Tomate Farcie à San Francisco

In support

2012-01-17T22:46:00.000-08:00

I left my heart in San Francisco

2012-01-12T17:50:00.001-08:00

Not very many hearts left around the city but there are a few new ones, here and there, if you look.

Happy new year

2012-01-02T09:32:00.003-08:00

Happy new year to all from the roofs of San Francisco!

Seasons Greetings

2011-12-25T14:56:00.001-08:00

Warmest greetings for the holidays.

Happy holidays to all

2011-12-24T20:44:00.001-08:00

Xmas in the Castro.

Santa sighting in the tram

2011-12-10T21:24:00.001-08:00

Apparently, third time really is the charm ... here goes!

Santa sightings in the tram

2011-12-10T12:43:00.001-08:00

Fall in the Financial District

2011-11-28T14:17:00.001-08:00

Test 4

2011-11-24T19:12:00.001-08:00

Image XL

It's raining

2011-11-24T11:03:00.001-08:00

Even when it rains a little bit, SF does not lose its charm. On the contrary. On a day like today, when people are mostly out of town or indoors, walking around the city feels wonderful.

(By the way, I'm having difficulty with the photo posting on this blog after upgrading to Blogger for Android version 1.0.7. This new app gives me little control over the display and the way the photos no longer enlarge when you click them. Anyone who can provide pointers, tips, would be much appreciated :D )

Recycling

2011-11-20T20:00:00.001-08:00

Test

2011-11-19T11:00:00.001-08:00

Beaujolais Nouveau

Reflexions in the Financial District

2011-11-18T22:31:00.001-08:00

Test

Farmers Market

2011-11-15T20:45:00.001-08:00

Neighborhood' farmers market is pretty expensive but the vegetables don't mind being photographed.

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Tranquility

2011-11-12T12:38:00.001-08:00

The nuns walking through we kind of a lucky accident.

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Googleplex

2011-11-07T12:28:00.001-08:00

This part of the campus is starting to ressemble Disneyland ...

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Distressed Mailboxes

2011-11-06T16:56:00.001-08:00

Neighborhood, rentals

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The first door bell doesn't work at all, regrettably.

The second door bell probably works, but there is no name so you don't know who you're ringing.

The third door bell doesn't work, but there is an alternate doorbell underneath. Nice DIY fix-it job.

The fourth door bell ... well, it's anybody's guess. At least we know it's occupied by Mr. D. Martini.

Dia del Muerto (?) (Day of the dead)

2011-11-03T13:19:00.001-07:00

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Find Your Thing

2011-11-02T11:54:00.001-07:00

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San Francisco

2011-10-25T23:04:00.001-07:00

The Golden Gate Bridge inspires local artists of all ages ;)

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Bathing Pigeons

2011-10-23T10:58:00.001-07:00

Pigeons enjoying a shower at a local fountain

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Castro Street House

2011-10-22T19:25:00.001-07:00

I'm always a little envious of people who live in houses with a small dungeon on the side ;)

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Lunch Hour

2011-10-19T15:13:00.001-07:00

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Lunch Hour

2011-10-18T13:16:00.001-07:00

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Occupy SF

2011-10-11T15:07:00.001-07:00

(Insert here )

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Farewell, Steve Jobs

2011-10-06T12:56:00.001-07:00

The window of the Apple Store, in SF.

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Moment of happiness at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival

2011-10-02T00:44:00.001-07:00

Everyone experiences those moments of inner peace , when life feels just fine ....

I had my moment a little later, when Party Griffin started playing the guitar and a welcome breeze blew in .

Photographed with the little Android phone at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco.

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Looking Up

2011-09-28T22:50:00.001-07:00

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Lunch hour

2011-09-20T20:45:00.001-07:00

The tall buildings downtown San Francisco always make me want to look up.

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Colones Morris de San Francisco

2011-09-14T17:52:00.001-07:00

The light wouldn't cooperate, today, but I thought I would post anyway. We also have Parisian toilets lining up Market Street, if you can believe that.

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Nothing in particular

2011-09-03T14:16:00.001-07:00

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The Lavender is ready

2011-08-29T12:56:00.001-07:00

So cute, freshly cut (you can smell it several feet away) and imported from France. However, the $12 price tag for a little bunch of lavender is a bit of a deterrent.

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tagged flowers?

2011-08-24T18:01:00.001-07:00

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Happiness

2011-08-21T16:16:00.001-07:00

Doesn't get any better than this.

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Touch-ups Are Important

2011-08-06T11:12:00.001-07:00

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Yerba Buena Gardens

2011-08-04T18:38:00.001-07:00

A little fun never hurt anyone ;)

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A little bit of Paris in San Francisco

2011-07-29T12:44:00.001-07:00

... never hurts!

And for the record, this place downtown SF does a pretty good couscous! :)

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Quiet day in the neighborhood

2011-07-11T00:13:00.001-07:00

Peaceful Sunday

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Happy Pride 3

2011-07-02T22:02:00.001-07:00

Pink Party, Castro
(Photo with Canon G9)

I bet these costumes took weeks to make... but it was worth it!

Happy Pride, 2

2011-06-27T22:27:00.000-07:00

(Photo with Canon G9)

Happy Pride, San Francisco !

2011-06-26T12:20:00.001-07:00

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I don't know if it is my imagination, but I thought some of the costumes in the Parade were nothing short of spectacular this year.

Here are a few of my best shots (over the next few days).

Castro

2011-06-11T11:31:00.001-07:00

(Insert here)

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SF MOMA

2011-06-07T12:33:00.001-07:00

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Today was a beautiful day and I decided to walk over with my lunch to Yerba Buena Gardens.

This is a piece of the San Francisco MOMA.

If you need an incentive to visit, remember that they now allow photography inside the building (but not of the exhibits). They have opened the roof garden. And if you need a 3rd reason to get you going in that direction, know that access on the first Tuesday of every month is free.

Farmers Market

2011-06-04T11:00:00.001-07:00

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Nothing much to say. I saw the carrots at the Farmers Market this morning and thought they were the most beautiful looking carrots I've seen in a long time.

Googleplex

2011-06-02T01:24:00.001-07:00

Bikes waiting to be borrowed.

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Memorial Day at the Presidio

2011-05-30T11:59:00.001-07:00

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Rusted neighborhood truck

2011-05-27T20:52:00.001-07:00

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Gloomy sky, rusted truck and American flag hanging behind the window.

Dancing on Treasure Island

2011-05-25T14:56:00.001-07:00

This morning, I noticed a sculpture I had never seen before, on Treasure Island.

She appeared, towering over us, as if she were dancing on the Bay.

Her name is Bliss Dance, by Marco Cochrane.

The project is explained here, here and again here.

Marco Chochrane : http://www.marcocochrane.com/

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F-Market

2011-05-23T18:58:00.001-07:00

The best looking MUNI line , as far as I'm concerned !

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A little time travel

2011-05-20T11:49:00.001-07:00

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Born This Way

2011-05-19T21:50:00.001-07:00

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A lot of people speculate that Lady Gaga's star will rise and fall very quickly. I have a feeling she's here to stay and will continue to reinvent herself and amaze her fan base.

Time will tell.

Treasure Island

2011-05-18T21:09:00.001-07:00

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If you drive to Treasure Island on a clear, beautiful day like today, you might be in for a real treat. The San Francisco skyline is just far enough so you can see it all, but close enough so you can see it well.

And the Bay Bridge will show you how glorious it can look when you see it from that angle, a little closer. If the sun hits it just right, it practically glows!

And the best part is that if you come from San Francisco and return to San Francisco, there is no toll.

Google IO 2011

2011-05-18T20:11:00.001-07:00

An android fan heaven ;)

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neighborhood pictures 2

2011-04-14T17:03:00.001-07:00

Noe Valley, Spring

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neighborhood pictures

2011-04-10T12:26:00.001-07:00

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JAPANTOWN

2011-04-03T14:21:00.001-07:00

(INSERT here )

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Beautiful day in San Francisco

2011-03-28T17:17:00.001-07:00

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It was such a beautiful day , today, that it would've been a crime not to take advantage of it a little.

Photo shot from Marin Headlands.

Church and 24th Street

2011-03-27T00:59:00.001-07:00

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Rainy day chez Tomate

2011-03-23T17:59:00.001-07:00

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Hills in SF

2011-03-14T14:14:00.001-07:00

More hills ... It's hard to tell, but the camera and myself are looking parallel to the ground under my feet. However, if I take another step, then we'd be going down at a 45 degree angle.

Nope, I'm not making it up.

So, does anyone know where this photo was taken?

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World Naked Bike Ride

2011-03-12T15:33:00.001-08:00

Today was the San Francisco World Naked Bike Ride event, a public event in protest of our dependence on fossil fuel.

Participants showed up with their bikes and gathered up at Justin Herman Plaza this morning. They then set up to ride along the wharf, up to the Marina and back to the Financial District through Lombard St.

They will have another event just like this one on the second week of June. Check out sfwnbr.org if you are interested in participating or just cheering them on.

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One Way

2011-03-06T22:16:00.001-08:00

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Lots of hills in San Francisco, so be prepared for a bit of a work-out if you come visit.

Android in Spaaaaaace!

2011-03-03T20:37:00.000-08:00

Too cute to pass.

There is actually a story behind this video.

here you go

(to be continued )

Dream? Or ...

2011-02-23T15:51:00.001-08:00

Yes, life out here can be far from idyllic, but there is always a little something to make you feel lucky.

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Diamonds and Rust

2011-02-22T23:23:00.001-08:00

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I love stealing those colorful moments from the City when I walk around.

This could be a perfect illustration to something my mother once wrote me, a long time ago:

"Make sure you enjoy everything that's beautiful, even if only for a moment, even if it's very small."

Most of the things that make me very happy, in life, are very small things usually, like the color of the flowers, the way it smells right after it rains, or finding a seat in a crowded bus...

Walks through the Mission

2011-02-17T12:14:00.001-08:00

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New Mural

2011-02-16T22:00:00.001-08:00

New mural at Clarion Alley, SF

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Clarion Alley, where this shot was taken, is very famous for its murals and is photographed every day by tourists and locals. But the entire area (the Mission District) is a gold mine if you like murals and interesting and colorful ~~graffit~~ street Art.

View Larger Map

Red tables waiting in vain for customers

2011-02-14T14:43:00.001-08:00

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Rainy days make customers go away.

Palace Hotel

2011-02-08T11:42:00.001-08:00

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Can't you just imagine people in turn-of-the-century costumes walk around in there ?

Renewing

2011-02-07T15:50:00.001-08:00

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Sunset over SF

2011-02-05T18:26:00.001-08:00

Because sometimes, you have to drop everything and grab the camera.

No photoshop. The colors were *that* sharp.

Wish I could have caught the pinks and the blues earlier. Maybe another time.

Castro drugs

2011-02-03T00:16:00.001-08:00

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visit to the CJM

2011-01-17T17:44:00.001-08:00

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I am fascinated by the Contemporary Jewish Museum, both for its interesting architecture (especially the diamond-shaped extension) and also for its mostly positive, fun-energy exhibits. Do visit if you get a chance.

Be Stupid

2011-01-09T18:12:00.001-08:00

Diesel shop, Market St., San Francisco.

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No relationship to the post below ;)

Aucun rapport avec le post ci-dessous ;)

No-Pants Day

2011-01-09T18:08:00.001-08:00

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Today, San Francisco "celebrated" No Pants Day on the train, and underground MUNI .

44 cities participated in the event as well. You gotta feel sorry for those living in NYC!

Overcast day in San Francisco

2010-12-12T14:26:00.001-08:00

Yes, it's overcast today in SF but those flowers largely compensate for the lack of color in the sky.

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It's that time of the year!

2010-12-03T09:39:00.001-08:00

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Working long hours has its perks. You get to enjoy the City's Xmas decorations all to yourself...

Scary but worth the price of admission ;)

2010-11-10T09:20:00.001-08:00

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Yes, that was your Tomate up there, scared sh..tless and completely happy, both at the same time.

This post is dedicated to photographer Robert Cameron. Hope he's looking at us from above.

San Francisco celebrated the Giants today

2010-11-03T16:24:00.001-07:00

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One more win, come on !

2010-11-01T10:38:00.001-07:00

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test

2010-10-26T22:01:00.001-07:00

Test

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It works!

Sooooooooooooooo....

2010-10-17T16:49:00.000-07:00

It's been long enough... Should I start blogging again?

Why not.

Let me know in the commenting section :)

Tomato

UPDATE: Well, this is pretty compelling ! ;)
Thank you all for the comments after such a long absence.
We'll see you very soon, then. Until then, feel free to look me up on Facebook (Tomate Farcie).

DÉFILÉ DU 14JUILLET 2010

2010-07-25T22:33:00.000-07:00

\

This is the best video I could find to show the 14th of July military parade on the Champs in Paris, this year. For some reason there isn't much on youtube. I know it rained pretty hard so maybe that's why there is not much.

Anyway, this is also a test to see if this will post.

Pride 2010 (coming soon)

2010-06-27T20:51:00.001-07:00

Coming very soon on Tomate Farcie à San Francisco, Pride WE in San Francisco.

Week-end bliss

2010-04-26T01:12:00.000-07:00

This week-end was the first really nice week-end we've had in the Bay Area in a long time. Last week, we had wind, cold weather and rain. So when the sun decided to stick around, everybody came out to play, including me.

This shot was taken at Ocean Beach late in the afternoon (that's why the lighting is a bit weak). The temperature was still really pleasant and no chilly winds, for a change.

I couldn't pass the opportunity to get a quick shot of this blissful moment. Enjoy!

Googleplex

2010-04-04T18:35:00.000-07:00

The other day, I was driving through the South Bay, when it occurred to me that I was only a few miles away from Mountain View, so I decided to check out the Google campus.

When you arrive on campus, you know immediately where you are.

The little green guy you see on the photo in front of the building (actually that thing is pretty large) represents the Android operating system that Google has been working on for a while. The "phone" leaning between the giant Android guy and the giant cupcake, is, of course, the Nexus One, the newest Google phone, released exclusively through Google's website, not through the major phone US carriers.

It was a holiday week-end, so there was not a lot of people around.

Even though I didn't have an invitation (the campus is closed to the public, unless you are expressly invited or escorted by a Google employee), I decided to park my car in the visitor parking lot and see if I could get a few pics of the Android guy before someone calls security ;)

If you're gonna park your car on campus, be sure to pick the right spot.

There is this ^

that one for the lucky few ^

or even this one ^ (but I only spotted one of those, next to the main campus).

Clearly, you don't need to drive around campus, even though it's pretty spread-out. As far as I can tell by the number of bikes laying around unlocked, it looks like to get from one building to the next, you would just hop on a bike, and leave it at your destination when you get there. To get back to your original starting point, grab another bike and do the same thing in reverse.

I could be wrong about that but I believe the row of Priuses I noticed on the side of the blue building are also for employees' use.

Do you need a haircut? No need to leave the campus, the haircut comes to you (and it's free, too). I understand they also have laundry facilities, dry cleaning, a gym, a couple of pools, an excellent cafeteria with food I can only dream about (sigh), all free to Google employees.

I'm guessing behind these windows is where all the magic happens? Part of it, maybe? (Notice the cameras sticking out from the top of the building.)

This ^(above) is a replica of the Nexus One. It is as tall as a person, and the screen is animated, exactly like a real Nexus One phone. You get the sense that the company is real proud of it.

You know I *had* to peek inside, right? ;) Bad idea on my part, though. No sooner did I finish taking this (terrible) picture, that a security guy had appeared right right in front of my face, and was asking me nicely but firmly to get off the premises.

I did, of course. But I took a couple more pictures on my way out, which I hope you'll enjoy.

There is a lot of information out there about Google, the campus, the culture, so I'm not even gonna try to summarize it here.

Google it! :)

Don't get the wrong idea though, despite the perks, and the impression that the campus is a big playground, the employees do work very hard indeed.

Anyway, I just wanted to post up these few pics.

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Wish I could see the inside ;) Maybe some day.

Enjoy!

http://www.walrusmagazine.com/articles/2007.06-field-notes-advanced-search/

Wild Parrots of San Francisco not so wild anymore

2010-03-28T20:57:00.000-07:00

Hey, look at that, it looks like my comments are still here after all! I would have thought Haloscan would have disabled everything by now. How about a new blog post, to celebrate something going right, for a change? ;)

The other day I was walking through the Financial District to go meet a friend in one of the oldest neighborhoods of the city, when suddenly, as I came up on a park, I heard all kinds of loud bird noises going on above me. I immediately thought "the parrots!!"

There are at least 2 flocks of wild parrots who have lived in San Francisco for the past 20 years. Years ago, the were afraid of people and would hide immediately when people came walking nearby. It looks like they're not shy anymore and they're louder than ever.

I looked up and there were dozens of them snacking on the trees (click on the photo below to enlarge and see more birds)

If you like birds (even if you don't), or are interested in San Francisco culture, or just want to see something a little different, I highly recommend the cute documentary entitled The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill by Judy Irving, feat. Mark Bittner. As a matter of fact, the movie is scheduled to air on PBS in May, so don't miss it.

Update

2010-02-24T21:49:00.001-08:00

OK, so I have been in touch with Haloscan and this is what they told me:

We've checked the Haloscan database and didn't find your comments,
unfortunately. All such old comments are lost, we are unable to ind or
recover them.

It's one of reasons why we started the upgrade process from Haloscan
to Echo - we are trying to save the comments:
http://bit.ly/8AwW9c

Please accept our deepest apologize for such a situation and for all
the inconveniences it might cause, but Haloscan is physically starting
to fail (the software and hardware).
--
Sincerely yours,
...
JS-Kit Team
(GMT +3)

I guess that means my comments will continue to appear here for a while, until they disappear, if or when they do ... nobody knows. If eventually my commenting window stops working, then I guess I'll have to migrate my stuff to another template ... I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Well, that's the blog update.

To be honest I feel a little bit like my blog right now. Things have been unraveling all around me and I am facing some tough personal decisions at the moment, which make it very difficult to concentrate on anything else, including writing blog posts.

Maybe it's time for a little blog vacation while I put out fires around me in the rest of my life.

I'll be back.

Tomate Farcie, living to fight another day.

Can anyone help ?

2010-02-16T17:20:00.001-08:00

OK, so I've decided to take Le Piou's advice and export my comments for now.

Only HaloScan won't even let me get that far!!

It claims that there are a 3 codes which prevent the export from taking place:

Line 121, Column 6: end tag for element "div" which is not open
(/div)✉ (I put parenthesis instead of the brackets so it shows)

The Validator found an end tag for the above element, but that element is not currently open. This is often caused by a leftover end tag from an element that was removed during editing, or by an implicitly closed element (if you have an error related to an element being used where it is not allowed, this is almost certainly the case). In the latter case this error will disappear as soon as you fix the original problem.

If this error occurred in a script section of your document, you should probably read this FAQ entry.

Line 121, Column 6: XML Parsing Error: Opening and ending tag mismatch: body line 18 and div
(/div)✉
Line 137, Column 7: XML Parsing Error: Opening and ending tag mismatch: html line 3 and body
(/body)

Is anybody savvy enough to tell me where on my template Line 121, Column 6 and Line 137, Column 7 are on that template?!! I just went through the whole template and didn't see anything suspicious. To be honest, after you go through a dozen lines of codes, your eyes start crossing...

The commenting section should keep working for a day or two, if not, my email is wide open :D

Haven't figured out yet what I need to do to revert back to Blogger's default commenting section, but I'm working on it, so don't panic, I'm not going anywhere just yet.

Thanks for any help.

Some News - Quelques Nouvelles

2010-02-11T16:18:00.001-08:00

Hello everybody, sorry to be so absent from the blog lately.

I have been using a BlackBerry mobile device to connect to the Internet lately and do not have access to all the features we all enjoy on a regular computer (not to mention the screen is minuscule). I still check out blogs, but I can't comment, right now, especially on blogs using captcha (the spam filter). Haven't yet found a way around it.

Meanwhile, I just wanted to warn you that I may lose all my comments on this blog pretty soon.

I have been using a service called "Haloscan" for a long time now, but Haloscan notified me that they are moving to another platform and I must either 1) go to a paying version if I want to keep my existing comments on the blog, or 2) export all my comments for safekeeping (but then what do I do with them?!!) or I will eventually lose them.

I suppose it would be OK to go to a paying version, but I'm not even sure what it does yet, other than it's more integrated with many social networks out there such as Facebook, Buzz, etc.

I've looked into it a little bit and I'm not really optimistic about being able to migrate all my comments back to Blogger, just yet, so if you see all the comments disappear for a while, that's what's going on.

I have a few days (until Feb. 18) before they pull the plug on me (they gave us a very short window to get it done), so don't be too surprised if you come back and there is no comments at all.

Grrrrrrrrrrr.... don't you just hate it when you think you've got something all worked out and then, they go and change everything on you and you gotta reinvent the wheel all over again?!!!

By the way, if anyone of you still uses Haloscan and has figured out how to successfully import the comments back into the Blogger default commenting system, or has a better solution, would you please let me know?

If the commenting system on this blog doesn't work for a while, you can always reach me by email (on my profile) or on Facebook.

I just don't know at this point what I'm going to do.

Apple's iPad Launch in San Francisco

2010-01-27T23:58:00.000-08:00

Hello everybody, hope you had a nice holiday season and a good start in the new year.

Since the whole world was holding its breath yesterday while Steve Jobs unveiled another Apple device several walking minutes away from here, I decided to come out of forced blog retirement (read "too much work and no play" ... or something like that) and go have a look around during my lunch hour.

The press conference was in a building at Yerba Buena Gardens, right across from the SFMOMA.

When I got there, the conference was just over and there were journalists everywhere outside, some typing away on their laptops, others reporting live in front of news trucks and complicated camera equipment.

Something about the body language of the people gathered in front of the building told me there might still be something going on inside. People seemed to be clearly waiting for something, or someone, so I decided to stick around, and wait with them.

Sure enough, minutes later, Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple) came out!

At first, I almost didn't recognize him for a couple of seconds because he looks just like any other IT guy (except older) dressed casually with worn jeans and a hoodie, looking very unassuming. But of course, when the journalists all moved towards him and the security people started to clear a path in front of him, there was no doubt.

Apple released yesterday what they call an "iPad," a device that looks like a big iPod Touch and does basically the same thing, only bigger.

Great looking device, although a bit limited in what it does, and if you want my opinion, not the best choice of name.

I guess I'm not the only one who thinks the name is a bit ..ahem.. how shall I put it? Kind of a faux pas. The Web quickly responded to the name. Someone on Twitter posted "The Mini-pad will cost $499, and the Maxi-pad will cost $699." *cough* *cough* And some smarty-pant almost immediately circulated a crude, though hilarious, Mad TV video (Warning, the video may be offensive to some of you).

If you are considering getting an iPad, be sure to check out some of the initial reviews and feedback first, before you spend your hard-earned money.

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T23:59:00.000-08:00

Almost there... Here we are, the ball's almost dropped in Time Square.

10, 9, 8 ...

I for one am not entirely sad to see this decade come to an end. Let's hope for better things to come in the future.

7, 6, 4 ..

By the way, if you started the year like these people (above photo), you might want to check this article for a few tips on how to cure a hangover. :D

4, 3, 2 ...

Happy New Year to all of you!

Happy Holidays from ...

2009-12-27T20:36:00.001-08:00

First, let me wish all of you a very happy holiday season, whether you celebrate Christmas, Hannukah, or just winter solstice.

Wherever you are, I sure hope you're enjoying these last few days as the year 2009 winds down.

I've been scratching my head wondering what could I possibly show you guys that I haven't already shown you before during this holiday season in San Francisco.

You've already seen the skating rinks (both of them)
You've already seen the puppies at Macy's and the Giant cuckoo clock.
You've already seen the giant balls and the building decorations
You've already seen the giant Christmas tree at Union Square...

And then, the other day, I walked up to this ...

Christmas Palm Trees, San Francisco 2009

... and thought this might just make the perfect virtual card for you all!

Speaking of virtual cards, you'll never guess in a million years who sent me one?

Click here to see

Enjoy! :)

Meet my friend from out-of-town!

2009-12-10T23:16:00.001-08:00

Are you ready?

...ready?

...are you sure?

Here goes ....

...

(groan)

OK

drum roll...

^ This (above) is my out-of-town visiting buddy.

Right about you know, you're probably wondering if I completely lost it.

I wonder the same thing myself from time to time ;) but in this case, there is an explanation!

This (above) is a my traveling panda buddy from an online forum I belong to. We mail him from one forum member to the next, show him a good time for a couple of weeks, take pictures of him while he's visiting, and post them up in the forum for the enjoyment of all members.

Of course, each person has their own idea of what the panda wants to do and see, and so the pictures are highly personalized and can reflect a variety of things.

Myself, I did what I always do whenever someone from out of town shows up: I showed him around town, walked everywhere with him, even took him to the restaurant one night, and for a drive out to Marin County.

To be honest, that panda has seen in a couple of weeks more of the sights of San Francisco than I have in the last 20 years! I literally took him *everywhere* a tourist wants to go including to places I had never taken the time to visit before, even though I live here!!

Yes, he got the VIP treatment and then some, but it made me happy to play the game, and believe it or not, when it was time to mail him to the next guy, my stomach kind of sunk when I put him in his box and walked to the post office...

But now I have close to 500 pics of that panda posing in front of various San Francisco landmarks in my hard drive ... I really hope you like pics of traveling pandas because I might just show you a few ;)

Here is one to start with.

Here, Panda looks at the Golden Gate Bridge from [Horseshoe Bay?] in Marin County.

I know what he's thinking. He's thinking "Wouldn't it be fun to climb up on that suspended bridge and look at the City skyline from up there?"

More to come.

White Christmas in the San Francisco Bay Area?

2009-12-08T12:33:00.001-08:00

(Updated 12/10/09 : scroll down)

"A snow covered hillside is seen on Mt. Hamilton in San Jose Monday. A rare dusting of snow has fallen over the hills east of San Francisco Bay and in the Central Valley as residents brace for freezing temperatures this week." Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP

Yes, you read the title right. Monday morning, the Bay Area woke up to snow, frost and black ice.

There is still some snow up in the hills (Oakland, Berkeley, Mt. Diablo, San Jose) and it's mighty cold outside (by San Francisco standards) so you all be real careful out there on the roads, especially those of you who like to drive up to Mt. Tam :)

All I could manage to photograph was the little bit of snow still on top of the Oakland Hills, seen between 2 buildings from the Financial District of SF and I'm not sure what kind of shot I'll get with my point-and-shoot, so in the meantime, I "borrowed" these photographs above from the San Francisco Chronicle this morning.

"Snow covers the hills on Highway 24 at Interstate 680 looking toward Walnut Creek on Monday."Photo: Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle

More photos here and the complete article here (yes, when it snows around here, it makes the front page of the paper ;) )

I'll update later tonight with my own shots if they come out reasonably OK.

PS. I'm real glad you want to meet my little buddy from out of town because I took close to 500 pictures during his visit to SF, so prepare yourself to seeing a lot of him on the pics in the near future ! ;)

Thank you all for the visits and comments.

Updated 12/10/09: Here you go, snow between buildings in the FD of SF.

San Francisco Holidays

2009-11-29T22:27:00.000-08:00

Before leaving the City for the Thanksgiving holiday, I noticed that San Francisco was undergoing its annual transformation in preparation for Christmas.

I almost can't wait to see everything all decorated again.

By the way, would you like to meet my out-of-town visitor?

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

2009-11-26T12:09:00.001-08:00

How to cook a turkey:

Step 1: Go buy a turkey
Step 2: Take a drink of whiskey, scotch, or JD
Step 3: Put turkey in the oven
Step 4: Take another 2 drinks of whiskey
Step 5: Set the degree at 375 ovens
Step 6: Take 3 more whiskeys of drink
Step 7: Turn oven the on
Step 8: Take 4 whisks of drinky
Step 9: Turk the bastey
Step 10: Whiskey another bottle of get
Step 11: Stick a turkey in the thermometer
Step 12: Glass yourself a pour of whiskey
Step 13: Bake the whiskey for 4 hours
Step 14: Take the oven out of the turkey
Step 15: Take the oven out of the turkey
Step 16: Floor the turkey up off the pick
Step 17: Turk the carvey
Step 18: Get yourself another scottle of botch
Step 19: Tet the sable and pour yourself a glass of turkey
Step 20: Bless the saying, pass and eat out

Not a new joke, I'm afraid, but a traditional one for sure.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my blogger friends and be careful out there on the road.

Coming down the hill

2009-11-16T00:57:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry I've been away from the blogs for a while. It's been very hard to find the time to do blog posts and visit blogs lately because I've been spending (almost) all my free time showing a visitor from out-of-town around my beloved City by the Bay.

On the plus side, though, this has given me the opportunity to walk around the City and stock up on new photos, which will end up on the blog eventually. ;)

This was us barreling down California Street in a Cable Car, the day we met up with Mme. Benault and Katiefornia.

Would you like a better look at the Cable Car? or the visitor, maybe? a little of both? I'm sure this could be arranged. ;)

Here is the cable car (not my best shot I know, but it's a cable car)

and here is the hill... you do the math!

Aerial photographer Robert Cameron dies

2009-11-12T16:35:00.000-08:00

When I saw the headline "Aerial photographer Robert Cameron dies" this morning on the first page of the Chronicle, I couldn't resist reposting this picture to share it with you guys.

I bought Robert Cameron "Above San Francisco" book once for myself a long time ago, really loved all the pictures inside and ended up buying a few more over the years to give to people in France as San Francisco souvenirs.

Mr. Cameron was 98 years old and still taking pictures of our beloved city from a helicopter.

More breathtaking aerial photos of San Francisco here

Halloween in my neighborhood

2009-11-01T21:24:00.001-08:00

While some of the local bloggers decided to get together and do a Halloween photoshoot in the City, I elected to stay home instead and go to bed early so I could be in shape for my annual garage sale.

But when I woke up very early the following day, although the neighborhood was still completely fogged in, still asleep, I noticed that the spiders had been having a Halloween party of their own...

Can you see the little drops of water on the spider web below the no parking sign? (click to enlarge pictures)

Meanwhile, in the Castro ...

What did you all do for Halloween? Did you dress up and go out? Stay home and wait for the neighborhood kids? Or ... How many of you turned the lights off and pretended not to be home? ;)