San Francisco Things: Clarion Alley

The first apartment that we're staying in backs up onto Clarion Alley in the Mission District. It's actually incredibly spacious for San Francisco standards, and I kind of wish we could stay here for the duration. Clarion Alley is known for the colorful murals that cover its buildings. The Clarion Alley Mural Project has been around for over 20 years and the murals are updated and changed frequently. We walked down the alley and took some pictures while we were out and about today.

The stairs in the second picture actually lead up to the apartment we're staying in right now. I guess it's the only apartment that's painted as part of the CAMP.

There were a lot of memorial works up.

Imma go out on a limb here and say that this artist is not a fan of gentrification.

That's actually on the sidewalk. On the other side of the alley there were giant piles of human shit. Lovely.

That might be my favorite one, it's incredibly intricate.

Another interesting piece

And now I should probably finish up my pre-work since tonight and tomorrow are my last days where I can really do anything about it.

San Francisco Day 1

A lot of the people who have done Hackbright have blogged about it. In fact, that's how I even heard about Hackbright to begin with. I toyed with the idea of starting a new blog, but this has been so long neglected that I'm sure that my readership is like... me and the 3 people who probably put this blog in a feed reader and forgot about it. So, hello again. When I have the opportunity and inclination, I'll post things about Hackbright and generally what's going on with us. I think it'll be nice to remember these days because it's going to be a unique and intense period of time.

We're currently in San Francisco proper now. We're staying in an apartment in the Mission and it's great. It's actually incredibly spacious and the airbnb host actually works for airbnb, so she had a ton of stuff out for us. It's been really great. In an effort to save money, we're trying to make most of our meals at the apartment. Our first meal was Tuscan tuna and bean salad, with a handful of arugula thrown in and green onion subbed for shallot and the herb. I think this is going to be our inaugural meal in every new place we stay.

Back to Hackbright news, I'm slogging my way through the rest of the pre-work. I'll have to switch my focus to the hardware hackathon that I'm participating in this weekend, but I still have two days to make it through the rest of the required modules and then try to fit in whatever else I can. I definitely thought I'd have a lot more time to work, but having time where I didn't work like crazy was probably a good thing for my mental health and ultimately my ability to succeed in the program.

We're in California. Holy crap.

You know what's scarier than driving up a winding mountain road?
Driving down a winding mountain road.

You know what's scarier than driving down a winding mountain road?
Driving down a winding mountain road at night.

You know what's scarier than driving down a winding mountain road at night?

Driving down a winding mountain road at night with lowered visibility.

You know what's scarier than driving down a winding mountain road at night with lowered visibility?

Driving down a winding mountain road at night with lowered visibility from the forest fire that is raging away close to where you're driving.

You know what's scarier than driving down a winding mountain road at night with lowered visibility from the forest fire that is raging away close to where you're driving?

Driving down a winding mountain road at night with lowered visibility from the forest fire that is raging away close to where you're driving and trying to make sure that you make it out of the winding mountain road fast enough so that you beat the road closures that are caused by the OH MY GOD THE FOREST THAT I AM CURRENTLY IN IS ON FIRE AND I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING AND I'M IN CHARGE OF MAKING SURE THAT NO ONE DIES.

 ...but we made it. Mostly. And more later, I hope.

UT Nostalgia

Yesterday was the start of the fall semester at UT. I happened to be on campus because met with my (omgformer!) advisor about the direction I want my projects to go. (The answer is always more grandiose than I have the ability or resources). It was bittersweet seeing the bustling campus. While I don't want to be back there preparing to TA an astronomy lab that no one wants to be in (hello, international relations majors), this is the first time in a decade that I have not been part in first day of classes on a college campus. (Holy crap, I have a case of teh olds.)

I've spent the better part of the last three years not going to campus all that often. I worked from home for most of my (uncomfortable) pregnancy and then only went in when I had to since Ramona was born. However, I will miss some things about campus, with the biggest being the elevator in the Speedway parking garage. Weird, I know, but it's glass and you can look out and see people and buildings and trees. It's strangely lovely, and the best way for me to calmly survey the chaos before thrusting myself into it.

dirty window, quiet campus

Blogging again

I think I'm going to start blogging again. I'm not sure if it's all going to be food-related, but some of it definitely will be. Right now we're moving, time is passing so quickly, and I want to record what's going on for posterity. Or something.

A lot of the women who participate in Hackbright have kept blogs to chronicle their experiences and I've really enjoyed them. It's given me some insight into what it'll be like in the program and has helped to ease my worries about how it's going to go. I think I'd like to do this, if I can keep up with it. It'll help me to focus (I hope) and stay connected with people in Austin (because I haven't begun to emotionally process the fact that I'm leaving behind 6+ years of friends in less than 2 weeks).

And since I firmly believe that most blog posts are enhanced with pictures, here's one that we took of Ramona during bluebonnet season. It's only about 5 months late.

Maybe I'll get motivated and redesign the blog. The possibilities are endless!

Last day of school

I had my defense today and it went well enough that I passed.

And now I'm going to nap forever.

We're Moving!

Image by Chloe Fleury found here.

I've been waiting for the right time to post this, and now seemed like a great time.

We're moving to San Francisco!

At least, we're moving to the Bay Area. We don't have a place yet and Colby is still looking for a job, but those are just details, right? I'll be a Hackbright Fellow in the fall, where I'll learn python, how to network, and hopefully I'll be able to line up a job for the future. My hope is to be a software engineer or a data scientist.  I am beyond excited and I'm hoping that I'll have the time to blog about my experiences. 

More later and please keep your fingers and toes and eyes crossed for me because I'll be defending in a week from today.