As the sun rises on crisp October morning, a young man stands outside his car door and wiggles into a slick, black wetsuit.  A breeze blows sweet, salty air over the long sandy stretch of beach and onto the parking lot where the young man carefully pulls a long, weathered board from his car and moves towards the water, seemingly drawn to it by an invisible cord.

He pauses on the sand, the crashing waves rolling up and nearly reaching his bare toes as he studies the pattern of the rolling white bubbly foam as it breaks up and out of the endless blue-gray soup of sea.  The surfer steps into the soup, his board floating beside him.  He moves onto the board, gliding across the surface of the water, paddling out into the deep ocean.

The young man stops and sits upon the board, bobbing gently over the waves as he stares out at the horizon, waiting patiently.  The world is quiet here.  From the shore, the sea is loud, roaring and crashing onto the land, like a crying baby disturbed from a tranquil sleep.  In the cradle of the ocean, the waves rock the surfer peacefully.

Suddenly, the surfer turns toward the shore, paddling quickly, as the soup swells up behind him, and catches him, like a dance partner in a perfectly choreographed routine.  The surfer pounces, cat-like, onto his feet, riding the board down and across the wave as if sliding across smooth ice.   He cuts the ice, carving through it with the board, flying up into the air and then back onto the wave.    The surfer soars along the water until the wave ends, then he sinks, effortlessly, back into the sea.  Smiling, triumphant, he paddles back out, eager to dance with another wave.  

If you frequent the area near the Millbrae BART station, you may have noticed it.  The smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies permeates the air.  Seriously.  At first, I thought I was imagining it.  Then, my suspicions were confirmed by other passersby—the air indeed smells delicious.  The source is still unconfirmed, but it might be the nearby It’s-It factory or Guittard’s Chocolate Company.  Whoever it is, please keep up the good work.  And feel free to deliver complimentary samples to your neighbors anytime.

I have a confession to make: I abhor baseball. I know that’s Un-American to say, but it’s true. In general, I’m not a big sports fan, but I think baseball is particularly dull. So many innings, and each one so LONG! I mean, can’t they call it good with one out already? And, why is it so difficult to get just one guy around four bases? With a game as slow paced and low scoring as baseball, it’s not exactly a nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat match.

Despite my lackluster feelings for the sport, I leapt at a recent opportunity to attend a Giants game. Mainly because it was free, my friends were all going, and I didn’t have anything else to do that Tuesday night, but also out of sheer curiosity. Would a baseball game in San Francisco be different than a baseball game in the Midwest?

AT&T Park is beautiful, and that alone made it worth the visit. I spent a lot of time walking around the stadium, enjoying the views of the bay, and people watching. Baseball arenas are excellent venues for spotting persons from various walks of life. Old and young, rich and poor, sports fanatics and the non interested (I fall in this category)—all were in attendance.

In spite of the great location and site seeing, the baseball game itself was as expected: boring. Even in San Francisco. Still, I was glad for the experience. Cheering for the Giants made me feel like a true San Franciscan, a part of the community. And really, isn’t that what baseball is all about? Community. Rooting for the home team along with thousands of fans, tossing peanut shells carelessly on the ground, drinking overpriced beer out of plastic cups—we don’t do this at home in front of the television. These are activities that can only be enjoyed at the ball park. (Or maybe a college frat house.)

I still hate baseball. And while I don’t understand why people spend hours in front of the TV watching it, I can see the attraction of going to a game. The peanuts, after all, are excellent.

Also, the Giants won.