My 1st Earthquake!!!

At 7:47AM Pacific Coast Time I was sitting at my computer, minding my own business, and eating breakfast when a 3.5 rumbler shook my pint glass of iced coffee. Work crews have been disturbing the peace and quiet levels at my residence for the past couple of weeks, so at first I thought some of the workers dropped some heavy machinery in the basement. A simple check of the USGS website proved differently. A 3.5er centered just a few miles from where I sat was the undeniable culprit. Candace, who was sitting down at the table with me felt the shaking. Ashley and Veronica, who were still in their beds didn't feel a thing.

The Bay Area is used to earthquakes and the only inconvenience that I read about was the BART subway system having minor delays so that the tracks could be checked. Other than that life goes on. For most people that live here today's quake will be just another in a long line of minor earthquake memories, but for me the sight and sound of ice gently slapping against the sides of my pint glass is not something I will soon forget. Welcome to California, more than a year later!

B2B and Yosemite

Bay to Breakers Sunday started like any other Sunday. Candace made a half gallon jug of gin and tonic, Chris, Ben, and I put on skin tight denim shorts and plaid tops before stuffing a handle of Jack into a backpack and heading out the door. Meanwhile Veronica, Ian, and Ashley were the proud owners of a walk of shame theme. High heels attached to handbags, smeared make-up, and messed up club attire matched meticulously with a handle of Jim Beam.

Any good road race competitor will have at least one goal. Ours was simple. To find our way home while completing approximately 2/7th of the actual race. Seems like a fairly simple and easy task, but not when you mix in booze with 119,993 other clowns, mythical creatures and pants-less wonders. Ben nearly got arrested for uncaging the urine monkey on a fence in Hayes Valley. I wasn't sure what to expect when the bicycle riding boys in blue told him to beat it. Chris was on a mission to lose his pants ever since we saw a group of people in their underwear yelling "just say no" to pants. He tried to tell everyone that the giant rip up the side of his denim booty shorts was a mistake, but I know him better than that. The gesture was an attempt at solidarity with the pants-less army that he wished to join. Candace on the other hand thought it'd be a great idea to take the final 1/3 of her drink out of a skull funnel. There might be some mathematical equation or some famous words from a philosopher that describes how we all arrived home safely that day. If you find either or both let me know.

Monday arrived before the last human dropping was cleaned off our neighbor's porch from the day before. For most that meant heading back to work. For me, Chris, and Ben the fun was just beginning. We were Yosemite bound before the sun reached its highest point in the sky. When arrived to rain, snow covered parts of the ground in the higher elevations and fog disguised the magical splendor that is the view from the valley floor.

We immediately set up camp and started asking around about out planned accent up Half Dome. Some people told us we wouldn't make it very far, but to spite those nay sayers we hit the trail loaded up with gear the very next morning. The climb was tough, but we didn't hit the snow until we were about 85% of the way to the top. That snow was packed down solid. We got all the way to the cables, which were laid down with no steps in place for safety. We decided to conclude our accent rather than try to scale the final 400' with our depleted shoulder strength and no real safety gear. I certainly plan on finishing off this piece of unfinished business very soon.

The rest of Chris and Ben's visit I'll sum up with a few words and phrases, you can fill in the rest of the blanks...lost camera, ouch my tooth, burritos to remember, red wine to forget, no need for sun block, sushi, Indian Food, and the Clifton comedy cashier of Yosemite.

Robogames, Mankend, and the travesty of TJ's

After a week and a half of going on a sojourn for just the right words, actually sitting down and writing, an mostly just editing, Robogames is just about in the books or on the air. The amount of work that goes into producing a single story for Crosscurrents still amazes me. Like a finely mixed cocktail the slow production process is one part I'm new at it and two parts no overwhelming sense of urgency for stories about robots. I guess the robots will show us one day when they take over the planet!

The toughest part of the entire process perhaps was voicing the piece. My voice is a real live wire. I wield a lot of authority and sound like an announcer even while speaking with friends and family. I really had to tone it down and talk at a level out of my comfort zone for this one. After an hour of throat clearing-water sipping excitement, I finally produced enough usable tracks to make the story. Note to the friends/family who I announce to on a regular basis, some voice acting classes would make the perfect birthday gift (November 18th, wink-wink).

Working in radio is clearly one of my favorite things to do. Even when a story takes a long time to produce or eats away from my free time I still enjoy the work. Something that is increasingly not my passion is working at the store. I've been there for over a year now and the needless stress is starting to get to me. I haven't learned anything new in a long time and the work is the same everyday. I realize most jobs are repetitive and not very exciting but as a reporter I have been trained to want more. I feel like something is lacking if I'm not learning something new every day, expressing myself through my work, and striving to get better at what I do. A working environment that doesn't engage those qualities is boring at best and soul crushing at worst.

Once in a while there are glimmers of light that come out of the retail darkness. Just last week a guy decided to wash himself under the nozzle in the store's parking lot. The man was stark naked at 6 o'clock Friday night bathing himself as customers came and went from the busy store. Management called the police, but in San Francisco citations for public nudity are not high on the to do list. The cop arrived about 10 minutes after the gentleman finished his leisurely shower session. Events like that don't happen often, so fortunately I have other outlets for my creativity and to blow off steam.

Enter Man-kend, its like a weekend where you do manly stuff. Candace and our roommate Veronica were both out of town last weekend. As a result Veronica's boyfriend, Ian and I decided to get some guys together. We started by catching the hit movie Kickass. Then made our way back to my place where we drank beer and started talking about the state science funding in America, military spending, British politics, the Arizona Immigration law, and finally strip clubs and boobies! You can probably spot in the previous chronologically written sentence where the beer started having its effect.

Soon we started a longer than necessary walk to The Pig and Whistle, a so-called British pub on Geary. The journey was longer than necessary because "We're men! So what the hell do we need a map for! The meal was very unmemorable partially because of the band of 60 year old rockers trying to recapture their youth through playing really annoying/terrible music at decibel levels scientifically proven to cancel out brain waves. One other thing made the meal less than notable, the food sucked! Even Tom, our token British friend, thought so!

After the meal that made us all hope for Amnesia we started walking down Geary looking for a place to throw some darts and watch some boxing. We found such a place at 5th and Geary, the Abbey Tavern. There we watched Mayweather defeat Mosley, had a couple of drinks, watched the current version of Ian have a dance with Ian 40 years from now, and started chucking darts! All in all a fun night. One that no farm animals were harmed in the making of, always a bonus!

Wondercon, my 1st San Francisco story

I am exhausted today and am stunned that I am actually back on a computer. I spent the past 2 days starring at a screen writing, editing, emailing, and finding just the right sound bites in an effort to put together my very 1st story for KALW News. I covered Wondercon, the Bay Area's big-daddy comic book convention. The story turned out fantastic. If you haven't already you should give it a listen, and then retweet it to all your friends.

Creating a 4 minute story is like nothing I've ever done before. Usually editors slash stories, cut them down to fit in a particular space. My editors wanted to add stuff to my story. Coming from WGAN, my sensibilities are to keep it short and cut out all superfluous words and information. Things are a bit different at KALW and it took a while but I'm finally warming up to the new and strange culture here. I'm off for the day now. I really need to get outside!

Two Great Friends Visit

My very good friends Chris and Holly visited from Maine last week. It was a whirlwind couple of days. Neither had been to San Francisco or the West Coast before and I was super anxious to show them around. This 30 year old man was sure to run those two mid-twenty somethings ragged for their 3 and a half day visit to The City.

They arrived on Thursday and once they were settled in their hotel I took them to the Full House house on Broderick Street, we then explored The Haight before hopping on a bus to the Castro. From there we grabbed some beers and sat in Dolores Park, did some dog and people watching before making our way to the Mission for a burrito.

The next day we met early at 8:30 in the heart of Civic Center plaza, we snagged a bus up to Alamo Square, walked to my house on Grove St, got in my car and drove to Ocean Beach, the headed over the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin Headlands, back to Golden Gate Park where we had a picnic outside the Conservatory of Flowers, we then saw some Buffalo, and laid down in the tulip garden next to a windmill. From there it was on to Polly Ann's for ice cream where Chris was the only one brave enough to let the giant wheel decide which flavor he would try. We enjoyed dinner and drinks that night at a cute little Italian place up on Nob Hill.

Saturday we met at the ferry depot for Alcatraz! After scoping out the rock and having PB&J's there, we checked out Fisherman's Warf, took a ride on the Cable Cars, visited Northbeach and finally Chinatown. It was a long day that started at about 9:30am and didn't end until close to midnight.

Sunday was the day Chris set aside to propose to Holly. She didn't know a thing about it and after some coy deception the day before I was able to "have Chris to myself" for the morning. As we were having breakfast, grabbing the rental car, and getting out hair hacked (and Chris had a lot of it after 91 days of growth). Candace and Holly enjoyed pedicures. After Candace, who did know about the big surprise, lead Holly to Twin Peaks where Chris and I were waiting for them. The problem here is Chris and I were just getting out of the rental car when the ladies drove by in my vehicle. Chris was nearly busted! Luckily Candace pointed to the amazing view and that captivated Holly's attention long enough for Chris and I to duck behind the wheel well. After a race up the stairs we waited for what seemed like forever at the top of the hill. When the ladies arrived Chris proposed to Holly and soon after she said yes and he recovered the ring that he dropped in the dirt, he slipped the dazzling ring onto her finger. We were then off to a nice lunch at Cliff House before they blew out of town enroute to the Central Valley countryside.

Vacations like these make me want a vacation from my vacation!

News Update

Check out the latest story I helped out with. I interviewed the people in the park at the beginning of the story.

Also here's my Daily Digest for Thursday...

Beats cherry flavored Pepto-Bismol in a national taste test...

World & National

Chilie can't get a break as 7.2 quake hits on inauguration day...

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/03/11/breaking-strong-quake-reported-in-chile/?hpt=T1

National jobs bill may help avoid city layoffs...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/11/MNM21CDP5U.DTL&tsp=1

Students held captive in Iran with E.T. are allowed to phone home...

http://www.kcbs.com/localnews/Detained-Hikers-Allowed-to-Call-Home/6545132

California...

Some state workers get raises, while others deal with furloughs and pay cuts...

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/03/11/2598495/california-agencies-pay-cuts-hit.html

Newsom draws Gray Davis comparison...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/11/BAQB1CDQBD.DTL

The Bay...

Evidence withheld in Santa Clara Sex Crimes cases...

http://www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/ci_14651293

New Bay Bridge eastern span may open before finished...and you thought the S Curves built on Native grave sites were dangerous...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/11/BAKS1CDUBF.DTL

SF...

New School assignment policy goes into effect next year...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/11/BARG1CDQ7Q.DTL&tsp=1

Radio and Teaching Radio

On Monday I started a broadcast consultant job in Fairfax, CA for The Environmental Education Council of Marin. They're a nonprofit group and part of their mission is to teach teens about protecting their environment, natural resources, and sustainability through journalism internships. More specifically the interns interview people in their community on the above listed issues, then produce 2 minute radio stories.

I did enjoy my first day on the job. There is certainly a lot of work to do on the organization and technology fronts, but I left Monday feeling excited and confident that I can make an immediate positive impact on the program as it continues to expose young people to some of the most important issues of our time.

I feel like I'm starting to play a bigger role at KALW news. Last Thursday I interviewed students and teachers as they protested state education cuts. This week I talked to city park fans about what they will do when one of the widely used parks shuts down for a while. That story should air Thursday of this week.

I'm also keeping up with my weekly digests...My internet research from last week...
***

Today Federal regulators investigate the Day of Action's monopoly over California media coverage...

Nation

Gay Community given no rights in immigration...

http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/Letters-from-our-Readers-Gays-lesbians-given-no-rights-in-immigration-86283767.html

California

Edukasion (what do they need $ for?) protests today...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/03/03/state/n145604S63.DTL&tsp=1

Governor tries to iron out issues ahead of education protests...

http://www.kcbs.com/localnews/Schwarzenegger-Meets-With-Higher-Education-Leaders/6492001

More racist markers sprout at UC campuses...

http://www.ktvu.com/news/22733386/detail.html

Court rules against state budget cuts...

http://www.ktvu.com/politics/22733929/detail.html

Water situation getting betterSierra Snowpack above average...

http://www.ktvu.com/bartshooting/22731356/detail.html

Bay Area

Shutting down NUMMI plant will cost us...

http://kron.com/News/ArticleView/tabid/298/smid/1126/ArticleID/5170/reftab/536/Default.aspx

San Francisco

Muni Driver's family can stay in U.S....

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/03/BAIO1CAD3J.DTL
******

That's all for now. Next week Chris and Holly come to town!!!