Strangers

San Francisco Tolls!
Originally uploaded by eriqliza.

Let’s hitchhike. To work. Kinda. They call it Casual Carpooling and it consists of standing in an unmarked line at an underpass. A constant stream of cars visits the line and picks up two people at a time. This is not sanctioned by the government. There are no signs directing you to where you’re supposed to go. No money is passed between people. No one talks during the ride except to say “hello” and “thank you”. And we’re all strangers. Complete strangers. The ride ends when you get dropped off on in SF at the bus depot. Apparently Casual Carpooling has existed in the Bay Area for over 20 years. The reason? Because it costs 4 dollars to go over the Bay Bridge, but it’s much faster and free if you are in the carpool lane with 3 or more people (I suppose it’s extremely expensive if you get caught in the carpool lane with 2 or less people).

I’ve tried it… three times. It’s not scary. Super easy. And very affordable. Let’s hitchhike to work. You will like it.

Liberal Elite

Postcard From San Francisco
Originally uploaded by brunkfordbraun.

Yes, San Francisco is a beautiful city. And yes, it’s filled with the kind of liberal elite that makes Karl Rove ecstatic. He looks at San Francisco and sees a never ending source for his propaganda machine. He constantly harvests it and then unleashes it on the Christian loving middle-American populace. God is great. Gays, public health coverage, environmentalism, public transportation, etc… not so much. So on the day when Michelle rode her bike 57 miles through the countryside of Yreka California I experienced a situation that might upset Mr. Rove’s whole view of San Francisco, and maybe, the world. It could even be the reason that he resigned.

I decided that I would take public transportation into the office building where I am currently working. The catch, I needed to ride my bike part of the way so that I would get there in a reasonable amount of time. Plus, bike power is good for the earth. The only CO2 that it puts into the air is from my breath. Not to much global warming going on there.

So I road the CalTrain system into the city, jumped on my bike and headed over to the office. When I arrived I picked up my bike and began to carry it in. Immediately a rent-a-cop rolled on me.

“Hey. You can’t bring that bike into the building.”

“What?” I was listening to my iPod and couldn’t her a word he said. I pulled off my headphones.

“You can’t bring that bike into the building.”

“What?”

“Sorry. That’s the building manager’s rules. It’s in the contract your company signed. No bikes in the building.”

He wasn’t kidding me. No bikes. Zero. None. I spoke with the vice president of the company I’m working at and he told me they he’s even tried to tell them that he’s in the middle of pitching bike client. Struck out with that one and every other one too.

So this is the liberal bastion of America where bikes aren’t allowed into buildings and commuting by car is thus encourage. WTF!!!??? Yes Mr. Karl Rove, I think you’ve seen the writing on the wall. Good choice getting out of the game now. You’re pot of left coast propaganda seems to be drying up. Where will you go now? Apparently, home to spend more time with your family. I’m still working, and just so you know, I ended up sneaking my bike into the building.

Michelle's odometer reading from her trip.

Finally

HR 756 Barry Bonds
Originally uploaded by GlenC.

So Barry Bonds finally did it. He broke the hallowed home run record of Hamer’in Hank. I’ve got mixed feelings about the whole thing. Living in SF now there’s a lot of love for Barry. But I just finished the book, Game of Shadows, which makes a pretty convincing case about Barry’s steroid use. And even more, it makes a really convincing case that Barry Bonds is a flat out asshole. Now I’m not asking for my sports heroes to be saints. Normally, I don’t read about their personal lives. I watch them to enjoy the god given physical talents that they have, not to dream about having an in depth conversation with them or ask them how to raise children. But the magnitude of the MLB home run record mixed with the constant revelations that Barry Bonds is a brutal person and a cheat makes me very ambivalent about his amazing achievement. But beyond that, my cousin Jeff, who lives in SF too, had tickets to the Wednesday game and invited me along to hopefully watch Mr. Bonds break the record. Maybe we’d even catch the number 756 as it soared over the fences and into the record books. We could sell it for a million dollars and then buy a small house in the Bay area. But Bonds broke the record on Tuesday, so all those dreams were swatted away with one swing on the bat. What an inconsiderate slugger he is. Damn!

As it turns out, I wouldn’t have been able to make Wednesday’s game because I had to work late. He hit number 757 on Wednesday. Maybe he should start paying me to stay away from the ballpark. That might work for him as much as steroids.

MusicFest NW TV Spot

So we (Aaron, myself, and a whole crew of talented people) finally finished the ad for MusicFest NW 2007. I know I promised myself that I wouldn't, think about, touch, talk about, or do any ad work on this vacation/move, but this had to be done. So here are a few facts about the spot: 1) Contrary to what it looks like, it wasn't filmed on a stage, we actually shot it in a pear orchard in Hood River. 2) The song in the spot is called Underdog and it is by a band named Spoon. You can here the whole song at there myspace page. 3) The spot will be playing on Comcast cable stations so if you have satellite tv or good old rabbit ears you won't be seeing it. 4) We haven't heard anything from John Mayer or his people yet. :)

That's enough talk. Here's the spot:

Hello Portland!

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Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

We have been totally delinquent on the blog. Once we got to Portland we just kinda quit. I guess you could say it’s been, “Hello Portland” in person.

We totally exhausted ourselves hanging out with friends, drinking lots of beer, whiskey, wine and Stumptown. But now we’re in the Bay area on the search for the perfect apartment so you can come visit us.

In these pictures you’ll find lots of things from the B & B we stayed at in Banff (you have to stay here if you go.) to the “Cracked Pots” festival at Edgefield, McMenamins.

More soon. We have to find a place to live just now. Enjoy.

Poor kitties!

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Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

Cirrus and DJ Scratch had to endure the terror that is my brother for four weeks. Needless to say, they were happy to see us. Not so happy, though, when we dropped them off at the kennel. They're doing better now, but looking forward to having a place to call home.

A Boutique Inn - Banff B & B

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Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

This is where we escaped the mosquitoes in Banff. It was really nice. You really must stay here, it was great.

Our Camping Demons

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Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

There are four of them on my leg. Can you find them all?

The Icefields Parkway

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Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

It's pretty much impossible to overstate how amazingly beautiful the drive is through the Canadian Rockies from Jasper National Park to Banff National park. This 180 mile journey is awe inspiring and quite literally to much for words or pictures. Basically you start out in Jasper on a three hour drive and end up in Banff eight to nine hours later. In between you see some one-of-a-kind landscape including a natural river (read no dams so it gets huge in the spring and dwindles down to a very small roar in the late summer), lakes that have some of the blue-est water you've ever seen, countless mountains jutting up all around you, wildlife, massive waterfalls falling thousands of feet, glaciers including one of the largest in North America (it is the beginning of the Columbia river), and much more than I can describe.

We took some pictures. Click here to see them all and enjoy the ride. We did.

Mountain Color

Mountain Color
Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

The mountain flowers we've come across on our hikes in both Banff and Jasper have been amazing. They're delicate and full of color. Every time we see them on the trail I can't help but pull out the camera and take a picture. It slows down the walk and that's perfect. They're one of the many, many, many reasons we're hiking through this wondrous land.