8.5 and moving up...

No, not an earthquake - as if we need something else to destroy more of our world. And nothing like that weak ass excuse we had yesterday. This indicates more mileage on my runs! Of course we know that in addition to me burning 1000+ calories, this is also an opportunity for me to take pictures of the awesome/strange/ ridiculous things I experience while I'm out and about in The City.

Today's run started out from my place on Shotwell and essentially resulted in me running down Harrison to the Embarcadero. While much different from the trail runs I used to do in the East Bay, City running is amazing precisely because of all the stuff going on. Sure there are no trees, but there are awesome buildings, crazy people and random sightings. Kinda like this:



Not that any of us need a reminder, but make sure you put your GOD-DAMN seat belt on when you get in a cab. Not only because you don't know who the hell your driver is, but because, as it looks in this instance, you never know who else is out there driving!

As I continued along on my run I started thinking I was somehow transported to the video game world of Paperboy for the Original Nintendo. I mean, I was almost attacked by a dog (luckily, it was on a leash); had to dodge cars and bikes who failed to look both ways; saw a crackhead in a robe (just like the video game); and of course, had to dodge the obligatory trash cans on the sidewalk/street. All that was missing were a full-on Tornado, a run away lawnmower, and an actual Grim Reaper to make it legit. After emerging from the Mission and passing through the seedier parts of the SoMa, I was finally rewarded with some decent views of the Bay Bridge.



And upon turning back from the Embarcadero and running up Broadway, the TransAmerica building



...the 100th tallest building in the world, mind you. At least according to a completely suspect Wikipedia page.

Not sure why, but when I saw this, it made me think of that song that went: "BOOM BOOM BOOM, let me hear ya' say __________!(__________)!"


Oh shut up, you know exactly what song I'm talking about. Apparently it's called, get this, "Boom Boom Boom," by the Outhere Brothers. If that's not trivia, I don't know what is.

Finally, I came across this little piece of history on Van Ness:


For those of you who have no idea why I took this picture, Standard Oil hasn't been around for about a billion years, and split up into what is now ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP (too soon?) and every other oil company there is. Technically this gas station was a Chevron, but I was pretty stoked to see the old school Standard name still up. Maybe everything in SF isn't changing the way all the so-called "locals" keep complaining it is. Maybe...