Willo O'Brien

It’s probably 80° out today – gorgeous!! So instead of getting up & going to the gym like I normally do, I decided to take an urban hike! Usually I go right up behind my house, on Bernal Hill, but I’ve been wanting to explore some other areas, so I ventured out to Glen Park Canyon, which is just one neighborhood over from me.

Glen Park Canyon Trailhead

Beautiful sunshine, birds chirping and a slight breeze.
You’d never know you were in the middle of a huge city!

Secluded little path, like a fort of trees & leaves!

tree fuzz

The hike was fabulous!! As soon as I got out of my car I could smell the beautiful green trees and could hear all the birds chirping. I thought I was going to listen to my iPod, but I quickly realized I didn’t even want to. It was so nice hearing the birds, and occasionally along the path you could hear the little creek that runs alongside it. The hike itself is fairly flat most of the way, negotiating around trees and such on the path. But then there’s a fairly steep stairway up to a lookout. All in all you can definitely get your heart rate up… and there’s so many different little paths to explore! I can’t wait to go back and see more, there was a lot of paths I didn’t take and ended up just doing a really nice loop for about 45 minutes.

It’s so phenomenal we have these slices of nature smack dab in the middle of our city. Next up I wanna hit Mount Davidson (inspired by Buzz‘s recent photo of his hike there) & Stern Grove – which I don’t think is listed on that site, but I was chatting w/ the guy filling me up with Biodiesel today and he said it was a good’n, so I’m game!

I heart San Francisco!

View all my hiking Glen Park Canyon photos. UPDATE: I forgot I took a few videos, too!

More info: Bay Area Hiker’s SF Hikes.

Me & my brother Max

Friday night I drove down to Santa Cruz to hang out w/ my brother Max & his awesome gf Samara. They recently moved into a new place (renting), but it’s 3x as big as their last place and it’s incrediblel!! I kept saying, “It’s like a real house!” haha. It sits on a street with a bunch of really beautiful houses & has a huge deck out back too that you can even see the ocean from on clear days! It’s a one bedroom but there’s an additional little sun room off the living room (which is huge) & the best part is the kitchen was remodeled recently and has all new stainless steel appliances. I’m so jealous – it’s really gorgeous! Oh, and Max also has his Om Gallery office downstairs too in this big room off the garage. *sigh* how I wish I had an extra office space! Seriously, it’s so amazing to visit places that don’t have every little square inch carefully negotiated like mine is! I’m really happy for them there.

They had their friends Ryan & Bon in town, so I went down too & we made it a party! Christopher & Courtney came over, too, and after a few pre-drinkies we went to dinner down the street at this yummy Italian restaurant. I don’t have any photos of the night beyond that, but we had a blast trying to play Balderdash after many, many drinks. :p I always have such a good time with my brother and his friends are great. Good times!

Max & his guitar in the morning (notice the slippers – hehe)

self potrait in the sugar dish

The next morning Max made us a yummy breakfast before I headed back up to the city. He’s such a good guy. I need to go visit them more often!

View photos from my visit to Santa Cruz.

UPDATE: I posted a few videos, too!

• Going to dinner
• Good Morning
• Breakfast time

Last Tuesday Ted & I went to the Send for Help/Nine Black Alps show at du Nord. Nine Black Alps have a few fantastic songs (that DJ Ted turned me onto!), but on the whole live they sounded alarmingly JUST like Nirvana (Bleach era). It was good, but pretty wild. There was this cracked out blonde girl there and Ted was like, “Oh look, it’s Courtney Love coming for her money!” hahaa. The crowd was weird, too. It had obviously gotten some press from a radio station – like Live105 or 97.3… I never listen to the radio anymore – because the crowd was kinda mainstream-ish or something. People that we don’t often see in “our club”. :p Yes, I’m a snob.

Send for Help opened and they were great! I had seen them once before, but apparently the time I’d seen them they’d just lost a bassist or something, so it wasn’t their strongest night. Last week their set was really great to me. Nice guys, too! Check em out!

I took a few crappy photos, but Ted’s photos from the show are way better. There’s even a few of me in there, if you’re into that. haha.

::::::

Wednesday night I went to BAM & then my friend’s Kristin & Dave had me over for a late dinner at their new home! They’re homeowners! I’m jealous!! Kristin’s learnt so much through the process that she was awesome to talk to about it all. Self-employment taxes are insane & I’ve really got to invest in something. I want to buy so bad and as much as I’ve been afraid of the prices around here (namely what my mortgage would cost me – gulp), I really just need to talk to a broker and get the ball rolling. I’ve known Kristin for over 10 years now, which is so cool. We originally met back in Steamboat when she was dating a close friend of mine from High School. Then probably about 3 years ago I ran into her at Bimbo’s and we’ve been in touch ever since. Congrats to her & Dave for getting engaged, too!

rawkin’ out.
Originally uploaded by spangley.

Hez, Darren, me & Ali (who just posted her photos!) @ last week’s Air Guitar Championships.

Check out Ali’s kick ass new earrings from Kristin! suuweeet! :)

peekaboo!
Originally uploaded by spangley.

hahhaaa! This is my “OMG we’re having the best time evaaaaaarrrr!!!!” look. Could I open my mouth any wider? hahhaa. And then with Ryan peeking in up there, gettin in on the action…. HYSTERICAL!

There are so many hilarious photos – Ali uploaded more, and they’re now here in one big set of her friend Zach’s visit. There *must* have been people a the Hemlock absolutely pissed we were taking so many photos. haha! Did we care? NO! :p One of alcohol’s delightful side effects: You don’t give a shit about what other people think & instead you just go about having the time of your life! wahooo!! haha.

So ya, I realize this is the 3rd post about it, but these photos are just too funny… and it was a really fun night!