Skipping Town

In my haste to get back to writing Palinisms on Monday, I forgot to include one of the more amusing parts of the Patriots game in my post about San Francisco. Indeed, the fact that this game was in San Francisco guaranteed that it would be just a little bit different than games anywhere else. The stadium was full of the usual array of football jerseys, caps, etc., a wide selection of beer offerings, and the standard lineup of hot dogs, burgers, nachos, and other sporting-event snacks. We were surrounded by fairly normal football fans at the beginning of the game. But then our attention was drawn to a rather motley crew that had entered our section: two men, a woman, and a little girl. One of the men, the woman, and the little girl were more or less unremarkable. The other man, however, was wearing a tall, pointed wizard’s hat topped with fresh flowers and was carrying a “wand” made from a long, thin, fresh-cut tree branch. As he walked to his seat he waved the “wand” toward the field,...

Andrew and I spent the weekend in San Francisco, one of what should be a series of small weekend trips to break up the weeks that remain before Japan (six weekends to go!). We drove down on Friday and met up with some of Andrew’s friends from business school who had come to the U.S. for a wedding and some vacation. We went with them to an Oktoberfest in the city, complete with German music (the band, oddly, played the Chicken Dance several times—like a wedding nightmare), German food (sausages and more sausages), and beer. Elaborate balloon-hats in the shape of beer steins were being created and handed out. There were some German costumes worn by the most dedicated Oktoberfest-goers. I will say that Andrew was sporting a beer-stein-balloon hat by the end of the evening. Saturday was a shopping day, and I found a few sweaters and a dress, all in the name of strategic packing for Japan. We took a long walk through North Beach in the evening; and after a leisurely browse through the City ...