2009 -- January 30, 2013

I didn't start doing a year-end summary in this blog until 2010.  I thought I might go back and review the years before.

In January I wrote about the first Golden Gate Express Railway, a garden scale display in the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park.  Actor Patrick McGoohan died.We celebrated Edgar Allan Poe's 200th birthday.  President Barack Obama was inaugurated.  I watched the construction of the Temporary Transbay Terminal.

In February, we went to see Wicked at the Orpheum.  We celebrated Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday.  This was the first time I realized that Edgar Allan Poe and Abraham Lincoln were the same age.  Stacey's Bookstore closed.  The California Historical Society was closed for most of the month after a car hit the fire hydrant out front and flooded the premises.

In March, the California Historical Society reopened with a wonderful exhibit, "Hobos to Street People: Artists’ Responses to Homelessness from the New Deal to the Present."  Four Oakland police officers  were murdered by a parole violator.

In April, we visited the Auto Museum in Blackhawk.  I was an auction item at the annual auction/dinner dance for Good Shepherd School. General Motors announced it was dropping the Pontiac brand.

In May, Dom DiMaggio died. I wrote about a Kino DVD with Harry Langdon's last three silent features.  I started a new series on pulp magazine covers.  I gave a walking tour to the people who won me at the Good Shepherd auction.  We were at the ballpark when Randy Johnson had a chance to get his 299th victory, but he did not have it that day. 

In June, Randy Johnson got his 300th victory.  We went to see Spamalot at the Golden Gate.I was at Union Square to see defending champ Leonard Oats win the 47th Annual Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest in Union Square. The See's Candy store in Union Square closed.  We went to the Port of Oakland to see Disney's "A Christmas Carol" Train Tour.

In July, SamTrans announced that it wanted to eliminate the bus that I commuted on every day, the DX.  We observed the 75th anniversary of Bloody Thursday.  Jonathan Sanchez pitched a no hitter, and nearly had a perfect game. This was the Giants' first no hitter since Montefusco in 1976.  We celebrated the 40th anniversary of the moon landing.  We were at the ballpark to see Matt Cain pitch 9 scoreless innings.  Unfortunately, the Giants had not scored any runs.  They scored in the 10th and Brian Wilson got the win.

In August, I attended a meeting to talk against the elimination of our bus.  I started a series of photos of hand and footprints at Grauman's Chinese.  We visited Mission San Juan Batista and I posted an entry that has been very popular in searches.  I took the photo above on 15-August-2009.  Muni eliminated the Culture Bus.  Senator Edward Kennedy died.  At the Cartoon Art Museum we saw an exhibit marking the 50th anniversary of Sleeping Beauty.

In September, the Bay Bridge closed for retrofit work.  SamTrans announced that our bus, the DX was eliminated.

In October, Rich Aurilia played his final game for the Giants.  Father Damien was canonized.  I started a new series of photos of alleys.  We visited the Disney Family Museum in the Presidio.  The Bay Bridge closed again when a big piece of metal fell to the deck.

In November the current Cliff House celebrated its centennial.  I gave a walking tour to some people who won me in a community support auction at work.  I finished the 22-part series "Reminiscences of an Active Life," the memoirs of Doctor Peter Henri Van Der Weyde, the man who gave this blog its name.We celebrated the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.  I started a new series of railroad and transit heralds.  Tim Lincecum won the National League Cy Young award for the second straight year. Radio station KCBS celebrated its centennial.

In December we got our first artificial Christmas tree.  I rode the DX for the last time.  We went to a family wedding in Arizona.  TCM had a Sherlock Holmes marathon.  I wrote about Woody LaBounty's Carville-by-the-Sea book. 

Here is the summary from my last entry of the year:

2009 has been an exciting year. Many people are unhappy with President Obama's performance, but I think they had excessive expectations. I think he is trying hard against some determined and unscrupulous opponents. 

The state's budget mess caused the governor to take away all mass-transit funding. This caused SamTrans to cancel the bus I have commuted on daily since 1995.