Who Pays

Keith wondered who was paying for the giant civil engineering bandaid. Good question! I wondered the same thing. I would guess the apartment building in the photo must be condemned, in which case all they'd be doing is trying to avoid even worse cleanup costs and maybe environmental fines if it falls into the ocean. No doubt there is a big financial incentive. However, in this article, it looks like nearby property owners are paying their own freight.

Pacifica real estate investor Millard Tong, who owns two apartment buildings next door, is paying a fortune to save his property.

Tong said he was aware of the issue when he bought the properties in 1999 and 2002, for about $3million each. He said experts told him the cliff would erode about a half-inch every year. (Ewing says reports at the time actually indicated two feet per year.)

"I had 20 feet sticking out there," said Tong, 60. "I figured in my lifetime, nothing would happen and I'd be dead by the time the building goes into the ocean."

After a violent storm in 2002, he said, a 12-foot chunk of earth suddenly dropped away from the property.

"And then I got scared," said Tong. "Twelve feet in one night? Jesus. I thought, 'I have to get some rocks down there.'"

So Tong shelled out at least $100,000 to have riprap — in this case, large boulders — placed at the base of the cliff to help dissipate the energy of the waves, the same kind of work now being done next door.

In March, after another 8- to 10-foot chunk of property fell away, Tong applied for an emergency permit from the Coastal Commission to install a second round of riprap at the base of his buildings for close to $1 million.

Joys of coastal living. The west coast equivalent of hiring bulldozers to restore your beach after every storm, I suppose.

What I am listening to

After admiring Dans I-Pod from afar (Imean the unit not the content) Dan and Kirsti gave me one for X-mas. Since then I have been busy building myself a music library and enjoying every minute of it. My first instinct was to revisit all the music I have enjoyed for years. The list is domonated by artists who rock but are mostly rooted in bues. Some of my favorites are. Eric Clapton- Particularly the album Eric Clapton and freinds, or his early efforts with Bonnie Bramlett/Jimmy Page/Blind Faith/Blues Breakers. I am not a big fan of anything beyond 461 ocean blvd. Johnny Winter- This guy is classic and has lots of music I havn't even listened to but I love the Second Winter album as well as a live album that has his rendition of Jumpin Jack Flash Stevie Ray Vaughn-Unfortunately his body of work is limited due to his untimely death but it is all great in my opinion. I still enjoy the rocknroll greats from back in the day but these guys standout as something I don't get bored with. I first realized I liked country music with Steve when we used to listen to bluegrass as I beat him in ping pong. A later exposure sealed the deal when I attended a Loggins and Messina concert, fully expecting to hear a mediocre rock band and was blown away by a 8 piece country band that I'm sure Hank and Mearle would have loved. I am not a fan of what I would call top 40 country, you know the whiny dribble heard on most country stations. It takes a certain Whiny dribble for me to enjoy it. Here are some of my current favorites. Billy Joe Shaver-I love this guy he sounds alot like Waylon Jennings who I also like but his band has a little more hard hitting blues/rock kinda thing goin on you just have to get past the gospel content of some of his best songs. Cross Canadian Ragweed-This band rocks and it is country no matter how loud you listen to it. David Ball- Here is a guy and band that occasionaly cross over to that whinny dribble heard on Top 40 country but The album Thinkin Problem in my opinion is really good. Hat, boots and longneck are optional. Lucinda Williams- I Know at least Steve and Dara know how good she is. I could go on,Steve Earle, Lyle Lovett, Chris Knight. This is a catagory that will never be exausted since good new country music is being made everyday.

Room with a View

Every rainy winter, the cliffs in Pacific crumble a little closer to an apartment building. Spectators gawk. Hands are wrung. This year things have gotten just a little too close for comfort, as you can see in the picture. Tell me: Assuming this civil engineering bandaid they're applying to the cliffside succeeds in stabilizing things, who in his right mind would actually live in one of those apartments!?!?

El Nino Arrives

A week's worth of rain in this bucket that sits on our deck.

Write Locally, Read Globally

Given the increasing amount of content in the local Bay Area newspapers that comes straight off the wire services, the NYTimes, or the Washington Post, it has started to seem like I should just go for a NYTimes subscription. The local papers get slimmer and less interesting every month. Perhaps Apple's announcement at the end of the week will add some spice to the situation. Now it looks like the tables will turn a bit, as a local non-profit news startup will be supplying local reporting for the Times San Francisco Bay Edition. Someplace along the way I hope we're going to see a model that stabilizes things for at least a few great national papers with quality local content.

That's Why I Chose Yale

Apparently the Yale admissions committee decided that just telling prospective students how awesome Yale is was rather boring so they put a little song and dance into it. Hilarious. How could you not want to go to Yale after watching that?

Sailing Vicariously

A friend at work pointed me at Jessica Watson's blog. You can track the 16 year old's adventure as she tries to fulfill her ambition to "become the youngest person to sail solo, nonstop and unassisted around the world." She is about 400 nautical miles away from rounding Cape Horn. Sounds like Mom and Dad are off to wave to her and Ella's Pink Lady (her Sparkman and Stephens 34 footer) as she goes by. Check it out, you armchair sailors.

Californication of Oregon Continues

But this time by the errant Pier 39 sea lions I blogged about earlier.

"We've seen these huge pods out on the ocean - 200, 300 yards across - altogether a couple thousand sea lions," said Steve Saubert, co-owner of Sea Lion Caves, a private preserve near the town of Florence. "They were just here all of a sudden."

About 500 of those sea lions have moved into the caves themselves, about 300 of them in the past week, said Jim McMillan, an assistant manager at the park. There would be even more, Saubert said, but the 2-acre floor space of the cave limits the landing area.

I wonder if they cashed out from the Pier 39 real estate appreciation, or whether it all got wiped out in the crash.

My New Gig

Will blog for food.

After the third airport dropoff in two days, I noticed the "free speech booth" - the place that the cult spokespeople are relegated to at the SF airport - was empty, so I thought I'd try my hand. No takers.

Good Riddance 2000's!

This pretty much sums up my feelings about a decade of lowered expectations.

California Christmas

Kyla flies out tomorrow, with Garrett and Jody following the next day assuming the Halifax weather gods cooperate. Here's a sampling from the full set of pictures from the holidays.

The fake gift boxes from the Onion were a big hit, perhaps moreso than the actual gift hidden inside. Here is Garrett discovering his new USB toaster, figuring it would be just the kind of gift I would give him.


Dara gets in on the action, uncovering a dachshund pillow.

Kyla harvests lemons from the tree in our yard. I hope this tree continues to bear enough fruit at Christmastime to be able to make Christmas lemonade a tradition.

Garrett and Jody take on cookie decorating duties.

We seem to have a variety of whacky hats around the house, so here we pose with the Leibs boys and Jocelyn, Hal and LuAnn's daughter, during our day-after-Christmas get together.

Monday after Christmas gave us an opportunity to do the marathon day trip up to Kirkwood. Jody got her first taste of serious mountains and snowboarding, but seemed mystified by all the fascination with snow. Here's Kyla at about 10,000 feet, ready for the first black diamond of the day.

No More Sea Lions

Those of you who have visited us from afar will no doubt remember the slippery, barking pile of sea lions at Pier 39 in downtown San Francisco. They arrived in big numbers in 1990, and I remember at the time how sea lion huggers and the tourist bureau managed to outmuscle the local boaters who found their prime slip locations overrun and inaccessible. No more, it seems. As mysteriously as they arrived, the sea lions have decided it's time to move on.

Since Oct. 23, when volunteers with Sausalito's Marine Mammal Center counted just over 1,700 of the pinnipeds sprawled out on the docks at Fisherman's Wharf, the number of sea lions has plummeted.

Tuesday afternoon, as holiday visitors and tourists swarmed the pier for magic shows, ferry rides and funnel cakes, the only empty spot was the network of docks reserved for the federally protected sea lions.

Some local prognosticators figure the sea lions are just out searching for food and will be back. I would start renting out the slips again myself.