I have a lazyweb question for the internets. Does anyone know anything about this photo? Like who took it? Where? When? Who’s riding the #90 scooter up a dirt road on the side of a mountain? Is he racing? What type of scooter is that? What does the writing on the photo say? What language is that?

I have more questions than answers, in fact the only answer I have is where I was when took this shot with my cameraphone. Though I could call the place to see if they have any information, I thought first it’d be more fun to draw on the web’s collective knowledge.

My rudimentary searches turned up blanks, so I bow before anyone who knows the proper incantation to elicit an answer from Google. Of course if you already know something about this photo, that helps too, but if not, I’d definitely be interested in knowing how you found it as much as what you found.

Just wanted to point out the Volvo C30‘s quirky tailgate design.

I think it’s kind of cool.

Also, related but not: I’ve been carless for a year. Though I’m not sure how high I can wave that flag, as I ride my gas-powered Vespa to work every day and depend on Zipcar for most out of town trips. I’m looking forward to doing a little more biking to work again when FM moves to the city.

A few months ago, I stopped setting my alarm. Around that time, Stephanie started waking up earlier to get to work earlier. So now my “alarm” is a kiss on the cheek just before she heads out at 8.

I get out of bed a few minutes later, usually after she’s left. I shower, brush my teeth, shave every other day. Sometimes I turn on a CD. I get dressed, grab a granola bar, fruit if there’s any, lunch or leftovers if there’s any, and then I fill up my water bottle and strap it to my backpack. I put on my riding jacket, backpack, and shoes. I grab my helmet with the gloves inside and head outside to my scooter.

While the scooter is warming up, I put on my helmet and gloves, and then head off down Pine. I turn left on Franklin because the lights are green all the way to Lombard. Once I get through the Lombard lights, there are no more stops all the way to work. The whole trip takes just under 20 minutes. Lately I’ve been getting in around 9 which for me is early. Sometimes I’m the first in (from tech).

I take off all my gear, and head to the bathroom to wash out my mug and fill the electric kettle with water (we’ve got a great view but no kitchen). This is another new “habit” I started around the beginning of the year: morning tea. I was finding it hard to focus on work in the morning, so now I make myself a cup of black tea when I get in. Occasionally the afternoons will call for a small bottle of Tejava iced tea.

So I put on my headphones and turn on Indie Pop Rocks, sip my cup of tea, and eat my granola bar while checking email and blogs and thinking about what I want to do that day. Work happens until around noon when one or more of us emerges from our headphone-induced concentration and cries out “Lunch?” Which most days is a walk to Venice Gourmet Deli, or sometimes Golden Gate Market, or on rare occasions Hamburgers. Good lunch options in Sausalito are surprisingly few and far between. But the walk is nice.

I usually work until after 5, depending on how into things I am, but I try to leave at least before 5:50 so I can make it through the toll plaza by 6, which allows me to skip the $4 toll as a “high-occupancy” commuter. I ride home down Lombard, Van Ness, and Bush, looping around to Pine, and making sure to park on the side of the street that isn’t scheduled for street cleaning the next morning (otherwise a $40 ticket). Sometimes Stephanie and I leave work together, which is funny because she gets to work before me, other times she’s already home.

I like to have a little snack when I get home, usually some nuts or crackers or cheese, and then catch up with Stephanie. A few weeks ago we found that talking about work right after work (given that we work at the same place) sort of created a weird feedback loop that amplified things rather than diffusing them. So we put a moratorium on post-work brain dumps to give ourselves a break. If one of us is feeling inspired, dinner might be a big production, if not, we’ll put together something simple or just do a little grazing.

Most nights I find some some small projects to work on, usually on my laptop, occasionally work related, rarely a grand personal project. Usually just photos or blogging or email. Or chores. Or researching some weekend adventure. Meanwhile Stephanie might be doing the same or at a dance class, but lately she’s really been into her Nintendo DS. She heads to bed around 10, and I usually stay up doing things until midnight. I brush my teeth, wash my face, and slip into bed.

My obsession du jour, actually more of an obsession de la semaine, has been these very flat-profile vintage motorcycles. Picture an unsculpted seat (almost a bench) completely in line with the gas tank on an elongated wheelbase.

I think I saw an older guy drive by on what was probably an old 1970s Yamaha or Honda a few weeks ago. And I’m sure I saw another on the street before registering that the design was different than just about all modern motorcycles.

Like all obsessions, once you admit you have a problem, you start seeing it everywhere. This morning at the Vespa dealership I saw another with really low handlebars. So I snapped a quick pic with my camera phone. After some research (thank you eBay) I discovered it’s a late-60s Norton Atlas.

And I don’t even know what to call them. Vintage British bikes? Café racers? Naked/stardard bikes?

Wait, what about my Vespa? Well, I’ve gotten pretty comfortable riding it every day back and forth to work. It’s become an inseparable part of living in the city for me, I only wished I’d had the idea to get one earlier—I could have bypassed all that city angst.

But now that I’ve accepted riding as a part of my life, as in I didn’t stop during the rainy season, I’ve been thinking it’d be cool to learn how to really ride a motorcycle, shifting and all. Of course I’d need to have one to learn to ride one—which has only added fuel to my obsession.

Here are some similar models I’ve found online. Does anybody know any others?

…I’d think about this one.

Which happens to be Toyota’s FJ Cruiser. It catches my eye whenever I see one on the road because it looks like nothing else out there. I’ve read that the design is supposed to be 1960s retro, but I’m not sure cars ever looked quite like this. Suffice it to say, two-tone body color = totally rad. Didn’t even realize that was a fetish of mine until now.

Obvious downside: 19 gallon tank at $3.35/gallon = ~$60 to fill up (and wretched gas mileage, of course). I guess everybody’s been dealing with this for a while now, but I stopped driving my car when gas prices were around $2.50. Right now I fill up my Vespa with premium about once a week, and even that shocks me when a mere 1.8 gallons comes out to over 6 bucks!