Sometimes, you just need catharsis. My recommendation? Bike around the City on Trikeasaurus on a Friday evening and have BIG fun (say “Hi” to the iPhone 3G line, dance with awesome teenage black girls, rock out with kids having a bike stunt party, make new friends and bike around with them (What up Keith! Nice to meet you Jacob!), then roll into Dolores Park after it gets dark & play yourself some “O-o-h Child” & “No Woman No Cry” works like a charm. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
Something I’m proud of that you might like…..

Hey folks –
The last few months have been very draining both physically and emotionally – but the biggest upside of that time is out in the world, and I’m pretty proud of it. For many of you this will be a “oh, that sounds nice” but for a few of you who use iTunes or AppleTV a lot at your house & you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch – you’ll really love this. I do. It is one of my two proudest accomplishments at Apple*.
.ps
And it is free.
.pps
No, I didn’t write the app that runs on the phone, I put in all the stuff in iTunes and parts of AppleTV to make it work.
.ppps
Ok – my second favorite app:
Jared!!!
.pppppps Ok one last cool Remote feature for those of you with AppleTV’s.
*And the other is iTunes’ music sharing feature.
The ‘Deep Slate: June 2008 Edition
[Ed. Note: 10/31/2015: This “post” was originally a pair of emails (“LIST” & “DETAILS”) I sent to my friends on 06/03/2008. I have posted it today in 2015, and backdated for archival/search purposes]
LIST:
Hey folks – as usual – I’m sorry this is so late. I was up til 4am working last night & just couldn’t get it together….
(I’ll send this out NOW and the DETAILS ASAP – but just in case anyone wants my opinions before lunchtime voting – here ya go)
—
(my apologies if you get this multiple times & if you don’t want to get this type of stuff from me, just let me know)
Hey folks –
So here is my ‘Deep Slate for the June 2008 elections.
– This email contains the endorsements in a super-simple list – easy to print!
– The whys & wherefores are in a second email entitled: “DETAILS:…”. I’ll send that out shortly.
– Please feel free to forward this far & wide…. IF YOU GOT THIS FROM A FWD & want more details – send me an email deepATdeeptroubleDOTcom
– NOTE: Not all your ballots will contain all these issues/races – it depends on where you live
To find your polling place:
http://tinyurl.com/yfbsg9
OR
415 554 4375
Go Vote TODAY!
The key is as follows:
• the more UPPERCASE – the more strongly I feel
• exclamation = don’t get me started!
• * = I don’t know a lot about it & went with the Guardian or California League of Conservation Voters
—————
State Initatives:
98: NO
99: YES
State Assembly: Tom Ammiano
US. Congress: Nancy Pelosi
STATE SENATE: MARK LENO
Judge: Gerardo Sandoval
SF Initiatives:
A: Yes
B: yes
C: no
D: Yes
E: YES
F: YES
G: No
H: no
Democratic Central Committee:
12 A.D.
– Michael Bornstein
– Doug Chan
– Emily Drennen
– Eric Mar
– Jake McGoldrick
– Trevor McNeil
– Jane Morrison
– Melanie Nutter
– Connie O’Connor
– Matt Tuchow
13 A.D.
– Bill Barnes
– David Campos
– David Chiu
– Chris Daly
– Michael Goldstein
– Robert Haaland
– Joe Julian
– Leslie Katz
– Rafael Mandelman
– Aaron Peskin
– Holli Thier
– Debra Walker
DETAILS:
Hey kids – so yes – I’ve been swamped so you haven’t seen much of me. I have a big work deadline in the next few weeks & so I have been buried – however, in July you will get sick of me
Anyway – here is this June 2008 episode of the ‘Deep Slate – Please DO go vote today!
—————–
(my apologies if you get this multiple times & if you don’t want to get this type of stuff from me, just let me know)
These are the details of my ‘Deep Slate endorsements, to see it in simple list form see the other email entitled: “LIST:…”.
Thanks again to the number of folks who have asked me for my opinions. I know I say it every time but it is quite true: I really am honored. Any questions or flames can, of course, be addressed to me….
Ok – so to figure out how to value (or devalue :-)) my opinions you should know the following:
• My opinions come from my experience in local politics over the past 12 years & the tons of candidate interviews I’ve done with the San Francisco League of Conservation Voters & all the lobbying I’ve done at City Hall, etc etc…. As you know I don’t get a dime for this, I’m a software engineer by day, and a political activist in my spare time.
• The 3 biggest “norths” of my political compass are environmentalism, social justice issues & good government (reform type) issues.
• I’m President of the San Francisco League of Conservation Voters & on the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. While my views are definitely shaped by my activities in these organizations, my endorsements do NOT represent the views of these organizations.
• I’m basically an idealist, an optimist, and a humanist.
• In some of these races it is a matter of picking between flawed options….
• Ballot measures are REALLY a bad way to govern. Most of the things done in ballot measures SHOULD be done in the normal legislature, where they are easier to fix if they turn out wrong. Another problem is that you have to boil complex issues down to yes/no votes – which rarely is a good idea. But this is what we have, so keep in mind that some good ideas make bad ballot propositions & a lot bad ideas can be made to be sound like good sense in ballot initiative form because the devils is often in the details. And also note that often, these measures are grey – there is often a lot of balancing going on…..
• 90% of my experience & knowledge is about local issues – so understand that state issues are a little greyer for me unless I say otherwise. Thus some of the endorsements (as marked) below are taken from compiling what the California League of Conservation Voters, the SF Bay Guardian, and the Sierra Club have had to say.
The key is as follows:
• the more UPPERCASE – the more strongly I feel
• exclamation = don’t get me started!
• * = I don’t know a lot about it & went with the Guardian or California League of Conservation Voters
————————————-
State Initiatives:
98: NO
This one is easy. An attempt to kill rent control by pairing it with something that is billed as a defense of property rights. NO NO NO
99: YES
Again easy – this one clarifies current eminent domain law, but also is fundamentally a poison pill to stop 98. YES YES YES
State Assembly: Tom Ammiano
I wish I had more to say, Tom is a friend and a leader. He has been a great progressive voice for a long time in SF, I could go on and on. But even more fun is that he is running against a Republican woman who I went to high school with. She was NOT a nice person then. I’m skeptical she is one now.
US. Congress: Nancy Pelosi
State Senate: MARK LENO
This is unfortunately a hotly contested race. Truth be told, we would do well with Carole Migden or Mark Leno (or probably even Joe Nation) as our State Senator. Mark & Carole both have great voting records as progressives. That being said, I really come down strongly in Mark’s camp – he’s a friend who has been a great vote on environmental issues, and has actively pursued environmental and other progressive measures that have meant a lot to me. Also I’ve always been impressed with his ability to talk to people he disagrees with. Good stuff. Carole has been a great vote, but her financial irregularities (& some scary voting irregularities) leave me troubled. VOTE FOR MARK
Judge: Gerardo Sandoval
He has been just an OK supervisor, but he will be a much better Judge than the Wilson appointee he is running against.
SF Initiatives:
A: YES
An attempt to work around the evil that is Prop 13. Parcel tax for landowners to pay teachers. Great in that it gets money to teachers in SF, who are badly underpaid. Weak in that all landowners small ones and big companies, pay the same. But nonetheless this is in balance a VERY GOOD THING. Vote YES.
B: yes
A compromise fiscal measure to limit SF City retirement benefits to reasonable requirements, balanced with improvements for long time employees to make the unions happy. Sounds reasonable. Yes.
C: no
This is a bit of a slippery one & honestly I could see voting either way. Basically, it is an attempt to close a loophole in benefits law whereby someone who has committed a crime could still collect their pensions (normally they can’t), if they happen to be on disability. So this law says “no they can’t”. But the law says that if they are convicted of a “crime of moral turpitude” – which tends to be pretty broad. Historically some jurisdictions have classified “gay” as a such a crime. Lame. Also this covers misdemeanors as well – which seems pretty harsh. So no.
D: Yes
This one is toothless but a good thing. Advisory measure: Appoint diverse people. Always nice. Does little. Yes.
E: YES YES YES
This one is great It is an attempt by the Board of Supervisors to take the always lame-but-powerful Public Utilities Commission (they who control our water, power & waste disposal) and make it less of a dumping ground for the Mayor’s political hacks (The political hacks who continue to avoid clean and renewable energy and other progressive eco-friendly measures at the behest of PG&E). This measure would set some criteria to who gets placed on the PUC (qualifications other than “gave a lot of money to Gavin”, or “worked for PG&E”) and would allow the Supes to confirm/deny the Mayor’s appointees. This is GOOD. The amusing part is that Newsom is against it of course, saying “The last thing we need is more politics at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission,” heh heh. So two faced. So cute! Look up his ousting of the the PUC General Manager Susan Leal for being a little too indepenent minded for his political tastes just a few months back. Wow. Nice one Gavin. YES YES YES
F: YES
This is an attempt to make the Lennar Corporation Bayview Proposal (G) less of a giant public giveaway by requiring 50% of the homes to be affordable. Lennar says no way, which means that this is actually probably a poison pill to sink Prop G. But either way I think it is a good thing. G is weak at best, evil at worst. Yes on F.
G: No
This is the massive proposal by the Lennar Corporation to get a giant chunk of the Bayview & get to redevelop it. The good news is that it would build a lot of new housing, and hopefully kick start some kind of renovation and help for the blighted Bayview. The bad news is the how & the details. I hate that this is the proposal we have to so something so necessary. In balance, it just puts way too much in the hands of the Lennar Corporation & I don’t like it.
The plans they are developing are heavy on car-oriented development (lots of strip-mall-style big-box retail) and they get a lot lot lot of land for free with only decent guarantees for making the new developments affordable. That being said most of these sub-projects would still go before the Board of Supes and the Planning Commission for review, so we could fix them their maybe. But then there is the whole issue of how this is being done: All of this could be done at the Board of Supes in a controlled and reasonable fashion, without such a large public giveaway. All that *needs* to be on the ballot is the part of G which overturns the older (& lamer) Brown-era ballot measures which effected the project site (Candlestick Park to be specific.) So in the end – vote No & hope we do better.
H: no*
H is another one that sounds pretty good, but is really just political payback from Newsom aimed at Peskin. It is ostensibly a straightforward measure designed to disallow city officials from soliciting contributions to campaigns they control (like ballot proposition campaigns, which they are often involved in). The big downside is that it doesn’t really define “control” & thus makes it just slippery. The Guardian argues that it is harder for Board of Supes members to say they don’t “control” campaigns for measures than it is for the Mayor, and I’ll go with that. Vote No.
Democratic Central Committee:
I feel strongly about the bold ones.
12 A.D.
– Michael Bornstein
– Doug Chan
– Emily Drennen
– Eric Mar
– Jake McGoldrick
– Trevor McNeil
– Jane Morrison
– Melanie Nutter
– Connie O’Connor
– Matt Tuchow
13 A.D.
– Bill Barnes
– David Campos
– David Chiu
– Chris Daly
– Michael Goldstein
– Robert Haaland
– Joe Julian
– Leslie Katz
– Rafael Mandelman
– Aaron Peskin
– Holli Thier
– Debra Walker
Green Party Central Committee:
– Razzu Enge
FlashDance Wins SF Weekly’s Best of The Bay!
You know when there is one of those things that is seriously cool & you want it, but you don’t want to admit it because that wouldn’t be cool?
Woooot!
My FlashDances won an SF WEEKLY BEST OF THE BAY:

http://www.sfweekly.com/bestof/2008/award/best-flash-mob-1032566/
I think they summarized the whole thing pretty damn well :
Best Flash Mob (2008)
FlashDance, put on by Amandeep Jawa
http://www.deeptrouble.com/flashdance
Step one: E-mail flashdance-join AT deeptrouble.com to get on the list. Step two: Await message with the 411 for the next roving street dance party. Step three: Show up and boogie while onlookers wonder what the heck is going on, or just stop asking questions and join in themselves. Started around two years ago by a Silicon Valley software engineer (the rare kind who actually can whip out the moves on the dancefloor) who lives in the Mission and can be spotted every once in a while wearing a giant disco ball costume, Jawa has been coordinating the dances since he spotted a salsa dance party along the Seine in Paris and thought, “Why not in San Francisco?” He feeds funk, soul, pop, and some Indian electronica off his MacBook through some amps at such locales as the 24th Street BART station or Embarcadero Plaza.
& thanks to everyone who has left a comment over at their website
I’m seriously happy about this!
Trikeasaurus Goes To Court
or
The Manâ„¢’s Been Keeping Me Down Watching My Back?
[Ed.Note: For those who don’t know, Trikeasaurus is my 500W tricycle-with-speakers (click here for more)]
So about a month ago, on one of my Trikeasaurus rides, a bad thing happened: I got a ticket. For being too loud & thus creating a public disturbance. The cop in question was kinda lame about it. Many cops have been cool or at worst have just said “turn it down”. Most ignore it. A few have been mean. This one was just lame in lecture and attitude.
Anyway I got this:

Doh! I can’t say I was surprised. I have been warned a few times, and the cop in question gave me a stern talking-to back in November (when I liked the idea of beat cops in my neighborhood & thought they would deter crime, not fun. Sigh. I guess I still like the idea of beat cops.) But all those reasons aside, I guess I knew that a maverick outlaw type like myself (stop laughing!) is always just one “good idea” away from the hoosegow. Given my DWITS (Driving While In Tiger Suit) incident of 2001, & the “Gloating over Political Victories Can Get You In Jail” episode of 2003, you could say I was way overdue.
Before I go on though, let’s make one thing clear: The fact is, I *am* violating the law when I’m rolling with Trikeasaurus: anything over 50 decibels is illegal.
Kicking off the 3rd Year of FlashDancing!
Hey Kids –
So Saturday night we had our first FlashDance of the season at the 24th & Mission BART station, very close to “Deep International HQ. Not surprisingly, this 13th FlashDance ROCKED. Why did it rock? An excellent question, Dear Reader! It rocked for the same reasons FD always rocks:
– great people
– good music (I was pretty happy with the mix – see the playlist after the jump)
– random sillyness (human arch, dancing in the streets, 12 year old (?) break dancing girl, invasion of the Dance Mission dancers, and me serenading the crowd to the Pet Shop Boys’ “You Were Always On My Mind” )
(for more GREAT pix just click here)
Anyway – if you missed this one, get on the list & get ready for May when we’ll have another one – I hope you make it!
For the Playlist – click “More” below
Water Bottle Blues (An Open Letter to SOMA Fabrications)
[Ed. note: What follows is a slightly edited (mostly punctuation fixes) version of an email I just sent SOMA Fabrications, makers of my current water bottle of choice. Those of you who know me, know how big my water bottle is in my life. I’ll keep you posted if they reply.]
[UPDATE: They contacted me 2 weeks after I posted this – see the bottom for the update.]

Dear Soma Folks,
First off let me say that I love that you are here in SF & that you make awesome bike stuff. Keep on Rockin’!
The reason for my email though, is my love/hate relationship, no – let’s say “love/deep-abiding-sadness” relationship with your Crystal Polypropylene Water Bottle. The love comes from the fact that as a constant-water-drinker I tried out one of your bottles a few months ago & it was love at first sip. No rubbery taste! Clear and large and clean! I felt a revolution in my water intake was afoot! And so simple! Seemingly, so obvious! Happy Happy Joy Joy!
But a few days in, I noticed that it leaked around the top. Must be a dud I thought, a one-of-a-kind manufacturing mistake, I’ll just get another one! That will be perfect! Sadly no – it still leaked.
Sometime into my third one (having lost my second one) I just tried to ignore the drips of water on my face as I drank, or the small puddle of accumulated leaks in my bike bag. But how much can you ignore at 4 in the morning when you reach for a sip of water in a cozy half-asleep daze, only to be awakened fully by the needle-like prick of ice cold water on your chest? No – there is no ignoring, only sadness.
When I lost my third one, I briefly thought about going back to an older water bottle – but the thought of all those rubbery chemicals that I have imbibed all through the years was too scary to consider. “Maybe they have fixed it!” I thought. This was just three days ago mind you.
So I bought my fourth one, but no, it still leaked. I actually lost it a day after I bought it*, but today, I sadly & resignedly bought my fifth. It seems I am your customer regardless of what happens now. But know that with every drip upon my chin, there is also occasionally a tear in my eye.
yours
‘deep
SF Bike Coalition Board Member (FOR ID PURPOSES ONLY – My views have NOTHING to do with the SF Bicycle Coalition)
*Yeah, I DO lose a lot of water bottles! What IS up with that!?
UPDATE: So two weeks after I posted this, Stan at SOMA Fabrications found my website somehow & responded (I had sent him an email, but he never got it, due to an outdated email address I found for them). Anyway, he was super helpful and interested. But of course, now that I finally got their attention, Water Bottle #5 turned out to not leak. Theoretically, I’m happy about this development…..
Seriously, though THANKS STAN & I do love my water bottle, so I recommend ’em.
Trikeasaurus Attacks! Creates Mobile Dance Mayhem!
(If you have good pictures from Sunday – PLEASE email them to me – THANKS) [Updated: 4/1 added new picture of “First Dolores Stop” from Chase]
Did you hear Trikeasaurus roll by Sunday? It probably sounded like some Jackson 5 booming from a pair of massive speakers attached to a shiny blue tricycle? Maybe you saw a few people dancing along behind while riding their bikes? Or maybe you caught one of the dance parties that sprung up at some of its stops?
I LUV Trikeasaurus.
I should ‘splain:
Trikeasaurus is my musical tricycle:
Help Me Help You – Get Time Capsule Now!
IF YOU USE A MAC, I HOPE YOU READ THIS. For those of you on Windows, ummmm….. good luck with that.

Hey Mac-using folks –
I *really* *really* want you to buy a Time Capsule or start using Time Machine. No, Apple doesn’t need the money. No, I don’t get a cut or even work on the Time Capsule team.
I ask you to do this because I care about you. And specifically, because I know the horrors of data loss. Think of all the music in your iTunes library, or all the photos in your iPhoto library, or all those things you’ve written, or all those emails that you want to save. Some day your hard drive will die. Or you’ll drop your Mac. Or something else bad will happen. And on that day you will either say:
- I’m glad ‘Deep made me buy a Time Capsule.
- F$&^k, I wish I listened to ‘Deep and bought a Time Capsule.
So what am I talking about?
Hey Al, This Is What I Was Trying to Say to You The Other Day…
or
“What I Was TRYING to Say to Al Gore When I Bumped Into Him…”
[Ed. Note. Hey folks – sorry my blog hasn’t been updated in a long time – it has been a CRAZY couple of months & my plate has been full. I’ll do better I swear!]
So I ran into Al Gore last week.
I was at work.
He is on our Board of Directors at Apple.
He was serenely strolling out of an elevator by himself.
I was headed to the next elevator.
I passed and then scurried back and told him he was my hero.
Then I realized how lame that must have sounded (for reasons I’ll describe below) so I tried to explain how it wasn’t lame. And then I added something to show my commitment to the environment. And I tried to say something that demonstrated my intelligence. And…
Well, you get the picture. Needless to say I’m sure neither of us was impressed.1
Luckily, I know Al Gore reads my blog2 so I figured I’d just explain to him what I was trying to say here in an attempt to save my respect for my own intellect. So Al – this is for you….
Continue reading