The N-Judah Chronicles

So I was on the way to the 44 O'Shaughnessy at 9th and Judah the other day to see if going to the "other" Safeway (i.e. not the Market St. one on the N-Judah line) would be faster than taking my door to door service from home to store.

When I got there a Muni Bus was parked, doors closed. And instead of having a route on its LED board up front, instead it simply read "Nowhere In Particular." I couldn't see if someone was in the driver's seat or not.

I'd never seen such a thing before. But when I mentioned this to my friend "Mason Powell" (the nom de plum of my erstwhile deputy) he said that this is not unheard of, and the tradition started during the streetcar era (i.e. when streetcars went everywhere not just on the J, K, L, M, N and F lines).

Sure enough Google and Flickr, our two best friends, found this shot on Flickr of a bus just like the one I saw, and this reference to the classic streetcar signage of yesteryear.

Things like this make living here rather pleasant. I'll leave the bashing of the city to the naysayers and the choose-up-siders from out of town and elsewhere. And, my bus did come on time....and the trip to Safeway was just fine.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 6:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Today marks the "official" opening of The N-Judah Chronicles online. After an intense month learning about the technical details of setting up a Movable Type blog, migrating files, learning CSS and PHP, et al, it's up and running. Hooray!

First, let me thank two people who helped make the move to this site possible: my friend Lauren Oliver, whose insight, design of the site's new logo, and overall willingness to listen to me late at night earns my profound thanks.

I also want to thank future contributor "Mason Powell" (a nom de plum) for his help moving the archives and debugging the site. He will be adding entries as time allows on a range of subjects, and has already been commenting on the site.

So what will you find here at the N-Judah Chronicles? Everything that makes living in San Francisco at once wonderful, and a pain in the ass, all at the same time.

Among the subjects you'll find: the Great SF Tradition of trading stories about the Muni's Follies, and the occasional chatter about Muni Policy (but not too much - we try to keep the mood light).

There are also articles discussing local history and reports from the shenanigans of our fellow citizens on Muni. And what blog is complete without snarky comments on the decline and fall of Western Civilization?

Later this month you'll start to see postings giving you a guide to nightlife along the N-Judah line and suggested places to go out on the weekend that are fun, affordable, and accessible by mass transit. It's not so much that I hate cars - I just hate having one in the city.

To everyone who's already been reading, thanks for stopping by, and for new readers, welcome!

UPDATE A very warm thank you to Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist for posting a link at his cool blog. Thanks! I always walk by the Craigslist world headquarters on the way to my mailbox....you all rock.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 6:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I'm going to the AMC to check out V for Vendetta, based on the comic novel of the same name by one of my favorite authors, Alan Moore.

The poster artwork for this movie has been amazing, and I was surprised to find a complete set of four posters along the N-Judah line near Sunset. You can click on the image and see them full size, photo and photoshopping courtesy of N-Judah contributor "Mason Powell."

Posted by Greg Dewar at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Tonight I was introduced to a really fun Thai restaurant, Osha Thai, thanks to a friend who works downtown. Not only was the food great (and spicy - "medium" would scare the heck out of most folks!), and the restaurant's decor and ambience quite nice, but the total bill for two people was really reasonable.

It is always nice to find a fun restaurant in town that doesn't require a second mortgage just to pay the tip, and Osha Thai is now an official entry on my "places I like" list, which will be revealed more fully as time goes on.

On my way home, I took the much-maligned N Judah Downtown Detour. Fortunately it was not raining, hailing, or crowded, so it was a nice quiet ride. Although I'd just as soon take my door-to-door service via the tunnel, it was actually kinda nice to take the detour and take a look at the parts of Market Street I rarely go to, unless I have to. There's all kinds of things to look at, and late in the evening it was nice and quiet. No crazies yelling, no weirdness. Just a calm ride home past the US Mint, et al.

Then the bus dropped me off at Safeway on Market Street. Now, normally I would just keep walking to the N stop at Duboce and Church, but I remembered they had a sale on avocados (4 for a buck) I wanted to take advantage of, so I walked in.

There is a maxim in the grocery store business that if you go in to the store withou a list, you're more likely to buy more things than if you didn't. There is another that for every minute extra you spend in a store on a shopping trip, you're going to spend at least $1 per minute.

Both were proven very true, very fast. They had just enough stuff I "sort of" needed anyway selling for a dollar, or some other such bargain that I ended up getting a basket and buying all sorts of cool stuff. Coke Zero - $1/six-pack, Dozen Eggs - $1, and so on. I ended up spending almost $15.

Then I looked at the receipt with all my "savings" and it told me I had "saved " $15, thanks to my Universal ID Card (aka the Safeway Club Card). Although I had spent $13 more than I had planned, the little "46% savings" tag on the receipt somehow made it "ok."

I headed out and caught the train ride home. Who knew a detour could show you a piece of the city one doesn't always pay attention to, and provide such wonderful bargains!

Posted by Greg Dewar at 11:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (1)

Over the next couple of days you may notice the colors shifting on this site....please don't inhale the paint while we experiment with a more compatible color palette and background images for this site! It'll all be done very very soon!

UPDATE: 90% there...but who knew changing the background color on a few elements to light grey could be so weird? If you're an MT expert and can spare 20 minutes of instruction, drinks are on me.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 5:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ever had one of those days where it feels like Armageddon is right here, right now? Not so much because of any hellfire or damnation about, more due to the sheer chaos and weird crap you're seeing happen all around you.

Take today. Our on again, off again weather gave us some temporary sun, while I was cooped up inside wrestling with PHP and CSS, with mixed results. I had some little errands to run (a loaf of bread, a gallon of milk and a stick of butter) and a trip to my local Radio Shack. I put it all off to the end of the day. What could possibly go wrong?

This is when the Gods of Muni and the Gods of Weather got together and decided to do an Armageddon foxtrot on me and every other soul in San Francisco. Har-de-freakin'-har-har, gang.

Now, I'm not stupid. I know it's been raining a lot and figured some showers might occur, but it looked so darn peaceful and overcast, I figured my window of opportunity, while closing, wasn't that bad. So I headed out for my trivial endeavour. Estimated time of completion: 45 minutes.

The gods struck up the band, and it was time for the dance to begin.

Within two blocks of me deciding to walk to 9th and Irving, I got hailed on, quite nicely. I got to the 9th and Irving Outbound stop, and got to share it with a dude sucking on the smelliest "cigarette" ever invented by humans. Fine, whatever, just get me on the train. Oh, look, it's here!

So I get on and I notice this little bearded weird guy I see around the 'hood all the time. Being who I am I have nicknamed him in my mind as The Troll of Irving Street, because he's got that weird beard and that oddball demeanor I've only seen on tv. Generally harmless, I often wondered what his story was, or how or why he's ended up more or less running up and down the street doing his thing. Anyway, that was fine. I didn't hear the music get turned up a notch, though.

At least the hail stopped at Duboce and Church long enough for me to get to Safeway, and get my various on-sale items. By now it's around 5:30 and I'm headed out to the Outbound stop and ready to head home.

Then the gods' dance changed from a foxtrot to a mosh pit.

As I walked out I saw the Outbound N taking off....I'd missed it by a minute. Damn! Fine, I'll wait. But when the next train showed up, a rush-hour train, what do I see? The Might N approaching. However, said "N" had only one car on it, not the usual double-car config we see....and it was crowded! All the while, your fearless correspondent is carrying his stupid groceries. Guess Who is gonna be Mr. Popular on said "N?"

I managed to get on but when we got to Duboce Park, people had to get off, and I was in the stairwell. Being a Member Of Society, I decided to get off the train and wait by the door, let others get off so they may be able to go home, then hop back on.

Only, when we all shuffled back on, I was left off! Did my fellow passengers, whom I had shown courtesy and a sense of Shared Misfortune with, try and let me on? Hell no.

Proof once again you should not go out of the house unshaven if you have a 5 o'clock shadow like this guy. The Gods' guitar solo began. Whee.

So I waited around for another Mighty N, and got on the next one, with all sorts of stares. I guess no one had ever seen someone with chips, a 2 liter bottle of diet coke, and two small bags of groceries on the N before. Meanwhile one of the Trolls of Irving Street got to get two seats because of all his smelly stuff on the train. Can I check your transfer, sir?

Whatever. Just get me home, OK?

As we headed towards the Sunset District, people were filing off and I looked foward to "door to door service" to my new place out here....then it hit me!

Crap! I forgot to go to Radio Shack earlier, thanks to my desire to not get hailed on. D'oh!

How bad could it be? I'll just hop off, get my stupid stuff at stupid Radio Shack, and hop back on. No big whoop, a minor inconvenience. So I get off the train and guess who I run into (after the train had to stop and start thanks to some idiot motorists who don't get the concept of train tracks)?

The Trolls of Irving Avenue.

Unlike my earlier encounter, these weren't the reformed, harmless ones. No, these are the guys who know better and take off when our totally cool beat cop is on duty during the day, taking care of business for us. (Note to SFPD: I'd love to do an interview of our cool community patrol officer - he's doing a hell of a job!)

Unfortunately for us, though his shift was over and a pack of trolls were talking to the wall, to each other, and generally being louts. Now, I have no hatred for someone who is poor, or who is mentally ill. However, neither gives you a license to be a world-class asshole in public. Pardon my lengua fuerte, my friends, but that's what it is. I had one of the trolls start talking at me about my three bags of groceries, using language that would make the toughest dude on the docks blush. Thanks, buddy. I needed that. Especially as I'm being rained on.

But the troll rebellion was in full swing across the street from Radio Shack. I was walking in to the store when I heard some foulmouthed fool shouting at a car. I looked and there was this loud, stupid, crazy mofo waving a stick - no, correct that- a freakin' quarterstaff would be a more accurate description. He was screaming at some poor driver, waving it around and being a real threat to the car and its passengers.

Now that was bad enough, but Angry Troll decided to walk back in front of my favorite market - the 828 Irving Market - and ran in to a couple of moms with some kids. Angry Troll decided to pull his shit on said Moms and Kids. The Moms got the kids outta the way, but people were watching. This was just plain wrong.

This is also why they have Gun Control, because if I was armed, I swear I would have executed the guy on the spot, no jury, no judge, just some sort of BFG emptied into his nasty head. Only, because I would probably suck as a shot, I'd probably end up injuring the innocent, so it's just as well that I called 911 and let the pros handle this out-of-control dude.

Now, it's not time for a Discussion on the Homeless Issue right now, but I have a challenge to the hippies and liberals who told me "Care Not Cash" was evil - tell me a) why it's better a mentally deranged man is screaming and threatening people with a quarterstaff, and b) if I'm not supposed to call the cops and hope they wail on him until he gets a dose of STFU, just what the hell am I and the peaceful children and moms of Irving Street supposed to freakin do????

And to those on the other side who think we ought just toss 'em in jail (or, um, worse), I ask, if doing this was such a great idea and we've already outlawed "welfare as we know it", ust what the hell am I and the peaceful children and moms of Irving Street supposed to freakin do in the meantime ???

Ok, end of political ranting BS. Back to the Armageddon Dance and Mosh Pit.

So after being thoroughly pissed off at all this, and again, wishing for that magic light saber that could stop freakos in their tracks, I trudge up to Judah and 9th to catch an outbound home. Now, I normally woulda just walked home, but you see it started to pour rain, "cats and dogs living together style," so I just waited by the donut shop.

And who should appear but the same hippie "homeless" guy who bugs me every day I go to the post office. One of those ones who walks up and then won't go away when you politely decline the whole spare change thing. Well today, I was having none of it, especially in light of his Brother Troll's actions and I told him in an un-Christianly manner to "piss off." Not something I'm proud of, but I'd had it with people monopolizing the neighborhood and pissing all over the place, while moms and kids are wondering if they're in Fort Apache, the Bronx on the way home in the rain.

Then something funny happened...time passed...and I started to realize no "N" was coming anytime soon. Even on a rainy day, it shoulda shown up after a good long while. But it wasn't and I took a peek down Judah Street to notice that not one, not two, not three, but four N's are stopped and empty, the people having bailed out.

More importantly La Policia de San Francisco were out in force, after someone. I winced and thought it might be Troll with Quarterstaff, or worse. All I can say is, thank you to the police for doing their jobs, even though I ended up trudging in the rain back home. It wasn't that bad, and I would have investigated what our men and women of law enforcement were doing.

After a stupid day of errands like this though, and all the nonsense and hullaballoo, it was time to get back to work, have some guacamole made from my 69-cent Safeway avocados, and most importantly, a healthy dose of "Calgon for Guys", and perhaps catch something funny and brainless on TV. My super-cool roommate was delayed and didn't make it home at her usual time (around 6pm) - she didn't get home thanks to the criminals hurting America and the N-Judah until much later.

Both of us agreed. The Gods had one hell of a mosh pit going. Too bad we were on the floor underneath, it seems.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 8:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Q: When is an open house at a law office not an open house, but instead one heck of a great party?
A: When it's an open house hosted by Gonzalez and Leigh, LLP!

No kidding. A friend of mine invited me to the open house for ex-Supervisor Matt Gonzalez's law firm, which was celebrating their new offices on Shaw St. downtown, (located conveniently near the Montgomery Street Station) as well as welcome attorney Rita Hao (known to many as one of the editors of Sfist.com, among other things) as a partner in the firm.

I dropped by to meet Ms. Hao and some of the SFist folks in person - who by the way are some of the coolest people you could meet at a party - and to see who might be there. I figured it to be a tony, low key affair with some wine and crackers. Boy was I wrong. It was one hell of a party!

Not only did they have top shelf drinks and food, the crowd was big and counted many of San Francisco's political and legal elite, mixed in with veterans of Matt Gonzalez's past campaigns and assorted interested folks. Local political analyst, blogger and gadfly H. Brown was there early and often, as was former columnist, mayoral candidate, and all around character Warren Hinkle. (How often do you get to see him around town these days?)

A random sampling of the crowd included Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, City Attorney Dennis Herrera and his spokesman, Matt Dorsey, a whole host of downtown attorneys and other folks, whose names I didn't take down after I decided to go "off the clock" and enjoy both the event, its partygoers and several Stella Artois beers.

The oddest encounter I had was with Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin. When introduced to him by a mutual friend he immediately recognized my name as that of the infamous scotch whisky. As is the custom, I usually follow up such a recognition with the fact that the inventor of Twinkies was none other than a James Dewar.

Usually this gets a laugh or something, but Peskin immediately looked at me, said "So you're responsible for killing my mayor?" and spun around and took off. I think he was kidding but our mutual friend and I were looking at each other a bit puzzled. I say cut the guy some slack - he is a fellow UCSC alum, after all!

Overall a fun evening, all a few stops away on the N-Judah. Who knew the lefties and their ilk could be such great hosts? Now if they could just replicate this more often, who knows what might happen>

Posted by Greg Dewar at 3:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One thing that continues to astonish many people I know in town is how you really can get to just about anywhere on the Muni if you do your homework. It's most noticeable in people who talk about "the environment" but have yet to step out of a car and on to a bus, even if it's just to the corner store. It's like I have some Jedi power or something - when I really don't. I guess one has to take what praise they can.

A few weeks ago I attended a very well attended neighborhood meeting for Assembly Candidate Janet Reilly and Assemblyman/Candidate for State Senate Leland Yee at the Twin Peaks home of the Linnenbach family - easily one of the best places to take in the view of the City and the Bay, as far as I can tell!

Some people were surprised that I took the bus to the event - located just under Sutro Tower in one of San Francisco's finest neighborhoods. Yet it was actually faster for me to jump on a 43, get off at the Laguna Honda station, cross the street, and take a 36 than it would have been had I drove and tried to find parking in a car. Plus I got a nice brisk walk up the hill and a great view once I got to my destination. And I even beat my friend who drove to the event by about 30 minutes - which was quite a surprise.

My point is not to be one of those haughty psuedoenviro types who lords over their alleged supremacy to all -rather it is simply to make a point that if you think things through you can avoid the hassles of parking in San Francisco without a lot of effort. I'll let others quibble about this or that with regards to The Earth - all I know is that I can't stand parking, parking tickets, or a hassle, and if there's an easy way to avoid both, I will!

Although I've written about Janet Reilly at my other, soon to be retired blog, I was mostly interested in her campaign because she's running for office, and yet when the discussion of the proposed rapid transit expressway on Geary Boulevard came up, she didn't opt for the easy way out - lots of nebulous talk without anything of substance - and instead came out forcefully for a real, long term solution, and not a band-aid approach we're used to.

It's that kind of straight talk that we could use, especially when it comes to city transit issues, after years of broken promises and empty rhetoric. Maybe it's time we reward people who speak clearly and honestly, for a change, eh?

Posted by Greg Dewar at 3:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just moved into a new place and haven't had a chance to set up the wifi network, so I had a whole weekend without The Internets. It was weird at first, but also kinda fun...I plugged in and had over 100 email messages waiting for me (and not all of them were for "V1agra".) That was cool.

Today, I found out about a number of Google Map-enabled sites, that show once again why Google kicks so much ass. They build things that are useful, that work, and that people are allowed to use for their own purposes, without a lot of hassle. And, I found them thanks to one of the few "big" blogs of use out there, Lifehacker.

The first was a site devoted to the locations used in the filming of 24, one of the few shows I'm addicted to these days, cleverly named The JackTracker. Now after watching tonight's 2 hour bonanza of TV Crack, I can hop online and see just where Jack shot the bad guys! Yee haw!

Being the TV and movie location nerd that I am, something like this is great stuff. Now I can combine both addictions into one nice, compact little pop culture speedball. Hooray!

The second was a site that can track any package, and show you your package's progress on a Google Map. Located at iSnoop.net, it's one of those things you didn't know you needed to know until now. I always like finding out this kind of info, and now I can do so from the comfort of my home on the N-Judah line. Woo Hoo!

Potentially the most intriguing, however, was Google Labs' experiment in Portland known as Google Transit. It pairs the usefulness of Google Maps with Portland's transit system to provide you with directions, and compare driving vs. transit routes and times.

When you consider how bad Transit 511 (aka 511 Is A Joke) really is, easily one of the most poorly designed and implemented sites one could come up with, Google's experiment with Portland's transit system gives us hope that one day we could have something similar here in San Francisco.

In the meantime, if you aren't sure how to get from here to there using public transit, avoid the frustration and hassle of 511 Is A Joke, and call Muni directly at 415 673 6864. Not only will you get way more accurate information, but you'll also talk to a friendly, live human being who will cheerfully help you out.

Sure, it doesn't work 24/7, but it's better than nothing, and certainly better than 511!

Posted by Greg Dewar at 5:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As I've noted before, the layout of the site is still a work in progress...as I am new to CSS and the intricacies of Movable Type, I'm finding that I still have a bit to learn before I get some of what I want done the way I want....of course if anyone reading has suggestions for a good CSS tutorial or something a bit more clear than some of the Movable Type help forums (some assume a bit more knowledge of CSS than I may posess), that would be great.

Until then, wait for the final rollout and the "real" launch later this month!!!

Posted by Greg Dewar at 5:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

What with all the talk of fare cheats and turnstile jumpers on Muni in the papers, it seemed appropriate I write a review of the Hungarian sorta sci-fi, sorta not film Kontroll. I watched it last night thanks to Netflix (and to the fact that Initial D - The Movie is on Super Long Wait).

Although the film was shot entirely on location in the Budapest subway system, it'd be a mistake to say the film is "set" in Budapest. Rather, it uses amazing cinematography and a cast of characters to create an otherworldly feel. Oh, and did I mention that the main characters were a gang of hardcore ticket inspectors?

Yes, you read that right.. Our film focuses on one "gang" of ticket inspectors (who look more like undercover cops in the bad part of town than civil servants) and they're always chasing after people who haven't paid to alternately comic and tragic effect.

One scene tha stood out as a Pulp Fiction-like moment was when our heroes are chasing after the most notorious turnstile jumper in the vast underground. That scene alone makes the film worth it.

Also notable is the opening scene, which includes a lengthy statement from a manager of the Budapest Railway Company, explaining that while they were happy to help the director make his movie, and felt that it was a great story of good and evil, that the "world" depicted in it is fictious. Never underestimate the one constant in the bureacuratic universe - the need to cover one's backside, even when you really like the project.

I don't like to write reviews that spoil the film by doing a plot recap, so instead I'll just say this - if you're bored of watching the Same Old Stuff, or if Netflix isn't giving your favorite DVD rentals quick enough, try this one for something that's a little different, but ultilmately very entertaining.

And for the folks at Muni who are wondering what to do about the scofflaws and the fact that a lack of stable revenue means we're due for a total collapse of the system, perhaps they could take some notes. Maybe all we really need are roving gangs of toughs to rough up those who think the world owes them a ride for free...

Posted by Greg Dewar at 1:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)