mccullochblog

Christmas Awesomeness: Santa Arrives by Helicopter

I have to hand it to the Hiller Aviation Museum for having the most fantastic Christmas attraction ever.

Is there anything more fun for kids (and grown-ups!) than watching Santa Claus arrive by helicopter?

 

 

Christmas Comes to Burlingame!

I have to tell ya, after a busy five days at the office and contending with a heavy cold throughout, there was no better way to end the week than with a bit of Christmas cheer.

Tonight, Santa came to Burlingame, and of course, William and daddy were there for all the fun. Check out the tree lighting ceremony!

Tomorrow we're going to Hiller air field to watch the SantaCopter land (yes, really) and on Sunday we're off to a Christmas concert in the city. Standby for an onslaught of Yuletide video!

 

 

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!!"

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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!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Choo-choo!

You know how life can be: busy, busy, work, work. I've been a slack blogger of late, but I had to share today's momentous moment with you: the moment I introduced William to his first train set. As they say: a video paints a lot more words than even a picture can. 

   

Being Parents and Being Happy (What's Your Secret?).

Apparently, the secret to being a happy adult is to not have kids. 

Seriously, according to a New York Magazine article titled "Why Parents Hate Parenting", (about which I've been meaning to blog for a while) having children is proven to NOT make you happier, and having more than one child is pretty much guaranteed to make you less happy.

If you don't have time to read it, let me summarize:

Parenting used to be rewarding because it was productive (we put our kids to work on the farm).

Now, parenting is a chore because instead of having the kids milk the cows, we have to feed them and pay for them to go to university. 

Oh, and because we're all having kids later in life, we've all grown used to our independence and so feel somehow trapped by the ties of our children. Previous generations mostly had kids as soon as they left home and so never knew this freedom.

Finally, though we spend more time with our children than parents did in 1975, we all still feel stressed at the feeling that we don't spend enough time with them, especially men.

So, all of this compelled me to write something about the secrets of successful parenting.

And then I got writer's block. Or more specifically, I got "who-the-hell-am-I-to-preach-about-this-subject" block.

So I talked to Emma about it.

After initially alarming her by bringing up the subject of happiness at all, we came to a swift conclusion that we were generally pretty happy, and so I asked the question: "What would be the one thing that would make you a happier parent?"

She thought about it, then asked me the same question without offering an answer.

Then we both thought about it. For ages.

Then (we were driving to Yosemite at the time) we simultaneously blurted out the same answer: "I'd be happier if I could get more sleep!"

So there you have it: our answer to overcoming the challenges of parenting. And this weekend we are practicing exactly that. Or at least, one of us is.

Emma and a bunch of girlfriends have gone to Tahoe to imbibe copiously and sleep extensively. This - based on the booze-fueled text message I received last night - appears to indeed be making Emma happier! 

For my part, I'm doing my best to distract myself from the sleep deprivation (which I'm sure is doubled for single parents) by cycling, sailing and baseball-ing my way through the weekend. 

My final advice on the subject is that you do the same sometime soon!

 

 

 

 

Say 'hi' to nature - Part II

OK....much later than promised, but here's the fun video version of William's attempts to befriend a curious squirrel ("cawa") at Yosemite last weekend!

Summing up the Weekend in Yosemite

More to come in video form, but I thought this photo perfectly summed up William's introduction to the great American outdoors.

"Say hi to nature!"