The Thing That Ate San Francisco

This is the Golden Gate Bridge:

Or part of it. Not sure if you're aware, but there's a lot of fog in San Francisco. Who knew? It's cool and eery and pretty fun sometimes. Other times it's just cold.

Watch your back, Dick Cavett!

This was spotted on the curb in our neighborhood. Apparently, someone is setting up for their new talk show. . . and they're beaming it back to the '70s. Tonight's guests include a guy from Pixar and a guy from Clif bar.
Sadly, Ziggy Stardust couldn't make it.

It's Kind of Pretty Here

Karen finds herself distracted a lot in her new office. The problem is, they're located up pretty high in a building in the Financial District. The views are pretty amazing. This is what she sees from a very popular conference room:
Window 1

 Window 2

And these were taken on a cloudy day . . . imagine her problems concentrating when it's sunny out? Fortunately, that's pretty rare around these parts.

And we're back.

Sorry for the gap in posts. We'll try to be better. In their absence, the Burgs had a wasp problem. No, it had nothing to do with familial guilt and obligation -- actual wasps. Insects. The things were building a nest inside the screen door. Luckily, Erik had recently procured a better camera.

Yes. That's between the screen and the glass door. Building a nest, on the inside of the screen door. Wasps are pushy creatures. They can't help it.

Nice Try, Sedona

As many of you know, Mrs. Burg spent a good portion of her youth living in the Sedona area. She knows her way around red rocks and t-shirt shops that sell clothes dyed by red dirt.  People come from all over to take pictures of the rocks because they're soo special.

Well guess what? There's another place with the exact same crap. It's called Kauai. And you know what, it's surrounded by a gorgeous ocean. Try beating that, "Vortex."

Cock of the Walk

Apparently, Kauai is infested. . . with roosters. Yes, you heard correctly.

 Rest areas.

Picnic areas.

 

In parks.

At the beach. (I know!?!?!)

How Karen feels about this.

We All Love Train Travel, But This is Just Commuting

NY: Hey SF, Karen and Erik moved over there a few months ago and while your public transportation leaves a little to be desired, you do get them to work everyday and that's appreciated.
SF: Yes, we don't have all the crazy lines you guys have with A and the C, the F and the G. It's hard to keep them all straight!
NY: Not really that hard.
SF: OK. One question though, why are the seats so uncomfortable? Check out these new comfy seats we're rolling out to all our Bart trains. They're awesome!
NY: I know.  I was about to ask about those. Erik sat in one the other day; he thought he was on the Concorde. Why would you do that?
SF: Do what?
NY: Well, those are going to get trashed. Wouldn't it be better to have something easier to clean? And, I don't know, more durable?
SF: …
NY: See you in six months!

The Secret Word Today: Scary. AHHHHHH!

In our ongoing series on the public art around Emeryville, there's these metal people populating the underpass on Powell Street leading to the freeway. They're all larger than life-size with cutouts specially lit to make for some interesting shadows at night.

 

Here's a nice man giving someone directions from a map.

 It's a map of Emeryville in case you were wondering. 

 

Here's a guy jogging with his dog.

Here's a lady in a wheelchair. I don't know if she should be traveling so fast...in the underpass...so close to the traffic.

The style reminds us of "Pee-Wee's Playhouse" somehow. Maybe it's the eyes. Or just the general awesome creepiness. We'll try to get over there at night. It's a little bit of a dicey walk . . . but totally worth it. You'll see.

Danger: High Voltage, Or Something

There's a lot of public art in Emeryville. It's hard to miss as you walk past it every day. Some of it is a little unconventional.

One artist has his art on utility boxes throughout the city. They're his take on the traditional pedestrian figure. Normally you see the figure doing normal things on signs like crossing the street (pedestrian crossing) or crossing the street with a bookbag (school crossing). Here, he's doing odd things you don't normally see. Such as (see above) growing a tree out of his foot? Or...

...giving himself an autopsy? Or...

Well, I don't know. Now you're just ripping off Saul Bass. And are you doing the robot??

I'm not paying 99 cents for that.

Erik recently transferred his driver's license back to California. Devotees might remember that the last time he changed out his license some mild snakehandling was involved. This time, he was struck by the number of snotty posters at the DMV about drunk driving, texting and driving, etc. Some were iPhone-themed, others were more just outdated internet themed.

Ok. The one on the left has an open grave and really doesn't make much sense grammatically unless you accept that myspace is a thing anymore (which it's not). 

On the right, it's not a great photo but the poster says "Drunk driving? We got an app for that." First, it seems odd that the DMV would have an app for anything, let alone death. Secondly, the icon is a grim reaper? That seems a little too predictable for my taste, a coffin with a martini on it would've been much, much cooler.