opening day! opening day! it's opening day!

ah, baseball is back. i watched my first full game yesterday and it was ... well, a little odd. being that it was the last exhibition game of Spring Training, both teams were throwing all kinds of people on the field. some of them were so buried in the minor leagues that the announcers had no idea who they were. but it was still very enjoyable. i can almost smell the freshly cut grass and the garlic fries. my first game is just about a week away. i feel like a kid.

i did not, however, spend the entire weekend watching TV. it was far too nice out to waste my time indoors. even at night, i was quite comfortable walking around in a tshirt and slept with the windows open. mm, spring.

Friday night, Dennis and i went out to eat at Catch. i like the space, despite the overly-bright lighting behind the bar, and the beginnings (appetizers) and endings (desserts) were good. but the entrees sucked. Dennis yellowtail was dry and bland. my crab raviolis were uncomfortably salty. it was the most dissatisfying meal i've had in a long time. the service and the drinks helped, though. they were both excellent. and the prices were reasonable, if you forget that it wasn't yummy. i'd probably go back for snacks but never for a meal.

we walked to Tower Records after the meal and almost made it the full two blocks before the bartender from Catch came running after us. he'd messed up running my card through and needed us to come back. it was such a strange thing to have a guy in an apron come running after us on the street. but he was very nice about it and we ended up talking to a French girl who was sitting at the bar as we re-paid. plus, they promised us free drinks the next time we came back.

i had intended on doing not much on Saturday but Dennis came by to pick up a catalog for his design project and we went for lunch. lunch turned into a shopping excursion and i came back with three nice shirts and a travel toiletries case. i know, i shouldn't have spent the money considering my tenuous employment situation but when you find good clothes, you kind of need to buy them. or so both Dennis and Corinne tried to convince me.

Corinne came over later and, after relaxing on the couch for a bit, we wandered down to North Beach. we walked around in the very warm weather for a while, trying to decide where to eat, and ended up in a restaurant on the corner of Stockton and Columbus. (i forget the name but it was Latin for "everything flows." i know this because when i casually wondered what it meant, Corinne poured out a wealth of knowledge on the subject. apparently, she'd studied the author of the phrase in college. it was quite unexpectedly fascinating. i was especially intrigued that the concept sounded very much like Taoism.) we were at first seated at a table squeezed between two pathways. i kept getting bumped as people walked by and politely asked the manager if we could move. after telling us he didn't think so, he came back and gave us a great table right in front of an open window. niceness wins!

our meal was yummy. we just had entrees and a glass of wine each. i had rigatoni with rabbit in pink sauce. the rabbit was a bit hard to find -- could have used a bit more -- but it was very tasty. Corinne had some ravioli dish with asparagus that was quite good. details are fleeting. afterwards, we walked around the neighborhood some more and stopped off at Vesuvio's for a drink. then home by eleven so Cory could get up early for her shift the next day.

i spent most of the next day wishing my gym didn't close at noon on Sundays and watching the Giants game. i had all the windows open so i was still "outside" but i just felt like being home. called Corinne after she got home from work and headed over to her house. we ate pad thai and procrastinated on going to Blockbuster to get a movie until the idea lost all appeal and we ended up watching Law & Order and Boomtown on TV instead.

one final note for those of you in California, you can now pre-register for the telemarketer "do not call" list.