Random Personal Posts by Gaelen Gates

This was a work trip, as I was here for Chime’s IPO, but I decided to stay through the weekend so I could have Friday and Saturday free to be a tourist. Two full days obviously isn’t enough time for a visit to a huge city like NYC, but I was able to hit some highlights. I hadn’t been to NYC since I was a kid.

I stayed in midtown, right off Times Square. My hotel had a great view.

Times Square was crazy overwhelming. The digital billboards looked much more real than I expected.

On Wednesday, I worked out of Chime’s NYC office downtown, and took a walk at lunchtime to see the “Charging Bull” statue and the Statue of Liberty from Battery Park.

The rest of Wednesday and Thursday were taken up by IPO stuff, although I did become a pro at using the subway (once I found out that every train/direction had a separate station entrance, even if they go through the same station!).

Then Friday and Saturday I was free. Friday I walked up 5th Ave. to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and spent most of the day there. Along the way, I stopped to get a famous NYC toasted bagel with cream cheese. It was tasty, but not really different from other toasted bagels with cream cheese that I’ve gotten in SF?

The Met was great to see, but very overwhelming, largely due to the layout. The rooms are basically laid out as boxes on a grid, but many connecting openings between rooms were arbitrarily closed or cordoned-off, so it was tough to chart a predictable course by which you would see all the rooms. I think I hit most of them, though. I kept getting lost and having to consult my map. I definitely saw their 5 Vermeers!

In the evening, I splurged on very good seats to see “Gypsy” at the gorgeous Majestic Theater. My co-worker, who is a theater aficionado, had seen it our first night in town and said it was one of her top 3 theater experiences ever. It was fantastic! I had no idea who Audra McDonald is, so I got to be surprised by how amazing her performance was.

For my second day, I spent a LOT of time walking, so it’s unfortunate that it rained most of the day. On the positive side, one piece of IPO swag I got was a CHYM-branded rain shell with hood, so I put it right to work. First thing in the morning, I took the subway to Brooklyn and walked back across the Brooklyn Bridge.

After that I wandered through Chinatown and the Lower East Side, checking out some great street art, before taking the tour of the Tenement Museum. I chose the “After the Famine” tour, which focused on an Irish family that fled the potato famine and lived in the building starting in 1869. It was really interesting! There are a number of different tours you can take, focusing on different eras and circumstances.

After that, I headed back to Bryant Park to [redacted] with 25,000 of my closest friends. Apparently they had expected a turnout of 75,000, but the rain kept a lot of people home.

Then I did a lot more wandering around, including checking out Grand Central Station, which was spectacular.

I eventually walked out towards Chelsea to experience the Chelsea Market and walk out onto Little Island, which was surprisingly cool.

I didn’t go up to the High Line because it was still raining, and I was getting really hungry. I went to the charming and delicious Willow Vegan Bistro for an extravagant last dinner in NYC. It was delicious, but not as good as my dinner earlier in the week at all-vegan Beyond Sushi. Now it’s time for me to pack for my flight home tomorrow. I’ll be sad to leave, but I miss the dogs (and Adam too!).

In case this one also gets paywalled, I am reproducing it here: www.coastsidenews.com/community…

Coastside News: ‘Rest well, my dear friend’ Remembrance of Tony Corten

By Peter Tokofsky Apr 1, 2025

Well over 1,000 people gathered Sunday afternoon in the Terra Nova High School gym to share memories of Anthony Corten, the principal of Ocean Shore School in Pacifica who passed away last month.

The Terra Nova gym was filled with people whose lives were touched by Tony Corten. While the room was just large enough to contain the crowd of students, families, friends and Pacifica residents who came to pay respects, the space could not contain the outpourings of love and affection for a man who, as speaker after speaker made clear, embodied kindness and who was so much more than any one label could capture.

“He was so talented – to the point of annoying. Whatever it was, he was good at it,” Dawn Mermer told the crowd in her introductory remarks. “He was also the funniest person. He could take the most mundane thing or situation and turn it into something hilarious and joyful.”

The afternoon celebrating a life featured musical interludes including students from Ocean Shore and Sunset Ridge Schools singing the Beatles “In My Life”, and Erin Brazill and Erma Kyriakos performing “Let It Be” and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” with the crowd joining in.

Corten’s love of the Fab Four was well known, but many in the crowd might not have known that before becoming an educator he was one of the premier drummers in the United Kingdom. In 1997 his band Flyscreen opened for No Doubt on their UK tour when their single “Don’t Speak” hit number one on the charts.

CJ Valenti, owner of Pacifica music venue Winters Tavern, saw both sides of Corten. As a music presenter, he said after the memorial, he always hoped to host a Flyscreen reunion but was also happy any time Corten got behind the drum set for open mic night. Valenti’s greatest appreciation, though, was as a parent of two boys going through the challenges of COVID and a divorce. “He was there every morning, and he knew every child’s name,” Valenti said about his kids’ principal. “You could tell the kids respected him and they all liked him.”

In her remarks, Brazill repeated that Corten “was one of those people who was good at everything he did. He was also one half of the most beautiful marriage I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Gina Arguello, who co-taught a 4th-grade class with Corten before he became an administrator, described him as a big brother and recounted many of the pranks he executed over the years, including sending unexpected things such as a bell or “actual trash” through school district mail, sending student messengers to other classes with random and useless messages, taking another teacher’s class into his room for 45 minutes without telling anyone – just to cause chaos. “Mr. Corten made school fun,” she said. “He liked what he did and enjoyed it with a passion.”

Johnny Sideris read letters from Corten’s parents and from his wife, Kelley, who thanked everyone for their love and support. In her letter, Kelley recounted how she and Tony would high-five and congratulate themselves for having each other. “I will carry him with me always.”

“Everybody here loved Tony. He was an inspiring educator. His passion for making the world a better place shone in everything he did,” Ellie Cundiff said. “His laughter is in our hearts. His kindness will live on. Rest well, my dear friend.”

Following the remarks and performances, the crowd gathered outside on a suddenly sunny afternoon for donuts, bubbles and more music.

Before leaving, Pacifica City Councilmember Mary Bier remarked, “It’s all about love. No matter what is happening around us, it doesn’t matter. We just have to love each other.”

And in the end The love you take Is equal to the love you make – The Beatles, “The End”

Yesterday, the Pacifica schools community pulled together, with the help of Kelley and all of our friends, to hold the public memorial for our good friend Tony Corten.

It was truly touching to see a high school gym completely filled with the teachers, staff, and families who knew Tony during his 17 years teaching and in school management.

There were so many sweet remembrances and, of course, performances of Beatles songs. Some of the children from the school where he was principal (Ocean Shore Elementary) sang “In My Life,” which made everyone tear up.

At the entrance, there were multiple big poster boards of messages the kids and adults have been writing about Tony. He was such a big personality, such a favorite of all the kids, and you could tell the outpouring of love was genuine and effusive.

Of course, it ended with the treat Tony was known for bringing to every party (and of which he has a tattoo): Boxes of pink sprinkle doughnuts.

Most touching, for me, was Erin’s speech, which she ended with, “I know that Tony had been deeply stressed lately. He was more blue, and more distant… I wish I had not been intimidated by his sadness, and insisted that he open up to me, or Kelley, or somebody. I know I’m not alone in feeling this way. Tony’s last gift to us is to have the resolve to check in more on each other. To ask difficult questions. To offer hugs, hold on a little closer, to be more tender and patient with little children, and our brothers and sisters in life. To ask how everyone is doing, and really listen closely for the answer. That is his gift to us…. Your death made it more clear to us than ever that we are the fabric that holds us together.”

After the public memorial, Stacey and Stef were kind enough to hold a gathering at their house in Pacifica, just for our chosen family, so that we could remind each other to do just that. I’m sure we will do even more of it at the private memorial coming up in a couple weeks.

I got an e-bike and started commuting to work about a year ago, and I’m sharing what I learned along the way, in case it’s of use to someone considering it.

1. You will need a lot of accessories. My eyes water in the wind (and going fast creates a lot of wind), so I found that I had to get dorky-looking clear glasses that block the wind. I found I also needed wind-proof gloves, because going fast in the cold morning air was freezing my hands. Same with a windbreaker. A LOUD electric horn was a must, because at e-bike speeds, you need people to hear you from a farther distance away. I needed pants straps for when I wear wide-legged pants. Then of course you’ve got the strong, expensive locks (I have a Litelok and the Kryptonite heavy chain) needed for a multi-thousand dollar vehicle.

2. You may need to do your hair and makeup at your destination. This is a big one, especially if your routine is complex, although it may not be the case if you live in a flat city. In San Francisco, I sweat going up a steep hill (often against the wind) even if I max the boost and go slowly, and my eye makeup was running by the time I got to work. Now I bring my makeup with me and do it when I arrive.

3. A surprising number of pedestrians don’t pay attention. When I first started cycling, I was shocked at how many people step out into the bike lane or street while looking the OPPOSITE WAY of oncoming traffic. I’m also surprised by how many people wear all black while walking at night. This is a big reason why you need the loud horn.

4. If you bike in urban areas, you will probably want to go overboard to be visible. San Francisco has a terrible track record of keeping pedestrians and cyclists safe, and as you ride, you will see how many intersections force cyclists into blind spots and too-narrow, unprotected shoulders. I have a fluorescent yellow helmet, a fluorescent yellow windbreaker that reverses into reflective fabric for night time, a flourescent yellow backpack cover, reflective pants straps, and a bunch of extra lights. The photo at the bottom is what I look like from behind.

5. You will find you use the e-bike a lot more than you expected. I just bought it for commuting, but in the city, riding a vehicle that goes almost as fast as a car but doesn’t need to find a parking spot (at least in San Francisco, there is bike parking everywhere) makes it my preferred method to get around if I’m not bringing the dogs. I have two wire-basket panniers on the sides, plus a basket in the front, so I can carry a decent amount of groceries or whatever else I need.

6. Yes, people really do steal e-bikes from inside of garages. I have had more than one friend to whom this happened! Theft is a real problem. I have an insurance policy for my bike that covers theft (our homeowners' insurance wouldn’t cover it), and we also installed a concrete anchor into the garage floor so I can lock it to the anchor at night. I hide the keys in a place that would be difficult for anyone to find if they broke into the house.

7. E-biking is actually exercise! (At least in San Francisco.) Riding my e-bike feels so easy versus the regular bike, that I assumed the activity level would be roughly similar to walking. Actually, my heart rate gets up to around 110-120: Higher than walking, lower than running, roughly similar to a weightlifting session for me. It’s a nice bonus!