Student Visionary of the Year


Floyd's Student Visionary of the Year Campaign benefitting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has come to a close. His team, "Cancer's Collapse," took first place in the Golden Gate chapter. Thank you to everyone who contributed. You can read about the gala and more in this blog post.


Here Comes Johnny Singin' Oldies, Goldies


Blogging Tunes: TV on the Radio - Dear Science

Preamble: if you're only going to skim this, please scroll to the bottom for the most important part of this post about this year's Light the Night Walk.

Scroll down for info on the 2012 Light the Night Walk

I guess it's kind of pathetic that my primary means of discovering new(er) music is investigating Phish covers. I guess I still don't really get Pandora (let alone Spotify.)  Anyway, for whatever reason, Phish recently started playing a song called Golden Age.  I sensed at once that it wasn't an original, but after listening a couple times, I realized I had no clue what it was.  Now I'm sure that several readers of this blog (ejsphi and Matty Nabib to name two) are gonna be all, "jg, how do you not know about this album?"  Alas, I'm listening to TVotR's "Dear Science" for the first time as I write this (on the Larkspur ferry on the way home from work -- the sun reflecting off the water and the Golden Gate bridge to the West.) [follow up before posting: ironically, this was about the same time as the explosions started in Richmond.]

Two tracks in, it's quite strange, but enjoyable.  Unique instrumentation and arrangements.  These guys have a pretty original sound -- that's a plus for me, and a primary reason I still love bands like Air and The B-52s. Can't say I love this yet, but so far it's ok.

Music has been top of mind recently as I attended Phil Lesh's new club not once, but twice, in the last two weeks.

Left to Right: Fake Jerry, Stanley Jordan, Phil Lesh - 7/27/2012

Phil with Yonder Mountain String Band - 8/4/2012


I can't believe it took me that long to check this place out.  It is literally an 18 minute walk from my house -- yes, I timed it -- and I can see good music there, pretty much whenever I want.  Yet another perk of living in San Rafael.  The place is just amazing -- it's so small and the sound is perfect.  Get there 10 minutes before show time and you can get a spot right up front.  The best thing?  All tickets are Will Call, which essentially destroys any possibility of a secondary market.  Brilliant.  Personal goal: go there once a month for the next several years.  Want to join me for a show?  Keep your eye on the event calendar and get in touch!

This Friday I'm going to Outside Lands (thanks to Salesforce for a free VIP pass!) Very psyched to see Beck and Neil Young.  I've also heard good things about Fitz and the Tantrums.  Here's the Friday lineup.

We're also gearing up for the San Francisco Phish shows at the Bill Graham Auditorium next weekend.  Looks like I'm only going to Friday and Saturday (both with Heather, Friday with Floyd too).  Was planning on Sunday, but since we're on a plane at 7am Monday morning, I think I'm going to skip.

On to the medical update.  No real change at my last appointment with Dr. Damon.  The GVHD doesn't seem to be getting any worse -- I can't really tell if it's getting better, but it's definitely not worse -- which is good.  Now I think I just need to push into the pain a little stretch out my fingers, wrists, arms, etc.  I've been biking to the ferry once a week, but haven't gotten into the pool as much as I'd like.  Next visit isn't after I return from Europe (going for a week vacation and a week to work -- the aforementioned flight.)

The kids are having a great summer and are finally starting to get along a bit better.  Here are a few pics from Lemos Farm in Half Moon Bay where we celebrated Saanvi Chawla's third birthday last Saturday.  The place is awesome for kids.  Check out the website.

Floyd at 44"
Orion at 37"

Orion looking adorable

Orion the future heart-breaker
Floyd riding a pony

Orion riding a pony

Silly mommy and daddy

Floyd is really getting into hitting (baseball, not Orion) and we got him his first aluminum bat a couple weeks ago.  Here's a 7 second video of him getting a hold of one at a nice field at Dominican.



Heather is also really getting into some awesome gardening and landscaping projects.  Here's a preview of part of the stone path to the front door.  My wife is the greatest!

Side path from daddy's spot in the driveway (in progress)

OK, the important part -- now we'll see how strong my readership really is, or whether people stopped paying close attention when it became clear that I was going to live. :)  I am on a Mission and I need your help.  Last year, with your support, we raised over $60k for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society via the San Francisco Light the Night walk.  This year, my Mission is to lead Salesforce.com to raise even more funds -- the goal?  $100,000.  The walk is on Thursday, October 18, 2012 in Union Square.  It is family-friendly 2 mile, flat walk.  Here's a 60-second PSA:



There are so many ways to help -- I'm very confident that everyone reading this can participate in one of the following 4 ways:
  1. Walk with us!  Sign up to join the San Francisco Salesforce team.  You do not have to be a Salesforce employee to walk with us.  Here is the sign-up form.  Heather, Floyd, Orion, and I will be doing the walk again this year -- well, Orion will probably stroll.  Once you sign up, you'll get a customizable page like mine, and you can raise money too.
  2. Start your own SF team!  Do you work in San Francisco?  Want to get your company involved?  Building a team and fundraising is easy with the help of the LLS.  Here's some info on how you can start your team, or you can email nicole.chapman(at)lls[dot]org.
  3. Walk in your city!  Don't live in SF?  No problem.  There are walks in dozens of major cities around the US.  Find a walk near you and you can experience the amazingness that is Light the Night (and raise money too.)
  4. Support me by donating!  Here's my Light the Night page where you can donate online.  Donating just takes a few clicks and is tax deductible!  Every little bit helps.  Thanks for helping me meet my personal goal of $25,000 and helping Salesforce.com raise $100,000.
For more information about the Light the Night walk, and how to get involved, visit the Ways to Participate page.

I walk (and kick) because somebody's life depends on it.

-jg

Comments

  1. Great blog entry - thanks for posting! Love, love, love the photos! :)

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  2. You're right - what took you so long with TV On The Radio? Can't believe I forgot to send that rec. to you, but I also wasn't sure it was the kind of thing you'd dig. I still think you need to give Bryan Scary more of a shot... listen to their newest one, "Daffy's Elixir" - two or three times through and I think you'll agree that it's a masterpiece.

    While you're at it with "Golden Age," check out The Asteroid Galaxy Tour... they also have a song called "Golden Age" that I love, and the whole first album Fruit (Frooo-it?)is good stuff.

    Glad to hear you finally made it to Phil's club! Someday we'll be able to get the time and money to visit our friends who aren't in the Northeast again, and I will descend upon you and expect to get to that place at least twice while I'm there.

    Meanwhile, I'll be kicking it to your Light The Night walk again, so keep kicking, and I'll talk to you sometime soon, my friend.

    Nabib

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