After an aquatic trip around the Bay Bridge, we decided to walk 3 miles back to our hotel. Before we called it a day, we grabbed dinner at the Buena Vista Cafe. It was here we sat with a man and his mistress, listened to an agent give the business to an actor and watched a woman berate her special gentlemen friend. Overall, this bar stressed me out. It was tough to enjoy a family dinner with this crew of idiots running amok and yelling at each other.

On Monday, we woke up early and took a taxi to the BART station, where we said our goodbyes and caught opposite trains. As far as transportation goes, today was a monster. Hotel to taxi to BART to Caltrain to foot to car. Ugh. Getting from San Francisco to Los Angeles was nothing to sneeze at. I took a brief break in San Jose to grab lunch with Lori and lose a chess game to Zizzo before I was on the road. The break was extended briefly to watch Eric and Mark go head-to-head in NHL ‘08. It’s still weird to me to have friend who like hockey. Columbusites never cared about the Blue Jackets — they just seemed happy they had a new crop of bars and restaurants to hang out at. That’s San Jose for you, I suppose.

I’m exhausted, so the rest of my night shall go to catching up on The Wire. I’m two episodes behind, and that’s not good for business. It was tough to hang with Liza and Boitnott on Thursday and not talk about the show. I’m no Fitz, but a spoiler is a spoiler, and I don’t need any Wire spoilers in my life.

When it comes to food and wine, there’s no better guy to have on squad than Sneaky. As usual, he suggested a swank bar. Belgium beer is nothing special to me. Don’t get me wrong — I’m for it, but he could’ve suggested anywhere and I would’ve made the trip.

This particular place, La Trappe, was only seven blocks away from my hotel in North Beach, so it made skipping out on the folks an easy decision. Unfortunately, a seven-block walk in San Francisco is not your typical walk. It quickly turned into up, up, down, down, left, right, up, down, up, up, more up, B, A, select, start. It was murder on the legs. Before I left, it seemed like a cakewalk. After getting to the bar, I knew I was taking a cab home.

The place was definitely nice. I lack the appreciation of fine beers, but the Fantôme Saison was delicious. Sneaky also had the risotto, which is strange to me because I had no idea what a risotto was. In true Generation-Y ignorance, I assumed it was a dessert, based 100 percent on how much George Costanza’s girlfriend was enjoying the dish in an episode of Seinfeld. I was surprised to see it looked like that crap Fitz used to eat at Bob Evans. Like a certain Christescu I know, fancy food is wasted on me.

I know I have to be up early tomorrow, so the night was cut short, but I’m glad I got to hit the town, even if for an hour or two. What’s a night in San Francisco without a Sneaky Steve sighting?

The weather today was surprisingly great. I was expecting San Francisco wind and fog mixed with a lack of sunshine. We really lucked out. It’s been beyond pleasant all day. In September ‘06 when my parents were here, it was freezing. This was a nice change of pace. I seriously dragged my winter coat all the way up here on the Caltrain and haven’t had to use it once. I’m happy about that — but, man, do I wish I left the coat in Los Angeles.

We’ll see how the weather holds up for tomorrow. We’re heading over to Pacbell Park to wander around the stadium and go down a certain Coca-Cola slide. Afterward, we’re meeting Joe and Lori to take a cruise on their boat. This aquatic trip has been years in the making. I’m hoping for more sunshine followed by some more walking around the city. If we match today’s foot travel, I’m sure I’ll be in bed by 9 p.m. once again. And then, it’ll be time to head back south.

As much as I’ll miss another great Los Angeles weekend, it’s time for my Bay Area extravaganza. I’ve tried to call most people up there, but so many phone numbers have gone in and out of my phone that I’m afraid I’ve missed a few. Hopefully, my Bay Area contacts will fill in the gaps.

I’ve been a bit under the weather this week, so I’m hoping all my rest and vitamin C supplements will finally pay off when I wake up tomorrow. My nose has been all sorts of stuffed up. At first, I blamed a possible cold. Looking back on this week, I think I had a case of the allergies. I’ve been pounding nose spray — or at least I was until Christescu told me Phenylephrine has been fatal in some cases. That’s all I needed to hear to switch to saline drops. Stop me when the talk of nose drops becomes too intense.

It’s getting late and it’s almost time to crash so I can get up early and hit the road. My bags are packed, the iPod is charged and I’ve already shaved. With my facial hair, a good Wednesday shave should hold up until Monday.

As much fun as the entire evening was, the Del Taco drive-thru was the highlight. We spent the wait time in line talking to car behind us. Glassman discussed favorite rap songs with the car behind us, while the car behind them shouted out order recommendation for us.

On Sunday, it was time to lie low. The Duke came over and we gently watched the Super Bowl. It was the perfect Sunday as far as I was concerned. No fuss, no parties, no big deal. Anyone else notice the Super Bowl commercials were not funny? It’s no secret I’m not much of a football fan, but c’mon, howabout that game? Special love goes out to Glassman for making nachos. Now that I think about it, all I ate on Sunday was chips. That can’t be good for business.

Birthday boy Matt Glassman, our man in Manhattan Beach Matt Brown, LA roogie Michael Christescu and myself started our evening at the Dresden Room. It’s no secret that although the drinks are overpriced and no one’s ever heard of a hamburger sandwich, the place has a certain charm. We were there an hour tops, but we managed one-and-a-half LA cameos. First, we saw a guy that looked Lloyd Braun. While we can’t confirm it was really actor Matt McCoy, we can confirm this guy was a dead ringer, which is good enough for me. I mean, how often do you see someone that even looks like Lloyd Braun?

The other sighting was actually a little chat with Trevor from the Whitest Kids U’ Know. Fitz turned me onto these guys a few years and I’ve been following their television career since. While Glassman and Christescu all start with a different highlight when recapping last night, my story (non-chronological versions, of course) begins with the WKUK sighting.

On a side note, does anyone else find it strange that his Wikipedia entry contains this:

Known Trevor Moore as cult leader of several states. Also one of the largest Ohio weapon owners in Ohio. Trevor was found gilty to several trials in theft, and murder. But he won his trials getting him freedom. He is now stationed at a Ohio residents home.

It must be true — it’s on the Wikipedia.

Afterwards, we headed to Caffe Brass Monkey. I’ve never been, and asides from drink prices (noticing an LA theme?), the place was great. It had just the right amount of riff-raff to amuse me, but not enough that I worried about getting my face kicked in for looking at someone improperly. And, yes, in case you were wondering, it’s a karaoke bar. Would you expect anything less from me?

We got their pretty late so singing was out of the question, but thanks to Matt’s birthday and the driver license to prove it, he was able to sneak into the rotation and bring the house down with “Living In America.” James Brown always brings the house down. When Matt does it, the bars next door also have their houses brought down. It’s that electric. Special thanks to Christescu for using his hooded sweatshirt as a cape to cover Matt at the end of the performance.

This is where the night gets a little weird. I’ll spare you the details because this is a family friendly Web site and I’m sure some members of our party (who shall remain nameless) would prefer certain stories not to slip out; but, here are a few highlights.

• I spent 10 minutes trading compliments about each other with (allegedly) Jack Nicholson’s brother
• A high-class hooker pulled up her dress and showed the world her butt. Surprisingly she did not ask for compensation. I was sure she’d hit me up for something for accidentally putting her in my line of sight before she decided to show the world her business end. Whelp, that was a freebie.
• After last call, Glassman and Brown went to a 24-hour Korean sauna conveniently next door for a impromptu schvitz. Christescu and myself were not interested and went to Fred 62s instead.
• I got in an argument with a woman in a taxi about the quality of my neighborhood. Apparently Sliver Lake gets no respect. I later found out, the woman in the taxi was the same hooker who had a gravity problem with her dress.
• Post adventure, Christescu and I played Guitar Hero for style points. I may or may not have gone behind the head, through the legs, on the floor, with my eyes closed to really seal that victory. Here’s a tip for you, if you’re going for style points, be prepared for a lack of real points. If I had more time, I would create an inverse graph to illustrate the relationship, but I trust you can picture it.

• Twice tonight, my whiteboard has fallen down behind my bedroom door after I’ve left the room, successfully wedging itself and locking me out. After the second time, I realized that perhaps, right behind the door is not the best place to store my whiteboard. Also, why didn’t I think of that after the first time?
• Michael Christescu flies into town tomorrow. Easy, skeptics, it’s real this time. Er, I guess I’ll believe it when I see it, but according to him, we’re about to have one Christescu on squad in Los Angeles.
• LOST is now on Thursdays. I am not happy about this for two reasons: 1) I fear change, and 2) How can I enjoy Christescu’s presence when all I can think about is the season 4 premiere? Damn you, Damon Lindelof.
• I didn’t turn on the Xbox tonight, but it’s a good feeling to know it’s back.
• I watched the first two episodes of HBO’s In Treatment tonight. I have yet to form an opinion on it, but stay tuned, I’m sure I’ll form some sort of opinion (eventually).
• Funny grammar story for ya. I can feel half the readers tuning out. So, today at work, police said a woman was found safe. Good for her. Unfortunately, I didn’t read my headline enough times before posting it live. I won’t spoon feed you the joke, but my original headline was “Police: Missing El Monte Woman Found Safe.” Whoops.

Since the brick has been gone, they’ve added a few new songs to Guitar Hero. Glassman was less than impressed, but I’ve been waiting a long time for Journey, Boston and Foreigner to make the cut. It’s tough to play Any Way You Want It and not think of Yiggidy Yates. For whatever reason, Yiggidy made that his unofficial theme song a few years back. Hence, it started showing up in ringtones, social networking sites and as the occasional entrance music. No offense Yigs, but I would’ve preferred Don’t Stop Believin’.

I managed to call Zizzo and Eric today to make sure they were around for the festivities. I’ll try to ring some more people in the next few days to make sure this thing is on. Is this thing on? I plan on leaving early Thursday morning, but because I’ve taken a road trip once or twice, I have this feeling I’ll get real excited the night before and take off immediately after work. I usually rationalize the strange travel time as a way to avoid traffic, but in reality, I get giddy about road trips and have difficulty falling asleep (insert cliche comparison to Christmas Eve).

So, if you read this and live in the South Bay, or live close to the South Bay and have a car, or live nowhere near the South Bay but have frequent flyer miles, get ready for the second week of February, because there will be bagel shops and 7 Bamboo.