5th and Mission Podcast defends our great city by the bay.
https://chtbl.com/track/5A8B9F/traffic.megaphone.fm/SFO3142218045.mp3 [00:00:00]
Category: san francisco
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Here is a Google Map of all the San Francisco Public Tennis Courts
or
http://bit.ly/sf-tennis-public
The stars are the single courts if you prefer not to hit balls into other people’s courts.
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On the N inbound. You can see Oakland across the bay.
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SF FD Fire Yydrant -
SOMA changing fast
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Getting There
The Merced Branch of the San Francisco Public Library system is 1/2 block from the 28, K buses. Right acrossed from the Stonestown mall. There is plenty of street parking with 2 car parking for 10 minutes.
What is different?
One standout of this library is the central garden space with maple trees and 5 benches. On this sunny Saturday, taking a book outside to read without checking out the book is a great way to spend 2-3 hours browsing and reading books. There is 1 aisle worth of Chinese fiction and non-frictions books.
Interior
There is a nice fireplace with 6 comfy leather seats. A lot of 4 top tables spread a crossed the library. It’s a single floor library with almost 1/3 of the space devoted to childrens area and a small teen section.
Noise
A lot of kids, so expect noise around level 5 out of 10.
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My plan is to visit every San Francisco Public library by having my reserved books delivered there and write down what is different and new that I learn there.
At Ocean View, the library is super friendly and when I mentioned I’m trying to see all the libraries, he said they get mostly neighbor folks here.
What I learned
- There is a Techout program where you can borrow MiFi devices along with a Google Chromebook
- They have a community room that can be reserved upstairs
- There was a funny daughter-father team, where the daughter was just lying around waiting for her father to work or read. She is likely13 years old, but it’s odd that she is just lying about.
The books that I borrowed today
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Today, I picked up a strawberry muffin and coffee from Bello Coffee and Tea in Glen Park. When I first saw the total bill was $5, I was taken aback. $2.5 for a coffee and $2.5 for a muffin. Was it ringed up incorrectly? It was so much lower than I would expect.
My usual coffee places are $4.5 for coffee, $4 to 6 for pastries.
Then I pay more attention to the owners/workers at the cafe. They were a middle aged Chinese couple. Or I am guessing. I wonder if the ownership had changed?
My best guess is that they are going for a volume business and they are still figuring out the right pricing model.
Or, I am just too used to fancy coffee places and charge a lot more because they pay a living wage to their workers?
My morning started with a surprise.
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Ferry Building -
My annual check up showed a great 52 beats per minute heart rate but a very high cholesterol.
I am switching to a low cholesterol diet and continue my 10 hours of badminton.
Checking back in 3 months.
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I have been car-less for over 3 months now in San Francisco. Relying mainly on a foldable bike, ZipCars and the public transportation to get around the bay area.
Here are the great things about this lifestyle
1 stress free communting. Driving and parking is stressful and does require my full attention.
2 I plan every trip and usually never late. This has helped me to be better organized. I use nextbus.com ( GPS realtime bus arrival) and 511.org (trip planner to connect all the Bay Area transit systems)
3 Even though it takes me 2 to 3 times to get to a destination, I am usually more relaxed. I get to eat, watch a movie or work on the laptop.
4 I have a bike with me everywhere. It’s a great way to get exercise anytime. No need to wait for the weekend. if I miss a bus, I could bike in a radius of 7 miles anywhere easily.
5 I can drink alcohol anytime :)
6 I save money in car depreciation, gas, maintainance and apply that money for badminton coaches. Again it applies to great exercise.
Not so great things**
1 it takes me longer to get to places
2 on days where I am tired, I don’t have a choice, still have to bike.
3 late night commute is somewhat more dangerous
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I had no plans for this Saturday’s run so I just let it flow. Here was the route and it turned out to be really enjoyable.
Folsom & 4th to Market & Larkin Log: 1.5 mile
Run thru the Civic Center Plaza under the row of trees. Log .4 mile
along Fell to Ashbury Log: 1.8 miles make a right and there is the Hayes Ashbury, run down Hayes to Van Ness Log 1.9 miles
I didn’t even realize that the ‘postcard row’ of 6 the victorians were right on Steiner and Hayes Run full speed down Market & 8th and stop at 5th & Market Starbucks Log: .7 miles
Order a triple shot, grande, blended latte and walk homeLog for Saturday 2005.05.07: 6.3 miles, 2 hills of san francisco
Tag.Running
Prev: Freedom of running -
Over the weekend I was feeling down. Ran to Coit Tower twice following the north beach route.
On Saturday morning I ran there once, the hill was a challenge. Then on Sunday morning I ran around downtown. on Sunday night I was insomniac and I started running around 4:00am, very creepy along the trail going up to the tower.
I think I’ll die one day while running, but god it feels good to not be tired.
Tony Tam 