49 square miles surrounded by reality*

San Francisco never ceases to entertain, inspire and surprise me. We spent the long weekend dining, drinking, riding ferrys & tandems thru the fog and hiking Mt. Tam.

The Bay Bridge was closed, but it still looked pretty...

view from the Ferry Building, after a memorable dinner at the Slanted Door

mural in the mission

rooftop @ SFMOMA

Where's Waldo? View from SFMOMA

Andrea Zittel's trailer parked in SFMOMA

A wonderfully intoxicating beverage by Beretta

Riding a tandem bike across the Golden Gate Bridge, wrapped in fog

Our gracious hosts

Cozy tandems!

Andy Goldsworthy's Spire in Golden Gate Park

eating wild berries

Flora Grub

Floating Woolly Pockets!

A perfect day on the bay

passing by the other famous prison

Woke up early for an epic hike from Stinson Beach up Mount Tamalpais

starting out early in the lowlands

golden fields bathed in sunlight

making our way on the trail

just when we thought it couldn't get any more scenic, we entered Muir Woods

7.5 miles later, we're back at Stinson!

If Stinson was a car, it'd be a green Datsun 510

A jump in the ocean followed by the best milkshake ever!

*Paul Kantner of the rock band Jefferson Airplane

Los Angeles is falling apart...

...but the LADWP can only think of raising water and electricity rates. For years, they've ignored the aging infrastructure lurking all around us. Only concerned with guaranteed yearly pay raises, generous pensions and maintaining an iron hand grip over city politicians, the DWP forgot they actually had a job to do. Now we're all facing the serious consequences, even firemen!

Al Franken passes his first test

Congratulations Al Franken! You managed to calm the hostile mob of angry health care anti-reformists!



I bet you could win the Kobayashi Maru scenario!

Does California possess a diversified fleet of firefighting aircraft?

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times / August 31, 2009)

Smoke from the Station fire over the Angeles National Forest as seen from a helicopter.

A non scientific survey of watching fires raging on the evening news tells me that for the most part, Southern California relies primarily on helicopters for aerial firefighting. Planes can typically carry much larger loads of water and retardant, though they might be less maneuverable and precise as helicopters. Still shouldn't we have more fixed wing aircraft to fight the fires we know are coming year in and year out? We even go so far as to lease 2 highly effective "Super Scooper" planes from Canada every fall.



The SGV Tribune asks the question:

What if California had its own water-scooping giant airplanes and kept them year-round? Wouldn't it make a tremendous difference in the ability to knock down a wildfire quickly? Wouldn't they seriously cut down on the loss of life and property?

I think it's time for our elected officials to answer this question. Is there a preference for purchasing helicopters over fixed wing aircraft? Is this preference justified given the vastly greater capabilities of fixed wing aircraft?

The last 9 weeks

"These bladder wheeled bicycles are diabolical devices of the Demon of Darkness. They are contrivances to trap the feet of the unwary and skin the nose of the innocent. They are full of guile and deciept! When you think you have broken one to ride and subdued its wild and Satanic nature, behold it bucketh you off in the road and teareth a great hole in your pants. Look not upon the bike when it bloweth upon its wheels, for at last it bucketh like a bronco and hurteth like thunder. Who has skinned legs? Who has a bloody nose? Who has the ripped breeches? They that daly along with the bicycle!

from a sermon, Maryland, 1896.
As quoted from: A social History of the Bicycle, Robert A. Smith
found at Atomic Cycles

I've spent many weeks pondering this quote, since grabbing a faceful of L.A.'s finest asphalt.

Lucky for me, the LAFD was still fully staffed at the time.

And I was just dazed enough to make light of the whole experience. Actually, my thumb was the real victim, broken and in need of surgery, a couple pins and 6 weeks of immobilization...

A cast is a dignified accessory, like a pocket watch or kerchief. A real conversation starter.

In the meantime, the camera provided me a chance to disassociate from my broken body, temporarily at least. The Tour De France and a couple New Yorkers also filled my hours on the couch...


Oh, and a trip to Hawaii....and Oregon....




oh yeah, & Idaho....




on the way home, the window seat proved to be irresistible. So I reached across Heather who was seated in it to record this sequence:





Here's a funny story. After the cast finally came off, I found this lodged in my chin. A bit of roadway briefly sheltered in my face:


Last weekend, we needed to escape the smoke for at least a couple hours...


It seems we weren't the only ones...