power station

I toured the old Potrero power station -- the one with the enormous natural gas turbine that sits right on the water, about a quarter mile off of Illinois St. A private developer is proposing to convert the old plant into a hotel and build housing and retail around it. And contribute a strip of the coastline to the Blue Greenway, of course.

It was fascinating. I've already forgotten most of the historical and architectural details we were given, probably because I was so taken by the industrial aesthetics and, of course, the view. But I do remember hearing that this patch of land was once quite densely packed with industrial buildings and infrastructure. There was a sugar factory (Spreckels) in the late 19c. -- the building (or one of the buildings?) is now leased by DHL. I think I remember something about a barrel-making facility, but I can't remember the when or the where of it. Apparently, the water in this part of the bay is unusually deep right offshore, which is good for shipping purposes.

Anyway, I really enjoyed the experience. I don't know if these developers are overly optimistic but they plan to have the site built up in five or six years.

Today I met Nola at PPIC and we bought tickets for India -- $1,600 each. We plan to get trip insurance, just in case something keeps one or both of us from going. But we've taken a big first step -- today was our third round of deliberation about cities of arrival and departure, airlines, and (of course) flight times and fares.

After we finally made our decision -- Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong, with extra legroom seats -- we went to Chinatown for a late lunch. Now it's sometime after 7pm and I'm semi-hungry, but I don't feel like making anything. Crackers with cheese and sliced tomatoes, perhaps?

raccoons

Well, I did not break out of the pattern last night. In fact, I think it was my worst night of sleep in quite a while. A lot of that is attributable to a large family of raccoons -- five or six of them. They spent a lot of time teetering on the fence outside the bedroom window, and at some point at least two young ones fell into the light well with a heavy "thwump," and then slowly and noisily climbed and chirped their way back up to the fence. Oy. I listened to several podcast episodes, streamed some TV shows, got up a few times, took ibuprofen, stretched, tossed, turned. You get the idea.

I can't blame every minute of my sleeplessness on the raccoons, of course. My left eye was sticky with goo -- an irritation on the inside of my lower lid has been annoying me for a while. My hope is that the goo is a sign that the infection is subsiding. But who knows. The inside of the lid is still red, but it's less itchy.

On the bright side, I worked for several hours
, so it didn't really matter that I was tired.

sleep and disorder

Every other night I have big trouble with sleep -- it's almost as if I crave the anticipatory pleasure of being dead tired and crawling into bed. But I wish I could bust out of the pattern. I am hoping that tonight is the night.

I spent some time at the art book fair -- I thought I was meeting n and t there but it turned out that they were planning to meet me there tomorrow. So I was there alone, and that was OK, except that I probably would have stayed longer if I had been with those two. I walked home by way of Building Resources -- on Mendell near Evans, I encountered two brussels sprouts, one in the street and the other on the sidewalk. Now it's getting to be late afternoon and what have I done? Not a whole lot.

I wrote to one okc prospect, bought a small plant stand online that I'm hoping will serve as a shelf for my coffee cups, and hesitated, fatally, about buying a pair of jeans. I need to get up off this couch and maybe bake some cookies. It has been a long time since I baked anything; for whatever reason, I've been craving handfuls of chocolate chips mixed with peanuts. With mint tea.

Let's see, what else happened this week, other than the usual national awfulness? I finally spent some time with Ellie and her baby. What can I say, he's a month old and he smells like a baby and he didn't fuss much when I was holding him. I saw the Magritte exhibit with KW, which was fun. The Dominion of Light series is especially lovely. I think my favorite was Clear Ideas -- a frothy white cloud and a faceted rock hovering, the one above the other, in a dark sky above what looks like an ocean.

Modesto

I canvassed in Modesto yesterday -- with 100+ other volunteers (an all-time high turnout, according to the organizers). We were sent to an interesting neighborhood -- older than the subdivisions I'd covered on previous Saturdays. There were tall trees! And funky topiary efforts. Despite all the "Beware of Dog" and other unwelcoming signs, several people answered their doors and even the uninterested were kind. It seemed like a heavily Latino neighborhood, with a few African American households here and there. Come to think of it, it's the old white men who ramble on angrily about Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi. I don't know how hot it was but I got a bit pink in the face toward the time we called it a day. I was grateful that Meg drove -- I left my car at North Berkeley BART. Meg dropped me off sometime after 5:00. I stopped to shop at the Bowl and then crawled across the bridge, with the Giant pregame show keeping me company -- the traffic could have been much worse.

The fog was rolling in as I crossed the bridge. It's still hovering, though I can see a band of pale blue above Bayview Hill. Mel and Zach's fish is not eating the food I tossed into the bowl. The water looks dirty but I am not going to change it -- Zach said I didn't need to. It's a sad comment on my caretaker abilities, but I'm looking forward to handing the fish back tomorrow.

free speech: iokiyar

The theory of New Deal liberals, which commanded a majority of the Court for nearly a decade in the 60s, is that judicial review was particularly important in cases where the rights of “discrete and insular minorities” are under attack, and where democratic processes are being thwarted by powerful interests. The theory of the Roberts Court is stands this precisely on its head: the Supreme Court is much more solicitous of the rights of powerful interests, and has been an active collaborator with state efforts to disenfranchise voters.

-Scott Lemieux, LGM