Concepts in the Paradox

A lot has changed in the last few years I have been online. First it was the dial up BBS, then it was the University email account, and now we are in a hyper-social networking phase. A lot of people are tweeting these days (include myself), others are playing games on Facebook (me too), but a lot of original and insightful information is still posted on good’ol fashioned blogs.

That leaves out an important part of social networking, which ties this all together, and that’s user comments and track backs. You should be able to comment on a blog, have your comment posted to Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, or wherever else, with just a few clicks. That’s what I’ve done here on the blog. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Don’t forget that May 14th is Bike to work day. My commute is one hill shorter this year, so the total commute time should be around 25 minutes, or 4 miles flat. I’ve been able to time the lights along Market and Division Streets, and with any luck, I can do a full scale downhill assault and cut the time to 20 minutes.

Now that the Bikeplan has been unblocked, I can look forward to a safer commute over the next 2 years while construction goes on. Hopefully there will be some new riders who can experience how safe biking in the city is, along with having a healthier, and cheaper, way to get to work and run errands.

Tomorrow is bike to work day, on what is probably going to be one of the nicer days of the year in our normally cold, foggy, and windy city.

Local activists will be handing out free food and free advice all over the city to get people to come out and pedal to the office. There are at least two “energizer stations” on my route to work, so it looks like I’m getting a free breakfast tomorrow!

Time to work on trackless trolley: 50 minutes (6 -> 30)
Time to work on N-Judah light rail: 38 minutes
Time to work on bike: 27 minutes

Total distance: 4.1 miles.

In the interests of posting not only amusing insight into my life, I’d like to mix it up a bit and present to you a video clip on the art of cat yodeling.

I went to Trader Joe’s as part of my normal weekend hunting and gathering ritual.

As I was shopping for wine, a bald shaven Aussie said to me “Nice shirt brother.”

I turned his direction only to end up facing his wife, who said, “Oh let me see!”

So I stood there as a random but semi-attractive woman read my No Starch Press shirt.

“Oh, No Starch! I get it, hehehe.”

I also ended up in line behind them, with a cashier that was from Nigeria.

“I’ll need to see some ID.” he told as the check ID alarm went off on the register, so I presented my license to which he said, “Oh, that’s not you. That can’t be you, it looks nothing like you!”

“Sure it is me!” I shot back, thinking perhaps he was just joking with me.

“No, no man, you look much healthier than the person in this picture, how long ago was this?”

He was actually being honest, and during my food purchase we discussed where we were from, how much more people walk in the city, and how he was working for his landlord: each paycheck went to his rent.

The question that remained in my mind on my way home was, am I that much healthier than when I first moved to the city? The photo was from almost 3 years ago, I suppose that’s ancient history now, right?

Three months ago I announced to the blogging world that had checked out of consumerism since July. I was no longer going to be a part of this system of buy, use, throw away. I was going to buy used, be sustainable, and avoid garbage I no longer needed. Essentials was I was to buy: underwear, toiletries, food. Anything else had to be used, borrowed, or loaned.

I actually thought the end was Dec. 19th, tomorrow, but as it would turn out I spaced the date and it was really Dec. 16th. I guess I really didn’t realize I’d stopped buying and started saving and conserving. It has become commonplace and easy, my life became simpler and I didn’t even appreciate the change I had made.

Did I cheat? Yes. I bought a monitor stand about halfway into the embargo. It sits on my desk holding my flat panels, and likely I didn’t need it at all. I bought maybe one or two books, and new shoes — but that was per doctor’s orders. That’s it. No iPhone, no $200 jeans, no cheap plastic crap.

Now that the embargo is over, I guess I can bust out the credit cards and start spending again. But should I? I’ve banked every single month except this one, enough to cover one full month of expenses in San Francisco.

My point is, now that I’m used to no-buy, should I even bother going back to the American Way(tm); spend, spend, spend, have the latest and greatest, damn the credit card bills?

Black Friday came and went, and this year and I did not buy a thing, since the day after Thanksgiving is Buy Nothing Day for me.

And I bought nothing.

And I feel fine about that.

This time I’m quoted at the top of the page!

READERS’ PLATFORM: Transbay Terminal

The Transbay Terminal is a symbol to the world of what San Francisco was – a city with transit at heart where a working-class person could get to work on a train or a bus in a safe and timely manner. What we are telling the world now is, go get in your car, pay too much for gas and insurance, but don’t take a bus or a train – that’s for incontinent bums. We gave up on the Transbay center when we lifted the rails decades ago and submitted to car hegemony. A new Transbay transit center is likely to be more of the same. Shiny and new for a few years, then urine-soaked after budget cuts and parking garages. Who is going to pay a whopping $260 per square foot for office space with no parking in this city anyway?

- Mark Ballew, 29, San Francisco

Transbay project design selection

The whole reason we are putting up a tower is to help pay for the Caltrain terminal. All the tower designs are ugly and pre-’90s L.A. designs, nothing to show the world that San Francisco is a world-class city. At this rate we should just directly fund moving Caltrain to First and Mission and retrofit the 1939 terminal.

- Mark Ballew, 29, Cole Valley

On Sunday I took a long bike ride, from Golden Gate Park, through the Presidio, across the Golden Gate Bridge and back, through the car congested Marina, down the grid locked Embarcadero, around the strangely silent Bay Bridge, and back up Market to home. The journey was about 21 miles, a new road riding record for me, and with all the hills, I couldn’t drink enough water.

This week the bike cage is supposed to be fixed at work, so I will be leaving the N-Judah to the Sunset suckers and enjoying some fresh air while scooting through the wiggle and down Market st. Biking to work, then back home, are both my favorite parts of the day.

Thinking of biking to work, but you don’t live in a city? See:

How to ride your bike to work