Category: local color

  • SF GoogleBus Appeals Hearing Recap

    (Or, some other super sexy title). SF politics- so interesting. So, a few months ago the city transit board decided to respond to protests regarding the Google buses (all Silicon Valley employee shuttle buses- intercity, not intracity shuttles) by creating a pilot program. This program would charge the companies $1 per stop, per day. The…

  • What Have Hipsters Brought Us?

    One could say that baby-boomers brought us Viagra and IRAs, hippies brought us whole grains and hot tubs, and slackers (my generation) brought us the Internet and WFH. For no apparent reason, some of my friends have been dwelling on the question: “What Have Hipstesr Brought Us?” This is the current list: – Berlin Beer…

  • Those Anonymous Buses of Digital Workers, and Commutes

    You’ve seen them- large, ghost-like double-decker buses, careening around the narrow streets, in the Mission, or North Beach, picking up nicely dressed young people and carting them off to hinterlands of Silicon Valley. Is it a sign of exclusivity, of belonging, being part of a bigger machine, the companies that can afford their own bus…

  • The Weeds of Bay View

    I’ve been working in the northeaster corner of the San Francisco neighborhood, the Bay View for a few months now. It’s an geurilla gardener’s delight. There is so much land- unloved, untilled, un-staked out by seemingly anyone. So, if, for example, you are interested in gardening but the closest community garden has a 5-year waiting…

  • Startups Silicon Valley Reviews In No Particular Order: Women in Silicon Valley

    Ed: Second in the series, see Dwight for earlier one. My reviews of Bravo’s Startup Silicon Valley What I learned from Bravo’s Startup Silicon Valley about Women in the Valley I could write a detailed diatribe/analysis of the reality series in contrast to my life as a woman engineer in the city I’ve lived in…

  • Start-Ups Silicon Valley Reviews in No Particular Order: Dwight

    Dwight is the engineer formerly from Google who is the archetype: young, white, male, nice, and smart. His Achilles’ heel and dramatic tension would either be his inability to admit his undying love for his friend Kim OR his intermittent abusive social drinking that leaves him blacked out and wondering what the f**k he did…

  • My Awesome (1940s) Neighbors

    Via Burrito Justice, I started looking into the National Archives’ released census data on who exactly lived at my address (via 1900 Sanborn Fire Insurance maps)- the corner of Columbus (formerly Montgomery) and Taylor, in North Beach. The entries are fascinating, especially when I started doing the math. The details are fun. I decided to…

  • Saying Thank You While Riding

    Photo: San Francisco Bike Party reminds us about the memorial for Nancy Ho at the corner of Fremont and Mission. Stop by and pay your respects if you get the chance. So sad. I’ve biked to work now for roughly 6 months. Used up my 100 handy-wipes. Flattened a tire. No injuries, knock on wood,…

  • San Jose Bike Party!!

    The yell among 3500 people … “bike party!”… total group power, but we frowned on racing through reds, and managed to keep an open lane for cars. My trip started out like a normal Friday in Emeryville. I’d planned earlier that week to try Amtrak down to meet my sister in San Jose. It ended…

  • Spring & Ode to Joy

    OK, technically that is from last spring, but I love the lighting. My big thought last night was: focus. We tend to get so submerged with pestering little demands all day, and with the internets, that happens tenfold. So you need to carve out time, almost constnatly, and put aside little demands. Focus on the…