halloween critical mass

last year the three of us who are in SF rode in the halloween critical mass. fun and lots of hijinks ensued post ride. here's a video mikael of CCC and copenhagenize made of his experiences last year, and the yours truly three are in it along w/ KT:

Copenhagenize Rides San Francisco Critical Mass from Copenhagenize on Vimeo.

wow. it's been a year? really? crazy.

and here are a few of our pics from that awesome evening:

feather face
ade's flickr set

La pirata y la de cabellera verde
meli's flickr set

the bay bridge had a cable fail last year around this time.
ctx's teenytiny set

tonight it's supposed to rain (& wash away those badbadbad baseball spirits), so turn out might be lighter, but i'm sure no less fun, than last year.

enjoy the CM in your city tonight as well!

i don't fear the beard

it is with a big heaving sigh AND an equally dismissive eye roll, that i send those of you who may be rooting for the GIGANTES this link. i think y'all would appreciate it.



now pardon me while i go look for some dignity and a beer in preparation for round two tonight! in approximately...oh, 49 minutes.

(via alejand-guey & twitter.com/sf_giants #BrianWilsonsBeardIsSoPowerful)

Oooops!

I never remember where my car is. It is not unusual for me to have to call James to ask where it is. Should I happen to remember it is street cleaning I am lucky. Should I remember to pay the tickets... that would be fortunate as well.

Obviously, I have not been lucky. Don't pay tickets + forget to SMOG + fail to register = the Boot! On top of it, there are cobwebs in my windows.

On the bright side? There is Tuscan Semolina Cake on my front rack and the GIANTS WON game 1!!

home street home

a couple of weeks ago my friend told me about a video i should see. i meant to look for it, but then forgot. i stumbled across it earlier this week. it's made by jesse geller, a MFA student in design at CCA here in san francisco. he submitted to the school's video contest about "bike culture at CCA."

jesse is a recent student transplant to the city, and i like the way he discusses the differences in bike culture from nyc and sf. short, sweet, to the point.

and whaddya know? he was one of the winners.

Home Street Home (CCA R.A.W. Video Student Competition 2010) from JAG on Vimeo.

i liked it, hope you did too.

thanks and congrats jesse.

¡VAMOS GIGANTES!

 

San Francisco is the world series capital. Begins today
Full of awesomeness. 

Good Luck Giants!!

The Reason Why

I love all of the blogs out there in the interwebs. Some are big and flashy, others are tiny and written for no one in particular. The number of people who take the time to write about whatever gets stuck in their heads is amazing. I hope that the author of People Powered will forgive me for reprinting his beautiful opening post here, but it encompasses just about everything I can think of for the environmental reasons we need to rely on motors less and legs more. I suggest you go take a look at this lovely little blog from Germany!

In our youngest sons’ medical record there’s a medical report from the children’s hospital in Esslingen to our children’s doctor, dated the 30th of January 2007. The introduction begins:

“Report of the above named patient who was brought to our emergency department at 07:54 this morning. Found this morning …breathing loudly and drowsy. emergency doctor called, on arrival patient unresponsive…“

I can’t read those rather undramatic words without remembering the fear I felt holding my tiny six-month-old baby and trying to get him to wake up, move, respond, anything. I remember the rasping wheezing sound of his breath as I tried to call the advice line to see what I could do, and being met with a barrage of questions about my insurance details, address, and other things that I really didn’t what to deal with right then, before explaining the symptoms and hearing the words “Call an ambulance”. Well, gee thanks. I could have done that three precious minutes ago.

The dispatcher told me the emergency doctor was on his way, and to wait outside the house for them to come so they could find us quickly, so I stood outside for a private eternity, trying to stay calm so my family wouldn’t get even more scared, while a truck decided to deliver in the shop next door and caused a traffic jam in both directions. The doctor’s red and white mercedes came, blue lights reflecting off the houses, and they piled out carrying oxygen bottles, monitoring devices and other unfamiliar but strangely comforting tools of the trade, asking questions even before they were through the door.

Our little boy still wouldn’t respond to light, noise or gentle shaking so an ambulance was called. We carried him there, lit by flashing blue lights, with neighbours watching through the windows, although I admit I felt a slight stab of justice when I saw the Ambulance was parked in the loading bay, blocking the truck in.

After continual talking and massaging in the ambulance, I was rewarded by a squeeze of his fingers as we rattled through the morning rush-hour traffic, and the ambulance drivers were fairly confident that he’d be okay, but he didn’t really seem to wake up until he was being examined in the hospital. The form shows a great long list of things they checked before coming to the eventual conclusion it was Croup, probably aggravated by the Feinstaub (Particle pollution) from diesel engines: at the time we were living in an apartment next to a street with 1500 trucks and 13000 cars passing daily.

That morning ‘caring for the environment’ became personal. For me it’s not just about ‘looking after the earth’ but a memory of waiting for the doctor and not knowing if my little boy would die. I don’t want other parents to have to stand on the street, praying the ambulance will come quickly, that their child will wake up or just keep breathing.

We’d followed the cultural belief that ‘one day’ we would have to get a car but on January 30th 2007, that changed. Our family learned first hand the cost of society’s addiction to driving everywhere, and decided we won’t live that way. The process that resulted in us getting the Xtracycle, going to Amsterdam and bringing a bakfiets to Stuttgart and much else, was kicked into high gear that morning.

We’re a car free family in a car obsessed culture: this is our story.

Colour Me Mine

Over at Lovely Bicycle there is a discussion about personalizing bicycles. Around here we love to see bicycles that have been given a little TLC. Meligrosa has an unnatural love of cheeseburger bells. It got me to thinking about various things that have been on the Bat of late. I lean toward the completely functional or truly silly when adding to my bicycles.

What do you have on your bicycles? Any roadside feather collectors out there?