Happy Birthday Bub!

The first order of business on my dad's birthday was to do some laundry.  Properly.  Extra properly.  And extra properly means not actually doing laundry but having someone else do it for you.  I used the Wash & Fold down the street from Cathy. I wore Carhy's ex-boyfriend's XL Perdue shirt.  My other goal was a straight shave on my head and face, something I had never done.  I always tried to either learn something new or experience something new on my dad's birthday.  A straight shave would be it.

But it wasn't just my dad'sborthday birthday.  It was also one of my best friends' birthday as well, and I let my mom know to let him know to expect a call around 1pm EST or 10am PST.  He beat me to it by using his iPad to FaceTime me around 9:00am PST.  I was on my way to the barber, a good 45 minute walk through the hills of San Francisco, when he called.  I answered and ended up giving him and his patents, who were home with him, a walking tour of my path to the New Chicago Barber Shop.  I showed them architecture, the crazy hills, some of which had steps for pedestrians!  It was only the second time I had done FaceTime since the feature existed and I discovered its true use!  Showing people where you are and what you look like from afar.  I took pictures of myself or scenery from time to time, like when I hit those stairs or saw some great architecture.

After about a half hour the FaceTime quit.  I had gotten a 400MB warning as my plan only had 500MB and I still had a week to go. Turned out my friend's iPad's battery had konked out.  My battery was low afterwards and I needed juice to plan lunch with Cathy and my new friend Danny who had arrived in San Francisco from Arcata and spending some time trying to sell his single-gear bike.  My friend Mark sent me this image as a text.  I guess he had screen grabbed our FaceTime session!

I managed to arrange lunch with Cathy at Gordo's, a burrito recommendation by former San Fanciscan Andrea.  My highschool buddy Andy also recommended a place on Mission but since it was Andrea who had got me interested in California burritos when we had a Manhattan burrito when I lived in NYC, I decided to go with her recommendation over all the others who chimed in, including Cathy whose favourite is Papalote.  But first, it was straight blade time! I actually passed the shop I was looking for and had to shingle back a bit. When I got to New Chicago Barbershop it was closed.  And not just because it was about 9:45am.  It was closed as in no longer operating!

Luckily I found a note in the window from "Kevin The Barber" who said he was working a few blocks down.

When I got there it was also closed, but would be open at 10am.  There was no sign of opening at 10:10am so I got online and continued to look for a place.  I found New Chicago Barbershop 2.

After walking in, I took a seat as the two guys working were busy giving fades to some young men. I noticed a bike magazine abd decided to read it.   thete was a great little article aboit self massage for legs. I was already massaging my legs instinctively, but these were proper instructions!

There were a few people ahead of me, but when Ishaun came in and arranged his station, he asked if I was waiting for anyone in particular, and I said I wasn't, so after getting the nod from the other barbers, I went to him and told home what I wanted.  He immediately went to work buzzing off my hair to as short as possible.  This seemed to take an unusually long time.  He then suggested a straight blade shave, when I said was what I was hoping for when I asked for a shave.  He hot towelled my head and massaged the towel off against the grain of my hair, likely to stimulate the follicles, and then mixed up some lather.  When he got to my face, I came to realize why it took so many passes over my scalp to shave my head.  He was using a disposable shaving blade.  It also explained why it started to hurt a little.  When I shave my head with a Mach III blade I do a few passes if it's long, but I keep it lathered and the glide strip helps. When he was done, I accidentally called him Ishmael, and he asked my name again before correcting me.  The fuller service head and face was $40.  More than I expected but it took him almost an hour.  After leaving I inspected the ebd result with my hand.  My face was closer than I was used to, as I don't shave my face against the grain to avoid irritation.  My head was not as close though.  But I was happy for the experience.  It was fun to see people walk in and chat, and the banter between barbers.  They spoke about Anerican History X and another movie.

I had plenty of time to get to Gordo's.  I took the scenic route through the park North of Richmond.

I even stopped to watch a pretty competitive game of law bowling!!!  It reminded me a lot of curling.

When I got to Gordo's, Cathy arrived just a few minutes later.  

I ordered the All-Meat Super Burrito.  Wow was it Devine!  So packed with meat!!! There was not much room for cheese.  They steamed the shell with a slice of cheese, but you couldn't taste the cheese through the meat, but it had a lot of flavour.  Even though I asked for lots of hot sauce, it wasn't very spicy. That would have taken it up a notch had it been spicier.  The tamarind soda pop washed it down.

Cathy and I then headed to Hollow cafe to meet Danny.  He wasn't there when we got there, but was only 2 minutes away.  Cathy and I sat down after buying some treats.  When she when to wash her hands, I asked the other customer in the tiny shop what she was reading.  Turns out it was a story about woman who went through some rough times and decided to travel around to learn more about herself, or as an escape.  I told her it sounded like Into the Wild, and recommended the movie. Her name was Dena and I introduced her to Cathy and Danny when he arrived.

She eventually left and said goodbye.  We hung out with Danny for a little while before we had to head off.  It was nice to catch up with him. He was heading back to Atlanta where I hope to visit someday. He hugged it out before pasting ways and we saw him on his bike after we went our separate ways.

On our way home Cathy dropped me off so I could get a Papalote burrito at her suggestion.  We had plans to go to Tommasso's for pizza.  I bought her a jar of their salsa sauce because she said it was awesome, but it turns out she forgot to mention to get their $20 mammoth with 4oz each of beef, shrimp and pork.  Whenever we got around to eating it, it would not be the full experience. 

We took the bus to Tommasso's and when we walked in, Cathy passed the crowd that was hanging out around the entrance.  She put in her request after a lady said that there was a line.  There wasn't really a line as much as there were people randomly hanging around.

I ordered a La Rossa which I had never had before!  It was awesome.

The carpaccio was great and very large!

When I was stuffed with carpaccio, Caesar salad and pizza, there were two slices left.  I did what my dad would do and ate them.  And then ordered a tiramisu to share.  Mmmmmm!

My dad was a lover of books, do when I saw this really cool bookstore, we had to go in!

Right beside it was this great place called Vesuvio.  Interestingly, Vesuvio's was my dad's favourite pizza in Toronto.  

Cathy and I both woke up super early so after a drink, we were ready to head back home and grabbed a cab.  It was a great day and night!  San Francisco and Cathy had taken good care of me on my dad'sborthday birthday.