Life of Bryan

Yippee! Hard on the heels of a cold and hangover-producing Halloween night, Bryan R took the redeye into the City from Boston. Bryan's here preparing for MacWorld and had meetings Sunday and Monday. He crashed on the couch in his Union Square hotel suite and let me slowly recover. It was a cold day in San Francisco with the rain pouring down. It very much matched conditions in my head.

A couple of hours later I picked up Bryan from the Prescott. Seeing him was so strange as I had forgotten how much I miss him. Having him in town for a couple of days was learning I was absent something I've really been needing. Perfect for our moods and the weather, I took Bryan to his favorite San Francisco eatery: Mel's Diner.


It's funny though, I don't think I have been to Mel's more than once, ever, without Bryan. I really think of as his place. And as for comfort food, there was nothing more comforting than Bryan's company and a classic turkey dinner.

After lunch, Bryan wanted to tour his old neighborhood so we drove out to the Cliff House area, and then down to Ocean Beach. The rainstorm continued unabated, and the surf and swells on the beach were immense and intimidating. We got out of the car and just hung out for a while, just standing, and in his case smoking, occasionally commenting but largely just standing together, in the rain, perched above the sand, watching the sea in the storm.

A perfect lazy Saturday with an old friend. Made only better by stopping into one of his favorite neighborhood dives: Trad'r Sam's.

Trad'r Sam's is made of the awesome. It's a relic of a tiki bar held together with string, extension cords, and hope. I love the atmosphere, attitude, bartender, and beverages, and it might be my new favorite place in the City.

In the spirit, we would only order drinks that came with umbrellas. We started with Vodka Slings,

and ended with Mai Tais.

It was exhausting, but we rallied for dinner with Paul Day--who spent his day working hard to defeat Prop 8, and a Castro crawl where we were joined by the Shilpa. We started at Moby Dick's and finished much, much later at Badlands.

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(Is it just me or are my friends hot?)

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Badlands was a bit too crowded but we managed to get some dancing in.

And some special shouts to some special people:

Larry, who has recently started coming to Sundance, and his friend Sherry whom he hosted on her escape from husband and suburbia for a Saturday night.

And last but certainly not least: the ever charming Wil Fabrick whom, even though we're been all FaceBook with one another, I hadn't seen since we met at ACT.

Happy birthday Wil!