San Francisco Metblogs » sf_lauren

It’s cold, but still, Spare the Air!

sf_lauren — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 19:29:21 +0000

Life is slowly starting to feel normal for me again after transitioning to commuting from San Jose to my new job in San Francisco, and that means that I am catching up on email. And today I was surprised to find a Spare the Air notification for tonight!

I thought it was just a summer thing, but even when it is cold, there are still particulate matter pollution problems here in the Bay Area. Here’s what’s going on:

In the wintertime, as cooler temperatures and reduced sunlight diminish ozone problems, particulate matter (PM), becomes the pollutant with the greatest impact on air quality. The two major sources of PM in the Bay Area are wood burning in fireplaces and wood stoves, and motor vehicles.

So tonight, try to resist the temptation to light your fireplace, and if you can, take public transportation home. I have to say that I was feeling pretty smug (as us Metbloggers tend to be) because this was the first day that I took lightrail instead of my car to Caltrain, so my car will stay tucked in its garage all day.

Checking out the Spare the Air Web site, I also discovered that, for us South Bay-ers, there is a $300 rebate if we switch out our wood stoves for gas. And, there is nifty color-coded chart that tells you the air quality forecast for different parts of the Bay Area. Not surprising, Santa Clara County has the worst air.

CalTrain commuter newbie

sf_lauren — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 01:29:01 +0000

For the past five years, I have worked with the cows in south San Jose, but starting Monday, I’ll be commuting to San Francisco for my new job!

My plan is to take the CalTrain baby bullet from San Jose. Any advice for a newbie CalTrain commuter? And has anyone heard what the story is on WiFi on the trains? Last I heard, they had successfully tested it, but I can’t find any more info about it.

photo by Roland Tanglao

Congratulations, Ms. Pelosi

sf_lauren — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 05:45:22 +0000

It’s all but official: US Representative Nancy Pelosi will be the first woman and first Californian Speaker of the House! It’s about time to see some of these “San Francisco values” to influence the legislative agenda. Things will be changing on the national level with Pelosi at the helm, but how do you think this will affect San Franciscans?

Pretty people like art

sf_lauren — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 01:10:16 +0000

That’s the conclusion that I came to after attending the GEN ART LUXE Benefit on Saturday night. The predominately female, under-30 crowd took the opportunity of the oh-so-trendy event to bring out the swanky heels that they’d never wear at a club and to wear those boutique-purchased dresses that hang in the back of their closets.

Or at least that is what I did (since I had free tix from Yelp). And then, in my teal suede heels, I hobbled through the heart of the tenderloin to get to the exhibit, which spanned five floors of the Warfield building. While sipping on my vodka tonic and listening to the DJs, I pretended to understand the art while admiring the pretty people.

Saturday night was the kickoff event for the 2006 Emerge Art Exhibition. You can check out the art of emerging artists at the Warfield building through November 19:

Mondays, 3:00 – 7:00pm
Saturdays & Sundays, Noon – 4:00pm
Or by appointment, call 415-284-9400

SOMA streets recovering from Oracle

sf_lauren — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 16:40:28 +0000

I was caught in the traffic jams created by the Oracle OpenWorld conference that shut down the streets around the Mascone Center in SOMA this week. But today things should start getting back to normal, and by Saturday morning, everything will be open once again!

Orchards and cows and computers

sf_lauren — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 04:51:19 +0000

I thought I would give an office view update, inspired by Poormojo’s post. My mood is so much better this past week, ever since I moved back into an office with a window. And this is the best view that I have had in the five years I have worked at (that big tech company in San Jose).

While it doesn’t compare to the San Francisco office view, looking out over orchards and cows isn’t a bad way to spend the day if I have to be hunched over my computer working.

The juxtaposition between the pastoral scene outside and the high-tech work that we are doing inside still makes me stop, reflect, and think of words like “juxtaposition.”

It must be cool…Nish was there

sf_lauren — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 02:00:00 +0000

I ran to Blue Bottle this morning at about 10am to grab a latte, and I noticed that the little alley, Linden, was closed off and vendors were setting up their clothes, jewelry, and art. I thought, “This seems kinda cool/trendy/oh-so-Hayes-Valley.” My suspicions were confirmed when an organizer-looking guy shouted to the vendors, “Hey everyone. This the famous Nish from Yelp! He’ll be doing some PR for you guys!” See? I knew it was cool!

(Online research lead me to the conclusion that the event was the Capsule Street Fair, although the Web site didn’t tell me much more than that.)

Lane choices

sf_lauren — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 21:20:03 +0000

I wasn’t driving, so I was able to take this picture while the driver concentrated on staying in the correct lane to eventually get us through the city and to Point Reyes. Said the driver, “See? This is why I hate driving in San Francisco.”

This reminds me of what I learned about technical writing: too much information can be as bad as too little, and too many options for how to do something will only confuse.

Sailboats, sailboats, everywhere

sf_lauren — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 03:03:38 +0000

I just got back from seven hours of sailing on the bay today, and the room is still rocking as I try to type this post and not get motion sick. While we did not coordinate this at all, my friends and I ended up sailing on the last day of Fleet Week. I was thrilled because I got a front-row view of the Blue Angels. But we couldn’t do much sailing until after 4:00 because there were more boats out on the bay than any of us had ever seen before, even for Fleet Week!

After the shows were over, all of the boats raised their sails and took off as the fog started rolling in. It was beautiful. More photos after the jump.

Blue Angels soar over the boats:

Everyone sails home after the air show:

The fog rolls in and the kite surfers come out to play:

Cargo ships finally get a chance to leave the bay:

Such an SV moment

sf_lauren — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 23:14:40 +0000

Last night I had such an “I am Silicon Valley geek” moment: Some friends who had moved to Germany were back visiting and we drove up to SF to see Ferry Corsten at Ruby Skye. Right at midnight, as we were waiting for Ferry and dancing to the warm-up DJ, my phone vibrates in my pocket. I was a bit confused at first when I looked at my phone, probably because of the martini I had just finished, but I realized that it was an alarm that I had set years ago. All it said was the name of my company. It hits me. I turn to my friends, jump up and down, and shout over the music: “I’m vested!”