Palace of Fine Arts

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the Palace of Fine Arts.

This is my friend Pia who I hadn’t seen since our wedding in 2002. The last eight years has gone by so fast. It was wonderful to see Pia again.

Fun picture of Becca, Jay and Brian taken at the Palace of Fine Arts.

Pia was a real trooper and drove us to several places on Friday. Her seven-seater Tahoe was perfect for driving around. The Palace of Fine Arts was just the first of many stops. Stay tuned for more pictures of all the places we visited on Friday, our first full day in San Francisco.

February 28, 2010 | Posted by Ching under Travel

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Boudin

Each day that we walked to Fishermans Wharf we were greeted by the fragrant aroma of fresh-baked sourdough bread. Brian and Jay would bask under the Boudin exhaust duct to get the full aromatic experience. The delicious aroma is like a drug that you just can’t get enough of… We would always walk on the Boudin side of the street toward Fishermans Wharf. LOL.

We worked up quite an appetite, wandering around Alcatraz. Jay and Becca had built up Boudin in their descriptions. The delicious aroma helped to seal the deal. We decided that we would go there for lunch.

In-N-Out is pretty hard to top for a first meal. We figured that Boudin could do it, just based on the smell. It’s so enticing that you just have to stop in.

Luckily, Sheryll had a break from her busy job fair schedule and was able to join us for lunch. Sheryll is my best friend from high school. We lost touch for a while after my family moved to the US in 1993. However, we got to spend a day together in 1998 (when mom, Jenni and I returned to the Philippines for vacation). That was the last time I’d seen Sheryll. We hadn’t seen each other since then.

Sheryll and her husband Clayton had just started seeing each other around that time, I think. Now they have three wonderful kiddos: Steffano (10), Cameron (9) and Sam (6). Sam is a spitting image of Sheryll.

I’m really grateful for Facebook because it makes staying in touch so much easier. It helped Pia — who I hadn’t seen in forever (almost eight years) also — and Sheryll and I to coordinate our San Francisco meetup. It was great to see Sheryll again and it was wonderful to finally meet her family.

But I digress… Going back to Boudin. I had a New England clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. It was delicious!

Everyone else had chowder also. You can’t go to Boudin and not have soup in a bread bowl! LOL.

February 28, 2010 | Posted by Ching under Food, Travel

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Alcatraz

Photo highlights from our Alcatraz tour…

Alcatraz was definitely one of the highlights of our San Francisco trip. It’s one of the items on Brian’s bucket list that he can finally cross off. He was adamant about going and told Jay, Becca and I several times that he would never be able to forgive us if we made him miss the Alcatraz tour. LOL.

The cool thing about the Alcatraz tour is that it is self-guided. The ferry takes you to the island and, once there, you’re pretty much free to explore on your own. There are several areas that are blocked off though, for safety reasons. You can spend as much or as little time as you like on the island. Ferries travel back and forth between the pier and Alcatraz every 30 minutes and you can return at any time.

There is a guide booklet that is available for a dollar and there’s a short informational video about Alcatraz. However, it’s the audio tour that is not to be missed. It takes about an hour or so to complete (longer if you keep pausing to take pictures like we did). LOL.

We boarded the 9:30 AM ferry and the four of us spent almost three hours touring, exploring and taking photos on the island. We probably could have returned to the pier by noon, but we missed that last ferry so we had to wait for the next one. I took 200+ pictures during our Alcatraz adventure. I couldn’t post them all here, but if you want to check them out visit my Alcatraz set on Flickr. Enjoy.

February 26, 2010 | Posted by Ching under Travel

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Overheard, Chingisms

While leaving the Walmart parking lot today, Brian and I almost crashed into a van that was cutting through the parking lot. Good thing Brian was alert and stepped on his breaks. Ticked off, Brian instinctively honked his horn. The guy kept on driving and, while still talking on his cellphone, managed to flash an obscene hand gesture our way.

BRIAN: What the hell?

ME: He obviously thought he had the right of way.

BRIAN: He didn’t. I hate stupid people.

ME: Chill out. It’s a parking lot.

BRIAN: But it’s so frustrating. Especially when I know I’m right.

ME: Now you know how I feel all the time.

Fast forward to this afternoon when Cory stopped by after work to pick up the cookbooks we found in the attic and the souvenir shirt we got for Gavin from our San Francisco trip (see above). We chatted for a bit and he is the one who suggested that we post our old dining table on Craigslist.

CORY: Do you guys like crab?

BRIAN: Ching loves crab.

CORY: If you want a break from moving, come join us for dinner. I’m cooking crab legs tonight.

ME: We can chip in. [To Brian] Do you still have cash, babe?

CORY: I got a good deal on crab legs. Only $5 per pound.

BRIAN: [Hands a $20 to Cory] Ching can eat her weight in crab legs.

ME: Well, in that case, that’s not going to be enough. I think you’ll need your credit card.

Brian says I’ve been acting weird all day. I don’t think I’m being weird. Just a little funnier. Okay, maybe I’m a tad wackier than usual. It must be the stress of moving. LOL.

February 26, 2010 | Posted by Ching under Life

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In-N-Out Burger

Our first meal in San Francisco was at In-N-Out Burger. LOL. Wouldn’t have been my first choice, but we had to make do because of our late arrival.

We don’t have an In-N-Out in Wichita, so Brian and I were actually looking forward to trying it. It was actually pretty good, as greasy burgers go. LOL.

Dinner was actually around midnight, Wichita-time. Brian and I both went to work early that day so it was a really long day for us. We were both feeling really goofy. LOL.

In between munching and taking pictures, Jay and Becca filled us in on their first full day in San Francisco. After a full day of cruising the bay and exploring, they were practically locals. LOL.

It was really nice of them to wait for us.

February 23, 2010 | Posted by Ching under Food, Travel

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Arrival in San Francisco

Jay took this picture of our Super Shuttle van arriving at the hotel. We planned on arriving at the hotel by 8:00 PM and having a late dinner, but we actually didn’t get there until about 10:00 PM or so. Our flight was delayed and then we were asked to check our carry-on, even though there was plenty of room in the overhead bins (Booo!), and then they told us to claim our carry-on at baggage claim instead of plane-side. Brian and I packed light (we only had a single carry-on between the both of us) on purpose so that we could save time by skipping baggage claim.

Neither of us were too happy about having to wait a half hour for our bag to come out. Besides that, baggage claim is upstairs so we had to up there and then had to come right back down for our van pick-up. Besides having to wait for our bag to appear on the luggage carousel, we had to wait for other passengers because the pick-up we arranged is a shared ride ($17 per person or $80 round-trip altogether with gratuity; it would have cost more otherwise). We also got dropped off last so it took a while to get to our hotel. It was nice driving around San Francisco, though. We got to drive by Haight Ashbury and everything. I think it would have faster (not to mention cheaper) to take the BART, which is what Jay and Becca did the day before, but they arrived in the afternoon when it was still daylight whereas we were arriving at night. I really didn’t want to get lost in San Francisco. That would have made for a very bad trip.

I felt bad because we had planned on having dinner. We told Jay and Becca that they didn’t have to wait for us, but they waited up anyway. That was really nice of them. We arrived too late for a nice sit-down dinner so we ended up at In-N-Out Burger, which is right behind our hotel. It was our first meal in San Francisco. LOL.

February 23, 2010 | Posted by Ching under Travel

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Customer Service Champs 2010

L.L. Bean topped Business Week’s 2010 Customer Service Champs list. Not surprisingly, Apple and Nordstrom both made the list. I hear that Nordstrom customer service is legendary. I’ve only had experience shopping with them online, since we don’t have a Nordstrom store in Wichita so I’ve never really experienced shopping in their actual physical, brick-and-mortar store. I’ve heard nothing but good things, though.

Other notables: Four Seasons beat out The Ritz-Carlton and Fairmont Hotels and Resorts in the rankings. Barnes & Noble beat out Amazon. Panera and Starbucks both made the list. Ace Hardware beat out True Value. Southwest Airlines barely made the list at #24. I wonder if the lower rank had anything to do with Kevin Smith. Just kidding. I’m sure that had nothing to do with it, as the list was compiled several weeks before with specific methodology — celebrity gripes on Twitter not being one of them.

There were several repeats on the list. This speaks well of the brand. I’m thinking when I have some money and can afford some of these brands, then I’ll be sure to check them out just to see what it’s all about. LOL. There were several regular people brands on the list too, though. Don’t get me wrong.

I was disappointed that my favorite hotel chain, Marriott, didn’t make the list this year. They made it on the 2009 list and I feel they totally deserve being among the Customer Service Champs. I think out of all the mid-range (I could never afford to stay at a Four Seasons or Ritz-Carlton. I might be able to stay at a Fairmont if I splurge on occasion.) hotel chains Marriott provides the best customer service.

For example, we’re staying at Courtyard Marriott right now located in Fishermans Wharf in San Francisco. The employees at the concierge desk have been fantastic. They’re not just friendly, but they’re very helpful also. We asked for a recommendation of a good place to eat breakfast the other day. Not only did they tell us where to go or give us directions, Edward at the front desk actually clocked out and walked us over there. They ran out of the Joanie’s business cards (that entitles the bearer to a free fruit plate) so we walked us over there to make sure we got the special deal. While there he picked up some more business cards, too.

Yesterday Brian and I decided that we would go to the California Academy of Sciences. I got directions from Google, which involved taking a MUNI bus and a BART bus. We asked Edward at the desk for his recommendation and he gave us better directions which was much more economical because it didn’t involve having to take a BART bus (we don’t have an unlimited BART pass, our unlimited pass is only for MUNI vehicles — buses, trains, cable cars, etc.). He wrote us really good directions on a map he provided and showed us where our way would have dropped us off and where his way would drop us off. The Google way would have had us walking a longer distance. Doing it the way he recommended would drop us off directly in front of the CAS building. We’d still have to walk, but it was a shorter walk.

While I’m thinking about it, I’m going to have to track down a comment card and write a kudos for Edward before we leave. He has been super nice and helpful throughout our whole stay.

February 22, 2010 | Posted by Ching under Reviews, Travel

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Chili Cook-Off at Viega

Nice. It looks like they had a chili cook-off at Viega today and I wasn’t invited. Boooo!

February 18, 2010 | Posted by Ching under Food

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Mattress Shopping

We had fun mattress shopping at Mattress Firm the other day. I’d never had that much fun shopping for a mattress before. I think drinking three cocktails right before might have helped. (We went there right after leaving Heroes.) LOL.

Gavin enjoyed trying out mattresses, too.

Here’s Brian trying out a different mattress than the one that we got a quote for at the North Rock Road Mattress Firm.

This one is a lot more expensive than the Simmons Beautyrest Gladstone Falls pillow top mattress that we were originally looking at but I thought it felt better.

This one is a Sealy Posturepedic Natural Origins Natural Calm Euro Top mattress. It’s supposed to be “green” because it’s 100% recyclable.

Here’s Cory giving it a try.

Jay being his goofy self…

Brian and Becca in bed together.

Brian and April in bed together.

Brian gets around. LOL.

Jay had a buddy at the New Market Square Mattress Firm and he cut us a deal on the Sealy. I think we got a better mattress overall for only $50 more than we would have paid for the Simmons mattress. I suppose we won’t know for sure if we’ve made the right choice until we’ve actually slept on the new mattress for a week or so. LOL.

We had so much fun mattress shopping, though. If you’re looking to get a new mattress, be sure to check out the Mattress Firm at New Market Square. They sure make mattress shopping a lot less stressful over there.

February 14, 2010 | Posted by Ching under Life

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The Buzz After Work Party at Heroes

We had fun last night at Heroes. I hadn’t drank any adult beverages in a long while so I was feeling pretty good after only three sex on the beach drinks. Brian was complaining because my drinks cost more than our dinner. He’s not used to me drinking. LOL. At least Jay gave us a coupon for a free cheeseburger, which Brian put to good use. He did the create-your-own and added an egg.

We ended up at Heroes because Jay and Becca were trying to win tickets to Bon Jovi. LOL. They were already there when we showed up.

Look who else came out to play…

It’s the Phelpses!

My sister Jenni came to join us at Heroes also.

With all seven of us there you’d think that we would’ve won tickets. Such is our luck. I think I’m going to give up on Bon Jovi and set might sights on Dave Matthews Band instead. They’re coming in August. Sounds like an anniversary date. What do you think, baby?

February 13, 2010 | Posted by Ching under Things to Do

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