Expectmuch

Thursday, September 27, 2007

The Clearest Night I've Ever Seen

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Sunday, September 23, 2007

They say Summer ends today. I say it ended on Friday night when the first rain hit SF. So, while commuters were sacrificing their weekend getaway plans to slick roads and fender-benders, I scrambled to the top of Twin Peaks to watch the clouds roll in. I figured I had time before heading out to Hoa's b-day party.

I had never seen SF under this kind of lighting. Here are some decent shots from the phone (brushed up with Picassa).

Looking down into Diamond Heights

Looking southwest

My favorite part of the run. Coming down the mountain, crossing the ped bridge over Portola.

Looking up the hill from the ped bridge.

From the spiral ramp on the east end of the ped bridge.

Out with the old, in with the new. Muni is replacing their diesel buses with Hybrids.

http://www.sfmta.com/cms/mfleet/hybrids.htm

Looking across Portola up into Diamond Heights.

My New Summer Hobby

It's been a busy summer... for all the right reasons. More on that later, but one reason is a renewed fondness for biking. It started when I finally did something about my broken 10-year-old Raleigh suspension bike. On the crazy chance it might do me some good, I took it down to Valencia Cyclery to see what kind of warrantee Raleigh would honor on a cracked frame. After a week, they made an offer to knock $150 off a new bike. Valencia didn't care what kind of bike. I still had some Christmas cash. They still had '06 bikes on the shelf, discounted heavily. I started test riding, and found a Specialized that I fell for immediately. It was the same feeling I had when I test drove the Cobra in '03.

Cha-ching!

That was in May. Since then, I've made some minor tweaks to the bike and racked up (I think) over 900 miles. Amateur numbers, of course, but that includes a Diablo summit, and a 60 miler around Marin and Tiburon... rides I never thought I'd be capable of. I've been commuting to South SF over Geneva Blvd, I can finaly climb a hill in a gear other than "granny", and I've lost about 20 lbs. It's helped my jogs up Twin Peaks as well; same muscle group, I guess. I did that lap in 45 minutes yesterday.

Here are some pics from a lap around Paradise Loop in Tiburon. It's one of the most beautiful circuits in the Bay Area (according to those who've biked every popular route). One of these days, I'll take some shots from the GG Bridge.

I've found my new Summer hobby.

Treasure Island Music Festival

On the 15th, a bunch of us headed out to see some good tunes on Treasure Island. As always, the views were gorgeous, and even more so due to the day's perfect weather. Getting there brought back memories of rehearsing with the Renegades.

The day was also an opportunity to put my new little Sony phone/camera/walkman/etc to some good use.

Gotan project was very cool. They showed us dorky Americans what a little modern global perspective can do for a classic form of latin music. Ghostland Observatory was a trip. I hadn't heard of them until that day, and then my buddy Jimmy was DJ'ing them at 540 club only a week later... small world. Of course, the favorite was the headliner; Thievery Corp.

http://www.treasureislandfestival.com/