Season Two, Episode Seven: The Tales of Black Friday Shopping

What would possess someone to wake up in the crack of dawn or to camp out outside a brick and mortar store? It's the prospect of getting a "great" deal, or getting that elusive and must-have "IT" toy. That's the allure of Black Friday, one of the biggest shopping days of the year. I saw a news story on TV during Thanksgiving dinner of some people camping out at Best Buy a DAY before Thanksgiving!

I used to be one of them. Two years ago, a couple of my friends and I did the whole camping-out-at-Best-Buy thing for Black Friday. During Thanksgiving dinner, we were casually talking about the sales and the big savings that we would get, and joked around that we should camp out at Best Buy to get in line for the doorbusters; that year, they had a few good items for sale, and I had my eyes on the $350 desktop package (desktop+lcd monitor+ printer), a $300 laptop for my sister and the $99 camera w/ a 4x6 digital photo frame, final exams be damned.

We got there around 11pm, and already the line at the Best Buy in Harrison St was around the building. We were determined to get our deals, and so there we were, flashcards in tow, studying for our CP final, freezing; we took turns in taking naps, though the naps were very short-lived. Thank God it didn't rain that year, or it would've been a disaster (apparently it was misty this past Black Friday).

Around 4am, they started passing out "tickets" for the big-ticket items and for the doorbuster deals. Alas, all of that waiting, and we didn't get the ticket for the laptop; we did get the tickets for the camera and the desktop package, and for the $99 TomTom GPS.

It seemed like forever, but mercifully, the store finally opened at 5am. Calling it mayhem is a severe understatement. Finding the things that we wanted to buy, trying to get the Best Buy associate's attention and waiting in line to pay were all an "invigorating" experience, to put it nicely.

This year, coming to my senses, I did my "Black Friday" shopping while wearing pjs at the comfort of my own bed; no need for getting tickets, bumrushing the electronics section, waiting in a colossal line to pay or lying awake in the cold pavement, trying to keep warm. From Walmart, I got a PS3 bundle (PS3 120gb Slim, 2 PS3 games (Batman and inFAMOUS), Batman Begins Blu-Ray movie, and a Blu-ray remote control) for $358, including tax and shipping; factor in the Bing Cashback, the price is whittled down to ~ $310. I also bought the Beatles Rock Band Limited Edition deluxe (regular price $249) from Dell, for $199+tax with free shipping ($218.40), and with the Bing Cashback, it became ~$178. Also from Dell, I bought the Ooma Scout (a VOIP service that allows for free calls using your internet connection) for $229+tax+free shipping, and with the Bing Cashback, it came out to about $205. From Ebay, I bought two PS3 wireless controllers for $20+$6 shipping - 10% Bing Cashback, for a total of $24!

So you ask, what's this Bing Cashback that I've been talking about? Bing is Microsoft's web search engine, or as they describe it, a "decision engine", and allows users to search for products and get pricing information from multiple vendors. Bing has partnerships from venerable brick and mortar merchants like Dell, HP, Walmart, Macy's, Sears, and Home Depot as well as online stores such as Buy.com, Overstock.com, and Tigerdirect.com, and the cashback bonus varies from 2-10%; this past Thanksgiving holiday, Bing had a promotion, entitled "Bing Gold Rush" that increased their cashback bonus; AT&T and T-Mobile's cashback bonus was at 35%, while Lenovo, Dell, and HP's cashback bonus was at 20%. That's some serious discount, folks!

I realized that while Black Friday still offers a great discount, it's just not worth all that extra time and effort braving the elements while waiting in line for hours for a store to open. Now, with the advent of Bing Cashback, buying stuff online during Black Friday through Cyber Monday just got a LOT cheaper!

Season Two, Episode Six: Yes, I’ll have an order of that plate of BS

Jed Wolpaw of the LoveDub fame has got to be one of the best column writers that have graced the pages of the Synapse through the years; it's one of the first things that I read when I proofread copies every Tuesday. His last week's column, entitled "As Advertised", is chockfull of his trademark East-Coast-like humor. However, I took a particular "disliking" to his assertion that "we dress, shave, and perfume ourselves up for one main reason (to attract a mate). Maybe it hit a little closer to home, or that I felt that I was being called out. But for me, I like looking good for the sake of looking good.

Just to make sure that I'm not completely off-base, I asked around my friends to try and get a bigger perspective and to make sure that 1) I'm not completely crazy and 2) I am not alone in this thinking.

I usually go out with a group of friends when I go out, and the LAST thing that I'm thinking about is trying to pick someone up. Maybe it's the superficiality of it all, or maybe the dim lighting + the state of inebriation does not make for a good combination, but I just don't think that we are putting our best foot forward when we're out and about at clubs and bars, at least in terms of finding a mate; a mate for the night, on the other hand, now that's a different subject.

There's a certain truth to the saying "you are what you wear". Like it or not, the way that we dress plays a role in how other people perceive us and plays a pivotal role in the formation of first impressions. And the way that we dress is "dictated" by the environment that we are presented with. For instance, I would dress differently if I were going to a charity ball versus if I were to play ball.
When people complement me for what I'm wearing, it makes me feel good. Whenever I have exams, I try to dress up. My self-confidence goes up; I can do anything. Even if I didn't do so hot on the midterm, at least I looked good doing it.

I actually like going shopping by myself. It's one of those solitary moments that I treasure. When I go shopping for clothes, there's three things that I consider; 1) the price, 2) if it looks good on me (good fit, good color, etc), and 3) if it matches with clothes that I already do own. The "This-shirt-should-bring-all-the-boys-to-the-yard" phrase is not part of my vernacular, nor does it influence my shopping decisions.

How about them not so-single ladies and gentlemen? Does the extra effort to get ready, to look nice, a sign of possible mischievous concoction? Does the fact that you have a significant other preclude you from attempting to look your best, especially when you go out with your friends on a night out?

Now, I'm not saying that he's completely incorrect; I'm sure that there are people that do put the extra effort for the purposes of attracting potential mates. Of course, when you have found that potential mate, it is well within reason to put in the extra effort to look your best. I just think that this dilemma is more of the "chicken-or-egg" variety.

I still heart you Jed, aka LoveDub guy, but apparently not as much as I heart myself.

 

Season Two, Episode Five: West Fest Provides Only a Faint Echo of Woodstock

One of the many things that I love about San Francisco are the outdoor festivals that seem to be going on throughout the year. This past weekend, hundreds of San Francisco stars and musical luminaries performed at Speedway Meadows for West Fest, commemorating the 40th anniversary of Woodstock Festival.

I was volunteering for the health fair that was being held at the concert site in the morning, and I didn't think that I was going to miss out on much, figuring that the bigger events will be going on later on during the day. The two things that I was looking forward to seeing was the tribute to Jimi Hendrix, who headlined the festival in 1969 (3,000 guitar players were going to try to break the World's Record for the Largest Guitar Ensemble playing "Purple Haze"), and Ray Manzanek from the Doors; unfortunately, both went on stage while I was volunteering for the health fair.

Serves me right for not looking up the lineup online.

I did get to hear Native American folk/rock artist Jeremy Goodfeather, who's apparently up for a Grammy for Best New Folk Artist. I'm a sucker for acoustic sounds, and he had that rock-star-soothing voice. I also got to listen to some sick afro-beats while I was dancing with a hoop. At first, I couldn't do it for longer than a few seconds, but I got the hang of it as the song wore on.

The weather cooperated quite beautifully with the event. It's the classic San Francisco October, our own version of the summer. While testing people's blood glucose levels, I felt that my face was burning up because our tent was exposed to the always-welcomed presence of the sun.

I also got a chance to look around the festival to see what was going on. One of the more curiously interesting displays they had was a replica of the "Love Bus", complete with a complementary oatmeal raisin cookie! I overheard a conversation with the "Love Bus" owner and one of the inquisitive festival-goer, and it seemed that the "Love Bus" owner had a little bit too much of the "60's experience" to be cognitively coherent. There were a variety of booths catering to the "hippie" crowd: legalize marijuana petition, henna painting, hemp products and the like. There were also some entrepreneurial people selling their home-made brownies, hemp clothing and accessories and drug paraphernalia. There was also a banana-costumed man passing out Jamba Juice coupons, and a tin-man posing for photos with whoever was interested.

For part of the health fair, I had a box of condoms, and I was handing them out to fellow festival goers. If I have to do a hair sample drug test, I'm almost positive that I'll fail due to the immense second hand exposure that I've managed to accrue while I was walking around.

Which got me thinking, to what extent does this festival reflect on the original spirit of Woodstock? How relevant is this festival today? As it is now, the '60s were turbulent times; Woodstock was that pivotal moment of realization not just for that generation but for the country as a whole. Artists were empowered to make a difference and spread that message through the masses through their music. Have we gotten too complacent in the world that we currently live in? As I watched over the crowd as the performers spat out their generic message of love and peace, I saw glazed looks. Yes, I think that festivals like West Fest are great in bringing like-minded people together but I'm not sure the result is what I expected. It's probably too much to ask that the Woodstock spirit be re-captured, even with 3,000 guitars on hand, channeling Jimi Hendrix.

Season Two, Episode Four: “Single in the City” Invades San Antonio!

 

The Academy of Manage Care Pharmacy's Educational Conference was at San Antonio this past week. I was excited and scared at the same time; excited because of the conference, excited and scared because it's in San Antonio. I didn't really know what to expect, though the one thing that I did know beforehand was that it's quite humid and hot.

Sure enough, right when I got off the airplane, the humid 85-degree weather greeted me (my flight got in from LA a few minutes before MIDNIGHT); it reminded me a lot of the Philippines. I thought, "Oh, no! If it's going to be like this, I'm going to melt." The very next day provided no relief. Our hotel was about a half-mile distance away from the Convention Center, and we elected to walk to the conference. The walk itself wasn't that bad; it allowed us to enjoy the San Antonio Riverwalk scenery. We walked past the Alamo and strolled past quaint store fronts and interesting museums (Texas Ranger Hall of Museum being one of them).

One thing that is amusingly admirable about San Antonio and Texas in general, is their unabashed self-love for their state; that and their propensity to make everything BIG. Everywhere, I saw manifestations of Texas in every manner; Texan flags adorn light posts, we were even served Texas-shaped chocolate covered cookies for crying out loud!

The conference itself was quite exciting. I've been to other pharmacy-related conferences before, so I had some preconceived notions on how things were going to run. The AMCP conference, in a nutshell, was anything unlike the other conferences that I've been to. They actually have coffee and tea services every morning; they serve lunch and have afternoon beverage services. Most importantly, their sessions were quite informative and relevant to me and what I want to do; the overarching theme was the impending healthcare reform. The residency showcase actually made me contemplate about completing a residency program; before this conference, I was about 0.001% wanting to do a residency period; now that's about 51%.

After the conference, after dilly-dallying about where we wanted to go for dinner, we ended up choosing to go to Rudy's, a well-known Texan Barbeque restaurant chain. With the help (?) GoogleMaps, we were able to get directions to find this elusive restaurant, and so off we drive. We drove for what felt like eternity, only to come up empty handed! The directions were a bit confusing, and we tried to call the restaurant (from the number that we got from Google), and all three numbers were not picking up. We just ended up going to the County Line, which was two blocks away from our hotel.

Afterwards, our small UCSF contingent met up with other conference goers at Pat O Brien's. From the outside, it was unassuming enough; I didn't know what to expect. It looked pretty small from the outside; after paying our $5 cover, I was quite surprised by the size of the place. There were a few rooms, offering different vibes; there's a piano bar, an outdoor patio playing blues/country, and upstairs was a dance floor playing hip-hop music. Who knew that Texas caters to all tastes?

Will I come back to San Antonio? Perhaps, but I can definitely live without the humidity, so I'll probably visit again in the winter if I ever go.

Season Two, Episode Three: Staycation in the City

Now, as you're probably perusing the pages of Synapse, you'll see pictures of people's vacation this past summer. A few of my friends went all over the place; some of them went to Asia (Thailand was a very popular destination among my friends this past summer), while others wandered through Europe (jealous!) and South America (double jealous!!). I didn't have such luck. I had similar intentions (I was planning a last-minute South American excursion: Bogota, Inca Trail, Mendoza, Buenos Aires, Iguazu Falls, and Rio), but since this whole condo thing worked out, I placed my vacation plans on hold for a bit.

At first, I was a bit bummed; ever since my semester abroad at Paris, I've been bitten by the travel bug. My mom tells me that since I have a mole in my left foot, it means that I love going places and that I can't stay in one place for too long (She also tells me that my mole near my mouth means that I like talking, so maybe there's some credence in her old wives' tales). It gave me a chance to get to know the city that I call home a bit more. There's a lot more to San Francisco than the areas tourists frequent.

This past summer, I was a bit of a nomad. For a while, I was crashing at my friends' place all over the city. One of my friends that I stayed with (Kat) lives in the Presidio, a few steps from Baker Beach (yes, THAT beach…). I've visited her a few times in her place before, but I've never spent an appreciable amount of time there. It's definitely a different side of San Francisco. The difference is strikingly obvious and actually, at times, it felt like I was worlds away; nary a bumbling bum in sight, no syringes in the pavement. It was a very peaceful place to call home, away from the hustle and bustle of the city, but yet not too far away from civilization; there's a bus that infrequently services Presidio and its surrounding areas, but it's best to have a car when you're up there. It's a very outdoorsy kind of place, and the people that live here reflect that; I saw a bunch of Campershells and bike-racks on people's vehicles.

This is when I met Jonathan and Vannida, a twenty-something couple that lives above Kat and her boyfriend Mark. One night, after a long day at work, Kat and I decided to make drinks to wind down. As I was looking around her cupboard and her fridge, I noticed that we were a bit short on mixers (we had the alcohol part covered), and the bottles of tonic water that she had were flat, so I went around her neighbors to ask for some juice or tonic water. Jonathan and Vannida had just moved in a few weeks prior, and Kat hasn't formally met them. Just like Kat and I, Jonathan and Vannida are SoCal transplants, and right away, we were chatting away as if we've known each other for years. Vannida just graduated as a Business major from Humboldt State and Jonathan is an avid surfer, and he's gone all over the world pursuing his exhilarating but increasingly expensive hobby; last March, he was assigned to work in Bali for a few weeks (he work as an environmental engineer) and ended up staying a few months to surf. When I told him that I've lived in San Diego for almost eight years, and I can count on one hand how many times I've surfed, he was flabbergasted and offered to take me surfing whenever I want; he had tons of boards from me to choose from, all I had to do is get a wet suit (and yes, I definitely would be needing one, knowing how frigid the waters here are). I've yet to take him up on his offer, but when I do get some free time (I wonder when that would be), I'll get right on that.

Afterwards, I lived in a sublet apartment a block away from 24^th and Mission for a little bit. The Mission is one of those places that induce strong feelings in either direction; you either absolutely love it or loathe it. You can count me on the love side, that's for sure. Whenever I have friends or CouchSurfers visiting, I always show them around here. When I think of the quintessential San Francisco, one of the images that come in my head is an afternoon spent in the Mission. If I were artistically-inclined, the Mission is that kind of place that would inspire me to paint or write songs. What does it for me is the cultural vibrancy that is a hallmark of the Mission district. I loved meandering down Mission Street, perusing through the different shops, and eating street food.

My Sundays were leisurely spent taking in what the Mission offers the best: food! I must've gained 10 pounds living in the Mission for a month, but my tummy was quite happy! There are so much different kinds of cuisine to satisfy discerning palates. A few of my favorite restaurants in the city are actually found in the Mission: Foreign Cinema (French Brunch place), Red Café (Mexican Diner), Dosa (Indian), and El Farolito (Mexican). I actually had some Chinese food and it wasn't half bad!

Next post, Single in the City goes to San Antonio! My fierce cowboy boots will fit right in!

Season Two, Episode Two: Alice in Leather – Sights and Sounds of Folsom Street Fair and Alice 97.3’s Now and Zen concert at Golden Gate Park

Where else can you enjoy an incredibly toasty afternoon drinking Jamba Juice while perusing through an assortment of leather cuffs and then afterwards heading over to a top-40 concert? Only in San Francisco. Reason #3915 of why I love San Francisco: there's a variety of things to do, catering to a wide range of interests and predilections. Case-in-point: My fun-filled weekend.

Right off the bat, things got interesting at the Folsom Street Fair. As we were walking in, one of my totally straight friends (who, like me, is a Folsom Street Fair virgin) got a cupful and overly-friendly greeting from the doorman. I guess that was a preview of what was to come.

It was tamer than I thought it was going to be, but some of the imageries were not for the faint-hearted. You had your garden variety of leather-clad citizens milling about, their choice of beverage on hand. Some were wearing weather-appropriate amount of leather while others had full-body leather suits. It was swelteringly hot that day, and I could've only imagined how much hotter those people felt with the leather on. There were a few "display" booths, and the first one that we stumbled upon was quite "captivating", to say the least. It was a pay-for-an-S&M-experience booth offering bondage, spanking, mild strangulation and the like, with a la carte pricing ranging from $5-$25. Further along was a freakishly life-like sex doll exhibit booth offering assorted models; for $6000 + shipping, they could be yours! There was also a game of half-naked Twister sponsored by Steamworks.

Titanmen, a gay adult film company, also had a booth and they were giving away calendars featuring their film actors. At first, I wasn't sure what the commotion was all about; I saw a Jeep in the tent, so I figured it was a drawing of some sort. I ended up getting an autographed calendar from JR Matthews, a Titanmen exclusive actor. I'm not familiar with him or his work, but he seemed to be a pleasant young man.

Like other street fairs in San Francisco, there were live music and a dance stage. My favorite image of Folsom was of this dancer performing in a cage hoisted up by a crane next to a church! Talk about sacrilegious! I was half-expecting the ground to part and swallow all the debauchery that is defiling the face of the earth.

After the Folsom Street Fair, I met up with my friends at Golden Gate Park for Alice 97.3's Now and Zen concert. Talk about a change in venue. My friend who went with me to Folsom saw a runner running without a shirt on, and she was half-expecting him to have been naked.

As we were circling the parking lot, my friend was texting our other friend to tell them that we were just looking for parking (which took what seemed forever). She told us that the last act, Train, was about to perform. At first, I was a bit disappointed because I missed Dashboard, but apparently, they only performed 3 songs. Coming into the show, they were the only ones that I've heard of, aside from Colbie Caillat who was apparently really awesome too!

I had no idea who Train was in the beginning; apparently they're from the Bay Area. But song after song, I found myself singing along to some of their songs (Drops of Jupiter, Calling All the Angels, When I Look to the Sky, Ordinary). Patrick Monahan, the lead singer from Train, was really good live, plus he's quite entertaining to boot. At one time during the concert, he actually went into the crowd and took a few pictures with the crowd.

It was a really nice day at Golden Gate Park to enjoy good music and excellent company. Next week is Lovefest, which is going to knock my socks off! I'm hoping for similar weather next weekend, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Season Two, Episode One: Escrow in the City

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Last season, on Single in the City…

A lot of things happened last season. You learned all about my travels around the world last winter, about my experiences about doing things on my own (going to a wedding, eating at a restaurant, rowing at Stow Lake), and 25+1 neat facts about myself. And for the record, I'm still single, and NOT ENGAGED. I still had people come up to me congratulating me for being engaged.

For a play-by-play, feel free to read my earlier entries in this blog.

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What a summer indeed. In an otherwise work-dominated summer, one major life event happened to me. No, I didn't get married, unlike what some people who thought I was still engaged to the Italian hottie would think. I'm in escrow for a condo in the city!

And it almost never happened. In total, I must've had submitted over 10 offers to different properties before my offer was accepted. Sufficed to say, it was a very frustrating process. All but two flat out rejected my offer, due to other significantly higher bids from other buyers. I was the backup offer for the other offer I submitted that didn't get rejected, but that didn't work out either.

I had set myself a deadline. If there was nothing in the works by the end of August, I told myself that it wasn't meant to be. At the same time, I didn't want to settle either; I wasn't going to buy a place for the sake of buying a place. I wanted to be happy about the location, and it had to make sense financially for me. There were properties that I saw within my price range that I probably could've gotten earlier, but something just didn't feel quite right. There were a few condos in Oceanview that were really affordable, and I actually liked the units themselves, it's just too darn far. There was this other 3 bedroom/2bath in Bayview Heights that was in pristine condition, with upgraded kitchen and a deck that was cheap, but again, location played a factor. I already have issues making it to school when I lived in Mission Bay; I don't think a 50-minute bus ride to school every day would help the cause. I was about ready to give up and pursue the other alternative: an impromptu month-long South American adventure. I actually already started looking at flights and almost pulled the trigger.

Then about mid-August, this less-than-300-square-foot "1-bedroom" condo unit in North of Panhandle (NOPA) was listed for $209,900. I've been to the building before; I went to an open house on another unit that was also for sale a couple months ago. I say "1-bedroom" because technically it is, with walls and a door separating the kitchen area from the living area, but the kitchen area is best described as a "1-person" kitchen. When I first saw the listing, I was a little apprehensive, because it's quite small, square-footage-wise, but I wanted to see the place for myself. After all, places in this city are notoriously small.

When I saw the place, I liked it immediately. For starters, it's in a great location: a block away from Alamo Square (I finally get to live near a tennis court! Playing on a regular basis is another story.), it's off of Divisadero and Hayes. Lots of restaurants and cafés in the area. Plus, four blocks down is Lower Haight, a bus ride up and down the hill I can get to the Castro, a bus ride up (as in all the way up) Divisadero is the Presidio, and school's about a 15 minute flat-surface bike ride! Plus, the 101 (yes I did say THE 101 and not 101, thereby showing my SoCal roots), is not too far off of Octavia, so that's another brownie point. Divisadero Street being a main thoroughfare, I feel like I can walk around my hood at night and feel safe, and at the same time, since my unit faces away from the street, I don't get the congestion noise. And there's a farmer's market a block away on Sundays!

Inside, it felt a lot bigger than the county-recorded square footage. Ten-foot vaulted ceilings certainly help the cause (one of my definite pluses about this place). Another must-have for me are hardwood floors. I never got the SoCal fascination with carpet; it gets dirty easily, and it traps dirt and other yucky stuff. This place definitely had hardwood floors, in espresso color. Bathroom is proportionately sized; enough room to mill around, but not necessarily enough to do Pilates or anything like that. I have tall windows too, which is always nice. Other good things about this condo: rooftop access (did anyone say rooftop barbeque for my housewarming?), laundry room (don't have to lug my dirty laundry to a laundrymat), and a garden area (thinking about planting my own veggies!).

Financially, it made sense for me, because my monthly mortgage payment, with HOA fees, taxes and insurance, comes out to about $1400. Well, some might scoff at that number, but considering I was paying $1000 a month for rent, this doesn't sound too ridiculous. The added benefit of property tax and mortgage interest write offs and the $8000 refund from the government helps out quite a bit with the difference. Plus, my agent is giving me a rebate from his commission. Ultimately, what made it a great deal for me is the added 3.5% (of the purchase price) credit from the seller towards closing costs. So, I only have to come up with enough money for my down payment (3.5% of the purchase price) and the transfer tax (about $2000). From working like crazy this summer, plus what I had saved up last summer and the parental contribution, I had enough to cover all the costs.

So now, I'm in escrow, and my agent says that if everything goes as plan, I should be receiving my keys by mid-October (fingers-crossed), but I'm probably not going to move in until beginning of November (I was thinking of painting my walls, and doing some minor HGTV-inspired renovations before moving in). Anyone up for helping me paint?