Blah Blah Blog

We don't know what part of this sentence we like better:

"Awesome last name recipient and New York Times contributor Nicole Spiridakis ..."

SFist has picked up on the awesomely last named awesome NYTimes article about an up-and-coming SF neighborhood and -- since all blogs are only about the blogger anyway -- the item became vitriol magnet for author Brock Keeling.

Our favorite, posted anonymously: "If you call the Western Addition, NOPA, you deserve the stabbing or shooting your stupid white ass will get." Ouch.

New York Times? N(o)P(a)!

The embargo has been lifted, and with it, our spirits.

peepsNet is pleased to reveal that Nicole has crashed through the gates of that certain East Coast newspaper of record with an article about a cool, emerging neighborhood in that West Coast town where she insists she must live.

Sunday's New York Times -- Travel Section, page 4, as earlier alluded to -- carries Nicole's homage to NOPA -- "the name stands for “north of the Panhandle,” that sliver of green jutting east from Golden Gate Park — was once known mostly for low-income housing and random shootings," Nicole writes. "But an influx of attention-getting restaurants and boutiques in the last decade has made it one of the city's cooler destinations, even as it struggles to maintain its gritty individuality," she continues, mocking the inaccessibility of this budding paradise to we Right Coast denizens.

The story is already on the web (yes, that is about the 11th link to it in this pimping puff piece. You should be so lucky.) but we cannot wait to see it in print which, as any New York Times reader will tell you (assuming that Jane O’Shaughnessy speaks for us all), is all that really matters.

peepsNet takes special note of the special care the NYT gave Nicole's article, commissioning a lovely illustration by Jorge Columbo to which we have linked, the better to shore up the paper's sagging readership.

No charge, Gray Lady. A reciprocal link would be just fine.

I'm Just Sayin'

I know you are all as upset as peepsNet is with the New York Times shrinking and all, but wait until Sunday before you give up on the Gray Lady.

Travel Section.

Page 4.

I'm just sayin'.

Counter Culture -- I Wish I Had Thought Of That

Nicole is at it again: tormenting all those SF renters who'd rather just like to kick back with an Anchor Steam and watch The Bionic Man set a home run record with even more ways to productively fill their down time.

Now it's indoor gardening. This, from a girl who lives five blocks from a farmer's market and is already booked solid through her 30th birthday (the planning for which has begun, I am sure).

Take a breather and stop making the rest of us look like lazy bums. We like the produce section at Ralphs. We consider vegetables optional anyway. Give us more stuff like you don't have to clean the place all the time. And since you're up, get us a beer.

9 Reasons

9 Reasons Originally uploaded by Samer Farha.

More DCist love for Samer.

Of course, peepsNet will publish anything having to do with RFD.

Arlington Fly Over

Arlington Fly Over Originally uploaded by Samer Farha.

Another DCist capture for Samer

"I'm sitting here catching up on some blogs and getting ready for work when this high pitched scream of airplane engines rattles my place. Instinctively, I knew it was either a B-52 or a few fighter jets, and I ran to grab my camera.

They were probably doing a fly over at Arlington National Cemetery, which is a mere 1.5 miles away. Sadly, it's a pretty regular occurrence, though normally it happens around 10a or later, when I'm not home."

It's A Good Thing

She's at it again.

No, not squandering her feminist inheritance (well, maybe a little -- but it's worth it) but spreading a bit of renter wisdom in the pages of the Chron and its site.

We are looking forward to tear-inducing prose when Nicole goes to Greece later this month. Really. Expectations are high. Really high. And pictures -- we'll want lots of pictures.

Watch This Space

"L C Smith" Originally uploaded by John C Abell
peepNet knows all about secrets and always respects embargoes -- if The Price is Right (we'll miss you Bob). Our iron-clad code of conduct dictates that we sometimes can't divulge what we know or even acknowledge that we know something that we know. You know?

So let's just say that we are ... intrigued at a little aside over at cucinanicolina and just plain curious to know what Nicole means when she says that she

"got a piece of rather spectacular news the other day, but I'm going to hold on to it a bit until I have something more concrete to show for it."

How spectacular, you ask?

"Needless to say, an already gold-star day of 80-degree temperatures here in San Francisco was elevated to new and glorious heights."

Damn. That girl can write.

Anyway, let's just say peepNet is as much in the dark as anyone and just hopes to be on the release list when the big story breaks. Yeah. That's it.

Break Through

Break Through Originally uploaded by Samer Farha.

This April 3 shot, taken while Samer was in Toronto on business, gives him a breakthrough in the "ist" arms race: Samer, 2 (DCist, Torontoist), Nicole, 1 (SFist).

Fronted on Torontoist on June 12.

Blue Glow

Blue Glow Originally uploaded by Samer Farha

Another DCist credit for Samer.

Maybe he should be selling these? Blogging about his photographic experiences? Huh?

Katie of Spain

Katie's annual pilgrimage to Seville wasn't all play this year.

She was commissioned by the BBC to do a photo essay on Feria de Abril a week-long party that is said to attract a million people.

Amber Waves

Amber Waves, originally uploaded by Samer Farha

Samer again gets some DCist Picture of the Day love with this shot of a cool ale -- not too cool, peepsNet hopes.

He deserves recognition just for pausing long enough to take a picture of this thing of beauty, a mere millimeters away.

Cooking with Gas

Are you one of those apartment dwellers who loves to give dinner parties but labors with a lousy oven? You are not alone. But you probably can't tell the tale as well as our Nicole, who lives to cook and bake. You have seen her blog, no?

Let's hope the folks over at Viking or Wolf put her out of her misery. She has people to feed -- lots of them.

Just thought of this: why doesn't the SFGate allow comments on stories? I think peepsNet will ask ...

SFist Mention for cucinanicolina

We read her regularly of course but it's nice to know that SFist also knows what a super blog Nicole has going on over at cucina nicolina.

So, we have a coast-to-coast smackdown going on now between Samer, whose had a number of pictures published by DCist, and Nicole.

Who to root for. Decisions, decisions.

Round Corner

Round Corner Originally uploaded by Samer Farha.

Another DCist credit for Samer

A Pattern Starts to Form

It will never get boring but it is nice to have Nicole's byline appearing in the San Francisco Chronicle becoming routine.

$12 Million or So

$12 Million or So, originally uploaded by Samer Farha.

Samer thinks he got really close to a lot of money today.

This automobile, if a genuine Ferrari 250 GTO would be one of fewer than 40 ever made.

I'm sure he still loves his VW very, very much.

Godfather of Odd Breaks his Silence

We don't know whether to call him the "Odd God" or the "King of Odd" or our personal favorite -- Evil Prince Adobe -- but Bob has been interviewed by about.com about (hey -- I wonder if that's why they bought that domain!) his blogging empire over at reuters.com.

For infrequent readers Bob blogs about the Oddly Enough news category he also edits, and the "Good, Bad and Ugly" section, which deals with reader feedback

Samer's Northern Exposures

Samer has compiled another stunning photo portfolio during his recent trip to Toronto.

The 74 images cover a wide range of subjects: buildings, architectural detail, people, shapes, colors. Oh yes -- there are the obligatory handful of shots involving drinking.

We don't know if Samer will write a guest column about his travels, and his comments on flickr are spare.

Of course, the pictures speak for themselves quite nicely.

The Res-Man is back, Baby!!!

Would you hire this man?

Jon advises that he is "back in the breaking news game" as an Intake Producer for AP in DC. The gig at APTN starts on Monday.

The Res-Man was a star at Reuters TV when he was plucked to be a member of the elite Reuters Washington Multimedia Desk (in what seemed like a shrewd career move at the time. What's up with that?)

After careful consideration we have decided to dispense with the obvious jokes, but here was our working outline when we were going there:

• Check "My Yahoo!" for Hell weather forecast
• Google last time Christmas fell in April
• Google last time Chanukah fell in April
  
• April Fool's prank by Samer?
• "Intake Producer" = "Receptionist"?

While peepsNet is delighted that Jon is no longer a burden on society and Sara, we hope that his golf game won't suffer and that he will make the right priority calls when sailing season begins in earnest.

Congratulations, Jon. And drinks are on you.