Baghdad By The Bay – One day when I die and go to heaven I'll look around and say, "It ain't bad, but it ain't San Francisco"

December 9, 2019December 17, 2019

Winter In New England

I shot some video today that I suspect my friends in San Francisco would say, oh hell no! about living in New England in the winter. While it’s not that bad for me I can see why living here is not for the faint of heart.

We had weather yesterday that we got to wake up to 4° and now today it’s 50° and tomorrow it will be possible 60°. In my mind this is good because it will melt the snow which we might get 1″-4″ of snow two days from now. To be honest, stop reading this and click on the video because a picture is worth a thousand words and a video is worth, I don’t know a million?

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December 1, 2019December 1, 2019

Throw Back To 1976…

Last time it snowed in San Francisco was 1976 and it was fun because snow was unheard of in San Francisco. Now that I’m in New England it’s a yearly thing, but still, being a San Francisco native there’s just something magical about it.

I had to shoot a little video of our first snow here since it was late this year. I kind of like driving in the snow, but this year it was coming down so fast and I didn’t have snow tires on the car that I was fish tailing a bit, but I made it home fine during my drive.

Hopefully you’ll enjoy the video and if you’re still in San Francisco and don’t have to deal with this then be happy. It’s just something that is so odd to me that I get a smile on my face when it happens…

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November 29, 2019December 17, 2019

How Do People Live Where It Gets So Cold?

Apparently a cold front has hit San Francisco and it’s down in the 40’s at the moment and lots of my friends and acquaintances on FaceBook are complaining about how cold it is.

Granted, being a native I would probably be saying the same thing if I was there, but now that I’m not and have had to experience winter in the teens and for a few days in the single digits I’ve learned a few things that explain why people [like me] live in places where it gets cold and snowy.

We don’t have as much wind here: Granted SF isn’t called the Windy City, but the wind blows and that makes 50° weather seem cold. We do get occasional bursts of wind for a day or two, but you’re usually not spending too much time outside because you’ve got larger living spaces and you only have to walk about 10′ to get to your car.
We have heat: Sure, lots of places in SF have heat as well, but there are plenty of apartments and houses that have old or non-existent heating systems that do little to heat the house so you have to rely on space heaters which are better than nothing, but won’t give you a warm to the bone feeling.
Humidity can be your friend: This was a weird one for me. It was 48° one day and I stupidly walked outside with a t-shirt and jeans on and realized that it wasn’t that bad. I actually put the garbage out this morning in 28° with a hoodie and jeans and it felt cold, but I wasn’t fazed by it too much. Humidity sucks when it’s hot, but when it’s cold it adds an odd layer of insulation that makes it feel warmer. That’s why weather apps have the temperature and the feels like next to it.
We sell clothes for cold weather: Sure, you could find cold weather clothes in SF, but parkas and snow pants were a little tougher to find. Not a problem here. I’m really fond of the fleece lined jeans I got at Costco that when I mentioned them on FaceBook found out that they are available in the Bay Area, so I suggest you go get them right now if you don’t like cold. They’re super comfortable and a bit water resistant if you get any rain [which I understand you’re getting right now].
We have to deal with it every year: It happens every year so we don’t mind spending $350/year to have someone come out twice a year to check our heating and AC. We have that extra money because the winter clothes are actually cheaper here and then, well everything here is a lot cheaper.

I’ve actually been out clothes shopping a bit after doing a good job last winter, but fixing a few things I missed. I found a parka this year and some cool Wellington snow boots and a couple of hats to make me look like someone out of a pic of winter in Russia. This Sunday we’re going to get our first snow they’re saying and it could be up to a foot. We’re prepping our lawn area in front with snow spikes so when the city has their snow plows come by they won’t take out our curbs or lawn and we have a supply of ice melt to help with the driveway even though we have a young guy who comes and snow plows and cleans our driveway when it snows. I do have to get the snow tires put in the one of our cars, but I probably won’t need to drive that one until next week.

I took my daughter out for a drive this afternoon and while it’s only 35° out [which doesn’t seem bad after being here for a year and a half] I did notice lots of people out walking that were testing out their parkas for the coming weather. There were also the girls in their down jackets and leggings showing off their winter bods for the guys that was well appreciated of course.

Stay warm my friends and look in some out of the way places to help you find clothes to stay warm.

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July 7, 2019December 17, 2019

Save the GWHS Murals

I attended and graduated from George Washington High School, class of 1980. Every day when I walked down the halls I saw WPA on the walls that I knew about not from school teaching so much as because my Uncle Al’s first wife, Shirley Staschen Triest was a WPA artist that helped paint the murals in San Francisco’s Coit Tower.

Apparently a few people who aren’t former students of GWHS and from what I can tell aren’t even residents of San Francisco have been offended by this historical artwork and have convinced the current Board of Education to have it covered up at an estimated cost of $600,000.

I could go into the history of this artwork, but I won’t because this story has reached nationwide status that you can find through a quick google search. I may be a bit naive, but when I attended in the late 70’s I didn’t see it the way those who are offended saw it.

Their offense is with the included photo above. Those offended see Washington directing soldiers to go west and kill everyone who gets in their noted by the dead Indian in the painting.

I suppose I could see it interpreted that way, but I never saw a dead Indian. It didn’t make sense that you’d have a couple of guys [one being a Native American] sitting and having a chat next to a dead body. I always thought he was sleeping because that’s what made sense to me. The soldiers aren’t in uniform and actually are Lewis and Clark who did go west exploring the country. Thomas Jefferson sent them on their quest of exploration, but I guess the truth doesn’t always make it into art.

OK, I understand how each person can interpret art for themselves, but there are other paintings that the offended are ignoring. Like this painting.

I’m still not sure what’s going on here, but I see Native Americans interacting in trade with the new Americans seemingly all smiles and then in the upper left we have them attacking surrendering American soldiers. Those offended by the painting focus only on the two slaves working the fields in the upper right hand corner.

Then there’s this mural painting that doesn’t get brought up either.

Shouldn’t I be offended at the British soldiers attacking American civilians or should I be happy that they’re rising up against the oppression of the English Crown that they came to America to escape? No one mentions this.

These murals were painted by Victor Arnautoff, a WPA artist who was a disciple of Diego Rivera and also [along with Shirley Staschen Triest] helped paint the murals of Coit Tower. In his time with Diego Rivera he began to lean more and more to the left until he became a communist and wanted to show in the murals that the founding of the US wasn’t all nice and rosy. This is what the people offended by the murals are also saying oddly enough.

While I was unaware apparently there was some concern as well in the late 60’s which caused the City to hire Dewey Crumpler to paint some murals in the school that were more along with the times and far more ethnically diverse. Mr. Crumpler is also against the removal of the Arnautoff murals even though he was hired to paint murals to balance them out.

Art is art and should be preserved for it’s historical relevance to the time it was made. It’s not always nice, neat and pleasant to look at, but it’s necessary because it causes a change in the viewer.

If you’ve read this far, I have started a petition at change.org to Save the GWHS Murals. Will it work? I don’t know, but at least there are many of us making a statement that they would like to see this historic artwork remain and not be covered up at a great expense to the City of San Francisco. If you agree please sign the petition. The SF Board of Education is notified of this petition as it grows.

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June 13, 2019December 17, 2019

I’m Not Dead Yet

Well if finally happened. After almost a year and a half after being told I needed bypass surgery I was able to have the surgery and as you can tell if you’re reading this…I survived.

I will say that it wasn’t the most pleasant thing to have done to me, but that was just over two weeks ago and I’ve lost over 10 lbs and feeling much better, even if I’m a little slow still.

I won’t be able to drive for four weeks and was told I wouldn’t feel back to normal for about 12 weeks, but hopefully I’ll be able to milk some of this time to be able to sit down and write a little more.

I’ve been keeping an eye on San Francisco and talking with friends who are still there and I am both happy and sad with the few businesses that were still around that helped give the City it’s name closing and new companies moving in selling ridiculously overpriced food and goods that not so many people in the City can afford.

My happiness isn’t a form of schadenfreude, but more a feeling that I am glad I moved when I did. Raising a family was pretty much impossible and it would have gotten even worse if we had stayed. Yes, there are some unpleasant things here like winter which you like the snow at first, but then after three months of cold and snow you’re pretty much done with it, but we have a new car with a very nice heating system and going outside in the snow to go shopping isn’t so bad. Things move a bit slower here so when you call for a doctor’s appointment don’t expect to get one next week and if they offer to book your next appointment six months out then you jump on it.

Things are less expensive here and the crime rate compared to the Bay Area even in the worst areas of the Pioneer Valley are still better than San Francisco and Oakland and income inequality [while some people bring it up here too] is nothing like in the Bay Area.

It’s a change than not too many people would be willing to do, but I’ve oddly enough met quite a few people from the Bay Area who have moved here. You can easily buy a 3 bedroom/2 bathroom house here from $200k-$400k and if you’re a renter you can easily get a nice apartment for $1000/month here [cheaper if you know where to look].

I read about the ridiculous heat wave everyone got a couple of days ago and realized that the old adage of, eh, you don’t need AC in San Francisco. is no longer true. The City gets more than just a few hot days a year and we never used to get hot in June. As I’ve suggested to everyone who complained about the heat, they should just get the $150 window AC unit. You’ll be happier, most of you are apartment dwellers that don’t pay utilities so it won’t cost you anything to run as well. Just cut out a few trips to that local overpriced deli and it’ll be affordable and might help Make San Francisco Great Again. Here when it’s hot everyone has AC and you wouldn’t even know it’s in the upper 90’s outside because it’s a cool 68°-72° inside. Hell, our basement that is six feet under is constantly around 65° year round.

From a distance and after seeing what you can and do outside of San Francisco I do think the City needs to step away and look outside the box to fix some of their problems. Even though most people in the City are now from somewhere else the City makes you forget how you used to deal with problems and seems at times to make them worse. I’ll just leave it at that while I look at what else is going on.

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April 4, 2019December 17, 2019

From The 415 to the 413

One year ago today we packed up and left the house where I was raised, grew up and moved into again after 55 years of living in San Francisco. When the house was finally emptied and we had packed up the car I knew that in driving away I would never see this house in person again.

It was a sad day for me. I had never lived in any other city than San Francisco and while this was an exciting time, it was a terrifying time as well. I hadn’t been on a plane since 2002 I think and our daughter had never been on a plane let alone sleep anywhere else.

The trip went better than expected and I assume you’ve been following along so it was fun to discover new things and re-visit some places I hadn’t seen in 22 years. Overall I’ve been happy with the move and being out of debt and feeling financially secure for the first time in I don’t know how long.

The people of Northampton, MA have been extremely welcoming and helpful to someone who moved from San Francisco, CA unlike what you hear about the reception of San Francisco residents who move to Washington or Oregon. They gave us lots of tips for surviving the hot summers [not really needed since we have central AC] and dealing with the snow in the Winter [not a bad one and we have a Gardner who plows snow for you in the Winter].

I still miss looking out my dining room window and seeing the Pacific Ocean and the smell of the beach [well, maybe the smell of the beach from when I was a kid], but things have been much better for us since we arrived here. The food is good and inexpensive generally, but it’s kind of like pizza places have swapped places with Chinese restaurants here. You can walk down the block and pass 4 pizza places, but you’ll have to drive a bit to find a Chinese restaurant. Mexican food isn’t as bad as people said it would be [because this is Western Mass, not Boston]. Indian food is off the hook here.

Our daughter loves her school and the teachers have been there for years because they can actually afford to live here. The schools as well as the people are very accepting of all students which is nice when you’ve got an autistic daughter that sometimes was looked down upon in SF. The schools are actually helping our daughter to move forward and learn new skills and abilities and to be a part of the school.

So now I kind of have a decision to make for Baghdad by the Bay. I’m not in San Francisco anymore and can’t really experience the things I used to write about in the City. So what should I do now? If you have ideas you can email me any suggestions you might have or comment below. I’m definitely not going to remove the site and all the work I had done, but I’m thinking for now I’ll keep going with the comparison and contrasts of what I’ve seen here.

I also had developed while living in San Francisco a bit of a heart problem in that I’m going to need to have bypass surgery done in the near future. My doctor’s are confident that I’m young and healthy enough to come through it fine, but while I’ve been a bit sparse here, I might be a little more sparse in the near future as I have the surgery done and go through the recovery, but I assume if I’m spending a lot of time in bed that I might have more time to write as well.

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December 27, 2018December 17, 2019

Merry Christmas And Happy New Year

We’re finally settled into our new home in Florence, MA and I do have to say that after a bit of a snowstorm on Thanksgiving [which really wasn’t that bad] it’s been rather mild here compared to what I’ve been told by my neighbors.

Normally we should have snow everywhere, but we’ve only had two days where the snow has actually hung around. Thanksgiving was the worst because we did have to dig out our driveway and school was delayed a couple of hours, but otherwise it’s been business as usual.

The seasons have come around full circle now since we got here for the tail end of winter and saw lots of bare trees only to see them all come back in bloom within a month for Spring then into the hot summer, the lovely colors of fall and now back to winter full force…sort of.

Our coldest morning so far was waking up to 8° which sound pretty awful for people in the Bay Area, but you go to your warm car and then to a warm building, shopping center, grocery store and you only have to deal with it for a couple of minutes. The big thing is the wind. You understand wind chill factor here and learn quickly that it’s a big deal vs. San Francisco weather. 8° is cold, but it’s not as bad as 30° on a windy day. That can just suck all the warmth out of you, but we don’t have windy days too often.

To end out the year I decided to put together a little montage of things I’ve done and seen around Northampton, MA…check it out!

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October 22, 2018October 22, 2018

On The Differences Of New England and the Bay Area

We’re entering fall now here in Northampton and I get to wake up to temperatures around 28° that on a good day warm up to 60°. This is unlike San Francisco where the morning and afternoons are pretty much within 10° of each other.

Before I moved here I read what people didn’t like about San Francisco and oddly enough the New Yorkers always said that it was the change in temperature and after being here for six months I’m sort of…WTF?!?!

I’m adapting well, but it is a bit odd walking out to put my daughter on the school bus at 7:27am [on the nose every day] and it’s really cold compared to San Francisco, but not so bad because people understand how to heat and cool a house. I only need to be exposed to the external elements of hell for a less than a minute so I’m good. Later in the morning when I venture out we have a car which I can remotely start up and warm it up and melt the frost and ice off it and I even have built in ass warmer seats so the ride it quite comfortable compared to San Francisco on a cold day when you started your car in 48° weather and got in freezing your ass off because we don’t think about warming up the car from a distance because the gas tax in California makes it expensive to sit and let your car run without driving it, let alone all the pollution you’re putting into the air.

Well, my fair readers there are a few other things that I have learned after Labor Day that may perhaps shock you. There are changes that occur that those of you out west may be horrified by.

First off, my daughter likes a daily trip to a local chain called Friendly’s after school. She has a thing for bacon and we go there every day even though I feel I could make it just as well at home. The price jumped $4 after Labor Day and I asked and they said, Oh, that was our Summer promotion pricing. Apparently things are cheaper in the Spring and Summer other than Fall and Winter. In my mind you would want to make prices cheaper in Fall and Winter when it’s colder and a lot harder to get people to leave their nice warm homes than to give them a deal when it’s warmer and they’re going out of their house anyway. This isn’t just a Friendly’s thing as there are stores that the prices have increased as well. I suppose it could be because transport in the Winter is more costly because of snow, but I haven’t seen any snow yet…

There are seasonal businesses that shut down after Labor Day. Mostly these are the roadside shacks that sell ice cream or seafood that aren’t the warmest and don’t have an place to sit down inside. Luckily, I’m happy with my ice cream from a pint carton or one of the local restaurants to get my clam strips.

On the other hand, holidays are huge here. We have a lot of distance between homes here, but there are tons of people who have gone all out decorating their houses for Halloween and in talking to my neighbors there are a lot of kids who come knocking at your door. This is interesting to me since I suspect you’ll have to drive the kids or be a marathon runner to get more than a few bite sized bars, but we’ll see. I’m working myself up to take my daughter out. We’re a week away from Halloween, but now it’s hard to find anything to do with Halloween available in stores, so I guess they expected you to buy it all by now.

Yet, Christmas stuff is everywhere and this is a big area for Christmas. Not that Jesus born in a barn in the Middle East Christmas, but more of a Germanic/Americanized trees, ornaments, FOOD sort of thing. There’s way less religion here oddly enough.

Lucky for us we’re finishing up the remodel which was easily affordable here so if we’re stuck inside for a day or two it won’t be so bad. When it’s finished I’ll have a full video to post of it, but things are not so bad here considering all my friends from the Bay Area have been telling me, It’s looks really nice, but I couldn’t deal with Winter. Honestly, Winter doesn’t suck when your community is prepared for it. We’ll be inside and doing lots of cooking and watching lots of movies…

Speaking of movies, here’s one I made of a drive through my neighborhood that’s about five minutes away from downtown Northampton. It was 37° when I shot this video, but rather pleasant in the car…

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October 13, 2018December 17, 2019

Crab Rangoon: No It’s Not Authentic Chinese Food

I knew the history growing up around crab rangoon. It wasn’t a very easy to find appetizer, but suddenly I started hearing people talk about it again on YouTube when I suddenly noticed Asian vloggers telling you that it’s not authentic Chinese food. They’re right, it’s authentic San Franciscan food.

I never saw crab rangoon offered at any of the Chinese restaurants in the City and I even started trying to find it on the menus and finally found it at one restaurant in the Outer Sunset. Oddly enough it’s easier to find at the Hawaiian restaurants you’ll find around the Bay Area, but it’s rare at Chinese restaurants.

So here’s the funny thing about all this. While crab rangoon was invented and first served at Trader Vic’s in Emeryville before moving on their locations it’s nearly impossible to find today in San Francisco. Yet when I moved back east to Northampton, Massachusetts every Chinese restaurant sells it. The grocery stores even sell frozen packages of it.

If you have no idea what crab rangoon is [and you’ll quickly see why it’s not authentic Chinese] it’s a fried appetizer that consists of a won-ton skin filled with crab, green onions and…cream cheese. Tastes great in my opinion, but definitely not Chinese. Vic Bergeron took a few liberties when he built his Tiki Bar empire with some of the recipes he introduced.

If you can find it in San Francisco you should try it. I rather like it and you can point out as I do that it’s an authentic San Franciscan dish.

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August 26, 2018October 13, 2018

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

While a lot of what I’ve been posting lately is about how wonderful and rosy everything is here. I do have to admit that there are a few things I encounter here that I didn’t encounter in San Francisco that take a little getting used to. So let me tell you about them.

The following is a list with comments I’ve put together that aren’t in any particular order, but it’s a comparison and contrast of living in San Francisco to living in Northampton, MA that is taking a little getting used to:

You’ll drive more to get places: but you’ll get better gas mileage and it’ll take you less time to get there.
It’s hot and humid in summer and cold and dry in winter: Make sure any place you think of getting has central air and heating. You’ll thank me for that advice.
Did I mention it’s humid?: It rains a lot and you’ll get wet, but in the summer it can be like getting in a shower.
Snow…it freezes and gets slippery: You’ll need an SUV for the family and definitely snow tires for the winter.
Bugs: We got them. BIG BUGS. You’ll have lots of mosquito bites when you get here, but luckily most bugs don’t come inside. See picture above. I had to get rid of a wasp nest in front of our house in the first week.
Vermin: It’s cute here. Chipmunks, squirrels, bunnies are all over, but they can do the same damage as mice and rats.
Gender fluidity is really fluid here: Sometimes you’ll be talking to someone and you just can’t figure out if they’re male or female. It’s not unusual to find women with mustaches and men with breasts who are still actually female or male. I kind of got hit on by a lesbian who didn’t realize I was male.
Healthcare is either free or really cheap: But it’s a headache to get set up right.
Doctors are different: They seem more interested in asking about your sex life and sexual partners than whether or not you physically feel OK.
People are different: They’re really, really nice and helpful and don’t have a chip on their shoulder. That’s a good thing, but it’s weird compared to San Francisco.
People are people: There’s way less us vs. them here. It’s a bit homogeneous, kind of like the Marina in SF and people put themselves before their ethnicity. Pride day wasn’t trying to make a statement so much as being a celebration for all.
Food: There are farms everywhere so fresh produce and meat is pretty easy you just have to check out a few places to find the best deals. While we live ten minutes from downtown Northampton and thirty minutes from Springfield, MA there are farms that sell direct within five minutes.
Eating Out: Mexican and Chinese food can be had, but it’s a bit of work to find it and don’t be surprised if you see a pulled pork burrito or Philly cheesesteak egg rolls. Those are a thing in Western Mass.
Walmart: You’ll end up loving it and hating yourself for loving it, but the people are paid pretty well here and get a 401k as well, unlike in other parts of the country that you hear about in the news.
Clothing: You’ll need a lot of it for the different seasons. It’s not uncommon for the basement of a house to have a cedar lined room for your winter clothes
Houses: Closer to town is more money, but usually older and might have a few problems. You can get newer houses 5-10 minutes from downtown, but you still need to check the year it was built. Some can be awesome, others will definitely need work. The most striking part is that because the houses aren’t butt up against each other they look small, but when you read the stats of the houses they’re actually bigger.
Schools: They’re great especially if you’ve got a special needs kid, but you just have to learn the language they speak because it’s a little different than in California. As mentioned before gender identity is a really big thing here, even more so than in San Francisco.
It’s so “White” here: Actually it’s not. Hispanics are included as Caucasian, Spanish Surname. Yes, compared to San Francisco it’s going to look a whole lot more white, but it’s really a whole lot less Asian until you notice the large East Indian population that’s here as well and the fact that the population while diverse is a bit more homogeneous and adaptive.

That’s a good start for now. I’m sure there will be more added to it over time. I have yet to experience anything really abhorrent here, but there are a few things that we’ve needed to adjust to. I’m still not sorry I had to move, but the Connecticut River isn’t quite the replacement for the Pacific Ocean and yes, there is sourdough bread here, but it’s not as sour as in San Francisco. If anything it makes me question how special San Francisco sourdough is since it doesn’t taste too much different here.

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