Well, where to begin? It's only been a month or so since I last updated the blog, but in that time my folks came to visit, we moved to a new apartment in Tokyo, headed back to the US for a bit of R&R, went to zoos in 2 different states, spent a weekend camping at the Northwest String Summit in North Plains Oregon, and went to San Francisco to sort through all of our things to decide what to ship back to Tokyo. All in all it has been a pretty busy month.

Since I've gone this long without an update, you are going to have to indulge me with this one -- it is going to go in more or less reverse chronological order, starting with this weekend.

I am currently in San Francisco, alone, and will be for the next week. On Thursday, Sarah and I left Robert with his Nana (my mother) and scooted down to SFO. We rented a mini-van and hit the local Ikea to load up on a few items we need for our apartment in Tokyo, since Ikea is about 40% less expensive in the US than it is in Japan. One bed for Robbie, several dressers, a couple of end tables, a love seat and one matching chair later, we were back home at 233 Central. We unloaded the furniture and cracked open "the room".

When we left for Tokyo we packed our guest room from front to back, floor to ceiling with the whole of our worldly possessions, then sublet the rest of our place to a friend who is currently in Colorado on a well-timed vacation. I wish I had a picture of the room in its full glory... if you can imagine the classic overstuffed closet, poised to dump its contents from on high soon as the tiniest item is disturbed, that's a pretty accurate description of the room. Unfortunately for us, our "closet" was 10' by 12'. We started into it anyhow, and basically exploded it across the rest of our basement into 3 piles: staying in SF, surface to Tokyo, air to Tokyo. Our air shipment consisted of some bedding, pots, pans, and utensils. Our ground shipment consisted of furniture, baby items (for when we have a second), clothes, camping & outdoor gear, etc. However, after the sorting, we were still left with a giant pile of stuff that we have already lived without for a year, and plan to live without for another 18 months. How much of it do you think we still need?

Anyhow, the movers came to take our things away on Friday and were through by mid-afternoon. Sarah and I celebrated by going to dinner and a movie; cocktails, calamari & salads at Jillians, followed by the Dark Knight.

We fell asleep in each other's arms and woke up to one of those San Francisco mornings that are almost impossible to describe if you have not experienced them -- the air is crisp enough that you ought to wear a sweater, but the sky, the sky is blue. Deep, perfect blue, without a hint of cloud in it. The sun is almost unnaturally bright, and the contrast between colors is incredibly sharp. The wind is out of the West at between 15-20 mph, it's warm in the sunshine, but a bit nippy in the shade. Not a hint of fog, no matter how far West you look, but it feels like an anomaly, an aberration sure to be remedied as soon as the powers that be take note.

The multitude of greens in Buena Vista park and the blue of the sky, coupled with the colors of the Victorians surrounding us on our walk to the Pork Store are almost too much before a first cup of coffee, but somehow we manage to negotiate breakfast, as well as a bit of shopping before it's time to get Sarah back to the airport and her reunion with Robert.

I hurried back from the airport just as fast as I could, strapped my cycling shoes on, and rode to the coast via Golden Gate Park. Riding South along the Great Highway, I could see a tenuous ribbon of fog heading East around the bottom of Lake Merced, and I gave chase. I managed to get into the fog at the boundary between San Francisco and Daily City, and it was everything I remembered it being. The fog had not quite made it down to the ground, but it was trying -- spilling over the low range of hills along the coast and cascading down their leeward sides like a fluid, evaporating as it advanced, but dissipating completely a few tens of feet above the ground.

After my ride I headed home and gave my bike a bath. Then I called up my buddy Tim to see what he was up to, and he told me that I ought to join him over at Dolores park for a movie night. Talk about the perfect ending to a great day! I hopped back on the bike and in about 7 minutes I was at Dolores Park sipping a beer with Tim¸ enjoying the evening and watching the ribbon of fog, no longer tenuous, wind its way around Liberty hill and down toward the financial district.

On Monday morning I woke up for work, and the fog was pervasive. The road was cold and damp, and I realized that although I do miss San Francisco, I am happy to trade it for Tokyo, if only for the next 18 months.