Tuesday, September 29th
After my usual mega-mug of coffee I spent most of Tuesday doing web work, answering emails and backing up files and wasting time on the phone with MUNI.
Bruce is set up to only make one cup of coffee, dashing it down and the heading out the door. I have the luxury of a more leisurely start to my day. I usually drink several cups of java in the AM and using Bruce's one cup method was a hassle. So, on my previous foray up to the
Mission I stopped in and looked at several discount places to see it I could find something to jury rig together to make the equivalent of a pot of coffee - without having to buy a coffee pot. I found nothing at the CheapJunk stores so I stopped in at
Thrift Town, went upstairs to the kitchen wares section hoping to find what I was looking for.
I did.
Click on the photos below for a larger image.
Here is my custom coffee kit: A "Six Flags over Georgia" insulated mega-mug (2006 model) and a vintage, gold, insulated cold beverage cup which were so popular in the 70's. I love these things and have picked up several on various trips. All this for only $2.29.
Now I could make a nice "pot" of coffee which would stay hot while I ruminated out the window and pecked away at the key board.
After my coffee I decided to give the MUNI help line a call so I could figure out what busses I needed to take over to Grand View Park. I also needed info on where to get a MUNI FastPass and transit map. I immediately ran into problems when I called them. Not only could I not use touch tone to navigate, none of my voice commands were recognized. I tried and tried and finally hung up in disgust.
It finally dawned on me the problem with the voice recognition was probably the device I was speaking into.
So, I switched over to the other rotary phone - which looked somewhat newer and tried again. Voila! Voice commands recognized. But, unfortunately I kept going round and round and round and getting nowhere with the voice menu selections. And there was no way to get an human without a touch tome selection. Again, I hung up in disgust.
It was then I realized, as my last resort, I would have to use the TracFone I had brought along for the trip. So, I whipped it out with a snappy flourish (I had been practicing so as to be able to emulate all the Cool People) and dialed again. I was finally able to navigate through the maze of options which got me to a human who could, hopefully answer my questions.
As soon as I asked the person on the other end of the line about how to get from 18th and Arkansas to 16th Ave and Moraga I knew there was going to be a problem as all I heard was silence. Then, finally some explanations about how my route would need to structured so as to get my destination. No kidding... I knew it was going to be circuitous, and it was. It would require getting the 22 Fillmore to Market Street, then the L Taraval over to Park Presidio and then getting the 28 19th bus and disembarking at 17th and Moraga. Whew...
Later when I looked at my newly purchased map this turned out not to be the most direct route. Instead, of the L L Taraval, I could take the N Judah and get off at 16th Avenue and Judah and be just a few block from the Park. Taking the L Taraval would have sent me way south of where I needed to go. Isn't all of this just fascinating?
OK, now where do I get a FastPass and Transit map? It turns out quite a few places sell fast passes, but the maps are little harder to come by. Finally, it was decided I should go to the SFMTA customer service center at 11 South Van Ness where I could get both. My plans that afternoon were to walk down to Capricorn Coffee then to Tadich Grill to meet Ed for supper. So, I added the SFMTA to my itinerary.
Prior to heading downtown I went up to Farley's twice to upload files and check my email. On my second trip up there I stopped at Hazel's Kitchen which is right next door and got a BLT with Avocado on lite rye. It was $7.50 and a large, but not huge sandwich. Hazel's has an arrangement which allows you to eat your food at Farley's, so I took my brown bag over and grabbed a table inside. The weather had changed and it was in the mid-50s and very windy. Too windy to sit outside and stay warm. I enjoyed the late lunch and then headed back to the apartment, reorganized, and got out the door around 4:00.
By the time I had walked down to Capricorn Coffees is was 20 minutes after their closing time. Shit! I had forgotten they closed at 4:00.
I continued on down 10th street and noticed this tile mosaic in the entry way at #291.
A bit further down 10th street is St. Joseph's Catholic Church and school. In 2007 part of this complex was in use. Now, it is all fenced and boarded up. One has to wonder what will become of this fine old church. Will it end up being demolished?
This is what I saw at the SFMTA after I walked past the guard station and into the service area. Great.
Step one, go to the "Start Here" window, tell them what your business is and get your ticket. Then wait. Some of the people sitting there looked like they had been there for a while and I wondered if I would end up looking like that.
But, for whatever reason, my number was called in about 15 minutes and I got my FastPass and map and was out the door.
I headed down Market street towards the Embarcadero, which was about 2 miles. I amused myself along way by taking pictures. Like this one of these Twitter Twits.
This guy was working on, what looked like to me, a very detailed rendering of some of the buildings.
This is the plaza and garden at 555 Market. Formerly the Standard Oil Building. It was here, in 1968, my mom took a job as a secretary in order to support her 4 worthless sons who were busy sleeping until noon and hanging out all day getting stoned.
I reached my goal, Tadich Grill, about a half hour ahead of time. While waiting I snapped this shot of a building across the street. It may not be apparent, but the white, patterned lines are reflections in the glass from a building across the way.
This is just inside the door of Tadich. The photo in no way does justice to the place. It is over 100 years old, and looks it. Beautiful old woodwork everywhere. The long, sweeping bar is famous. This place was doing business in the gold rush days.
Our dinners. Ed had the broiled Halibut steak and I had the pan fried Snapper. We both got chowder also. Ed got red, I got white. We washed it all down with pints of Sierra Pale Ale and Molson. Quite tasty. And Ed was very good company. This was our first meeting and it was a memorable on. Thanks, Ed!
NOTE: Taditch overcharged me 20 bucks on my bill. I have called them twice to have the problem taken care of, but so far, no refund has been forthcoming.
After dinner we walked down to Market street to the subway station. We got there just as the N Judah had pulled in and we hopped on board. I would ride it up to Church Street and then catch the 22 Fillmore back to the apartment. Ed would continue on until he reached his destination out in the Avenues.
This is where I got off the N Judah. It was underground all way to Church Street where it surfaced. As soon as we came out of the tunnel Ed said; "There's your bus!" The 22 was sitting there but I no sooner got off the N than it took off. So I spent the next 20 minutes people watching and snapping some pics while I waited for the next 22 to arrive.
This is the intersection where the N Judah emerged from the tunnel. Looking up at the maze of overhead feed wires for the trains I could not help but wonder how all this got figured out.
There was lots of activity at this intersection. It is just a block away to a very busy Market and Church where there always seems to be the hustle and bustle of Big City life.
