boy on a mission

when i first moved to sf, my least favorite neighborhood was the mission. a friend of mine who had been living in the city for one year described the mission as "dirty, but with good cheap food". and that's how it remained in my mind for quite a while.

one of the first times i came to the mission it was in hopes to meet up with some friends for after work drinks. i was driving. that's the first mistake i made, but more on that later. so i'm driving. scouring the place for a parking spot. just before a 4 way stop sign i pull to the right and start texting friends for an update. as i'm finishing my text i hear a horn beep, there's an old accord with two thugs in the car beeping me to get out of their way.

there's no other car on the road (besides parked cars), why don't these jerks go around me? instead they feel the need to gently nudge my car from the rear before reversing to then go around me. that's right these assholes intentionally bumped into my rear bumper. i caught a glimpse of them passing me, both with open corona bottles in hand, the passenger swigged his as they drove past my window. welcome to the mission sucka.

i was pissed off, but i found a spot and tried to buff the new rear bumper blemish with some spit and my thumb. no dice. what jerks.

the next time i found myself in the mission was about 2 months later. again, after work i was looking for parking in order to grab a drink and possibly dinner with some friends. on mission street heading southbound i saw an open spot on the other side of the street, so i signaled to turn left at the next light in order to get that spot.

the light turned green and i started to u turn. all of a sudden some jerk in a red civic turning right pulls way too far into the intersection and blocks my smooth u turn. he was on the street that intersects mission street, going the same direction as i wanted to go. so he was at a red light turning right, and i had a green light doing a u turn. and yes, i made sure that a u turn on this intersection was legal before going for it.

so there i am, cock blocked by an overly ambitious right from mr. civic. now my u turn has to be a 3 point turn, so i reverse up slightly and BAM. the mini van behind me connects with my rear bumper. fuck!

we both pull over and get out of the car. the short hispanic woman driving has 2-3 young children and a 12 year old boy who could almost pass for someone who speaks english. the boy tells me that his mom says it's my fault and they demand my insurance pay for the damage to their new minivan. they call for backup, i assume a grown up who can somewhat communicate in english. they repeatedly tell me that they were heading home from church and that they had babies in the car.

hours pass (more like 15mins) and my phone is telling me via sms that my friends are drinking and waiting for me. i get paper to write down my insurance and contact info, and show them that they need to give me theirs. i hand them the paper, and they take it. when i ask for their info they shake their heads. are you fucking kidding me? give me your info so we can move on with our lives!! but somehow they seemed to think that things worked differently.

in the real world, both insurance companies are informed and those companies decide who's at fault and who pays what. these guys thought that they could just call my insurance and miraculously my insurance would fix their car at no charge to them. that was my first clue that i was in for a fun time.

so i called the police.
me: "hey, hi. i just got into a fender bender here on mission street".
dispatch: "if nobody is hurt a police cruiser doesn't need to arrive. just swap insurance info and go on your way"
me: "yea, that's the thing. i gave them my info and they won't give me theirs, they only speak spanish"
dispatch: "we'll send a patrol car with a spanish speaker"

it's been like an hour. a few white mission-hipster-do-gooders who think they are bilingual stop to talk to me and the minivan driver and her entourage. one guy was extremely sympathetic to the woman, and started grilling me, making sure that i didn't have anything to drink and assuring that i didn't break any traffic rules. who the fuck is this guy? go home! mind your own business dude.

the cops show up and soon minivan lady's face turns pale. turns out our mini van lady is not a licensed driver. in fact, she has no id. it is very possible she is not a legal resident. i told the cops that i'm over it, i have been standing here for nearly 90mins and i'm ready to go home. my friends texted saying that they are paying the bill and going home.

soon the spanish speaking cop explains to the mini van lady the situation. if she were to file a claim with my insurance, they would have to first prove that she was a citizen. after that was done, then they'd want to see her driver's lic, and they'd find that she was an unlicensed driver. at which point simply driving without a license made the accident 100% her fault.

he explained to her (and her entourage)  that if i wanted, i could make her world a really painful one, but she should take advantage of the fact that i just wanted to forget the whole thing and go home. she should be very thankful to me, apologize, return the paper with the information i wrote down for her, and quickly go without causing me any more pain. he told her that i was being extremely kind to her. i could see the remorse in her face, she knew she was being a punk and she was caught. she also knew she was getting off the hook real easy here, the only thing to show for her negligence was a dent in the driver's side of her new minivan.

she put her tail between her legs, and got into the van passenger side. her entourage also loaded the van and one of the men drove the van back. the officer apologized to me as well. "i'm sorry that you had to stay out here so long, these guys should be really grateful that you are willing to just let them go. you know cool heads always prevail."

that line stuck with me, and it has proven to be a very very useful piece of advice. "cool heads always prevail"

not too much later i sold that car and it's cursed rear bumper.

fast forward to present day, i live in the mission, and love it. i've been here for 2 years and have my own parking spot for a whopping $50/month. i ride my bike or walk to anywhere in the mission, and still greatly enjoy drinks with friends at the local bars nearby.

those first two mission experiences were tough ones, and if i wasn't forced into giving the mission a few more tries i may have never set foot back in this amazing neighborhood.

i have also often times repeated to myself that "cool heads always prevail" during times of anger, stress, or frustration. it's on par with breathing deep, counting to ten, or whatever technique people use to cool off a hot head. so far i've prevailed when i do keep cool, that lesson was well worth a dent and 90mins of frustration.

seat leash

bike seat theft is a reality, and it's the biggest b*tch when it happens. i learned in grade school what's grosser than gross? jumping off the empire state building and landing on a bike with no seat! nostalgia or memory tactic to leash your bike seat. you make the call.

i have seen some diy seat leashes made from old bike chain. here's the ugliest one i've ever seen.

notice the bike chain is threaded through the bike frame and through the bike seat. there is no quick way to steal this seat, but that ol rusty chain is nasty.

here's one with the chain hidden inside a used innertube held together with zip ties.

looks better, but still too clunky for my new elegant bike. not to mention, adding weight to the bike is added weight you need to pull wherever you go.

so i hit the hardware store and bought a few things.

with the help of a broken chain tool and a hand crimper, i did some looping and pinching.

the last step was to use heat shrink to make it black and pretty, also this will help with corrosion prevention. i left a bit of slack so i'm able to raise my seat an inch or so if need be. who knows, maybe i'll hit another growth spurt?

i am aware that there is no way to fully secure your bike, and a quality pair of cable snips will cut right through this. however, this deterrent could be the difference between my seat and someone else's. i believe most bike theft happens to unlocked bikes, or easy to remove parts like quick releases.

new bike

july of 2010 i did something that i never thought i would have done, i bought a bicycle. at the time, only a few of my friends had bikes, and the main reason i sought out this bike was to help support my purple smoothie habit. see i would walk 5 blocks to the produce market, then walk back with 30lbs of produce.  i hated that walk, thus i made less purple smoothies. a bike with a basket would solve this issue so that's when i started shopping.

a few of my friends already had bikes, so i'd accompany them on rides once in a while. i rode to the gym (vs driving there) and realized that i got there in just as much time or less, and got front row parking all the time. i'd ride to bars at night, or restaurants to meet friends. there were no worries about parking, driving after drinking, or traffic.

slowly more of my friends began buying bikes, and eventually even my girlfriend bought a bike. weekends were slowly turning into excuses to get bikers together to ride. neighborhoods notorious for horrible parking were suddenly very accessible.

i found that i was riding much more than 1/week to the produce store located 5 blocks away. and during this riding i started noticing the limitations of my $35 bike. i took it to a shop, where an honest bike tech told me that i'd be throwing money away trying to get my current bike up to par, i mine as well start with something better. "your bike is basically a disposable bike" -honest tech

so i decided it was time to get a new bike.

i found a sexy 2002 bianchi pista.

it is basically everything that my old bike was not. this one is a single speed with a fixed gear, my old bike is a 10 speed. riding a fixed gear bike is a very different experience than riding a bike that has a freewheel. the first and most noticeable thing is the inability to coast on a fixed gear bike. having one of each now makes me appreciate both.

this bike is lightweight and agile. the tires are rated for 120psi, whereas my old bike's tires are rated at 65psi, almost double! the weight difference alone makes a huge difference in riding, especially up those infamous san francisco hills.

this bike frame is unlike my old bike frame, it is not a disposable bike. the frame is built to industry standards (it's also much newer as my old bike is from 1987) so swapping parts is easy.

having a new bike, and being already well versed in the sf bike routes has given me the ability to go on fun rides right out the gate. the day after i bought the bike i rode across town simply to buy a burrito, then rode back home to eat it. it was about 10 miles round trip, which is ironic since there are about 10 taquerias within a 5 block radius of my house, but i enjoyed every minute.

weekend update

this weekend we spent some time visiting the chens, hung out with their kids evie and arron. desmond tutu corgi also made an appearance. he was continually attacking the small strawberry patch. he's the only dog that i am friends with on facebook, he is a retired champion showdog.

my latest coffee paraphernalia showed up thanks to amazon.com, and i was able to geek out in the mornings with precise weights, temperatures, grinds, and pours. the scale, thermometer, and hario v60 02 dripper with collector are the new items. i've had the kettle for a while, and love it. that grinder was purchased from a garage sale for $5, it's on the short list to be replaced.

sunday was the big one. dann and i rode from the mission to fort funston. i used my nike running tracking program to document the ride.  unfortunately, my phone ran out of juice just before returning home, but managed to track the majority of our 7 hour excursion.  the app thinks that i ran these distances, so that 3481 calories is incorrect, as half of the time i was sitting on my bike coasting downhill.

Riding my bike for an entire day made me appreciate my $35.00 bike. It has been needing a few upgrades, which i neglected to buy, since it feels like a waste to put $80 worth of brakes into a bike that cost me $35. however, i've decided that the value of the bike is more than what i've paid to acquire it.

produce run

This is the first time I've ridden my bike to the produce store and
carried a few bags worth of groceries back home via the rear cargo rack and
bungee'd milk crate. It was a huge success!

Lamp

i've been wanting a lamp above my desk for some time. i've online shopped, and went to ikea before deciding that in order to get what i wanted i'd have to do it myself. so i headed to the thrift store to purchase what is usually the most expensive part of the lamp, the shade. $1.25 later i had this bad boy. of course, i bungee'd it to the back of my bike cause i'm green and all that jazz.


i purchased a socket with a pull chain (the rage now seems to be in-line-switches) but for what i wanted, that was not ideal. the center gold ring is the lampshade holder, and the extra pull chain with white nub was also purchased. these things cost me approx $20. not pictured is the 20 foot long extension cord, i also purchased for $14.


a little dremel action for this lampshade holder to fit perfectly.


viola lampshade will be held (the white piece is the lampshade mount.


here we are assembled.


and it's not a real job unless something breaks in the process.


better be more weary of that cord on the hook when measuring the ideal lamp height.


no humans were injured in the making of this hanging lamp.


lights on!


lights off!


i'm ready for my closeup mr camera man.

current state

panoramic picture taken one week after move in (click for full size).

road master pro tour

i've been riding bikes ever since i was a little kid. and i hated it. my first bike was yellow, and i must have asked my dad 1,000 times to raise the pedals on the bike. when i’d turn/lean and pedal, the pedals would scrape the ground.

later on, in middle school and early high school i'd have to ride my bike to my friend's house if i wanted to play. everyone else would get rides in cars with air conditioning from moms or older car driving brothers. getting my driver’s license was not only a moment of transit freedom, it was also a goodbye to my pedal powered nemesis.



then in college miraculously bikes were cool again! cars cost money to park, run, maintain, and bikes could get you to a friend’s dorm or an apartment party much faster. most of the guys in my dorm followed my lead and purchased bmx bikes like the one i had. since i had experience owning and working on bikes, i was the dorm go-to guy for a quick tune up, flat change, or even a new paint job. no other dorm had so many bikes in top condition at all times.

one dark night my yellow bmx was stolen, and i haven't had a bike since. i was crushed, but it happened just as i moved 15 miles away from campus. not too long after it was stolen my bike would have simply taken up storage space in my new apartment. a word from the experienced: use a u-Lock. cable locks can be cut through with a simple hacksaw, chain link locks can be snipped with bolt cutters. it takes the power of a small car jack to bust open a u-lock. my yellow bmx was just chained.

to sum up my bike background, i’ve disliked owning and riding bikes (aside from a small stint in the college dorms).

fast forward to the present day. one week ago i moved to the mission district (link). the mission has a reputation as being the hipster neighborhood. and one thing that comes with hipsters are their bikes. i figured when in rome you realize that it wasn’t built in a day, so when in the mission you accept your mission and get a bike.

after a few days cruising craigslist’s bikes for sale, i got a pretty good idea what was out there. my decision would be between a bmx, road, mountain, or hybrid bike. a hybrid is a mix between a road and a mountain bike.

bmx bike – small and portable, cheap and rather abundant. plenty available at $40-$70.
road bike – the most expensive yet the most desirable. $100-$1,500.
mountain bike – the most abundant, the least cool, and they are big.
hybrid – almost as costly as the road bike but didn’t see many listed.

i continued my craigslist combing for 3-4 weeks, and developed two requirements for my soon-to-be-bike, i decided to find a bike that is 100% functional yet cost me <$50.





on july 15th it showed up. 40miles away, a fresh grad from berkeley was looking to clear some space out of his trailer park home. he posted two pics and two sentences about the bike, and that was all it took to grab my attention.

actual listing:
Road Master Pro Tour for sale - $35
I bought this one to ride in my school few years ago from another owner; however, in the end, I didn't ride it at all.

I will also throw in a free master lock ( U shape).
Just want to get rid of this junk out of my house. No low baller plz. Pick up only

i emailed him promptly. within a few minutes, he replied, and a time was setup to see the bike. he then took the craigslist listing down, as he was being overwhelmed with responses of people wanting to buy the bike. i was the lucky first to reply!

his name was phat, hey he was vietnamese, and he had just graduated from berkeley school of engineering with a mechanical engineering degree! what do you know, same as me (except uc irvine is no uc berkeley)

as i pulled up to his driveway i noticed that he was a very smiley fellow. we exchanged greetings and headed towards the bike. i rode it up and down the streets, and could tell that with a few adjustments this bike would run tip top. he said he just wanted to get rid of it because it’s been sitting for a while.

in random conversation i told him that i too hold a mechanical engineering degree. he asked me where i worked, and i told him a bank. “but i used to work in aerospace down in los angeles!” he said he'd been job hunting for 2 months (since graduation), and was getting nowhere. i could tell he was a bit beat up by the job search. i know his struggle. i assured him that something would come up, and that with his engineering degree he could do more than be an engineer.

i didn't have $35 dollars exactly, so i handed him $40 and told him "since i didn't bring 35 dollars exactly, will you take $40 for the bike and u-lock?" he smiled yet again and we went our ways.