steamy peets

Annnnnd, we're back!

The Bay Area is experiencing some very chilly winter weather. I'll admit I initially scoffed at "arctic temperatures" of...low to mid-30s..? (What!? Balmy!) But *then* I remembered, and experienced firsthand, the minimal insulation and heating situations that are the norm out here. For J and I we're talking some cold hands and noses, strategizing our heating schedule (ie., off during the day, first person home turns it on), after-work uniforms of sweats and knit hats, etc. But we're actually in a bit of a tropic bubble here in the city...Parts north and east of here have had SNOW (!). And there was a story on the news this evening showing students in the burbs bundled up in their barely-heated classrooms, boiling water in beakers to help heat things up a bit. Ka-raziness.

hotel rex

Sutter Street.

the view from #30

north beach as seen from the #30 bus

north beach as seen from the #30 bus

(Bus, that is.) About 6:00 this evening.

put art here

Corner of Pine and Sansome

new

Epicenter Cafe, in SOMA (South of Market @ San Francisco)

the 715

Happy Friday... After this week, it feels like (more) celebrating is in order...

one man one band

(Volunteers take advantage of the unseasonably warm weather and make calls from the parking lot.)

Happy Election Day! Don't forget to vote...

(This gentleman at the senior center tapped on the glass and motioned for me to take his photo, pointing to his full Obama regalia.)

wound up

• Shop *ld N*vy
• Market St.
• Mood lighting at Epicenter Cafe
• Don't forget to Vote Tuesday!
• BART honeycomb tiles

Much going on these days...hard to stay focused...

gavin's girl

(20th and Dolores streets)

flourescent weekend

From top:

• Friday evening, downtown
• Cow Hollow (photo by Jaeha Yoo)
• Hayes Valley

Great weekend! Beautiful fall weather on Saturday; we spent the afternoon walking around Hayes Valley and window shopping. Chatted with some long-time San Franciscans about the upcoming election and voting in the city. It's going to be a nail-biter... Today spent tucked inside, listening to the radio, finishing a good book, doing some research on the internets.

twilight

<mute traffic, cue crickets></mute>

fashion!

Wouldn't it be nice if hats came back into style?

officially fall

Longer shadows, getting darker earlier....

smoke break

@ North Beach

short course, many laps

Last weekend the San Francisco Twilight Criterium descended upon Cow Hollow, giving us front row seats for an exciting bike race. According to usacycling.org, a crit is "...a multi-lap race of 25 to 60 miles held on a closed course generally a mile or less in length. These races, which usually last one to two hours, are extremely fast -- 30 mph and up -- as the cyclists jockey for position and sprint for lap “primes” (cash or merchandise prizes, pronounced “preems”). "

...so, many many laps on a short course - yup, essentially riding around and around in a circle for an hour or so. In this case, the course was 1km long, two blocks by three blocks. J. and I worked our way around backwards, attempting to take photos (the race was moving clockwise, and we walked along the course so that we were facing the oncoming cyclists). My little camera was barely up to the combination of speed and fading light, and each shot was a surprise to see what I'd managed to get.

These men and women are going fast, and ride very close to the barriers marking the course. There are bales of hay set up to ostensibly slow/"catch" any rider who skids out of a turn; standing at the far end of the turns and watching riders barrel towards you is sort of harrowing, and you feel like those little stacks are hardly enough!

It was pretty chilly once the sun went down, but a surprising number of people were out watching until the end. The usual pointy-shoes-designer-jean crowd that seems to descend on the area on the weekends was temporarily replaced by a sportier, messenger-bag toting, short-pants-shaved-legs-beanie-wearing crowd. My peoples!

public art #2

20-30 sculptures placed up and down Market for the afternoon to bring attention to California's uninsured.

wheee-kend

From top:

• USS Hornet, Alameda, Labor Day Weekend
• Noon, waiting on Polk St.
• Fisherman's Wharf, Labor Day Weekend
• Union Square
• Pleasant Hill, Labor Day Weekend

Any usual afternoon

Labor Day Weekend. Guest photographer Jaeha Yoo.