wandering San Fran

"I dream as I walk through the moon my hood is so quiet I can hear the ants talk to each other"
Found next to a parking lot somewhere in the Mission district.


The text on the building down the laneway reads, "Heɐrt Sinktheship". This intrigues me.


This reminds me, strangely, of a series of moody black and white photos taken by my brother (the OB, actually) in Windsor. One was of a doorway labelled, "Baby Hotel". I'm not sure why one reminds me of the other. Perhaps if you begin your life in a Baby Hotel you end your days as an Odd Fellow. This in turn reminds me of my favorite overheard sentence at the conference. A Japanese scientist was explaining his numerical model of seafloor sediments and said, "We start with baby sands. Then, the baby sands grow."








I dragged MR around so I could photograph some street art over lunch time on Thursday. It was beautiful out and it was good to get outside. Some friends need to be encouraged to disengage from their computers or shop talk. Though I think he secretly thought if I was going to wander in that direction (with a laptop bag no less), that I was better off not going alone. I am more more of a city person than he. We didn't even venture that far away from the more polished neighbourhoods. I would have continued exploring, as it was broad daylight. I feel it is mainly important to be aware and to walk with purpose.




This was some sort of crumpled paper art installation in a window. I have this idea that almost anything can look fascinating if you repeat it. It becomes a fetish.


The vortex of paper was hard to capture, but when I saw the artist's statement, complete with equation (W = -Δ PE, or work is equal to the change in potential energy) I had to record it.


Then we had wildlife, architecture and the ubiquitous geometric crystal decoration. Could someone explain to me why contemporary art and illustration is infested with crystals? I mean I like group theory and think crystallography is nifty, but I don't get it. Though, I certainly enjoyed this hoarding:






If you watch the sidewalks in San Francisco, you can read about its history.



On Thursday I joined Jill and her former colleagues and alumni from Scripps (including KW, whom I know as a marine EM person) and we made the requisite cable car trip. You have to try this at least once after all, even if it is touristy. Plus, Fisherman's Wharf is a place you can arrive with a dozen scientists and get a table without a reservation. Lastly, the Scripps alumni missed sea lions. So we needed to go to the harbour.



I thought it was funny that I ended up in groups like 'people from Victoria', 'New Zealanders and/or people educated in Zurich' and 'people from Scripps (UCSD)' at various times, when really I don't actually belong in any of these categories, though I have some claim to the first. On the other hand, some Victorians think preferring Toronto is likely a sign of mental illness. I think to each her own.