Walking, homes and furniture - Venus - Webflow HTML website template

Back to journal

Jul 16, 2024

Hello from the new home on the hills of Noe Valley - currently an unfurnished townhouse with an air mattress, but it has great views and energy, aka potential.

Coming from the unfavorable weather and rude grumpiness (or as the fans call it - honesty) of New York City and Berlin, we have just been breath taken by the kindness of people, weather, scenery and nature of the Bay. I have literally been out of breath climbing the hills for 20K+ steps per day, and my Oura Ring has officially switched me to hiking from walking.

This is my move 10+ in the last decade and what you practice you do get good at.

I am trying my best to get items that are beautiful and functional, save the planet and the pre-profit stage founders’ wallets, ideally purchased both in person and directly from a person.

The internet seems to be getting worse by the day as I am scrambling to differentiate between nice neighbors I want to meet and pure scams.

The process is strongly testing my optimism, patience and love for Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace and their power to bring us together - and remembered my most touching furniture sales experience at the start of the Pandemic, March 15th 2020 which I republished here.‍

Noe Valley is beautiful and in our millennial Barbie and Ken in SF chapter, we both found what what we need in the neighborhood: a French coffee shop with delicious croissants (which my mother from the French countryside has pointed out, are very expensive,) Yoga, Crossfit / Weightlifting, Improv Classes. And, of course, the ocean, biking distance. I am a new member of Baywheels (my NYC transplant friends only call it Citybike, but I am integrating properly so Baywheels it is) carefully navigating around Waymos, the self-driving taxis.

As Barbie would, I have signed up for both unlimited yoga classes at Yoga Flow SF and weightlifting sessions at Iron and Mettle to enhance my discipline.

I googled the definition of mettle: a person's ability to cope well with difficulties or to face a demanding situation in a spirited and resilient way. Inshallah, habibis.

If you have not been tuned into my Arnold Schwarzenegger-level weightlifting journey… TLDR is that I discovered weightlifting amongst dread and denial and an aching back.

According to my no bullshit physical therapist from Long Island, it could only be cured through - you guessed it, weightlifting.

There IS such a thing as overstretching, it turns out.

Don’t overdo it. You’re welcome. ‍

LAST WEEK HIGHLIGHTS

Kara Swisher’s Burn Book - it does read more like her Burnout Book, but she is the best tech journalist of our era and I admire her career & mindset.
Sacbe Art Gallery - had a great discussion with the owner about SF, both of us being recent transplants and the collaboration between tech and art. Friends took me upstairs to Jerry Ross Barrish’s studio - he is 85 years old and when asked where he stores his pictures, he said “I don’t look at the past, only focus on the future.”
New favorite short suit by Anine Bing is made for this weather, their store here is on one of my favorite streets, Jackson between Battery and Montgomery.
Shack 15, the most beautiful coworking space with events - went to a Soundbath and a book discussion with Brody Mullins, the author of The Wolves of K Street… all I can say is that Facebook scammers are training me to not to get discouraged by the insane world of government and corporate lobbyism…