Muir Woods, Tiburon, Sausalito

No words - pictures only.

Conservatory of Plants

Muir Woods

Muir Woods

Muir Woods

Redwoods in Muir Woods

Enchanted Forest I

Enchanted Forest II

From the Ferry to Tiburon

Seagull I

Seagull II

Tiburon Firetruck in HDR I

Tiburon Firetruck in HDR II

Couloured Hoses

Golden Gate from Tiburon I

Golden Gate from Tiburon II

Tiburon Houses

 

Glasses

The old man and the sea

Pathways

Bay to Breakers

"Are you doing Beta Breakers?" was what I got when someone asked me for the first time. I thought: Why would I want to break anyone's beta (the test version that is released before the actual product)? But as I didn't want to sound like I had no clue what was going on - which was the case - I didn't ask. Instead I googled it - sure enough I was asked "Did you mean Bay to Breakers" and educated about an annual a half-marathon-turned-fun-run-turned-drinking-event leading from the San Francisco Bay to the breakers (waves) of the coast - hence it's name.

Still ignorant, I asked myself what "doing" Bay to Breakers would entail - running the half-marathon? Watching it? None of the above? It certainly involved costumes and drinking - this much I learned before the actual day - but everything else I was to find out on Day X - last Sunday.

It started at around 6 a.m. when I woke up for the first time. There was music and shouting - apparently a party. By 7.30 a.m. there was no going back to sleep anymore as a grown-man in a chicken costume was singing outside my window - bizarro-world had opened it's gates.

So Yana and I made our way up to Alamo Square, which was along the track, just to find ourselves in the middle of a crowd of intoxicated people competing for the most inventive costume and policemen competing for the most cans of beer collected (Note to Germans: Remember we are one of the few countries where you can happily get shitfaced in public). It was before noon, but the average alcohol intake would probably be more like 2 a.m.-ish and reminded me of carnival.

Without loosing too many more words: See for yourself how much fun it must be (if you manage to start downing shots at 6 a.m. on an empty stomach) - and it is almost as much fun being a sober spectator with a camera.

Fear the Beard!

If you go to a Adidas or Nike store in Europe, you will see Lionel Messi, Christiano Ronaldo, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Frank Lampard. Maybe you will even see Kobe Bryant or Dirk Nowitzki. And of course the occasional Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal. If you enter the Nike flagship store in San Francisco, you will be greeted by a guy with dark glasses an a thick black beard - Brian Wilson!

And this guy, or rather his beard, is famous. You will see shirts like this all over San Francisco when a game of the local baseball team, the San Francisco Giants, is on, as this Wilson guy is their "closer" (the last guy to throw the ball at the guy from the other team holding that baseball bat that in Europe only neonazis seem to sport as a accessory to Lonsdale jackets and shoes with white laces).

To see what all the hype is about, we decided to go to the ballpark - the arena - which in San Francisco is called AT&T-park and happens to be in my neighborhood. Having been at the World Cup as well as the Euro and even the Champions League - arguably some of the biggest sport events apart from the Olympic games - I have seen some inflated event pricing, but 9,75 $ for a 0,3 l beer almost gave me a heart attack!

If I ever become a billionaire, I think I am not only going to buy a football team, but also a baseball franchise, just to earn some money. Make the calculation for yourself: The At&T-park has 41.915 seats. There is a baseball game around three times a week (the other days the players are off or busy doing away games). Just giving away alcohol licenses will earn you a nice amount of money... and I am not talking tickets, food and merchandising.

Apart from my economic interest, the game was actually not that interesting - I prefer the NBA, but San Francisco won in the last inning - I think the dude with the beard did quite well. And what is really entertaining is the stuff that is used to fill the gaps when nothing is happening in the game, like the "Kiss Cam" - see below - that would be something we could do at the Euro 2012 too.
And the view from the ballpark is also worth a visit - see for yourself.

Things you can bring to work

The question to this jeopardy answer would be: What are fun, dogs and sometimes even kids?...which means that yesterday hundreds of toddlers were crowding the campus. There were even bouncy castles. I think in Dublin we all have to work hard to keep up with the sheer number...then again, we could start with thw dogs!

Shameless Promo

Actually, I should be a little offended, that I wasn't asked to post this here. But maybe the fact that I WANT to post it here, makes it even more authentic.

I used to write about my old band in the past on this blog. About our dreams to "make it", that probably every band has and my decision to go for a corporate career in the end - due to a) an offer from the best employer in the world and b) being the least talented band member.

It seems like the rest of the guys, under their new name "We are the planet" (which I will not comment on any further :P) are now really taking the "dream" seriously. And I hope they will make it. Here is a very well done promo-video with English subtitles.

Ever since they got rid of the lead singer that was holding them back, they have developed their style from a "in your face"-kind of indie-rock to a more melodic, danceable kind that reminds me a little bit of Black Kids (and I won't name the obvious influences that you have always had).

You can also download their songs on iTunes now. Or visit their website. They even have a section with upcoming concerts (wow!). All their songs are in English, so if you download them, play them at your party and tell you friends about "this cool new band from Germany", you might even say "Well, I liked them before they became famous" in a year or so.

As I think I already said the last time I wrote about them: When you guys play the one festival we were always talking about, I want two VIP-tickets. And I would like to sing one song with you - until then, I will shamelessly promote you through all social media channels there are and will be.


We Are The Planet_EPK Promo 2011 from We Are The Planet Official on Vimeo.

Fame

No, this blog post is not related to our performance at the sales conference last year. It's more about who I have met today.

Question: What do Barack Obama, The Dalai Lama, Lady Gaga, Bill Clinton, Larry Page and yours truly have in common?

As of now, at least one thing: We have all had our pictures taken with one man, Chade-Meng Tan, whose gallery of celebrity pictures is truly outstanding. Read all about him here. And he also has a very interesting TED-talk about compassion in your workplace. I have to say that he truly is a jolly good fellow and it was a pleasure meeting him - even though he claims he had a bad hair-day today.

Let's all feel famous for a day! :) And Julian: I owe you a drink!

The rainbow and the flower children

San Francisco is full of (by European standards rather recent) history and thus I decided to discover two places of relative importance in the last decades.

A few months ago, a gay friend of mine convinced me I had to watch "Milk" - the movie about gay rights activist Harvey Milk, who became a martyr after his assassination. The movie was based in the Castro, which is now the stereotype of a gay district (like Cologne in Germany). And the Castro is quite good at using this image to attract gay and straight tourists alike - the former for taking advantage of a great nightlife, the latter for watching the former while doing so. I personally thought the rainbow flags on every lamppost were a little over the top, but the muscular waiter at the place I had brunch at and his polite approach at flirting with me vouched for a certain genuineness.

From there I walked down Haight Street towards Haight-Ashbury, my second place of interest of the day, as it became a center of hippies in the Summer of Love. The area has some interesting little shops selling drug paraphernalia, but more importantly Amoeba Music, a mecca for music lovers that travel guides advertise as a place where you can find any CD you want. In fact, I really found some vintage indie CDs for decent prices (like the Deluxe Edition of Weezer's second studio album "Pinkerton" for just 11 dollars). I ended my walk in Golden Gate park and enjoyed the sun after the world of rainbows and flowers in their hair - maybe that inspired me to take some pictures at a sculpture called "Aurora", which I hope you will like.