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San Francisco OutingDebbi and I have had a hankering to go into San Francisco for something other than routine shopping for a while, so I suggested that we do so yesterday. We had a great time - helped by the overcast weather which we think dissuaded some of the tourists - and did a number of things we've wanted to do. Debbi has been aghast that I've lived here five years and haven't yet been on a cable car, so we parked at the Fifth-and-Mission garage and took a cable car over the hill to Fisherman's Wharf. Fun! I recommend it - but hold on when going up those hills! Lunch was at Fuddrucker's, a burger joint I'd been to in Minneapolis and which just opened a branch near Ghirardelli Square. Their burgers are quite good. Their onion rings, not so much. Then we toddled down to Pier 39 to watch the sea lions for a bit, and took a streetcar back to Market Street. The centerpiece of the trip for me was a visit to the Cartoon Art Museum, which I haven't been to in four years. I still feel like they sould make slightly better use of space than they do (or at least make the rooms a bit more colorful with some professional murals along the top of the ceilings), but it's a fun place to visit, and their new quarters are quite nice (actually I think they've been there for a few years now). The controversial political cartoon feature was the best they had on display yesterday, I think. Their comics-to-film display was okay, though some of their choices of artwork to display was a big odd (Ultimate Spider-Man rather than something more classic?). Still, they're probably limited by what they're able to get their hands on for display. They also have art from a variety of local cartoonists lampooning outgoing SF mayor Willie Brown. Okay, we did give in (or, rather, Deb gave in to me) and did a little shopping. I picked up several used CDs at Amoeba Music on Haight Street (by Elton John and Fates Warning, if you're wondering). Then we saw the tail end of the sunset and the roaring waves at Ocean Beach before heading home. We felt pretty good about the whole trip. It's nice to get away for a day and just do some fun things you've been saving up to do, and not feel rushed. The only downer is that Debbi's back started hurting Friday morning and she's been suffering through lower back pain all weekend, taking Ibuprofen for it and finding that even lying down doesn't really help. Neither of us can figure out what she might have done to it, but I sure hope she gets better soon!
 One of my old entries came back to haunt me (or something) today. Early last year I wrote "The Decline of the Baseball Prospectus", and yesterday I received e-mail from one of the Baseball Prospectus authors (who is an acquaintance of mine) saying the authors had noticed the article. He asked if I had any further thoughts on the subjects I wrote about, a year later. (I infer from this both that some of the points I made were of interest to members of the group, and also that I didn't come off as a flaming idiot!) I'm long past the point where I think I can write something here and not have the interested parties find it eventually. I was a bit surprised they hadn't come across it months ago. Information is forever on the Internet (or, as one person put it, the Internet is self-archiving). So I certainly wrote it realizing that the authors might read it, and it was pretty difficult to write, as I recall. I sent back a response clarifying or expanding on my original entry, but by and large my feelings haven't changed much in the past 10 months. I do plan to buy their 2004 book, but I don't often peruse their Web site anymore since I decided not to sign up for their Premium service. It's a little difficult to revisit the subject 10 months later, but I hope my opinions - even as a detractor - are useful. I certainly have a lot of respect for the authors and their work as a whole, even if they have headed in a direction which doesn't work as well for me.
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