Monday: Me Today
This is a short week. Shortened in a couple of important ways. First of all, it's rare for me to be finished narrating the New Yorker for Audible.com on a Monday night - usually, I'm deep into the work right now, rather than sitting and enjoying some coffee at a cafe. But I started early and that means a little bit of pain on Saturday and Sunday is followed by a rich reward tonight. And I'll get to enjoy that reward again tomorrow night.
The week is also shortened by our vacation to San Francisco and northern California this week - five days that we've been looking forward to for some time.
We usually make two trips to San Francisco a year, which is never enough. This year, a variety of circumstances, not least of which was the dramatic increase in airfares, caused us to cancel the Spring trip. We've come to see this as a big mistake, especially because our financial situation is rock solid, lots of money in the bank, no debt beyond a mortgage. Yes, being frugal is good and, frankly, if I was more frugal, I'd be in an even better place. But I believe in a balance of frugality and excess - the definition of moderation, right? Life should include travel to places we love and we've decided that, from now on, we won't be penny-wise and pound-foolish about the good things in life.
For me, one of the keys to this way of living is prudence, certainly. And the other is putting an end to as many expenditures as possible that don't give us commensurate pleasure. This worldview led us to do away with our cable subscription and our TiVo, for instance - a savings about about $75/month or $900/year. We still watch lots of TV - over-the-air HD, Internet streaming via Hulu and other platforms, Netflix, etc. But $75/month to have several hundred channels coming into our home was a lot of money for little benefit. For us. Anyone who goes through an exercise like this will have different conclusions, make different decisions, but possibly arrive at the same result. It has worked for us, in any case.
Well, that's quite enough about saving. Let's talk about spending.
Our trip will include a long-awaited dinner at one of the best restaurants in the country, The French Laundry in Yountville, CA. We've dined at some real gems, including Alinea in Chicago (which, depending on whom you ask, either gets the number one spot ahead of French Laundry or is a close runner-up) but this dining adventure feels more like getting to the roots of what really works with dining in the US. Thomas Keller, despite branching out to New York and Las Vegas, still puts out quite a spread in Yountville, by all accounts. It will be an evening to remember, and we'll be spending it with our closest friends, Michael and Bob, who are getting married on Wednesday. This is possible, at present, in California.
Here's to tolerance and equality.
We will have the privilege of watching them exchange vows in the hallowed halls of the San Francisco City Hall, and then we'll join them for three days in Napa, doing little beyond eating, being lazy, visiting a couple wineries, and working out (we're gay after all). Yes, it's their honeymoon, but hey, if it's fun, shouldn't you be able to share it? If Chuck and I are ever allowed to get married, (and that won't be anytime soon in Kaintuck) we'll do the same. Maybe in California. Maybe in Canada.
