PanPan70's Xanga

Monday, November 16, 2009

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:46:41 GMT

I slept better last night than I have in a week because Mr. Poe is back in town and all is right in the world once again. The dogs raised a bit of a fuss when Mr. Nick and Jeff headed off for the airport around 4:15 but I was getting up a few minutes after that so it was OK. It was very cold this morning-- in the forties! I headed off Corbett to Portola to Woodside to Dewey to Taravel and down to the coast. I went down the Great Highway and stopped at the foot of Sloat for pics of the coast. People were surfing in this weather. Crazy, crazy people:

The view south:

The view north:

I continued on the Great Highway and stopped a little north of Lake Merced for more pics. So pretty:

Me:

I continued on the Great Highway to Skyline to Lake Merced to Font to Holloway. This is the view of Ingleside Heights with the Twin Peaks radio tower in the background from Holloway and Junipero Serra:

I continued on Holloway to Harold to Ocean to Phelan to Judson to Foerster to Hearst to Edna to Monterey to Diamond to Wilder to Arlington to Randall to San Jose to Duncan to Valencia to Market to Sansome and into work. It was still very cold when I got to work. Ahhh, winter.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:34:40 GMT

Mr. Poe's flight got in a little early on Saturday night. We all went home and promptly went to bed. It had been a very long day and I was beat. Sunday I got up nice and early and took the dogs for a walk while he slept in. We did Collingwood and Liberty Hills. The sun was just coming up on 22nd and Noe:

Mimi was having more fun than appears in this photo:

Sunrise over the Mission from Sanchez and Hill:

Superfantastic house on 21st:

Ashley wanting something. Likely supremacy:

I went home and finished making the cinnamon rolls I had started the night before. I'm getting pretty good at them-- they looked great:

Mr Nick and Jess had a wedding to go to that day so Mr. Poe and I were pretty much on our own. We headed off to the grocery store and got the house cleaned up, had dinner and walked the dogs again Mr. Nick got back from the wedding around 9 and we went to bed soon after. I was beat.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 04:24:52 GMT

It was freezing cold and pouring down rain when I got up. I almost didn't go to the Different Spokes monthly Jersey Ride but TV said that it was gonna be nice and why would TV lie?? That and I was such a hot mess the day before I needed to suffer a little. There were only couple of people at Peets when I got there.

Doug, Michael, and Larry:

Jeff, Cameron, and Brian:

Chris with Joel and Brian's adorable dog:

We headed off and I could tell right away that the grey wet weather was only in the city and that it was sunny in Marin.

Cameron, Jeff, and David at the Golden Gate Bridge:

David, Larry, and Doug:

Sausalito was sunny and the rest of the ride was gorgeous. Score! We had a nice ride to Tiburon. I felt pretty good. A little hung over for some reason. But pretty good. We stopped at Shark's in Tiburon for lunch.

Cameron and Jeff:

Larry looking all secret agent:

From there we headed over to Belvedere Island. We stopped at the pretty lookout for pics.

Larry, Jeff, and Doug:

The view of the Golden Gate Bridge from Belvedere:

The view towards Tam:

From there we headed back to Sausalito and then I did Marin Headlands. Nobody else wanted to go. Their loss. It was gorgeous. This was the view from the top:

Me:

I headed down towards Rodeo Beach and stopped for an unusual view of the bridge with the pretty beaches thrown in:

I'm pretty sure this would have been a firing range back when this was a military base based on the way it's been excavated. Now it's chomping central for these adorable deer:

Nom, Nom, Nom.

I headed back home and got cleaned up and then Mr. Nick and Jess came back from Napa and we took the dogs for a long walk and had dinner. Then I hung out and waited for Mr. Poe's flight to land. I can't wait! Baby's back in town!!

Bike Mileage:
Today                                              59.1
Week to date                          221.5
Month to date                             520.2
Year to date                               7,319.4
To Goal                         2,680.6
Over (Under) plan            (1,392.9)
YTD Mileage vs Last Year             (2,597.6)
Rolling Year                              8,149.1
Since Inception 10/1/07              20,597.1

Friday, November 13, 2009

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 04:10:27 GMT

I took the day off on Friday because Mr. Nick and his girlfriend Jess were visiting from New York. I made them a lavish brunch and Nathan and Mr. Chris came. I made donuts! And apparently they were very good. I made one batch of dough and four different kinds of donuts: chocolate, maple pecan, rasberry, and cinnamon sugar (the holes). Donuts are not easy to make. The hardest part for me was keeping the oil the right temperature. If it's too high then the donuts get too brown before the interior is cooked. Too low and you get a greasy mess. I think I did pretty well:

I anticipated I was going to have a lot of frosting left over so I baked sugar cookies on Wednesday and filled them when I was done frosting the donuts. I should have used a bag and piped the filling in. It got kind of messy:

After brunch we headed out to the Sunset. Thanks for the lift Mr. Chris! Poor Joseph had waaaay too much champagne with brunch. I'm not a heavy drinker and it all went quickly downhill. I think we can all see where this is leading:

Leading straight to fail! At least my hair looked good:

That was pretty much the end of the day for me. I spent the rest of it sleeping it off.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:26:43 GMT

After work I headed off down Howard. This is the view looking west from 3rd:

I continued on Howard. This building is on Howard and 6th and is soon to be demolished. I can't wait to see what a new building does for this neighborhood:

I continued on Howard to 11th to Harrison to 25th to Valencia. This is the view looking up at Bernal Hill from Valencia and Cesar Chavez. It's green!

I continued on Valencia to Tiffany to 29th to San Jose to Wilder to Diamond to Monterey into Santa Clara to Portola to Claremont to Dewey into Laguna Honda into 7th. 7th is currently being repaved and is absolutely not recommended for biking until they finish. Very dangerous especially in the dark. I continued on 7th to Irving to 9th and into Golden Gate Park. I went through the Music Concourse and then took JFK to 8th to Cabrillo to McAllister to Shrader to Golden Gate to Laguna to Market to 17th and into work. I finished getting ready for Mr. Nick and then took the dogs for a walk in the Mission. It was the same walk I had done the night before, but I wasn't quite so tired so I enjoyed it more.

Bike Mileage:
Today                                              37.9
Week to date                          162.4
Month to date                             461.1
Year to date                               7,260.3
To Goal                         2,739.7
Over (Under) plan            (1,397.2)
YTD Mileage vs Last Year             (2,624.2)
Rolling Year                              8,122.5
Since Inception 10/1/07              20,538.0

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:09:05 GMT

I did waaaayyyy too much yesterday and I really felt it this morning. I headed off Corbett to Portola to Woodside to Dewey to Taravel and down to the coast. I came up the Great Highway and then went up to Geary and too 35th to Clement to 34th and up to the Palace of the Legion of Honor. This is the Financial District as seen from the museum parking lot:

The Marin Headlands:

Pax Jerusalemme:

Me:

This is the Holocaust Memorial which I'm very fond of. Extremely evocative:

I came down Camino Del Mar to Lake. There's a storm south of the city. I wonder whether it's gonna make it's way north:

I continued on Lake to Arguello to Clay to Fillmore to Post. I stopped at Peace Plaza for some Japantown pics:

I continued on Post to Kearny to Bush to Sansome and into work. I'm already beat and it isn't even noon yet!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:58:44 GMT

Happy Veterans Day! I had the day off and I had a great day. I avoided sleeping in and was out of the house on my bike a little after 6AM. I rode Corbett to Portola to Woodside to Dewey to Taravel and down to the coast. I came down the Great Highway to Skyline and stopped above Thornton Beach State Park to get a pic of Pacifica and Pedro Point:

I continued south on Skyline. I'd forgotten how much climbing you have to do when you head south on Skyline. You pretty much climb nonstop from Lake Merced to Millbrae. It's nuts! I got a pic of San Andreas Lake as I was heading into Millbrae:

I continued on Skyline to Millbrae Ave and then down to Bayfront Park to watch the planes take off. I love going down there and haven't been in a long time so it was a treat. You can see the airport behind the salt marsh in this pic. There's something I haven't seen there before in the foreground:

Birds. Tons and tons of birds. I guess they were watching the planes take off too:

Delta 767 coming in for a landing:

United 777(I think) taking off:

Air Canada E190:

Some Virgin America:

I didn't stay too long because it was kind of cold and I had a ton of stuff to do back at home so I headed off through the airport into South San Francisco. This is one of the pretty buildings downtown:

I got on Bayshore and headed towards Brisbane. This pretty building is called Centennial Towers. I love the lines, especially against the hillside it's built against:

Then I headed over to Guadalupe Canyon which I also haven't been to in forever. It was about as much climbing as I remembered. Here are a few views looking east from near the crest:

Brisbane:

Me:

I headed into Daly City and took East Market to San Pedro to Washington to 87th to Park Plaza to John Daly to Lake Merced to Higuera to Arballo to Font to Holloway to Harold to Ocean to Phelan to Judson to Foerster to Hearst to Edna to Monterey to Diamond to Wilder to Arlington to Randall to San Jose to Duncan to Valencia to 18th to Douglass to 17th to Ord and home. When I got home I cleaned bikes. Four of them. My two ride bikes, my old commuter which I'm shipping to Florida next week and my current commuter. It took forever. I should have done it on Sunday like I had planned.

After the bikes were clean I showered and had lunch and then took Rufus on a nice long walk to Golden Gate Park. It was gorgeous weather in the park. And full of people because of the holiday. This is what it looked like in the Music Concourse:

This is the de Young as seen from the the path that goes underneath JFK to the playgorund:

I headed over to the Rose Garden via the Redwood Grove. Very pretty in there. Rufus loved it:

He's the happiest dog ever:

It's too late in the season for the Rose Garden to be stunning but a few things are still in bloom. From there we made our way over to the Dahlia Garden:

Then we headed home down Hayes to Broderick. I got a few pretty views of the city on my way back home:

I cleaned up a little at home and got ready for house guests that are coming on Thursday and then Mr. Chris and Russ came over. Mr. Chris brought Sofi which made Rufus's day. Mimi even sat in Chris's lap! I hope he still had his wallet when he stood up. You know how she is. I made chocolate chip and sugar cookies while they were there. The chocolate chip cookies turned out great but I had a little trouble with the sugar cookie dough. It needs to be ice cold before you roll it out or it's hard to cut. I was getting really tired by the time I got the kitchen cleaned up but I had one more walk left in me so I took all the dogs down into the Mission. I got home and talked to Mr. Poe who sounds so wonderfully relaxed and then we went to bed. Exhausted.

Bike Mileage:
Today                                              42.9
Week to date                          124.5
Month to date                             423.2
Year to date                               7,222.4
To Goal                         2,777.6
Over (Under) plan            (1,407.7)
YTD Mileage vs Last Year             (2,655.1)
Rolling Year                              8,091.6
Since Inception 10/1/07              20,500.1

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:27:07 GMT

The gloomy weather pretty much persisted all day. I got this pic of the Transamerica Pyramid as taken from Market and Montgomery on my way back to work from lunch:

After work I took Sutter to Fillmore to Clay to Maple to Washington to Arguello to Lake to 27th to Cabrillo to 47th to Fulton to the Great Highway and came down the coast. Then I took Taravel to Merced to Hernandez to Laguna Honda to Portola to Corbett to Ord and home for dinner. The dogs and I took a walk up the Pemberton Steps and then we went to bed. Mr. Poe is enjoying his Hawaiian holiday. They've been getting some rain but he's still been at the beach a lot. He'd better be wearing sunscreen.

Bike Mileage:
Today                                              42.1
Week to date                             81.6
Month to date                             380.3
Year to date                               7,179.5
To Goal                         2,820.5
Over (Under) plan            (1,423.2)
YTD Mileage vs Last Year             (2,691.0)
Rolling Year                              8,048.7
Since Inception 10/1/07              20,457.2

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:50:27 GMT

The cold, gloomy weather continues. We may even get a little rain out of it tomorrow. I headed off 17th to Eureka to 18th to Valencia to Mission to Richland to Arlington to Wilder to Diamond to Monterey into Santa Clara to Portola to Claremont to Merced to Hernandez to Laguna Honda to Ulloa to Sydney to Portola to Twin Peaks and up to the viewing platform. It was still beautiful despite the haze:

Me:

I continued on Twin Peaks to Clayton to Parnassus to Cole to Waller to Stanyan and into Golden Gate Park at JFK. I came out of the park at Arguello and took that into the Presidio. I got on Washington and took that to Lincoln and came out of the Presidio at the Lombard Gate. Then I took Lyon to Chestnut to Laguna to Francisco to Polk to North Point to Columbus. This is the Financial District as seen from North Beach:

I continued on Columbus and got another shot of the Transamerica Pyramid from Kearny:

I continued on Columbus to Clay to Sansome and into work.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:43:33 GMT

The cold dreary weather continued all day. At least it isn't wet. After work I headed off down Sansome. Here is the view up Bush at sunset:

I continued on Sansome to Sutter. This is Sutter and Polk:

I continued on Sutter to Fillmore to Clay to Spruce to Washington to Arguello to Lake to 8th and into Golden Gate Park. I went through the Music Concourse and came out of the park at 9th and then took Judah to 7th into Laguna Honda into Dewey to Claremont to Portola to Santa Clara into Monterey which had now power from North Gate to Foerster and was pitch black and a total, total eek. I continued on to Diamond to Wilder to Arlington to Randall to San Jose to Duncan to Valencia to 18th to Douglass to 17th to Ord and home for dinner.

Mr. Poe is enjoying his vacation on Kauai and the dogs are being easy to deal with for now. In addition, I have managed to avoid barricading myself in my study and refusing to come out as I tend to do when he's away. We all had dinner and then went for a long walk up in Ashbury Heights. I did a little housework and then we went to bed. It had been a very long day.

Bike Mileage:
Today                                             39.5
Week to date                             39.5
Month to date                             338.2
Year to date                               7,137.4
To Goal                         2,862.6
Over (Under) plan            (1,437.9)
YTD Mileage vs Last Year             (2,733.1)
Rolling Year                              8,006.6
Since Inception 10/1/07              20,415.1