It’s official. After living in San Francisco for the last seven and a half years, I’m moving! More specifically, Kerry and I are moving to Oakland. There are a number of reasons: easier commutes for both of us (seriously! BART > Muni), cheaper, and the apartment we’re moving into is just fabulous.

Don’t worry, I still love you, San Francisco. We’re just trying something new for a bit!

It seems like such a lovely place, doesn’t it? 😉

It’s 3:30AM. What are you doing?, originally uploaded by Dave Schumaker.

We’re hard at work, launching the next version of gdgt! (It’s been crazy. We’re at about 19 straight hours of cranking on this right now.)

Blek le Rat stencil at Cafe Divis., originally uploaded by Dave Schumaker.

This is a relatively new stencil that popped up at my favorite neighborhood coffee shop. It was created by a French street artist named Blek Le Rat. Some have speculated that Blek le Rat’s stencil style is the inspiration for Banksy.

Via Wikipedia:

British graffiti artist Banksy has acknowledged Blek’s influence stating "every time I think I’ve painted something slightly original, I find out that Blek Le Rat has done it as well, only twenty years earlier."

STS-134 NASA Tweetup and the final flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour

On April 28th and April 29th, 2011, I was fortunate enough to participate in the NASA Tweetup for STS-134. It was to be the final flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour and the second to last mission in the Space Shuttle program. I traveled to the Space Coast from San Francisco and spent three fantastic days with fellow Twitter users and enthusiastic space geeks at Kennedy Space Center. Things didn’t always go as planned (you’ll see), but it was an experience that I’ll cherish and never forget. Godspeed, Endeavour.

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Of course, I have my Rdio playlist ready to listen to on the flight home.

You know, just in case you need me the next few days…

[via Carson Skinner on Twitter]

Practicing my Space Shuttle landing skills., originally uploaded by Dave Schumaker.

I figured since I’m heading to Cape Canaveral and all, I should start brushing up on my shuttle landing skills. You never know if a crew member suddenly comes down with an illness and they’ll need to replace them with someone from the NASA Tweetup. Yeah… sure. 😉

You can check out the above space shuttle simulator on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod by downloading F-SIM Space Shuttle from the App Store.

(I’m currently on a plane, en route to Florida for the STS-134 NASA Tweetup.)

A British couple behind me are looking out the window and ask a flight attendant if that’s the Grand Canyon below us and to our left. She says yes, so I look out and see that it’s actually Valley of the Gods in Southern Utah (neeeeerd). I turn around to say something, right as the husband says, “Oh, that is so great! I’ve always wanted to see the Grand Canyon!”

Alright then. Just smile and turn around, Dave. 🙂

Good grief, we geologists can (nearly) be assholes sometimes!

New signs at the office, originally uploaded by Dave Schumaker.

It’s looking pretty good in here! New paint job. New signs. Awww yeah!

Lotta’s Fountain, originally uploaded by Dave Schumaker.

Today marks 105 years after the great earthquake and fire ravaged San Francisco in 1906. I decided to take a stroll downtown and pay my respects at Lotta’s Fountain.

I took this photo at 2:54PM. Three minutes later, a magnitude 3.8 earthquake hit the Bay Area. It was located on the San Andreas fault and was just southeast of where the 1906 epicenter was thought to be. What?!