The holidays in San Francisco - a slice of life

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Being a fan of Japanese cutlery, I was in Kyoto, Japan a few years ago, when I spotted a small shop known for its customized knives and made a beeline.

When i spoke with the eldest son of the family owned Kikuichi Monji, heexplained that generations ago, they were renowned for their swords.  With decline of feudal warfare, they changed with the times and have been catering to modern Japanese knife aficionados since.

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Beveled on one side, traditional Japanese cutlery is very thin, compared to heavier European knives, thus breakable, but are razor sharp, known for their unmistakable cut.

The nakiri or vegetable knife has a metal grip with pebbled grain, very strong and light, designed to be an extension of the hand.  The owner's son took a santoku, a general 'three virtues' knife and we went into the rear of the shop.  There he poured water on a whetting stone on top of a wooden barrel and proceeded to sharpen the santoku, calling on skills going back to the days of the Samurai.

***

It's bad to lose something you value, worse when it's your livelihood, and even worse when what's cherished is stolen.

Some days I'd leave the house with a sack of turkey and cheese sandwiches wrapped in foil and some apples and then drive Lyft.  I'd spot some homeless men and women and hand out the goods between rides like some early season Santa.   Once I gave a sandwich to a mangy guy in Haight Ashbury wearing a greasy cap; he politely thanked me, but turned down the apple, saying it was too hard for his teeth.

I was driving one recent early morning in Chinatown when I noticed a tall, thin figure in the shadows of a storefront smoking a cigarette.  He was younger than many of the indigent people who are San Francisco's urban fixture, with a skateboarder's narrow hips, baggy jeans, and with his turned around baseball cap and flowing black hair he looked like a hip hopper on hard times.

I forced a smile and called out "Eric for James," and held the door for him as he flicked his butt into the gutter in one motion and jumped in the back without a usual greeting.

He was staring straight ahead.   I wished there was a sandwich, but I hadn't anything to offer.

Instead, in a most soft-spoken voice, I asked how he was.

Me: "How's your morning going?"

James: "Not so good."

I sort of smiled back in a sympathetic way.

Me:  "Oh, man, sorry to hear. Care to talk about it?"

James' face softened a bit as he began to tell what had happened to him.

James:  "I was celebrating with co-workers, on Broadway and Columbus at the Jack Kerouac (Vesuvio) bar, I think it was called.  Left my chef's knives at the bar, when I went to grab a pizza and they were gone when I came back.  It was my fault."

Turns out this was not some surly, hard luck skateboarder but James Yi, twenty something Korean American with a knight's composure and a growing reputation among sous chefs.

Any chef can tell you the accuracy of a serving spoon, beveled at an exact angle, for drizzling sauces for some VIP functionaries, is no less important than the angling of a sword whose reliability might determine a kingdom's fate.  I listened to James Yi telling how he found his collection of five years had walked out the door in North Beach and left him having to shop at a Chinatown wok emporium.  Not unlike a stone mason who attended Mass, only to discover his own treasured set of trowels missing, and having no choice but to head to Home Depot for replacements.

James hadn't yet called the local precinct, figuring it was just some homeless or a neighborhood pug who made off with his collection.

His stolen articles include:

 2 shuns, (handcrafted Japanese cutlery) 

 6 in santoku and (1) 10 in chef's knife

2 pairing knifes, cleaver, sashimi knife, bread knife, fish spatula, 

(1) truffle shaver, 12 inch tweezers, j.b. prince plating tweezers, cake testers, bench scraper, 10 spoons set, spatula, honer, measuring spoons.

Stolen chef's items like these are rarely replaceable.  But they might be negotiable.  Meantime, James needs to work.

I suggested looking on Craigs List, to see if someone might be fencing them online.

After I sent him an email the other day, he responded, "Yesterday was better but I still have not had time to go to the police." 

If you have ideas on how to help locate or replace the stolen knives, please email James at james.yi92@gmail.com

***

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A Lyft in every garage?

We are seeing more Lyfts and Ubers on the road these days.  Plenty more.  You might say, 'well, if it reduces our carbon footprint' then it's a good thing.

But, is the environment really benefiting?

I can tell you, at this moment, the McCartneys' song "Too Many People' is playing in my head.
Paul and Linda's good old 70's post-Beatle earth-friendly gook on John Lennon as the two ex-Beatles traded barbs:

Too many people going underground

Too many reaching for a piece of cake

Too many people pulled and pushed around

Too many waiting for that lucky break

That was your first mistake
You took your lucky break and broke it in two
Now what can be done for you?
You broke it in two

How is the successful rise in the sharing economy affecting 'crown jewel' cities like SF and Bejing as these highways and markets in these cities become saturated with rideshare drivers?

But, by becoming ridesharing kings of the hill, are Uber and Lyft helping to reduce our environmental footprint, by cutting down on overall passenger driving, as they claim, or is the spike in drivers really doing more harm?

For my average Joe or Jane passenger, the fact that these companies can race each other to the bottom on fares is hardly a reason to complain.

Certainly not if you're Uber, whose relentless expansion includes $600 SF driver referral bonuses while displaying highway billboards near Mineta Airport in San Jose advertising Uber to travelers to China.

Also, Lyft's touristy SF bus wraps, own ubiquitous pink billboard campaign with cuddly couples and captions like, 'Date night.  A ride for every reason.'   These are designed to promote the benefits of less people having to drive.   My Lyft and Uber passengers' repeated refrain is that ridesharing is cheaper than owning a car. Besides, it's a friendlier commodity, and some will argue, more reliable way getting them from A to B as compared to taxis or other transport.

My passenger Steven pinged me on a sunday morning from the west side of the city to SFO.
He said ridesharing is superior to waiting around for a cab, with several rideshare drivers "within three minutes away from me," he said.


Is all this good for the Earth? University California Berkeley scientists and their research partner want to know.

They are looking into the actual effects created by ride sharing in cities.

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/106565/20151113/uber-lyft-will-part-study-environmental-impact-ridesharing-services.htm

Other than competitive pricing, I'm curious to know the impact, positive or negative, as the ride sharing driver cohort continues to increase.  Please do share your comments.

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Rideshare poachers! They're out there.

You know it's gotten bad when rideshare poachers start stealing your Lyft rides.

One passenger, Erik, pinged me on the Van Ness corridor a little after ten this morning.
As I turned onto his block, I noticed a woman driver in a white Prius wearing a floppy hat waiting at the same location with her flashers on.  As I pulled up, she opened her passenger door.  I watched as Erik slunk into the back seat of her car and then canceled my ride just as I pulled up.

I got so mad I flagged down her car on Van Ness. I noticed it was absent Lyft's trade dress as well as the trademark glow 'stache, nor did she display any Uber insignia. The driver obligingly rolled down her passenger side window.

Me:  "Excuse me, do you happen to have someone named Erik in your back seat?"

Ms. Poacher:  "Ummm, yes..."

Me: "That's my passenger!"

As the puzzled driver looked on, Erik rolled down his window and sheepishly muttered some line about running late.

I pointed to my Lyft insignia, so they knew who I was, and made sure to tell the driver that her rider had pinged me moments before he happened to hop into her car.

When they didn't know what to say, I couldn't help feeling a bit superior and justified, and admonished them both.

"Poor Lyft protocol!"

No sense of justice here, but ahhh, that felt good!

Probably, the other driver was unaware she was part of Erik's little ride scheme.

I've seen actual poaching committed by certain cab drivers at SFO, who illegally wait for rides at the International terminal in the early hours before rush hour.  When I had two rides cancel on me, in succession, I drove around to see these cabbies laying in wait with their 'taxi light' on, on the upper level, in violation of airport regulations.   I've also read how some cabs in Boston will sometimes shadow Lyft drivers, pull up to a location where another rideshare passenger is waiting with their cell phone in order to score rides before the designated driver can get there.

But this is the first time I've had a rideshare driver steal a ride as I was pulling up to his location.

Then are the times when I've seen other rideshare vehicles waiting at my designated pickup address;
I can't confirm, but it's strange that both of us had arrived at the very same address and time.

I can only think that some passengers are in the habit of pinging multiple rideshare platforms and hop in the car that happens to arrive first.

Is this a generation's form of "rider roulette," where customers who are now used to merely punching a button, wait for the first random car to show up?   Does this serve to reinforce their perception of being empowered through the ability to 'decide' to 'own the moment,' as Uber likes to say?

Not that I'm bitter about Erik, nor will I lose sleep about losing a ride.   I've driven thousands of passengers just by being in the right place at the right time.  Nor do I begrudge anyone wanting to get any place on time.  That's the point of reliable ridesharing.  Our universe promotes fairness. To put it another way, when there is enough to go around, at that point, both passenger and driver win.

So it's difficult to fathom why some drivers find it necessary to poach each other's business.

It's harder to feel badly for some poor schmo who may have an unforgiving boss, is late for work, needs to be some place, and feels compelled to game the rideshare system, unaware, though likely unconcerned how this costs both driver and company in actual time and money.

I've been driving Lyft for more than a year and don't see the point in gaming a ride.
The passengers I've driven feel confident in the system that inherently rewards superior service and knowledge of the city.

As with anything, some people are going to behave like jerks, no matter how few or many.  But the vast majority of drivers and their customers live by Lyft's mutual code of etiquette.

As for my verbal protest, soon after my first passenger canceled I was pinged by another Lyft passenger.

So I don't feel too badly.

Do you think the rideshare community should address poaching or sound off on rideshare roulette?   What's your opinion?

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how he wished to be remembered

Another Yom Kippur and having my soul put through the wringer, one of many themes chiming within, the day after: Life is evanescent and fleeting, our days like fugitive clouds, we realize the 'charged emptiness' in the words of my late friend and Rabbi Alan Lew.

At the center of our being is

"................"

Thanks to fellow blogger Louise Julig for jumpstarting this post:
Not that we know what to do with death, but what are we to do with our life?

During a morning bike ride one weekend near Golden Gate Park in San Francisco
I noticed some 20 or 30 people gathered along a strip of parking lot next to the ocean. A woman with a megaphone was standing next to a picture of a bearded man in a baseball cap. The beach was the backdrop for an impromptu memorial service that makes living in this city such a human experience. One of the women, who knew this guy 'Bob,' was trying to recreate, in snippets, how he lived, how he was always full of love. Some of these people knew him, though most of the crowd, I believe, were curious onlookers like me, and had never met him.

I think the guy would have appreciated the people who were pouring out their souls as if the loss would not be contained. Two friends who I considered close passed away; one's death sudden, the other from lingering cancer.
Both knew their life's work was to be engaged in repairing the world, doing it in their own different way.

In the end, when there wasn't anything that could save them, they were wayfarers, we are, just like Bob, part of an extended, extended variegated family.

Before I left, having heard how Bob enriched the lives of countless friends, I heard a woman describe him as 'a professor of love.'

I thought, this is how I would like to be remembered: As practitioner of acts of lovingkindness. This guy Bob may have known, seen, hour at hand, the Angel of Death holding his name on a scroll, as it will, but I'm pretty sure he would not fall to regretting life's indecision, or, cry, pleading, as Moses did, with wrenching emotion, pleaded to the One who reprieves yet would not grant this last one.

 I would like to think Bob had gone this way from this good life.

For all the fear that we will die, we get to 'live,' here and now, in others.
Love binds us, and if there is an afterlife, a friend's extolling a life that touched others completes the soul's encounter with this world.

Love is, after all, a renouncement of the physical, that temporary embrace with our world.

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