Commuting by Unicycle

Unicyclist crossing Market at Sanchez, 2011

There isn't much to say about photographs that speak for themselves. I will point out that this gentleman seems to be a bike commuter: I took this on a work day; he's wearing a helmet, gloves that seem to have wrist reinforcement, and a high-visibility jacket; he wasn't waving or playing to an audience. He was using this giant unicycle to get from point A to point B. I'd like to know the distance he travels on this simple machine. 


I bet this fella has a pretty healthy sense of humor, despite his focused countenance in these shots.

Keeping things in order

Birds this way.

These murals are great. But, I am not sure that they help much to keep things in order. I waited a while in vain for a few birds to land on the wire in the frame. I guess I could have scattered bird seed on the street to force this to happen.

Seeing that would have been more likely than a car flying above the other one. Instead, I got a guy grappling senselessly with some unknown piece of trash. I honestly don't know what he's doing with that thing, or what it is. I guess I should have asked him for the sake of this post.

Having Fridays off is a great way to see the city I live in. Near this intersection a few weeks ago, I observed a white pickup truck with what looked (and smelled, as I biked behind it for a few blocks) like an enormous marijuana plant. I guess it needed some air?

The things that keep people busy!

Cars this way. // Both at 17th and Potrero, San Francisco, 2011.

The Number 23 and Money Bags

23rd and Mission, 2011.

The Number 23 has been the subject of fascination to many, even leading to a major motion picture. A group of high school friends and I became obsessed with the number by way of admiration of a Milwaukee Brewer, Greg Vaughn. The power hitter wore 23 on his jersey.

It led to us finding every possible way to connect things to this number. At football and basketball games as we watched our peers battle, each time the scoreboard ticked down to 0:23, we yelled "Vaughn" in unison. We were able to paint a mural on a window of Mr. Vaughn for Homecoming (which someone later adorned with "Stevie Ray" and we still joke about today). We strove to wear #23 on our own teams. We wrote V.I.KING on our notebooks (Vaughn Is King). We went to Brewers' Fan Fest and met Greg Vaughn once, posing for a group photo and even having him autograph our Denver Zephyrs hats. He probably hired an additional bodyguard after this bizarre interaction. Our group became known as "The Vaughns." It was weird, but fun.

I still enjoy seeing this number wherever it turns up. This is from an aging street mosaic project, about which I know very little, in my neighborhood at 23rd and Mission. (More here.)

And the following piece comes from my mom...

THE ONLY TIME WE WILL SEE AND LIVE THIS EVENT
Calendar for July 2011
July
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat


1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31

Money bags

This year, July has 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays. This happens once every 823 years. This is called money bags. So, forward this to your friends and money will arrive within 4 days. Based on Chinese Feng Shui. The one who does not forward.....will be without money.


Kinda interesting - read on!!!


This year we're going to experience four unusual dates.

1/1/11, 1/11/11, 11/1/11, 11/11/11 and that's not all...

Take the last two digits of the year in which you were born - now add the age you will be this year,

The results will be 111 for everyone in whole world. This is the year of the Money!!!

The proverb goes that if you send this to eight good friends money will appear in next four days as it is explained in Chinese FENG SHUI.

Those who don't continue the chain won't receive.......

Its a mystery, but its worth a try, good luck.

Service with a Grimace

Tow Guy, Sebastopol, 2011.

I love this way of advertising a tow/service station. 

However, I'm unsure why this tow truck driver is brandishing a guilty grimace for having towed someone. Most tow truck drivers I've encountered are brutish, reckless drivers who somehow feel like they are doing a civic duty by towing an unauthorized car. 

It's almost as ridiculous as Homer's grossly mistaken, self-fabricated sense of entitlement in this scene (sorry, I could only find it in Russian; he's yelling, "It's all right! I'm a teacher!" as he stops traffic at a red light).

My friend Ben is from Sebastopol. When I asked him if he was familiar with this sign (see it below as part of the street's scene), it led to an awesome discussion. Ben told me about an artist who lives in town and has created a piece of scrap metal sculpture for each house that shares his street. 

Patrick Amiot and Brigitte Laurent create objects out of scrap metal and paint them as a team. Ben told me this story about one of their pieces for which I couldn't find an article, so I'll tell it here. The sculpture, a giant scrap metal cow, is situated outside of town in a cow pasture along Highway 12. Local authorities and citizens became perturbed at the annoying habit that someone had developed of repeatedly tipping this cow at night. I'm not sure how frequently or often it happened, but it became warranted to hold a night vigil to catch the perpetrators. 

The watching crowd of pitchfork- and shotgun- wielding observers* waited. And waited. Maybe this wasn't the night. Nobody was near the sculpture except for a few head of cattle. Then, as the posse  watched, the cows, rubbing against the idol, toppled the giant cow: the mystery was solved.

I guess the lesson here is that things aren't always what they appear.

*These details are my own imaginings.