for the last few weeks, i have been driving on bald tires. not just worn down and in need of replacement. bald. no tread. the kind of tires that spin out on dry payment at slow speeds. every day i've commuted to work has stressed me out. i've been worried about blow-outs, lack of braking power, slides, and anything else bad that can happen when you have very little traction.

today, however, is a new day with newwwwww tires! brand new. installed yesterday. Dunlop SP Sport 5000s. four of 'em. happy happy, joy joy.

the drive to work was decidedly more fun. those things stick to the road. having gotten use to my slippery bald tires, i had to adjust my driving to compensate for the stickiness. they're on rails. or at least they feel like they're on rails in comparison. the ride is also smoother and quieter. who knew that just that much rubber and steel could bring a boy so much joy.

now, the reason i waited so long to replace my aging treads was that i was hoping my cousin would give me the old 16-inch rims off of his GTI GLX. but in order to ask him, i had to get around to buying his wife her Christmas present. yes, i said Christmas. i'm a slacker. i've had a present in mind all along. i know where to get it. but i'm slacker. and i certainly can't ask my cousin for his rims when i owe his wife a gift. that just ain't right. so i procrastinated on the whole affair until i finally decided the tires needed to be replaced, and now, before i killed myself in fiery crash. i'd just have to suck it up with my 15-inchers and be just a little less bling, bling.

my tire buying experience was quite nice. i opted for an online retailer: The Tire Rack. we love the Tire Rack. the Tire Rack is good. first of all, their site is rife with information and makes picking out tires specific to your car very easy. of course, i went into a tailspin over the choice between two different tires but that's my fault not theirs. their prices are much better than any drive-up retailer you might find, even with shipping which wasn't that bad. and their customer service rocks.

case in point: i had decided on a quartet of Yokohama AVS dBs and ordered them online late Thursday night. Friday morning, around nine, i get a call. "hi, Sean, this is Henry from the Tire Rack. i'm just looking over your order and see that you've ordered the Yokohama dBs. these are good tires but i wanted to let you know that we've been getting a lot of complaints about noise as these tires wear." i'd been reading about this "cupping" problem already but had decided that it didn't happen all the time and was willing to risk it. however, after discussing the matter with Henry, i decided to go with something else. Henry recommended the Dunlops, which happened to be the other tire i'd been looking at. "sold," i said, and Henry quickly changed the order.

they didn't make any more money off of me. in fact, they made a little less. but they made me a happy customer who will tell other potential customers and probably win them more business. i certainly will shop there again when the need arises.

but before i had new tires, i had a weekend. not just any weekend, mind you. a whole weekend with my girl, a rarity given her schedule.

i picked up Corinne at the BART station Friday night at about 7:45pm. plenty of time to get to the ACT theatre on Geary. which was not how i thought it'd end up. when i'd left the house, i was fully expecting to have maybe three minutes to get from Market to Geary, park, pick up our tickets, and get to our seats before they started the play. but with fifteen minutes, we were able to take a leisurely drive up the street, stress levels instantly diminished. i valet parked it ($20 -- ouch!) just to be sure but we had plenty of time.

the play, The Dazzle, was excellent. funny, sweet, well-acted, well-written, and generally enjoyable. one of the best things i've seen at ACT. i'd switched our date and wasn't sure how good our seats would be but they were great. Dress Circle, dead center, second row.

getting out, we felt especially glamorous as the car was parked right in front. (note to self: privilege is wrong but feels so good.) hungry and culturally satisfied, we set out for food. i picked Rose Pistola, partly because they always have good food and partly because, in my low-blood-sugar stupor, i couldn't think of anything else. it turned out to be a perfect choice. Corinne loved the atmosphere, the wine and the food. we ate lots of small plates: mesquite barbequed oysters, delicious gnocchi, butternut squash ravioli, rabbit, fish ... mmm! the wine had been recommended by the bartender -- a very tasty italian varietal. we left happy and satisfied.

Saturday, we barely left the house. actually, i'm not sure i ever did. Corinne went for food around noon and came back with eggs, bacon and crumpets to cook for me. (the place still smells a bit of that meal.) we spent a good portion of the morning planning our vacation and managed to get the whole thing booked, a surprise to both of us. the plan is now: three days in New Orleans for Jazz Festival with her dad and step mom, five days in Zion National Park, and two days in Vegas. sin and city, nature, city and sin. and i'm sure we'll sin a little in nature, too.

the rest of the day, she read and rested, i played with my iPod, and we curled up together. oh, wait, we did leave the house. at about 4:30pm, we walked down to the Fillmore and hopped on a bus to Chestnut Street to do some window shopping. we ended up at Lucky Brand Jeans (secretly my plan all along) and tried on some pairs. she left with a very sexy pair of pants and i left with nothing, which kind of foiled my plotting. we stopped off at Hollywood Video on the way back and picked up a couple movies. one happened to be a Woody Allen movie (an accident) that we endured and then watched bad television until bedtime.

Sunday, we resolved to get out into the sunshine. we took the bus to the Haight and had lunch at People's Cafe. then we wandered over to the park, laid out a blanket, and read the paper for a few hours until the fog rolled in. (we did not, however, play frisbee, despite that fact that i brought three discs.) after that, it was on to not one but two Irish pubs for Guinness, pool, some food and general revelry. then home to sit on the couch, rest a bit (we're both still recovering from being sick), and watch Moonstruck on TV.