Watch the Video

A wedding tribute for Paul and Elizabeth Hansen. With all that was going on at their wedding, they maybe didn’t have time to enjoy all the little pieces. Here is one of them.

Photos from Santa Barbara, California’s Summer Solstice Festival and Parade on June 24, 2006. I was lucky enough to be accompanied by my good friends Elisa and Lisa.

Watch the Video

A very short video of Chase Palm Park across from the beach in Santa Barbara, CA.

music by Reza Manzoori “Insignia” magnatune.com

Boston has been bouncing between baked days and drenched nights. I shot this video walking the five blocks home from a Boston Media Makers’ mid-month meetup at Sweet Finnish in Jamaica Plain. music by Drop Trio “Wet Dog” magnatune.com

On Tuesday, my last day in San Francisco, Daniell K., the visionary behind the DigitalBicycle, and I took BART up to the Berkeley Marina where we were met by Scott A. and Kari P., community media heavyweights and experienced sailors. The day started off cloudy with threats of rain, but by the time we had gotten through the pre-launch checklist of our -31- +32+ foot Catalina Magic Moves the sun had broken and was shining brightly down upon the bay.

San Francisco’s cool, cloudy weather and excellent sailing is made possible by the hot, low-pressure sucking of the Central Valley. On this day, a moderate breeze +(15 - 17 knots)+ pulled our vessel out -past the estuary and through strong tides of the shipping channel- +of the Olympic Circle by Berkeley and into the Central Bay+. We -heaved to- +hove-to+ -about a mile upwind of the channel- +in the lee of Angel Island+, ate lunch, and comfortably drifted down towards Southampton Shoal. Once an elegant Victorian house, the pilings now carry a horn, some navigational equipment, a few solar panels and maybe a dozen terns. Lunch finished, we unlocked the wheel -and jibed away, the wind pushing us back toward Berkeley- +and reached back toward Berkeley+.

+(Thanks Scott for the corrections)+

Staying in the condiment vein…

I am in San Francisco this weekend for Vloggercon, a yearly meetup of the video blogging community. The conference went Saturday and Sunday, but I flew in Thursday afternoon and so had all of Friday free. I decided to spend it hiking in the Presidio.

I’m staying with an old friend just North of Golden Gate Park; I just started walking North and eventually I reached the path that runs just beneath the Presidio golf course. This path I took up past Mountain Lake and out to Baker Beach. Just topping a rise, I saw my first view of the Pacific Ocean in over a year; it’s been a long time.

Baker Beach is beautifully rough and exposed to the Pacific; short and rising dunes slope up to windsept and carpetted evergreens. There were several fisherman out with pole stands and beer coolers in the early afternoon.

From Baker Beach I hiked up the hills, tracing the 2-lane road rising towards the Golden Gate before dipping away down the trail to old concrete bunkers and gun emplacements. Crossing under the toll plaza, I came out to an emaculately flowered path and prime tourist spot beneath the Golden Gate gift shop. Rental bicycles huffed their way by me as I headed to the lookout for some photo snaps, and then down and around towards Fort Point, the only reinforced masonry fort on the America’s West Coast.

On my way down, I passed by some Park Rangers and volunteers working in the coastal scrub. I talked with Ranger Michael Chasse of the National Parks Service about the work they were doing in the Presidio.

Michael told me that much of the National Parks Service’s resources at the Presidio go into habitat restoration and invasive species removal. When I met with Michael on the trail, he was in the process of removing an immense pile of wild mustard, which I correctly identified as an invasive. Most invasive species removal takes place around paths and parking lots, where foreign seeds can hitchhike in on visitors cars, shoes’ and clothing. Once established, these species can displace native ones and change the habitat, affecting the survival of other species and the health of the local ecosystem.

Habitat restoration is important as Presidio is home to 3 endangered species and 10 threatened ones. San Francisco itself has amazing biodiversity, with over 1000 species living within the city’s seven square miles; that is more species than some states have!

The Parks Service has had much success in restoration since the Presidio was ceded by the military in 1994. Just a few years ago the Western Bluebird returned to Presidio, where it had long been absent. Also, Michael explained that they have been pleasantly surprised by the areas restored in recent years; these areas have proven remarkably resilient to further invasions.

I thanked Michael for talking to me and left him compost as I headed down to Chrissy Beach.

On Chrissy Beach, I discovered some amazing Dune Strawberries. Criss-crossed with runners, these small plants blanketed the high beach and produced bright red berries which, even this early in the season, were refreshingly sweet, though disappointingly small.

From Chrissy Beach I passed the marsh and then hiked across Chrissy Airfield before walking up through the Presidio Complex, following Arguello up a steep grade lined with blackberries, evergreen and oak.

At the top, I crossed through an amazing glen of sloping, ivyed (another invasive) trees, where a dog-walker and former investment banker ran his herd of about 20 dogs. I spent quite some time patting and scratching their fuzzy hides before heading back down into the city.

*Alternate Title:* May I? You Mayo.

I’m not sure if it’s a Lowell thing, a New England thing, or a Ben-is-woefully-ignorant thing, but there has been some major innovation in terms of “salad.”

I put salad in quotes because this is not your leafy green, or even weedy weird, salad with the pine nuts, raisins if you’re lucky, and maybe a little balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil to round it out.

No, dear reader, this is the meat meet mayo abomination that, having taken hold in our church socials, is fattening it’s way towards mainstream America. So far I count:

Egg Salad (The classic cholestrol coronator)

Tuna Salad (A little fishy)

Seafood Salad (It’s not tuna salad)

Chicken Salad (Poor bird)

Ham Salad (The even whiter meat)

Only God knows what substance they Mayonaise Advisory Council will think of adding next.

_Dean eats his heart out_

I told my long-time friend Jason about my blog–honestly, no one reads this thing, probably for good reason–and he says, “Is it emo? I won’t do anything unless it’s emo.” Yes, he’s a precocious brat, but this is for you Jason.

Sunday comes it’s raaaaining,

My girl’s here, she’s taaaaaking

…her time

I want to fly away

So I won’t have to say…

Give me my voice

It’s making this choice

So hard to take.

Wooaaaa-o

Woooaaaa-o

Summer can’t sustaaaain me,

The music’s on, the paaaaarty

…will start

I think I’ll walk away

So I won’t have to say…

Give me some noise

It’s taking my joy

Resigned to fate.

Woooaaaa-o

Resigned to fate.

Aaaah-oh

Wooooaaa-o

Took this with my bud Dean Jansen. For anyone that says that community media and a participatory culture won’t have a positive effect on society, at the very least it keeps us well-dressed.