mmm, palo alto water

[tower well, hawthorne ave at alma st]

"The City's first water rate structure was billed monthly as follows: each House = 1 dollar, each Water Closet = 40 cents, each Horse = 25 cents, each Cow = 25 cents, and for water carelessly allowed to run overnight through a hose or faucet = $2.50/night."

urban planning

 [hamilton ave at gilman st]

yes, that's right: 

a mail drop lane.

also, see if you can find:

a church (we have many flavors here in town)

a bus stop

a public toilet

turning

[alma st at palo alto ave]

every day i'm turning into 

someone new i just hope 

it's someone better too

and 

trees = love

no turning back

[lytton ave]

here we go into 

the future (as if we didn't 

do that every day). farewell, 

2008.

protected by borges

[university ave]

i'm not quite sure what a security system 

by borges might entail: 

several circular walls, perhaps, 

or a series of forking paths 

that must be navigated before the entrance? 

red and green

[middlefield rd, redwood city]

california flora, 

nonchalantly dressed up for christmas

(okay, okay, so this is redwood city, 

not palo alto. give me a break, please? 

it's pretty close. and 

i've been at the airport all day.)

going nowhere

[webster st at coleridge ave]

stop
look around
go
no not that way
turn around
go
stop
go
on
and on

lights, please

[university ave at ramona st]

a cold, rainy, gloomy,
curl-up-and-do-nothing
kind of day was today
(not when i took this photo,
but it fits the mood)

be alert

[webster st]

good news

[bryant st at embarcadero]

i haven't, as i had
feared, completely forgotten how
to ride a bike. (and
lucky for me, this town's pretty
bike-friendly, too.)

not a secret rivalry

[old union, stanford]

finally took the campus tour last

friday, day before the big game. banners

all over campus emblazoned with the

general sentiment of stanford football

fans. (i don't even know who won.)

polychromatic

[webster st near hamilton ave]

if you want to park your
car in downtown palo alto, you
could find yourself navigating a
rainbow of purple, lime,
blue, coral (those are the colors i've
spotted so far. who knows but
that right around the corner i might
find goldenrod or aquamarine
or tangerine!)

not your typical road sign

[somewhere along stanford ave in august]

preserving greenery
protecting new growth
promoting absurdity

one of the reasons why i love this town

[near stanford shopping center]

i actually took this
photo shortly before i
moved to palo alto (but
i'm pretty sure the sign is
still there). it's a welcoming
message, don't you agree?

sorry for inconvenient

CLOSED FOR VACATION
(Sorry for inconvenient)
Thank You

[a subtle instance of engrish on the door of
mint leaf thai & vietnamese cuisine,
university ave, across from the apple store]

this place has been
'closed for vacation' since
before i moved here nearly
two months ago.
i'm missing what
i've never known.
it's a minor 'inconvenient,' though.
i hope that they're having a
spectacular vacation!

this nation is a young nation

[hotel president, university ave]

around here, especially in
california, eighty-year-old buildings are
kind of a big deal