Save SF Bike Candidates

On the fifth of December I wrote that the roommate would hold down the apartment around 7 o'clock. My friend and I got on the bikes then and rode to sixth. From there we parked our bikes in the lot out back and headed to the shop where Winterfest was.

A prominent SFBike candidate was out front and we saw the car free lifestyle dealers as we entered. We went downstairs and ordered beer. I saw a professor I knew. We went to the bar and I got a drink. We spoke to some car free list serve people and my friend’s riding partner and three other people.

My friend and I decided to go to the top floor with her riding partner. We went to the women bike table and spoke to a candidate. We also saw a well known bar owner and asked him about Paris. We spoke to a librarian I was acquainted with and I also her husband an art teacher charged with curating the art auction.

We went and voted for the board. I mostly voted for at save SF bike candidates that I had met or heard about. We took the stairs down and walked to the food. I told my friend - who was talking to an architect we knew that I would get another beer.  I got her a coconut water.

We went and looked at the bikes. A very familiar person knocked my beer over and the event photographer told me it was all right. We were talking to the architect over some foldie when we saw a game artist my friend knew. She confirmed that we had seen her a few days earlier at Fourth and King when she had done the market sweep.

We went upstairs to the photo booth. My friend spoke to a local journalist and then we took a photo. We also interacted with a couple of people from the midweek bike ride and some random guy. We spent the next twenty minutes in conversations we were trying to get out of.  We also looked at the art before playing catch up with a couple of people we knew from the car free happy hour.

We went down and got our jackets before we went to the valet. There we saw my friend’s riding partner and tried to ride with her but she was busy with some guys she knew.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.

Pouring Very Heavy Pours

On 1 December I wrote that I had had breakfast with my friend before I headed off to the hashtag event.  Upon my entrance I immediately saw the regulars.  One of them had brought a new guy - an engineer who was visiting from out of town.

I spoke with a few close colleagues before getting a drink.  I met a lady at the bar who said she would be having a fundraiser for an ailing bartender. I told her about my grandfather.

I returned to the group and started talking about some business that one of the group and I had done.  There was an armagnac tasting and we all took part. The stewardess wasn't pouring very heavy pours though. I tried talking to my colleagues about web development.

I bought some people a beer as one of the people I invited - a city worker - came in.  He greeted me but spent a lot of time after that with the stewardess. Later I spoke to a couple of the regulars until a number of people indicated they were leaving.

Eventually I got three people to visit a local hacker space on Mission Street. One of the guys had business there so we tagged along. We went down Albion Clarion. Upon our arrival I found a beer to share.  Our contact had his own cubicle that he had to push everybody out of. After spending some time there we walked to BART and I headed to the apartment.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.

The Start of Bridgeway

On 28 November I wrote that I prepared for my ride and headed to a coffee shop for a bike ride with an engineer I knew. She was only a little late and we set drinking coffee until my acquaintance from the East Bay showed up. She was a a slower club rider and had seen my ride on the Coalition website.

Once we were saddled up we rode to a local bike shop swell before heading into Golden Gate Park past the Polo Fields. The engineer indicated she had done this route multiple times. We had done it the first time on Bike to Work Day.

We wrote from 20th and Fulton to 15th then and went to the golf course. The club rider had trouble with the climb. I had to stop at the course store and we stopped at Pacific Overlook too.  Then we crossed the access ramp to the Golden Gate Bridge and crossed the bay on the west side.

After we crossed the bridge we looked at our options and then wrote down the main road. I let them go first but passed the slower one at the bottom.  When I reached the second rider I told her to go ahead while I waited.  We swapped as we headed into Sausalito and I waited at the start of Bridgeway.

After this we hung out at the ferry Plaza before going on to explore the parking lots on the way to Davy Jones's Deli. I got a sandwich after waiting and watching the bikes. A bit later we went the same way back.

We hung out at the terminal and had our meal there. After that we hopped on the ferry and left our bikes downstairs. I got a drink and the three of us talked about our lives.  I remember big weddings was a subject.

Before we got to the ferry building I had us get our bikes ready. The attendants tried to deter us while also trying to help. That made my arm hurt. We said bye to the club rider at Embarcadero station and rode to the Wiggle.

The engineer and I had a good conversation while rising to the Panhandle.  We rode to the JFK street closure and then to Middle and Martin Luther King. We said bye on Judah and I went to the house.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.

Impressed with The Turkey

On 26 November I wrote that I had finished writing and I had gone upstairs to the living room. I found that my nephew wanted to go on a bike ride when I got there. However, my neice wanted my brother to stay. I told them we would leave and she started to cry.

My friend intervened then and the three of us to 45th and Lincoln. I had a trike but it was low on power. We went to the Polo Fields and raced. Then we climbed to Prayerbook Cross and enjoyed the breeze. I had brought some beer.

Later we finished the beer at the beach before climbing up the hill to Sutro heights. I took a great picture.  We rode back following my nephew to Great Highway. I spent some time in the bedroom. Upstairs it was slowly becoming dinner time and when I came up it was being served. I sat down as Mom was taking a picture.  I stole dad's wine.

I had trouble getting everything on my plate because of my arm. My niece helped a lot. I would avoid saying certain things because people didn't like my comment sometimes. I tried all the food that I could because my friend had made quite a bit of it. I was not impressed with the turkey so had cranberry sauce with my potatoes

We took a break and eventually Clue and Scrabble came out. I sat at the table with my nephew and the men. The ladies played Clue in the other room. The game started out OK with my brother-in-law’s family fighting for control but they were falling behind. I got a beer and my brother got ahead of me.  However, I got a head again when I returned after I had gotten a tea for the ladies.

I was working on another word when we were only had two tiles left.  The other teams became anxious as I floundered and failed at getting anything done. The kids looked over my shoulder and the tension rose. My sister was complaining of how long the game took.

Eventually my brother started challenging everything that I put down. When I finally put something down that I liked I knocked over a beer, gave up and went downstairs.

Next morning I was up around 645 and later while I was napping Mom and my brother made plans to go to the DeYoung. We decided that everyone would go with my friend and I to the cafe before heading to the museum.  We walked faster than the others and ordered before they came. We sat discussing the coffee and talking about pictures.

We left when we knew my sister was on her way. The train was prompt and we all got seats. we saw my sister as we arrived at ninth. The eight of us walked in the park. At the bandshell we looked at parking tunnels and a musician.We broke up in the lobby. I was with my sister getting tickets. We went downstairs to the Frank Stella exhibit. As we walked I determined I really like the aluminum series. The more colorful Benjamin Moore series was also nice.

My friend bought a print at the gift shop. We went to the café and had lunch then.  Everyone made plans to go home and I went with my brother to look at the Asian exhibit.  While walking around we discussed Semple and Sauer. We discussed Jared Diamond and Ratsel.

Later we walked through the park enjoying the air until we got to the 7 bus. We walked to the apartment after that.  Then we went and had Thai curry on Haight Street.  After that we made our way to the Outer Sunset to meet our friends.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.

Bike Party in Chico

On 20 November I wrote that I had gone to bed tweeting the night before and had gotten up at 8:30 and gone to breakfast.  About twenty minutes later I was ready to go to the Chico Tweed Ride.

I actually rode to the liquor store and got a bottle of rye and a cup of coffee before riding over to the town square.  I was soaking wet it because of the rain. At the plaza there was no one around. However, a moment later I saw a crowd at City Hall and went over there.

Immediately I was joined by some friends from Sacramento who reported that quite a few people we knew had decided not to come.

However, I did see the organizers and numerous other faces of people I remembered but couldn’t actually name.  As I interacted with them though I was able to place them.  There was the lady from the Cascades and that one particularly well dressed man who had asked something about regular rides in town. In some cases I knew names but couldn’t place faces and in other cases I couldn't remember many names but I had faces sorted.

The organizers talked to us then and we decided on a loop to compensate for the rain.  We took pictures and headed out along the main street. Then we crossed the major roads and entered the Bidwell Park. I rode with the people I knew best - the ones from Sacramento - who I had begun to think of as my group.

At about the the middle of the park I passed everyone and opened my bottle of rye.  As the group past by I counted 50 people. When I tried to catch up with my group I ended up talking to a wise man bike shop owner who knew the owner of a shop in SF I had gone to.  In fact he knew a lot of places and names.  I picked his brain as we rode.

We crossed the second bridge at the deer pens and headed back. I thought I'd be sly and drink my bottle but I had a bump and crashed. The bottle broke and I strained my arm.  The wise man help me but I still had to cut my finger on some the glass as I was picking it up.

We rode to the freeway crossing and stood around. I tried to play my strain off as a small thing.  One of the people in my group helped me with the blood on my hand. She had a bottle of water. I watched as some of the locals nearby were jousting in period outfits.  The wise man bike shop owner shared his whiskey and told us stories about the car free park.

We headed to the brewery after that. Our friend from up the hill tried to lead but didn't do very well. It had started raining again and one of the people in my group noted my jacket was quite wet.

At the brewery I folded my bike up and tried to dry off. Inside I sat next to an organizer. My group went to get a table and I ordered them stuff as they were putting their stuff down.

We discussed politics and did some catch up from the previous ride.  Eventually I got up and moved my bike to the table next to ours. The people sitting there were from Alameda.  I introduced myself and told them about SF Tweed.  Then I went and sat with the group of guys that do bike party in Chico and when they went out for some fresh air I told them I would see them at Christmas Preview.

After that we went all went to my hotel. One of our acquaintances from the group was attending a party and we went to it after stashing the bikes in my room. There was a geologist that I spoke too. Our acquaintance told everyone about me. We ate their Almond Roccas and sampled the host’s wine.

We all went to Duffys then. I interacted with a guy from the ride. We took the only booth and I spoke to our acquaintance from the party for a while. She had a property in Southern California.

The group broke up then and headed to Tomfoolery where we looked at the novelty items and many in the group were getting ready to go. We went to the antique store after that but I had forgotten my card at Duffys so returned there and had a drink.

My friends from Sacramento and I went to the new vintage shop but were not impressed. Then we went to Bootleg where we saw some amazing Apre ski shoes. We bought hats and other things there. I sent my friend some pictures. I was convinced to by a Pendleton jacket I found.

We walked to one final shop near City Hall where we found some really nice items. Then we went to my hotel and they got their things together and loaded their car. I went down and said goodbye to them before spending and an hour by myself packing. When I was ready to leave I started to write and learned my train was set to depart on time at 3:30 AM.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.

Gave Me His Anthology

On 13 November I wrote that I found a dimple on my top tube as I was leaving the apartment that I hadn't noticed before. I noted that it was probably from Bike Party or the day or two before that. I headed to the Castro for errands and went to Harvey's after that.

Much later my friend and I packed some bags and climbed to Haight to catch a seven to Noriega.  My father was there as we were getting off the bus and he walked with us to his house where we hung out in the kitchen, living room and other parts of the house talking loudly to my family.

The evening progressed wonderfully.  My sister made seared/baked veal and tilapia. We had a pumpkin and apple pie I had extra ice cream. I had wine and I tried to divert the conversation away from politics while we did the dishes.  I wanted to play scrabble but we were tired.  I probably fell asleep around 10 that night.

By 10 the next morning we were hanging out at a local coffee shop.  Unfortunately, the roaster, our acquaintance, wasn't in but my friend bumped into someone that she used to see at her old job. I had another coffee and then we went to the house  to sit with the parents before catching an N to Cole Valley for lunch and a glass of sparkling wine at a local cafe.  A local poet tweeted to me while we were there to say he had a regular spoken word thing every out front.

We went out and listened to his poetry then.  We were transfixed by some of the poems he shared with us.  He had a box of books to share and he gave me his anthology before we took the N to Civic Center.  On the way we bumped into a colleague of mine and and his buddy.

A while later I met some old college friend’s and their families for drinks and dinner at a local hotel.  It was a bit loud in the room but I ate it up. We had wanted to go to the hotel restaurant or the nearby veggie restaurant but in the end decided to go to the Giro place instead.

My friend and I took off a bit after this but I returned to the hotel an hour later. We talked about work and other things until we walked to beer hall for a beer. We talked about family and our personal lives. Much later we grabbed a couple of chairs from the lobby and he told me about his crazy father and uncle.

My friend and I met them the next morning in the hotel lobby for coffee and then said goodbye before they headed to see family in Marin.  From there we took the F to the Ferry Building for coffee and met my riding partner near Pier 7.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.