September 27, 2009 • 11:18 pm 0
Last weekend I went backpacking up in the Hetch Hetchy Valley. Needless to day, it was a great trip – amazing weather, stunning stars, excellent company. I’m actually working on another blog post for work about visiting the source of our water supply here in San Francisco, so I’m going to keep this post short. For now, enjoy the photos I’ve uploaded from the trip.
Filed under: Nature
September 24, 2009 • 11:29 pm 0
It’s an eternal mystery: why are there never any forks in the kitchen at work? And where do they go? Kind of like socks at home, forks at work seem to disappear into thin air. Just today, in a moment of proactive inspiration, I decided to do something about this pressing issue and sent the following email to my co-workers.
Hello All,
As you may know, SF Environment has been experiencing a devastating resource shortage right here in our Grove Street office. Yes, I am talking about the strange and sad disappearance of any and all forks that wander into the abyss of our office kitchens.
To fight this creeping threat to lunches everywhere, I’ve created the SFE “Fork Fund” which can be found atop the microwave in the 3rd floor kitchen. Recently, the School Ed program took bold and drastic action to stem the tide of fork depletion by importing forks raised in captivity by Goodwill Industries. However, this will only stem the tide for so long. Help reimburse School Ed, and start building capacity for our next utensil crisis, by contributing to the Fork Fund today.
Next time you’re on the third floor, drop some coins to save the forks. Your lunch — and your stomach — will thank you.
This message brought to you by SFE Staffers for Fork Preservation. Any funds collected will be used directly for the purchase of more forks, and maybe a few spoons.
Only time will tell if this ploy will work. Wish us luck, dear reader.
September 22, 2009 • 11:33 pm 2
Hello. I’ve been trying to post a bit more frequently, and I’m working on a few things. However, for the time being, here’s something I’ve been wanting to share for a while. This tune has been up on our MySpace page for a few months now, but you probably didn’t know that. So here it is, the newest finished track from The Real Numbers, entitled “Ugly Face” (music by Dave Ambrose and words by Andy Freeman):
Expect more soon!
Filed under: Music
September 9, 2009 • 11:35 pm 0
Today I fulfilled a decade-long dream of making my own sauerkraut. Maybe that doesn’t sound like the stuff dreams are made of, but it’s true — I’ve been talking about making sauerkraut for years now. The funny thing is, I can’t quite explain why. I mean, I like sauerkraut, but I don’t love it. I don’t buy it all that much. In fact, there is a half-eaten jar in my fridge that probably moved with me from my last residence. Maybe it’s my German-Polish heritage. Or maybe my body knows it’s good for me. Or perhaps I just need another project for all of my free time.
Whatever it is that lies beneath my kraut-making obsession was sated today, and I had a great time in the process. The occasion was a workshop taught by Kathryn Lukas of Farmhouse Culture who is working on creating a California sauerkraut tradition with her delicious local products. Think smoked jalapeno kraut and you’ll get the picture. Kathryn was a great teacher and, I must say, makes a mean kraut. I also have to thank my co-worker Mei Ling for taking me along — you made my fermented dreams come true! Check out some more photos here.
Filed under: Et Cetera, Uncategorized
September 8, 2009 • 11:37 pm 0
I did it. I finally upgraded to the Intel chipset. In plain English, that means I just bought a MacBook Pro. The package arrived this morning, and I fired her up tonight:
She’s a thing of beauty, and I’m composing this post with her right now. I had been holding out, trying to squeeze the most life I could out of my PowerBook. She’s still working well enough, but two things in concert forced my hand: 1) the prices of MacBooks dropped considerably with the latest models, and 2) Apple announced their upgrade to OSX, Snow Leopard, would not be available for PowerPC machines like my PowerBook. And so, the decision was made.
I have to say, I’m already pleased as punch. I’ve still got a lot of work to do to clean up my old files and applications before I migrate — I mean, I don’t have to, but I want to — so I’m not in the clear yet. I can tell I am going to love this machine, though, and for good reason. I downgraded from a 15″ screen to 13″, which means lighter and more portable for travel. This laptop is a refurb which means reusing a damaged electronic device that was returned and fixed up by Apple, with full warranty and some nice cost savings. Snow Leopard already seems to be a vast performance improvement over Leopard. And, of course, there are all the little things that Apple does so well, all the improvements like the magnetic power cable plug or the fancy battery life indicator or the totally slick multi-touch trackpad. What’s not to love?
My old machine served me well, and I will miss her. She was, after all, my first laptop. However, since she is in good shape, and people seem to still be buying that model of Powerbook on eBay, I think she will go to a good home instead of the e-waste facility, which makes me happy. Almost as happy as being the proud owner of a new MacBook Pro.
Filed under: Technology
