Happy Birthday me. Or something. The real celebration was last week anyways, with the folks back in California. Guess we’re a long way from 1984, either way. I do share the day with an awesome ad though (thanks Apple, Super Bowl XVIII)!

First day of classes, spring semester. Chose classes idealistically rather than pragmatically. Stupid me.

Arabic instructor is better (than last semester), but class is earlier and requires a lot more work. Seminar was chosen for its topic (Arab-Jews, memory). Preparing for a 14-week onslaught of postmodern abstractions.

Coming up on the 31st anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Can’t say why it is still an issue today. If you don’t like abortions, don’t get one. Forcing someone to act as an incubator for a fetus they don’t want is stupid and cruel. Appropriate adjectives for the whole ‘pro-life’ movement.

Sad news: Heath Ledger is dead. A talented actor who played (well) an impressively varied collection of roles. Only 28 years old. A real shame.

Moved back to E. 26th St. apartment. Not much changed aside from new Swiss roommate (?!). Reality of leaving California and beginning new semester sets in. All told, somewhat depressed. Winter weather ain’t helping.

Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Celebrating a very whitewashed version of Dr. King anyway. Everybody hears about “I have a Dream”, but nobody remembers what happened after. The marches against Vietnam. The failed attempts to fight de-facto segregation in the North. The advocacy on behalf of poor and working folks, black or white, American or not. A ‘nice’ ‘safe’ liberal Dr. King wasn’t.

Direct flight from SFO to JFK. Blessedly on-time at the gate, and on-time arriving. Still grumpy about the ridiculous security procedures. One of my (many) resolutions for the year: fly less. Thanks for nothing, TSA.

Arrival in New York slightly marred by grandmother’s losing her purse (temporarily) and grandfather having a hard time stopping by the terminal long enough to pick us up (traffic cops).

For dinner, met their friend of 65+ years. A very sharp lady with a very ‘New York’ way of speaking. Good listening for a tired traveler.

Aside from a few small patches of snow, Westchester has not visibly changed in my 10-day absence. Definitely not the balmy 50-degree weather that I saw before leaving though.

Beautiful morning. Took a while to stop admiring it and get going.

Drove up to Marin headlands with the folks. Parked by Rodeo Beach. Lot of folks out, enjoying the beach/waves/trails. Haze kept it from being a perfect photo day, but the coast looked pretty nice.

Climbed up a variety of trails, past old gun batteries and lookouts to arrive on Hill 88 (elev. almost 1000 ft). Could see most of San Francisco, the bay and whatnot. Hill 88 itself was home to some rapidly disintegrating buildings, and an odd graffiti collection. Had a late lunch, lamented the haze marring the perfect view and descended as the sun did likewise.

2 chance meetings. On the way up, saw the French women we met at the Yosemite snowshoe walk. At the top, had a curious conversation with a women from Nepal (visiting family) who asked to have her photo taken (with my camera, but didn’t want me to send it to her).

To catch the sunset, drove further out on Marin headlands. Magnificent views and colors from Point Bonitas, above the lighthouse. Haze helped here.

Hurried back to HMB next, to meet up with the old gang (friends from high school) for dinner. After-dinner conversation was typically diverse, Evening ended sitting around a fire outside, watching cigar smoke waft by.

Return to New York tomorrow. Happily, only temporarily.

In lieu of Christmas, we usually gather together to celebrate and exchange gifts on New Years’. Postponed until tonight this year, since I was in New York. Also, I turn 24 next week. Returning to New York on Sunday though, so today served for both.

So all the folks (well, the five of us – mom, dad, cousin, visiting uncle and I) are here tonight. The fire is burning. The (premature) cake with it’s 24 candles is out. Outside, it’s clear and the stars shimmer brightly. Times are good.

Perhaps time to give some thought to astrophotography? Nah. Just enjoy the moment.

My feelings toward Half Moon Bay have always tended toward the mixed. The politics are strange, the infrastructure shoddy, the aesthetics often lacking and so on. At the same time, it is still a small town. After spending three semesters in New York City, that counts for something.

Had a chance to experience some of that today doing various errands. Picked up books and stationary from the two local bookstores. The sort of things you don’t find in Borders or B&N. Got lunch (a sandwich) from the local deli. As good as anything I’ve found in New York. Drove a few minutes and ate it on the beach watching the blackbirds and sparrows cavorting around. Central Park, for all its charm, isn’t half as peaceful.

As good luck would have it, arrived at the beach at extreme low tide, and so walked from San Gregorio beach to Tunitas beach for the first time. Quite a view of the coastline, all the way to Pillar Point.

Quiet evening listening to the radio, staying near the heater to keep warm. In spite of the sunny days, this is still the Bay Area after all!

Half-baked morning centered on resurrecting MacOS X Leopard on my ThinkPad. Not really a good use of half day, but there you are. Plus there’s just something about using Microsoft’s bootloader to load MacOS X that appeals.

A quotidian afternoon was followed by a trip to see relatives for dinner in Cupertino. In attempting to bypass a clogged I-280, discovered that Foothill Road intersects 280 near Lawrence. Mental map of the area duly updated. Still arrived at the restaurant before some of the others.

Had a pleasant dinner of Persian-style kebab while conversing about my 4-year old namesake across the table. Very good natured little fellow, quite unlike me at that age. Took the opportunity to use my Sigma fast prime lens, which in-turn took the opportunity to stop focusing. Argh.

Drive back reinforced my belief that the old car is in need of replacement. Brakes grinding. Gas pedal sometimes doesn’t (accelerate the car). Clutch sometimes leaves me in 2 1/2 gear (as opposed to 2nd or 3rd) where car runs rough, smells bad, and has no acceleration.

Split the day half and half between reading useful things and organizing photographs. Nothing good to say about useful things (well, it would be nice if more important people in the academy could write well). For photos, the big issue is simply categorizing the better ones, which takes plenty of time.

Made it out briefly to watch the sunset from the beach. Came back with a few pictures, some sand in the camera, and a reaffirmed belief in the value of maintaining working relations with the out-of-doors. Nothing quite like waves and a little wind to clear one’s head of illusions and false thoughts.

Concluded with dinner and looking over photos, older and newer.

Last day in Yosemite. Nobody was in hurry to go back out in the cold, but we did make it to the Mirror Lake trailhead around 10AM. Passed a group of happily tobogganing kids on our way. Lake itself was a bit small, but the snow and bare trees gave good atmosphere. A good bit of the lake was also under snow, as I discovered with some unwary walking.

Farther along, the trail switchbacks up the south-facing slope of the valley toward North Dome. We followed this largely snow-free path for a good ways, pausing after clearing the trees for good open views of Tenaya gorge, Half Dome and some rapidly forming cloud formations.

Company during our break included a loquacious raven who posed for many photographs and could make three very distinct types of calls, and a French couple we’d seen the day before on the snowshoe walk. They had snowshoes for this walk too, but they didn’t look too handy.

The return, first to the car, and then toward the Bay Area, was without mishap (though the smell of boiling brake fluid was pretty strong for a stretch of Old Priest Grade). Stopped briefly at the Yosemite Valley ‘village’ store where I was disappointed by the paucity of quality postcards depicting winter in Yosemite.

Celebrated the end of the trip in Half Moon Bay with pizza (what else) at It’s Italia. Ah, the memories of high school days… Still is a pleasant sport for dinner.

The Plan ™ was to be up early, catch the bus to Badger Pass, and go on a ranger-led snow-shoe walk. Having cleverly missed the bus, we drove instead. This afforded some nice views of the central valley, a close encounter with a very wolf-like coyote, and about 3 miles on snow-covered roads without the requisite chains. Fun, but the bus would have been easier.

Ranger Dick led the snowshoe walk providing a mix of information, entertainment and a good excuse to be on the ski slopes without skis. The ‘subnivean space’ received particular attention as did a number of long deceased dried rodents the ranger pulled from his pockets and hat. The exercise and views weren’t bad either.

Returning to the valley, we did an extended photo-tour for the remainder of the afternoon, wandering across the open areas and along the river for a ways. Just before sunset, we found an encampment of photographers along the main road, waiting for the sun’s last rays on Half Dome. The last part of the walk, cold, in the dark, on an icy trail, wasn’t quite so much fun

Dinner options were limited to the Lodge’s food court again, but as we were staying at the lodge for the night, at least the trip to and from was short. My dad even managed to negotiate some extra vegetables and sauce for what were otherwise rather pathetic pizzas.