october 18, 2008

saturday morning started out with a run around town as put forth by my own goal for the year.  although my run distance and time was rather pathetic (i blame the beverages from the day before), it always feel good to start a day with some exercise and fresh air.  being the camera person i am, i wanted to capture some of the views i get running through the city.  it was a HUGE inconvenience, and i shall never carry my camera next time i go running.  i did however, get some good shots.

(pretty little marina district)

(a sign of a steep hill in sf is if it has stairs.  no matter where i run, i’ll always face a hill in sf.  at first these hills were the death of me, but i’m beginning to embrace them.  they give the running course some character, and challenge.  i think it also gives a boost to the workout.)

(a big hill has its rewards)

(muni tracks)

next came the red bull soap box race at dolores hill where amateurs race down a huge hill competing for speed and creativity.   i knew from the hundreds of adds around town that this event would be a big deal, but i would’ve never imagined it to be THIS big.

the weather was sunny and hot, the location was chaotic but awesome, the contestants were creative and fun, the crowd was drunk/high but very into the race… i don’t know what else to say, the event was awesome and i must give big props to red bull for being a genius marketing machine (i still think red bull = bachas, except red bull marketing >>>>> bachas marketing) .  the website says over 100,000 people went through the race site where we all saw the red bull logo in just about any direction.  what made the event awesome was that it was really a win-win situation for both red bull and fellow sf-ans who got to enjoy a sweet show.  and to think that i almost skipped the event to watch the michigan vs. penn state game… not cool.

(last time i saw this big of a crowd must’ve been a michigan football game)

(again… lots of people)

(a place to sit… some shade… smart)

(more track, more crowd, more red bull logos)

(probably my favorite car… the hamster wheel!)

(my second place finisher, the barry bond baseball)

(my third place finisher, the frying pan with egg and bacon)

(the track where 35 or 38 cars flew down)

(red bull girls were handing out free red bull as some might have expected.  i didn’t get any, bummer)

since will lives super close to the park, we headed over to his place after the race was over.  i was hungry and will suggested an awesome sandwich place near his apt called ike’s place.  ’wow, good sandwich’.  i would go as far to say that this is the best sandwich i’ve had in sf, and there are a lot of good sandwich places in sf.  it had the ingredients for success: it was fresh, not too greasy, not too big or small, not too salty or sweet, and it was delicious.   it’s nearly impossible to get 4.5/5 stars on yelp with anything over 100 reviews from the mere fact that different people have different tastes.  i’ve seen just a handful of places that have achieved this feat, and ike’s place is one of them.  it has 4.5 stars with over 400 reviews, and now i can see why.  it’s because the staff is friendly, and their sandwiches are freaking awesome.

the night concluded with irwin’s house warming party with many michigan alums.  it reminded me a lot of the parties in ann arbor during my undergrad years because 1. it was irwin’s party and 2. i think i was one of the youngest there.  but the differences was clear… the apt was clean, it had a great view of the bay bridge, milwaukee lights were replaced with heinekens, and patrons replaced popov… but the people stayed the same in their awesome ways and it was a lot of fun to hang out with these guys again.