Who's with me?

A sitdown hoonest-to-god Blue Bottle cafe is finally open downtown.

More on the hysteria from The Chron and the NY Times, which reports that they've got a siphon coffee maker from Japan at the cost of $20,000. It was never cool to order brewed coffee at BB, but now I guess it's a must.

Yalla, let's go.

Read my kvetch

My first (and no doubt last) piece in the local Jewish paper hit today. Shabbat Shalom. I'll let you know when I dig myself out of this hole.


Let's talk about the future - with no agendas

The N Judah sucks, what else is new?

My little N Judah stop sucks. Who knew? I never notice the hundreds of thousands of people waiting in vain for the train, or almost getting clocked by one.

Muni is catching on, belatedly as usual. At least there's a proposal.


Front page Examiner news about the N Judah

DMV hilarity

Who's ready for a great tale of idiocy at the DMV? You know you love it.

So, last week I get pulled over on my Vespa and humiliated for having an out of date registration. I get a ticket and a notice to appear in traffic court. Nightmare.

I call up the DMV today to find out what the deal is. I always return these renewal forms immediately, so I don't understand how I could have not renewed. Perhaps the letter got lost? Perhaps my sticker got stolen?

No no, wait til you hear what happened. Turns out that I OVERPAID in 2006 by $200 bucks on my renewal form. Who knows how that happened. Double paying parking tickets?

The comedy is that they won't send me a registration renewal until I claim the $200 back. And they never told me there was $200 to claim. So now, I have to go to the DMV, and wait in line to get my own damned money back. And then, I can not only pay my ticket for having an out of date registration, but I also have the honor of paying a late fee for not renewing on time. You getting this? I have to pay fees for not claiming my own overpaid money back.

Chicken did it!

This just in from Chicken John's campaign headquarters or whatever he calls his bus or his loft or whatever. I am proud, or at least bemused, to say I have donated heavily to this campaign. Someone's gotta speak up for the San Francisco I moved out here to live in. It's not about winning, it's about giving a voice to things that need to be heard. Thank you Larry Bogad for waking me up to the power of political theater.

Hello world, this is Lev (suddenly Chicken's campaign manager and co-conspirator). I have some incredible news to share.


You, the great collective you of the Chickensphere, heeded our plea for help. We've spent the last 24 hours hitting up everybody we know, watching the total inch toward the magic number and wracking our brains about who to call next and how to make it happen. Aleta, Goddess of the Spreadsheet, worked like a Hero of Soviet Socialist Labor to get all the scraps of paper, checks, Paypal contributions and loose change together. And in the 59th minute of the 11th hour, you came through and brought us over the top, to a grand total of $26,371.21 in eligible San Francisco contributions for Chicken's race for mayor. That's the documented sum of money that we brought to the Campaign Office at 4:45 this afternoon.... you should have seen us, racing down Van Ness in the limo VW bus, folders crammed with arcane documents and forms, sweating, exhausted, Rob Levy driving like a maniacal cabby to get us there on time. We scrambled up the steps into the warren of offices... and met the press! Reporters from the San Francisco dailies were there, waiting for us like it's the Bay to Breakers finish line. Read in the news tomorrow, baby. As far as we know, only Tony Hall also made the cut, but he's Republican or Republican-like... so in reality, it's Chicken vs. Gavin on November 8!


So we're in, and all of a sudden its for reals. The papers are filed, Chicken is on an airplane to the Playa and we've got ourselves a mayors race.


Thank you so so so much to everyone who came out of the woodwork in the last few days, as well as all the supporters who carried us up along the way. We are deeply awed by the trust that you've given us to run this race. This has gone from whim to performance to drama to triumph, and it literally is all because of you. You've put your hard-earned ducats into the hands of Chicken John, and I hereby vow that I'm not gonna let him squander it on top shelf figs and imported liquor or whatever it was he promised to do with it. In the coming weeks, we'll be putting our secret plan into action. As they say, watch this space.

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass schedule announced

Yessssss! Oct. 5-7. See ya in my backyard.

See the lineup here

Meteoric

Just back from watching for the Perseid meteors to streak across the sky. Sadly we didn't get on top of this until the last minute and couldn't get out of town. We walked around Ashbury Heights looking for a dark patch of sky, and then went up to Twin Peaks, where a fairly sizeable band of people had gathered. Unfortunately a lot of idiots were also there, watching the show from their cars and turning their engines on and off to take advantage of the heat, I guess. It was annoying. I saw 5 meteors and then we headed back.

Bill is tired and going to sleep. I'm popping in and out of my backyard trying to catch a glimpse, but between the big redwood and the bright as hell lightbulb on the wall that I can't reach, I think I'm doomed. I'm really glad I saw a few!

Harding har har

My American History teacher told us impressionable youth that Warren G. Harding was the worst president in American history. Of course, that was more than, er, 6 years ago.

Debating monikers for Harding was just one highlight of last night’s “Homage To A Dead President,” a merry memorial for the late scion of scandal held by the San Francisco Appreciation Society. Yesterday was the 84th anniversary of Harding’s death at the Palace Hotel and a great excuse to raise a glass.

Thanks to David Katznelson, seen here in a moment of heartfelt grief for the late Harding, for an awesome event. You can read my full writeup on SFGate.com at some point later today.

The view from the street

As you can see, Google really paid attention to detail when doing the Street View map of San Francisco.

44th and Anza (Google Street View)

Love and Haight

Interesting piece today's LA Times about my neighborhood (Haight-Ashbury) and its hordes of angry teenage panhandlers.

One ex-hippie who returns frequently for its bohemian vibe said he makes a point to hand out cash to panhandlers.

"This used to be a place where kids could come to reinvent themselves, 'Like a rolling stone, like a complete unknown, no direction home,' " said actor Peter Coyote, a Marin County resident who once handed out free food to hippies through a group known as the Diggers.

"Now the Haight is a grittier, less forgiving reality. But these are still our kids. You don't help them by deporting them. You do it right in your own neighborhood. If any place can do this, it's Haight-Ashbury."

Whatever dude. Try living here instead of your sweet Marin digs and see how you like the "bohemian vibe."

There's not a lot of love in the Haight - Los Angeles Times

VBAC: it's not just a cool acronym

This just in from Reise. It burns me up. If any of you out there in ReaderLand have experience in the Cesarian department I would be interested to hear your remarks, as I am burning up in a vacuum here.

The following SF Weekly article should be of concern if you are pregnant, planning to have a child in the future, know someone else who is or if you are just interested in women's health and rights. In the name of safety and certainty, VBACs (Vaginal Birth After Cesarian) are being banned in our hospitals, even though there is little evidence to suggest that they are unsafe for the majority of women. The procedure can save lives, but the statistics tell us that we have not saved a greater number of babies or mothers since the national Cesarean rate tripled from under 10% to almost 30% in the last 30 years. Cesarean births make more money for the doctors, anesthesiologists and hospitals, don't require doctors to learn special techniques (such as forceps or how to turn a breech baby) and fit into the 9-5 weekday schedule (more convenient for your doctor). They are considered reliable and quick, whereas labor is a natural process that is different for each woman and happens according to its own schedule. Cesarean section is major abdominal surgery, requires a longer time to heal, can have complications and may delay/prevent breast-feeding and bonding with your baby. I am not advocating against Cesarean, only the unjudicial practice of it.

The Home-style Midwifery Center at St. Luke's Hospital is being closed because it provided services that were considered "above and beyond basic obstetrical practices." Why is the non-hurried and low-interventionist birth attended by midwives considered "above and beyond" basic care?

A march is planned for May 11 to protest the ban of VBACs at St. Luke's. If you can, come show your support. This is not just about women facing Cesareans. It's about our rights to choose the kind of care we need and for health policy makers to hear our voices.

From the New Yorker on How Birth Went Industrial:
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/10/09/061009fa_fact?printable=true

SF Weekly article:
http://www.sfweekly.com/2007-04-25/news/no-hail-caesarean/print