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Cities, Continued

Rest well, Dr. Scholl…

In response to a request for elaboration about yesterday’s list of cities I might like (or hate) to live in, I’ll offer the following bits of info on what I do or don’t like in a city. And if some of this sounds familiar, that’s because it is, but I don’t think the original essay is posted anymore…

I like cities with a distinct urban “feel’, but this is a subjective thing. Some people think “urban” means Times Square in New York or Union Square in SF, but I’m more inclined to give that designation to ares like the Outer Mission or Brooklyn. I like a little grit and a certain reality. I don’t do tourist traps nor malls…

I also like cities to have texture. By texture, I’m not referring to successive waves of gentrification which have turned interesting working class neighborhoods into cutesy little boutique zones. Texture refers to a mix of building ages and types. It means things like diners and hardware stores rather than shops selling nothing but ironic greeting cards…

I don’t like places which, like so much of the sunbelt, appear to be nothing but stucco and plastic, all of it seemingly erected last week. I’m not fond of “upscale” places, nor of large and visible “gay neighborhoods”. These places tend to be exceedingly boring and bland and superficial, and full of similarly boring and bland and superficial people I don’t want to share the sidewalk with…

I like places with enough of a literate and collegiate presence to support good bookstores and good, cheap restaurants, but without that annoying and overpowering “college town” syndrome. That’s also why I tend to like bigger cities; they can absorb a large university presence without being overwhelmed by it…

I like places where transit is a viable option, but not the only one. I’d like not to have to drive, but I’d also like to be able to do so when I feel like it. I like some density, but not so much that it makes completing the simplest task a nightmarish challenge…

I am completely unconcerned with being around a large “gay community”, nor do I care much about “cultural opportunities” like the opera, the ballet, etc. I judge a city based on its good and cheap restaurants rather than its four-star “fine dining” experiences. I want a five dollar meal, not a five dollar cup of coffee. And I’m more worried about having an easily-accessible Target or Wal-Mart than a Macy’s or a Bloomie’s…

And when I get bored with the city I’m in, I’d like there to be lots more within easy driving distance…

Hope that begins to clear it all up…

Randomly Wednesday

Less than three days now until the great Pacific Northwest excursion. A whole week with Mark and none of it in San Francisco. Needless to say, I’m excited. I may not come back…

This trip is a pretty significant event for me. I always travel alone. Always. And the fact that I’ve found someone with whom I’m sufficiently comfortable to take a week-long road trip is a pretty major thing. There’s no telling what I might feel comfortable enough to do after this…

And on an unrelated note, all the last-minute programming changes at UPN and The WB are making my life a living hell lately. It would be nice to get through one entire week without having to make major changes to my station sites on 48 hours notice. Especially since I’m going on vacation and will be very annoyed by the prospect next week…

Last but not least, I’m about to go satellite and finally sever the last of my ties with the pond scum at AT&T. I imagine that will start yet another wave of telemarketing calls (this time from the cable division) which will invariably receive very rude responses. I think the last time they called me about long distance, I replied that I wouldn’t use their service again if the only other option were carrier pigeons…

Home

Home safe and sound. Lots of pictures and trivia to follow. But that will come later…

Love ya, baby. Did you ever consider becoming a long distance truck driver?

Post-trip

Four months into the year and I’m finally no longer catching myself typing “2001” every few days or so. I think this is a very good thing…

  • Many things on my mind tonight, some of them weighty and some of them less so. I’m a little worn out after yesterday’s 820-mile drive (even though I wasn’t driving) so I’m not going to try to dive into them. But I’ll offer some highlights for later inclusion. Maybe…
  • After this trip, I’m convinced that Seattle is not only a more liveable city than San Francisco, but also a more attractive one. It looks better from a distance, and now I also realize that it looks better close up.
  • Portland is no slouch either.
  • I really desperately need not to live in San Francisco anymore. And soon. I know I’ve been singing this song for a couple of years, but the music’s getting much louder lately.
  • I was a little apprehensive about traveling with a companion. I needn’t have been. It rather makes me question that vow of solitude I took many years ago.
  • This semi-annual migration to and from Daylight Savings Time is just plain stupid. Arizona and Indiana have the right idea; they never bought into it.
  • I’m rather excited about this.

Enough. Gonna go read one of my new books for a while. Trip pictures and stories may start tomorrow if I don’t have to write any rants about how things went to hell at work while I was gone…

Back to Work

Why yes, now that you mention it, things DID go to hell at work while I was gone. But not quite as badly as I expected. One of my co-workers at least has the exact same allergy-generated laryngitis and phlegmy throat thing I developed mid-trip. And here I thought I was special for having gone to Seattle and picked up some special malady uniquely related to the vegetation of the Pacific Northwest…

Speaking of which, Seattle seems to have its own Embarcadero Freeway to deal with…

And thanks to all of you who are allowing my vacation to last just a little bit longer. Only one piece of legitimate email so far today, and even it didn’t require a response. Wow…

Insomnia and Soccer

Two insomniac nights in a row. Maybe it’s because, after 37 years, I somehow finally got used to sleeping curled up next to someone after doing so all last week. Anyway, tonight I stop working by 8:00, plop down on the couch, watch Tippi Hedren bat away at those birds for a couple of hours, and go to bed shortly afterward…

Working on a new site. The great thing about freelance web design is that you get to learn a little bit about a lot of widely diverging topics, from the Gilmore Girls to Brazilian soccer to pan-channel wall signage…

Malls

Seems another city is engaging in a discussion about removing its ill-advised downtown pedestrian mall from the 1960s. They’re dropping like flies all over the country, from Winston-Salem to Chicago, as municipalities realize this well-intentioned attempt to compete with the suburbs actually did little more than make Main Street more desolate than it already was. And Fresno’s is even among the liveliest of the survivors…

But San Francisco drags out the notion of closing Market Street once a year or so. Since we’re so “different” and “special” here, it’s naturally assumed that any idea which has failed miserably everywhere else in the country will magically and mystically succeed here if it costs a lot of money and inconveniences a lot of people. And especially if it involves making the city look just a little bit more like Disneyland…

Yes, I know I’ve written about this before, but I never cease to be amazed by this san Francisco smugness which says that we can never learn from the mistakes of other cities. We’re only allowed to MAKE the mistakes so other cities can learn from US. Some would call this visionary. Some would just call it wasteful arrogance…

Interesting time-waster for today. Cool photos. Many of which are disintegrating…

Productive

Productive day. I got a lot done on the new client site which is this week’s project, and a lot of updating done for another client. And I now have my video masters back, so you will see pictures of Seattle, Portland, and points in between soon. But probably not until after the weekend, because I’m off to Fresno in the morning…

One sentence fragment. Two sentences starting with conjunctions. Bad first paragraph. Bad second one too…

On a semi-unrelated note, I’ve decided that I photograph (perhaps “videograph” would be a better word) really badly in anything other than incandescent light…

The Weekend

Highlights from the weekend just past:

  • An actual barbecue in an actual yard with an actual kiddie pool.
  • Sitting in the living room with Mark naked, eating ice cream, and listening to Laurie Anderson.
  • Other things it wouldn’t be gentlemanly to talk about.

    Jarring experience of the weekend just past:

    • Getting in the car in at 4:00 in Fresno, with a temperature of 90F and getting out of the car three hours later in SF to a temperature of 50F with severe winds. While wearing shorts…