The Monthly Nut

Stu and Meg came over tonight for some cheese and a house tour before we all grabbed some Indian food in West Portal. Stu knows that guests shouldn't arrive empty-handed and indulged my snacking desires with some honey wheat pretzels. He insists they were not leftovers from the 49ers tailgate today...

Two more empty bottles brought by guests Andy & Andrea, Pete & Vanessa (they had a hand in consuming as well). Dinner topics included: weather conspiracy theories, Pete's game show appearance, the Roberts nomination, and what tv shows were popular in the early 90s.

On the advice of a horticulture expert, we've been sprinkling Ironite on our grass over the last few weeks. As recounted earlier, the last owners didn't really maintain the yard after they sold us the house. So we're doing a bit of a lawn revival.

Nothing to do with our home (well, expect that Caroline's mom might bring us one back), but Pat sent this great photo from Japan.

September must be the unofficial bedding month. We broke out some new sheets last night and our friends at Design Public were just featured in the September GQ with tips on the perfect modern bedroom. DP is run by Drew Sanocki and Sina Djafari - Stanford GSB classmates of mine - who have paired their entrepreneurial spirits to help uplift all of us design-challenged souls. As they point out, you spend 3,000 hours in bed each year so why not enjoy them?

Bottle #3 was quickly consumed by Mike, Alice and Caroline - I had just taken some Tylenol for jaw pain and didn't want to mix alcohol with drugs (note to self - make sure that last part isn't taken out of context at some work event).

Mike and I first met in 1995 - we both labored at the same mgmt consulting firm out of undergrad. But our friendship really formed during grad school as we ended together up at Stanford, and as roommates during our first year. He's a solid guy who, despite his success in the Internet industry, really just wants to be a writer. Alice is his neat girlfriend of about seven months. She's originally from Pittsburgh and came to SF via NYC via Cornell. Her friends call her 'Ice.'

We had them over before heading to a friend's engagement party in Russian Hill. The host had a video installation piece - those always freak me out - it's usually someone in a box, or miming the constraints of a box. Okay, we get it - you're represented on a small tv screen and the film depicts you trapped inside a square. The meta-ness of it all overwhelms me.

But they did have good mini-roast beef sandwiches.

I heard of this wonderful thing called "Swiffer" but never experienced its glory until now. And I'm clearly not the only one who loves their little helper.

We'd been waiting for you to arrive. Welcome home bathroom cabinet.

I guess this counts for the house blog since it occurred in front of 930 Faxon. Although the picture suggests my car really took a knock, actually just the bumper was damaged. Ripped clean off by a passing moving truck. Of course it's a hassle to get fixed and we are out the deductible, but no one hurt. Poor little Prius. All it ever wanted to do was drive me to work.

Bottle #2 in our Fill the Wine Rack mission was a BV Carneros, from the BV Winery. CB and I consider this to be one of our 'wedding wines,' given that our wedding site was owned by the BV Winery family.

This bottle was shared over lunch with Jeff and Vicki Fields, good friends of my family who were visiting the Bay Area from Great Neck. Besides just generally liking Jeff and Vicki, we knew that we had to treat them right so they could report back to my parents with a satisfactory message.

Thoughtfully Vicki brought us an agricultural housewarming gift - some lovely squash, fresh corn, farmer's market honey and assorted other goodies. In return we gave them two lemons from our tree - one for them and one for my mom. When life gives you lemons, you give them away.

A local 24th st wine shop was closing and Caroline picked up a 100+ bottle wooden wine rack for just $100. Since it's unlikely we would ever fill such a tremendous structure with full bottles, we decided it would be nice to save every bottle consumed in the new house, signed by the guests who helped finish it off.

Bottle #1 was last night - Jones Family Vineyard, an incredibly wonderful high-end winery in St. Helena, which also happens to be owned by friends of ours - the titular Jones family. The half-bottle we drank was originally our table gift at Stephanie Jones' wedding a few years back. The wine is in such high demand that another guest actually tried to steal our bottle, but we held on to it and tucked it away for a special occasion.

It was consumed with Kim Newell, one of those wonderfully overqualified people who makes the world a better place. Kim's a doctor who has spent significant time overseas treating less fortunate children. She's also an adventurous cook, accomplished academic, fearless cyclist, and good friend. We drank some wine, grabbed some Burmese food and then almost ate snow frog fat, but decided on mango and gelatinous rice balls instead.

I can now spread my seed all over our yard.

This Labor Day double entendre has been brought to you by the Home Depot.