San Francisco and what to do in it

yeah I had soaked coworker come in and say he couldn't take it and was going to buy a car. My response: "why? so you can drive downtown in the rain during commuting hours? are you fucking insane?"

i know! the time i feel luckiest not to have a car is on days like this. my commute was wet, but quick and with way less people than usual packing the train.

"why? so you can drive downtown in the rain during commuting hours? are you fucking insane?"

Ha ha ha! And still have to walk just as far in the rain unless he likes spending $30+/day, if your bldg has a garage.

Hearing SFers whinge about the rain never fails to make me chortle. We barely have ANY "real" weather so a couple of inches of rain makes us feel positively ALIVE!

Listening to my building creak in the wind is a little unsettling, though.

60 mph winds!

I brought an old overcoat to work and I may just forego deploying my cheap little umbrella and getting a little wet on my way home.

i drove from west oakland. hell and a half. problem is that i don't have any clean jeans, and i didn't want to besog the ones i'm wearing. etc.

first time riding my bike in the rain. forgot about the issue of not having a fender - drenched from head to toe by the time i arrived at work.

bay bridge toll chronology
1936: $0.50 (bi-directional)
1969: $1.00 (westbound only heretofore)
1998: $2.00
2004: $3.00
2009: $4.00
2010: $6.00

Don't forget $3 for carpools.

is this the most expensive bridge in the country?

ggb is also $6, so it can't be

lol have yall ever driven in New York? the Goethals is $8. The Verrazano Narrows is $11.

granted, one hardly needs a car in these areas. so it's a bit more excuseable.

those seem to be two very good reasons why not to drive in ny

Going from 0 to 3$ for carpools is going to make casual carpool pretty awkward, I think. (Or even more awkward...)

in the market for an awesome 2-br apt if anyone knows of a great deal - it's gotta be awesome for us to move from our 13-year rent-controlled 1br but i'm trying to put some feelers out. anybody?

we're probably moving out of our 2-br on Dec 15th. Our current rent is $1,400, but I expect the landlord to jack it up to at least $2k when we leave

Mirkarimi wants to ban paper bags...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/21/MNUT1A8DSG.DTL

sfgate comment crazies are crazier than usual about this story lol

is he trying to one-up Gavvy Gav for his soda tax?

if I didn't have paper grocery bags to use, I'd end up using more plastic garbage bags instead...

paper grocery bags are convenient for putting all the mixed paper recycling in.

yeah it could be a real pain for many people. for me, I try to use my little ultra-compact reusable whenever possible, and it works for most types of groceries. I found this site while looking around for more options: http://www.reusablebags.com/

I don't think it's a bad thing, but I can totally see it pissing a lot of people off. It basically means people will have to buy their own bags and reuse them. To me it's worth it. It's a small step toward reducing waste, cutting down less trees, and it's inevitable anyway.

We use paper bags for our recycling as well. Though the same store that we get most of them from also sells those biobags which are on that site I just linked. they are surprisingly sturdy, too.

there are tons and tons of reusable bag options most of them are very cheap

and last quite awhile. some are even compostable!

I bring a reusable bag to the grocery store most of the time, and because I'm usually only getting a few things at a time, it works out. But sometimes I get groceries on the way home from work, or am getting more stuff than I have reusable bags, or realize I need to get something from the store in the middle of a bunch of other errands. This legislation - along with a bunch of other SF laws - just seems to assume a certain lifestyle that often is associated with affluent people.

yeah no real argument there

I guess I'm ambivalent about regulations like this -- the rational part of me sees their value in terms of environmental impact and the "greater good," but instinctively I perceive them as some California Über Alles suede-denim secret police shit.

Why would you read the comments on an SFGate article?

I can think of plenty of reasons, none of them healthy though.

paper grocery bags are convenient for putting all the mixed paper recycling in.

I can think of plenty of reasons, none of them healthy though.

^ yes, this describes it.

I HATE the SFGate comments section but can't help reading it every damn time! They need to delete it for my own good.

In fact sometimes I click on an article I'm otherwise uninterested in, just cuz "Man, I bet the comments will be *horrible* for this one."

so yeah, unhealthy

SFGate comments forced me to explain the concept of trolling to my wife. "There are really people who do this? Why?"

it makes ilx looks really civilized by comparison

paper grocery bags are convenient for putting all the mixed paper recycling in

this really bears repeating - unintended consequence of proposed legislation: less recycling

recycling itself requires a fair amount of energy to conduct, though, doesn't it? I'd hope anyone serious about recycling would consider it worthwhile to find another way of getting the stuff to their bins. maybe a designated cardboard box or something?

SFGate comments forced me to explain the concept of trolling to my wife. "There are really people who do this? Why?"

the best way to troll SFGate commenters is to reply with a reasoned left-leaning argument to anything. they make 4chan look civilized sometimes.

considering SF's recycling laws (which I am totally down with btw, and require all residences and businesses to have three bins - one for compost, one for recycling, and one for trash) I don't understand the "I need paper bags to put paper in!" argument. Um, you can just put it in with the composting or the recycling, depending on the type of paper.

the large majority of people are only going to recycle if they don't find it to be a huge hassle.

the city hands out bins! where's the hassle

How do you transport your recyclables from your apartment to the bins?

bin /= cans

Although I guess in this case they both = carts.

I have a little compost bin and an older recycling bin, but I guess they don't give those out free anymore?

the city hands out trashcans for compost to residents. I have one. There's a larger one for the apartment building that it gets emptied into. Otherwise I have two trashcans in my kitchen, one for trash (which is sadly mostly plastic bags and packaging) and one for recycling. this is not difficult.

yeah I don't think it's a big deal not having paper bags to use for recycling. we've got plenty of other containers for that... but I *do* know that I often end up grocery shopping when I don't expect to, and thus do not have any reusable bags with me.
...which is part of the reason I've got too many paper bags around the house now.

I mean, I'm sure I'll live.

Oops I mean
Give me a break! Work on crime and MUNI and the HOMELESS that are STINKING up the streets. SF City Government is probably the sorriest lot of losers ever in office in any city anywhere. Get your priorities straight you pack of idiots. Eat compost!

(finally read the article and it's just a mandate for stores to offer a rebate to those who bring their own bags... hardly banning anything)