Paul Haahr’s Blog » Personal
(I blogged a little about our trip, posted a couple of FriendFeed and Facebook messages, but wanted a little bit more. At the same time, it seemed like too much effort to actually write details about everything and, with us back for three weeks, I doubt I’ll get to that. Instead, I decided to linkify my notes.)
Sarah & Brian’s wedding. David Stark Design. Prince George Ballroom.
American Museum of Natural History: astrophysics camp for Matthew.
South Pacific. Fireworks with the Philharmonic.
Jazz at Lincoln Center, Dizzy’s Club. Marcus Roberts Trio.
MoMA. Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling. Buster Keaton’s One Week. Cafe 2.
The Met. Jeff Koons on the Roof. Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy. Petrie Café.
John’s Pizza. (Bleeker Street, of course.) Cones.
Children’s Museum of Manhattan.
Waterfalls. Grimaldi’s. Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory.
Katz’s Deli. Russ and Daughters.
Staten Island Ferry. Playing the Building.
Thunderstorms on the way home:
(Image from Flight Wait.)
I moved away from New York two decades ago for a life I enjoy a lot in San Francisco, but tonight we had one of those magical nights which you can only get in a city like New York.
The center of our evening was seeing South Pacific at Lincoln Center. It’s a great production of one of the great musicals. I’d never seen South Pacific before and I was surprised at how uncliched it was. While some of the story didn’t seem particular fresh and it couldn’t be controversial in the way it was in 1949, thanks to progress in society, I think they found something deeper in this production than I would have expected. Despite the disappointment of seeing an understudy for Kelli O’Hara, all the performances were great. It’s the type of show which reminds you how powerful live theater can be.
Then, walking home, we were surprised by beautiful fireworks in Central Park, courtesy of the New York Philharmonic. There’s nothing quite like walking along and seeing the sky light up like that.
These both followed doing some things with the kids and just being out and around the city. The day wasn’t too hot and humid, unlike a few recent ones. All in all, what one wants in a city vacation. I love living in San Francisco, but still miss New York when I’m not here; tonight reminded me of why.
In theory, at least, I like to blog. I’ve tried to do it for at least five years. And I’ve never averaged more than one post per month.
I’ve come to realize that there are two things which I consider important in my life: my family and my job. (This should be an obvious fact about a married professional with two children, but I’ve rarely stated it that way for myself.) Most of my time is spent on one or the other. Add in the things I can’t seem to avoid, such as commuting or home renovations, and I’m left with almost nothing. I’ve lost touch with lots of friends. I rarely end up replying to personal email. My job is my only hobby. I do the other things I want to do — work out, cook, read books, see friends — much less than I’d like to.
This applies in the internet space, too. I don’t blog often. I haven’t written any open source code in years. I use Wikipedia but I don’t contribute back very often. I don’t post photos publicly.
It’s also why I haven’t tried out social networks. It seems that I have a hard enough time keeping up with my existing friends using traditional means that adding new techniques wouldn’t help — it would just create more obligations for me — though I’m beginning to rethink that.
So, maybe, when I ask myself why I’m not blogging, I need to remind myself that, in fact, I’ve made it less important than the few things I do actually find important. And I admire the people who blog well quite a lot, especially if it’s not their full-time career.
I first moved to San Francisco twenty years ago. It was a different city then, and I was a different person, but it’s been a great place to live. It’s felt like home since just after I got here.
It was my sophomore year of college and I had been told to take some time away, grow up, and figure out if I really wanted to be in school. I had never been west of the Mississippi. On April 22, 1986, I took a People Express flight from Newark to San Francisco, paying $99 on the plane. I stayed at the Embarcadero YMCA, where I paid $20 per night. The desk clerk told me I had a room on the fifth floor and asked if I minded something facing the street; I thought it was fine, not realizing until I got to the room that there was an elevated freeway about a car’s length from my window.
That, of course, encapsulates a few of the changes to San Francisco. The Embarcadero Freeway is blessedly no more, a casualty of the Loma Prieta earthquake and San Francisco doing some sensible urban planning. The YMCA hotel is now the Harbor Court, which runs $220 per night, according to Trip Advisor.
I’ve had a bunch of different lives here: single, part of a couple with Susan, and as a parent; working for CalPirg or in Silicon Valley or as a consultant; renting and as a homeowner. Every life change has made me see new parts of San Franciso. In my early time here, AIDS and homelessness drove the tone of the city, which had a “we’re in this together” feel in those days. During the boom, geeks like me were (almost) the cool kids, though I never made it to cool kid. Now, as a parent, the awful state of the public schools, the frothy housing market, and the consequent flight of the middle class leave me depressed; at the same time, the physical plant of the city is better than ever: the new De Young Museum, the ballpark (which I voted against, but now approve of), Octavia Boulevard, the Ferry Building, and the soon-to-open Third Street Muni Line are all good things.
San Francisco feels more divided to me than it has before. There used to be some cohesion to being the most liberal big city in America, but now it feels like the infighting in local politics is dominating all the big issues. It almost feels like the city, after a long time as a forward-thinking place, has just fallen off the map.
I’ve lived and traveled elsewhere since I first arrived — back to finish school, some time in the UK — but I’ve been here for a total of about fifteen years of the last twenty and expect to call it home for as long as I can see.