Hello microclimates!

San Francisco - heck, the Bay Area, is filled with microclimates. Unlike the Midwest, where you can have the same weather for a 200 mile radius - you can go from sunny and 80s to foggy and 50s in about 50 miles (that would be Sunnyvale to San Francisco). Or - like yesterday, 80s and sunny in San Francisco and foggy and cooler in Santa Cruz (75 miles).

We've got effing nanoclimates here in The City. A 7x7 mile area - 49 square miles - complete with sun, fog, wind, cold and hot... simultaneously.

Here's a map that helps to show some of these nanoclimates - the yellow circles are pockets of warmth, the blue arrows are wind and the white line is the "fog line"
I grabbed that image from The Front Steps, a real estate blog. Pretty great site. If I had any money to buy a house (read: condo, shack, cardboard box) in the city, this blog would totally make it to my Google Reader.
Link to the full post.

Solar-Powered Bicycle Parking Pods

Hmmm. What do I want when I park my bike?
For my bike to be there, intact, when I return

What would be really cool?
A place to securely store other stuff, like in a locker

What if I had a really long commute or ride?
A shower

What if I don't want to be on the grid, or don't want to use dirty power?
A solar powered shower

Boo-yah. Check out this link to a bike parking pod concept (Thanks again TH!). It's about the size of one car parking spot. Solar powered showers, bike lockers and racks.

Not totally sure where this would be most useful - most offices around here supply secure parking and some have showers... or there's a gym nearby. Perhaps for office parks that are a little more out there, or for bike-in camping. What do you think?

Little teaser...

And... um, yeah. You're just going to have to call me for deets on the guy. It's ON.

Kirby has a BF.

*swoon*

Oh, and he puts biodiesel in his car, rides bikes, sails, motorcycles (not doing anything to convince me to NOT get a motorcycle or scooter myself - it's SO much fun), also has a cat and is super smart and sweet and - Kristen, this is for you... LIKES PUNS!!!!!

:D

And that means...?

Overheard line today:

"Well, the guy may be talking complete bullshit, but he's got money."

Nothing to report here...

Most guy-related posts have been for pure humor.

New guy. Awesomeness. Giddy and happy. No hilarious drama to report. Yay!

*swoon*

Green oats

I'm a big fan of oatmeal. A while back, Audrey and Amanda sent me a link to Kath Eats Real Food, because she's also a huge oatmeal fan and, like me, mixes in all sorts of tasty ingredients like nut butters, bananas, fruit, etc (she doesn't top hers with plain yogurt like I do though - yum!).

Green oats = oatmeal made GREEN (for once, I mean the color, not environmentally) by the addition of spinach. Weird, huh? I've been adding some frozen spinach in to my smoothies occasionally and really don't taste it*, but I know I'm adding some iron to my frozen fruit, which is great, since iron is absorbed better with vitamin C.

Anyway, Kath recently made Green Oats, which seems to keep popping up in the foodie blogosphere (ok, I exaggerate - it's not exactly sweeping the nation, but it's there).

I didn't follow Polly's recipe exactly, but did end up with similarly colored oatmeal this morning.

Here's what I did:
1 c water
1 really ripe banana
Chop up banana, put in water, boil

Add 0.5 c oats & cook
Here's where I deviated...
Toss in a handful and a half of frozen spinach
Cook until spinach is defrosted
THEN get out your immersion blender and blend it all up

I topped mine with some plain yogurt - don't mix it in, because then you don't taste it. Kind of let it act as a "frosting" and get a little yogurt with your oats on your spoon. I think that the whole banana (generally I add only half to my oats) totally covered up any spinach taste. I liked the blended texture as a change, but it didn't seem as filling. (Or maybe it was just a hungry kind of morning.)

*Cheese, on the other hand, is something that I DON'T add to foods, like sandwiches, if I'm not going to taste it. Kath agrees with me on this one.

WoD and Soy Yogurt

Awesome. Use it. I loves me some Urban Dictionary and you should too.

May 18: Douchebaguette

A female douchebag. A woman who exhibits characteristics of a douchebag.

Just look at her pompous gait... what a douchebaguette!

-----------------

Also... soy yogurt. Sounds a little strange, but is really, quite tasty. Ok, maybe it's not for everyone, but I'm such a sucker for creamy textured foods. Give it a shot sometime. Janet, over at prettygreengirl.com/ has some sweet WholeSoy & Co coupons for soy yogurt and soy frozen yogurt. Enter her contest and you could try soy yogurt for free.

DYBTWD

What did I do this evening? I participated (for just my second time ever - thanks LF!) in a weekly bike ride called the Butter Lap (cuz it's smoooooth like butta). ~30? riders, roadies, fixies, commuters, cyclocross, mountain bikes all doing a nice lap around the city. Today, being the day before Bike to Work Day, was:

Drive Your Bike to Work Day.

Did I mention that the Butter riders are a hilarious bunch?

Riders were given the option of riding their bikes OR hitching their bikes (that's the "driving your bike" part) to the top of the disco limo. Of course, the folks *in* the car then yelled things like "Get a car, you dirty hippies!" at all of us on the ride. Good times. I'm now sporting a temporary tattoo with the Drive Your Bike to Work Day on my right calf "so that other riders can see it when I pass them (recommended another rider)."




Here's a flickr site with pics from last year and the DYBTWD blog. http://www.driveyourbike.org/wp/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woo/2517479076/in/pool-driveyourbike

Kirby is not happy at work.

I am a lot of things. An event planner is not one of them. My job sucks right now.

Shout out to Big A! Congratulations on your engagement.

Also, a "Janet" has been making lovely comments. Thank you. I <3 comments. I may even <3 you. Do I know you? Email me!

Sheep as lawn mowers as wool as meat. Then you finally get profit. Article, which I've been meaning to send out, but have been obviously waiting until miserable at work, here.

Sierra Club does red, white and green wine

Nice little wine competition here from Sierra Club. I was pleased to see a lot of California and Pacific Northwest wines ranked up there since, in addition to the farming practicies, I like to keep the transportation carbon footprint to a minimum and do tend to buy from my region (lucky me, I know!).

Article here

I was super pleased to see Quivera's Zinfandel listed as a winner. It's one of my favorites. I've purchased their Zin at the tasting room and then also found their Hammerhead Zin at a nearby grocery store. Give it a try, if you can find it near you (and you like Zinfandel as much as I do!).

Zinfandel

Quivira 2006
Sonoma, CA
PRICE: $34 | SCORE: 7.4

TASTING NOTES: Though Hernandez said, "No one knows what they want their zins to be when they grow up," Dutton was "amazed that with this ripeness, there is good acid balance." The experts detected a muted cherry-pie aroma; a taste that evoked toasted oak, bitter chocolate, and "bubblegummy fruit" (Wines); and "a 'pow' on the finish" (Dutton). Pair it with chocolate--especially mole sauce.

GREEN NOTES: Quivira, which is 100 percent organic and solar, has been working since 1998 to restore a nearby stream in which steelhead and salmon spawn.