Bikes, Water Treatment, Wanderings, Work, Weirdness, Wanderlust
The fire is out, and August is but the glowing embers of a year soon to be snuffed.
A few highlights include:
- Buying new road bikes and going on a variety of long, crotch-busting rides around the bay area. Some were group rides, others were solo. The shortest was 30 miles and the longest was around 80.
- Taking a smelly, free tour of the Oceanside Wastewater Treatment Plant.
- Walking around Telegraph Hill and taking photos like the old days.
- Riding bikes around and SF and through the Marin Headlands with D.D.
- Trying my hand at stressful, competitive matches in Counter Strike GO.
- Brainstorming and refining new “skunkworks” ideas.
- Starting new freelance jobs. Well, maybe this isn’t a highlight.
- A special offer that jumpstarted a bigger plan.
The new ride, sans pedals.
Plover territory.
Velellas.
Beach corpses.
Specimens from five miles out to sea.
Wall of power.
Digesters under renovation.
Our guide.
The locked door.
Automatic raw sewage sampling spoon.
Pipe room.
The portal under a massive digester.
And I’ll dig a tunnel from my poop to yours.
Tunnel pumps.
Primary treatment room.
Control panel.
Scum skimmer.
More treatment.
Massive carbon filters.
My new chair.
Destination Coit.
Stairs.
Leaf.
Painted escape.
A view to Russian Hill.
Urban garden.
Little silly house.
Stepped sidewalk.
Web.
Patriotic left.
Panel.
Pinky hurts my brain.
Under the trumpet flowers.
Filbert’s secret garden.
Pick bait.
The dunce’s chair.
And old man, early in the morning.
My damn bagel.
Fallen flowers.
Salon lettering.
Building lettering.
A view from Kite Hill.
The still closed Sewell St. Slides.
Open for sliding, but no scraps of cardboard.
Alley garden.
The sign at the entrance.
Door to nowhere.
The base of a now missing sculpture on Mt. Olympus.
New album drops soon.
Dino poop.
Open sesame.
It’s hard to overstate how enjoyable the new bikes are. The light weight and speed of the new machines have opened up routes that had only been traveled by car and scooter before.
The only downside is that I haven’t been taking photos on these rides. There is too much sweat to deal with, and my backpack snacks is already weighing me down.
We’ve had no spills or flats yet, though I have patched cuts in my tire with smelly goo.
The ball bearings in my bottom bracket started getting noisy on the last long ride, but as of now they are quiet again.
I’m not sure if I’m getting in better shape, but I’m certainly not getting fatter as fast.
August marks the start of a plan for an exciting 2015. Like and an Apple CEO, I’m always teasing that exciting announcements are on the horizon. But this time it’s true.