Zona

Chinatown they said. Golden Gate, Alcatraz they said. But that's not how I roll. WHO goes to San Francisco and looks for the cliche' and over-photographed? LOSERS, that's who. So I head for the Castro District and was kinda disappointed that the gay area of the gayest city on the planet was kinda boring. Granted, I didn't wander off the main street of the area. Too much porn, not enough eclectic.

Then I headed for the Mission District and found a rich Hispanic cultural statement in the dozens of wall sized murals even if the food was kinda lame.

Then walking down Mission back toward downtown, I stumbled upon another alley of wall sized murals.

So for the first trip to San Francisco, and given that I only had one day to explore, I came away with a wonderful impression of a city that is like no other in the U.S.

Thank you San Francisco. I will return to you.

I was waiting for the transmission to shift or explode

is what I told the salesman at the Nissan dealership. I was test driving the 2010 Altima. Another thing that irked me was having to put gas in both cars I test drove. But I have always like Altimas and this new transmission gizmo is the latest and greatest thing they say so I will probably end up buying a base model. Gotta go base because if we buy one car this year, we are buying two. I still owe about $8,000 on my Stratus so we will probably pay that off and keep it. Someone is in college and will need a car to get around in when he gets his license squared away.

I felt old with this newfangled car technology so we balanced it off buy having lunch at The Golden Corral buffet. Now I feel young again. The walkers, the 70 year-old woman in purple sweats, the 70 year-old man in sunglasses that my granddaughter would shun. The meal was decent but the "floor show" was worth twice the price.

On to the new decade with a hip hip hooray!!

In local news a guy playing with a gun shot and killed his friend. A burglar shot and killed a police dog and was then shot and killed by the dog's handler. And a man beat up his 85 year-old landlady.

There's snow all around but the roads are dry.

So what do I look forward to this decade? I'll watch the kids continue to make life decisions and learn, or maybe not, things. I was 30 before I found what I would do for a long time job so they have time if they're on my schedule. I continue to get older despite my best efforts to coca cola myself diabetic. I wait for things to happen this decade to determine where I will be when it ends and even if we'll be addressing this same subject in 10 years. Ireland is a possibility in 4-5 years. Calgary is another. Aruba was going to be one possibility but I've heard that crime has increased there to the point where people in my profession consider it that same as the Bahamas. That's a shame.

More photos of course and the tradition of a yearly calendar. More bourbon perhaps. More weight inevitably and hopefully the return of long contemplation here versus the quick shot facebook thing all the time.

We'll see won't we?

Off we go.