Suspension

Aiming for China...

Big Bridge, Big Shadow

Dem bones, dem bones...

Beneath Paris one can find a lot of old bones in the catacombs. We ventured down there in one of our last stays in one of the darker portions of the City of Light and found it quite interesting and not a little creepy. The tunnels wind at odd angles and at changing elevations beneath the streets. We entered one place and emerged many blocks away. It's cool and moist down there, and the sheer number of old bones and skulls is staggering. Long Bone Stacker is definitely job a job I would've wanted had I been alive in old Paris.

The grape, Reginald...

On our way back from Tahoe we stopped off at the newly redone Nut Tree to see if anything from the old days remained. There's a train, a carousel, and those rocking horses, as well as some new rides for small children, all tucked at the end of a strip mall. Em wanted to go on one of the rides, but we could find only one place to buy tickets and the long was too long. We may give it another try sometime, when the rest of the storefronts in the immediate vicinity are done. But it ain't the old Nut Tree. I guess we should just be glad that the whole property isn't yet another strip mall...

Prague Time

This clock is really cool, but when we were in the main square in Prague, I could never tell what time it was.

Opera/Bastille

155 Sansome

Good title, huh? This was taken right around the corner from the Pacific Stock Exchange, another human form in the same style as the figures on the front of the Exchange. The longer I look at this picture, the more symbolic design I feel I'm failing to understand. The horizontal lines on the left are straight, but the ones on the right are wavy, like water. The vertical lines behind the rainbow are straight on the left side, but look like lightning on the right. The figure on the left looks like maybe he's working a field, while the one on the right might be in a boat. Any ideas?

edit: Thanks to Mark for this link about the architecture and history of this building!

Up Jumped Spring

Good Advice

This is Old Saint Mary's Cathedral at 660 California Street in San Francisco, California's oldest cathedral. It was dedicated at Christmas Midnight Mass in 1854 and has always stuck me as an interesting juxtaposition of east and west, given its location at California and Grant--it's flanked by Chinatown's colorful shops and restaurants and at times looks like it's being pushed down California street by this very different culture.

The quotation below the clock caught my eye years ago, but only recently did I discover that this church has been featured in several movies, as described here. Several web sources say that the quotation was originally directed at patrons of the brothel district opposite the church in old San Francisco.

Opt Out of Credit Offers

If you'd like to stop those annoying credit card solicitations and thus reduce your junk mail AND eliminate one more identity theft opportunity, go to OptOut or call 888-567-8688 and tell TransUnion, Equifax and Experian NOT to give your credit info and address out to banks, mortgage brokers and other lenders. You can do a five-year ban on the web site, or you can choose a lifetime ban if you print a form and mail it in with your signature.

This reminds me of an experience we had with American Express years ago. When we lived in France, my wife scheduled a spa trip for herself and some colleagues through SpaFinder.com. She booked a weekend at a spa in southern France to the tune of $1,200 for herself and three friends. But the demands of the project forced them to cancel the trip. My wife called SpaFinder and was told that there would be no problem since she was canceling almost a week before the reservation.

When we got the next AmEx bill, however, SpaFinder had charged us the $1,200! We called SpaFinder again and were told that they had no record of us canceling, so they'd gone ahead and charged us for the whole weekend. When we got nowhere with SpaFinder, we appealed to American Express, thinking that as loyal customers who for FOURTEEN years had paid our bills on time and proven ourselves to be trustworthy, AmEx would get involved on our behalf. Wrong.

AmEx told us at the end of each round of appeals that it was simply our word against that of their merchant and that AmEx had no reason to believe us. We were stunned. When some mistake like this had happened with Visa from time to time, Visa had always been great about helping us. They seemed to realize that people who for many years have been good customers don’t suddenly start lying to avoid charges. But in this case, we ended up having to pay the $1,200, which was a VERY expensive lesson learned about where you stand as a loyal AmEx cardholder, and about how poor SpaFinder.com treats customers.

Every time I get another AmEx card solicitation, it’s very hard to resist writing GO TO HELL AMEX on the application and return it in the postage paid envelope. I am looking forward to getting no more salt in my AmEx wound now that I have opted out of these annoying credit solicitations. And if you’re thinking of using SpaFinder or getting an AmEx card, beware.

The Pacific Stock Exchange

The Party's Over

Keep Your Home Free of Mice the Old-Fashioned Way

Two of these 'fine art' statues are currently on display at a place on Grant St. The figures are life-size if not a bit larger. I'm not sure what they're supposed to be doing, posed like this. Perhaps they are intended to scare children or rodents away. There was no price tag on either guy, so clearly this is one of those 'if you have to ask, you can't afford me' situations.

Maddie With Stone Lions

6:41 AM

The Sun Also Rises

Now There's a View: Finest in the City, Agent!

The Lamppost Detects Rain

You can almost see the Golden Gate from here...

One with the 70-200 f/2.8L IS

I rented a Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS lens last week, which, like washing one's car, caused it to rain for several consecutive days. But I got a few shots I liked on the way to return the lens. Renting rules! Let's see...for the cost of this lens, we could eat at the French Laundry, twice! Almost.