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Wednesday I was up early and went for a ride before work.  It was incredibly foggy and damp and pretty miserable west of Twin Peaks.  I headed out 18th to Valencia to Mission to Silver to Alemeny to Sagamore to Brotherhood to Lake Merced.  I stopped for a soggy view of Lake Merced:

 

 

This is the concrete bridge that crosses Lake Merced.  It’s a little gloomy in its current condition and could use some freshnin’:

 

 

I took Lake Merced to John Muir to Skyline to the Great Highway and into Golden Gate Park at MLK.  I headed over to Stow Lake and got some pics of the romantic and incredibly foggy views:

 

 

I headed over to JFK and came out of the park at 8th.  I took 8th to Lake to Clay to Fillmore to Pacific to Taylor to Clay to Sansome and into work.  I headed home for lunch and was pretty beat by the end of the day.  I attempted to find alternate plans, but as Mr. Chris and Miss Smith already had plans I went for a ride.  I headed off Pacific to Fillmore to Sacramento.  I hadn’t ridden Sacramento in a while and I got a couple of pics on the way.  The library is gorgeous:

 

 

And there are a lot of pretty buildings:

 

 

I continued on Sacramento to Arguello to Cabrillo to 8th and into Golden Gate Park. I headed over to the Music Concourse and then took MLK and got out of the park at 9th.  I took that to Judah to 7th into Laguna Honda to Dewey to Claremont to Portola to Santa Clara into Monterey to San Jose to Duncan to Valencia to 18th to Douglass to 17th to Ord and home for dinner.  After dinner I cooked a rice curry for Thursday night and then I went to bed.  I was beat.

 

Bike Mileage:

Today 41.8 Week to date 57.7 Month to date 481.3 Year to date 5,964.0 To Goal 2,036.0 Over (Under) plan 638.0 YTD Mileage vs Last Year 587.6 Rolling Year 6,949.5 Since Inception 10/1/07 46,431.7

Tuesday I slept in and went in to work a little late.  Over lunch I had to head over to Mission to buy some salt cod for Mr. Poe who has requested that I make him a gratin de morue a la lyonnaise for his birthday on Saturday and it takes 3 or 4 days to make.  I’ll make sure that I take a lot of pics when I’m making it and post to my cooking blog because it’s one of those fancy fancy Julia Child recipes from the sixties and the first time I made it Mr. Poe was dancing around the kitchen and eating it out of the pan.  That, my friends, is how you know you have a winner.  After I had the genius idea to go get a burrito and eat it in Dolores Park.  It was a gorgeous day in the park with the fog hanging at the tops of the hills:

 

 

Me:

 

 

My burrito from El Toro.  Almost perfection.   It’s just that El Toro and I have wildly differing opinions about what constitutes hot pico de gallo.  But still a galaxy better than Chipotle:

 

 

This group was obviously having some kind of an offsite lunch meeting in the park and it was a little ridiculous because none of them were dressed for hanging out in the park and they all looked a little awkward and uncomfortable.  They were easily recognizable as bridge and tunnel crowd because they were eating sandwiches instead of burritos:

 

 

I headed back to work and then went to the gym after work.  After, I headed home and cleaned up a bit in my study before heading to bed.  Long day.

 

Bike Mileage:

Today 15.9 Week to date 15.9 Month to date 439.5 Year to date 5,922.2 To Goal 2,077.8 Over (Under) plan 618.1 YTD Mileage vs Last Year 545.8 Rolling Year 6,907.7 Since Inception 10/1/07 46,389.9

Monday was walk2werq Monday and I had a fine walk although it didn’t go quite as planned.  I had initially planned to go to Aquatic Park but it was getting late and I had to choose either that or the north side of Russian Hill and I chose the latter.  Another time.  I started out by walking Mr. Poe to muni and then I headed over to Alamo Square.  This pretty mosaic is at Ida Wells high school:

 

 

This deco apartment building on Pierce street has been on my blog a bunch of times.  I love it’s fabulous detail:

 

 

This is the view looking east on Geary from the Steiner footbridge:

 

 

Pretty St. Dominic’s has also been on my blog a bunch.

 

 

But the inside hasn’t.  I wasn’t expecting the ceiling inside.  It’s fabulous:

 

 

This fabulous Victorian mansion is on Clay at Laguna:

 

 

I love the gorgeous renovation of Lafayette Square:

 

 

This is the Haas-Lilienthal House:

 

 

I headed over to Bay Street and then I made my way over to the Francisco reservoir.  This is the view from halfway up:

 

 

This is the reservoir itself:

 

 

Homes on Hyde St:

 

 

 

I headed South.  This is the Chestnut steps at Larkin:

 

 

I headed home for lunch and noted that this building is getting a new foundation.  I can’t wait to see what it looks like when they’re done:

 

 

I went to my spin class after work and then headed home for dinner.  I guess I’m still not feeling very well because it didn’t sit well.

Sunday I joined some friends for a Different Spoke ride out to Point Reyes Station and then around Nicasio Reservoir.  A couple of us had afternoon plans so we rode pretty quickly and didn’t stop a lot.  The weather was warm and almost but not quite hot and we had a great day.  Some pics:

 

 

Mega foggy at the Golden Gate Bridge on the way home:

 

 

Me:

 

 

I headed home and got cleaned up and we went to a party at my hairdresser’s house which was a birthday party for his dogs.  It was very noisy but lots of fun and we had a great time.  We headed home and got working on dinner.  I made Mr. Poe some macaroni and cheese.  Here’s a fun fact about Mr. Poe.  He LOVES his birthday.  More than anybody I’ve ever met.  He doesn’t like to open his present all at once and likes to look at them for a few days or weeks before finally opening them.  His birthday is Saturday and his presents are out:

 

 

I tried to stay up past 8 but was unsuccessful. 

 

Bike Mileage:

Today 82.6 Week to date 82.6 Month to date 423.6 Year to date 5,906.3 To Goal 2,093.7 Over (Under) plan 646.0 YTD Mileage vs Last Year 529.9 Rolling Year 6,918.8 Since Inception 10/1/07 46,374.0

Saturday I lounged around the house all morning and didn’t even get it together to go to the grocery store with Mr. Poe.  I headed out Mid Day and went and hung out with Mr. Chris and David and then went for a walk after that was about 3 miles.  I started off by heading to the America’s Cup village.  It’s drawing a massive number of visitors and a lot of the improvements they made for it are permanent which is fantastic.  Here are some shots of the village:

 

 

I walked over Telegraph Hill and saw this cute alley in North Beach on my way back.  I think it’s called Jasper:

 

 

I headed through Chinatown and noted that they’re ready to double the size of the Chinese Hospital:

 

 

I went and hung out with Miss Smith and then headed home for dinner.  After we got cleaned up and went to bed.

I wasn’t feeling well mid week and stayed home.  Friday I finally got it together and went on Muni down into work.  I took my spin class mid day and then managed to get in a nice walk after work.  I took Muni to Golden Gate Park and then walked up Forest Hill via 8th Ave.  I got a bunch of pics along the way:

 

 

Mr. Poe was at a movie so I had to feed myself and the dogs dinner and we waited for him to come home.  Then we all went to bed.  I was super beat.

Monday was my anniversary.  Mr. Poe has tolerated me now for 13 years.  Monday was also walk2werq Monday and I had a fantastic walk over Liberty Hill and through the the Mission and then up Bernal Hill and then over to Noe Valley where I got my donut and then headed down to the 24th st BART station.  I walked about 6 miles.

 

The view of the sunrise from Sanachez and 20th:

 

 

I headed over to Valencia.  This is from the City College building at Valencia at 22nd.

 

 

I headed up to the steps that lead to the intersection of Holiday and Peralta.  This is the view from almost at the top:

 

 

Gorgeous home on Peralta St:

 

 

The view from the Franconia Steps:

 

 

Bernal Hill:

 

 

Look for Candlestick Park to the left of hill:

 

 

I headed home for lunch and then went to a spin class after work.  Then I met Mr. Poe in the Castro for an anniversary dinner.  The view looking up Twin Peaks was amazing:

 

 

We headed home and went to bed.

Sunday I got up early and drove down to Mountain View and rode with Chris Thomas.  We rode down to Los Gatos and it was really really fun.  He tacked on several hills which made me conclude that he has a predilection towards sadism.  I was a little hung over from the day before at first but I perked up as we rode.  It was very hot in the south bay but it was still a fantastic day.  Here are some pics:

 

 

Villa Montalvo:

 

 

This odd toy was for sale at a store next door to where we had lunch.  What the hell is a ‘toy with feelings inside’???

 

 

Me:

 

 

I headed home and got cleaned up and then I went to bed.  Fantastic day.

 

Bike Mileage:

Today 56.0 Week to date 108.3 Month to date 341.0 Year to date 5,823.7 To Goal 2,176.3 Over (Under) plan 716.9 YTD Mileage vs Last Year 510.9 Rolling Year 6,929.4 Since Inception 10/1/07 46,291.4

Friday started out very poorly.  I accidentally used up the wrong attachment to my beard trimmer when attempting to trim my eyebrows and basically shaved one of them off.  Fuck!  In my defense, it was super early in the morning and I was a little groggy.  Not wanting to look like a crackhead, I then proceeded to shave the other one off.  Argh.  I headed down on Muni downtown and went to the gym.  I took a half day so after my spin class I went and got a haircut and then visited with a Miss Bullwinkle (not making that up) who hooked me up with some product to sort my eyebrow situation.  She sold me this powder stuff that looks super believable and made Mr. Poe initially think that magic must have been involved.  I cooked for the rest of the day.

 

Saturday I threw myself a birthday party with a ham theme.  A whole mess of people showed up and it got boozy enough that I felt validated in my decision not to invite anybody I worked with.  Here some pics:

 

 

I made a bunch of desserts.  The trifle had a bavarian cream filling that was incredibly complicated:

 

 

I went to bed incredibly early.  It had been a very long day.