mccullochblog

It's Never Too Early To Get Into The Christmas Spirit!

Christmas ranks up there on my list of favorite things right alongside the World Cup. 

And just as I adorned the entire house with my collection of soccer shirts from around the world during the tournament, what else would I be doing over the Thanksgiving weekend than preparing the house for Christmas?

Honestly, if I could take the whole of December off just to listen to Christmas music, watch Christmas movies, eat Christmas food, and host Christmas parties, I probably would.

Instead of that complete Christmas binge, I have to pace myself.

Today: Elvis' Christmas CD. Tomorrow: a Christmas "mix-tape" on iTunes. Next weekend: the SF Symphony Christmas concert with William and Emma. I'm telling you; I dig Christmas!

Here's how the house is looking so far!

 

 

A Short Story about the California High Speed Rail Boondoggle.

Here's how it all began back in 2008.

Politicians: "Hey voters, do you think a California high speed rail link from San Francisco to Los Angeles would be a good thing?"

Voters: "Umm, I'm not sure."

Politicians: "Come on! The California high speed rail will cut down on green house gases, reduce congestion on the roads and create thousands of jobs! Are you going to vote for it?"

Voters: "I guess that sounds okay."

(Some time later)

Politicians: "Okay voters, we've come to cut down all the trees in your neighborhood, to shut down your businesses, and if necessary, to demolish your home. Oh, and we're going to have to build a huge concrete structure - the height of a parking garage - right through those picturesque century-old towns you live in, to put the track on. Oh, and it's going to cost you $43 billion. Give me your wallet."

Voters: "Wait a minute. I didn't sign up for that!!"

----------------------------------------------------------------

There appears to be a consensus view from clever people that a high speed rail link would be a good thing for California.

Fine. So build it in a way that won't destroy hundreds of livelihoods, won't decimate communities and destroy the natural environment. Oh, and show us a business plan that doesn't live in cloud cuckoo land.

 

 'Like' High Speed Boondoggle on Facebook.

A San Francisco Celebration Eight Years in the Making

As everyone within 3000 miles of San Francisco knows by now, the San Francisco Giants baseball team won the World Series tonight!

I know what you're thinking: Where were you celebrating the win tonight? City Hall? Union Square? Willie Mays Plaza?

But no. This picture wasn't taken tonight. It was taken eight years ago in Yerba Beuna Gardens in San Francisco.

It was the night the Giants should have won the World Series against the Anaheim Angels in 2002. The Giants were leading 5-0 in Game 6 and were within three innings of winning a World Series for the first time in 48 years. (I suspect that's when this picture was taken).

But then the Giants gave up the lead, Anaheim ran out 6-5 winners and then won Game 7 (the decider) in Anaheim the next day. It was a disappointment, of course, but I had only been in San Francisco a year at that point and assumed that it wasn't such a rare occurence for the Giants to make it to the final of baseball's premier event.

A boy from Dover whose team's greatest achievement has been two appearances in the first round proper of the FA Cup (ever) should have known better! 

Eight years of nameless, faceless baseball drifted by. The great Giants team that welcomed me to the city (Bonds, Snow, Aurelia, Santiago) disappeared. When I went to my first game this season the words "Who are these guys?" passed my lips as I studied the team roster.

But tonight, all the barren years were forgotten and every Giant became a hero! It's fantastic to hear the car horns blaring in the street and the fireworks exploding overhead. Everyone I know seems to be planning to coincidentally be in San Francisco for the victory parade on Wednesday. 

A colleague asked me this week: "Have you ever known anything like the excitement in San Francisco for this Series?" The honest answer is "No". It's rare that one team unites an entire city in England or Holland....there are so many intra-city rivalries.

But this feels great. Everyone is a Giants fan in San Francisco this week and this feels like one happy city!  Go Giants!