Thursday, January 31

I was dry this morning for the first time in what seems like forever.  I headed off Corbett to Portola to Evelyn to Teresita into Foerster to Monterey   This house is on Monterey at West Gate:

Here’s a shot of me as well:

I continued on Monterey where I saw this piece of Tudorliciousness:

I continued on Monterey to San Leandro to Ocean to Sunset to Yorba to 40th to Wawona and down to the coast.  I came up the Great Highway and went into Golden Gate Park at MLK.  I took Chain of Lakes to JFK and I followed it into the Panhandle.  Then I took Baker to McAllister and into Civic Center.  This is the Asian Art Museum:

I headed up Larkin where I spied the Hotel Essex at Larkin and Ellis.  It’s under renovation I like the paint job except for the orange which troubles me greatly.  Tangerine??  What were they thinking??  I think the sign is new as well and I’m loving that.  And I can even get past the color scheme because I like any signs of improvement in the Tenderloin:

  

I continued on Larkin to Bush to Sansome and into work     

Wednesday, January 30

I made a discovery at the office a few days ago.  The cube I’ve been inhabiting since the beginning of November has a drawer that I hadn’t noticed.  It’s a pen drawer and shallow and I might be excused for missing it except for the fact that every cube has such a drawer yet I’m the only one who missed it.  Not to self:  start paying more attention.  I think people watch Superman and think “Lois Lane is such an idiot how could she not know that Superman was her coworker without glasses.”  I think I’d be fooled too.  Here’s a pic of the elusive drawer:

I headed home for lunch and took a couple of pictures around the Castro.  They’re filming “Milk” in town right now.  With grouchy Sean Penn as Harvey Milk.  I think his temperament makes him better suited to play hotheaded jerk Chris Daly but that’s just me.  Anyway, they’ve tarted the Castro up to look like it supposedly did in the seventies.  I can’t tell you how accurate it is because I wasn’t there.  The facade of the Castro Theater was painted a bit.  The stores on Castro had their windows redone to look like whatever they were supposed to be in the seventies, but the interior of the stores were unchanged.  The hot cookie was turned into a Double Rainbow ice cream place:

  

The Quickly juice place was turned into a real estate office and the store next to it was turned into a yarn store.  Yarn store??  The Twin Peaks was pretty much unchanged and, in addition, I believe some of the patrons might have been there since the late seventies.  Bonus!

  

They also brought in some cool vintage vehicles:

After work I headed off Columbus into North Beach where I had to hang out for a few minutes because a 12 year old boy had fallen off his bike and we were directing traffic until the ambulance showed.  I think he was pretty much going to be OK because he was conscious and talking but you never know.  Poor baby.  The fire truck eventually came.  Why do they send a fire truck for a bicycle accident??  We said he fell off his bike, not that he was on fire.  AND only one of the firemen was hot.  I continued on my bike.  I turned on North Point and got a nice view of the Fontana against the late afternoon sky:

And one of me in front of it:

I turned on Van Ness and got a couple of shots of a pretty school on Van Ness at Bay:

And a detail of the stairway:

I took Francisco to Gough to Greenwich to Lyon to Lombard and into the Presidio then I took Presidio to Funston to Moraga to Arguello to Washington to Battery Caulfield into Wedermeyer into 14th to Lake to 23rd to Cabrillo and down to the coast.  I took the Great Highway to Taravel to Dewey to Pacheco to Hernandez to Laguna Honda to Portola to Corbett and then home.  Mr. Poe had just gotten home and we ate dinner and went to bed.  Long day.

Bike Mileage:
Today                                   39.4
Week to date                        95.0
Month to date                      586.8
Year to date                        586.8
Remaining to Goal            9,413.2
Over (Under) plan             (232.9)

Wednesday, January 30

It was soaking wet when I got up this morning but it wasn’t raining.  Huzzah!  I headed off Corbett to Portola to Woodside to Dewey to Taravel and down to the coast.  I came up the Great Highway and made my way up towards Geary.  I stopped by the Cliff House to take some pics of the coast.  It was a cold, glorious morning:

Ocean Beach looking south towards Pacifica:

The North Windmill in Golden Gate Park:

Marin Headlands with Mount Tam behind it:

Sutro Baths with the Headlands behind them:

The view North:

I continued up Geary to 34th and then up to the Palace of the Legion of Honor.  The fountain was on!  That hasn’t been on in the morning in quite a while:

And one of me as well:

I headed down Camino Del Mar to Lake to Arguello to Clay to Fillmore to Post to Kearny to Bush to Sansome and into work.

Tuesday, January 29

The rain held off until I got home for lunch and then I got drenched on the way back to the office.  But that was it for the day and it cleared off and the sun came out!  Finally.  After work I headed off on Sutter where I got a great view west towards Japantown from Hyde St:

I continued on Sutter to Gough and got a shot of the Majestic hotel.  My friend Quela used to live across the street from here and I stayed at her place a couple of times before I moved here:

I continued on Sutter to Fillmore and headed north.  This is Fillmore at Pine:

I continued on Fillmore to Washington to Steiner to Clay to Arguello to Lake to 23rd to Balboa down to the ocean and down the Great Highway to Cutler to 47th to Wawona to 26th to Vicente to 16th to Taravel to Merced to Hernandez to Laguna Honda to Portola to Corbett and home.  Mr. Poe had class so I had the dogs by myself.  You have to walk them in shifts.

Bike Mileage:
Today                                   39.0
Week to date                        55.6
Month to date                      547.4
Year to date                        547.4
Remaining to Goal            9,452.6
Over (Under) plan             (244.9)

Tuesday, January 29

I got up and it wasn’t raining.  For like the first time in a month it seems.  I headed off Corbett to Portola to Woodside to Dewey to Taravel and down to the ocean where I realized I’d forgotten my backpack.  How did I forget that??  It’s large and heavy.  It’s like forgetting to put on pants.  AND it had started to rain.  Oh, well.  I headed up the Great Highway and went into Golden Gate Park at MLK and then took Chain of Lakes over to JFK and rode that through the park.  I came out at the panhandle and took Stanyon to Page to Clayton to 17th home.  I grabbed my backpack, kissed the dogs and headed down 17th to Eureka to 18th.  This is gorgeous Mission High school which is so much prettier than the high school I went to you wouldn’t believe it:

  

I continued down 18th and got a shot of St. Charles school which isn’t quite as grand but is just as pretty:

I turned on Folsom and then took it to 2nd to Market to Sansome and into work.

Monday, January 28

I woke up nice and early and it was yet another crappy, wet morning so I went back to bed.  I got up later and the rain had cleared and it was nothing but bright sunshine.  I don’t know how that happened.  I headed down Market into work.  I came home for lunch and took a few pictures to document the momentary lapse in rain.  This is the San Francisco Furniture Mart, a spectacular Deco building I love to look at:

I went back to work and then after, I headed off 2nd to Howard.  This is the Hugo hotel which has been vacant for 20 years and is now being eminent domained to make way for affordable housing.  One wonders how affordable.

I continued on Howard and got a shot of pretty St. Josephs which has been vacant for a long time and it probably destined for the wrecking ball itself.  I’d love it if they could preserve the main facade and the towers and build something around that.  It’s such a pretty building but completely unnecessary in a neighborhood where crackheads outnumber catholics 5-1:

Here’s a shot of me at 10th and Howard:

I turned at 11st St.  This is a part of the Jackson Brewery building on 11th and Folsom.  It’s not a glamorous building, but it’s very industrial looking and functional and I like it:

I continued on 11th to Harrison to 25th where I decided it was too cold for what I was wearing and then took Valencia to 18th to Diamond to 17th and then then home

Bike Mileage:
Today                                   16.6
Week to date                        16.6
Month to date                      508.4
Year to date                        508.4
Remaining to Goal            9,491.6
Over (Under) plan             (256.6)

Sunday, January 27

I was hoping that it wasn’t going to rain on my training ride.  Of course it did.  But luckily, it didn’t start until halfway through so we had to do it all.  We headed over to Tiburon on the flats.  I’d brought my wet weather commuter anticipating nasty weather with it’s spanking new tires.  They did great, but the handlebar tape started falling off of it almost as soon as I’d left the house.  What was this bike built over an Indian burial ground??  I’m going to keep upgrading that bike until I like it or I go bankrupt whichever comes first. 

There was a flat tire clinic before hand like the week before.  Only two people showed up for it so I didn’t have to do too much.  So I spent my time ogling ride leader Bruce (left) and chatting up Courtney, Ben’s smokin’ hot girlfriend:

  

One of Ben’s friends from England was on the training ride with us.  He’d never really been on a bike before and didn’t even know how to shift gears.  His bike was pretty good although it had these weird comedy hubs and yellow and black alternating colored spokes that I’d never seen before:

Poor Monica wiped out in the gravel as we were heading into Tiburon.  We sent her home on the ferry because her knee was throbbing, it was pouring down rain, and we wanted her back.

Another rider had a flat on the way back into Mill Valley.

We stopped in at Mike’s Bikes which was chock full of pretty boys working there.  One of the mechanics totally looked like Jesus.  But a hot Jesus.  Some woman asked Ben and I how long we’d been together.  She guessed by the amount of our bickering it was a very long time.  I swept the last riders in.  Everybody was moving pretty fast.  Rain will do that.  These three girls were the last riders and I thought they did a great job.

We headed back to Sports Basement and then I went home to dry off.

Bike Mileage:
Today                                   39.7
Week to date                      115.7
Month to date                     491.8
Year to date                        491.8
Remaining to Goal            9,508.2
Over (Under) plan             (231.0)

Friday, January 25

Not a good day.  It was POURING down rain all day.  I figured I’d make the best of a slight break in the morning so I changed a front flat on my wet weather commuter and headed off in the morning.  The rear went flat within twenty minutes and I didn’t find the piece of glass so the replacement went flat as well so I had to walk my bike home.  I changed it there and headed down to work.  Around lunchtime, I headed off to REI to get new tires and, in a last “screw you” from the tires, I had a front flat and had to walk it to REI in the pouring rain from 7th and Market.  There’s some new guy at the bike shop at REI named Noel and he’s a cross between surly and hostile.  He needs to tighten his shit up before I start complaining about him.  One of the things I like about the bike shop at REI is that REI has a corporate structure so that you can acually complain and it will go somewhere.  The new tires are a huge improvement in not getting four flats a day and I headed back to work and then back home up market at the end of the day. 

Bike Mileage:
Today                                   10.4
Week to date                        76.0
Month to date                     452.1
Year to date                        452.1
Remaining to Goal            9,547.9
Over (Under) plan             (231.0)

Thursday, January 24

It was another soggy mess just like Wednesday.  Yuck.  I didn’t go home for lunch again.  Just down Market in the morning and back the same way after work.

Bike Mileage:
Today                                    7.0
Week to date                        65.6
Month to date                     441.7
Year to date                        441.7
Remaining to Goal            9,558.3
Over (Under) plan             (214.0)

Wednesday, January 23

It poured down rain for most the day.  I didn’t even go home for lunch!  Just down Market for work and then back home the same way at the end of the day.

Bike Mileage:
Today                                    7.0
Week to date                        58.6
Month to date                     434.7
Year to date                        434.7
Remaining to Goal            9,565.3
Over (Under) plan             (193.7)