– Doug McConnell
This was a wonderful morning for some of us OpenRoaders. Carl Bidleman, Jim Wirth and I did our first shoot along Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco for a new blog series we’re calling “Life Outside the Box.” Being new guys to the web world, we find ourselves spending long hours in front of the computer screen filling the box with content. I still get to be out wandering around quite a bit, but Carl especially ends up feeling as if he’s living inside the box and not getting outside as much as he wants. He thought others in the blogosphere might be feeling the same way, and wondered what they do and where they go when they can escape for a while back into first life.
Havin’ a laugh with David Pescovitz.
So we asked David Pescovitz, one of the terrific talkers of BoingBoing, if he would show us one of his favorite haunts in the Bay Area. David said he was game and we met at 10:00 a.m. at the fabled and fantastic treasure trove of old games and amusements, Musee Mechanique. We paid homage to Laughing Sal, watched a few arcade executions, challenged each other to a game of pong (the years have taken a toll on my reflexes,) and encouraged the Musee’s proprietor and old friend, Dan Zelinsky, to pound out a little Scott Joplin on the old piano in his workshop, right next to the power lathe and shelves filled with arcane parts of all kinds. David even snapped a photo of Dan’s metal pocket protector. Check it out on BoingBoing, visit the Musee Mechanique online and in person, and stay tuned for our video version of this story. Carl’s already back in the box editing the piece.
From the Musee we wandered down the block to the Aquarium of the Bay next to Pier 39. I wanted to show David the skate, sharks, sturgeon, and other critters. (more…)
