Mission Sunday Streets

On the morning of 082414 at 3:20am there was a 6.0 earthquake.

I got up at 9 and went to Java Beach and sent out a flurry of tweets and messages and received a flurry in return. Then I headed to Sunday Streets. I started off at Clooney’s where I met some friends for sandwiches and beers. Then we rode to 19th and 20th looking for the table that the Emperor’s Bridge group had. However, there wasn’t much on 18th so we grabbed our buddy getting off of volunteering and sat down at Cassanova to discuss the finer points of block parties. Later we actually did find the Emperor’s table. We also learned about a swank party happening at Southern Pacific Brewery.

The event was beginning to wind down so we headed over to Dolores Park with some cans and people watched. We saw a couple wrestling in the grass. We saw a lot of dogs. There were a lot of barbecues. There were naked people. It was hot out.

Later we went to Southern Pacific Brewery to celebrate the tenure of the organizer of Sunday Streets and bid her farewell. The director and a number of others were there. One by one they were replaced by others that were just as involved. They passed out cake and I met the new staffers. My friends left. I rode back to the Sunset went. I talked to my mother. She had gone to Sunday Streets and posted photo’s to FB.

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.

China with Nadja

This post is meant to showcase some of my recent Memo posts but it also covers one of my other blogs.

I found a great item in the black note book that I took to China with me.  It is a sad posting about my last day in China with Nadja.  The irony is that I spent the next three years of my life with her but I didn’t know that was in my future.  There is prose and poetry in the piece.  The element that I enjoyed the most about the post is the fact that is uses the same idea—science fiction—as the beginning and ending and focuses not on the ability to see the future but rather the sadness that comes from it.

I also have run out of notebooks with dates in them for the Memos so decided to troll my emails for interesting items.  The memo post that I most recently added was about my experiences as a former campus cycling organizer providing assistance to the next generation of cyclist organizers on campus.  I believe that while Gerry was a student his team raced in a multitude of criterion races but I am not certain how good they were.

Finally, I made a post to my Jobs Page in reference to my current job search.  While one can use one specific tool or another it is difficult to use all of the tools at once.  This most recent post tries to address this.  It mostly relies upon the idea of resources.  In contrast to opportunities resources are important because they tend to be where new opportunities tend to emanate and are much more dynamic.

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.

A Week in August

I had been spending time looking over my job search options as July turned to August but my weekend started on the first I went to the Shamrock.  The next evening after work I went to Bike Party but decided to go home first.  While I decided later that this was a bad idea because of time constraints, I did find five twenties on the street while ordering pizza on Divisadero.  I met a bunch of people as the ride progressed from visited Jackson Square, through China Town and much of North Beach.  The best stop was at Telegraph Hill where there were easily 500 smiling and dancing people.  I fell into conversation with a lot of new people while wandering around.  For instance, I met a pianist named Matt Mangles with whom I had a lot in common.  The ride made a stellar journey through the Broadway Tunnel and a stop at Aquatic Park.  One of my newest acquaintances was showing his new e-bikes to a group and nearby I noted that that a local politico running for state office had appeared for a photo op.  The ride finished at Rincon Park where we saw a guy with a crazy hat.

The next day I met my friend at café Muse for on a ride to Marin.  We took 15^th Avenue to the top of the Presidio, over the bridge and across the Richardson Bay.  At Blythdale we took Lomita and climbed the freeway path on our way to Corte Madera.  We took Lakeside into Larkspur and side streets near Sir Francis Drake through Ross and San Anselmo.  We stopped at a café near Fairfax where we listened to Jazz and had coffee.  We passed through the Cal Park Hill Tunnel on the way back via the ferry terminal.

I also went to the Car Free Happy Hour.  I sat with the some friends from college who formed a non-profit that travels all over the West Coast.  My buddy from Bike Party came by too.  He had gone to Mission Bicycle to participate in their free tour.  I saw people from Public Bikes and Sunday Streets.  The next day I hung out with my friends from Long Beach at Celia’s on Judah.  I had a flight of tequila, a Tecate and the #5.  We spent the rest of the night walking the neighborhood playing catchup.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis post, which I started writing on 072814, is part of a contemporaneous series.  I developed this  piece as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.

This Memo Wrap Up

For this Memo wrap up I cover eight items.  First I have already written three memo posts that I delayed posting because they had happened too recently.  In the first one I helped Kathryn move.  It was a sad and awkward experience but I know that that wasn’t my fault.  Another, older post was of my birthday.

There are also four emails from the beginning of 2011.  The first is me emailing my friend noting that I heard she had returned from overseas.  After this is her response revolved around her return to Portland and how she was integrating back in.  After this I replied much later and was bummed because it was an accident.  She replied to this saying her banged up shoulder was healing.

In addition to these I added a bunch of stuff for the First of the Month.  In the first I visited a museum in china.  Another post is from an interesting lady from Canada, who I only vaguely remember.  She obviously knew my friend Sam so I was clearly back in the town of Xi’an.  I suppose she was only in China for a few months and stayed at the dorm with us.  After this was another email from my father before my parents left to visit me in China.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. I started writing this Notebook Analysis on 071714.  This 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.

I Took It Easy

I go on bike rides in Marin a lot because it has mountains and the bridge makes it easier for me than any other place.  Lately I have taken a special interest in the hills above Fairfax.  I have been trying to find a way over the Blue Ridge to San Geronimo Valley and was interested in doing so on a recent Sunday.  However, while I knew I could get there quickly, I also knew that going too fast would wear me out.

So, I took it easy and, rather than going all the way, decided to only try getting near the big hill.  I settled on a popular mountain biking location, Tamarancho, and set off around noon from the Sunset.  As I rode through the park, I passed the AIDS Walkathon at the Polo Fields and again near the waterfall.  Later I rode past the hospice to Ralston where I caught my breath from the climb.  Then I went to Bridge and made my way to Sausalito by Sausalito by 130.

While I did I think about staying in town I chose instead to visit the Kappas Marina.  I went first to Mike’s Bikes because my new seat, which I have really enjoyed, was giving me a lot of trouble.  Then I decided to have a bite to eat at the Bayside café.  I thought my garden burder was good.  As I read the paper, I found that the girl beside me had forgotten her glasses.  I gave them to her at the door.

I rode through Richardson Bay to Lomita and the freeway path.  I remember thinking as I streamed down the hill that it was a wonder I hadn’t hurt myself.  In Corte Madera I went a new way because I didn’t like the hill in the town center.  I followed Lakeside and then caught my breath on William.  I then rode through Larkspur, Ross and San Anselmo super-fast.  In Fairfax I picked my way to Rockridge Street and climbed to Tamarancho.  I got to the main trail in about 15 minutes.  I stood there reviewing the welcome board.

I called it quits then.  I could have continued and still made the boat but decided that it didn’t matter.  I didn’t have a pass anyway.  I made it to the town center fast and bought a water.  Then I went to San Anselmo where the main red light in town refused to change.  I climbed to San Rafael then and went through town on the main street.  I then jogged over to the Cal Park path and rode through the tunnel to the bridge over Sir Francis there at the Landing.  The boat was boarding but I wasn’t the last one on.  I was eating Chex when we departed.

I dumped the bike at Embarcadero and caught an N.  I got off at 9^th and went to the Shamrock and had a couple of beers.  Then I went to Park Chow and had a César Salad.  I caught a 71 home.  Mason just sent a text message to say that he would go to the Dodgers game with me.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. I started writing this Notebook Analysis on 071714.  This 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.

Ai Wei Wei Pins

The week after July 4^th was rather quiet.  The express busses were empty and many people in my life—friends, managers and the like—were out of town for a few extra days.  This and the fog made my time way out here in the outer Sunset rather drab.  I went to Max’s 540 twice this week to see if Joe the bartender was working.  He wasn’t but I did get to see the A’s play against the Giants.  I also went to the art galleries downtown for a belated First Thursday Art Walk.  I ended up with some Ai Wei Wei pins one of which I bequeathed to a friend who works at Visuvio.

I also went to East Bay Bike Party.  I was careful to send out messages to all of my cycling friends about the event.  There were these two people I had met at SF Bike Party, a couple of Twitter friends, a coworker and even a friend that I know via the old fashioned telephone.  Maybe someday I will even use Face Book.  I had intended to attend Oaklavia on the twelfth but couldn’t get my head together enough for a trip to Oakland.

On Saturday the parents went away for two weeks to Canada and gave me a lot of chores to do.  I had to water plants and take trash out.  I had to look forward to going to the DMV of all places.  Most of all I would have space to myself.

While over the last few months on Sunday had been going to Marin, I had been thinking about going elsewhere.  I noted that in time I might be able to visit to other parts of the Bay Area like Silicon Valley or Alameda.  I have been looking over Craigslist for a cheap foldie to look at and both of these places have come up at least once.  I am partial to Palo Alto because of its proximity to the 101.

I wanted to go on the 13^th of July but Sunday Streets was in the Richmond.  However, I got a message from a twitter friend that he was on Arguello.  I was at Park Chow reading the paper and had anticipated going.  I decided to quit reading and met him and his wife at Velo Rouge.  As we rode through Sunday Streets I noted that the venue wasn’t as big as the year before.  I heard that the businesses had complained about it.  However, there was still a farmer’s market.

We climbed into the Presidio and descended to the Main Post.  I was amazed as I passed the speedometer on my way down Arguello Boulevard—I had topped 35 mph.  We locked up and walked around Off the Grid which is basically a food truck event.  It is well named because all of the tents and trucks were using gas generators.  We ate lunch and tried out the selection of drinks and ice cream.  We even visited a doughnut truck where I think the girl behind the counter may have been checking me out.

We then went to the visitor center and children’s museum.  We saw a great exhibit about an artist named Blair who did early Alice in Wonderland sketches.  I took a picture of the bike path there.  From there we looked for and found the Goldsworthy sculpture in the parking lots.  I struck up a conversation with the docent program intern talking at length about about Ai Wei Wei and the Haines gallery.

After this we got the bikes and looked at the Ecology trail on the south side of the park but we ended up climbing Arguello instead.  We split up at California where it was pretty obvious that Sunday Streets had already been mostly broken down.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. I started writing this Notebook Analysis on 070714.  This 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.

Dislocation and Living Memory

While recovering from hardship I reflect upon a certain dislocation stemming from my recall of past events.  It is a situation where my concept of someone or something is interrupted by a lack or loss.  This kind of feeling is a bit like an empty space on a wall which used to hold a painting or a piece of furniture that was recently moved to reveal depressions in the carpet.  However, I have begun to realize that this dislocation is accompanied by what I have come to term living memories.

This phenomenon is different from dislocation in that the memories are tied to a real person that is still alive and acting autonomously.  I find that these two phenomena, dislocation and living memory, are often tied to one another when a living person’s absence has moved on to occupy another location.  In the course of living my life I have experienced these phenomena concurrently and am struck by how hard it can be to identify what exactly existed within these empty spaces.  I find this is made even harder when the artifacts to which these memories are tied are in flux or are absent as well.

I think that these phenomena pertain specifically to the process behind the documentation of infrastructure which I do both in my free time and professionally.  It is a process as marked by absence and confusion as it is by hard copies and facts.  I find that I am constantly asking myself how I know something is true or why something is the way it is.  What strikes me as most profound in all of this is in the way that I so often know nothing about the events that swirl about me.

I have concluded that documentation is essentially the contemplation of self.  In the process of deciding what is really going on around me both as an individual as well as a professional I am constantly confronting how little I actually know.  I have found that it is in this realization that I actually come to understand the phenomenon which I am studying.  Each element in any complex is often so unique in its function and use that a researcher can only arrive at understanding through an intimate examination.

I have learned that this process of understanding is incredibly dependent upon the researcher’s ability to stop focusing on the big picture since the nitty-gritty can be so complex.  Hence, one must not dwell too long on the scale or extent of, for instance, any particular databases primary key and instead dwell upon what events caused the primary key to come into existence in the first place.  Likewise, one must spend less time focusing on, say, one particular unit of measure since at any scale space or place may change the meaning of those units.

As our lives grow longer our personal relationships become more diffuse and complex

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. I started writing this Notebook Analysis on 062914.  This 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.