Tag: The City

Gotta Love an Offshore Flow

Most folks in the Bay (Yay) Area are amateur meteorologists.  That’s due to the fact that the weather here is so freaking, ridiculously, nonsensical.   It’s true that you’re just as likely to need a heavy coat in July as you are in January, and the warmest month of the year is usually either September or October.  We’re surrounded by hills and ocean and bay, so there’s all these little pockets where you never know what might happen.   For the most part, though, it’s usually just about 60, year round, day in and day out.

Then every once in a while, the wind changes direction.  See, that 60 comes from the fact that the wind is blowing in from the ocean, usually bringing cooling fog in with it.  In the summer, the fog is with us in the morning, but burns off in the afternoon for a few hours of decent warmth, before the fog returns in the evening.   That fog is what “they” call the natural air conditioning.   This is more so in The City than in the East Bay where I live, but it’s still not as hot here as in the Central Valley, generally.

However, a few days ago, the winds changed, and are coming out of the East, across greater California, keeping out the cooling fog.  It’s toasty.   I love it.  It’s supposed to be in the 90s in The City tomorrow.  For those of you not so great at math, that’s 30 degrees hotter than normal.  And in the East Bay where I live, it could hit 100.   And to that I say – BRING IT ON!

Just sayin’.

Colbert Watch – San Francisco = Heart of Darkness

I was howling again last night. Stephen Colbert of course covered the protest surrounding the Olympic torch. And of course, you can’t do that without touching on what nut jobs the Franciscans are.

“Personally, I find an attack on a torch hypocritical in a city known for some pretty flaming parades.”

My favorite part, “We know that city burns. Moving on. Folks. Too soon? Too soon to joke about the San Francisco fires? I didn’t know we had centigenarians in the office. ”

I can’t post the video here, but here’s the link – http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/videos.jhtml?videoId=165053
The other side of the funny coin is that apparently thousands of visitors and tourists (not to mention the ubiquitous San Francisco protesters) were disappointed when there was a last minute route change for the torch relay through The City. The change was made in order to avoid a confrontation with protesters, like those in London and Paris. I personally had no desire to see the torch, so I don’t care either way. I also don’t have a very high regard for the way the Chinese government has dealt with Tibet. However, it’s just the Olympics. We’ll make a big deal out of it, only watch a fraction of the begillion televised hours, and when the games are done, we’ll forget they even happened by Christmas.

Just sayin’.

The Hi-Jinks Perpetrated by the Mischievous PLW and J4

I frequently hang out with a group of bikers, even though I don’t ride myself. They’re a fun group of people, and some of them are really good friends. Some of them are nuts. I think that could be said of any group of people. I usually see this group every Wednesday night. We get together and socialize at different bars around The City, like Molotov’s on Haight or the Hi Dive on Embarcadero. There’s a lot of taking the piss with one another, and several little pranks that folks in the group like to play on each other. My favorite is the kill switch.

On a motorcycle, the starter is different from a car, in that there’s the key and then there’s a button. To start the bike, turn the key and push the button, basically. To turn the bike off, push the button. The thing is, unlike a car, everything is out in the open on a motorcycle. Also, when you’re riding with a group of motorcycles, you usually pull up to stops and what not side by side.

One night, months ago, after leaving the bar, J4 explained the prank while I was sitting on the back of his bike at stop with Dub next to us. He hadn’t really been meaning to encourage me, but I caught on pretty quickly. Just as the light was about to change, I reached over and smacked the switch on Dub’s bike, and J4 took off, leaving Dub sitting at the now green light. I thought this was hilarious.

Last night, we were out as usual, only we had taken my car instead of one of J4’s bikes. As we were leaving, several of the others were pulling away on their bikes. One fellow, who I’ll call Yellow, came to the first light with us on my side of the car and waved. At the next light, he was on the passenger’s side. I said to J4, “you know what would be funny is if you could lean out of the car, and get his kill switch.” The difference between this and what we did with Dub was that I really was trying to encourage J4. Well, it didn’t take much.

J4 leaned out of the car window, and couldn’t quite reach the switch, but he did manage to turn the key, and shut the bike down. Just as it died, the light turned green, and J4 pulled himself back in. We heard the most awesome, “AAAAAHHH” from Yellow as I pulled away from the light.

We were pretty freaking pleased with ourselves, and we giggled all the way back to Oakland.

Blue Angels = Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?

Have I been suckered?

Recently, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors rejected a measure proposed by District 6 Supervisor Chris Daly which would have put an end to the Blue Angels performing over The City as part of the annual Fleet Week celebration. Working downtown, I have seen the planes going by in practice runs from many a rooftop. As a resident of Treasure Island, I looked forward to the the show every year, and have always enjoyed it. However, the proposition of this measure brought to light a point I had never considered. Daly put forth that one of the reasons he would like to see the shows banned is that it causes suffering to veterans who have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Well, shit, I never thought of that. I wouldn’t want to cause any one discomfort for something as frivolous as an air show. I’m the youngest in a military family. Both parents served in the navy, and my dad always told me stories about the guys he served with having flash backs. My uncle has cancer from being exposed to Agent Orange. My nephew just got back from Iraq. I’m very sympathetic to veterans. On the band wagon I jumped.

So, last night the subject of the Blue Angels came up with our dinner guests. I was adamant. It’s wrong to disregard the suffering of veterans. I got heated. I decided to write a blog about how we should boycott the celebration.

I began doing a little research to support the blog. I could not find a single veterans’ group on the internet who supported the ban. Only one article from The Chronicle, stating that “several veterans” testified before the Supes. I couldn’t find the names of the veterans who testified, let alone any transcript. I wondered, “is he exploiting the veterans suffering from PTSD to pass the measure, to further some other agenda?”

I don’t think that it’s possible to truly know what the motivation is for what these elected officials propose and pass in our government. It’s disheartening, because I truly believe in democracy, but how can any of us make an informed decisions. Maybe this truly is a problem for the veterans of San Francisco. Or maybe not. How can I tell if I am being suckered? I don’t think there’s any way to be sure.

So the question is, should I just enjoy the show?

Indian Summer – My Favorite Time of the Year

Today was one of the awesome, sunny, clear days in San Francisco. These are the kind of gorgeous days that make you forget when you were freezing your nose off in the middle of July in the fog. It was warm, brilliant, and comfortable out in The City today.

I went over to the farmers’ market at the Ferry Building on Embarcadero at lunch. I got a vegan tamale for lunch, and picked up persimmons.

I love the “fall” in the city. It’s funny, though, that in other parts of the country, it’s starting to turn cold, and people are unpacking their sweaters and coats. Here, we never pack up the sweaters or coats, because you’re just as likely to need them in June as you are in January. However, you also never know when you can wear skirts and sandals. I think tomorrow is going to be a skirt and sandal day for me personally. It’s nearly October.

I hope that this October does not disappoint me. It’s usually the warmest month of the year here, but this year has been very off. We didn’t get enough rain over the winter, and then it never got as hot inland as it normally does. It’s normal for it to be barely 60 in The City in August, but not in Concord. I guess only time will tell, but I’m hoping for many more brilliantly warm fall afternoons in San Francisco.

I’m Allergic to Winter

Okay, so every day I go to work, and work is in a converted warehouse in the Dogpatch.  (More info on Dogpatch: http://baseportal.com/cgi-bin/baseportal.pl?htx=/zpub2000/sfentries&cmd=list&range=0,50&Title~=D&cmd=all&Id=215)   Theres no heat.   There just isnt.   I have a little space heater, but since the power is pretty much rigged together around here with chewing gum, if one of my neighbors in the cube farm turns on their space heaters while I have mine on, we blow the grid.   And even with the heater on, were still in the warehouse with the 30 bazillion foot high ceilings, so the hot air disappears the second that its out of the fan.  So, I spend the better part of the day shivering and chugging hot tea.   Hot tea, of course, quickly becomes iced tea around here.   I own a pair of gloves with the fingertips cut off, my hobo gloves, because I need to type but I also need to be wearing gloves.

 

So, I shiver all day dreaming of a hot shower (with or without Red Stripe) and my warm bed.

 

Last night, however, I did not pass the shower, and collect $200, but instead ventured out to the Motherland (a.k.a. Concord, CA) for dinner with Rob and Jen.   I decided to invite J4, as well.   J4 prefers his mode of transportation much more than mine, so we hopped on Gertrude (yes, he names his motorcycles), and off we rode.   (DONT TELL MY MOM!)   This proved to be a fatal decision.   To say that I was cold when we got home would be the biggest understatement ever known to man kind.   (For another perspective: http://blog.myspace.com/motoproponent)  The only way I managed to finally thaw out was to take a hot shower.  

 

The end result of all this freezing is that my skin is rebelling.   My knuckles are chapped, cracked, bloody, and peeling.  To add to this problem, I drink so much tea to keep warm that I have to keep going to the bathroom, and have to keep washing my hands with the cheap soap they provide us.   (I should bring my own.)   And as of yesterday, I have discovered that there is a rash spreading across my back.    I truly am allergic to this weather. 

 

I am in desperate need of a vacation to some place very warm.   I mean, I’d much rather be having a Red Stripe on the beach than in my shower, any day.  

 

Playlist: Too Much Pressure
By The Selecter

 

Current mood: cold