Author: Mark

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Farewell to San Francisco

Well, I lost my head in San Francisco
Waiting for the fog to roll out
But I found it in a rain cloud
It was smiling down

San Francisco by The Mowglis

Farewell, San Francisco.

I never meant to love you. People asked me, “How do you feel about the city?” I would always respond, “It’s good, plenty to like. But I’ll be ready to go when the time comes.”

That time has come, and you’ve called my bluff.

We grew from strangers to friends during long weekend walks across sleepy city streets, moving from sun to fog, cresting steep hills to reveal breathtaking vistas. You taught me the charm of culture and variety through neighborhoods that merge with each other while remaining wholly distinct, creating a patchwork of people with their own stories and lives, each of them making this city uniquely their home.

As we spent those hours together, ambling without purpose or drive, solely focused on exploring, I found many of your quirks and surprises that you hide away from endeavoring tourists. Each new staircase, sculpture, and park brought me further into your fold, enamoring me and making me realize that you could also be a home for me.

But you are not just the streets and rolling hills. You’re more than artwork on sidewalks and coffee shops, more than your greenspace and restaurants and museums. Like all of us, you’re made of the bits of personality provided by every person here. More than anything, I love San Francisco because I love the people I’ve met, and I now have the great fortune to include them among my friends.

These people, each bringing their own history to bear on this city and our time together, are incredibly special and dear to me. I’m amazed I found such a supportive and inclusive group full of laughs and care and joy. I could say so much, but I will be brief: I am a much better person for having met them.

I promise to visit and spend time once again walking your streets. You’ll no longer be my home, but I will be thrilled to see an old friend I found on accident who impacted my life tremendously and shaped how I approach the world.

Farewell, and thank you.

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Packing Up Stinks

My thanks to Jack Prelutsky.

Packing! Oh, Packing!
I hate you, you stink.
I wish I could throw
All this stuff in the drink.
These terrible boxes
Are crowding my floor.
I’m getting so flustered
Each time through the door.

Packing! Oh, Packing!
You’re making me ill.
These thick cubes of cardboard
Are getting their fill.
The crumpling of paper,
The ripping of tape,
All makes me just want to
Run off and escape.

Packing! Oh, Packing!
How can there be more?
Somehow our apartment’s
A general store.
Tchotkes and treasures
And bobbins and toys,
All sorts of clutter
I cannot enjoy.

Packing! Oh, Packing!
What else can I say?
I wish I could ditch and
Get out of this fray.
I’m swimming in boxes,
These prisms abound.
Where once there was happiness
None can be found!

Packing! Oh, Packing!
When can I be done?
Is it time for a break
And a romp in the sun?
“Of course not,” says Packing,
“You’ll never be through.
“I cannot be sated,
“Let items accrue!”

Packing! Oh, Packing!
You mistress of harm.
I’m hurting my back
And have aches in my arms.
A burgeoning tower,
Oppressively brown,
Is building around me
And getting me down.

Packing! Oh, Packing!
I swear I’ll be free.
Sisyphus doesn’t have
Boulders for me.
Soon we’ll be done,
All our life hid away.
Then it’s time to unpack!
What a glorious day.

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Managing Multiple Computers

A pickle I’ve avoided for a couple of years has finally been unjarred.1Is this a good metaphor? Two years ago, I was issued a company-owned laptop that was precisely the same make and model—down to the color—as my personal computer. I was loathe to use two computers and felt uncomfortable doing my extracurricular tasks on the work device, so I continued exclusively using my personal laptop as I’ve done since I started there.

To comply with various data privacy laws and ensure the company can provide tech support, it was recently made clear to me that work had to be done on the work laptop. I now have to maintain feature parity between two computers, bring them both with me while traveling, and generally be inconvenienced by this change.

Continue reading “Managing Multiple Computers”
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    Is this a good metaphor?
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Angel Stadium

A short post during a hectic time. I’ve officially visited all MLB stadiums within a reasonable distance of the Pacific Ocean: Petco Park (San Diego), Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles), Angel Stadium (Anaheim), Oracle Park (San Francisco), Oakland Coliseum (Oakland), and T-Mobile Park (Seattle). The next two closest to the west coast are Chase Field in Phoenix and Coors Field in Denver.

On my way to San Diego this weekend, I stopped in Anaheim to see the Los Angeles Angels play the New York Mets. It was a toasty experience in 90º heat, but I found the stadium beautiful and the game itself was good. Going to a stadium surrounded entirely by parking lots is weird—I’ve grown used to Oracle Park and Target Field in Minneapolis, both nicely nestled within their cities—but the setup was nice. It feels good to check it off the list.

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There’s No Such Thing as Bad Publicity

AUSTIN, TEXAS—Staring deep beyond his bathroom mirror, George Kurtz, CEO of Crowdstrike, repeated “There’s no such thing as bad publicity” under his breath. He let his head drop and began absentmindedly splashing water on his face, hoping the bags under his eyes would disappear before the back-to-back-to-back interviews that began the next hour.

Looking back up, he wiped down his face with a nearby hand towel embroidered with the phrase “Keep Austin Weird” and forced a haggard smile across his face.

“It was horrifying, seeing that smile,” said one anonymous witness. “It’s like he was auditioning for a new role as Joker.”

Kurtz began muttering to himself, with the comment “It’s just like Zoom during the pandemic” heard by passersby. He was seen thirty minutes later driving his Tesla Model X. Other drivers on the road noticed the man putting his head into his hands at every red light.

Later that day, Kurtz was seen staring at banks of computer monitors steeped in blue screens.

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Octavia E. Butler’s “Parable” Duology

While looking for a new book to read from the library on the Libby app, the name Octavia E. Butler popped into my head. I don’t know when she first came into my awareness, but I searched her name and there was Parable of the Sower. Its various blurbs mentioned it alongside 1984 and Brave New World. I love alternative and dystopian fiction, so I was immediately sold.

After completing Parable of the Sower and its sequel, Parable of the Talents, I’m convinced that these are the most relevant pieces of dystopian fiction for the modern world precisely because they are not hyperbolic science fiction that acts as a metaphorical warning. Instead, their story is a grounded and horrific extrapolation of economic stratification mixed with modern democratic fascism.

Two elements keep these books close to modern reality in a way that would be considered cliche or overdone were they not written in the 1990s. First, they are set in California in the late 2020s and early 2030s, so the timeline immediately makes one think, “How does this apply to my life?” There are no extreme science fiction elements; computers are mentioned, but only in ways that still feel relevant. A professor runs classes online, and kids can look up information. There are jokes about push-button home phones. It is shockingly restrained and prescient in this way, which gives the impression that it’s an alternative history book written a couple of years ago. Second, the presidential candidate who (spoiler) gets elected runs the Church of Christian America and speaks in ways that imply action among its followers but he can never be accused of specifically inciting violence. One of his campaign slogans was indeed, “Make America Great Again”. A 2017 New Yorker article emphasizes this point in particular.

These books are profound, and their subject matter is serious. Though not needlessly graphic, they include many triggering events one would imagine in a dystopian novel: disease, death, slavery, and rape. Religion and zealotry are two key themes, and these books can be viewed as a beautiful and thoughtful study into how one can justify one’s religious beliefs in a world gone mad. That would have been my main takeaway if I had read these in high school. Instead, I read them a few months before a critical election, and my impression changed; I want more people to read these books, particularly Talents, which is written so that one can fully understand the story without reading Sower.

Give them a shot. It’s heavy material but written as a series of journal entries, which makes it feel more approachable. I found them impactful, meaningful, and worth sharing.