Magic Spot Flowing

Doing my 101 post about MoAD, I realized that I’m quite behind on updating some of my goals, so I moved the original post over and updated it with my progress — which still isn’t as much as I was hoping.

I also think I need some way of telling which goals are in progress or partially completed, because it’s depressing looking at the fact that I’ve only completed 15% of the goals and 30% of the time has passed. I was quite surprised to find it’s nearly a year since I started my 101. I’m still finding it somewhat motivating to look at the list, but less so. I’m realizing now that only part of motivation comes from seeing good ideas in front of you. The rest seems to come from somewhere that’s a bit more intermittent for me! But I’m hoping to do a few more soon.

I’m also still enjoying things that I decide to do outside the 101, just because I feel like it. I bought a jigsaw puzzle last week and am more than half done with it. I’m really enjoying it; doing a puzzle like that is a kind of meditation for me, and I like the way you can take a methodical approach and things gradually fit together, yet there’s some randomness involved, too. I’ve also made a lot of new recipes that have nothing to do with the recipes I listed, or with Vegan with a Vengeance, yet have still been cool and exploratory, like Kasha Varnishkes and “Green-wa” from Yellow Rose Recipes. I’m working on becoming a volunteer at the Peninsula Humane Society, although it’s turning out to be a challenge to fit it with my schedule. Depending on how that works out, I think I might use it in place of tutoring as a general ‘become a volunteer and help out’ goal.

Anyway, a couple of major updates:

#4: Completed! I didn’t wimp out, I baked treats for work for every month that had a birthday. I’m not doing it again this year because it’s kind of stressful, though it was great for my baking skills and really rewarding to have things so well-received.
#48: Completed! I’ve gotten really involved with SVBC (PBPC re-aligned with SVBC and is now the Peninsula Committee thereof, which is still most of the meetings I go to), doing rides (I even organized my first group ride, another thing I was really happy about outside the 101), participating in meetings and events, and serving on bike-related committees. I like the people that I meet, and I love having cyclists to chat with about the common issues. And best of all I’m making Silicon Valley a better place for cycling.
#62: One good thing about getting a head injury is that it finally motivated me to go to the doctor, and I scheduled an appointment for a physical while I was there, so, this will be completed in a few weeks!
#69: Finally got a digital camera! It was a gift, but it was one I requested specifically. It’s nice to be able to just take a few snapshots whenever I want (as long as I remember the camera).
#77: I mentioned learning to knit, but failed to note that it is goal #77 on the list. I’m now working on a scarf.
Finally,
#96: Save $100 every month this year. I did this! And I even saved more, though how I don’t know, since I rather fell off the budget wagon. That’s a goal that, while completed, doesn’t seem to have solved the fundamental problem. : ) The money is now happily baking in a high-interest savings account.

In recent, active progress:

#8 VwaV recipes: I made a couple more over the holidays and have plans to make White Bean and Roasted Garlic Soup soon
#25 Recently visited Wunderlich County Park (San Mateo County) — delightful place!
#35 Museums (MoAD was #2)
#97 Watching Buffy (on S3 now)
#99 Read Someone Comes to Town, Somone Leaves Town
#100 European History (maxed out my two biographies by reading about Queen Victoria and Mary Queen of Scots)

I’m having one of those “peculiarly wide awake at 5am” times, so I thought I’d do my first 101 post on this blog, for visiting the Museum of the African Diaspora this weekend. It’s a nice place, but I didn’t realize that their current exhibition wasn’t quite current yet, and it’s a very small museum (because it’s new), so I ended up a bit disappointed. The exhibit will be called Africa.com (though their title is AFRICA.dot.COM, but I can’t help reading that as “Africa dot dot dot com”), about communication from prehistoric times to now. I hope to go back for it.

They did have some interesting content, and I liked the fact that they have three different aspects of diaspora that they focus on: the origin and spead of humans out of Africa, the modern diaspora during colonial and slave-holding times, and the current diaspora through emigration. They had some informative videos about food, some focusing on dishes (gumbo, beans and rice), and some on a particular food (peanuts, greens, yams). There was also a lot of information about African-influenced music, including some material about symphonic and choral music that I particularly liked.

We also watched a longer video about Toussaint L’Ouverture, a person who was entirely new to me.

Besides it being small, some of the material shows low production quality, which was probably the most disappointing aspect. Lots of weird superimposed animations. Photoshop effect isn’t quite the right word, but whatever the equivalent for video is. And the longer video had a lot of faux drama at the expense of conveying more information. The real story is dramatic enough; I didn’t really appreciate the faux drama.

They also have a nice museum store. I spent a long time looking at What the World Eats while my mom checked out bracelets. And the photomosaic of the African child that is their logo is reproduced large so that you can see it across the street in its entirety, but you can also see all the photos up close, which was really cool. The museum definitely has potential.

Somehow I managed to miss a few comments that had gone in for moderation. They should be visible now. Comments, yay!

Just a reminder: comment here at the site, not on the feed on LiveJournal. I’m not notified about comments on the feed, and they’ll disappear in a few weeks when the syndicated post expires. Just enter your name and email in the comment form (email does not appear! I promise!) and a comment, and hit post, and I swear I’ll be more timely about approval.

On the subject of meta, the label for the drawer where we keep the labelmaker at work is ‘metalabel’.

Further followup on my post-accident doings:

I never did find Patrick, not that I know what I would do if I did. Tell him to get a light? Ask him to pay me back for my copays?

Because I did end up going to the doctor again. I’ve had a chronic headache since about a week after the accident, and I’ve been sleeping about 150% of normal. The headache is nothing severe, but enough that I’ve sometimes had a hard time doing stuff. I can’t exert myself that much because it makes it worse. I can hike and bike about 5 miles before it really starts bugging me, so it’s not that severe, but I generally don’t even feel like biking at all and walking I prefer to keep to under a mile unless it’s something nice like hiking in the hills.

According to the doctor, I have mild Post-Concussive Syndrome, so I guess I had an unrecognized minor concussion. She said I should take ibuprofen and keep things on the calm side for now, and it should be better in a week or two. Yuck. Advil is good stuff, though.

This is super cool.

Type in “{City} Caltrain” in Google Maps where X is a city name with a Caltrain station and you get a map with a pic of the station, indications of the time of next 6 trains, their type (Bullet, Limited, Local), and their final destination (SF, SJ, Tamien, or Gilroy). Pretty goshdarn awesome in a world that needs more awesomeness.

Some of the non-city names work too, like 22nd St or San Antonio, but others don’t, like California Ave and Tamien, which do bring up the station location and snapshot but only bring up bus and light rail info, respectively. Still awesome!

The man himself speaks.

Keep emailing or calling your Senators.

From Glenn Greenwald, after the Judiciary committee version (no immunity) was tabled:
The pro-immunity, pro-warrantless eavesdropping Democrats: Rockefeller, Pryor, Inouye, McCaskill, Landrieu, Salazar, Nelson (FL), Nelson (NE), Mikulski, Carper, Bayh, and Johnson. Neither Clinton nor Obama bothered to show up for any of this.

And they’re going to provide leadership to us in the next four years? Really?

If any of your Senators are the people listed above (or you once lived in that state, or you’re just looking for more people to email) then try these nitwit non-Democrats.

Greenwald also sums up why I’ve just completely lost my patience with these ‘Democrats’ in Washington.

“Democrats find themselves in the same corner they were in last summer: on the one hand their base demands they block expanded domestic spying powers for the Bush Administration; on the other, they can’t risk looking soft on terrorism, especially nine months before national elections. Senate majority leader Harry Reid is angling for another month’s extension of the PAA, but that would only give the Republicans a third bite at the apple in late February….”

Here we have a perfect expression of the most self-destructive Democratic disease which they seem unable to cure. More than anything, they fear looking “weak.” To avoid this, they “cave” and surrender and capitulate and stand for nothing. As a result, they are, as here, endlessly described in the media as “caving” and surrendering. As a result, they look (and are) weak. It’s a self-destructive cycle that has no end.

Until we elect some Democrats who don’t do this, I suppose. I swear, we need a litmus test of our own, only it’ll be based on the Constitution. “Sorry, Mr. Rockefeller, Mrs. Feinstein — you can’t run for office as a Democrat if you don’t believe in the Fourth Amendment.”

This is The Road. The Road is where cars and other vehicles travel. You are pedestrians, you’re walking in beautiful, safe Menlo Park. We have sidewalks here. On both sides of the road. Nice and smooth. Please use them. Please do not act like I’m in your way when I’m traveling legally on the road. I’m not going to hit you, but you don’t belong in the road, and you don’t have an invisible force field around you, so I’m going to indicate that you are traveling hazardously, possibly using my bell or horn. Just in case maybe it actually occurs to you, after said indication, that 1) this is The Road, and 2) someone else might hit you, even if I didn’t.

Yes, I’m a frequent pedestrian. Yes, I walk in the road, occasionally. Going the right way, as near to the side as possible, after checking that there’s no traffic coming. Or crossing, preferably at an intersection, after checking to see that cars and bicycles are either absent or aware of my presence and stopped or clearly planning to stop. There are times and places to use the road. The middle of the road, randomly, walking like a drunk person? No. The bike lane, because you’re just too cool and fast to run on the sidewalk a foot away? No. These are not times and places to use the road.

And for counterbalance, my letter to Mr. Roadshow, which hasn’t been published (yet — come on, Mr. Richards, it was a well-written letter on a relevant topic, and you didn’t publish any other letter of the same type — you ought to drop it in!)

Dear Mr. Roadshow,

Drivers: Allow pedestrians their legal right-of-way at intersections, especially when turning right. Stop before you turn. Remember, just because the intersection doesn’t have painted crosswalk lines doesn’t mean it is not a crosswalk. Pedestrians may cross at any intersection unless otherwise indicated by a sign. Come to a complete stop (not the famous California rolling stop) at stop signs and allow pedestrians who arrived first to cross before you go. Pay attention to your surroundings. And don’t wait for the next Drive the Speed Limit Day to SLOW DOWN. Speed is lethal.

Guys, it’s time for action on FISA again. NOW. TODAY. I was on blog silence last time this came up, but it’s time again. Start with Glenn Greenwald for a decent overview of the politics. There should be a link in there somewhere explaining the principles too, if you’re not already familiar with the fact that the NSA spied on Americans without warrants, and the telecoms companies (mostly) spinelessly caved and cooperated, despite the fact that it’s completely illegal. Now the telecoms want to be saved from their own idiocy and the NSA wants to keep wiretapping us without warrants. I say no way. Write to your Senators, and Senators Reid (pro-spying) and Dodd (willing to risk a ton of political capital and filibuster any bill with immunity provisions), as well as Sens. Obama and Clinton, who are doing fuck all to help Dodd here because they are more interested in holding office than in doing something with it.

Here’s my letter to Reid. I am more than a little pissed off at him. I resisted using the word “toady” in the letter, but only just.

Senator Reid,

[signed]

After seeing quite a few cyclists out tonight without lights, I suddenly got an awesome idea for a lights-at-night propaganda poster. With, okay, an insulting edge, but these people really make me nuts. Riding a lightless bike at night wearing black clothing is just dumb. Especially when you’re riding on the Caltrain platform. Do not run into me with your invisible bike when I’m wearing a yellow vest and showing a bright white light.

Picture a nearly invisible cyclist-shaped black blotch on a slightly lighter background, captioned LOLcat-style: INVISIBLE NITWIT. For a less insulting edge, we could go with INVISIBLE CYCLIST. Think the SVBC will go for it?

On a more serious note, here’s a question: how do you handle bidirectional turn lanes where it’s entirely possible for two people going the opposite direction to both be aiming to stop at the same spot in order to turn left? It’s not always easy to tell where someone’s going to stop. Obviously the thing to do safety-wise is watch carefully, slow down, and prepare to stop, but what are the right-of-way issues?

[Written Thursday.]

With a little more distance from what happened on Tuesday night, I feel like I can do a better job of writing about it. I’m feeling my usual self today, except for being sore and tired.

It was scary. My previous crash was solo; the only impact was me and the ground. Actually having someone else hit me was frightening. The fact that I didn’t lose consciousness this time (in retrospect, having experienced this, I think I must have last time) in a way made it even more scary, because in the tenths of a second that encompass the impacts I got not only “Oh shit, I’m going to fall” but “Oh shit I just hit my head on the pavement this can’t be good”, followed quickly by “I have to get up and get out of the road.” It seems strange describing my thoughts that way because at the time I wasn’t thinking in words. I think I don’t usually anyway, but the words usually come right after the thought so that I don’t notice the distinction as much.

I know I saw him before he hit me, but I didn’t realize that he was heading for me. But something must have made me turn around because otherwise I would have fallen on my side. Did I just realize he was too close? I don’t know. Getting up, I felt at several removes from the world. I remember being asked if I was okay and saying “I think so”. My head felt terrible, really banged on. M helped me up. There was a homeless guy who kept trying to lead me over to the side of the road, which wasn’t really all that helpful or charming to start with, but it got worse when he then was insistently asking for money. I just hit my head on the pavement, for goodness’ sake. Go away.

The biker introduced himself as Patrick. (By the way, if you are Patrick, please contact me.) Strangely, we shook hands and he offered to buy me a drink. Tip to people who hit other people in traffic and injure them: this is not a good tactic. If I’d been 100% mentally agile at the time I would have told him to bug off, what a stupid thing to offer to do, I don’t need a drink, I need medical attention. Instead, offer your contact information (because they’re hurt and might forget to ask for it) and ask if you can get them some water or call the police or ambulance. I didn’t need an ambulance, but the police would have been handy, although on my own account I decided I’d rather get to sleep sooner than call them.

I didn’t realize I was actually bleeding until we were walking back to the car, although it wasn’t exactly surprising, and it wasn’t much. It’s just never fun to put your hand to your head and have it come away with blood on it. When we got back I washed my head and slept very carefully. There are few times in my life I’ve been so glad to sleep.

I thought this post might have some jokes in it, but it doesn’t. It sucks to get hit in the street by someone violating traffic laws. It hurts, it makes you feel scared later (I yelled at a cyclist in Menlo Park to get off the sidewalk so loudly and far in advance that he actually did, which was a good thing because I was highly upset). For me, it’s made it impossible to ride this week because my head hurts too much. As of today (Sunday) the scab seems to be gone, but my head is still very tender. Officially, the x-ray was normal, so I guess it’s just bruising. I’ve been really exhausted too. I slept 12 hours Friday and 10 hours last night and at least 8 on all the other intervening nights, and I’m still tired and I didn’t even do anything today.

In other news, Comcast sucks. You can sign up for new services on the website, but not cancel your old ones. Do they think it’s not completely obvious that this is a scam to get more money from you?