D&F 7/23/23

Another hot one! Luckily for me, my bike ride on Saturday stayed close enough to the water to provide wind and cool air, mixed with the 40% humidity that meant my sweat did its job. It still confuses me after ten years of not living in Texas that the night is cooler than the day, but I like it. If I could convince other west coast people to enjoy sitting outside at night I would be in heaven.

This week also meant checking in with my favorite west coast baby, as she learns how to stick out her tongue and focus on high contrast pictures. I met J at two weeks, and now at two months it’s fully wild to see how big she’s gotten. One of my best friends in high school had his first kid almost twenty years ago, and it’s funny to think that I have good friends now who are having kids a full generation younger. Babies.

In other news, work is calming down from planning and performance, and I’m making fall plans of bicycling, cat sitting, and camping. Snorri is healthy, and happy, and I’m enjoying occasional restaurant and bar visits. Things still feel very different than pre-2020, but the world feels firmly determined to forget a pandemic and maybe that’s ok.

Links

• Instead of providing free parking throughout our cities, what if we provided free transit instead? Free parking is one of those things most Americans never question, and yet it destroys our roads, pollutes our air, and crowds out pedestrians, cyclists, and commerce everywhere. When I visit Japan I am always reminded how much nicer it is to walk around and explore without rows of cars everywhere. In Oakland, the rash of delivery and app-based taxi services means near-constant double and sometimes triple-parking. It’s gross, and I hope it changes:

• You probably have thoughts about homelessness, especially if you live in a major city. Maybe you hate seeing people struggle, or fear the drugs or erratic behavior folks often exhibit. Perhaps you watch the news and think about the death of urban areas because of fentanyl addicts and crime. A large study of homeless and houseless people showed that surprise surprise if we invested in more affordable housing, subsidized or provided national healthcare, and expanded low-barrier mental healthcare and drug treatment things would get better. Capitalism neither cares for the health and happiness of people, or provides for societal health—we need a socialist response soon.

But even if California does build more housing generally, Kushel says that, to address the state’s homelessness crisis, there needs to be more subsidized housing specifically provided for people with extremely low incomes. “I do not believe the market is going to solve for this given how incredibly poor everyone was,” she said.

• Mountain biking is scary! A few friends recently got mountain bikes and started driving their cars to the trails and downhill runs around here, but I remain uninterested. Riding to the ride? That’s cool. However, I do love watching wild MTB shit like the Megavalanche race:

• Finally, the Tour de France is basically over with the Paris procession happening before you read this, and the deal being sealed by two days of dominant performance by a young Dane named Vingegaard, beginning with a Time Trial for the ages:

Closing

Well, I’m beat for now. It’s been a warm, busy weekend, and today I’ve got some cycling, Japanese class, and rest before a re-watch of The Birdcage with friends tomorrow. Enjoy the last full week of July, and stay hydrated and cool, space cowgirls~