November 2011 – Page 4 – Oh Fair New Mexico

A Blue-skying Kind of Thursday

Posted on November 10, 2011
by Karen Fayeth
12 Comments

Ok, today’s Theme Thursday word is: gourd

Seems topical, right? Seasonal? A good theme for the beginning of November.

However, I think we’re all struggling with this one. I know I sure am.

So when I’m stuck, it’s time to do a brainstorming session (what the marketing folks call blue-skying).

Here we go… This is random association. Just say the first thing that comes to mind.

Gourd.

Gourds.

Gourdish.

Gourdy.

Barry Gordy

Barry Gordy, Jr.’s son Rockwell.

“I always feeeeel like, somebody’s watchiiing meeeee.”

Paranoia.

Backing vocals by Michael Jackson

That Michael Jackson doctor guy was found guilty.

That whole thing is really weird.

Ok, this is a dead end (wow oh wow….pun TOTALLY not intended).

Back up to “I always feeeeel like, somebody’s watchiiing meeeee.”

Watching.

Lately I’ve been watching that TV show Pan Am

It’s a pretty good show.

Airlines.

Flying.

When did people get so unclassy when they fly? I mean, people will roll their over heavy roller bag (that they can’t possibly lift into the overhead bin) over your foot just to grab at a tiny bag of peanuts.

It wears me out.

Ok, this is going nowhere.

Back it up to gourd.

Gourds.

Cornucopia.

Pilgrims.

Thanksgiving.

Masssssshhhhed poooootatoes…..: droooool :

Ok. Now I’m just hungry.

And I’ve made no progress on the whole gourd issue.

So I’ll leave you with this: A website dedicated to gourds.

The World of Gourds

And now, at the end of this rambling, shambling blog post dedicated to gourds, on the day after I wrote a whole post about floors, I can only say…..

I must be totally out of my gourd.

Obessed by Floors

Posted on November 9, 2011November 9, 2011
by Karen Fayeth
2 Comments

There’s this hotel in San Francisco that’s technically in the Financial district but really is so close to the Embarcadero you can taste it (not that you’d actually want to taste the Embarcadero. That’s just ew.).

The hotel is the Hyatt Recency and it’s not only a hotel, it’s also a movie star. The Hyatt featured prominently in the Mel Brooks movie High Anxiety and also served as the lobby for the The Towering Inferno.

I am utterly fascinated by this hotel. It’s a quirky place and definitely has this 1970’s vibe. It was opened in 1973 and I’m guessing it was pretty cha-cha for the time.

It’s odd shaped. The huge atrium is profound. The open hallways looking into the atrium do give a bit of vertigo.

But while that’s all fascinating…it’s the floors that get me. I’m literally obsessed with these floors.

Here’s a couple photos. The patterns just kill me! (in a good way)

I can’t even begin to imagine how long it took to lay all of those tiles in patterns across not only the huge hotel atrium but also on all four buildings of the shopping center next door.

The floors have a seventies vibe, to be sure, but there is something engaging about them too.

I can catch a glimpse of these floors in a movie or old photo and I know exactly where they are.

It’s just another one of those oh-so-uniquely San Francisco things.

Yes, I wrote a whole blog post about floors.

Photographs by Karen Fayeth, Copyright 2011, and subject to the Creative Commons license in the far right corner of this blog. Photos takes with an iPhone4 (I haven’t set up the new phone yet) and using the Camera+ and Hipstamatic apps.

Bonus Post: The Runners Up

Posted on November 9, 2011November 9, 2011
by Karen Fayeth
No Comments

(I futzed with the time on this post so it would appear after the one above)

The other items I’m obsessed about at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco.

The capsule elevators in the atrium:

The cascading wall of twinkle lights over the lounge:

Quality Control

Posted on November 7, 2011November 9, 2011
by Karen Fayeth
4 Comments

You might recall a few months back (July, actually) I posted a story about San Francisco’s celebration for a glass.

A perfect, petite glass, just ripe to be filled to the rim with Irish coffee.

This past weekend, The Good Man and I had much to celebrate, so we spent the weekend rabble rousing from one end of the beautiful City of San Francisco to the other.

It was a magical weekend.

After consuming an insane amount of food at Tadich Grill, a venerable old place dating back to 1849, we set out on the quite stormy Saturday night and ultimately found ourselves at the Buena Vista down on the Wharf.

The Buena Vista is one of my most favorite places in the City. Especially on a cold, rainy night.

I was there in an official capacity, of course. It was necessary to investigate this whole glass issue for myself.

You know, in the interest of quality control and all that.

After the first Irish Coffee, I was intrigued.

After the second Irish Coffee, I was quite contemplative.

After the third Irish Coffee, I was…wait…what were we talking about…..?

*hic* Yes, I found the glasses at the BV to be of fine quality and most upstanding in their capacity to serve a nice warm beverage.

Or something.

I slept rather well that night, too……

All photographs Copyright Karen Fayeth, 2011, and subject to the Creative Commons license found in the right column of this page.

Photos taken with my iPhone4 and the Hipstamatic app.

Electronic Confession

Posted on November 3, 2011November 3, 2011
by Karen Fayeth
19 Comments

I don’t really consider myself to be a gadget kind of girl. I mean, I do like my electronic device (ahemiPadcoff) now and again, but I don’t tend to get every new device the moment it hits the market.

It’s just not that important to me. Fer goodness sakes! I still have a tube television! (*gasp*)

The iPod I use is the second generation shuffle, which is still my favorite iPod.

I do have an iPhone 4, but I bought that when I started this job almost 17 months ago. I had an iPhone 3 prior, but an OS update had rendered it unusable (sooo slooow), so I upgraded to a new device.

My iPhone4 works great. I’m happy with it. Nary a problem. Yep. It’s all good.

So I was looking in my work ordering system the other day, and lo and behold, it reported I was eligible for a phone upgrade.

And I thought naaaah, I don’t need a new iPhone 4s.

And I thought naaah.

And I thought some more.

And then I thought…well maybe.

And I thought. And thought.

And then without thinking, I ordered one.

(My employer doesn’t pay for the device, by the way. Only the service.)

Gah!

Maybe I am a bit of a gadget head. At least about Apple gear. I’m quite susceptible to the magic they weave.

Do you suppose Siri will take my confession?