When it rains...water falls from the sky

I did this while starting from a stop on my bike yesterday. Amazingly the chain stayed on the ring for three whole revolutions to get me across the large intersection at Lake and Park Presidio. Simple as that, just muscle-starting on the large chainring and the second-smallest-of-9 gears on the back, and rrriinnnnkkkk I feel metal bending, look down and see this mess. Stopped on the sidewalk, thought for a moment, and switched to the small ring and been riding on that since (now I have to pedal faster to keep my usual speed, sigggghhh). I did bend the ring back a bit with a wrench so that the teeth are not sticking straight out (I feared for the skin of my leg) and ride with my pant leg tucked into my sock for skin-insurance instead of rolling it up. 

Can't find any good reason why this happened on a 6-month old professionally-installed crank set. One thread from 2006 wrote of a local bike shop that said it could happen from hard pedaling and 6 other people spoke up and said it was pure BS. Every other instance of a bent chainring is from accidents or hitting something. Since I've not been in an accident or hit anything, I can only assume it was the half-a-link's width deviation (spread over half of the ring) that's been there for 4 months (don't know how that happened either) and finally gave way under the daily stress my monstrous quadriceps subject it to.

I'm trying to speak to someone at the company about a warranty, but they're 2 hours ahead of me in Illinois and I'm in school most of the day and haven't connected yet (I wonder how we will connect with classes ending, finals coming, and me leaving town in a week). 

Creepiness

This is the old abandoned hospital I ride by everyday on the way to and from school. It's just over the hill from our apartment and is at the top of 15th Avenue just inside the Presidio grounds, almost all by itself, surrounded by trees and undeveloped land. At nighttime, especially when it's foggy, it's crazy creepy. During the summer, there were always hired security guys sitting in their cars at the main entrances. I had to try a few times, but got one of them to tell me about the place. It's haunted and they're there to keep the ghosts inside. Not really. They've been there since it was decided that the place would be remodeled (the non-original wings torn down) and made into condos and a bunch of stores on the bottom. A few weeks ago, crews started cleaning out the tremendous amounts of garbage inside and 3 days ago knocked off the corner of the west wing. Too bad, the place looks majestic with those huge wings on the front. 

As for the grass, it showed up a few weeks ago on its own all over the area. Apparently, among all the alternative lifestyles known to San Francisco, among them is the idea of having Winter in the Summer and Spring in the Fall. I'm curious to see if the rest of the year will follow such Southern Hemispherical pursuits.

Also, mad props to the ninja taggers who got the "Good As" (already demolished) and "Dead!!" murals on the top floors of the wings without anything to stand on. The skull is also a sweet touch and I think it should be left there. 

Random Acts of LOL

How did he get there??

A doomed relationship from the beginning (that's the Cloverfield monster if you haven't seen the movie)

Where in the world is......?

Awesome shot.

Hey Batman!--