Beyond the work
Miscellaneous
Books, climbing destinations, bike routes, and other things I enjoy.
Introducing Zack Jr, and his one orange-braincell.
Books
I tend to like journalistic accounts of remarkable true stories—especially those involving mental fortitude, perseverance, or survival.
- Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing — A gripping account of Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic expedition and his crew's extraordinary struggle for survival.
- The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton — A memoir of resilience, hope, and friendship from a man who spent nearly thirty years on Alabama's death row for a crime he did not commit.
- The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown — The story of the University of Washington rowing team that overcame enormous odds to compete at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
- The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe — A vivid portrait of the test pilots and Mercury astronauts who helped define the early American space program.
- Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf — Over the course of a single day in London, Woolf uses a beautiful stream-of-consciousness style to explore memory, identity, regret, and the inner lives concealed beneath ordinary social encounters. A true pillar of modernist literature.
- The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov — Scientists confront the dangerous consequences of an apparently limitless energy source connected to a parallel universe.
- The Road by Cormac McCarthy — A father and son journey through a devastated landscape while trying to preserve their humanity and hope.
- Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe — An investigation of a notorious disappearance that illuminates the violence, loyalties, and lingering consequences of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
Bike routes
East Bay to Golden Gate
Ohlone Greenway to Richmond Greenway, across the Richmond–San Rafael Bridge, and south through Marin toward the Golden Gate Bridge, with worthwhile detours to Kirby Cove and Black Sands Beach.
Embarcadero to Hawk Hill
Follow the San Francisco waterfront to the Golden Gate Bridge, climb Hawk Hill, descend toward the black-sand beaches, continue to Rodeo Beach, and loop back on Bunker Road.
Calaveras Road
Follow this state road through the hills outside Milpitas: a steep climb followed by a long, rewarding descent along the hills surrounding Calaveras Reservoir.
Henry Hudson Drive
Cross the George Washington Bridge into Fort Lee, then bike north along the Hudson River on this quiet, scenic road.
NYC Summer Streets
Each summer, New York City closes a stretch of streets to traffic and opens a bike route from the Brooklyn Bridge, up Park Avenue, and all the way to Dyckman Street—an awesome ride through the city.
Climbing
Traditional climbing
Lover's Leap and Sugarloaf, Lake Tahoe. Lover's Leap is an excellent destination for aspiring trad climbers, with many approachable and well-protected routes. I climbed my first outdoor chimney at Sugarloaf—terrifying at the time, but ultimately an excellent experience.
Sport climbing
Owens River Gorge, Bishop. Tall volcanic canyon walls, long routes, and a beautiful approach alongside the river.
Vent 5 and Mickey's Beach, Marin. Convenient oceanfront climbing near the Bay Area, though the coastal moisture can make the rock feel less solid.
Red Rock, Nevada. Aztec sandstone, friction slabs, juggy flakes, and excellent options for aspiring multipitch climbers.
Bouldering
Castle Rock, South Bay. Sandstone formations, unusual shapes, and excellent friction-based compression climbing.
Happy Boulders and the Buttermilks, Bishop. Massive boulders beneath the Sierra skyline and memorable quartz-monzonite climbing.
Project Euler
When I have time, I enjoy working through Project Euler: a mix of mathematical and computational puzzles that reward both algorithmic thinking and elementary number theory.
