have a nice day.

Underground y under surveillance.
Riding the metro, Union Station.
Los Angeles, June 2012.

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Los events: Team Jorts, Cyclecross y BayCycle

Thursday: DFL CX fotos - CX PARTY DOWN

Sept. 26th 5-10PM 21+ at 111 Minna
More info → 111Minna event page | Facebook event page

“CX Party Down Its that time again! 
CX Party Down! 
Come out to kick off the Bay Area Cyclocross season 
with Nachos, Videos, Photography and Local Builders. 
Hans Kellner, Jon Suzuki, Pamela Palma, Jenny Oh, 
SyCip, Inglis/Retrotech, SoulCraft, Falconer Cycles …”




Thursday: Team Jorts
Thursd. 9/26 | 369 Pine Street (fi-di) MEET 6PM leave 6:15
These ladies are the awesomesauce.
+ Follow them Jorts→ blog | @jortsmaterial | flickr

Here is the info their ride today:

Team Jortz is super excited to announce a womens only ride around the City of San Francisco in three parts to provide a safe space for women who are bike-curious and want to start riding around the City but really want to go with a friend. 

Hurrah! Team Jortz is your friend! We 'll roll around various regions of the City for an hour or so with you and break you into bike commuting, negotiating tricky intersections, conquering fears of the unknown and having tons of fun with other ladies on bikes! 

We are happy to say that this is a place where you can ask any question you want, wear whatever you want, ride whatever you want and be whomever you want! We ask that you have a front and rear light and wear a helmet please. And obey the rules of our shared roads. 

Rides:  

Thursday September 26th 

Thursday October 24th 

Thursday November 22nd 

All rides will Start at 6:00PM and leave by 6:15pm!  

The pace will be easy to moderate. Women and girls of all ages are welcome!
We will leave from 369 Pine Street in the SF's Financial District, where our very wonderful and oh-so-jortzy Sponsor,Shaana Rahman's office is located!If you don't know much about Shaana Rahman, we'll tell you all about her and the great work she does for women and the cycling communtiy! 

We look forward to seeing you and riding with you and liberate ourselves, together!

Friday: BayCycle Project
Have you heard of this dude biking across the Bay?
+When:
Friday, September 27th
Oakland departure 8:45am – 9am, San Francisco arrival 9:05am, Press conference

Post by Baycycle Project.

His name is Judah, he is a single dad, and this is his indiegogo video, cracray – love his enthusiasm:

“The ride doesn't end at the water's edge” More on Judah's project here: baycycleproject.com

Of pies y stolen bikes.

Well, the other day I was struck by hormones like a fastball from a pro baseball pitcher.
I obliged to my rather rare dessert craving and decided to stop at Mission Pie after work to stuff my face with a slice of I'msogonnaeatthiswholethingrightnow.

Anyways, as I was leaving I spotted out of the corner of my eye a bikeshare bike. AH! have yet to see one up close I thought. Immediately noticing something was not right.
It wasn't the bike that completely gave it away –half covered with a mix of toilet paper and bubblewrap– but the two people walking it, they could hardly finish getting themselves across the sidewalk.

Luckily I had an almost full-charged bat phone.
I gave it a second thought about taking a picture, but then I went for it.
This took me .25 seconds to decide.

These two could HARDLY stand-up straight, nevermind walk. The person in orange with long blond hair almost fell twice sideways but kept his/her hands on the bike grips.
I recall learning that Mission Police Station had a team dedicated to the huge bike-theft problem that the city faces, and that they were on Twitter. I was aware of this thanks to our very own local bike-theft ninja Jenny Oh.

So, I tweeted this photo minutes after spotting the bike on 25th that evening, a couple of days after and few twitter threads later, the bike was back with Bay Area Bike Share.

mi first spotting of stolen 'coverup' @SFBayBikeShare bike? @sfbike @plattyjo @SFPDBikeTheft seen 5mts ago 25th&Capp pic.twitter.com/AHqTxaUi90
— meligrosa (@meligrosa) September 5, 2013

You can see the thread here → twitter.com/meligrosa/statuses/375445738546675712

“IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING”
+ Follow SDPD on twitter → @SFPDBikeTheft
+ A great interview & tips by Jenny of “SFbiketheft (Officer Freidman!) Who's SFPDbiketheft? Meet the man behind… 

RESOURCEFUL: Learn tips, find links and important info at this large Google+ Bay Area group: [Stolen Bicycles Bay Area, public group]

+ The second recovered BABS bike! via the timbuk2 blog: Recovering a stolen bike 2
+ SAFE & SFPD's bike program was approved on September 19th –bike registration coming in the near future(!)

+ Learn more about Bay Area Bike Share → bayareabikeshare.com
They have continued to provide what seems like active tips on their various social media channels:

Tip #6: Never leave a bike unattended. Ride safely, & always wait for the green light when you end the trip. pic.twitter.com/QkYtJX1TWs
— Bay Area Bike Share (@SFBayBikeShare) September 6, 2013

+ Additional info → stolenbicycleregistry.com | @stolenbikessfo on Twitter 

Alright, so I was very glad to have contributed my 2 pesos glad to help out & that it worked out.
It has numerous times being proven that great things happen when you mix the Bay Area bike community with social media + word of mouth: pulling positive forces is awesome.

Hope our community continues to communicate & work together to fight bike theft.

And speaking of hormones, here is a pretty picture of flowers from the delicious Mission Pie.
Not taken that same day:


---
This stolen-bikesighting foto was tweeted on the 4th of September.
OK, that is all for now.
xxom

mucha música Monday: late september

+ ISEO POMPALEO
Learnt this past week about iSeo from Barcelona via mundoflaneur [article/interview here] and I like her. In her poetic playful words:

“iSeo es mi alter ego. Ella duerme en mi interior y cuando se despierta, cantamos, componemos melodías y nadamos en una burbuja.”[translation by me] → iSeo is my alter ego. She sleeps within me and when she awakens, we sing and we compose melodies, we swin in a bubble

¡¡♥!!

+ MISTER LOVELESS
Cool video produced by local cats PerezBros with very familiar night scenes.
Found this one via the BayBridged on America's cup concerts [link]
Blogged posts blasts from the past, a few past stockton tunnel posts here, here y here.


+ BLOOD ORANGE
This goes to a special Guyanese en Nueva York that is of the handful of you música fans out there that enjoy my Monday música doses – ¡gracias! I'm inspired by his moves. I'm going to try that next Friday night… ;-))

–via Pitchfork– “I decided to visit Georgetown, Guyana for the first time the town where my mother is from. She, herself has not been back for 30 years, 3 years before I was born. I tracked down family members, including my 92 year old grandfather, who I had never met before. In this video you will see our first ever meeting.”

+ ENIGMA
A few weeks ago I had this Enigma song which was so popular in the mid-90s stuck in my head for a few seconds only.. Thought I'd share.


+ TUNES4TUBES
The following 3 videos are bands playing at the Tunes4Tubes tomorrow Tuesday 9/26 at the Rickshaw Stop here in San Francisco.
▲ CON BRIO | Saw them first time bit over 3 years ago [2010 post] and really enjoyed them.


▲ WHISKERMAN | the video was filmed in Oakland. Awesomesauce. Wouldn't be complete without a cameo appearance by the green and gold. Go A's!


▲ CRADLE DUENDE | from the bike music fest a few years ago:  

“Sounds, sights, and sceneries during Cradle Duende's performance at the 6th Bicycle Music Festival, the largest 100% bicycle-powered music festival in the world, at Old Cabin Meadow in Golden Gate Park. Cradle Duende is a combination of Kezmer and Flamenco to be coined 'Klezmenco" with a new twist of latin, reggae, and ska influence to get people dancing when necessary.”

big ♥ sunday

Pittsburgh Custom Bike Builder Helps Man Ride Again | Michael Trimble was born with no arms, adopted at age 9… “I would like to inspire others and show that despite insurmountable odds, anything can be achieved if you have the will and fight for it" 

Hope you enjoy this story+video as much as I did. 

♥!!

HT to Urban Velo's Jeff 

-Full Article from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette here: 

Pittsburgh shop owner fulfills dream of man to ride bicycle around town by Mila Sanina

PDX | no.4

PDX: united state of portlandia
Portland International Airport is a joint civil-military airport and the largest airport in the U.S. state of Oregon, accounting for 90% of passenger travel and more than 95% of air cargo of the state. -wiki

--
The sequence of events is in no particular order.
TBC→

PDX | no.3

Asides my good college friend getting married in Portland this past month, one of the highlights was to finally meet IRL mi longggtime cyberamigo Dave y his wife Patrina. It came as no surprise that they are both awesome.

The first night we walked around a few brick buildings. In California we don't have that many brick buildings due to our grounds shaking and doing their platonic dance often. There are some, but not many. After a few turns, from SW 6th street and we walked right into some cilantro scented imaginary cloud and we ordered some vietnamese food. The sandwich I had for dinner was delicioso, the beer was light and easy. The company was the best.

I don't have many pictures from the first day other than the train and at the airport.
A handful at night.
It was my first time to the beaver state and as soon dinner and pals was planned, everything else was to be left behind in the hotel.

After dinner, we spent some time walking in the rain, drinking and the rain. Theater spotting!

It happened to slightly rain everyday we were there but it was the very brittle kind.
Dave y Trina were very patient to show us around and also give us places to check out and things, food, and spots they are fans of. I love these two Oregonians.

We even got to meet their kitties and check out their angelic apartment. How rad is this elevator?!


There is a minute wine bar at the bottom of their apartment with a small black chalkboard next to its tiny entrance and most people talking and chatting the night away all over the place. They were plenty of tables but most people preferred to hang right by its rather small bar. If I recall correctly there was only one person wine-tending.

We ordered some post-dinner spirits while it was raining. We sat on the curbside tables without anything covering us the light rain. Chatted.
Mellow bohemian súper cool at its finest.
Thankfully thin polyester dries quite fast and after a wonderful evening to be had, back to the train it was. Shortly after met with Morpheus.

Gracias Dave and Patrina, was beyond wonderful to spend some good times with you.
xxom
♥

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The sequence of events is in no particular order.
More TBC→

Back to Earth Two by El Zumpango films.

Gracias to Jesus from El Zumpango films for letting me know of his newest short film, featuring local cyclist and fellow randonneur Manny Acosta. This was recently shot over in Half Moon Bay. For those of you outside the Bay Area, that is about 30 miles south on our beautiful coast.


Back to Earth Two from El Zumpango on Vimeo.

A journey from urban sprawl to the California coast via bicycle. 

directed & shot by jesus beltran aka elzumpango 

edited by samuel t martinez 

manny acosta as the cyclist 

music hedron by bbng

Look at all the greenery!

+ Manny's complete Flickr set is available Half-Moon Bay S240 by MannyAcosta

+ More on Zumpango films here:
jesusbeltran.com | zumpango films on facebook | tumblr

+ Previously posted: Back to Earth (I) last summer, was glad to see it had a great response around Zumpango films' social media channels.
8AUG2013 | Back to Earth

- - -
Keep up the great work you both, they are so beautiful.
♥ | Have a great weekend everyone.
xxom

Front

Sunday, 11:44AM.

150 Mississippi Street

- -

mucha música Monday: septiembre

Well we are now in September. 2013 you are a strange one, feel like I'm just starting to know you and you will be gone shortly.
Here are the latest news, shows I've attended and recent musical finds I thought I'd share with you.

EL CAFE TACUBA
Café Tacuba. Got to see them for the billionth time. Third time w/la Calitexican in the Bay Area.
m.  a.  g.  i.  c.  a.  l.
Their shows are jumping. Non-stop jumping.
But for a change here is their vocal twist. Meme. Everything he sings, he does it with his beating, dripping hot heart on his sleeve. Hot damn.
ALERTA: Bikes, cross-gender roles, makeouts y a very sexy voice:

And Japan, jumping non-stop:

And the timeless 90s unplugged, pure goodness:


♥PILAR!
Oh Pilar. We love you so much. Asides bikes +the internets, I think it was the same 2006 or 07(?) show la Calitexican and I were both at, without knowing each other (yet!) at the Great American with Miho Hatori of Cibo Matto opening para ti
→AND→ she recently replied to one of my tweets… IMELTED-IMELTEDDD♥ESCÁNDALO!

@meligrosa Gracias for the ❤
— María del Pilar (@mariadelpilarrr) September 7, 2013

She has new material out: The story behind "Huaso de Los Angelitos" music video+song:


Also, not sure if ever showed this video when the Los Abandoned were still together. Super cute is an understatement.
ALERTA: bicis, nite rides, lights y hearts. ♥AY!


LOS PIXIES
A new 4song EP is out this month, hadn't seen the video until this past week. Remind me of Enigma a bit. Here is their latest:


TV ON THE RADIO
Good song to wrap up and listen to during the homestrech of the workday, me thinks:


MY BLOODY VALENTINE
They have an upcoming show in Mexico City this week. rad!


THE BLACK ANGELS
ALERTA: One of my favorite bands.
I've also seen them numerous times in the last few years throughout the state. Last sold-out concert this past May in San Francisco was at the local & legendary quasi-ripoff-off-super-pricey-livenation-ticket-purchase but-we-do-it-anyways aka → The Fillmore.

Thankfully for Woody getting tix way ahead, I got to buy a ticket from him(!) A new bond was found w/MK of our mutual love for the band and a fellow other Angels fans, though I lost them once inside. However I very much enjoyed the full view from the way-back with one of my fave Texans, Big Papi. You don't mess with Big Papi. He is the best.
The latest Black Angels concert was SUPERB, as is my crush on vocalist Alex Maas… ♥besobeso!!
This new EP “Live in San Francisco” is 3-track available to share/download.
So awesome:

 (via the BayBridged)

- - -
OK, that is all for now y thanks for reading.
Have a rock-star week,
xxomeli

el hanx

I agree with Tom Hanks’ twitter bio, it reads “I'm that actor in some of the movies you liked and some you didn't…” –@tomhanks. I can watch some of his movies over and over. Some I can't stand. And a few have kept my mom and I talking about it for years, and years, and years (ie. Philadelphia).

I recently came across an article he wrote in the NYT and I not only liked the way it is written, but how many times I closely related to it and how it made me think about my own appreciation of hand-written notes and not losing a tactile tradition. There are a few sentences in his rather short article I enjoyed a little too much, first one:

“I use a manual typewriter — and the United States Postal Service — almost every day. My snail-mail letters and thank-you notes, office memos and to-do lists, and rough — and I mean very rough — drafts of story pages are messy things, but the creating of them satisfies me like few other daily tasks.”

We have this in common. As a matter of fact I have an affinity with postal offices. Even when passing through a town, I like to stop by and send a postcard, or two. The first time I visited Mexico City, I was lucky to be near it during business hours and got to go to the main postal office near the Zócalo, across the street from El Palacio de Bellas Artes. Amazing! I sent two postcards to the north of Mexico which took over 3 months to arrive and well, that's just another story altogether.
I am known to always have stamps with me, question is which need do you need? – a forever one, or just a postcard one? Yes, I have both.…


Nicasio post office (35mi north of SF) during the last leg of the Randonneur ride in Fall/2009.

One of the most personal posts I've written a bit over a year ago was based on my very special typewriter, which I continue to use quite frequently.

Here are two more sentences I liked by el hanx:

“No one throws away typewritten letters, because they are pieces of graphic art with a singularity equal to your fingerprints, for no two manual typewriters print precisely the same.”“For less important doodles in text, the kind that go no farther than your desk or refrigerator door, the tactile pleasure of typing old school is incomparable to what you get from a de rigueur laptop.”

I am also sincerely grateful that through the years I have continued to exchange correspondence with my friends from time to time, and even a number of you that continue to read my blog. Some I've had the honor to meet once or even twice, and some I have not met – but know as well as you can know cyber pals :)

In the recent weeks I have received plenty of snail mail and I'm pretty grateful about that. I love it. Newspaper clips sent by mi amiga just a few miles south from here, a package from Germany and even some local bikey news from Chicago and Etc. (a post on all that snailmail love soon!).

Anyways, if you like me enjoy reading, writing and mostly thinking on Sundays, here is a short read for ya:

I Am TOM. I Like to TYPE. Hear That? | by Tom Hanks, The Sunday Review 8/3/13

Do you have pen pals? Hope it isn't a thing of the past – When was the last time you sent a postcard, birthday card or letter?

xxom

Bike fuel: Bike bear

Saturday couch feature: while watching the As game from the VIP front row seats (aka the couch), this commercial came up. Pretty cute, reminds me of a very special 20year old angel ♥



xxom

PDX | no.2

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Sequence of events are in no particular order.
TBC→

PDX | no.1

I was in Portland for 3 days in late August for one of my good college friend's wedding.
He is now married to an Oregonian.
Instead of doing one Portland blog post, I'll share some short dispatches of moments y fotos.
Hope you enjoy them.
xxom
- - -
No.1 Books
As I ended the phone call, I stood right in front of Cameron's books.
A book store can possibly be accurately described as a bedroom; it's personal, you can easily get lost and your mind travels.





I found Adrienne at Powell's without looking for her for too long after realizing she told me in our phone call she would be in the red room, and not in her bed room.

Puzzles.
I suppose I have no troubles finding people.
Mazes, elimination process.
I like those challenges. I don't like them.
I love them.
Math, riddles, translation.

Not luck but rather, an eye color map being built as you walk.
His sweater matches that wall.
That lady sounds like the mall.
And a dash of an accurate sense of direction, that doesn't always work, and that is just how it works.

Before exiting, I decided to purchase two items that I wouldn't find in any other bookstore. A tote designed by a local Portland artist and a navy blue patch with golden letters on it.
The woman ringing me out had a bright red 80s sweatshirt with oversized sleeves and a peculiar flower-like pattern on it. Her resplendent Caribbean skin, the softest accent and that nice smile took me back to a hot summer night I had once imagined in a novel.

It had just stopped raining outside.
Her femininity radiation was the highest I've absorbed in quite some time and in a matter of seconds my feet had walked me almost magically outside.


And we were on our way to drink coffee across the street at the Maglia Rosa coffee cart, inside West End Bikes.

--
Sequence of events are in no particular order.
TBC→