arfink Posted February 10, 2013 Author Posted February 10, 2013 More pics! See them all at the link: https://picasaweb.google.com/105078442860410937744/SanFranDays3And4?authuser=0&feat=directlink OK, so the past couple days have been fun. Yesterday was our biggest day yet. Yesterday was our trip to San Jose. We went with Linda's friend Teresa. We went to the Tech museum and tried out their jetpack simulator and a few other things. It was a grand time. We also saw their Cathedral and went out for a very good lunch. Then we went back to san francisco on the train and went to the shrine of Saint Francis and chinatown and the golden gate bridge. It was a fine and dandy thing, until we tried to ride the bus back from the bridge. That was icky. The buses were packed full of people, with every seat filled, and an additional 20 people jammed into the aisles and door stairs. And apparently it's like that every day around that time. Well, towards the end I was forced to stand, and the driver was really terrible. I got carsick pretty bad. I didn't throw up, but nearly so. Linda felt so bad for me, and was cooing and fussing over me the whole evening when I was really just fine. When we got back home and I had a few minutes to stop being sick and have some quiet time, then I made us some really good mexican food for dinner. Then today we went up San Bruno mountain all the way to the top. I found out that where we climbed to the other day was only halfway up the mountain. The very top is a thousand feet above sea level. It was bristling with TV and radio antennas too, and had excellent views all around. Our second trip up the mountain:
arfink Posted February 10, 2013 Author Posted February 10, 2013 (edited) More pics! See them all at the link: https://picasaweb.google.com/105078442860410937744/SanFranDays3And4?authuser=0&feat=directlink OK, so the past couple days have been fun. Yesterday was our biggest day yet. Yesterday was our trip to San Jose. We went with Linda's friend Teresa. We went to the Tech museum and tried out their jetpack simulator and a few other things. It was a grand time. We also saw their Cathedral and went out for a very good lunch. Then we went back to san francisco on the train and went to the shrine of Saint Francis and chinatown and the golden gate bridge. It was a fine and dandy thing, until we tried to ride the bus back from the bridge. That was icky. The buses were packed full of people, with every seat filled, and an additional 20 people jammed into the aisles and door stairs. And apparently it's like that every day around that time. Well, towards the end I was forced to stand, and the driver was really terrible. I got carsick pretty bad. I didn't throw up, but nearly so. Linda felt so bad for me, and was cooing and fussing over me the whole evening when I was really just fine. When we got back home and I had a few minutes to stop being sick and have some quiet time, then I made us some really good mexican food for dinner. Then today we went up San Bruno mountain all the way to the top. I found out that where we climbed to the other day was only halfway up the mountain. The very top is a thousand feet above sea level. It was bristling with TV and radio antennas too, and had excellent views all around. The train was quite nice, smooth, and fast! Standing outside the museum with Linda. I have video of Linda trying this out. I'll post it soon. :) The San Jose Cathedral was quite nice. Inside was beautifully painted and with wonderful statues and sculpture and glasswork. Out for lunch! We found this cool looking bridge right at sunset. It's supposedly all famous and that... ;) And then, after our hellish Muni ride, dinner! Edited February 10, 2013 by arfink
arfink Posted February 10, 2013 Author Posted February 10, 2013 (edited) http://youtu.be/97NTas5gg6Q Sorry about the double post, the phorum is being stupid. I took this video of Linda using the jetpack sim. :) Also some pics that Linda took: Old car = awesome. I played around with some turbines. And drove a tiny submarine around their aquarium tank. And the bridge was fun. :) Edited February 10, 2013 by arfink
arfink Posted February 12, 2013 Author Posted February 12, 2013 Tonight I did some experimenting with acrylic paints. I made this as my first attempt. I have more pics from today, and a story, which I will post soon.
AnneLine Posted February 13, 2013 Posted February 13, 2013 OK, cough up the rest of the trip, ARFink. I know you aren't in SF any more.....
arfink Posted February 13, 2013 Author Posted February 13, 2013 (edited) Ok, time for the remainder of the story. So Friday was our trip to San Jose and the getting-sick-on-Muni and on Saturday we were too burnt out to do much. We stayed home and did some lazy stuff. Linda and I had a Skype hangout with "B," and then another hangout (on G+) with Brian and Missy. We made some risotto for dinner, and on the side some chard that had been cooked with garlic and bacon. It was very strange to me, but also wonderfully delicious. On Sunday I didn't get any good pictures because I went out with a camera that had no SD card in it! :facepalm: Which was a pain because St. Dominic's really was the best of all the churches we saw, the most beautiful. I got a couple cell phone shots, but they're so blurry and dark you can't see a thing. I made tacos for Mike and Linda, and they were passed with flying colors by Mike, who declared I was spoiling him horribly with my cooking. Linda said I wasn't allowed to go home. :) On Monday I started with some web design and tech work for Linda (hey, I gotta earn my keep, right?) and then in the afternoon we went out to Golden Gate Park. This time I remembered to bring my camera! There were lots of ducks. And geese. People feed them most sumptuously around the park. We walked the trails around the little ponds. I knew the bustling streets of San Francisco were always just around the next bend, or on the other side of a hill or clump of trees, but the inside of the park was peaceful and secluded. We also were surprised to find an egret! He didn't seem to mind having his picture taken. Somehow we managed to get the timing for sunset just absolutely perfect as we got to the edge of the park, where they have a real honest-to-goodness working Dutch windmill. After touring the park we walked a short way to the beach, which I'll have to put pics into the next post because Phatmass won't let me post all the pictures in one shot. Edited February 13, 2013 by arfink
arfink Posted February 13, 2013 Author Posted February 13, 2013 (edited) Thanks EmilyAnne, now I can get the rest of my pics in. The walk from the park to the beach was very short, we just came out of the park, walked across the street, and we were on the beach. The beach was very creatively named "Ocean Beach." Yes indeed, says it right there on the sign. :hehe: I climbed up the dunes before going down to the beach, so I could see in all directions. There was just a teensy bit of fog, and it looked very cool. Linda didn't feel like climbing though. Of course, we couldn't have timed our arrival at the beach any better if we had tried. We got some really spectacular views. We walked along looking for some shells (we didn't find very many) until the moon started to rise, and then went back for a Muni ride to dinner (to a place that had truly wonderful burgers... the spot in San Jose we had gone to on Friday had burgers which were mediocre at best, and Linda and I agreed this other place was FAR better) and then home. When we got back I did some packing, and we painted with acrylics. (see earlier post for that) On Tuesday we had some breakfast and I went to the airport for the long flight home. It was a truly wonderful trip. I'd happily go back again any day. Edited February 13, 2013 by arfink
arfink Posted February 14, 2013 Author Posted February 14, 2013 Happy St. Cyril and Methodius day. Err, I guess it's Valentine's day too.
arfink Posted February 14, 2013 Author Posted February 14, 2013 ^^ This guy's wet-plate photography work is phenomenal. He's not a man of Christian faith, but he is a man of faith all the same. :) More videos here: http://ianruhter.tumblr.com/
arfink Posted February 14, 2013 Author Posted February 14, 2013 Well, the "battlestation" has been shined up, I got to confession and mass yesterday, I've got some food and sleep in me, and I'm starting to feel like a normal happy bunny again. :bounce: And to top it off, I found this: https://soundcloud.com/treasureseason/mushy-leaves GO LISTEN, I PROMISE IT'S NOT WEIRD!
brianthephysicist Posted February 15, 2013 Posted February 15, 2013 Well, the "battlestation" has been shined up, I got to confession and mass yesterday, I've got some food and sleep in me, and I'm starting to feel like a normal happy bunny again. :bounce: And to top it off, I found this: https://soundcloud.com/treasureseason/mushy-leaves GO LISTEN, I PROMISE IT'S NOT WEIRD! That was really good. I'd like to chill with that on a nice gentle sunny day.
arfink Posted February 15, 2013 Author Posted February 15, 2013 More tunes! This one has got my artsy-brain-bits going at high speed here. :) https://soundcloud.com/housemusic/sweet-by-au5-auratic-i-y-f-f-e
xTrishaxLynnx Posted February 16, 2013 Posted February 16, 2013 Hey, Tony, I thought you would appreciate this little bit of ingenuity (assuming it works; I've not tried it.) http://cheezburger.com/7026443008
brianthephysicist Posted February 16, 2013 Posted February 16, 2013 Hey, Tony, I thought you would appreciate this little bit of ingenuity (assuming it works; I've not tried it.) http://cheezburger.com/7026443008 The principle definitely works, only thing I would worry about is whether or not it's bright enough to make it over that distance.
arfink Posted February 16, 2013 Author Posted February 16, 2013 Hey, Tony, I thought you would appreciate this little bit of ingenuity (assuming it works; I've not tried it.) http://cheezburger.com/7026443008 Yeah that is really cool. :) I suspect this would work best with very brightly backlit screens, otherwise you'd need to be in a pitch dark room.
xTrishaxLynnx Posted February 16, 2013 Posted February 16, 2013 Well even if you had to put it fairly close to the "screen" and deal with it being a bit smaller, it beats buying a projector for a couple hundred+ dollars, I think... especially if you're only going to use it a few times. And a dark room is great for viewing slides, videos, movies, etc.
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