Emily took this picture of me in NYC.


And then she kindly clipped out the head shot and Kristofer and I made me a nifty website.
While we were in NYC, we met a lot of terrific folks and saw some shiny art


as well as a good deal of lawn



and some swell party duds



At Coney Island we rode the Cyclone which made something inside my chest crack
or pop distressingly, but that was not nearly as distressing as the
Shoot the Freak game, which involved a weapon and a dark skinned man with a
nard guard. That was disturbing.


Anyhoo, Emily invited me to move in to her LOVELY home, and I did just that.



It's just up the hill from Lake Merritt (scroll right to get the whole image)



The house is on a hill called Ivy Hill, though it seems more of a Palm hill than an Ivy hill to me



Here's the reverse view.



Now, being San Franciscan has been a huge part of my identity for a long time...
and as overjoyed as I was to be moving into such a lovely home with such a
fabulous partner, I needed some reassurance from the Universe...
and I got it first in the form of a fantastically framed view of Mount Tam which greets me
every time I get on 580 from our Park Boulevard on-ramp.



And OH MY GOODNESS it is wonderful to be 10 minutes from the forest. Like, genuine, deep, quiet forest!



with lovely Mount Tam still visible all the way over in Marin.



And though it's not quite the "Dorothy" trail, somehow this trail in Joaquin-Miller Park
seems welcoming and familiar for the SF transplant.


And patient hikers on the famous Freedom Trail in Redwood Regional Park,
if they're very lucky, may run into Yoshi and Mario and Luigi at this junction, and maybe
share a lunch of spotted mushroom power-ups.



The trees have seduced me away from the bike for a while I fear...




Leading up to my birthday, I puttered all over these hills, trying to find the perfect spot...
this darn bench was beautiful but the view was obscured...



But from a grassy clearing just up the hill, you can see this view of the whole Redwood Park valley
(scroll right)



Emily swears she was surprised but she must have wondered what was up because I
put on a tie and brought her up to this view at sunrise on my birthday. Then I asked her to wear
my headphones and listen to the song I'd written for her...cuz I was too shy to play it live...(ahem)...

She said yes!

And we zipped over to Colorado for Thanksgiving.

It's cold there.



We gave serious thanks


Apologies to Dad and Neena, that picture entertains me much more than it probably should...
And that's all I got for now...

Happy Holidays Everyone!

I walked really far today.
Visited most of the major hills in town.
The route was something like the green and yellow line on the map...

Click on any image below for the big version of it
(you may have to expand the window to see it full size);
use your back button to return here.



My House 10:40am, Saturday, August 13, 2005



Corona Heights

..

Click for a little video of the Buena Vista Park Summit



Someone called me from Hawaii, of all places,
when I got to the monument on Monument Hill



Steps down to Clayton from Monument Hill with a view of Tank Hill



Tank Hill



Sutro Tower hiding in the fog



There was almost no visibility from Twin Peaks



It was very cold and windy on the North Peak



The trails up Mount Davidson are GORGEOUS



Atop Mount Davidson. I dedicate this photo with love to my Uncle Toby and Aunt Betty



Bernal Hill as seen from Holly Park



Twin Peaks as seen from Bernal Hill



Downtown from Bernal Hill



Oakland from Bernal Hill



Downtown from Potrero Hill (22nd and Carolina)



Cool graffiti near 5th and Townsend



Bay Bridge from the Embarcadero



Telegraph Hill (Coit Tower) The Filbert Street stairs are fantastic!



Telegraph Hill from Russian Hill. The Greenwich Street stairs are ALSO fantastic.



Nob Hill, view from Grace Cathedral. Took the Vallejo
Street stairs over here...also not to be missed, if you like stairs...



Home again 6:55pm, having never used a mechanical or
motorized conveyance all the live long day.
Pacific Heights and Alamo Square all still calling my name, I know...


Thanks for checking out my blog, folks. I think that's enough
Hike-blogging for me for a lifetime. I'll keep putting up other stuff, though.
Very Best Wishes All!

Just found out my job ends in three and a half weeks. Feels like I was suddenly
pushed off the branch by momma bird but I'm not always sure it was momma bird
and not the hangman. Or the joker. Or, no, the RIDDLER, the Riddler.
But not the Jim Carrey Riddler, the Frank Gorshin Riddler from the 60s TV show, of course.

Dad had me sift through boxes he'd packed and labeled "Mike" at my childhood
home (which will soon be destroyed so he and Carmen can build their
swanky new dreamhouse). There was quite a pile of long-forgotten fervent love and hate letters written
to teenaged-me by persons known and unknown.
Made me a little woozy, to say the least.
---------------------------------------------------------

Emily had a bunch of her friends over for dinner last weekend and I took
a zillion dark fuzzy pictures. This is one of Emily and her upstairs neighbors.
They had us over for breakfast this morning and there was good food and much laughter.
I really like her friends a lot, thus far. Good sign.

On the way home from work the day I learned my company was not to gain the account at
which I have worked my butt off for two years, I was enchanted by the
view of Twin Peaks and that Church on Church from halfway up Bernal Hill.

Here's the view from my front door, while I'm at it.

On Saturday, Dad and I rode our bikes up to the old house in the Saratoga
hills (kinda near the Paul Masson Mountain Winery where they have concerts
and stuff now--last Fall I had tickets to George Carlin there but I calendared it wrong
and MISSED it like a dork). Then we rode all the way around the
Steven's Creek Reservoir for a really gentle 12ish mile loop. They bought
this house in like 1970 before all the super-rich folks moved into the area.
I really did grow up with the mistaken impression that I was poor, just because that
community was so wealthy and such a little bubble of privilege. My parents worked
very hard, and we SO weren't poor. It is very sad to see that house go. I think for
my Dad it is a place for him and Mom; with her gone it's no good to him as it stands.
Oh, you know what, here's more about Mom, for my newer friends: MDM page

Now all the furnishings and homey elements have been stripped down to little OCD piles
of knick knacks. Shudder.

This'll make you feel old. Yikes.

Dad pulled into a gas station after we came out of the hills and when I
looked at him quizzically he said, "Butt break," and I understood.
The gas station man didn't, though.

Shot a lot of baskets into that hoop. Yep yep.
---------------------------------------------------------
And OH my goodness, my new car stereo that replaced the stolen one
sounds SO much better! IPod with richness and depth, crispness and clarity... who knew?!
Gonna look at that as a microcosm of the whole job thing..... you know? And I have job interviews for Teachery stuff next fall lined up too, btw.
Cheeeeers!

Life is grand :)

Ladies and gents, 330 Virginia Avenue!


The view from the corner.


The view out the kitchen window.


Goober


Pork Chop

A few things that I trashed in the move but had to document:

This backpack got me through senior year at state,
substitute teaching, divorce, Mom's last year on Earth, Grad School...
It was the backup backpack on the first few Tribe hikes, too. That's a Kermit sticker on the clasp.


I made these as visual aids to a story I told a few times...


Ages ago, soon after I first left my parents' home, my father
organized my stuff and decided to put a bunch of empty bottles
he found in a box with some stuffed animals, carefully labelling the box for me
with no intended irony. Interesting fellows are my dad and I.


And THIS is my new J-Train Stop.
My life is such a gift.

(Be sure and scroll right--->)

How many downtown SFs is "too" many?
Cheers all!
:)
Mike

So. A friend introduced me to Pustefix bubbles in 1987 and I spent a whole lotta time blowing
bubbles out my dorm window and then I organized Bubblefest '87 at Mary Park Hall at SFSU--
in which about 40 of us blew bubbles out our windows--moments before I dropped out of college.
I don't think the bubbles were to blame for my dropping out..
Sometime in the 90s my ex Mother In Law gave me a Bubble Thing and I began making huge
bubbles...and I loved that so much that I thought there must be some other folks who do it...
and I started a Yahoo Group: Soap Bubble Fanciers, to see if there were others. 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/soapbubblefanciers/
After a time, I hurt my back, became very sad and let the bubbles and the group go...
until the moderator to whom I'd handed off the group e-mailed me a year or two ago saying that I
really should come look at the group because it had become a key gathering place for bubble people
to network and compare notes.
There are now over 100 members world wide.
They just had a gathering.
I was invited to play with some very talented people and it was a wondrous, priceless experience.
If ANY of these pictures impress you at all, please check out the video links. If the video links inspire you at all,
please know that the very best video CANNOT compare to experiencing this sort of thing in person,
and come see me or someone below at work. I'll include links galore:

This is Sterling looking uncharacteristically serious. He organized this event and proved to be
absolutely charming and superhumanly generous, sharing techniques, ideas and equipment with all participants.
He is a genuine artist.
Watch:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4039885228293082212&q=quakecon+2006+bub..
ble
Or here's his website: http://www.bubblesmith.com/
He showed us how to blow bubbles with our bare hands, and I got to make a 'four-handed' bubble with him!

I thought I knew a thing or two about large bubbles...


But I learned a lot...

and saw countless temporary wonders

http://www.bubblejuggler.com/
Thanks to Brian for the picture! (Actually I think he and Geoff (above) took most of these pictures).
Brian made the amazing hoop which Geoff is seen using here.
The whole bunch made bubbles at SF City Hall, but in heavy winds
we didn't get to make the big ones much.

It was terrific to be among kindred spirits for three days...

Seen here are Karen from Honolulu, Brian from San Jose, Linda from Los Angeles and I...
enjoying a wind vortex between some apartments. By the way, these folks are all professional bubblers(!),
with the exception of Brian who uses bubbles in his multiple professional contexts,
and is also a bubbleologist and craftsman of the first magnitude.

Oh and here's the classic video that inspired a generation...
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/108181/tom_noddy_bubble_magic/
Gotta run, but I'll post more soon!

:)
Mike

I'll describe these more later...
My Sister, brother, nephew and I went to Disneyland and then my brother, father
and I went to Sequoia and King's Canyon National Parks.

Cyrus kept insisting that we go see 'the castle,' even after we'd been there twice.


Thunder Mountain Railroad was not quite as entertaining as running into
Goofy in a cowboy outfit a few moments before...Cyrus was mesmerized by all
the costumed characters. He'd get a very serious look, just like when he was
on the rides, as though it were extremely important to concentrate and take it all in.

He had me spin the Teacup as fast as I could. That was seriously fun as
long as I concentrated on the interior of the cup.


Gerald brought Cyrus down Main Street in style.

Cyrus took a picture of me from the bed across the way.

And then I took a picture of him with his new pet crab on his head.



He got all piratey.


Then he got me all piratey.

I probably should have put down my book to be more...em...authentic.


We camped at Dorst Campground, which was full of bears who would pound
on all the bear boxes each night, knowing that one unproperly latched would
pop right open and they could eat the creamy center. Gerald frightened a bear
right next to my car on Friday night.

The first day we ambled around for a total of about five miles. This is Moro Rock,
a beautiful lookout, if folks'll just get out of the way...


This is the General Sherman Tree and it is really, really big--world's largest by volume--
36.5 Feet in diameter at the base! And its purty, too.

I  made some big bubbles but it was really too dry and they didn't last.

We hiked an astonishingly beautiful 11.4 miles out-and-back up past the Watchtower
to Heather Lake and then Emerald Lake. This is at Emerald lake,
where the mosquitos are slow and dumb and EVERYWHERE!

And there was snow up there!



Bullseye got a ride the whole way, which I hope was nice for him. He doesn't say much.