snoop dogg, talib kweli, and buzz aldrin, together at last.  just heard the song on the radio today.

Filed under: beats, excursions, lifehacking, old timers · 4 Comments

Hunter and I travelled from CA to D.C. to watch Obama’s Inauguration.
We stood in the very cold historic day for 5 hours (after 3 hours getting from VA to DC) but were THRILLED!
We watched from The Mall, at 12 Street, about 2/3 of the distance from The Capitol to the Washington Monument.

I made a 7 minute short video of our 70 hour trip 8-)

Filed under: excursions, video · 2 Comments

Parking Day was a while ago, but I still haven’t posted pics. Now that I have a worspress client on my iPod, I have no excuse to not post!

Filed under: excursions, ParkingDay, photos, san francisco, tiki lifestyle · 2 Comments

The Silver Crest is so sketchy. It’s like Sketch Central. I’ve lived next to it for six years and had never been inside. But look at all that great neon! Their sign proclaims: “We Never Close”. We decide we have to go.

Friday night Sam was driving us back from the spaz party at the Li Po Lounge, and we pass the Silver Crest. We’re full of Mai Tais and thumpy beats, but Bob and I have the same thought. We have to go.

We walk in and transported fifty years into the past. There is a bar in the back with a crowded pool table, but it’s 2am and the bar is just closing. We grab a booth in the front. These jukebox things on every table:

It doesn’t work and and eats Bob’s quarter. That probably for the best, since the jukebox is full of with Greek waltzes.

The menu is written on the wall. The food isn’t cheap, but we hope it’s good. The coffee is a ridiculous $2.75. Even for diner coffee, it tastes like crap.

They have these old pinball machines, which mang decides to check out while we wait for the food. There is a sign saying you have to be over 21 to play. We ask the server why, and she says they don’t want to encourage the kids to gamble. Whatever. The kids are all at Li Po, anyway, playing dice for drinks.

The food comes out. I’m surprised by how bad it is, but I don’t know why. I guess I expect shitty diners to have great food. That is not the case tonight. My hotcakes arrive with an entire stick of “butter” on top, which promptly slides off onto the table as soon as the server sets them down.

I’m disgusted but Bob thinks we need to come back. The Silver Crest has donuts, and they might actually be good. Maybe we’ll bring our own coffee next time.

Filed under: diner, excursions, food, san francisco, silver crest, why are we here? · 3 Comments

Here are some pics from my recent trip! I did an 8 day trek in Torres del Paine called the Paine Circuit which is in southern Chile. It was beautiful! It was also really really hard. I can’t lie…there were many times I wished I were lying on a warm beach in Bali that week…especially when I was kind of lost, at the edge of a precipice, and the wind was so fierce, I had to grab hold of a tree or my makeshift trekking poles that I dug into the ground to keep myself from being blown off the mountain. The wind was UNREAL. I had to stop whenever I heard it coming behind me, hunch down close to the ground, and prepare myself to get hit. it came in phases like mini-tornadoes.

The weight of my pack also made it difficult for me to put one foot in front of the other sometimes. I’d never gone on such a long backpacking trip before and at the end of the first day, my back hurt so much, I gave my SLR to a chilean woman at the refugio by our first camp. Luckily I still had a small pocket cam which I used for the pics above (hooray for small pocket cams!)

The crazy wind and weight of my pack aside, the trip was great! I met lots of nice people, and learned a lot. It was one of the most beautiful places I’ve been to and I’m glad I went when I still had knees. I’m fairly certain they’re done for now. They’ve just told me that they will no longer be in on anything I decide to do this year. They are going on stike!

Here’s a map of the trek.

The penguins were at a penguin colony on Seno Otway, about an hour from Punta Arenas. To get to Torres del Paine, you have to fly to Punta Arenas (about 4-5 hrs from Santiago, Chile), take a bus to Puerto Natales (about 3-4 hours) and then another bus to the park (about 2-3 hours). It takes a while!

Filed under: chile, excursions, patagonia, photos · 0 Comments

Here is a map of the places the TR crew went in 2007! Let me know which cities I missed!

Filed under: cartography, excursions, map, subway, transportation · 7 Comments

We are back from India! Happy New Year’s to all!

Filed under: excursions, india, photos, TajMahal · 1 Comment

travel.metafilter.com has gone live. It’s still new, but soon I’m sure it will be filled with smart answers to questions about traveling to weird places!

Filed under: excursions, support · 0 Comments

A BIG hug and THANK YOU for the support and encouragement! The ride raised a record-breaking $11 million for AIDS education and prevention programs and I had an awesome time. There were definitely days I thought I would keel over (mainly because I was still sick!) but thankfully made it through without any serious mishap. In the past two days, really simple things like waking up in a warm dry bed, resting my head on a pillow, taking a hot bath, using a flush toilet, and wearing clean clothes feel *500 TIMES* better than they ever have! it’s amazing. also, I now know that certain padded shorts are definitely better than others (even though they all look the same) and can *literally* save your ass.

More pics of the ride over here!

Filed under: cycling, excursions · 4 Comments

Confused? A bit of an explaination:

Filed under: bobslobster, excursions, video · 2 Comments

On Sunday peliom and I did the Wildflower Century in Chico! It was my first century ride and lots of fun! We almost didn’t go because it was raining Saturday night, and more rain was forecasted for the morning….but I really wanted to ride 100 miles *somewhere* so we decided to make the 3 hr drive to Chico at 3 am on Sunday morning to see if the rain would let up.

When we arrived in Chico, it was 6, but still raining, so we checked in, got some coffee, and then napped in the car for a little bit until the rain tapered off. At 8 am we headed off on our bikes! Rain showered on us periodically throughout the morning but things cleared up by mid-afternoon and it turned out to be a really *gorgeous* day. I wish I had photos to show you but I forgot my camera unfortunately :-( The route was beautiful though and it was pretty neat seeing the landscape dotted by hundreds and hundreds of brightly colored cyclists zipping along. For the last 20 miles, we drafted and switched off every 5 miles which made getting to the finish line a lot easier!

The ride was really well organized for the most part – SAG vehicles followed us along the way helping people fix flats (there were A LOT of flat tires), all the rest stops were well stocked with drinks and yummy snacks, and the route map was printed on a bandana which you could wear or easily stuff into a pocket (that’s it above). The only glitch came at the end when they ran out of food for dinner, so we had to wander around Chico for half an hour looking for a place to eat – not what you want to do after riding 100 miles! especially since almost all the restaurants in town were closed…and *especially* because riding long distances makes you *really obsessive* about two things – eating and peeing!

we finally had dinner at a chinese restaurant and then took another short nap in the car before driving back. I was seriously pooped when we got back to the city at midnight, but also super happy that we did it!

Filed under: cycling, excursions · 0 Comments

Last Saturday, I went on a pretty bike ride starting in Petaluma along Chileno Valley Road to the coast and then back. It was a perfect day! Along the way, I saw cows, horses, an alpaca, bunnies, a turtle, goats, sheep, a snake, black birds with bright red cheeks, blue jays, carniverous looking birds with huge wing spans and some other animals I’m forgetting right now. The ride was 56 miles with about 1,800 feet of climbing, so it’s sort of long but not overly strenuous.

Here’s a map and route directions for anyone else that wants to go!

Driving Directions to Starting Point
Take the 101 North to Petaluma and exit Petaluma Boulevard South. Drive north 2 miles and make a left (west) on Western Avenue. Drive 2.2 miles and then turn left on Chileno Valley Road. Drive .8 mile to Helen Putnam Regional Park on the left. (the sign for the park is facing the opposite way so it’s easy to miss…if you go more than 1 mile after you get on Chileno Valley Road w/o seeing the park, turn around and you’ll be sure to see it. It costs $5 to park in the small lot but you can also park on the opposite side of the road for free).

Route Directions
0.0 Park at Helen Putnam Park and ride west on Chileno Valley Road.
3.0 Turn RIGHT to stay on Chileno Valley Road.
12.6 LEFT on Tomales-Petaluma Road.
13.8 RIGHT on Alexander Road.
14.8 RIGHT on Fallon-Two Rock Road.
17.2 LEFT on Petaluma-Valley Ford Road
26.0 LEFT on Valley Ford Estereo Road (in the town of Valley Ford…this small road can be easy to miss…make sure you don’t continue onto HWY 1)
31.8 RIGHT on Dillon Beach Road. Ride out and back to Dillon Beach and then turn around to return to the junction with Valley Ford Road.
34.6 RIGHT on Dillon Beach Road
37.2 RIGHT on Shoreline Highway (Hwy 1) in the town of Tomales. Make sure you get some foccaccia at the bakery!! it’s really good!
37.5 LEFT on Tomales-Petaluma Road.
42.7 RIGHT on Chileon Valle7 Road.
52.3 LEFT to stay on Chileno Valley Road.
55.5 Arrive at starting point.

Route directions are from this excellent book which I highly recommend Northern California Biking: 150 of the Best Road and Trail Rides

Filed under: bay area, cycling, excursions · 3 Comments

On our way to India we had a layover in London and decided to go out and explore the city. We had lunch near Paddington Station and our bartender poured pints of Guinness with clover leafs drawn in the bubbles!

The 2:1 exchange rate made our short adventure pretty expensive (2 fish & chips and 2 pints of Guinness were 25 pounds.. 50 bucks!). I think we managed to spend as much in London in 10 hours as we did in Delhi in 10 days! On the way back, we decided to not leave the airport.

Filed under: excursions, photos, tikibar · 2 Comments

Remember when everyone thought it would be a great idea for me to go stand in a long line at the Indian Counsulate in SF to get visas for the family? Um, well, it was not that great an idea. (via fark of all places…)

Filed under: excursions, india, wtf??? · 1 Comment

We just got back from a trip to New Delhi. Here is some medical advice that you might find useful:

• Before our trip, we went to the CPMC travel clinic and met with a travel nurse ($25 consultation fee for two of us). We got the vaccinations and prescriptions, which were expensive. Vaccinations are cheaper at the SF Department of Public Health Travel clinic, but it takes a while to get an appointment. CPMC has a 30% discount on vaccinations if you have insurance, even if your insurance doesn’t cover the vaccinations!
• We made sure we were current on the recommended vaccinations: Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Rabies, Typhoid, Tetanus, and Polio. If you are going to rural areas, you might need more. Here are the CDC recommendations.
• We got Malarone for Malaria (very expensive). I don’t know why this was recommended for us. It was January, and we didn’t get any mosquito bites in New Delhi. We also didn’t use a Mosqui-Go plug-in electric vaporizer. I think I saw one mosquito while I was there, and Malaria was definitely not a concern in the New Delhi winter.
• We got a prescription for Cipro, in case we got a bacterial infection that causes traveler’s diarrhea. It’s smart to have this prescription filled before you go, and fortunately we didn’t need it. Those of you with tendonitis should note that Cipro has a minor risk of tendon ruptures in some people, and there is other medicine that you can take.
• Although we had medicine for a bacterial infection, we didn’t have anything for a viral infection. If you get sick and are vomiting, it may be a viral, not bacterial infection, and Cipro may not help. One of us had to deal with a short-lived but violent attack of viral gastroenteritis. Fortunately we were traveling with a doctor. Compazine will help deal with ‘intractable vomiting’ if you are sick and need to ride in a car or get on a plane. It is available from Indian pharmacies under the generic name Prochlorperazine. I would recommend asking your doctor/travel nurse about this before you go to India!
• Everyone tells you to drink only boiled water, but all the houses we went to had one of these Aquaguard water filters. I always drank filtered water and never got sick. I don’t know why guide books and travel clinics don’t tell you about these filters.
  
• Costco is the cheapest place in SF to get your prescriptions filled, and you don’t need to be a Costco member to use their pharmacy.

That’s all the advice I have.. maybe bob has some more!

Bob says:
- when traveling abroad, big cities often do not have the same malaria risk as rural areas. for example, if one were traveling to Bangkok and not leaving the city, malaria prophylaxis may not be necessary. It would certainly be advisable if one were to explore the surrounding areas.
- if your insurance plan does not cover the expense for your medications, consider filling just enough to get you there, and buying the rest when you arrive. Of course, you should be sure you have easy access to a reliable pharmacy at your destination.
-travel safely!

Filed under: excursions, india, medicine · 8 Comments

Service started last Saturday on the officially named Muni Thunderbird, also sometimes referred to informally as the T – Third. From January to April the Thunderbird will run free service, weekends only, starting at 10am. April 7 full service will begin.

I gave it a shot today and it was great. The ‘bird is right in front of my building. I took along my camera and did some timelapse sequences. This first one is shot vertically and ends up looking pretty dumb on YouTube since they apparently don’t know how to deal with 320×480 video.

I did about five sequences today of various durations. My favorite is a five second loop of 280 in the early evening. Once again this is pretty boring on YouTube since they don’t loop the clip.

Link to tbird sunset, vertical (h264, YouTube)
Link to 280 overpass (h264, YouTube)

Filed under: excursions, transportation, video · 2 Comments

I’m going to India soon, and I know a bit of Hindi, but I usually become frustrated when trying to remember a word in the middle of a conversation and switch to English. Years ago I learned a bunch of German conversation snippets that I still remember, so I’m going to try the same with Hindi. I’ll add more and get Hindi translations as soon as I can figure out unicode..

• Door Into Hindi
• More Hindi videos
• HiTrans transliterator
• Hindi Type Pad
  

Food:
Conversations with my mom often go like this:

• Would you like more sabji?
• No thanks!
• How about some more rice?
• No thanks, I’m full!
• Then how about one more spoonful of dal?
• ….
  

• A polite way to ask for boiled water..
• Where is the chai store? – चाय की दुकान कहाँ है?
• More chai please!
  

Buying things:

• How much does this cost? – यह कितने का है?
  

(इसका दाम क्या है?)

• Can I pay for things in dollars? – क्य मै डॉलर (dollar) मे सामान खरीद सख्ते हुँ?
  

(Advice from dad: only shop where they accept dollars)

• Can I pay in dollars? (instead of rupees) – क्य मै डॉलर मे पैसे दे सख्ते हुँ?
• How about I give you X rupees for it?
• Ok, we’ll settle on Y
• Is there an ATM near here? क्य कोई ATM (pronounced like ETM) पस मे है?
  

General:

• Can you repeat that?
• What time is it?
• Do you have a map of Delhi? – क्या आपके पास दिल्ली का नक़्शा है?
• I’m hot/cold/tired.
• Can I borrow a blanket?
• Are there any internet cafes near here? – क्य कोई internet cafe पस मे है?
  

Emergency:

• I am sick.
• I need a doctor.
• I need to get to a hospital.
  

Vocabulary:
नक़्शा = map
दाम = price

Filed under: all talk, excursions, hindi, india · 4 Comments

Waking up early ….

Finding your way ….

Sliding down scree slopes ….

Rappelling dry (and wet) falls ….

Getting creative ….

Locking off mid-rappel and ….

…. taking a picture of yourself ….

…. and your lifeline overhead

“Ghosting”

Traversing green and yellow leaves ….

Link to Hastings Canyon Slide Show
Link to Supercloud Canyon Slide Show

Filed under: excursions, LA, transportation · 2 Comments

I received a curious email today. This morning his website said “I am the 5th …” but now it says “I am the 6th known person to walk around San Francisco Bay.”

Link to some pretty cool info about the Yay Area

Filed under: bay area, cartography, excursions · 2 Comments

This afternoon, Peliom and I took a field trip to the Mechanics’ Institute Library, a private library that has been around since 1854. It’s in a great old building at 57 Post Street, and they’ve been in that location since 1906! The Institute’s mission was to provide a technical library at a time when such resources were scarce in San Francisco. In contrast to the California Academy of Sciences, which was founded the previous year, the Mechanics’ Institute was formed as a corporation, with shareholders as well as dues-paying subscribers.


A trip to the Library feels like a trip to old San Francisco. We arrived in the afternoon and found a perfectly quiet library with mostly older patrons. A few people were asleep in the comfy leather chairs, which seemed like a nice escape from the hustle of the financial district just outside the giant windows. Since we weren’t members, we got day passes ($10) and went upstairs to the periodical reading room, which is pictured here.


Despite being such an old-school institution, the Library is surprisingly modern. Their 150K volume collection is kept up-to-date by adding 3000 items annually, and they subscribe to 600 periodicals (which you can check out!). The computers were all in use, and the Library offers access to several reference databases for patrons. They also have wifi. We spent a good part of our visit camped out in the reference room, using the wifi and chatting over IM (the library is so quiet that no one even whispers). Here is Peliom hiding behind a Fart Party bag among many late 19th-century volumes.


In addition to books, the Library has a large video selection (located in the Ladies Parlor), a small CD collection, and lots of tech books (Head Rush Ajax was checked out). The Mechanics’ Institute also hosts the oldest Chess Club in the US within the Library. There were probably 50-75 patrons using the library while we were there, mostly in the two large reading areas but a few at the tables scattered in the maze-like stacks. There are 5000 members total, and membership is $95 annually ($35 for students). (OK peliom, it’s your turn! Make this post better!)

(peliom): Wow, everything looks beautiful, thanks for taking the pictures! I’m afraid all I have to offer is this Slide Show.

The Mechanics’ is fantastic place and fabulous resources. All those catwalks and low ceiling bookshelves! If you’re a Web 2.0 warrior without a fixed location, or just need a break, the $95 yearly membership fee is a steal. That’s cheaper than dot-Mac!!

A Note: the WiFi unfortunately uses WEP encryption. They will happily give you the password at the info desk (assuming you have a day pass or a membership) but make sure to just ask for the “wireless network instructions for Mac” otherwise they might get confused. The key is printed at the bottom of the one page printout.

(rajbot again): Peliom touched on one of the two reasons why I won’t be getting a membership to the Mechanics’ Institute. The first reason involves the concept of library access. There are a few different kinds of private libraries, and this library isn’t one that cares about Universal Access to Human Knowledge. The Mechanics’ Institute goes out of their way to limit access. When we first arrived we couldn’t even get inside since they have a swipecard reader on the front door and we weren’t members, just visitors wanting to purchase a daypass. We got in by waiting for someone to exit and then sneaking inside like criminals. This library has very little outreach; definitely not the kind of library that would fund a bookmobile. They go so far as to lock down their wireless internet access.. even the shopping mall across the street has free, open wifi. Private libraries definitely have their place, but this one feels like it tries too hard to be exclusive. Member dues only make up 11% of their revenue, so their stuffy attitude seems odd and rubs me the wrong way.

The second reason I won’t be joining the Mechanics’ Institute is it’s lack of technical depth. I was excited by the fact that there was a technical library in SF, but if you want to keep up with the state-of-the art, you need access to the relevant journals in your field. In my case, this means access to IEEE Xplore, which this library doesn’t provide. Their new titles are mostly non-technical, with a very small number of novice computer books and a couple general-interest science volumes. I loved walking through their stacks and saw a huge number of non-technical books that I would love to have the time to read. But for my casual reading, the internet and Amazon better serve my needs. It was a fun visit, and I’m sure I’ll visit many more times on a daypass, especially when I’m in the financial district and want to play a game of chess followed by a leisurely nap in a big chair :)

(peliom): BWAHAHAHAHAH!!! “relevant journals in your field?” … who is going to order the only journal rajbot will ever need?

Not me … uh uh, no way …

Filed under: archive, books, excursions, library, photos · 2 Comments

So there seems to be some confusion among <TR> board members. On the one hand, Yahoo Hack Day looks pretty geeky. On the other hand, it’s probably a good thing for us to go to. We should go and show our mad AJAX skillz!

What do you think?

Link to Yahoo Hack Day

Filed under: all talk, code code, excursions · 6 Comments

Even though mang has moved to NYC, he’s still a San Franciscan at heart. Here’s a phonecam shot I got yesterday from mang, taking his surfboard from Manhattan to Long Beach on the train!

Incidentally, we went to the Exploratorium yesterday and got to see the very fun exhibit mang worked on this summer. Everybody loved it! We’re going again on Oct 4, and you should come!

Filed under: excursions, tiki lifestyle · 2 Comments

We made it through to the end (like we had a choice?), but got back after dark, super tired…. We lost two out of four cameras. Not pictured here:

• 120 foot rappel *inside* this waterfall
• Random 15-30 foot jumps into cold Kings River H2O
• Scrambling up, over, around and through boulders the size of a nice apartment
• Swimming through huge pools of gorgeous blue water
• Final 20 foot hand-over-hand rappel into the Power Station’s backyard
• Walking through the glow of sodium vapor lamps past massive, buzzing power transformers.

Link to DMM Truscrew Screwgate Carabiner on REI.com

Filed under: excursions, transportation · 4 Comments

My labor day weekend will involve granite, water, climbing rope and good peeps. “Team Fakin’ It” is taking on a 3 mile section of the Kings River (North Fork) that will take us 2 days to cover. Rocks, water, rappels, 30ft jumps…. check out this video (is google video not embeddable?):

North Kings Canyoneering

Mwahh! See you next week….

Link to insane Kings Canyon rappel pics

Filed under: all talk, excursions, video · 3 Comments

Mike explored an abandoned warehouse full of beautiful graffiti and took lots of pictures:

Filed under: doodles, excursions, mike · 2 Comments