There she goes, my beautiful world
Items of interest specifically to San Francisco CA
If twenty-five years and a day ago you had asked me whether a seismic event measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale would change my life, I am sure the answer would have been «of course.»
Two days later, I would have laughed and said it was silly, that it was just an earthquake. While a little exciting it wasn’t something that changed me. There were other people whose lives were really and directly affected by the Loma Prieta … Read the rest
Some intense writing today. I wanted to make up for the time lost yesterday in the Wal-Mart parking lot. I hoped I might push my total to 10,000 words today, but didn’t get there and at this point I’m exhausted. I need to set it down for the night. I wrote 2,825 words today which is the most I’ve written in one day since I started keeping track on Friday, and I wrote material that wasn’t … Read the rest
The Moon was very near to Venus in the sky tonight. It took me by surprise as I had not been following the Moon’s phases closely but with my western-facing living room windows it was very difficult to miss an unusually bright Venus next to a bare sliver of a crescent Moon in the evening sky tonight.
Through the binoculars the Moon was stunning. Usually even with earthglow it’s difficult to make out features on the shadowed side of the … Read the rest
Last night I made a late night run to the grocery store and was surprised to see a woman with a clipboard by the front entrance asking people coming in and out to sign some form of petition. It’s not uncommon to see this at Safeway; the entrance is a bottleneck for all traffic in and out and a favorite spot for pollsters and panhandlers alike. What was odd was that there would be someone collecting signatures at nearly midnight.… Read the rest
The Guzzi is in the shop, and the news is not good. Repairs to the damage caused by a neighbor backing into the bike will be in the multiples of thousands of dollars. This means it’s time to get insurance companies involved. And I probably should have gotten them involved at minute one.
I was told not to be shocked by the first number that I got. The bent steering stop is part of the frame, and the only right … Read the rest
Today while I was feeding a vacationing friend’s cat, someone backed into my parked motorcycle with her car. After months of living with shot steering bearings I finally got them replaced less than two weeks ago. Now my steering is messed up again.
I don’t think its too bad but the mechanic’s shop doesn’t open again until Tuesday. It appears that the bracket that limits the range of steering is bent, as I can turn the handlebars all the way to … Read the rest
The people at Landmark have a thought-provoking piece of advice: be unreasonable. While this may be related to the idea of using one’s faculty of reason, it is not quite the same thing. The suggestion is that we (human beings) often get caught up in a web of reasons for the actions we take, and the suggestion they make essentially means to take responsibility for volition and free willor more specifically to take responsibility for our choices rather than … Read the rest
Tomorrow morning there is street cleaning on the East side of my street, which is where the Moto Guzzi was parked until about a half hour ago. I went out to move the bike and, noting the chill in the air, thought that it would be nice to have a fire in my fireplace tonight. I’ve run out of Duraflames, but since I had to move the bike anyhow, I thought I may as well go down to Safeway and … Read the rest
Actually, you’d have to go back in time to find the intersection of Kentucky Street and Army Street in San Francisco. Army Street was renamed Cesar Chavez Street in 1995 and Kentucky Street was annexed to Third Street sometime probably around 1920. But the intersection itself is in the same spot, at Third and Cesar Chavez, and that’s where my studio is.
As October is the month of Open Studios here in San Francisco, once again I’m opening my studio … Read the rest
Making my way through the neighborhood streets between home and my studio today I passed a woman starting her motorcycle. She lives in the neighborhood and I’ve seen her and her bike a few times. She’s a heavyset woman and she rides what might best be described as a European café racer. Her shape and the shape of her bike are comically incongruent, something I’ve noticed the other times I’ve encountered her. This morning was no exception. I saw her … Read the rest