Harassment at the Workplace

As many of you know, I may have moved to San Diego, but I am still a Steelers fan. One of my first adventures after moving here was watching a Steeler game at a Steeler Bar in San Diego. This Sunday, the Steelers play the San Diego Chargers in the play-offs.

Friday, I arrived at work to find that my entire cubicle had been decorated with Charger crap. Just my cubicle, no one else's. They even came in early and there was a group effort to pull this prank on me. Streamers, Signs, and Balloons everywhere. I have made various bets with my coworkers over this game, so next week is going to either be really fun for me, or really sad. One guy has to display my Terrible Towel in his cubicle all next week, or I have to display his LT jersey if they win. But the Chargers will lose....Go Steelers!

San Francisco

Here are some more pics from my New Year's trip to San Francisco. DJ, Steve, and I met up with my friends Dave and Judy for lunch at a Tapas place in the Mission section of the city. I was a bit lazy about taking photos though because I looked like a tourist while hanging with my friends who actually live there.








a picture of a restaurant that we didn't eat at. It looked cool though.

Later that night we all went to the shopping district in the city and ended up at the second Apple store of my trip.














inside a cool mall in the city.

On Sunday, DJ and Steve made me an awesome birthday brunch with homemade crepes and bread pudding with candles. Thanks, yinz are pretty awesome!

Palo Alto

My friends DJ and Steve were kind enough to invite me up to their place in San Francisco over the New Years weekend. Friday, DJ and I went to downtown Palo Alto for some shopping. She has an iPhone and I just got an iPod Touch (thanks mom and dad!) so, we of course went to visit the apple store to scope out accessories. Here are some pics of Palo Alto that I took using Dj's iPhone. They took me to a really good Moroccan place for dinner in Redwood City. I forgot to take pics there though. I will post more later this week. Happy New Year everyone!

Beverly Hills

The hotel I stayed at during my LA getaway was in Beverly Hills. I just happened to get a good deal on Priceline.com that happened to put me within walking distant of Rodeo Drive. There was a statue on one the intersections that I drove by that I wanted to get a picture of, but I didn't get the chance. It had a large inscription that basically said it was dedicated to all those in the show biz who so courageously fought to keep Beverly Hills an independent municipality..it was hilarious.

I walked around Rodeo Drive a bit Saturday before I left. The only thing I could afford was Starbucks ;) Works for me.

More Santa Monica Pics

These pics are from the 3rd Street Promenade which is a nice shopping area close to the pier. I thought I got some pics of the shopping area itself, but I guess not..oops.

The Silver Street Performer:









A little outdoor ice rink, how cute...

Getty Museum on Black Friday

Finally, here are the pics from the Getty Museum! It ended up being a little over overcast and chilly in LA on Friday afternoon so I headed to the museum. Some of my Pittsburgh friends who have been to LA recommended the museum to me. I had never even heard of it. It's a giant museum on a big hill that looks over the whole city. It's free admission too, which is nice.

I wasn't able to fully enjoy the museum because I was really tired from walking all over Santa Monica and Venice Beach the day before. The inside exhibits had old classic European paintings, a French decor exhibit, a sketch exhibit that presented humor of the 1800's, and old photography of SF and Yosemite. I want to go back soon and get some better pics, hopefully on a sunnier day.





















Views of LA from the Getty:

Black Friday fun

I started Friday as a pseudo shopping day. I bought a little LA guide book Wednesday night that mentioned the boutique district in Santa Monica. I decided to check that out in the morning and while on my way there, I realized that another Frank Gehry building, the Chiat/Day Office, was a few street away. Compared to the Disney Concert Hall it was a little disappointing. Here are a couple pics...



It's not a public building, so I was afraid to go snooping too close. When I saw the building online before I left San Diego, I thought the binoculars was the building, but I guess the building is behind them and the binoculars are a giant facade. Still kinda cool considering Chiat/Day is an advertising firm and a binocular building makes a strong impression.

Stay tuned for more updates on the Promenade and Getty Museum and the rest of my trip.