On the Road

Checked into the Firelite Lodge in Tahoe Vista. I have no idea if I'm going to be able to get to sleep without the noise from the Bar around the block, the wail of the Firetrucks, the ringing of the Cable Car bells, taxi whistles, the manic screams of the lost and the never ending construction that comes in through my bedroom window. We're right on the highway so there are cars every so often, but the silence is already kinda weirding me out. Hopefully by tomorrow I can acclimate to a gentler existence. 

Waiting for the Leaves to Change

Fall should be around the corner but so far all I've gotten is our regular Indian Summer. That has been good for business but not necessarily for my mood. I spent more of this week out of the mild conditions of my apartment and my store than I usually do. For example right now I'm killing an hour in the Starbucks next to my store on Union Street. It is as usual pretty warm in here. It was the same for the morning I spent at the Sugar Cafe. The Jury Assembly room at hall of Justice wasn't very well ventilated and Part 21 of the Superior Court was the worst of all. 

Yes I had jury duty this week. I never made it into the jury box for questioning. I spent most of my time catching up with old lightly read New Yorker's (I even found 2 cartoons I had missed) and watching what would have been the most boring episode of Law and Order ever. To tell the truth I don't mind jury duty all that much. With no mandatory military service it is really the only civic duty we have other than paying taxes which is a pretty good deal for living in the most free nation ever conceived. That and the fact that I have an exaggerated appreciation of my judgement and fairness. I think I would make a good juror. Heck if they would pay more than $17.50 a day and have more than a couple of days of work a week I'd be willing to go pro.

Anyway I had very little chance of being picked for this jury as the case was just too close to the same types of crime I and the store's I supervise are often the victims of. So I did a lot of paying attention to what was going on. It was stereotype city, right down to the bow tie on the public defender's neck. I would have sworn that I have seen the judge, attorneys, bailiff, and court clerk playing themselves on television. 

Because of jury duty I only managed a single day off and I spent that on a last minute trip to Muir Woods. I've also had to do some support work for some other stores in the city. I am out of my routine in a time of the year that I like to renew the best parts of my routines. Fall is to me what Spring is to most people. This is mainly because I can't think straight during the warm months and have always felt saver in the cool overcast of winter. It may have to do with an unwarranted fear of spy satellites I don't really know. All I know is that I'm feeling overdue for a creative breakout and it's just not there yet. The good news is that the calendar moves on despite any of our wishes so I do know that it's on its way. 

Mini Vacation

Ladybug Sign, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

Got spirited away on Monday. Karen came to town and picked me up for an afternoon walk in Muir Woods. I have been in desperate need of a good walk in the forest and the day didn't disappoint. On the trail we came up on this sign for a "Vacation Spot for Ladybugs. As you can see even the sign was crawling with ladybugs as was much of the fence, ferns and ground around us. Afterwards we drove to the coast and had some good quality time with the Pacific.

As far as the pictures go, it was getting dark in the forest in the late afternoon so al my shots came out needing a lot of help from the old digital lab. I've put five up but I hope to find some more good ones to add later.

Feeling Good

I'm now on my second straight decent night's sleep and I am feeling
much better for it. Yesterday was a good day off, I got some laundry
done and a few groceries. More importantly I worked on my photography
seriously for the first time in a couple of weeks. My camera set up is
by no means ideal for nighttime high speed sports photography (Nikon
D40 with a kit lens) but I managed to put 15 pictures up on the better
side of not bad.

Last night my dreams were full of adventure, I was a superhero getting
his butt kicked but fully conscious of the fact that I was about to
take my own turn ass kicking. I was a student director/actor in a high
school musical (not my own high school which kept nostaligia to a
minimum), and a squad leader in the Italian campaign in WWII. In the
last one I discovered the most incredible underground deli ever
imagined.

In short things seem to be looking up. Of course the fact that I've
been on the phone the last two nights with the friend that I thought
had abandoned me two weeks ago may have something to do with my mood
change. Maybe.

San Francisco Twilight Criterium

Twilight Criterium 5, originally uploaded by lacadaz.

Saturday they closed Union Street for most of the afternoon and evening for the first Twilight Criterium Bicycle Races. It was not all that great for business but turned out to be a lot of fun to watch. My store was actually on two blocks away from the race itself so I did not get to see any of the Kids or Amateur races. I did however bring my camera to work so that I could shoot the Women and Men's Pro events. The Women's event started in light at 6:40 and ran for an hour into the twilight. The Men's event didn't start until eight and took place in under the lights.

For the women I was on the top of the uphill for the last turn. For the men I moved to the bottom of Filmore for the fast downhill turn. Fast may actually be an understatement. Much of the action I didn't get a chance to see until I looked at the pictures I was taking almost blind. I had to turn off the auto-focus because there was no time for my camera to lock on. It took most of the race to get my settings right but by the last few laps I was getting some shots I was happy with.

It was quite a rush standing right where they took that corner. You could feel the air as the bikes sped by. The only drawback was you can't be at an event in the Marina on a the weekend without a high percentage of drunken douche-bags, including the 6'3" guy that insisted on leaning out over the bikers for half of the race. I have to admit that I would have gotten some great pictures of the carnage if this moron had fallen on the pack of bikes.

A Comment on My Mood of Late

I think it's a comment on my mood of late that I think this is the goddamn funniest thing I've ever read. 

Feeling A Little Alone

Had a pretty lousy day off. Was supposed to go out with a friend and didn't hear from her at all. Nor in response to two messages, a text and an email. My iPhone took a header too. Twice. Wouldn't accept the back-ups I had either so I pretty much had to rebuild the environment from scratch. It was damn hot today too so I ended up holed up in my apartment. I did manage to get the laundry done though. I also read an article on People Who Live Without television. For the most part the article was nothing I wouldn't expect, mainly that people on the far left and the far right pretty much give up TV for the same reasons. No, what through me for a loop was the percentage of people in this country that don't watch TV. It's one to two percent. It's true that I don't really consider myself mainstream but I had no idea I was that out there. I haven't had cable since I moved to the city three years ago. I have a TV but it's hooked up to a computer that I watch movies and a few TV shows through Netflix. One percent! I thought for sure it was going to be at least five. I feel so out there.