45. HOA & Greening

Previous - 44. Jacobs & George

What now?

I finished up my last little spray painting job this morning and I'm officially without HOA tasks until probably sometime next month. I mean DIY maintenance tasks. I spent the early afternoon straightening up and cleaning my own unit, but what am I going to do next week? I suddenly need to come up with a new plan.

Facebook

I'm involved in an interesting dispute on Facebook. I've belonged to a San Francisco History group for some months now. People are constantly posting old photographs and then everyone jumps in to argue about where or when they were taken. From a previous dispute, where I was wrong because I ignored the background context -- in that case some buildings that were still on Union Square, I've learned to pay attention to buildings in the background as well as whatever is the focus of the shot, usually in the foreground. In this latest photo, what I noticed was a fairly definitive angle of buildings on Market where the grids shift. Using Google Streetview, I determined that it really had to be Geary street looking east-ish. 

Another, very knowledgeable member of the group, believes he's identified another building in the picture, and based on where that building was, he's assigned the photo to another street and direction. I started by trying to confirm his location and it was evident, based on the way the buildings follow that grid shift at Market, that it couldn't be the street he thought it was. Streetview makes it pretty simple to jump around and compare the various streets and there is really only the one option. 

But because the other guy thinks he knows the one thing, he isn't even considering the other clues. This is very common, though I don't know what the term for it might be. In this instance it acts as a form of misdirection -- he is so distracted by what he thinks he knows that he can't see the evidence that easily contradicts that. 

I Will Wait

"I Will Wait" by Mumford & Sons is a great song, but just now as it was playing here in the Bank Cafe I realized that the primary reason I like it could be the banjo part -- something you almost never hear in Pop music. 

Singapore Day

Tomorrow I'm working a new event (at least I avoided the Oracle OpenWorld convention). Singapore Day is being celebrated at Pier 70, the new event venue at the old shipyard near Dogpatch. The weather gods seem determined to kill me. This week has been mostly below average temperatures, but tomorrow and Sunday it will be hot again. From the SF Street Food Festival last year, also held at Pier 70, I know that place is particularly unpleasant on a hot day. As I recall, I was recovering from a cold or something when I worked the event and managed to work mostly inside the huge shed. At least this time I will be at full strength. No idea what to expect from the event, but I like the crew chief, so I'm sure we'll manage.

This summer other workers, including crew chiefs, have been deferring to me so much I even asked Mary, the boss, to tell me if I was being too much of a dick. She assured me she hadn't heard anything like that, but I wonder. 

Mary's brother said last Saturday that he was surprised not to find me at the dumpsters when he and the crew chief arrived, but then remembered that I just start working. I do make an effort to inform the crew chief what I plan to do, but it's true that I just jump in and grab what looks to be the busiest area. Most chiefs are happy to know they don't have to worry about the area I've claimed, but not all. Since I've done this so much longer than anyone but Mary and her brother, when I run into someone I don't get along with I can just wait until they move on to something else. But I do at least try not to step on anyone's toes. 

I've even come up with a justification for my inability to remember new worker's names, if I don't know their names I can't say they are useless and lazy... at least not by name. I learned one worker's name last week and he then vanished on me when it got really busy. And I only remembered his name because he shares it with a character in the Emma Graham novels.

I reviewed my end-of-HSB notes from last year and was reminded of a trick I developed that weekend. Because we were using these oversized toters to collect trash on the field, we needed oversized liners (bags). I believe they were 84 gal bags and of a really thick, tough plastic. (We learned the previous year that, given all the glass at HSB, saving money on weak bags is a fools economy.) The problem is how to carry these big bags around with you. Normally I carry rolls of bags if at all possible, and if we only have loose bags, I hand roll them into the tightest roll I can. But with these huge bags, you want to roll them individually and then stick them in your backpack (something I only wear for HSB) like a quiver of arrows -- though they're more the size of swords. Then when you need one, you reach back and pull it up and out like people pull out swords in action films. I wouldn't mind seeing a video of me doing this. Somehow we never seem to end up on the videos people take at the events we work. It's a mystery.

Next - 46. Aging, mortality, and change