306.Quick trip to Portland

On the Coast Starlight, again

Wednesday
I think I’ve remembered most of the important things about riding Amtrak. Like dressing warmly and bringing snacks, as the snack offerings are abysmal. It wasn’t until after I boarded that I recalled Amtrak's habit of riding over the worst rails while you should be sleeping. We’ll see if they do this again. (Not particularly.)

This train seems less crowded than I expected. I thought there were only a few seats left when I finally bought tickets. We’re already to Carquinez Strait, my favorite part of the trip on the bay. Or between the bays. So far I haven’t thought of anything I’ve forgotten. I was thinking of bringing my scarf, but that was a contingency thing. I may miss it tonight, actually.

We’re pulling into Martinez. A place I’ve only been to with K_____. I’m not sure how I would even get here aside from on the train unless I rented a car. There is probably an AC transit bus but it probably takes days.

What I didn’t bring is a book. There was one I was thinking of bringing, but it was rather heavy and I do plan on visiting Powell’s. Possibly tomorrow and certainly on Saturday before I depart. 

I don't have WiFi. So of course there’s something I would like to research. Before I left home I determined that the U.S. built about 10,000 Tank Destroyers during WW2 and I’m dying to know how many similar AFVs Germany built. They had tank hunters and an array of assault guns but I suspect the numbers were more modest. The U.S. vehicles were not as good in some important ways, but in other ways they were better. As with destroyers, the IJN had more powerful ships but the USN ships were “good enough” and more numerous. (Ready? It's more complicated than I thought, but the short answer is that I was wrong. The Germans fielded three different classes of armored vehicles besides tanks: 3,535 Panzerjagers; 5,350 Jadpanzers; and about 10,000 StuGs. What makes this confusing is that while all these vehicles had better antitank guns than the USA vehicles, the StuGs in particular were intended for use as assault guns in support of infantry. This is a role the USA tank destroyers also filled, but, aside from the advantages of a turret over pointing the whole vehicle at the target, the USA guns were not as good in this role either. But, the standard M4 Sherman tank, with a 75mm gun, was excellent in the infantry support role, and the version with a 105mm howitzer was even better in the assault role. Only 1,641 of these were manufactured, but the total number of M4 tanks was a staggering 49 thousand and change. )

Also just before I left home I watched a video, a new favorite YouTube historian has produced, about the USS Texas. I’ve written about these antique USN battleships before; they would have been scrapped or used as target ships in the 1940s, as the new battleships joined the fleet, but because there was a war on they were kept in service. The Texas had served with the Royal Navy’s Grand Fleet at the end of the Great War and then went on to provide fire support for the Allied landings at Casa Blanca, Normandy, and the South of France. And then she sailed to the Pacific and did the same thing at Iwo Jima and Okinawa. She even made three Magic Carpet trips after the war bringing soldiers home from the Far East.

And unlike the Nevada and West Virginia, she didn’t require much investment during the war. They added lots of AAA and had to replace her gun barrels because she fired so many rounds at enemy targets. These targets would have included the Panzer concentrations around Caen that were devastated by the naval artillery. To the best of my knowledge this role was not something the USN anticipated before the war.

Thursday
Well, I sort of slept. And breakfast was good. Sat with an older (88) man from Vancouver, BC and we’ve been yakking ever since. Sorted out all the world’s problems and gave each other travel and life advice. He used to sing barbershop but doesn’t read music. Meant to ask him why, but he launched into a story about DC and I forgot. I was no prodigy, but reading music isn’t THAT hard. Why, if music is that important to you, wouldn't you take the time to learn? This would apply to Tori Amos as well.

The train crossed over the Oregon border during breakfast. I even saw what I think was Mt Shasta. I swear I recall waking up in my sleeping car bed well into Oregon but that seems to be impossible. Beats me.

Arriving in Portland the train runs next to the tracks for one of the TriMet MAX LRVs, the one that goes past where I stay. I also noticed the stop for where I was planning to have my vegan pizza dinner that day. I love Portland.

Friday
I’m at my now longtime favorite Fehrenbacker Hof in Goose Hollow for breakfast. This is one of my favorite neighborhoods in the world. Mostly because it reminds me of my college days, though I can’t explain why. Last time I was here the Hof was closed so I had dinner at the place just next door. And that was good too. If I lived in Portland I would spend way too much time here. And it would be more expensive than the Bank Cafe where what little I can order is cheap. Here I want almost everything. 

One small complaint/similarity, they are playing music from the ‘60s. A little different music, Credence and Jimi, but still... 

Sweet Jesus, I just noticed my computer automatically logged onto their WiFi. Yes!!! I’m home.

My breakfast just arrived and while I was eating they did play a newer song. And then I realized it was from the ‘90s, so, still the better part of three decades old. I’m just particularly sensitive to five decade old songs.

I’m avoiding going to Powell’s until tomorrow after I check my bag at the train station. One, Powell’s is a good thing to do near the train station. Two, it keeps me from getting stuck in a book while I’m here. That would be a waste of a visit, after all. 

The air quality is getting even worse back in SF due to the fire. I’m starting to wish I had decided to stay longer, but that gets tricky with the trash situation. Still, breathing is something I enjoy doing.

I need to buy nail clippers (the thing I forgot to pack) so just looked to see where the Walgreen's were. In SF you don’t have to go more than a couple blocks to find a Walgreen's. There’s one two blocks from me and five more within six blocks, maybe more. Here there is one in the entire downtown (west of the river) area. Strange. And it’s not like there are many CVS or RiteAid locations. It’s like all the pharmacies decided to leave this market alone.

Had lunch with D___ and G__ at a brew pub with vegan food. I had heard about the Reuben sandwich so two of us ordered that, and we also shared an order of tacos. Everything was good. Was lovely talking to them again. D___ is retiring from teaching next month so it will be interesting to see how she deals with that.

For dinner I went to Bye and Bye, for a third time. Turns out they also have a vegan Reuben, which I wish I had ordered, but I went with the spaghetti and meatballs instead. No complaints, but it would have been fun to have compared the two Reubens.


I would love to have comparative statistics on construction of buildings of greater than four stories in Portland and SF over the past thirty years. I wouldn’t be surprised if more units were built in Portland. And the ratio of residential to commercial in the two markets would also be interesting. My guess is the ratio of residential would be far higher in Portland.


Saturday
It turns out mid November is a great time to visit Portland. It’s a festival of leaves. Enough are still on the trees to give you the beauty part, but more are on the ground. Today was windy and they were blowing in drifts. And the smell was heavenly. 

My pre-train day went pretty well. I had a breakfast snack at Powell’s and lunch at Sizzle Pie. I made a quick trip to the Pearl Hardware Store and bought breathing masks for when I get home, since the smoke has still not cleared. The only down side was that, for the second time, I took the streetcar to the closest stop to Union Station, which is not really the best way to get there. I had to walk blocks out of my way. I think there is a way to do this, but that would require boldly dropping down into streets the destination of which are not obvious. Maybe I should try to do this next time when I’m not actually catching the train.

Powell’s was it’s usual wonderful self. I love that they have these large, formal label/dividers for nearly every philosopher you’ve ever heard of. The selection of Foucault titles was pretty daunting. I couldn’t find anything “about” David Ricardo, but I didn’t look that hard. The area with tables/shelves of featured titles was a little disappointing. I though they would have groupings more to my thinking, but they were mostly groupings convenient to the bookseller. Not that I didn’t find anything I wanted to read. Since size and weight was a primary consideration, I had to pass over some of my first choices, but ended up with Carrie Fisher’s The Princess Diarist. She’s always fun to read.

I had remembered the cafe in Powell’s as being a bit funkier. It was okay, but certainly not as nice as the Hof. Sizzle Pie is great for the pizza but otherwise a pain in the ass. I guess when you stay that busy you don’t have to think about improving things. Not that different than Tartine except that at Tartine I don’t recall my shoes being stuck to the carpet.

Looking out the window at the cafe in Powell’s I noticed a new tall building with four small wind turbines on the roof. I went by and got the name of the company that had worked on that. With luck I can contact them by email and ask some questions. They were spinning like mad today. (No luck.)

Just grabbed a reservation for the last seating at dinner. As I recall, breakfast is awkward as we arrive in Emeryville fairly early. I could be wrong about that but I wouldn't mind having breakfast at home in the morning.

Paragons. Because of C___’s travels in the subcontinent, I’ve been thinking about the Buddha and other paragons. Which got me thinking of Stan Lee: isn’t he a kind of paragon of living a full and productive life? Reaching enlightenment is an achievement, I suppose, but isn’t it also a form of cheating? Penetrating Maya and seeing beyond this reality is like finding the answers to all the quiz questions in the back of the book. What’s more interesting is what people do while playing the game without cheating. This reminds me a bit of that "The Other Side of the Hedge" short story. 

How many of the “homeless” would be good monks under different social circumstances? Some of them are of limited intelligence and have emotional issues, so prime candidates for faith. Would a religious structure like that of the Buddhist monks in South and SE Asia provide structure and meaning to their lives? I should ask C___ about this.

With permaculture, what could you do with 40 acres and a mule?

Perhaps one reason I think of Portland as being Midwestern is that two of the terminuses (termini?) of the MAX system are Cleveland and Milwaukee. But then there’s also Beaverton and, my favorite, Clackamas.

For my sins there are a plethora of little kids on this train, and most of them are in my car. I may be spending the night in the lounge car. Or possibly a bathroom. One is having a screaming fit as I type this. Why would so many kids be traveling in mid November? Thanksgiving! Didn’t think of that.

Another interesting meal in the dining car. A couple that had moved from Seattle to a barge in the Netherlands. She had once lived in Noe Valley and he had once lived in the San Fernando Valley. And a younger guy from Sunnyvale. The Silicon Valley. The Valley table. 

Sunday
The Princess Diarist. Not her best, but good. She says the elephant in the room was his family or the nature of their relationship, but I think the real elephant was her bipolarity (?) You can’t let that out of the bag and then pretend like you haven’t. The problem isn’t just Harrison, though it probably was him too, but, as she says herself, everything going on in her head.


I’m back in SF, North Beach in fact. It’s smoky but I’m not going to shave my beard if the weather is breaking in a couple days. I didn’t sleep well last night, of course, but I napped for a couple hours after getting home. Now I need to get organized again. Just enough of a trip to get me out of my rut, I hope.

305.So much random

Jury Duty 2018

It isn’t easy to get to our Hall of Justice, but I managed it, despite unexpected street construction that forced me to walk an extra couple blocks. They finally noticed that juries started trials pissed off at having had their time wasted for days on end, and now there are far fewer potential jurors hanging around the building. And the police station in the building has been moved to a safer structure, so there are fewer cops around. As a result, the options for lunch have dropped to very few. I went to the place I’ve always gone, that is more expensive and caters to the lawyers. Even it is not thriving.

I just missed out on being selected for a jury for a misdemeanor prescription drug case that was a complete mystery. Did this guy piss on the side of a police car or what? It seemed to be a waste of everyone’s time, though, as it worked out, only one day of my time.

Since I had some time on my hands while we were waiting to be sent to a courtroom, I did what I usually do at such moments and started thinking about metaphysics. Recently I’ve been watching some excellent YouTube videos about String theory, the Multiverse, and the possibility that our universe is a simulation. The difference between Simulation and Pantheism is pretty subtle. You could easily rewrite the Devi creation story as a Simulation -- though this doesn’t get you any closer to answering questions about the origin of “everything.” 

We always come back to that ass Descartes when traveling this road -- the only thing we can know for sure is that we think. That we are aware. We can’t experience reality directly. We know that even our consciousness is a construct (see Korsakoff Syndrome). It would be nice to know what our bodies know. Are we dually sentient? We sort of know that each lobe of the brain has its own awareness, but is there another awareness that manages our perception, among other things? People are always trying to communicate with animals or space aliens, but it would be far more valuable to know what our brains/minds know that our consciousness doesn’t.

Random

Because it’s a Sunday and my options are limited, I walked the route rarely traveled, the bee-line to the Peet’s on Market Street. This takes me through Union Square proper, which is getting ready for the Christmas season. The work required to provide the wood “foundation” for the ice rink is rather more impressive than I had imagined. A lot of lumber and a lot of effort goes into this preparation. And I wonder where all this stuff is stored from Christmas to Christmas? 

Next I hit the new subway station at the SE corner of the square. It is slowly taking shape, but I don’t see why it isn’t already enclosed -- before the rains start. Apparently the construction people don’t think that way. I can see stairs and the bed for the escalator down to the actual train platforms, deep below the street. My view wasn’t good but it almost looked like there was only room for one escalator. I would think that couldn’t be true, but this is a Muni project. The tunnel is around 100 feet below the street.

Finally I walked down the last two blocks of Stockton Street. These blocks have been a construction zone for many years (except for when they are briefly pedestrianized at Christmas). The 2nd block is still dirt with a large hole with elevator down to the tunnel below. But the 1st block is ready to be paved and returned to normal use. Currently it’s being used for staging of construction equipment. And, honestly, there’s not that much reason to rush it back into service until the two blocks above are complete. Mostly this would be handy for taxis and Ubers. But psychologically it would be huge as it would suggest the construction nightmare was close to being over. And the surviving businesses on that block of Stockton would love it.

The street level construction mess is mirrored under the streets. Though not the same street, for the most part. Powell Street Station is the longest of our Market Street train stations serving both BART and Muni Metro, and it has been gutted and partly blocked off for as long as the streets have been torn up. Not entirely sure why. The main change will be that the existing (1970s) station will be connected to the new Central Subway station under Stockton. The new tunnel was bored beneath the original trench with BART below Muni. But that doesn’t explain why they had to gut the entire station. (Which also serves as a homeless camp.) Personally, finally completing the station work will improve my life more than putting the streets above back into service.

And as long as I’ve brought you down here to Market across from the "Medium" headquarters Phelan Building, this Christmas there will be two new popular attractions for the hoi polloi: The Ice Cream Museum has been doing an astonishing business since last Fall, and now “Candytopia” has opened in one of the retail spaces of the Four Seasons Hotel. By next year I expect to see “Crack-a-polousa” and “The Meth Museum.” It seems like we should at least live up to our usual reputation and have "The Kale Experience" and "Tofu You."

This really is the best Peet’s for people watching. The crowds out on this side of Market are noticeably altered by the two new attractions, especially the Candytopia that is just next door. Where are these suburbanites coming from? They don’t even look like the usual tourists. Someone had a great idea for pulling in the sugar craving crowds. Perhaps it’s sponsored by childhood diabetes. There’s still a vacated Walgreen’s across the street that could be converted into a Chuck E Cheese.

The other thing happening in my “hood” is the big Marriott hotel workers strike. I knew there were a lot of Marriott hotels around, but there are even more than I thought. And they all have had loud 24/7 protests for weeks now. I think the union ill timed the strike. This is a busy season, Oracle OpenWorld was last week (I only ended up working one shift) and every room in the city will be booked. People are not going to cancel at the Marriott because of the strike -- which they might do at a slower time of year when there would be vacancies elsewhere. My guess is that the strike is a pain for local management but might actually be saving the corporation some money. 

I’m still a fan of our new Mayor Breed. She seems to be taking some positive steps to deal with the problem on our streets. And the good news is that she’s on the clock. She won the election to fill our late Mayor’s term, but she will have to run again soon and people will want to see that she has accomplished something. That all the other mayors before her were unsuccessful at this, won’t help her. Her timing seems to be good. The process to gain conservatorship for some of the completely helpless people on the street seems to have reached a point where something might actually happen. And most everyone (with some vocal exceptions) is pretty fed up. And it’s not like she has to turn the city into Disneyland. Any noticeable improvement will be celebrated like the 2nd Coming. She’s in a good position. I’d give here 50/50 odds.

After Oracle

Well, I was wrong. My greening season ended with a whimper after all. Not only is a shift spent monitoring an infrequently visited eco-station for a convention lunch boring and pointless, but in the end I only was required to work one day out of the four. A mere blip of a whimper. The novelty of working on what is usually a busy downtown street wore off years and years ago. It was a lovely day and I was in the shade, so it could have been worse. 

I did have plenty of time for greening conversations with the handful of people curious about what we were doing. One guy even gave me a reusable metal straw -- with cleaning brush! Which is nice but, there are very few times I want a straw. Not counting the times I manage to drench myself following an ice blockage incident. Smoothies and milkshakes do require a fat straw, or at least a straw makes drinking them easier. And a straw is handy for stirring Thai iced tea. Otherwise, I don’t see the point.

Feynman

There’s a calf/ankle exercise I do at home next to my shelf of “special” books. While exercising today I was noticing how handsome the spine of my copy of QED by Richard Feynman is, which got me wishing that there was a companion Q?D, also by Feynman to go with it. I write Q?D and not QCD because what I have in mind is a book started by Murray Gell-man and then rewritten by Feynman. I’m confident (without any reason for this confidence) that Feynman, while rewriting Gell-man’s text, would come up with a better analogy than “chroma” for what’s going on with quarks. If this usage -- color is based on electrodynamic frequency which is an aspect of QED -- annoys me this much, it must have bothered Feynman even more. So what I want is a companion volume that explains “QCD” but in a whole new way, so that the “C” has to be replaced with another letter.

From this my mind wandered to Feynman’s habit of working, both physics and drawing, in topless bars in LA. I have no doubt that any number of print and electronic journalists thought to question the girls about how it affected them to be sketched by a Nobel Prize winning physicist. And I’m sure their replies were as interesting as the usual answers of athletes to questions that go beyond their sport. Not very. But I do wonder. You could imagine a sort of “Good Will Hunting” with the brilliant young woman just trying to feed her kids but rediscovering her math genius. Or she could be genius on the bongo drums. That would work, too.