Over lunch instead of going home I headed off on foot over to Telegraph Hill which I haven’t been to in forever.  The weather mostly held up but I did get a little sprinkled on.  I took Sansome over to the Greenwich Street steps.  This is the view looking north from about halfway up:

The Bay Bridge from the Greenwich steps:

The Greenwich steps:

I headed up over Telegraph Hill and made my way to Jack Early park.  I had advised somebody who was visiting to head over there and then realized I don’t think I’ve been there myself in a year.  It’s only open 9-5 or something like that and only on weekdays.  The park consists of steps heading up to a viewing platform with phenomenal views.  The best part about it is it’s so out of the way it’s usually empty.  Check out the view:

I love this super fantastic mansion up the hill from the park:

Bellair place bewtween Pfeiffer and Chestnut:

Columbus and Broadway:

Banksy!

Columbus and Kearny:

I went and got a burrito at Tlaloc and headed back to work.

We had a pretty big storm roll through last night but it had passed by morning so I waited around for it to dry out a little and then came down Market into work.  I got a pics lounging on their princess futon before I left.  It’s too wet outside for Rufus and he blames me:

I got a shot of Market from Octavia–  damp but gorgeous:

I continued down Market into work.

I worked from home in the morning and went into the office after lunch.  After work I went for a fun ride.  The rain is coming in a lot later than they predicted and it was warm, windy, damp and unsettled.  I love this weather.  I headed down Columbus and stopped for a few pics along the way.  This is the view looking up Kearny from Columbus:

Columbus and Broadway:

Looking up Columbus from Grant.  You can see the storm slowly sliding in:

For all the time I’ve been riding after work, I’ve ridden Columbus to North Point.  The problem with that route is that Columbus past Washington Square turns into an increasing clusterfuck with cabs, tourists, tracks, and Marin traffic trying to get on Bay.  I’ve concluded that the way to go is to ride Columbus to Stockton to North Point which has much less of an eek factor.  This super cute jogger was racing me up Stockton.  He was impressively fast.  I think we can all appreciate a man with a lot of stamina.  I took North Point to Bay and then went into Fort Mason and stopped to get pics of this Benny Bufano sculpture.  Ah, Benny Bufano.  He’s the California artist best known for hacking off his trigger finger and sending it to President Wilson at the outbreak of World War I.   I can think of three Bufano sculptures in San Francisco:  this one in Fort Mason, one at the city college, and one on Brotherhood Way that formerly graced the International terminal at SFO.  I’d be keen to visiting any more of them that might be lying around.  Fabulous:

The first time I saw this I thought it was Suri Cruise:

The Golden Gate Bridge from Fort Mason:

I got on Marina Blvd to Old Mason and stopped for a pic of the Golden Gate Bridge from Crissy Field.  I noted a big triangular shaped thing on the Marin Headlands that wasn’t there the last time I looked:

Zoomed in I could see that it was a big fabric barrier to prevent erosion.  It looks like the construction on Conzelman was more involved than repaving.  Which kind of sucks because that makes me think they aren’t gonna be done with it anytime soon:

I headed up to Lincoln and then made my way over to Immigrant Point for a couple of pics.  Look at this incredible view:

You can see the storm moving in:

Me:

I headed down to the new fabulous renovation that will be apartments when completed.  Nobody’s moved in yet and I’m very interested to see the range of population that’s gonna go in.  Because it’s a big building with big building features that isn’t in a big building neighborhood.  I think that the units will all be rentals and I’ll be interested to see the community they end up with:

I got on Lake to 8th and into Golden Gate Park.  I headed over to the Music Concourse and got some pic.  This is the De Young Museum:

This is the Twin Peaks tower rising behind the California Academy of Sciences with sculptures from the music concourse in the foreground:

The Lions of the De Young which I believe is the only remaining part of the old museum:

I headed over to MLK and came out of the park at 9th.  I got a shot looking towards the Twin Peaks antenna from Lincoln and 9th:

I took to Judah to 7th into Laguna Honda to Portola to Corbett to Ord and home for dinner.  Mr. Poe’s feeling much better which bodes well for me being taken out to dinner on Saturday night.  Stay tuned.  In addition I managed to get my homework done.  It’s done— it ain’t pretty–  but it’s done.   I also made some Eggplant for Nathan’s party on Saturday and it’s gonna be just delicious.  Mmmmmmmm.

I’m going to bed early tonight.  I’m pretty beat.

Bike Mileage:

Today 3.5 Week to date 63.3 Month to date 311.2 Year to date 6,571.1 To Goal 3,428.9 Over (Under) plan (1,702.9) YTD Mileage vs Last Year (184.3) Rolling Year 7,750.7 Since Inception 10/1/07 27,740.9

I spent much of Wednesday in a mild panic over this article on SFGate.com that was telling me how statistically, marriages tend to fizzle at ten years, eleven months.  Mr. Poe and I will reach that milestone in July.  News like this always shocks and horrifies in because I can’t see how anybody in their right mind puts up with my half assed husbanding skills and I think that the only reason that Mr. Poe does is because he’s being secretly paid off by my mom who is afraid that I’d move in with her should he cut me loose.  Mr. Poe told me not to worry and pointed out that California is a community property state so logically he’d have to kill me if he wanted to be rid of me which is very comforting indeed. 

I managed to put it together by the end of the day and went for a nice ride after work.  I headed off Sutter to Presidio to Euclid to Commonwealth where I stopped for a few pics of pretty St. Gregory the Illuminator:

One of the pretty homes on Commonwealth St:

I continued on Euclid to Arguello to Cabrillo to 8th and into Golden Gate Park.  I got on JFK and stopped for a pic of the De Young Museum:

Me:

I continued down to Chain of Lakes and stopped for a pic of it.  It’s such a pretty and very secluded part of the park.  Likey:

I continued on JFK to Bernice Rodgers to MLK and down to the Great Highway.  I came down the coast and stopped around Noriega for pics of the beach.  Perfect:

I continued on the Great Highway to Pacheco to 42st to Rivera to 36th yo Taravel to Merced to Hernandez to Laguna Honda to Portola to Corbett to Ord and home for dinner.  Mr. Poe’s cold, which I thought he was getting over, seemed quite a bit worse and he looked and sounded terrible.  I hope he’s on the mend soon because he’s off to Hawaii on vacation in another week.  I worked on my homework until 10:30 and it didn’t go well.  Lousy homework.  Thinks it’s so great…..

Bike Mileage:

Today 36.4 Week to date 43.4 Month to date 291.3 Year to date 6,551.2 To Goal 3,448.8 Over (Under) plan (1,668.0) YTD Mileage vs Last Year (117.7) Rolling Year 7,813.3 Since Inception 10/1/07 27,721.0

The weather was very different when I went home for lunch than it was this morning when I was riding.  There’s another storm sliding into the Bay Area and it’s gotten overcast and it looks like it might rain.  I got this pic of Market and Octavia on my way home:

Not that the ‘E’ in ‘AWESOME’ is actually an ‘M’ turn on its side.  It isn’t clear to me whether they were lacking an ‘E’ or whether they are trying to slyly convince me that their hotcakes are ‘AWESOME’ when in fact they are ‘AWMSOME’ .  Developing.

I’m hoping that it stays dry so I can ride after work!

I worked from home on Monday and didn’t ride at all.  Tuesday I only managed to come down Market into work and go home the same way at the end of the day.  I was able to haul my ass out of bed this morning and I went for a nice ride.  I headed off Corbett to Portola to Woodside to Dewey to Taravel and down to the coast.  I came down the Great Highway and went into Golden Gate Park at MLK.  I took that to Stow Lake where I stopped for a pic of the sunrise:

I headed over to Funston to Balboa into Turk and stopped at the top of Lone Mountain for pics of the University of San Francisco:

I continued on Turk to Baker and stopped for pics:

Mid century fabulous:

Me:

I continued on Baker to Terra Vista to Ellis to Divisadero to Eddy.  I stopped for a few pics of the old Sacred Heart Church now Macang Monastery:

Eddy and Fillmore:

Eddy and Franklin:

I continued on Eddy to Cyril Magnin to O’Farrell to Powell to Post to Grant.  I took a bunch of pics as I headed up Grant:

The Old Cathedral:

I continued on Grant to Clay.  This is the Transamerica Pyramid from Clay and Montgomery:

 I continued on Clay to Sansome and into work.

It rained pretty much all weekend.  I was hoping to go riding on Saturday, but the forecast looked really bad and I was very happy come afternoon when it was pouring down rain and I was inside.  Mr. Poe was sick with a cold and spent most of Saturday in a delirious state yelling commands from his recliner.  One would think that somebody on the brink of death would be a little quieter.  I headed downtown to visit Nathan and Daniel late in the day and Nathan and I went out for a couple of drinks which was fun. 

Sunday had much nastier weather with high winds and rain coming down in sheets for most of the afternoon.  We moved the truck down the driveway so it would get rained on, a maneuver I believe is called a “redneck car wash”.  Here are some pics of the storm from my front porch:

Thankfully, Mr. Poe was feeling better and wasn’t quite so demanding.  I spent the day baking cookies for Nathan’s housewarming party next weekend.  I’m cooking all the food for it and it’s going to be really fun.  We went to bed early on Sunday because baking is hard work! 

I’m proud of myself this morning.  I was all ready to bike down to work this morning when I opened my front door and noted that it was raining.  So I closed the door, put on work clothes and came down on Muni.  I’m not commuting in the rain anymore.  I’m just not.  Thanks to my Clipper Card, I wasn’t scrounging around looking for change which made the Muni trip a lot more convenient.  It looks like it’s gonna be wet and miserable all day.  I won’t miss the rainy ride home.

After work I managed to get a nice ride in.  I cut it a little short because I wanted to make it home a little early in case Mr. Poe wasn’t feeling well again and I was left to my own devices because I was hoping to avoid the tortilla chip and tater tot debacle from the night before.  I headed off Columbus to Stockton and stopped at Washington Square for a few pics.

St Peter and Paul’s:

How not to be cool:

Coit Tower:

I continued on Stockton to North Point and stopped for a pic of Ghiradelli Square:

I continued on North Point to Van Ness to Francisco to Laguna to Chestnut to Divisadero to Marina and into the Presidio.  I stopped to get some pics of the Golden Gate Bridge with Crissy Field in the foreground:

I headed up to Lincoln and then up to Washington and stopped at Immigrant Point for pics.  The sun was setting and it looked fabulous:

Me:

I continued on Washington to Arguello to Jackson to Cherry to Clay to Scott to Duboce to Castro to 17th to Ord and home for dinner.  Mr. Poe was feeling a little better and had made dinner so I didn’t need to exercise my contingiency plan and make it myself.  I walked the dogs and went to bed early. 

Bike Mileage:

Today 36.2 Week to date 105.5 Month to date 247.9 Year to date 6,507.8 To Goal 3,492.2 Over (Under) plan (1,547.0) YTD Mileage vs Last Year 75.0 Rolling Year 8,011.6 Since Inception 10/1/07 27,677.6

Breaking news –  huge gas leak in the Castro….

When I was coming home from lunch they had Castro cordoned off between 18th and Market.  You could hear a loud hissing noise and smell gas.  The muni guy directing traffic confirmed a big gas leak.