could have been mistaking Dave for good ol' Keith Hendricks anyways. KIDDING!
Ca-Ching, Ca-Chong!

Can I Get a Beer Up In Here?

San Francisco is many things, but a beer capital it is not. The only "famous" beer it has is Anchor Steam, which is okay but rather heavy for my taste. HOWEVER, it does have several wonderful breweries which are each only a bus ride away. You may remember our very romantic dinner at Rogue on Valentine's Day. Last Thursday, we headed with Jaime over to another of SF's finest called 21st Amendment. I was skeptical about the Watermelon Wheat Beer that I ordered, but that skepticism was washed away with the first sip. Its 5.5% a.c. (alcohol content) was just right for me and went well with a delicious 21 Burger. Dave's lightass tried the Bitter American (3.6% a.c.) and couldn't steer away from it. Jaime went for the watermelon wheat as well (what can I say? we're chicks!).

It was great to try another local brewery and this still leaves two more on our list to try with our soon-to-be-brother-in-law, Jonny Cakes:
1) Rogue (02/14/2007)
2) 21st Amendment (05/31/2007)
3) Magnolia (next on our list)
4) Toronado (the mother load - can't go without aforementioned Jonny Cakes)
!Salud!