finally.

-wallace

In the spirit of the holidays I decided I’d treat Sunny out to dinner, and being the selfish type I took him to Alexander’s as I had a hamachi shot craving and a hankering to get into the 2005 Ridge Jimsonare. Typically when Crystal and I visit Alexander’s it’s a small plate, 6 hamachi shots, a split petite filet, a side and split desserts along with a bottle of vino along with the pairings. With Sunny, I didn’t think splitting the entree would be so kosher so at first we were going through their steak selection - I figured it was time to try something different, maybe give the kobe another try or a rib eye but wait…what’s this?! A bone-in rib-eye?! and whoa…2+ lbs?! Holy Cow! (literally)

We had a meeting of minds and the next thing I knew Richard appeared and we placed our order: cold fois gras, 6 hamachi shots, truffle’d mac n’ cheese, haricots verts, and that monstrous 2+ lb bone in rib eye - which I later found out was a 2.4-2.6lb cut to compensate the bone’s weight. Richard told me he’s only seen one person finish it, we thought he was joking - at some point through our meal we just looked at each other and decided that rather then spoiling a perfectly decadent meal that we pack that hunk of meat up and digest a bit. Excellent service, food and a perfect Christmas eve meal - however all this just meant I had leftovers of the best kind.

Although I spent Christmas with the folk’s and family in San Jose I awoke on the 26th to left over heaven. Sadly I heated it all up in the microwave, but a petite filet sized ribeye, truffle’d mac and left over veggie paella from Cascal along with a third of a bottle of Jimsonare. Needless to say I was drunk before 9am. That part kind of sucked, but hilarious none the less.

I finally succumbed to the penetrating sunlight and got out of bed, still somewhat intoxicated but decided to hurry up and wrap up my christmas gifts (yes i’m late this year). This year I decided on printing and self framing those prints as gifts - the original quote for frames were $100 a pop, ouch right? I thought I was smart by visiting Ikea for their $15 Ribba frames, they look fine and a bargain at $15 however the matte inside is crap so I had to go to Photography in Los Gatos for some custom mats. Surprise. Surprise. Those things cost nearly twice the amount as the frames themselves so now my little project is really adding up. Not to mention while testing Adorama’s print service I mistakenly ordered everyone’s photos on metallic paper - so all of you will receive blingy pics this year, I’ll be frank - they look pretty cool, although I doubt I’ll be doing this again.

Anyways I somehow measured the dimensions I needed and spent the better part of 2.5 hours (check out the light changes between photos) trimming and fitting the mattes to frames then centering, cropping the photos. A total pita, and now I see why they charge $100 per photo to matte and frame, believe me - it’s worthwhile.

Finally have all 7 pieces matted, framed, and wrapped. Now my knee, back and head hurts. Doubt I’ll be doing this again, at least not for other people. The pain was completely unnecessary.

In other news, in less then 30 hours it’s time to hop on a plane and kiss Silicon Valley good bye for at least a week. Gotta pack! See ya!

-Wallace

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have thoughts turning 27 last week. Usually I don’t care much for birthdays, after all I figure to everyone else it’s just another day - and why shouldn’t it be for me? So mine were for the most part usually low key, a small gathering of friends for dinner or maybe a lounge. Not that I did anything huge this year either, had the usual small dinner gathering of friends (at Tamarine), then met everyone else over at a lounge (Melt) afterwards - however I did have a few thoughts. You know…life goals and what not, although things are moving at a smooth pace the 20th was just a muffled wake up call. More on this later…

Back to my birthday. Although they were highly unnecessary, I very much so appreciated all the gifts and charitable contributions the bunch of you brought to embellish last Saturday’s celebration. The most surprising must have came from Rich who years ago compared my fascination with all things Kid Robot to a 12 year old Japanese girl and Hello Kitty. After some line of questioning he realized that I did not own an Ultraman figure. He figured he’d remedy this problem so not only did he buy me a Ultraman figure (which sits on my home office desk now) but a mystery grab bag.

Of course curious to what was in it, I tore it apart but couldn’t make head nor tails out of it in the dark lounge lighting. When we got out…”what the?! is that a pair of? oh no..it is!!! LOL!!!” I swore he bought me some form of hentai figure, which was hilarious, but after putting it together it was more of a Sailor Moon figure with a giant bazooka. Too risque for me, it lives in an unused wine glass now.

One of the more unexpected items was a bottle of Wallace Shiraz, Jenny and Quang saw it at Vintage and were not about to leave without it. Thanks guys. For those curious - I don’t think you could go wrong with any Shiraz from Australia. I wouldn’t say it went spectacularly well with Tamarine’s Vietnamese fare but it was very enjoyable.

Thanks to all of you who made it out, I know some of you trickled in late into the evening so if I did forget you please forgive me, but do blame the bourbon.

So what’s this about a wake up call? Things are moving smoothly in the whole ‘career path’ if there is such a thing for the so called self-employed entrepreneur, so with that said…I’m more excited then anything. Hopefully the two planned launches for early 2009 go smoothly, become highly profitable, and allows for an early exit.

Now a whole new topic - 356 Outlaws, or “everything wrong with people” from the Porsche Purist point of view. There are few rules when it come to building a ‘356 Outlaw’ some being the car must be a Porsche, 1979 or older, and it’s performance before anything else - this include motor swaps, body modifications, suspension tricks, everything…the complete opposite of an concurs restoration.

I thought my desire to modify vehicles was left in the last 2 vehicles…the orange vw, and the silver audi, but…I think I’m feeling it in my toes again. Although I love the performance, drive, and luxuries of the 997’s, I think at some point I’m going to have to either acquire or build one of these things.

Maybe when I exit one of the new ventures? Or in reality, a few years from now, because although old they cost a small fortune to build I’m told - as much as a new F430. Time to start looking and stock piling I guess, I’m told to look for a ‘bent window’ (like the car below) but I think I prefer the more modern lines of the smooth window, besides…how could one resist not chopping these? Leather hood straps? Old School Mobile Horses? What’s not to like?!

Well…food for thought, and motivation for the moment. Thanks guys, I’m truly lucky to be able to call the silly bunch of you as friends.

-Wallace

Are you sick of it already? It used to be my favorite time of year, the Holiday Season that is. Everywhere you go - Christmas music, fake snow and fake Santas. Anyways, although I’ve decided that I officially like the sun, Crystal is basking in this phenomenon we have all come to know as the Holidays.

We started the weekend off by visiting the opera house to watch San Francisco Ballet’s Nutcracker. Usually I lump ballets in the same category as warewolves and grandmother pinchy fingers (you know, the ones used to stretch your cheeks out) - in other words, stuff I avoid at all costs. However, as with any relationship there’s a push and give aspect to it as well as the eternal self sacrifice. I decided to have a good time at it, I mean what more could I do? These tickets weren’t free.

To my surprise I had a really good time. I didn’t fall asleep nor play with my phone as I had predicted - I think our neighbors would have strangled me if I played with any light emitting devices anyways, but I would go again. Crystal asked what was my favorite dance, thank goodness I was actually watching, I enjoyed the last dance of act one - where the snow falls and the rows and rows of ballerinas took stage. I also very much enjoyed the solos toward the end, I believe of the dreaming girl and her nutcracker.

Afterwards, kind of to show my appreciation, we went to Salt House - a neuvo american restaurant owned by the same folks who run TownHall. Crystal had never been, and I’ve been a fan of them since they opened. Oysters, Poutine, and Duck were ordered then promptly devoured. Without a moment to spare we retired home to which we also promptly fell asleep. Apparently we were both exhausted, and I found out the rough way waking up at 6am to a room full of light and us still in our Nutcracker clothes.

The following Saturday while Crystal was getting her hair done I snapped up Palo Alto’s common interest properties for a new site I’m building - Palo Alto Condos. Then discovered a new lounge spot…could it be? A posh bar/lounge that’s not first a restaurant then a bar in Downtown Palo Alto? Well…yeah!, check Melt out!

We actually spent the evening over a couple pours of r1 whiskey at Melt then migrated over to The Wine Room on Ramona. Fun evening from what I recall, Mike over at the Wine Room really did a number on me. That pour of South African something or other was my tipping point. If you haven’t, I swear he pours 1/3 if not 1/2 of the bottle per pour. Outstanding wine bar.

Finally on Sunday Olivia and Benson hosted a Holiday Party in their freshly re-done Nob Hill apartment. We spent the day busy figure out the White Elephant part of the deal as well as working out the Pot Luck aspect as well. Rather then saying it was a raging success for us, it was more of an Holiday Fiasco…but one executed well.

Dinner was fantastic, Benson’s pot roast was delicious and you should have seen the dessert bowl - birthday cake, cake number 2, pumpkin pie, a cookie, I mean you haven’t had a sugar overload until you had a spoonful of this stuff.

We also played pictionary - girls v. guys, of course the girls won - they cheat.

The White Elephant was fun as well, or I mean at least I liked my blender stick of a watchamacalit, but Benson loved his copy of the Dark Knight - who wouldn’t?

Happy Holidays!

Wallace

Yesterday was a mess for me, not in the overworked sense but the poor scheduling on my part sense. Richard is in town visiting while working a holiday gig so the bunch of us odd characters - Brooks, Paul and Rich figured we’re going to have to at the very least grab a holiday beer with the chap. The idea was for me to wrap up my meetings, peel out of my suit then catch the northbound train closest to 4pm so I would arrive in the city at 5pm and meet Rich at 5:30pm…as the trains come hourly.

One meeting ran long and that domino effect we’re all too used to sprung into effect, not to mention the new barrista at Peet’s took something like 10 minutes to make my cappuccino. Anyways, by the time I got to the Caltrain station and purchased my ticket it was 4:26pm. “Great. I’m going to be late,” I thought. As I was about to call Rich to tell him that I could just catch a cab the bells started to sound and lights started to flash - No way, right? Well, yeah…for whatever reason a 4:30pm train arrived in Palo Alto’s station and I hopped on, figured it would drop me off right at 5:30pm and we’d be back in business. 5:30pm it did, and I caught Rich who gave me a lift to Casanova’s Lounge in the Mission. Pretty sweet place. For a round of 4 beers it cost a whopping $7 during happy hour. Awesome. The decor is like Harlot off of Minna in Soma, but a whole lot grungier. The nude we were sitting was painted with a tanline as Paul observed.

After a few rounds we walked a couple blocks to Little Star Pizza. A couple slices, a $2 Pabst, some festive chatter, and well wishes we parted ways. It’s a warm feeling to know that one always has friends in a city, especially a city such as San Francisco. Brooks caught the BART, Paul rode his Gary Fisher home, Richard walked a couple blocks to his hotel and Richard gave me a lift to Crystal’s office before jumping onto the 280 to retire for the evening.

Crystal was working late, and by the time I arrived it was about 9pm. As she packed up and we took the elevator into the garage I noticed she had a large FedEx package, she mentioned it was for me so I poked and prodded, she finally gave in and - ‘Surprise! Happy Birthday!’ Oh wow…a fresh Paul Smith wallet. Just in time to retire, or give my red one a rest. Then realizing that she has yet to eat, we drove over to Slanted Door in the Ferry Building, where we finally (you can’t believe how many times we’ve tried in the past) were able to wrangle together two bar spots. Crystal started off with a Pisco Sour and myself a pot of tea, then crispy imperial rolls and finally what we’ve been waiting for - the whole roasted sea bass and a big pot or rice. Scrumptious.

Then we, or rather, I waddled back and drove home. What a Tuesday. (maybe we should do this more often! heh)

I woke up this morning, and although I’m more then satisfied with my Kestrel I just couldn’t help but take Trek’s Project One program on a test drive. I mean, for a mainstream manufacturer to offer such boutique customization is awesome. My build topped a bit over $10k *gulp* but come on…that just looks bad ass.

Before I go, I wanted to introduce you to something called ‘TouchGraph‘ - now, you could probably figure out its practical application better then I could, but they are able to quickly visualize sets of data - Facebook friends via photo tagging in this case. “A picture is worth 1000 words.” is what comes to mind.

-Wallace

Every year a bunch of you ask “Hey, what do you want for Christmas?!” My typical response is, “Oh it’s alright, you really don’t need to get me anything.” or “Just take me out for a meal.” and I do genuinely mean it - however for the few of you who do insist on getting me something other then the typical Kid Robot knick-knacks or gift certificates to restaurants all over town or bottles of wine I’ve put together a quick list of the current items on my ‘want list’ most of which I’m perfectly willing to purchase myself, however if you’re in the giving mood…who am I to object? heh.

First up - Pistachio Eames Aluminum Office Chair - I love these things, and not sure why but I love the pistachio color, although typically I am indifferent with green. Pick up the genuine up at DWR or a decent knock off through Advanced Interior Designs, although they don’t have green but I’ll settle for that brown.

Next up, following the current theme - the Eames Lounge. It only takes a split second of seat time in this chair to figure out why I want it. Unfortunately, a knock off won’t do in this case - DWR.

Porsche 964 Donor, or if you’re more then generous a fully re-built 964 in either RS or RSR trim. Although Crystal swears these things are deathtraps, I’ve been secretly, or not so secretly, wanting one of these as a project car for some time now.

Casio G-Shock - whether black or white I don’t really care. I just can’t figure out what happened to my old one. Kind of miss it. Tough as nails.

Nikon D700, ok…well maybe I don’t need the D700, but definitely the D90. Kind of out grown my current camera and want something that could print larger prints and more settings…although yes, my current camera is complicated enough. Trust me on this. Or, you could also ask me what lenses I want…

I need something to lug around all that camera gear, so my current fixation is the F-Stop Lotus bag. This thing looks sweet, and if the reviews are all true this is one pimp bag.

Macbook Air - well…my current macbook has yet to turn a year old, but why not?

Cakebread Cabernet Sauvignon - no explanations needed I’m sure. Same goes for Ridge, Opus, Knickerbocker, etc. etc. etc. Fill me up.

Since we’re on the topic of alcohol, indulge me with scotch whiskeys as well. I personally prefer Macallan (please 12yr or older, picky picky) but surprise me.

Finally - remodeling my place so throwing a carbon fiber toilet, and just to be honest this is probably not something I’d buy, but seriously? why not? I’ll put it downstairs in the guest bathroom. If you’ve been wondering what carbon fiber feels like on your ass (don’t ask me why), feel free to come over.

Well…what I’ve been telling everyone remains true. Don’t get me anything, really. Being able to call the bunch of you characters as proper friends is thrilling enough. So put it there, give me a hug, and let’s go grab a bite.

Happy Holidays,
Wallace

Had a great Thanksgiving, so great in fact - I caught the cold bug, hence the hiatus. Things began with a trip up north to visit John and Cerissa in Suisan City. John got pancreatitus a few months ago and has been in and out of the the hospital, it was nothing like mine. Where mine was easily controlled through proper diet and rest, he was in and out of consciousness, surgery and literally between life and death. Good to see him well into recovery, I don’t believe any of us (Rich, Brooks and I) expected to see him so active and with such energy. Reassuring.

Crystal’s sister Tiffany, who’s been in grad school in Philadelphia, decided to join us for turkey this year. Rich promptly reminded me how I forgot to ask her to smuggle me a few bottles of yeungling. *sigh* She said she’ll bring some to Hawaii in a few weeks. Bring an architecture buff she naturally wanted to take full advantage of the trip to see two of the Bay Area’s busiest attractions - the California Academy of Sciences and the De Young Museum. The Academy was on our ‘must see’ list anyways so we were happy to oblige, but prior to we had to actually celebrate Thanksgiving.

This year we had a traditional Thanksgiving meal, errr…lunch rather, at Crystal’s aunt’s place in Foster City. Afterwards we rushed to make an early non-traditional dinner at my brother’s house in Evergreen. Crystal as usual carefully navigated through the more Chinese varietal of ‘festival food.’ Although I was happy not to have turkey, stuffing, cranberry, and pumpkin pie for two meals, I was glad Crystal’s a trooper and bravely picked her way through the rather un-picturesque Thanksgiving selection.

Finally we make our way up to the Academy. We knew it was going to be a mess, so we took off early in preparation. The idea was to take off early and be there by 8am, well…we took off late (of course) ended up there at 9am. Which actually wasn’t too bad, we split up - Crystal and Tiffany went to buy tickets and I hung out in the entry line. When it turned 9:30am and the doors opened they rushed down with the tickets and we got through just in time.

The academy was bustling, but we were able to navigate through the exhibits just fine. The seahorse raining around the alligators and antelope exhibit in the African room brought back memories. My favorite exhibit this time around was definitely the swamp with the albino and normal alligators, but as far as new exhibits go - I’d argue the museum itself was a sight to see. The mish mash between old and new, especially the new green roof and the multiple globes inside.

Oh…the Slanted Door inspired cafeteria was awesome.

Next we rolled through the underground garage and into the De Young. Maya Lin was on exhibit here, she also did the main sculpture at the Academy. Other exhibits were the lost Asian American Art - including “Sunset over Sacramento Valley” and the life work of Yves St. Laurent. I really enjoyed our time here this time around.

The very next Sunday we rolled up to Ridge to picnic as well as add a few bottles to the collection. By now we surly have more Ridge then anything else on the racks.

It was good catching Tiffany again, and especially nice to spend Thanksgiving with Crystal this year rather then the ‘usual’ split celebrations. I think I caught the cold bug at the CAS, kind of freaked out with all those people around.

That being said I obviously took some time off and got most of your holiday cards written and sent. Postage is not what it used to be, not sure what was more expensive this year, obviously the Dunny’s, but between the cards and the postage - it was pretty close.

Well…Holiday Cheers! those of you who asked just what I want for Christmas…I’ll get back to you soon.

-Wallace