Hold This Space

News has been hinted at arriving soon.

Please stay tuned.

Dream Job?

Okay, so I’ve never found how to be a professional comic book reader.

But this?  I’d love to do this:

Legs of Steel

So, you remember yesterday’s ride from the Ferry Building to Fort Point and back?  Today we went from Spear and Folsom in San Francisco to the Ferry Terminal in Tiburon.

Our friend Steve the Programmer acted as our guide.  We followed the same route, but before we turned on the final approach to Fort Point, we took the road up to the Golden Gate Bridge.  No unfortunately they are working on the west side of the bridge, so we had to walk/ride our bikes with all of the walkers and other bikers on the east side.  It was very crowded, but the downhill to Sausalito was lots of fun.

In Sausalito we looked out at the City near the ferry terminal there, and then we were off again to Tiburon.  At Tiburon we had a meal, and the barely got on the ferry.  They almost locked us out because there were so many bikes on board.  The entire bottom deck was full of bikes.  They were leaned up again the outer bulkhead, and all around the lower staircase.  We were kind of lucky to be nearly the last on because it meant that we were among the first of the bikes to get off.

This ferry took us back to Pier 41, and so we rode back to Steve’s place for a pit stop, and then rode back to Embarcadero BART and rode the train back to MacArthur.

All in all we did between almost 26 miles.  We’re tired, but it’s feeling oh so good.

Birthday Weekend

Oh what a wonderful day yesterday was.

Jennifer and I got up when we wanted, and rode our bikes to Jack London Square, took the ferry to San Francisco, and then rode to Citizen Chain.  We both got our bikes checked out, and I got axels that are not quick release, so that I can lock up without needing the cable with the U lock.

From there we rode to Fisherman's Wharf, and had our traditional meal of clam chowder in a bread bowl for lunch.  There weather was amazing, and we had a great seat at the Chowder Hut.  Then we kept on riding.

We went past the beach at the Maritime Museum, and rode out and back onto the breakwater pier.  We braved the steep hill that is behind Fort Mason. We rode along Chrissie Field and the Marina District.  And then Fort Point just seemed so close, we went on and ended up there.

We then rode back to the Ferry Building, and waited for a ferry.  it was about 15 minutes late, and then had to go to Pier 41.  Once at Pier 41, we were notified that, “This boat is broken, so we’ll be moving you all over to another boat.”  We ended up on a boat of the Blue and Gold fleet, and which was essentially commandeered by Captain Andy who took no guff from the crews.  We heard him say to one of them, “I’m the captain, you’ll do what I say, and we’re taking that boat.”  Once the new boat was checked out we were on our way to Alameda where they very quickly off-loaded and on-loaded passengers, and then jaunted over to Oakland. 

After our ride back home, it was 4:30, and we both had to get cleaned up, because we had to pick up my cake in Oakland, and then get to T-Rex at 6:00.  We arrived at 6:05.

The group was great, and we had wonderful conversation and drinks, and food.

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday to ME!

Birthday Addendum

First off, I forgot to relate the last thing I did on my birthday.

I’m reading the complete fiction of H.P. Lovecraft, and I had just read “The Statement of Randolph Carter” during the day.  I told Jennifer about how  it was the first Lovecraft story I ever read.

I was in a collection of horror that I came across when I was expending my reading at the library on day.  I happened to read it late one night when my parents weren’t home, and at the time, it was the scariest thing I had ever read.  The story is only five pages long, and it builds the tension so well.

So Wednesday night, I read it to Jennifer.  It being her first experience with Lovecraft, she really enjoyed the language, and she is looking forward to reading the collection once I’m through.

An update on my new external hard drive is also worth mentioning.  After a full night of formatting, and then reformatting to XFS, it turns out (after another call to tech support) that my NAS doesn’t support hard drives larger than 2 TB.  Apparently Buffalo Technologies doesn’t believe in Moore’s Law, because at the time the NAS was built, the largest drive size was 2TB so that’s all they allowed for.

I can see no need to set an upper limit in programming for additional drive sizes other than planned obsolescence.  Isn’t this just Y2K all over again?  It’s certainly something to ask my programmer friend who works at Google on Saturday.

But anyway, today we took the 3 TB drive back to Costco, and got a 2 TB drive.  This one formatted to XFS with no problem, and is right now transferring data from the old external to the new.

Un-Birthday Birthday Post

Yesterday, I turned 42.  And yesterday, I had to explain again to Jennifer what “Base 13” means.
She surprised me in the morning by asking if I wanted breakfast out.  So we took our bikes to the Royal Café in Albany.  They do a great waffle, and served the syrup in a shot glass.
Then she asked where to next.  I suggested a ride to Costco so we could ride and walk off our breakfast.  While we were there, she asked if I still wanted the new external hard drive I had been looking at.  I said yes, and the 3 TB external drive was on sale.  then as we were walking through the sporting goods, we saw that they had hydration backpacks, and they were one third of the price at REI.  So Costco ended up being a big treat as well.
The fun part was getting everything we bought into our new packs and Jennifer’s basket.  But we made it and did our normal trail ride home.
When we got home, she gave me at home present which was a bike jersey.  But not just any bike jersey, specifically this bike jersey.  It fits so well, and I can wear my long-sleeve wicking shirt underneath it too.  My other surprise is to go to Citizen Chain where we got our bikes, and get the special locking axels so I won’t have to use the cable with the U-lock, but just be able to use the lock alone.  We’ll be doing that with a special bike ride on Saturday morning along the Piers of San Francisco.
So at home, I played with the hard drive, which just now finished formatting in FAT32 to get rid of WD’s partitioning, and will be now be reformatting it in XFS for use by the NAS.  Then I’ll move our music and pictures over, and then I’ll be able to attach the old 500GB hard drive to our DVR for additional storage.
Also last night, Jennifer and I did a ride to OSH for some flowers for outside.  We got four petunias and put them in Jennifer’s basket.  I thought they looked so cool, I took a picture.

She did so much for me, and on our limited budget.  She’s really been putting aside to make this a special celebration.

Thank You

So in about a week, I’ll have been unemployed for 6 months.  It’s the longest I’ve been without a job since I graduated from Sac State.  And while I was reading this afternoon, I just had this feeling for what  I needed to do.

I wanted to thank John for his patience with me during our email sessions and games.  Sometimes I’ve been slow to respond, and he’s been very understanding.  And he’s been a good lunch buddy.

Thanks to my parents for their continued support.  It’s always good to have them there for networking, suggestions, and support.

Thanks to all of my other friends who have looked for jobs for me, and given me people to talk to.

But most of all, I’m thankful to Jennifer who has supported me with her love and kindness.  There is no way that I could have made it through this with any semblance of sanity without her.

Two Bicycles Built for One

Today Jennifer and I were adventurous.

Yesterday, she wanted to go for a ride, but events conspired against us, and we weren’t able to get away from home until after dark.  Not a big deal, and it forced us to dress up for dinner.

We went to Miyozen at the corner of 40th and San Pablo.  It had received pretty good reviews on Yelp, but we got lucky.  You see they have a conveyor sushi bar.  And they have a happy hour where every plate is $2.  We had so much fun pulling things off the belt, and trying them.  And with the little bits (2 or 3 pieces per plate) we filled up on the cheap.

So today after her midday commitment, we were all set for a bike ride.  First we hit the library to return a book, then to Trader Joe’s in Emeryville for her to make a request and return some bad bread.  And then on to the ride, and the target was Lake Merritt.

So we took the flyover by IKEA, went between Home Depot and Michael’s, and entered the dark depths of Oakland.  So take Hollis, bend onto 32nd, then Adeline to Grand Avenue, and you’re at the lake.

Jennifer commented that at least she had worn the right hat, and my first thought (as her bike helmet is red) was “Why, are we in Bloods territory?” But then I saw the Raiders baseball cap under her helmet.

Lake Merritt was very pretty with the sun and clouds, and only slightly marred by the herds of Canada geese.  Not flocks, they were walking. And then to reward ourselves for what would end up being 13 miles round-trip, we had lunch at True Burger.

Just Because