5th and Mission Podcast defends our great city by the bay.
https://chtbl.com/track/5A8B9F/traffic.megaphone.fm/SFO3142218045.mp3 [00:00:00]
5th and Mission Podcast defends our great city by the bay.
https://chtbl.com/track/5A8B9F/traffic.megaphone.fm/SFO3142218045.mp3 [00:00:00]
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.
On the N inbound. You can see Oakland across the bay.
SOMA changing fast
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.
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
The books that I borrowed today
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.
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.
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
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 home
Log 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.