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| About 30 years ago, I recall going to the Field Museum for what seemed like a sprawling exhibition. I seem to recall that it was late in the evening for some reason, but I remember the exhibit rooms being a bit dark. It was pretty cool, but I was probably too young to truly appreciate it.
About 4 years ago, Esther and I meet up with my folks in Cairo. It is boiling hot, but a spectacular trip that fulfills one of my goals in life: see the Pyramids. The Egyptian Museum in Cairo is beyond belief. Filled with Egyptian treasures and relics, any one room would easily be several rooms at another museum in the West. This time, I certainly could better appreciate the treasures that we saw.
About 12 hours ago, we went to the Tutankhamun exhibit at the DeYoung Museum in SF. Overall, it's a decent exhibit, but falls a little short. The first couple of rooms are interesting with relics from Akhenaton and his family, along with some interesting history about the people and the customs at the time. Unfortunately, the King Tut section falls a little short. The statues and relics are interesting. I was most interested in his dagger, his crook and flail, and a small golden shrine. Unfortunately, there's no sarcophagus from King Tut (though there is one of another person earlier in the exhibit), nor the mask that we all know. So, by the time you get to the last room, you kinda wonder, "that's it?"
I think a major part of the problem is about staging. The second to last room is a very large and dark hall with a number of shimmering statues and items, but the last room is very small with only a handful of objects in different parts of the room. Perhaps the poorest decision for that room was an empty space in the center of the room with a print of the sarcophagus. Though meant to highlight where the jewelry was placed on the body, it instead draws attention to the absence of a sarcophagus.
Anyway, it's a nice exhibit and very cool glimpse to this piece of our global history. | | |
| For the past couple of weeks, we've been house hunting. I should note that house hunting in Chicago was not a fun time for me, instead proving to be a mixed bag of balancing house quality, proximity to stuff, and other factors. In truth, homeownership wasn't that fun for me either. After living in the place we bought for just a few months, we left for SF, became long distance landlords, and became dependent on my folks and others to deal with tenants and upkeep. Now almost a year since we finally sold our place, we're back looking.
This time, the factors seem a lot more multifaceted. Sure, it's well known that the housing costs are crazy here. The housing bubble and weak economy have cut housing prices, but they're still far from a bargain. I guess that point is debatable depending on your benchmark, as it's probably cheaper than Tokyo, Moscow, or Manhattan. However, unlike the choice of whether to pick the city vs. the burbs of Chicago, the burbs here result in congested traffic and bodies of water to be traversed with underground BART trains, toll bridges, and ferries. Further, whether perception or reality about the quality of education, the SF public school system causes many SF families to ponder either footing private school tuition ($10-20K per year) or relocating for school systems in the suburbs.
I'm hopeful that we'll find something to get us more space. It'd be nice for kiddo to have a backyard. I wouldn't mind a GI Joe room myself.
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| On my way back to the office from lunch, I noticed that a high end restaurant nearby had closed. It's last day was less than a week ago, presumably unable to sustain itself in the economic downturn. I had eaten there twice before, and its French cuisine was quite good though a bit expensive. However, the service was horrible, more about the slowness of the kitchen than the waitstaff. Nonetheless, it was sad that this restaurant closed. On past lunchtime walks, I've noticed the rise in empty storefronts, which appear to have particularly hit hard the higher-priced lunchtime venues.
From my past experience in small business banking, vacant storefronts are particularly chilling. I don't know if it's particularly unique, but I've spent enough time with entrepreneurs to look at these shuttered shells with great sadness. Here's what I see:
- An entrepreneur grips with failure and wonders what they could have done differently. There are plenty of people, circumstances, and things to blame, but either way, a dream has ended. The circumstances are probably worse since they probably tapped their home and all of their resources, attempting to avoid this outcome.
- A workforce of 25 people with experience in the food service industry are now thrust into a difficult job market. Some may not have had health care before and now have to figure out how to make due without income. Rent is coming due next week. Regular expenses do not put themselves on hold.
- A banker poured through their loan file, reconciling their documentation to address the "secondary source of repayment" along with the realization about what that truly means.
- A landlord wonders what to do with the vacant storefront. The leasehold improvements have gone from value as a going concern business to close to worthless. The real estate owner needs to figure out the math, as that storefront will likely be vacant for a while in this economy.
- A series of suppliers are impacted and most likely need to lay off some of their staff.
- The neighboring business owners wonder what impact the vacancy will have on their business. On one hand, it may create opportunity. On the other hand, they wonder if they might be next.
A vacant storefront is just the aftermath. | | |
| Shortly after my Paket Continued post, I received a call from my Dad that my Grandma had passed away. I posted the following message shortly thereafter.
I don't know how long ago it's been now. Maybe it's an hour. Maybe it's been 30 minutes. My Dad called to say that my Grandma (my father's mother) has most likely passed away. She was resting and watching TV earlier. When my Mom went to get her to bed, my Grandma was not responsive. The hospice nurse is en route at the time of this message.
Given her poor health, this was not unexpected, but the timing is unexpected. At the moment, my most vivid memory is from a week ago.
Grandma was playing with Eva as best as she could. Eva has a stuffed turtle that she sleeps with everyday, and Grandma has a bigger version of the same turtle. Grandma had the turtle and was pretending it was swimming, while Eva did the same with her turtle. Grandma and Eva played with the turtles as they were friends.
I don't know what's more important to me: that Grandma had that moment with Eva, that Eva had that moment with Grandma, or that I witnessed this moment with Grandma and Eva. But for now, I could not be more grateful for us to have had that moment.
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| In addition to the large plastic bag holding other plastic bags and the large paper bag holding other paper bags, we have a large reusable bag holding other reusable bags. The reusable bags assortment varying levels of durability and volume, most of which are made of canvas. I'm not sure where this explosion in tote bags came from, though many have come from various conferences that Esther has attended.
Ten years ago, I would have been happy to share with you about my love of coffee from a styrofoam cup.
Today, I rode public transportation back home, got off a couple of stops early to head to the organic market, and purchased a few organic / locally-produced fruits, veggies, and milk. I handed the woman my reusable bag. At the checkout line, I handed the clerk the reusable bag that I carry in my briefcase, instead of taking the store's paper bag. I walked home rather than wait for the train, carrying the groceries in my bag. The bag itself was a freebie that I received from Zipcar, the car sharing company that I'm a member of. As I walked home in the misty fog that blanketing the city, I pondered how San Francisco of a moment this was. | | |
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