Schiavoni Files

Months ago when I first moved to San Francisco, I went out to a bar with a bunch of friends. One of them was my friend Stephen (not crazy shirt Steven, another Stephen). Stephen is the friend whose reputation so preceded him when we met, it seemed almost divinely willed we'd become friends. He's also seen pictured on the bottom left of the holiday photo collage below.

Anyhow, back in March, Stephen was a loyal budweiser fan. It was his crappy beer of choice. I, of course, was a die-hard Miller fan.

So Stephen and I argued for long time about which beer was better: Miller or Bud. That night we decided to settle the controversy with a blind taste test.

We pitted a budlight against a millerlite. We made sure both beers were fresh and cold. I went first. Naturally, I had no problem telling which beer was superior. Bottle #1. Miller. Done and done. Then it was Stephen's turn. He tasted, paused pensively as he carefully considered his options, and finally proclaimed that he too chose bottle #1. This time, it was also Miller.

This was a big blow to Stephen. But he took it like a good loser. Instead of asking for a rematch, he announced there and then that his new crappy beer of choice would be Miller!

In the months past, I have taken every opportunity to remind Stephen of my victory. When I see him I usually offer to buy him a Miller (although for some reason I never usually get around to it...). A couple months ago I even bought him a crappy "Team Miller" T-shirt from the Milwaukee airport.

Well something in Stephen must have snapped. I guess he had enough of my beer blasphemy.

Today I got a fedex at work with a big neon sticker on the front that said "Red Hot Rush."

What could it be? I thought. And why was the return address from Illinois?

When I opened it, I found a really nice shirt with dainty writing embroidered on the right pocket: "Budweiser: The king of beers."

Beautiful.
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The NPC Holiday Party. One member called it "epic." I wouldn't go that far, there was no dancing on tables or anything. But it was crowded and fun.

It took us like three days to decorate. We hung a lot of ornaments. We even had a feather wreath (kirstin's idea). I also advertised all over town the fact that all 7 of the NPC ladies are single (by contrast, all three guys are in serious relationships). I like to think that could have helped us get a crowd there too. We had almost 200 people.
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The fast approaching holiday season reminded me of of a picture my friend Dima sent me last year soon after I left Amman, Jordan.

It's the view outside her window.

Beautiful huh? Not quite the yellow sand dunes most folks think of when picturing the middle east.

And here I am sitting here in 60 degree northern California. It's just not the same christmas without snow.

Christmas was actually pretty big in Amman. The population is around 10% Christian and they go big. Even the non-Christians seem to get into the spirit. My only disappointment with my Jordanian Christmas was that they only sell plastic christmas trees. Makes sense though in a place where water is such a commodity. But plastic trees suck.
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