Vacancy: Hotel Neal

Late summer = visitors' season in San Francisco. Hotel Neal kicked off this year with a visit from Ashley, followed by my mom's trip this weekend.

For once I took a limited planning approach to my mom's visit. Aside from leaving my camera at home for the trip to Sonoma, I was able to capture some of the highlights:

The loyal fans watching our favorite "Legend" (below). When did I become a blonde carbon copy?

Doesn't he look spiffy? (and serious!)

The jellies at the Monterey Bay Aquarium were awesome...


...as was our walk across the Golden Gate Bridge. One of my favorite touristy activities!

Plus, we finally had the chance to eat at SPQR, the new, hot place on Fillmore that is too cool for reservations. Good thing Mom was still on East Coast time that first night and eating at 5:30 (aka doors opening) was acceptable!

Visitors coming soon: Dale & Erin, LMB & Greg (hopefully), and Adrienne - yippee!

Long live Scrabulous

I heart Scrabble (see previous posts). I have also come to love Scrabulous. But it looks like my favorite Facebook application and game to play with friends named Jen might be going away!

You can read the full BusinessWeek article here, but the net-net is today Hasbro said Scrabulous violates its copyright and demanded that the social networking site take down the application immediately. Scrabulous has been around a while now, so I'm guessing Hasbro got all its legal ducks in a row before filing its IP suit and going on an anti-online game PR blitz.

After learning of the news, I quickly logged onto Facebook and at first I thought it had been taken down! Apparently I've just been working a little too much and not playing enough and my shortcut was just hidden. Enough time for me to close out my game with Nicole, but not sure the Jen games will get to see the end.

I get and respect the whole copyright/IP thing, but there are some things I'm going to miss about Scrabulous if it goes away.

1. The two-letter word dictionary. I have so many more emergency plays thanks to this tool.

2. The automatic dictionary. This thing is awesome because you have to cheat in real Scrabble to double-check words before playing them!

3. It keeps track of how many you've won over time. I usually have to do this in my head!

4. You can mix and match letters on the board for as long as you want and no one can see what you're trying to do.

5. The tiles never fall off.

6. No time limits. This is particularly appealing to me now that I am becoming more and more of a Neal everyday.

7. It does the math for you.

If I could use abbreviations, I would probably play R.I.P. next.

Emily Post for Muni, at last!

For all you mass transit loving fools like me, check out the blog I wish I had created: http://www.munimanners.com/. By now you've probably read my rants about the latest Muni mishaps, and there are still more to come. What I love about this site is it takes an Emily Post-worthy look at our bus system here in SF, stating the (what should be) obvious in a humorous way. From not singing to not picking your nose (well, yeah!), can you believe people don't know this stuff?

Might I suggest the following new rules:

1. If I can hear your iTunes through your earbuds, turn it down!

2. If you must partake in food or drink (which are prohibited), please make sure that a) you can't smell it (i.e. Chinese food), b) you can't hear it (i.e. slurping) or c) you can't feel it (i.e. spilling). Maybe you shouldn't eat or drink after all.

3. Shower.

4. Don't talk crazy talk.

5. Do not sit in the middle of the 5 seats on the back row of the bus like there aren't 2 seats on either side of you. There are. And they're prime seats, too, because limited people can touch you. So scoot over!

6. In case the doors and walls of the bus weren't enough to tip you off, you're inside, so DO NOT SPEAK IN OUTSIDE VOICES TO YOUR FRIENDS. (Yelling effect achieved by all caps?)

7. Stay within your allotted seat. I make a conscious effort to keep my coat and bags within my contained area, so why can't you?

8. Shower.

9. If I'm reading or listening to an iPod, I don't want to talk to you. That is my way of escaping. Please do not try to chat me up or lobby for the political issue du jour. I would probably give you directions if you're a tourist though, because you don't know any better and you're easy to pick out in your San Francisco hoodie you bought at the wharf.

10. Do not perform personal hygiene-type activities such as cutting/filing nails, picking teeth, etc. Gross me out. It is ok to lightly apply makeup IMO.

The only rule I violate according to Muni Manners is the cell phone rule, but I tell myself it's ok if I'm very quiet (and I am, if you've ever talked to me). Just remember - you're never in private, so don't discuss work or serious personal issues openly on the bus! (Although they are more fun to listen to than just the run of the mill schedule update, for those of us listening.)

Got your own mass transit gripes? List 'em here!

Photos from our trips

with Mike & Jen on the Upper West side

with Erin & Dale at the Yankee's game

with Jeff (eyes open!) & Erin on the 4th of July

my first trip to the boardwalk - i'm so excited!

the neal brothers love their bananas

Erin, Nicole & I were the only ones dressed like it wasn't spring break!

the family at the shore house

just before Dale & I beat everyone else at team Scrabble

this was the only game I didn't win, and only because I got stuck with two V's at the end

Brian loves his NJ pizza (it was pretty good!)

with the girls at Carolyn & Ryan's engagement party

Amy & Tabs at Japs

at Japs with Sarah K

Mom, Dad & the center of all Collins family photos: Jake

Where do I even start?

You know it's been a long time when you have to email your friends to check the blog again because it's been so long since you last posted.

It's been so long that the following people are officially a year older since my last "real" post on June 6 (the one before our NY trip was just a stall tactic):
- Lisa Marie
- Amy
- Laura
- Sarah K
- Adrienne
- Kristin (her birthday is actually tomorrow, but close enough)

After a 6-week blogging hiatus, 2 trips to visit 2 different sides of the family, a couple of house guests and countless work hours later, where do you even start? How about a month-and-a-half in review, in case anyone is questioning my dedication?

Week of June 8: Work trip touring the South. Highlights include dining with Morgan (used to be Mann) in Richmond, multiple trips to Sonic, a night at Japs with the Paris girls (and Ricky), and spending a few days at home with the family. Fortunately I was able to see Papaw one last time before his death - fittingly - on Father's Day.

Week of June 15: Right back in the swing of things at work, transitioned some additional responsibilities while temporarily serving in an interim role. Attempted to pick up the pieces of my domestic life at home!

Week of June 22: At this point, I have no idea what happened this week. I'm sure I was busy. I'm sure Brian played baseball. Carolyn & Ryan's engagement party might have been this week?

Week of June 29: Played tour guide and visited with Courtney she was in town for a work conference, then just one day at work before our trip to NY/NJ! We had an awesome time as usual. Highlights include having brunch with Mike & Jen, walking all over the place in the city, my last trip to Yankee Stadium, staying at the shore house with the Neal family, playing Scrabble on the beach (and winning all but one game), and my first trip to the boardwalk!

Week of July 6: Got home late Monday night then turned around and went right back to work Tuesday. Hotel de Neal opened its doors for the first time this summer when Ashley flew in from Chicago. By the time Friday rolled around, though, I was exhausted.

Week of July 13: Lots of work stuff, lots of dinners with friends. Spent most of the weekend relaxing and cleaning for my mom's visit.

Week of July 20: So here it is, July 20. While it's almost impossible to know what one week will hold to the next, I know that I have supper club tonight, drinks for Kristin's birthday tomorrow, a much-needed highlight and haircut Thursday (Brian even said something about my roots yesterday!), and my mom arriving Friday. I guess I will go to work, too.

So as you can see, I haven't just been sitting on my haunches... However, for those who rely on this for inter-office entertainment (Tabs), I will commit to updating the blog at least twice more this week. Photos coming in a separate post just because I just don't want to deal with the formatting.