Just Catalog Something!

Last Thursday, Josh said that we should start thinking about things that interest us regarding a particular area of San Francisco like Islais Creek; that we should think of ways of making a project our own. I'm still really unsure of how to proceed or even what kind of project to even consider doing but I took Josh's advice and set out to catalog something.

Since I don't live in San Francisco I wasn't sure where to go. Then I remembered that when I presented an entry of from my blog where I took pictures of Glen Canyon Park, just how much detail I was able to recall. Probably because it was my first time there and I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, I was very open to everything around me. So decided to go back and see if my second experience was that much different from the first.

I didn't end up getting there until after 5 PM and didn't think it was a good idea to go too far into the park as it was already dark from the overcast weather. I soon discovered that I didn't have to go too far to observe anything; all I had to do was sit in my car and there was plenty of activity around me. Because I wasn't sure if there was anything that I should specifically focus on, I decided to just take note of EVERYTHING around me.

Time: 5:40 - 6:40 PM

# of dogs: 40
Some of the breeds identified: Border Collie (2), Australian Shepard (5), Black Lab (2), Chihuahua (4), Golden Retriever (3).
Dog owners:
-carried little to no bags
-relaxed clothes (jeans or sweatpants)
-half were older, probably 55+ while the other half were probably in their late 20s/early 30s
-more women than men
-5 carried toys (ball or frisbee)

# of birds: 39
Species identified: Robins, Crows, Pigeons
Almost all seen were Robins, while only 3 crows were seen even though they were the loudest/most noisy.

# of cats: 1
One black cat watching the birds.

# of people on bikes: 6

# of joggers: 7

# of Toyotas: 52
Most of which were Prius. 

# of European cars: 39
Some of the brands included Land Rover, BMW, VW, Porshe.

# of Hondas: 39

# of American cars: 31
Some of the brands included Jeep, Chrysler, Chevrolet, GMC.

# of Motorcycles: 1

# of company vans/trucks: 1 (Comcast)

Some of the sounds that could be heard included:
-cars driving up the hill
-car doors closing
-car horns
-wind blowing through the trees
-dripping of water off of the trees
-kids playing in the playground, laughing and screaming
-people leaving their homes, closing their front doors and locking them
-different kinds of conversations, not all of which were clear (most people with dogs were talking to their dogs)
-crows
-rustling of grass and leaves where birds were pecking around for food

Here is a very short video of my view from the car right at the steps entering into the park. Its not particularly exciting but you can hear cars, crows, and kids playing.