Remember that terrible song "Horse with No Name" by America? It contains one of the single worst lines of a song ever written:
"The heat was hot and the ground was dry"
The heat was hot? Really. I'll let someone who actually knows something about poetry comment on that one. (Stella?)
Heat is not something one experiences much in San Francisco. It's generally very mild here, consistently 4-8 degrees cooler than our old place across the bay in Berkeley. And we live in the Outer Richmond, which is milder than the rest of San Francisco, being right up against that frigid Pacific Ocean.
But today it is a different story. It's hot. Hot enough to make me think things like "the heat was hot". Of course it could be this massive head cold that has reduced my thought process to the equivalent of bad America lyrics. But it's still damn hot. Even in the Outer Richmond.
How hot you ask? I'm glad you asked. Since I have this miserable cold and it was too hot for me to sleep, I had nothing better to do than lay around and watch the thermometer. It peaked at 100.6 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm sure it set some records. The average high in May is 65.
The past few weeks, as spring blossoms in our old home town of Ann Arbor, Stella and I have been lamenting the mild temperatures of San Francisco. We have been missing hot weather since we moved here. Well, today we got it. And I'm laid out with a cold, unable to enjoy it. I should have been at the beach. It would have been a perfect day for those surfing lessons I've been thinking of taking. Instead I've got a terrible cold that kept me up half of last night. Oh well... it will still be nice this weekend and I fully intend to enjoy it, cold or no cold.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
to blog or not to blog
It has been said that I never blog anymore. True, it has been a while since my last post. There may be a little laziness involved there. But I've also been questioning the purpose of blogging. There are 10,000,000 blogs out there and at least 99.9% of them are pointless drivel. We can count my blog among the blogs of pointless drivel. Do I really have anything to say worth spouting to the whole world in this format? Isn't it just a little narcissistic? I'm not a great writer. I'm not unusually insightful, eloquent or entertaining. I'm just a guy with a laptop. What's so special about that?
So that's my darker, more cynical side posing such questions. In reality, this blog isn't trying to be anything special. It's just a way to let my friends and family around the country know what I've been up to since I moved to California. If you're looking for social commentary, wry insight, political analysis, etc, you're probably in the wrong place. Not that I wouldn't love to offer you those things and more. And perhaps, from time to time, something special actually seeps into this blog. Or not. It doesn't matter. The point is that I'm back and I'm blogging.
We'll see how long it last...
So that's my darker, more cynical side posing such questions. In reality, this blog isn't trying to be anything special. It's just a way to let my friends and family around the country know what I've been up to since I moved to California. If you're looking for social commentary, wry insight, political analysis, etc, you're probably in the wrong place. Not that I wouldn't love to offer you those things and more. And perhaps, from time to time, something special actually seeps into this blog. Or not. It doesn't matter. The point is that I'm back and I'm blogging.
We'll see how long it last...
Monday, April 7, 2008
one more thing to love about San Francisco
A commission has been formed in San Francisco to find the most appropriate memorial for President Bush. They've decided to rename the "Oceanside Wastewater Treatment Facility" the "George W. Bush Sewage Plant". It will be a ballot proposal in November.
http://www.presidentialmemorial.org/
Here's an interview:
http://sfist.com/2008/04/03/sfist_interview_15.php
quote from the interview:
Q: Anything else you want SFist readers to know about the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco's plans?
A: This is not a hoax.
http://www.presidentialmemorial.org/
Here's an interview:
http://sfist.com/2008/04/03/sfist_interview_15.php
quote from the interview:
Q: Anything else you want SFist readers to know about the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco's plans?
A: This is not a hoax.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
My Birthday
Last Saturday was my birthday. My 40th birthday. Unfortunately, I managed to catch a cold a few days before my birthday. We had been planning a housewarming/birthday party, and we came close to canceling the whole thing, but I decided to persevere and do this no matter what it took.
Well, perhaps we should have canceled it. The problem is that we just don't really know enough people around here yet to throw a party. If everyone, or even close to everyone, that we invited actually showed up, it would have been a good party. But apparently I wasn't the only person in town dealing with a cold. Of the 30-35 people we invited, only 8 showed up, with no more than 5 people here at one time. We managed to have fun anyway, but I can't help but think it would have been better to get a babysitter for Jeffrey and go out somewhere with Stella.
The highlight of the evening was a photo/video card that Stella made for me. She had contacted many old friends and my parents and asked them to send her old photos of me, the more embarrassing, the better. She posted her creation on her blog here, or you can just view the video here. She did a great job with this and I was very touched. At least there was hardly anyone at the party to see the embarrassing photos of me in my youth.
You would think that after 40 years on this planet, I would have learned my limit with tequila. Sadly, no. I spent the first half of Sunday in bed recovering from the excesses of the night before. But once I did get up, we headed out to Fort Funston on the coast in the southern part of San Francisco. A quiet walk along the striking dunes & cliffs was just what I needed.
Unfortunately, the excesses of the party may be responsible for setting back my recovery from this cold. It's now been a week and I am still in the throes of it. I'm hoping I will have recovered by this weekend.
The view from the sand dunes of Fort Funston
Me at 40 and only slightly hungover
I love the diagrams of the dog and person falling
Well, perhaps we should have canceled it. The problem is that we just don't really know enough people around here yet to throw a party. If everyone, or even close to everyone, that we invited actually showed up, it would have been a good party. But apparently I wasn't the only person in town dealing with a cold. Of the 30-35 people we invited, only 8 showed up, with no more than 5 people here at one time. We managed to have fun anyway, but I can't help but think it would have been better to get a babysitter for Jeffrey and go out somewhere with Stella.
The highlight of the evening was a photo/video card that Stella made for me. She had contacted many old friends and my parents and asked them to send her old photos of me, the more embarrassing, the better. She posted her creation on her blog here, or you can just view the video here. She did a great job with this and I was very touched. At least there was hardly anyone at the party to see the embarrassing photos of me in my youth.
You would think that after 40 years on this planet, I would have learned my limit with tequila. Sadly, no. I spent the first half of Sunday in bed recovering from the excesses of the night before. But once I did get up, we headed out to Fort Funston on the coast in the southern part of San Francisco. A quiet walk along the striking dunes & cliffs was just what I needed.
Unfortunately, the excesses of the party may be responsible for setting back my recovery from this cold. It's now been a week and I am still in the throes of it. I'm hoping I will have recovered by this weekend.
The view from the sand dunes of Fort Funston
Me at 40 and only slightly hungover
I love the diagrams of the dog and person fallingMonday, March 3, 2008
those dutch cellists
Years ago, when I first started playing cello, I heard about a dutch cellist who had developed a technique of playing with two bows - one played conventionally, on top of the strings, the other under neath the strings. Both bows are held in the right hand and the "underneath" bow can only play the outside strings - C and A. This opens up all sorts of possibilities of the cello as a chordal instrument. Periodically I heard more about this cellist and her fascinating technique, but never actually heard her play.
Fast forward to last Wednesday. My friend and pianist-extraordinaire, Myra Melford, was doing a gig at CNMAT (Center for New Music and Audio Technologies), a UC Berkeley performance space conveniently located 5 houses up the street from my old house in Berkeley. The two times I went there while living in Berkeley (once to hear Myra with Frank Gratkowski, the other to hear pianist Georg Graewe), I reveled in the ability to walk up the street 5 houses to see such great musicians. On Wednesday, however, it was about a 50 minute drive from the Outer Richmond in San Francisco. 35 minutes in light traffic.
This particular gig paired Myra with Frances-Marie Uitti, a dutch cellist visiting the area for a new music festival. About 10 minutes into their captivating set, the cellist picked up a second bow and started playing with both, one underneath, the other on top. I suddenly realized that I was watching that dutch cellist i had heard about for years. It was a rather thrilling realization. Their set was wonderful, if a bit too short. Very much worth the drive across the bay.
Tonight I'm headed back to Berkeley again see Myra play a double bill at Freight & Salvage - the Myra Melford/Ben Goldberg Quartet, followed by (or preceded by) Wayne Horvitz's Sweeter than the Day.
Fast forward to last Wednesday. My friend and pianist-extraordinaire, Myra Melford, was doing a gig at CNMAT (Center for New Music and Audio Technologies), a UC Berkeley performance space conveniently located 5 houses up the street from my old house in Berkeley. The two times I went there while living in Berkeley (once to hear Myra with Frank Gratkowski, the other to hear pianist Georg Graewe), I reveled in the ability to walk up the street 5 houses to see such great musicians. On Wednesday, however, it was about a 50 minute drive from the Outer Richmond in San Francisco. 35 minutes in light traffic.
This particular gig paired Myra with Frances-Marie Uitti, a dutch cellist visiting the area for a new music festival. About 10 minutes into their captivating set, the cellist picked up a second bow and started playing with both, one underneath, the other on top. I suddenly realized that I was watching that dutch cellist i had heard about for years. It was a rather thrilling realization. Their set was wonderful, if a bit too short. Very much worth the drive across the bay.
Tonight I'm headed back to Berkeley again see Myra play a double bill at Freight & Salvage - the Myra Melford/Ben Goldberg Quartet, followed by (or preceded by) Wayne Horvitz's Sweeter than the Day.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
frozen in Grand Central Station
I love this! A group of over 200 actors all froze on the spot, at the same time, for 5 minutes. Then they simultaneously resumed what they were doing as if nothing happened.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Running
My temperature threshold for running outdoors is 50 degrees. Any colder than that and it's just no fun. Back in Ann Arbor, that ruled out almost every day from sometime in October until sometime in April. Here in San Francisco, almost every day is above my threshold. Today was one of those days.
This is the third day I've gone running since we moved to San Francisco. I loved running through the cute little hilly neighborhoods in Berkeley, getting high enough to get a view of the whole bay. But running here isn't terrible at all. I head straight for Golden Gate Park, a block away, and wind my way down to the ocean and run along that for a while. Every time I emerge from the park and see the ocean, I'm totally amazed. I can't believe that I actually live here!
Here's a map of my run today, which was exactly 4.5 miles.
This is the third day I've gone running since we moved to San Francisco. I loved running through the cute little hilly neighborhoods in Berkeley, getting high enough to get a view of the whole bay. But running here isn't terrible at all. I head straight for Golden Gate Park, a block away, and wind my way down to the ocean and run along that for a while. Every time I emerge from the park and see the ocean, I'm totally amazed. I can't believe that I actually live here!
Here's a map of my run today, which was exactly 4.5 miles.
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