April 20, 2007

  • Thursday, April 19

    I went for home for lunch and the garden of Mr. Poe is coming into full bloom.  Here's one of the first roses.  Perfection!  Just like Mr. Poe.

    I was heading back to work and I'm very careful coming down market because there's this combination of crackheads and shoppers not paying attention that tend to keep you on your toes.  At 5th and Market, some woman walks into the street without paying any attention to where she was going and what vehicles might be coming.  She was nowhere near a crosswalk.  I came to an abrupt stop and muttered "Don't look where your going.  Just walk into the street.  That's a good idea."  She heard this and turned to me and said "I have issues with you people."  Hey somebody call Don Imus I'm a "You People" now.  I wasn't sure which group I belong to she was had problems with.  I narrowed it down to the following candidates:

    A) Cyclists
    B) Gays
    C) Blonds
    D) Attractive People
    E) Humans

    I'm pretty sure it was choice A but you never know.  I think she was assuming that every cyclist on the road in San Francisco was implicated in the Critical Mass kerfuffle from March 30.  I have mixed feelings about Critical Mass.  On one hand, I feel like their shenanigans have absolutely resulted in safer conditions for bicyclists on the streets because they have made drivers more aware and even a little afraid of cyclists.  On the other hand I think a lot of them are crazy, especially the naked guy.  I went to critical mass once, during the Iraq invasion, and they were trying to get on the bay bridge.  As I wanted to have dinner at home and not in jail, I demurred. Here's a pic from that ride, March 28 2003, right before we hit the streets:

    DSC00171

    After work, I tried to get a long bike ride in before class.  I went Geary to Polk to Broadway to Pacific and then back down to Broadway at the Lyon Street steps.  Very very pretty in Pacific Heights.  Here's the Palace of Fine Arts peeking out from behind a mega mansion:

    And a beautiful blossom from one of the gardens:

    Somebody was kind enough to take my picture for me at the Lyon Street steps:

    At this point it started raining.  I didn't want to to cut my ride short, so I just rode less and chose a more or less flat route.  Washington to Arguello through the park out 9th Avenue in the Sunset and then 7th Avenue into Forest Hill.  Then Dewey to Claremont into St. Francis Wood.  I love the suburban neighborhoods of San Francisco and St. Francis Wood doesn't disappoint:

    My class got out early and I headed home for dinner.  Ribwich again!  Which was just fine with me.