The New Normal

"What color is the sky?" the teacher asks the class.
"White!" the children respond for this is all they know.

Smoke. Haze. Fire. Our Pacific Northwest summer, the one season where we reliably see blue skies, overcast by wildfire smoke raging across the region. We haven't seen a blue sky in days. The sun burns red. My mouth tastes like smoke and I try not to go outside. I feel like a dinosaur after the meteorite which kills them all.

On the other side of the country, epic hurricanes tear through sprawling suburbs and Irma promises more. People dead, homes destroyed, flood upon flood upon flood. This is our new normal.

So what can we do? So what MUST we do?

Have one less child/adopt a child. Drive less. Fly less. Eat less beef. But most of all, demand more. More from your governments, more from your corporations, and more from your sustainable self.

Big Sur

We finally made it! Monterey to Big Sur was 34.78 miles at a brutally slow 7.9 mph due to the 3,438 ft of elevation we gained. With all our stuff. AND a terrible headwind, oof! By 5:00pm, when we hadn't even reached Big Sur proper (did you know there are awesome state parks like Garrapata along the way that are so so so beautiful as well?), well, we were in low spirits. Particularly Laura who had to do 100% of the steering and at least 50% of the pedaling in that crazy headwind. I mean, we were going downhill at barely 10 mph instead of 17, it was so bad. When I kept hearing constant "UGHS!" from my captain- I knew it was all downhill (no, not literally, if only!). I even started biking with my thumb out, hoping one of these giant trucks, SUVs or RVs would pick us up. Nope!

It was truly our hardest day, we really felt the extra elevation on our tandem. And quite frankly, we were mentally tired too. There were just so many cars on a Sunday, it seemed we never got a moment of peace. But the coastline is so beautiful, even if it's never flat. It winds up and down, in and out, blue seas and steep cliffs, ice plants and native vegetation.

When we finally got to camp, after the last seemingly endless 900 ft of climbing, we set up camp, ate, and just conked out. The next morning we woke to the sounds of rain! The closeness of the tent ceiling makes the rain drop sounds even more pronounced and I kept my earplugs out listening to it for a while at 3:30am. I also rescued our jet boil stove which we had foolishly left outside since we finally had a camping spot of our own to strew about our possessions.

There's nothing like rain when you are on a biking tour to make you question your decisions and Laura quickly found a bus that would take us all the way back to San Jose Caltrain with just one transfer in Monterey. After yesterday's endurance ride, this escape hatch really lifted our spirits. But we still spent the day reading and lounging in our camp chairs (we have chair kits that convert our sleeping mats into chairs- sitting with a back rest was so luxurious!). I even sat outside with hat, gloves, and sleeping bag to enjoy our beautiful campsite, surrounded by redwoods.

That night, fire! Our own fire!! Whenever we arrive at a campground we always look at other campsites to see if anybody has left wood and people did! That saved us $11/bundle (omg, private campgrounds are ridiculous) and Laura was even able to stretch the wood out for TWO nights, cleverly using only a couple pieces to create warmth, not necessarily a lot of light. This was perfect for our uses of cooking, warmth, and enjoying being outside in the night.

The next day we set out for Julia Pfieffer Burns State Park. Whether we should head back or go was a subject of long deliberation and checking the bus schedule and weather report dozens of times. Alas, we discovered that our savior bus didn't come down to Big Sur on the weekdays but the Monterey to SJ Caltrain leg still ran. So we decided to bike the 20 miles round trip to Julia Pfieffer Tuesday, then from Big Sur to Monterey Wednesday, and take the bus and Caltrain back to avoid the rain coming Thursday.

This was the best decision ever. Julia Pfieffer is only 4 square miles but it boasts 2 waterfalls (one pouring directly into the beach/ocean), redwoods and an amazing view of the coastline. We were thrilled to get to enjoy the iconic bits of Big Sur in easily hikable distances and the sun came out for us too! Taking in the view, we ate the surprisingly good sandwiches we had bought at the market the day before and it might have been one of the best lunches of my life (for just $7.95 too!). 

Our final day we rode from Big Sur back to Monterey, an initial decision forced by an elusive bus route but one that we were so glad to have made as well. On a Wednesday Big Sur is a pleasure to ride with far fewer cars and we even got to see a half dozen cyclists headed the other direction too! They were as happy to see us as were happy to not be on that side climbing 3400 ft. The last hill into Monterey was intense. We were dreaded the elevation but it was the cars flying past that actually made it miserable. We ended up beating the google maps estimate by a solid 40 minutes which was good because we had to break the tandem in half. Despite always thinking we know what we are doing, we actually don't so we used the extra time to take our time and eventually visit a bike store too. By the way, Bay Bikes, locations in Carmel and Monterey, saved our butts twice! Visit them, they are smart and didn't charge me either times!!

Okay, commercial plug over. So here I am, sitting in the comfort of a giant home with wifi, electricity, a laptop, a bed with a real pillow, and shorts on even though it's raining outside. After 214.89 miles and 14097 ft of elevation, it's nice to be home.

How Bike Touring is Different From Camping

Initially when we were planning this trip, I thought bike camping would be a lot like bike camping. Wait, that doesn't make sense. I thought that bike touring would be a lot like bike camping. You see, we've been bike camping a couple of times over the years, usually for a weekend. And you pack light, use Ortliebs and all that good stuff, but still, bike touring is very different.

The biggest difference is for bike touring is, much of the time, and this may seem obvious- you spend riding your bike. When bike camping, we just took a bunch of stuff to one campground and stayed for as long as possible there (read: until we ran out of food). This is also kind of like car camping. Go to a place, camp out, see the scenery around there.

Thus, our plan was to stay in Monterey for 3 nights (their maximum) and check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium, 17 Mile Drive (fyi, Asilomar Beach is superior), hang out at camp/build fires, and so forth. Imagine our surprise when we got to the bike/hike campsite and everybody else was just staying for the night. Well, except one dude, but that was because he was broken and needed to rest, not because he planned on it.

Apparently, the way to bike tour is to ride from bike campground to the next bike campground. You do see a lot this way, as being on a bike is seriously the best way to see scenery, but where is the resting?? Where is the gourmet food? Why is it okay to just keep eating canned beans every night???

In fact, our campground in Monterey didn't even have fire rings for the bike campsite. We had to beg regular campers to use their fire every single night. And don't get me wrong, every single person we asked to use their fire was completely friendly and absolutely cooperative, but by the last night, I just wanted our old camping routine. Laura making a fire, me cooking over it, and then watching the embers burn burn burn. But alas, when you are in somebody else's campsite out cooking them on their own fire (why do car campers even bring camping stoves? One should do everything on the FIRE!) , you can't outstay your welcome.

Second reason why food isn't important when bike touring is because food is really heavy. When you can save a lot of weight, packing space, and time by cooking over a camp stove, why not? In fact, today, after a huge day of biking to Big Sur, we did exactly that. We didn't want to lug around firewood or worry about keeping meat cold, so we just ate boiled food (but don't despair for us too much, I still made it a 3 course meal- avocado topped with almonds, noodles with peas in a mushroom soup, and hot chocolate with marshmallows for dessert!).

Also, you don't want to have too much stuff with you because you just don't know what might get stolen! We were warned the first morning when we headed out to Monterey Bay Aquarium and were just going to leave everything in our tent like we usually do when we camp, that things disappear all the time. Sure enough, during our stay we met somebody who had their bike stolen in the middle of the night from that site, somebody had their huge gas canister stolen, and we had 5 of our 6 star bolts stolen from off our rear disc brake. Why somebody would do this is totally beyond me because I literally had them replaced for free and if you had tools you should really go for high roller items like derailleur or seats, but the guy at the bike shop said he had never seen just one bolt left unless it was stolen. Sometimes two or three come out, but never all of them but one. This was also super shitty because it slowed us down a lot to diagnose the problem (luckily we didn't die coming down from Monterey to Carmel), hitchhike to the nearest bike shop to fix the problem (Laura wisely wouldn't let us ride without brake) and then hitchhike back. Totally nuts. Luckily, I had great luck hitchhiking waiting only about 5 cars and not even having to show any skin!

Finally, bike touring is super epic because it is kind of hard to always be camping. Many times this trip I've wondered if I'm homeless. In order to save weight, I don't have a pillow, I just stuff all of our clothes into our sleeping bag stuff sack. Over the nights, I've finally perfected my "pillow" by making sure our down jackets stay on the top side of the stuff sack. But seriously, I haven't slept in a real bed with a real pillow in 5 days. Hilariously enough though, I'm taking more showers because they were free at the Monterey site and we had to wash our clothes in the shower since we packed so few (see once again, homeless or bike touring? It's hard to tell).

But whether we are bike camping, bike touring, or just plain biking, life is pretty awesome to us. It's been beautiful out and not too cold (although packing only one pair of long pants and shorts/2 tshirts was definitely not the right ratio for outdoor living). We've met plenty of fun people at the bike campsites, for instance a duo that seriously reminded me of Cheryl Strand from Wild. They booked tickets to California 3 days before, had never bike toured, and were just carrying around WAY too much stuff. Like, oversized sleeping bags, sweatshirts/sweats, and so so so many apples. However, they were in super good spirits and at the end of the day, are still ahead of us since we took our unheard of break! That's the most brilliant thing about bike touring. You can just go and start biking. Anywhere you really want, just get on your bike and there will likely be campgrounds that are first come, first serve for you when you are tired, a ton of people willing to help you along the way, and  fantastic feeling of knowing you got yourself where you are going.   

Bike Touring

So this is new. Laura and I decided to really go for it and go bike touring. As in we decided this less than a week ago and now here we are on day 3 in a lovely city hike and bike campground in Monterey. I'm fancy writing this with a Bluetooth keyboard connected to my smartphone! Don't worry, there's outlets in the bathroom to charge so we don't get stuck without directions. 

It all started when Laura said she wanted to go to Big Sur a couple months ago. We thought we'd drive since we drove down Laura's stepdad's truck from Seattle, but then somebody was selling front rack Ortliebs on Craigslist for 50 percent off list price. Robert let us borrow his front rack and that was that.

Well not really, we did spend a couple days putting together the tandem and breaking a screw off in the tandem and trying to extract this screw (cleverly it was the screw for the rear rack). We also had long vacillating debates about the merits of going north or south but finally, FINALLY we just decided to go for it and go for it we did.

I thought the first day would be easy because we took Caltrain down from SF to SJ so and I thought that meant we were going to have a short riding day. Reminder to everybody, check the route of where you are going before you get on your bike! Alas, Laura had done almost all the route planning and campground reserving so I didn't know our first day was actually our longest- 56 miles, 2100 ft of elevation gain. It really came all at once in a 5 miles stretch climbing over 152 into Watsonville. Brutal.

But hey, we made it! And before that, oh my, so amazing finding Coyote Creek trail. That's right, almost half our ride on a dedicated pedestrian and cycling trail with almost nobody in our way. Then we rode through Morgan Hill which was filled with bike lanes. Then that brutal part I mentioned earlier, then a rather pleasant ride to DINNER at a taqueria in downtown Watsonville. Note to reader: tons of taquerias in Watsonville- I don't think you can go wrong. And then a final climb to our campsite under the glow of the sunset. As usual the last few miles were the hardest, at least mentally, we were done at dinner.

Let me tell you a little bit about hiker biker campsites. First, they are usually shared (look at me, the expert after staying at two sites). They are usually very cheap ($10/site, $6/person at another). This one, at Pine Hallow Campground at Sunset State Beach even had two bike racks. I mean, whhhaaaatt??!! So cool. And nothing really beats the coolness factor of biking into a campsite of course. But we were beat. So we set up camp and then went to bed. I think it was 8:30pm.

The next day we woke up to another perfectly blue sky day and only a 3.5 hour ride (35 miles)! We fixed our bike (and spoiler alert, the belt has not come off again even though we've ridden said 35 miles and MORE). We charged our phones in the glory of the sun (yes, Laura insisted we borrow my Uncle Jeffrey's solar panel) and off we went. The ride through Watsonville covers farmlands and we discovered what Brussel sprouts look like with leaves on the stalks! Man, this vegetable keeps surprising me aesthetically. Best part was smelling all the strawberries growing next to the road as we winding through basically abandoned roads. But we did meet OTHER CYCLISTS! GASP!!! HOOORAAAYY!! This guy was going at it for a month and it's just so nice getting to talk to other cyclists being crazy like you. We were also passed by a couple of road cyclists who did not have packs but were very friendly. We also road some of highway 1 which was not friendly, but at least it had a shoulder, unlike the BRUTAL highway 152 climb. Obviously, I am not over this climb.

Okay, so then what happened? Then we passed through Moss Landing which I remembered kayaking at and seeing roughly 10,000 otters (j/k, there are only 3000 otters who live there, up from their low of 100). So we stop at the bridge overlooking Elkhorn Slough and what do we see?? SEA OTTERS!!!!!! YESSSSSSSS, FANTASTIC, 1000 STARS, 200 THUMBS UP! We had already decided against kayaking, as this is a biking trip and we were already feeling under-athletically prepared, but watching from the bridge we saw a sea otter chowing down so that was definitely the right decision. Then we stopped by a farmer stand which was so awesome because everything was so cheap, but so bad because everything was so cheap. Luckily, Laura talked some sense into me and I just got 3 PERSIMONS and 2 GIANT avocados. Yes, that's me being reasonable. A couple miles later, that persimmon was devoured. We are still working on the avocados. They are seriously giant.

Then we stopped for LUNCH, finaaaalllyyyy, finalllyyyy finallyyy (that's roughly how it felt). It was not so good, but it was time off the bike and I did get soda (Laura got Thai Iced Tea with boba), and I suppose wings were okay. Then I noticed there was a grocery outlet so I went THERE as well and we were ready to our next stop- Trader Joe's! A very food focused 35 miles if I may  say so myself! Anyhow, we needed meat and this was the last place before our campsite up a GIANT hill so we got 2 pork chops, 2 yams and hopped on for the last climb of the day- We were not super happy with it of course, being the last thing before  we could eat (again), but we muscled (as in took many breaks) through.

Google maps was wrong and the campsite was .4 miles closer and 200 ft less feet of climbing than it said so although I can't express our feelings upon realizing this in words, just imagine a lot of exclamation marks. Something like this: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, but more tired.

At the campsite, we rolled in and discovered OTHER BIKE CAMPERS!! As in, we are all sharing this enormous site with an enormous picnic table and 2 raccoon lockers for food. BUT NO FIRE RING. That's right, at Pine Hallow we get not one, but TWO fire rings to ourselves when we don't need it and here we had 2 pork chops but no fire ring. Or wood, for that matter (hey, you can usually buy wood at a campsite okay?!).

But have no fear, because your hero, Have-No-Fear-Woman is here and I went and befriended a lovely older couple who not only let us use their fire, but gave us the rest of their firewood and regaled us with awesome stories/tips during dinner too!

And I think that is by far, the best part of this trip so far. On the drive down from Seattle to SF we camped twice and talked to nobody. Like, literally nobody- the first night we slept in the National Forest where you can camp for free anywhere 100 ft away from water sources/hiking trails/parking lots so we didn't see a soul. But here, we are surrounded by people all the time who are way buffer than us (most people are either going further or came further or came further AND are going further than us) and so friendly. And buff, seriously. We've managed to cook pork chops, sausages, yams, and banana boats (pro tip: stuff a banana full of marshmallows and chocolate, put in reused tin foil and surround with coals and you will be delighted, I promise) without ever having our own fire. We've lent wifi to others, we've borrowed cords from others. It's been truly amazing.

Livejournal

Today I found R's long abandoned LiveJournal. And then out of curiosity for a comparison, I reread some of my own from the same period.

I remember doing this once, trying to start from the beginning, with my teenage self's RaNdoM CAPS and horible spellinz. Needless to say, I stopped immediately. But today, since R's journal started in 2002 when he was in college, I went back to 2005, when I was the same age (adding a few years to compensate for maturity levels- his higher than mine, of course).

The journal I happened upon was a review of a book which inspired me to run for office (and only one spelling error! "what" written as "wut" as in, "wut was I thinking?!"). Even then I was enamored with local office.

Fast forward to today. I sit on my first politically appointed board position (Contra Costa Transportation Authority's Citizen Advisory Board). I run the small non-profit arm of Contra Costa County Probation Department (Juvenile Hall Auxiliary). I hugged two mayors this month (don't worry, I'm 98% sure neither know my name). Today, after working for the state government, the county government, the city government, after seeing the rise and fall of Obama according to public opinion, after fundraising and hand-shaking myself, I feel myself jaded about public office.

I feel like more time is spent money raising than policy making, leaving hard decisions for the future. I value my privacy and home life more. I see the bureaucratic machine more clearly, towering so high, it threatens to fall upon itself or me.

So now, what next? Do I try and slay the giant? Do I turn inward to family life? Do I take my triumphs in the non-profit world? Is helping more people the answer? Is helping less people deeply more honorable, more true? Is just helping my own chosen kin enough?

Well, at least I got my yearly blog post out of it.

From Dumbphone to No Phone to Smartphone

For the past few months I have been trying to rid myself of my cell phone. One would think this would be a fairly easy task, you just chuck your phone over a bridge somewhere, consequences be damned. But when you have a friends, family, and a fiance, apparently you must be reachable at all times or people will think they think you are dead. I say "think they think," because even when I did have a cell phone, I never got random calls or texts asking if I was dead. In fact, I got very few calls and texts at all. I could have easily been dead, but really, I'm just not that popular.

So here I am, alive and well, and when I tell people I don't really want a cell phone, it's the same look I get when I tell people I don't drink- confusion and pity. They can barely fathom a life without their two social crutches. The first giving them the ability to talk, the second, removing it.

It all started when my good friend O told me about freedompop. Suddenly, paying $15/month for a dumbphone seemed stupid when I could have a smartphone for free. I signed up for a hotspot which gave me 500MB of 4G data for free and used fiance's abandoned HTC Incredible with Google Voice and Talkatone to mimic a smartphone. And it would've worked except that I didn't get 4G service anywhere. Also, I went from an absurdly small dumbphone to two different devices. Not smart.

Then FreedomPop came out with a free smartphone plan. 200 minutes, 500 texts, 500 MB of 4G/3G service for $0. I ordered it immediately. It took two months to arrive. During those two months, I essentially stopped using a cell phone. This is what I discovered:

Stopped Being Addicted to Facebook
When I first co-opted the Incredible, I went crazy. Every minute, no every second, I wanted to touch the phone. Even if the sound was on for notifications, I thought perhaps somebody was emailing me this very second. And when it turned out nobody was, I got distracted by Facebook which was right on my home screen. Once I went down the Facebook rabbit hole, it was endless. Even if I knew there was no possibility of new status updates (because I had just checked 2 minutes before), I still opened Facebook. Then I'd open my email. Then back to Facebook. I felt this intense dissatisfaction, my entire world was at my fingertips, but nobody was talking to me!

Email FTW
During those two months, I told everybody to email me. Google voice did allow me to get texts and calls, but only when I was on wifi or in a 4G area with my hotspot. What this really meant was that I could control when to communicate with others. There was nothing pinging at me, demanding my attention. There wasn't anything pinging at me, annoying others. Most things are not urgent. The phone does not know how to prioritize that.

Planning
Remember back in the day where you would make plans with somebody and you'd have to actually settle on where and when? And then you both would meet at the agreed upon place at the agreed upon time? Today you could spend 50 texts/emails decided on where to go and when and STILL end up with a text 5 minutes after you are supposed to have met that they are "on the way." Or you get a text the night before confirming. Or 10 minutes before.

If it's a group hang out, then all bets are off.  Half of the people don't respond, another quarter say they might be free, and the last quarter can't agree on a time or place. But in a world where "I'm so busy" is a status symbol, if we agree on a time, we still have to agree on a place! So we all Yelp for 30 minutes but end up going with the original suggestion. If it's still open that is. If nobody can cancel on you last minute because you don't have a phone, you don't get cancelled on.

At the end of the day though, since everybody is in a smartphone bubble, their atrocious planning skills affect you anyway.

5 Things a Smartphone is Good For:
1. Maps
I have to admit, it was kind of nice being able to look up where I was going after I left the house. I imagined all sorts of impromptu places I would discover, but instead I ended up planning less and relied on my smartphone to save me. On balance, this is probably a negative disguised as a positive.

2. Calendar
Work, social life, holidays, birthdays, all this can be at the touch of your fingertips. Unfortunately, even with this and reminders, people seem to put you on their calendar and forget about you anyway. Mysteries of the universe.

3. More eco-friendly?
I suppose if you only bought a phone as often as you would buy a computer and you ignore that everything has to be run or stored on giant networks or servers that are on 100% of the time, that smartphones consume less energy to make and run. In my case, mine was used and it is can be charged on our solar panel too! The desktop requires me to turn on our internet router, monitor, and this beast of a machine (although this beast can play Starcraft so I forgive it). 

4. Everything in your Pocket
Speaking of charging, assuming you don't run out of batteries, then you always have a camera, audio player, millions of movies, and all of the world's knowledge (and trolls) at the tip of your fingertips. If your like me and your case is also your wallet, well, just having one thing to grab when you go is pretty awesome. I also have to admit, having my camera sync up to all my devices is very handy.

5. I couldn't think of a 5th thing.

Consumption not Creation
This is perhaps the most dangerous part of smartphones, it is just too easy to passively consume and never create. I like writing. But since getting a smartphone all I can manage are half sentences in a gratitude onenote I keep on my home screen. If you want to write something substantial, if you want to reference other things, sitting at a desk with a real keyboard always wins. And, if you turn off your internet, you can even focus long enough to crank out one of these blog posts instead of feeling your brain is split into 100 different directions.

In the end though, I still have a smartphone on the free freedompop plan. I don't have to give a penny to those evil phone companies that dominate 90% of the ad slots on my hulu and make you sign unconscionable contracts. I still don't like how much internet I consume, so I still leave the data off unless I'm expecting a call and I still power it down when I don't expect to use it for over 4 hours. My friends, family, and wife don't like it, but it gives me the freedom of checking the internet when I want to, not when my smartphone demands it of me. And it makes me very conscious that I spend way too much time snuggling my smartphone.

The Big 3-0

Today, I turn 30. A time for culturally enforced reflection as I begin another decade in my charmed life. 

When I think about the person I was at 20 vs. today at 30, some things are exactly the same. Exhibit #1, a picture of me wearing my favorite black t-shirt when I was 21. Exhibit #2, I am in the exact same shirt two weeks ago.

Yup, Jess came to my wedding 9 years later.

                                           This is not my baby.                                                                              

Some things have changed a lot. When I was 20, I thought I knew it all. I thought I was done growing and the world was mainly comprised of idiots or me (or people who thought like me). I thought I was always right. Hilariously enough, this is how I feel now when I talk to most people in their early 20’s. Yes, Justina included.

In our culture, turning 30 seems to be a big deal. It’s the first birthday people try to hide. In fact, the other month, somebody was joking, “Is anybody really 29 or are they all lying?” At the time, of course, I was. There’s this expectation that you should have it figured out by now. 

Well, news flash, nobody ever has everything figured out perfectly, ever. But here are some things I did figure out. 

1.      I like women. In fact, I married the love of my life on the longest day of this year, June 21, 2014. The wisest advice I’ve ever received is who you choose to marry is the greatest predictor of happiness. I love my wife so I love my life. She always challenges me to be a better person but is endlessly gracious when I turn out to be just human. I’m in awe of her maturity, depth of her love, and brilliance. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my decades with her and thrilled I finally found her. She was worth the soul searching, the coming out, and the wait. 

2.      My friends and family are still exceptional. Throughout the years some have fallen away and new ones have entered. But on my very special day, as so many have called it, we got the best presents- friendship and kinship. Showing their love by flying in to celebrate with us, some from as far as Taiwan. By being endlessly helpful- playing/singing music, cooking, cleaning, taking video, dancing, moving tables, setting up, landscaping, toasts, day of coordinating, carpooling, making bouquet/boutonniere, loaning us equipment, loaning us a venue, paying for rehearsal dinner, hauling compost, officiating, and making us laugh, cry and feel loved. Every single guest was so thrilled to help, thanking us for letting them, (this is just nuts). It made our wedding small, intimate, and fiercely unique. This is just one example! It’s been a lifetime of amazing friends and family. 

3.      Kindness is key. I still joke that if the first description of somebody is “nice,” that is a huge problem. But the older I get, the more I appreciate kind people. People who put others in front of themselves, who are generous with their time or money, who are open minded, and who look at the world as an inherently good place filled with people doing the best they can. 

4.      I still lead a blessed life. I have use of all my limbs (and digits too!). I still think I’m smart. Most days, I love my job. I’ve deeply examined what is important to me (relationships, environment, saving the world) and I live according to those values. If I were born at any other time, I wouldn’t be able to. In another decade, I couldn’t have gone to law school or married a white person. Less than a half century before that, women couldn’t vote or own property. Just 2 years ago, I couldn’t have married Laura. Just 2012! I’m so lucky!

Ultimately, it’s just another day. I’m going to live my life like I do every day. I’m going to spread love, be the best self I can be, and continue to make the world a better place.

Illusion of Connectivity

Check out Xona Games for more mind benders!

Check out the picture above. Apparently if you are human, you see a spiral, one continuous, connected line. But alas, it is only an illusion. There are 9 separate circles, none of them interacting with the other. This is how I feel about social media. This is how I feel about technology today. This is how I feel about my generation. We sit in separate circles thinking that we are connected but are not. An illusion of connectivity.

A while back, my technology pusher O once again made a tempting offer to get me into the game. O, the constant supplier of free or heavily discounted technology that he is no longer using, offered me a Surface RT  + keyboard for $200. I would be propelled into the 21st century! 

If you are my age, which teeters on the ledge of 30, you probably have a smartphone. You probably have a laptop or tablet, and more often than not it seems, both. Sometimes you have multiple sets of all of these. 40% of us spend over 11 hours in front of some sort of device. We are connected to the world 24/7, but how often do you feel a connection?  

You have all the knowledge of the world in your pocket but how often do you use it for more than a distraction or proof at the dinner table that you are right (again)? All of your friends are at your fingertips, but how often do you reach out? We have six different ways to contact one person and yet, we never use them. It's just an illusion of connectivity.

Sherry Tukle elaborates at TED that even when we do bother to reach out, we do so in 140 character snippets. A half read email is half responded. A chat greeting that never gets answered, and neither party feels slighted anymore. It has become perfectly acceptable to sign off a chat service and never say goodbye to those you were conversing with. 

Let's pretend this happened in real life. I'm walking down a street and see a friend so I say, "Hi." If this were gchat (or trillian, or AIM or whatever your poison), you would not even get a "hi" back. So I stop saying hi to this friend, and sure enough they become another name on a list of contacts I never contact. 

In the increasingly rare situation where the friend does say "hi" back in real time they are usually at work, other times they are out, but either way, nobody sits down to chat anymore. It's a way to distract ourselves from the task at hand. So I get half your attention, you get half of mine. In the real world it would be like trying to have a conversation with somebody watching tv. (Side note, IRL why do restaurants encourage this kind of behavior by having roughly ONE THOUSAND big screen tv's with or without the sound blaring?) 

You'll never dig deeper than how are you? How's work? You'll never know that I'm a real human with a thousand different feelings each day. That I'm compressing my life on Facebook into thoughts and photos that portray me the best. I recently asked a friend if I should consider posting when I am lonely. Because you'll passively connect by looking at my page and I'll passively connect by looking at yours and it'll appear like we are always 100% happy. You don't need me to talk to you, you don't need me as friend - your life is perfect already! 

In this day of hyper connectivity, where I can reach a friend across the country- no globe, it's not okay to feel lonely. So you go a little crazy. When I first connected an inherited smartphone to WIFI, every minute, no every second, I wanted to touch the phone. Even if the sound was on for notifications, I thought perhaps somebody was emailing me this very second. And when it turned out nobody was, I got distracted by Facebook which was right on my home screen. Once I went down the Facebook rabbit hole, it was endless. Even if I knew there was no possibility of new status updates (because I had just checked 2 minutes before), I still opened Facebook. Then I'd open my email. Then back to Facebook. I felt this intense dissatisfaction, my entire world was at my fingertips, but nobody was actually talking to me. Actually listening to me. Actually conversing with me.  Actually responding with more than a "like."

In 140 characters, how am I suppose to convey all that I feel and do in day? Of course I'm going to edit out my struggles and challenges. Of course I'm only going to post pictures of me from the right side, with my sunglasses on, conquering the world. I'm going to snip snip snip until all that is left of me can be expressed in four letters. YOLO, head down, distracted by your phone. LIKE, because forming a sentence was too much thought. XOXO, even if we'd never touch in person.

So here it is for the world to see. My life is not perfect. Sometimes I wonder if I will still change the world. Sometimes I dislike my job. Sometimes I even dislike Fiancee. I get distracted. It can take me weeks to get a small errand accomplished. I get lazy. I am currently without wallet because I left it in a friend's car. That's right, I forget things. I get bored. I get irritated. I get petty. And yes, I get lonely too.

Biggest Baby In The World

Here I am holding the world's largest baby. Take a moment and guess how old this little one is. 

...No cheating...

...

....

...I'm waiting...

...

...

Five months. This baby is five months old and in the top 99 percentile in weight, height, and cuteness (numbers may be hyperbolized). After this morning of holding her in my admittedly, very tan arms, I felt chest pains like I was being crushed. But it was so worth it. Baby C is a delight in every way, I spent a lot of the weekend just watching her watch the world. Everything new and unusual. Every second changed. From smile to laugh and even cry, she was the highest form of entertainment.

Mad respect for the mommy's out there. Baby C required attention what seemed like 100% of the time. There were 4 of us and we just barely managed to feed the gal (not me), change the gal (not me), and check facebook (sometimes me). 

A couple of months ago, some friends asked us to co-house with them. I've always been a fan of the idea. Not only is it more sustainable to share housing, but the workload can be spread over more people. In our little community with our little one bedroom apartments, we each need to pay a wi-fi bill, clean, make dinner, and generally try to be adults. The idea of getting to share some of this pain (and joy) makes being an adult seem less daunting and less isolating. After all, some weeks the only people I talk to are from work and L. When I see friends at parties, our conversations rarely reach past what we've been up to. And if I only cared about that, then I'd just check facebook and call it a day. Tell me your hopes and dreams. Tell me your fears and problems. Tell me...

A New Journey

Dear Readers,

I have done it. I have moved (back) to suburbia. Type of land where my mother and father raised me. If this is a journey into sustainable American living, then it's apt that I live where half of Americans live. But that's not why I moved. I moved because I found a new job directing a non-profit which I deeply believe in.

And so I left many friends behind in beautiful (but foggy) San Francisco, moved in with L, and started a new life in get this, Pleasant Hill. Yes, it conjours up black and white notions of the movie Pleasantville for me as well.

But we didn't leave behind our bikes. We didn't leave behind composting. In short, we didn't leave behind our ideals. And despite the bad rap suburbia gets, I get suburbia. Even if it doesn't get me.

I can't tell you how many people have asked how we live without a car. Even our city friends wonder. But the truth of the matter is, suburbia is a pretty nice place to bike. The bike lanes (when there are ones) are wider and have less potholes. There are regional trails that connect through Walnut Creek, Alamo, San Ramon, all the way down to Dublin. Others that take us to Moraga. In fact, we went bike camping (60+ miles!) for the first time.

And while it is sad that our city doesn't take our compost, our apartment came with a trash can on the balcony and I started my own pile within. It doesn't even take that much work (and thanks to R+J for making it a vermipost!) and only smells when you open the lid and take a big whiff (guests of mine, please don't do that).

Speaking of apartment life, when I lived in the city, I brought all my neighbors cookies. I did the same out here. The difference is, we have our neighbors cell phone numbers. We make each other food. We ask for help (and rides). I couldn't even get a neighbor to come over once in SF (perhaps because they were embarrassed about their loud sex noises, but still). It's like Avenue Q, but with less singing.

So, in summary, this American life is great. Perhaps great enough...to continue blogging?

Irony

Is it ironic that my last post was about bike safety and this post is written with one hand since the other is broken from a bike/car accident? Probably (although ever since Alanis' rendition, I've had trouble keeping the definition of ironic straight).

Last week while biking, a driver opened their door without looking and I crashed into it and veered left. Then, to add injury to injury, I crashed into the car in the traffic lane as well. At this point I came to a stop on the ground. It hurt, a lot. And when I looked at my right hand I knew I was in for it- my middle finger was clearly dislocated (and it turns out broken as well)!

So not that I necessarily needed an excuse, but you will all have to forgive me for not blogging very much this month. Rest assured though that when I get this cast off and the okay from doctors, I will be right back on my bike. Drivers, please be careful when opening your doors, it's the law!

And since the last post ended with a resounding support for a superiority complex, here is another example. A direct quote from Freecycle SF:

"My MIL was baking while visiting and I have 2 sticks of new packaged butter. It's says it's not treated with RBGH, but I only feed my kids organic. Please specify a time you are picking up. I will set it outside for you" (emphasis added).

Not complete without the customary, "Sent from my iPhone." Got to love SF.

Driving Habits

Kiplinger, some sort of financial magaine, had an article today entitled "Generation Y Giving Cars a Pass." This was a surprising article for two reasons. (1) Apparently I am of Generation Y (and so are you if you are between 21-30). I didn't know that, but I am happy to oblige, because Y is a great letter. One that starts my last name, for instance. (2) More importantly, I didn't realize this was a trend. I mean sure, I noticed it amongst my friends, but many of them live in the city and were recently in college (although now, upon further reflection, I realize that was 5 years ago). It has always puzzled me that people would be willing to walk across campus in college (15 minutes), but upon graduating, will drive far shorter distances (e.g. from one end of a parking lot to another).

I'm glad to hear that my generation is taking responsibility for the future into their own hands. Although I suspect we are also known for our shallowness/callowness- always plugged into some machine, I think this is one of our most significant contributions to our community. When public transit can take twice plus as long, it takes some serious commitment (and planning!) to take it. And while I use my train time to slow down, reflect and look out the window, apparently Generation Y "views commuting a few hours by car a huge productivity waste when they can work using PDAs while taking the bus and train." I can't believe a 2010 article used the term PDA.

Personally, I choose to live without a car because I like my lifestyle. I like my super short work commute (2 miles, 15 minutes by bike). I like saving $10,000/year (AAA numbers on average cost of a car/year) so I can choose a job I love and eat good food. I like the increased health benefits (20 to 1), even taking into account the increased risk of death (depending on how you run the numbers, bikes have less deaths per trips but more deaths per mile). And finally, I like the efficiency of combining my wind-down, with exercise, with commute, with catching up to cars at the next light, with advanced brain activity (is that car going to turn, YES?? CRAP!) and with, last but not least, feeling superior to everybody else.

Why I Stay In The City- Community

I constantly think this city is too cool for me. After all, most days all I want to do is stay at home and cook. But yesterday night, Pumpkin and I went for unplanned night on the town.

First we stopped by Freewheel Cyclery (I mean really, in a city with so many bike shops, hipsters get their own, how can I compete?) where Pumpkin had bought her new front chainrings/crank arms because she had somehow managed to crack her old one. We were trying to borrow a crank puller, since mine was incompatible with her bike. However, renting tools is $10/day ($30/6 months) at Freewheel and since I was going to use it for a grand total of 2 minutes, I didn't feel like forking up. If I didn't already have a toolkit, I think the $30 rate would be pretty reasonable (not to mention sustainable) and sure enough, we saw somebody working on his fixie.

With the first part of our night's plan a bust, we moved on to the second- dinner! I've been meaning to try NOPA for a while (not every restaurant gets to name a neighborhood) and knew reservations were totally booked so we decided to give drop in a try. Only a 1 hour and 45 minute wait, crazy. But I put my name down and we decided to walk around. I had seen park(ing) at Fell on my bike ride home so we stopped there to grab some free tea and sit in what normally is normally a parking spot. Most of them were converted thanks to rugs and potted plants. The transformation was impressive. We sat on the side of a 3 lane one way road, a main artery of San Francisco and felt completely safe. The newly green bike lane certainly helped.

Then we decided to check out a "game cafe" as Pumpkin put it which I very excitedly thought might mean a LAN cafe and STARCRAFT 2, but she meant the old school board games. At any rate it was closed, but every Wednesday they have game night courtesy of Gamescape. So you may find me on the corner of Oak and Divis next Wednesday!

Onwards we treked till a few doors down where the store was not only open, but there seemed to be some sort of party inside. As we peered in, somebody demanded we come in and explained it was a Earth Magic Product Opening. And it was truly magic. Desserts and drink, free massages, a tarot card reader and good music!

ZOMG, cupcakes, fudge, brownies, blondies, and blackberry turnovers! They even had non-alcoholic beverages so I happily sipped on some Martinelli's while listening to an amazing violin and guitar duo, The Jaunting Martyrs.

Good voices, solid talent on the instruments AND food? I was in heaven. So much so that while waiting for a free massage, we missed the call from NOPA to come back (my, doesn't time fly).

By the time we got back to NOPA, we had missed our table (and I missed the massage, darn). But when we were seated, we got the best seat in the house:

We watched this guy spin magic with pizza, warm olives, sardines, and vegetables all night. Not pictured is the giant fire grill to the left where rotisserie chicken hung and burgers and pork chops flipped. At first I was peeved to be sitting without back support (we were on bar seats) but the entertainment value quickly made it worth it.

But the best view (and taste) of all were our dishes. Mine a seared duck breast with figs, creamed corn and greens while Pumpkin had a pork chop with greens and beans. I thought both pieces were good, especially my duck breast which was moist and tender. Generally, I think pricey restaurants aren't worth it, but I think general ambiance, cooking entertainment, and quality of food made this night memorable.

So here's to SF, making an unplanned night on the town a total success. And, besides the pricy fancy food, the entire evening was free and surrounded by neighbors!

Passivity

My officemate commutes over 1.5 hours every day. Each way. Apparently, Santa Rosa is far. In fact, even when she utilizes public transit, she still has to drive 10-15 minutes to get to the bus stop. That's my whole commute.

Yesterday, in a spout of laziness and self-perceived genius, I decided to ask her for a ride to the gym. After all, it is right on her way home and we were leaving from the same exact spot. At the time I congratulated myself because I would be able to avoid a hill (and I am forever daunted by hills) and it usually takes around 30 minutes. A seemingly long time a car could certainly beat.

I think what I neglected to remember (or purposefully forgot) is that when I ride to the gym, I see a line of cars a mile deep due to the Doyle Drive construction. So my 30 minutes bike ride became a 45 minutes car ride. Plus another 15 to wait and then walk with my officemate. That’s double the time.

While this happens all the time around the city, what really surprised me was on the last leg, when we hit the traffic and I really should have gotten out and biked but was encumbered by social etiquette to stay and keep my officemate company, I was surprisingly relaxed. When I pass the same line of cars on my bike, I always peer into a couple to see what these foreign beings are feeling. I’m always surprised it isn’t rage, but rather apathy. In fact, I could easily be convinced they are serene.

And in the car last night, surrounded by metal, cooled by AC and shielded from the world, I didn’t mind that not only bikers but JOGGERS were passing by. Because it was stop and go traffic, I wouldn’t have noticed the true [lack of] speed if it weren’t for the conspicious comparison right beside me. But even then I decided to ride it out, what could I do about traffic? What a passive stance! So unlike my problem solver, always demanding for peak efficiency, self.

So I guess although I can’t fathom doing it day upon day upon day, and I certainly won’t be asking for another ride ever again, yesterday I had a moment of community with my fellow car riders. And then, when I was finished rock climbing, I rode home over an even bigger hill.

Holy crap it's been 2 months!

Hello everybody!

In case you were wondering, no I am not dead.  There's no real good excuse for my absence unless you include looking and getting an apartment, moving into said apartment right after looking and getting a full time job.  Pumpkin is very demanding sometimes.  But today is Labor Day and as such I have the day off and time to take pictures, upload said pictures, and write about them!

What a great move and job!  First off, I work for the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, which is pretty much the coolest thing ever.  The job is challenging and I deeply believe in the role of parks.  In fact, this department is easily the reason why I can stay in SF.  Otherwise the concrete jungle would eat me right up.

The place is fantastic, a charming 2 bedroom at 1000 sq ft.  Which, believe it or not, is big for this city.  It's been a long process of moving from the dream of a single family home into an apartment into the city but I'm glad I did it.  Mainly because now my carbon footprint, according to carbon calculators, is pristine.  I would link some but I'm not sure of the veracity.

How is living in a 1000 sq feet apartment with 3 people and no backyard access or compost (illegal for SF, but our landlord rather sue than comply)?  It's pretty sweet.  While 1000 sq feet seems small, it's big enough to have moved our furniture around 4 different times in just over a month.  It feels different all the time!  Our energy costs?  Below the roof- $20 for 3 people.  Perhaps the best part is my commute- 10 minutes on a bike and close/cold enough so I don't have to change clothes.  

Although we don't have backyard access, we do have 2 bayview windows that let in a lovely amount of sun.  Because of that, I am starting an herb garden- and the oregano and basil have sprouted!  I'm so proud!  For compost, we do it anyways and just find other compost bins to dispose in.  It's a little less convenient, but worth it.  Plus, with 3 people, we can split that chore quite easily (and I must admit, my roommates do a far better job than I do).  

Speaking of which, the best part of moving is getting to live with 2 of my favorite people in the WORLD.  One is Pumpkin and the other is my high school friend Jon (of earphones fame).  We agree on the big things (being green, being laid back, and food) which makes the little things so much easier.  Plus, now I get to cook more without having to do dishes- sweet!

And now it's time for a customary food photo:

Blackberry 5 grain pancakes and pan-seared salmon sandwich topped with tomato, egg, and caramelized onions and bell pepper.  Strawberry smoothie.  Perfect mix of Pumpkin and I's food preferences.  And as far as I can tell, J will eat anything.

My Favorite Image From Good Magazine

But my favorite image from Good Magazine is this one:

Basically, it portrays how 50 passengers and how much road space it would require to transport them.  First is 50 people and 50 cars (astounding!), second is 50 people and 1 bus, third is 50 people and 50 bikes (so cute!).  Actually, I guess the image also shows 50 people walking too!  Often times we are so busy counting carbon emissions or mpg, that we forget about the aggregate effect.  Also, next time I almost get run over by a car, I will attempt to explain this graphic to them when I pull up to them at the next red light.  WHICH ALWAYS HAPPENS.

Nowhere was this graphic more apparent than at Pink Party this Saturday, which is basically a giant dance party on Castro and Market to celebrate acceptance and LGBT pride.  As such, people flow in from all over the Bay Area to dance it up!  And as such, the roads are completely stalled.  On our bikes, we passed soooo many completely stopped cars it was almost heartbreaking.  Lines of lights as far as you could see at pretty much every intersection (imagine the first image, at night time).  A + L who were bikeless and stuck on buses, had a hell of a time getting to and from and ended up mostly walking.  So while the bus image is cool, the 50 bikes are more fluid.  Thus, it took Pumpkin and I 30 min to bike, while it took A + L an hour to bus/walk.  Bikes for the win!