Archive for 'san francisco' Category
2008.05.17
Amy and Bill Get Hitched
Speaking of marriage, congratulations to my good friends Amy and Bill… After 10 years they are finally married! I’m writing this after the wedding ceremony at Old Saint Mary’s here in the City. Just dropped off my motorcycle and will head off to the reception.
Yay, Amy and Bill!
2 Comments | Catergorized: friends life san francisco2008.05.13
Million Pirate March
Arrr… It’s pirate time! This Sunday, May 18th, be the Million Pirate March in San Francisco. It just so happens to be the same day and the same course as the famous Bay to Breakers faux-race; the more the merrier!
On May 18, 2008 history will be made when up to 1,000,000 pirates will
march forth toward the sea in San Francisco, California. This is a time to
affirm our love of pirates, parrots and even wooden peg legs.Never before have pirates joined together peacefully in such large numbers
to celebrate… well… being pirates.
I won’t be marching, but I’ll be in the Rose Garden along the course cheering on me mates. Avast! Thanks to Molly McGee for alerting me to this auspicious occasion.
4 Comments | Catergorized: life san francisco2008.04.27
Weird
I never thought I could be so content so alone.
7 Comments | Catergorized: life san francisco2008.04.13
Heat Wave in San Francisco
I am generally not one that enjoys the heat. It’s humid often, you sweat, there’s little escape. I prefer cooler climates. It’s easier to put on layers; at some point you can’t take off any more clothing. This is at times it’s own benefit but not when you have to goto work.
Contrary to my predilection, however, we’ve been going through a little heat wave here in San Francisco and topped 80ºF (27ºC) and it’s been great. Especially at night. Normally once the sun goes down here you’re wearing at a minimum a thin jacket. Friday and Saturday nights were t-shirts only.
Friday my company celebrated an anniversary with a mini-offsite meeting and bowling party. When that ended a group of about 30 of us went to a bar and played pool, threw darts, talked, drank and had a lovely time. When I got home at 11PM (keeping in mind we’d all been drinking since 2PM) it was cooler but quite comfortable.
Last night was amazing, though. A group of us went to my neighbor’s birthday gathering at Zeitgeist and spent hours on the patio in the shockingly warm night air. I’ve never seen the place so crowded. Sadly I’d also never seen so many huppies (hip young professionals) there, either. Poor Zeitgeist, you were discovered and made popular and you’ll probably never be a proper motorcycle bar again.
Today is looking to be just as amazing as the past several. Sadly this scuttles my plans to go for a ride on my motorcycle as far too many people will be out in droves on the roads today. Still, I think I might go find an outdoor cafe somewhere, read a good book and enjoy the day. Temperatures that hold to warm into the late evening generally only happen a few times a year here. I’m planning on taking advantage of it.
1 Comment | Catergorized: food-drink friends life san francisco work2008.03.20
Lucky 18…?
Today was only a half day at jury duty. Two minutes before dismissal for the day (they are still picking jury members) I was called on to sit in juror seat 18. I believe this puts me in the pool of potential alternates, but I’m not sure. The lawyers will get to ask me questions next Tuesday to see if I’m suitable. While there could be worse cases to be on, I’m just bummed that I got picked at the very last moment before leaving. Plus that courtroom is draining. I’m not sure if it’s the light or not.
Anyways, at least my lawyer neighbors will be excited I’m doing my civic duty!
3 Comments | Catergorized: life rights san francisco2008.03.19
Being on Jury Duty Selection
This week I managed to pull jury duty for the Superior Court of California. Sounds intimidating, but the case my group was assigned to isn’t so bad. We’re going through the process of jury selection. So far I am not in the “lucky 18″ but I get to go back in tomorrow for the jury finalization. Last time I pulled jury duty I was bored out of my mind. This time not so much. Listening to the questions asked of each juror and seeing which ones are being dismissed is interesting. I’m trying to figure out why they are dismissing certain jurors because so far there doesn’t seem to be a pattern.
I did meet one of the other jurors (who did get selected for the lucky 18) named Ellen. Very cute. Alas, married. Anyways, I noticed her voice was kind of hoarse so I asked if she was getting sick. No. It turns out she was in a car accident a long time ago and it destroyed her vocal chords and for years she couldn’t talk. Then she had surgery and they put in plastic vocal chords. Cool! I bet she was super excited to be able to talk again.
So jury selection isn’t completely over and I get to go in tomorrow. Afterwards I hope to give a few thoughts and observations because somethings are just… weird.
No Comments | Catergorized: life rights san francisco2008.03.18
“Stranger” Visiting
Doug and Erin at Vesuvio’sThis past weekend Erin McCain, a friend from college, came to visit me here in San Francisco. I hadn’t seen her in almost sixteen years now and had really just had sporadic contact after years of silence in the past couple years. When she said she wanted to get out of Ohio for a bit I told her she should come out here, so she did!
Having moved around so much in my life, my memory is a bit sporadic and definitely contextual. Seeing Erin brought back a lot of memories but also showed me how many gaps there were from back then. For instance I have no real recollection of her boyfriend in college. You’d think that would have been important! Sorry, Erin, I guess he never made much of an impression on me…
Anyways, I played tour guide around the City. We stopped in Berkeley so she could sample Betty’s Oceanview Diner’s espresso filled chocolate “twinkies”. We rode my motorcycle to the Japanese Tea Gardens, out to Ocean Beach, walked around the Haight and Fisherman’s Wharf. Got completely sauced at Ireland’s 32 with Mookee (and learned that one of the previous owners that we liked killed himself, which came as a shock). Walked from where I work near Pier 39 all the way to the Metreon by way of North Beach, China Town and Union Square and took the Hyde Street cable car back to Ghirardelli Square. It’s amazing how much of this City you can see in just a couple days, and yet barely scratch the surface!
It was great to see her and I realize that I really like having guests in town!
3 Comments | Catergorized: food-drink friends motorcycle photos san francisco2008.03.13
Motorcycle Parking in San Francisco
The other day I had a dentist appointment downtown. Usually I take the bus from work because parking is such a pain, but since I rode my motorcycle in I thought I’d look online and see if there was a site that showed me where all the motorcycle parking in San Francisco was located. I got lucky with my first hit. I rode downtown and found parking right away. I even got lucky in that the meter was paid up for the entire day! Quite a resource. There’s also a link to the DPT where there’s a PDF to download. I’m going to load it up on my iPhone and carry it around.
No Comments | Catergorized: motorcycle san francisco2008.03.09
College Republicans Fight to be Uncivil
…free speech does not mean free rein.
In an ironic triumph for First Amendment protections, college Republicans at San Francisco State University have won the right to be uncivil. Yep, they’ve won the right to hurl insults at others, stomp on other ethnic group’s symbolic flags of identity, and attempt to incite angry -and possibly violent- reactions from the crowd.
To the relief of a campus Republican group, the 417,000 students at California State University’s 23 institutions no longer face the possibility of discipline for failing to be civil to one another.The change was part of a settlement approved by a federal magistrate in Oakland this week in a lawsuit by the San Francisco State College Republicans, whose members were subjected to a disciplinary hearing after some of them stomped on two flags bearing the name of Allah during an anti-terrorism rally in October 2006.
The flags represented the militant organizations Hamas and Hezbollah and had “Allah” written on them in Arabic. A student later complained that the College Republicans had engaged in “actions of incivility” and had tried to incite violence and create a hostile environment.
Hurray for College Republicans standing up for all of our rights to free speech! The National Socialist Party of America couldn’t be more proud of them.
In another irony, SFSU president Robert A. Corrigan wrote in 2004 after the incidents that led to the court case that
Taunts, attempts to incite each other to anger and remarks drawing on the worst stereotypes and global fears violate the values of this campus. … Further, exchanging charges of “racism” and “anti-Semitism” with others because of their political affiliation rather than dealing with the substance of the political differences is a dishonest dead end. … On this campus, free speech does not mean free rein.(Emphasis mine. Two sentences removed for brevity; read the whole letter here)
Apparently and sadly, you are wrong Mr. Corrigan! While I do agree with you, college Republicans have won the right to be uncivil with everyone else. I can’t wait for them to start whining that others are being mean to them. Now that would be ironic!
9 Comments | Catergorized: rights san francisco2008.02.24
Want to Learn a Language?
I finally have a reason to get a library card. The San Francisco Public Library system is offering access to the excellent Rosetta Stone Language Courses online, for free. Since I don’t have a library card (yet) I don’t know which languages they are offering, but someone has told me that the two I am most interested in, French and Japanese, are there.
If you’ve wanted to learn another language this is your opportunity! And thanks to my work place for pointing out this great resource!
3 Comments | Catergorized: geek san francisco
