A cool video that was sent to me

My friend Jeff emailed this video to me and a whole bunch of other people. It took me a while to finally watch it, but I am sure glad that I did. Its a sweet and cool little music video.

About two weeks ago a friend from college came to visit me. I was happy to see her but also realized that it would provide me with ample time to be a tourist in my own city. There are many times when I think about things that I should do but just never has the time get to them. For example, I live about ten minutes away from the Golden Gate Bridge but I've only walked across it once... and that was about eight years ago.

There were two days when I played the happy tourist. We went to visit a couple of wineries in Sonoma and the next day we took a ferry to Alcatraz. I took about thirty pictures at each place. But like so many of the photos that I take most of them looked pretty much the same. So I narrowed down as much at I could to provide you all with a couple of slide shows.

The day that we visited Sonoma was great. The weather was in the eighties and there were barely any clouds in the sky. The cool stone buildings were a welcome escape from the hot sun. I am not a wine drinker but I was not disappointed. The great thing about Sonoma wineries is that you can find a lot of places that offer food tastings. So I got the opportunity to taste my share of cheese, olive oil and spreads. Another thing about Sonomoa is that each winery has its own personality. There are villas, country homes, and even barns. The one thing that is similar with each one is that by noon the tasting rooms are full of winos.



The next day there my friend and I went to Alcatraz. I once lived in full view of Alcatraz and never made my way out there. Mainly because most of the tours are very expensive. But if you go to the Alcatraz Island Official Site you only have to pay 26 dollars. Alcatraz has a very rich history for a tiny little island. It was first used as a military fort during the civil war, then as a prison, and occupied by Native American civil rights protesters and finally a part of the National Parks reserve. The prison was smaller than I had expected, but it defiantly does not seem like a place that you would want to stay overnight. There is a surprising amount of vegetation on the island. Much, if not all of it, was brought over by people who worked and lived on the island.



Side Knitting Note:
I am currently in the middle of two projects. I am still working on my Victorian Yoke Sweater. I am currently attaching a sleeve. I am currently having issues with the length. As things stand it currently sits right at my waist but I would prefer it longer. So I am trying to figure out whether or not I want to take out the bind off and make it longer or just block the SOB.

I am also working on a Mock Lace Sock. It is a cuff down pattern that is moving pretty quickly. I am also have issues with this project that i hope will fix themselves out during blocking.

Upgrading my updates?

hi there everyone. I am making this post from my phone i guess that you can say that I have been a little restless lately and the result is that I've gone further into the internet cave. i am just adding more and more to the matrix that well all call the net.

As you can see on the right side of the screen I opened a twitter account. I am still getting used to it but i think that the quick little entries will keep you up to date in between my actual posts.

So the most exciting thing going on is that my friend Adrienne is coming in town Wednesday! Yay!!! i haven't seen her in three years and now I have to show her a good time in my city. Luckily we have a working itinerary. I will take lots of pictures while I am touring around the city and I hope have a real nice post up at the beginning of next week

I was gone for a whole month, did anyone notice?

Hey there! So the month of May was a complete bust as far as blogging goes. I wish that I had kept on track for at least one post. Unfortunately finals always seem to get the best of me. Basically I would have made posts like "I only go home to sleep and brush my teeth" or "when is it going to end!!!" So I thought that it might be a good idea to just hold off on things for a little while. In May I took a number of "field trips" and I was smart enough to take my camera. I took pictures of a couple.

First I went to the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose. If you ever find yourself in or near San Jose or you are taking an extended trip to the Bay Area I recommend taking a trip there. they have a very large collection of artifacts and replicas. It was funny because there were exhibit rooms that were sort of tucked away. So I wasn't really sure if I was supposed to be there or not. But since no one jumped out of any dark corners to usher me back to where I should be I strolled through anyway. I also went to 2009 Bay to Breakers. There were lots of variations of Swine flu costumes and floats. My favorite one is in the slideshow below. I was down by the end of the race. I think that it was a bit of a let down. I have a feeling that most of the fun people stopped way before mile 6. In May I also made a return trip to the California Academy of Sciences. Although I do have a membership there and I have even made one or two lunch time trips I still enjoy seeing all that they have to offer. I personally think that the best part is the planetarium but the aquarium is a close second.



At the very end of the month I went on a hike with two very good friends of mine. We went up to the Marin Headlands. It was a little chilly, and really gray but still beautiful. I think that I need to make my way out there again sometime during the summer.

Knitting-wise I have been pretty industrious. Not that I've done a great job finishing my work but I am working on some pretty nice projects. I am half way through with my pair if olive stripped socks. I am almost at the point where I do the ribbing on the body of my sweater. And I am working on a hat. I decided to the the Philadelphia Springtime hat. It is a nice pattern to work with. Right now it looks like I I am nowhere near done. But when I check the chart it appears that I am half way through. I think that i am just not used to working with lacy projects. I hope that it all works out when I block it.

I am not cool enough

Can someone please go to this website (MADATOMS) and tell me  what exactly it is. I know that it must be cool. It has to be... it looks like hipsters like it. I am just not cool enough to understand

. Oh wait... no... I figured it out. It actually is an ok site. Once you ge passed all the hipster glam. 

Volunteering

I believe that this passed week was National Volunteer Week. So I thought that I would help out and do a little community work. This Saturday I volunteered with a group called One Brick. One Brick is an "a volunteer organization that brings people together to help non-profits and community organizations staff their events or work on projects." That comes straight from the FAQ page of their site. I worked at Park Presidio cleaning up the park. Most people who have driven to the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco know the park as that really long divider that that has all those trees. Well I was surprised to learn that it is actually a park that has a path. Yes you can run right down the middle of most of it.

Unfortunately there are large parts of the park that are used by the local homelss for shelter. It was clear that there were people who lived in some parts of the park. There was even a tinny person sized shed (about 2 feet high and 6 feet long) in one area. I hate to be cheesey, but while we tried to take care of the park by cutting down dead leaves and striping ivy to give light to all of the plants it also exposed a serious neighborhood issue. I don't want to use the word "problem" because that just sounds too negative. One of the park managers said that he wouldn't mind the homeless if they could just keep things clean. Some of the local neighbors said that the exposure should move the homeless community out into the open and drive them away. My question is where do they go? I am not advocating that we set up a shanty town right there between 14th and Funston. But it is an real straight up honest question.

I think that this one day of volunteering really makes me want to do it more often. I want to feel like I am actually helping out. One Brick is a non-commital organization, so I can volunteer and often as my schedule allows. My goal is to start off once a month and then work my way up.

On a completely different note. My sweater is solwly comming along. Unlike some people I know, I am not a crazy fast knitter. But then again, I give myself a whole summer to finish a big project and we're still in spring so I am way ahead.

SFPL Main library hates me

So here I am at the Main Library in San Francisco. For some reason I thought that it would be pretty empty. Seeing as how its the middle of a weekday and all. But I forgot to take into account that there are kids on spring break and that there are many people who need to use the public resources that the library offers. I was surprised by the large number of people here. It's basically busteling with activity. So I tried to find the most quiet spot in the library. That meant that I had to go nearly to the top of the building. The only problem is that you can't get a clear WiFi signal up there. Arrrrg. I tried for a good half an hour (yea, I know. I wasted way too much time) trying to get online.

Finally I just decieded to go down one flight to a more noisy and crowded floor. Turned on my computer and huzzah! There it is. I have strong enough connection to watch The Office and upload pictures onto my blog. Unfortunatly I cannot do either. I have to leave soon to go to an appointment. OH! and my outlet doesn't work. The best part about this discovery was that there's a guy sitting next to me who decieded to tell me (as I am discovering that it is a difunked outlet) that he thinks it doesn't work. No sh-- .

Anyhoo. I am off. My next post will be much less on the grumpy side.