Ladies at the Phily

I wrote that the day before I had left at 440 after work.  I rode the bike to PHill and took the train to Civic and a train to Church.  I went for a slice of Pizza and then to the residence.  I sat down next to two revelers and then I went to talk to the SFTRU organizer.  When I returned some guy sat in my spot.  The organizer had been sitting nearby and a lady I knew that used to work for the Bicycle Coalition was asking for signatures.  I said nice things to her.  I talked to some MTA and activist types then—in fact there were a lot of MTA people.  I also discovered that there were SFTRU board members around then.  We filtered out to catch an L.  I met a some nice people on the ride—new and old.  We took photos on the platform and I talked to people about transit on the train.

At West Portal some new friends and I sat next to some ladies at the Phily club.  I gave them some flyers for the Emperor’s Campaign.  I talked to a man in his 50’s.  He asked about the organization.  He had gone to Urban HS in Divisadero.  The organizer’s beaux introduced me to a person I had met at YPT.  From there we walked to the train and went to Costello’s.  There was Pizza but I didn’t have any.  I went out back and talked to someone.  A retired MTA guy and I talked for a bit but I pointed out that the MTA was a bit to insular for me.  He didn’t like that.  One of my twitter friends came in then and I talked to him and one of the activist types.  I won the raffle and became a member.

We walked to the Riptide.  I had a slice of pizza and went in to have a last beer.  Jessica and I talked for a second but not much.  I noted that she and Brendan have much the same attitude towards me.  I said by to my new friends and I followed my twitter friend to the Boba place.  I went home.  He said the Embarcadero meeting showed that parking was a low priority.

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.

Coding Paragraphs

I wrote that on Monday evening I was fighting to get home when I called mom.  They were making a small meal.  I decided to get some Kale.  I got a text saying I had Tuesday off.  I had been in contact with Ian about his vacation day so this was not surprising.  I went home and gave mom the kale.  I went to the room and did stuff.  While eating I tried to be nice but I noted that I wasn’t very good at that.  I told them about my unexpected day off and dad said stuff about the fundraiser at Rouge and how he would go to a fundraiser for Veteran’s Day.  I went downstairs and posted.  Then I rode to Shamrock and sat for two hours because I had nothing else to do.  I was in bed at 1030.

I got up on Tuesday at 930 and went to Java beach.  There was a guy in line that wanted me to get out of the way.  Then he taunted me.  I sat down and read the paper.  I noted that one coworker had posted to Twitter from work and so checked with others.  Their responses indicated that it was a mixed holiday.  I was home around 2 and had a bite to eat.  I spent the rest of the day coding paragraphs.  A friend sent a message saying that she had met a rock star.  I went up for dinner and returned to finish my word bubble image.  It was nice to look at but it wasn’t very useful.  I went upstairs and let loose with my complaints about not having a future.  I watched bad TV.  I shouldn’t have had the three cups of ginger ale because it kept me up from 12 to 130.

I got up late at 715 and got to Powell at 830.  I took the 853 because the coffee took too long and then I rode to work.  I got to the office at 945.

I noted that I had made an appointment for some fillings for the next Monday and that the nurse practitioner would be calling me at lunch the next day.

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.

Friend Brought Him Cupcakes

I wrote that on Friday around 5 and rode to PHill and traveled to 24th.  I rode down 24th to Roosevelt and had enchiladas.  Then I went to Potrero del Sol.  One of the guys was having a birthday and another friend brought him cupcakes.  So many people I knew were there.  A few of us stood waiting and the sound system was too loud.  Two of my friends, who have the same name were wearing the same outfit.  I rode with my friend from Walnut Creek to Valencia and a friend from Hayes Valley passed the Uptown with me.  In the Dog Patch some drunk yelling guy made contact with me.  I saw a great Alice costume.  At Warm Cove park I met a friends mom and walked around till the cops showed up.  We rode to pier 14 then.  On the way in I quit.  Shaun was leaving too.  I told everyone goodbye.  I rode home and was asleep at 230.

Next morning I was up at 845.  My friend from Toronto called and said he was late.  I left at 930 and made it to the Hyatt by 1030.  His train had been delayed.  We shopped around for a bike rental and found a good one and headed up Market.  I showed him the town.  At Safeway I showed him the mural and then we rode the wiggle to Mojo for coffee.  We looked at the map and checked out the scenery.  We talked to a lady who had just found a good bike on Craigslist.

We took the Panhandle to Golden Gate Park.  There was a girl who had to stop us to say that she was polite.  We took 15th and climbed up to Pacific Overlook.  We met some kids from the Mission.  We rode on to the bridge and I talked to him about the local economy while he took photos.  He took photos all the way across the bridge.  We braved the road and then descended to Sausalito.  We checked the line for the ferry and then got coffee and when we got back there was a bigger line.  I had to wait to get tickets so we had to miss the boat.  However, there were extra boats.  We also got a break as the guy in front of my Canadian friend had an extra.  One of the ticket machines was broken.

We then sat down and had a drink with some other Canadians and talked politics.  Later we met still more Canadian’s.  We had trouble getting off of the boat because there were so many bikes.  We got rid of his then, took BART to 24th and walked to Schmitt’s.  He was really tired so I walked him to 16th and said bye.  I went to the Uptown and sat with four guys including two that I had known for a while.  They were doing Clarion alley stuff.  Their friend came in then and I got to know her outside.  Then I went in and sat with the bartender and his Japanese friend the rest of the night.  I met a Cuban guy and he wanted me to make passes at women.  I was home around 1 and in bed at 2.

Next morning I got up at 930 and went to Java Beach.  I couldn’t figure out why there weren’t any Saturday papers until I realized it was Sunday.  I sat for a few hours.  The lines were really long.  I talked to the barista on the way out.  I went home and cleaned and worked on the NA.  I had a meal around 3 and basically finished the NA.  My problem was I was tired.  Around 9 I was watching TV.

On the morning of the day that I wrote this I got up late.  I knew that the notes would be difficult to write.  I rode to Civic, got a coffee and a paper and started to write on the train around West Oakland.  I got in to the office at.

I copied this from my notebook and posted it to the blog 111014.

Cut Out Game Pieces

On November seventh I wrote that the day before I had left at 430.  I took the train to Embarcadero and then went to Mejita.  I had a taco and then went to the Port Offices at Pier 1 for the Embarcadero redesign community meeting.  There I saw a friend from Twitter.  He told me about his bike ride and we talked about our Twitter friends.  I looked at the MTA displays.  When I talked to my twitter friend again a moment later I learned that someone had just stolen his bike light.  Then the forum began and we sat for a brief presentation and then we sat down with a facilitator and discussed one area of the road near AT&T Park.

There were three road users that were motorists and one of them identified me early on as a problem.  Two others were less so.  We cut out game pieces and arranged them on a road way.  I didn’t like the two way bike lane.  There was a lot about putting walls around bike lanes.  Two people—motorists—said they wanted to explore other non-game piece ideas.  There was a pedi-cab driver that took a centrist view.

We broke up for presentations.  Our pedi-cabbie represented our approach—the current alignment without the parking.  I was amazed at how easy that was.  In fact all of the groups eliminated parking straight away.  My Twitter friend’s group included the two way bike lane on the promenade side but also included a lane on the other.  I realized this was a great idea when he described it.  My other Twitter friend texted me around then and I helped her find the place.  She had gotten a haircut in the time since I had seen her.  I liked it.  I asked her about her gmail photos.

Afterwards the three of us talked for a bit.  In the middle of it one of them got a parking ticket on her work fleet car—sad face.  I walked with them out to the roadway and gave her a hug.  I went to a taqueria on Columbus and had a terrible taco.  I talked with a friend I had met from Toronto a week earlier about a Saturday ride. I asked my friend at City College about getting a ride together for him but the response was that he wasn’t available.  I went to Visuvio.  My frind from High School indicated that he would move to Portland if he had a chance.  I said hi to the bar back.  She said that she had taken to riding a bike.

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.

Especially Low

On November sixth I wrote that the day before I had left at 430 and caught the train to 16th.  I was feeling especially low when I got off.  I was thinking about girls and institutions.  They all seemed to be passing me by.  I noted that I was constantly telling myself that I “am not allowed” to do things.  I entered Zeitgeist and ordered a meal.  I got a drink and an ex officio organizer for Sunday Streets was getting a pitcher.  We talked about the group in the East Bay she was starting for open street events.  I sat down with some guys.  One worked for AQMD and Walk SF and we discussed GIS and utilities.  Another grew up in the Bay Area but had just returned from 12 years in DC.  We talked about a coalition staffer.  The third guy was a Transit Riders Union board member and had worked for MTA for years.  I had met him at the Streetsblog happy hour with Nathan from the Sewer ride.  We talked about critical mass and raining children.  I was sitting at next to a sales woman I knew then.  She told me that bike partiers were dating.  The organizer and I spoke and eventually I sat next to a professor from City College.  We discussed my work client, City College and Geography.  I met an editor from the no defunct Bay Guardian—which blew me away.  The geography professor and he had a friend who asked me to introduce myself.  That was awkward.  There were a bunch of regulars there too.  I left around nine and felt good about the interaction.  The geography professor acknowledged me.  I took the N home and posted.  I was asleep at 9 and woke up twice thinking it was time to get up.

On the day that I wrote this I was up at 640 and caught everything just fine.  I rode to the office.

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.

Slate to Make Decisions

On November fifth I wrote that I left and took the 430 train and refilled my card at Powell.  I missed the 16 so waited for the next.  The ride took too long.  At home I ate with the parents and then looked at twitter.  I used a friend’s and dad’s slate to make decisions at the precinct and my voting was poor.  I went home and returned to my notes and did my coding and went to bed around 10.

On the morning that I wrote this I was up at 630 and left around 645.  I took the 16 to Powell and transferred.  There were unsavory characters on the train so I moved.

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.

Off at The Counter

I wrote that the day before I finished writing at Starbucks and tried to verify when the Larkspur ferry left but had trouble so instead checked around the town.  I then rode to Corte Madera REI.  I noticed that the ride on a weekday had a different mix of motorists and that there were a lot of children about—especially moms on bikes.  I looked all over REI for something to replace the gloves mom had given me for Christmas.  I had initially thought I would get a sweater or bag but eventually I settled on new bike lights.  I noted that I could never have enough of them.  After this I had to rush but first stopped off at the Counter to get myself a BLT.

I went to the Ferry then and read the paper on the way to the city.  There weren’t a lot of people on the boat but there were a lot of people at the terminal.  The light was failing on the ride to the Richmond.  I noted that if I approach the tunnel from Broadway that the traffic is a lot easier to deal with but that the traffic is still dangerous.  It was dark at Alta Plaza when I passed through and when I got to Lake I kept going till I arrived at 17^th and then went to California to find Bazaar.  I took my time while I was there and as I passed the fifteen minutes it took for my meeting with a friend from HS I discovered that there would be music.

I gave her a hug and we talked a bit because the barista was busy with the musicians.  She thought that music would be nice.  I initially told her a lot of the same stuff about relationships and being laid off that I had been sharing with others for the last month.  We got tea and she told me about her life.  The music started and we listened, speaking to one another in whispers.  The first act was a couple from Chicago and then there was a guy that had a set of rehearsed songs but they seemed really experimental.  The third act was a trio from 11 Ave Records.

We talked about Matt Lynch and his sister whom she hadn’t interacted with in a long time.  We went over a friend for the old days and high school.  I asked her about her old coworker which she had introduced to me.  At the break she and I decided to go but we promised to make plans.  She said she would send me her second chap book.  I rode 17^th to the park and then went past the Polo Fields in the dark.  Mom was in the living room when I got in and I did a little bit of stuff in my room but eventually went up to watch TV.

On the day that I wrote this I was up at 930 and went upstairs to have breakfast.  I read the paper and dad came by after a bit to say he was looking at the modem.  He shut down the internet so when I was ready to get my day going I had instead to go into my file boxes.  Then I was able to identify a whole lot of stuff to dispose of.  In the process I went upstairs twice.  The first time I went to ask dad about health care payments.  He suggested I go to Kaiser and so then I looked at the numbers and decided I would likely afford to pay around 400 a month.  I went through a lot of files in the boxes then and put stuff away.

After that I went up and made a meal for myself and was eating when mom came home.  Dad said the modem was up and that he was planning on getting U Verse.  I went down and looked online and discovered that my friend had likely put her cat to sleep.  That was sad and I texted her about it.  I at that moment wished I could have reached out to her because I knew she was upset.

I pretty much quit my filing then and began typing.  I went through my emails and was conflicted about going to Butter Lap and or going to Car Free Happy Hour.  While writing I had basically given up on both.

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.