• Powell Street terminus, San Francisco: Cable cars and Christmas lights. Dusk. In the foreground, a railroad turntable, with a cable car just past it. In the background, tree trunks wrapped in Christmas lights.
• Urban Putt, 1096 South Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco: After work we had a team event where we went to Urban Putt, an indor miniature golf course with a vaguely San Francisco Steampunk theme. (To be honest, I had more fun watching the set pieces than...
• Precinct 7619, San Francisco: Today I served as an SF poll worker for the gubernatorial recall election. After a mad scramble to get everything ready for the polls to open at 7 AM, I spent most of the day welcoming people and...
• Noisebridge: I spent most of last Saturday afternoon at Noisebridge helping someone build a frame to hold a box fan in a window to improve ventilation. Neither of us quite knew what we were doing but we managed to...
• Noisebridge: My bedframe has a large gap under the headboard, so my pillow keeps falling off the end of the bed. I decided to fix this by making a board to go in the empty space. Step 1: Obtain a quarter-sheet of...
• Emporium SF: In lieu of fireworks, I went with some friends to Emporium SF, an arcade with a lot of old videogames and the like. An unusual choice for a 4th of July celebration, perhaps, but I consider it just a...
• 272 Capp St, Mission District: The other thing I did today was visit Noisebridge, a local hackerspace. They moved buildings last year and were looking for volunteers to help them get organized and prepare for a general reopening,...
• Lataza Restaurant, 20th and Mission: Ventured out for a proper sit-down meal for the first time since the pandemic started. A plate with a very fancy salad and sandwich. Indoor dining has started up again at reduced capacity, but I...
: California Department of Public Health | MyTurn: Your vaccination appointment is confirmed! I’ve just scheduled an appointment to get vaccinated at Moscone Center, a conference center just down the...
• In the kitchen: In honor of Lunar New Year, one of the client account managers at Flexport hosted a virtual cooking class where he showed how to make Chinese dumplings. I followed along at home with his mushroom...
• Near City Hall: I voted outdoors today! San Francisco sent everyone ballots in the mail this election, to reduce crowding on election day, so I spent some time this weekend deciding how to vote and then dropped off...
• Out and about: The air in the Bay area cleared up today (the PM2.5 count this afternoon was zero, meaning there’s no smoke in the air at all) so I took advantage of the opportunity this evening to try out Bay...
• San Francisco: A rather dim picture of the San Francisco skyline, with a vivid orange cast over everything. The brightest thing in the photo is car headlights. I just received a message from AlertSF:...
• Indoors: I’ve been meaning to write up a whole post with pictures and all of how things have been going for me during the COVID-19 crisis, but I don’t think that’s going to happen at this point so here’s a...
• Civic Center, San Francisco: I voted today!
: I started at Flexport two weeks ago and they’ve been keeping me very busy. (Moving into a new apartment at the same time didn’t help matters any.) The first week was Flexport Academy, which is a...
: Apparently the “Air Dry” cycle on the dishwasher in my new apartment makes the dishes wetter. This is not the result I was hoping for.
: While making a bunch of phone calls this morning: “One Big Truck Movers, this is Wolfgang, how can I help you?” “Hi Wolfgang, it’s Wolfgang!” “Oh, hello, Wolfgang!”
• South of Market, San Francisco: Photos of my new apartment! I just signed the lease last week and I've been very busy getting ready to move in. View of an empty carpeted room, with a large picture window overlooking some buildings...
• Stage Werx Theatre: Last night I went to see ‘Ten Pound Badger,’ an improv group featuring (among others) one of my ex-coworkers from Common Networks. A group of people on stage, crouching down and effecting various...
: I haven’t posted anything here for a while because I’ve been busy with some things that aren’t very interesting to write about. I was unexpectedly laid off from Common Networks early last month, along...
• Portola Baptist Church: I voted today!
: Along with the office Halloween party (and the cookies), we had a pumpkin carving. (The googly eye is not normally part of Common’s logo.) Next to a sign welcoming visitors, a pumpkin with the ‘C_’...
• In the kitchen: I baked some oatmeal raisin cookies over the weekend to bring to the office Halloween party. A bowl of raw cookie dough, and a baking tray splotched with cookies. The final results. They were a great...
• Emeryville IKEA: Today’s adventure: IKEA! (Pictured: A long blue building with yellow trim and “IKEA” in large letters on the front.) They have a brochure stand by the entrance with useful maps to help you navigate...
• University Mound, San Francisco: Woke up this morning to the famous San Francisco fog. View down a street, which quickly fades to grey nothingness.
• Daly City, CA: Went to a farmers’s market today and there was a car show in the parking lot next door, so I stopped by for a look. (Sorry Grandpa, I didn’t see any Hudsons.) A souped-up Model-T-type car with lots of...
• BART train car: I did notice that the subway seemed quieter than it was when I visited last year. Now I know why! https://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2018/news20181113 (more or less)
: I just saw an electronic billboard that said “Good Morning LA!” I think someone needs to adjust their targeting settings.
• Golden China Restaurant: Apparently fortune cookies are now passé in San Francisco, home of the fortune cookie. This is the second Chinese restaurant I’ve been to where they served watermelon slices instead. A chunk of...
: A group of us went to a sushi-making class as a team building exercise. It was great fun! I learned a lot about my co-workers, and also proper knife technique. My first sushi roll! A slightly...
• McLaren Park: Went for a walk in a park this afternoon. San Francisco does have trees, you just have to hunt for them! An airy path through some tall trees, with the sun shining through the canopy. A dirt path...
: Watching a Chinese toddler using chopsticks to feed her parents chunks of watermelon. So cute!
• Salt & Straw, San Francisco: Today the team I’m on did “Mob Programming,” which was described to me as “Pair Programming only more so.” We continued the mob approach for my welcome lunch, when we picked the restaurant (a very...
• Hazel Bar, San Francisco: Went out with some co-workers to dinner at a Southern food place. (Pictured: the restaurant’s mascot, Prof. Al Lee Gator.) I can now confirm that fried alligator does, in fact, taste remarkably like...
• Downtown San Francisco: First day at Common went very well! I met my fellow team members and got my laptop set up, so I’m all ready to start writing code tomorrow. Common’s offices are right on Market Street (along with...
: “Make sure you stay hydrated—it’s hot out today!” Current conditions at San Francisco Downtown (SFOC1): 68°F/20°C, humidity 70%
• Potrero Hill: Last night I had to haul my suitcase up an entire block of this hill... Hill, with a considerable gradient ...and then when I got there, I found out the room was on the second floor! Steep, narrow...
• St. Francis Restaurant, 2801 24th St, San Francisco: [From a restaurant menu]: NEBULOUS POTATO THING (sm 6.50 / lg 9.00): nebulous pile of spuds w/ melted cheese, fresh salsa, sour cream & green onion (lay an egg on top +2.00)
• SFO Airport: “Please ignore the electronic signs, the train is on platform one, not three, and has no connection to Caltrain,” says the rather irritated-sounding announcer in the BART station. Fortunately there's...
• SFO Airport: Just landed in San Francisco! No aerial photo of the Bay, unfortunately—I had an aisle seat.
• CLT Concourse C: Dodging construction in Charlotte Airport. Ceiling with hanging construction lamps and exposed wiring and ductwork.
• ROC Airport: Admiring the architecture briefly before I depart. The underside of the entrance portico at Rochester Airport.
• Ming's Chinese Noodle: Sage advice from a fortune cookie. A new environment makes all the difference in the world.
: Bookshelves, all packed and ready to go. A shelf full of cardboard boxes, labelled things like Fiction, Dewey, Computer, and Miscellaneous.