When I last left you, I was telling you about my first day in San Francisco. After the baseball game, I went back to the hotel and because I went out the wrong exit, I got a little turned around and ended up having to walk a lot further than I expected to walk. I caught a bus and went back toward the hotel.
At Walgreens
I did stop off at Walgreens to pick up some travel size toiletries because I didn’t bring any with me. I don’t like having to pack my liquid/gel items in Ziploc bag to present separately to the TSA agent. I’d rather buy the travel items out there and then throw them away when I’m ready to leave.
The Walgreens was dominated by Asians and they were all very small. The biggest thing that surprised me initially about San Francisco was that there were a lot more Asians than I’d expected. I assumed there’d be a large gay population (though I didn’t really see anything that yelled ‘We’re here, we’re queer’ in most of the city) but I was a little surprised about the strong Asian population.
While walking through Walgreens, I was wearing my red jacket and my side-bag, and an employee told another one to ‘watch the one in the red jacket for shoplifting.’
I couldn’t find travel sized items. I couldn’t find a separate section for travel items nor any travel items alongside larger/normal sized things. I asked an employee (not the one following me around) and he pointed toward one of the store’s four corners. I went to that corner, went up and down the aisle until I finally saw a small grouping of travel size items. The selection was horribly poor but I picked out a couple things and checked out.
Watching TV
I was going to watch ‘The Office,’ which was airing at 8 and 9pm, with ‘Parks and Recreation’ in between. I watched the first episode of ‘The Office’ but I cut off the second show half-way through because I was too tired to stay up. Looking back, I’d walked just over two and a half miles Thursday, a mile longer than I’d estimated I’d walk.
I thought I’d set my DVR to tape the debut of ‘Parks and Recreation’ but I didn’t. Thankfully it re-aired on Bravo the following Thursday and I was able to see the rest of it.
Sleeping
One thing that was weird about the hotel room is that I could hear everything outside. Horns were constantly honking, even at night. There was a lot more horn honking than I’d expected. I viewed California to be all laid back and I wouldn’t’ve expected to have so many horns honking.
The other difficulty with sleeping is that the bed faced the door directly. This might not sound strange but if you think about it, most hotels have a little hallway where the closet is on one side and the bathroom’s on the other and then the bed/beds are on the other side of the bathroom. This means that for the most part, you can’t see the door from the bed. I guess all hotels have the hallway lights on but I’ve never thought about it much because it doesn’t bother me.
Well, the light was coming through the door and it bothered me a little bit, not so much on the first night but later nights. And it wasn’t just from beneath the door but it was all around it. It was really annoying.
Friday Begins
I woke up at 4:30am, which was fortunate because my cell phone alarm never went off. I got ready to go and went to Denny’s, where I’d planned to have breakfast at least two times while I was out there.
On the way to the restaurant, I was walking and I didn’t realize that the sidewalk came to a curb, so I missed the step kinda and sorta twisted my knee. I didn’t think it was too bad and kept walking.
A guy behind me was also walking and suddenly began running. I panicked a little because I didn’t know why he’d started running and it was dark still. I kept walking and the guy just ran past me and nothing happened. But I did feel a bit of panic for a moment, wondering if I was about to be attacked.
Denny’s
I entered Denny’s at about 5:30am and there were no customers there. There were probably about eight employees milling around, none of them cleaning or anything, just wandering about.
One waiter led me to the table, another took my drink order, still another took the food order and the original waiter brought out the drink and a different waiter brought out the food. This led me not to really know who my waiter was.
I ordered a Coke but I was told they didn’t have Coke and that I’d have to choose between orange juice and coffee. I chose orange juice.
My food was very rubbery and no waiter came by to refill the drink. The service really sucked overall.
When the check was brought over, it was a lot more expensive than I expected. That’s one thing I saw over and over again: Things cost more out there than they do in Atlanta.
My experience at Denny’s was bad enough that I decided I wouldn’t try to eat breakfast there again while in town.
On the Subway
After breakfast, I went to Powell Station to use my MUNI pass for the subway for the first time. I couldn’t picture how exactly to use it. When I first got there, I swear I saw a police officer around the entrance. No one was in the MUNI booth, so I didn’t know who to show my pass to.
I walked around the station, which isn’t all that large but I couldn’t find anyone. There was someone in the BART booth. The BART shares the station with the MUNI but that’s it. I needed a MUNI employee.
This strange looking guy was staring at me as I searched for a MUNI representative. He yelled out to me, ‘Hey!’ as he began moving toward me. It freaked me out a little and I couldn’t see that police officer I thought I’d seen earlier. I left the station and waited for a little bit before going back in and at that point, a woman was in the booth and I simply showed her my pass and she let me in.
Twin Peaks
The first place I was visiting was Twin Peaks. It supposedly has one of the best views of the city but I knew there’d be a good amount of walking. I was estimating that I’d have to walk just over 5.5 miles during the day.
When I got off the subway, I was turned around and started walking in the direction I thought I was supposed to go. It was hard to tell directions because it was cloudy and I couldn’t see the sun. I walked for almost a half mile, uphill, before realizing that I was headed in the opposite direction. I turned around, retracing my steps downhill, before heading uphill in the correct direction.
I could tell my knee was bothering me but I still felt it was relatively manageable. My side, the big concern for the trip was feeling fine.
I couldn’t find the trail that was a shortcut to the top and instead had to rely on the street way, which is longer. I could see a bit of an overlook toward the city and it wasn’t tremendously impressive. I came up to a sign that warned of a curvy road ahead for the next mile and a half.
So at this point, I’d seen a preview of the shot that I’d get, I was going to have to walk an additional mile and a half, and I still might have to walk more to get to the top. With so much walking still left in the day, I was concerned that I’d do serious damage to get a pointless picture and be unable to finish out the day, which I was hoping would end with a visit to the Golden Gate Bridge.
I decided to pack it in and head back to the MUNI station after having walked just over 2 miles (I found a bus stop and took the bus back to the station). This was the first planned event that I didn’t go to and I felt a bit free from the schedule in a way.
Looking back at it, I would’ve gotten to the top if I’d walked an additional .7 miles (as well as the .7 miles on the way back. Whether the shots I’d’ve gotten would’ve been any good is unclear.
To Castro Street
I took the subway to Castro Street and it’s stereotypical but when I passed the subway exit for that stop going toward Twin Peaks, I assumed that everyone who got off at the stop was gay. Is that wrong? Probably but anyway…
When I got off at the stop, my bag apparently was a little open and one of the two bottles of pain pills I had on me fell out and I didn’t realize it. A guy behind me on the escalator yelled out to me that I’d dropped something and he, thankfully, picked it up and brought it to me. I thanked him several times.
The first impression of Castro Street: There were gay pride flags on every light pole and a massive rainbow flag on this one building. When I’d gotten out of the Powell Street station, there were homeless people and beggars everywhere and here, it was much nicer and less packed.
I saw the famous Castro Theater, which had a sign announcing the end of the ‘Mamma Mia’ sing along. There were several sex shops on the street and on one post, there was a flyer for ‘Cock Wars.’ It featured two men and they both were facing away from the camera, but their faces were turned around so you could see them both. You could see the one guy’s ass and you could tell what he was doing to the other guy’s ass and from the smiles on their faces, they were both loving every minute of it. It freaked me out a lot and I wish that I’d taken a picture of it.
I basically just walked up and down the street, taking pictures of the Castro Theater. I saw a couple record stores but one didn’t open until 10 and the other 11. It wasn’t worth hanging around so I tried to find a bus stop. I couldn’t find the stop that I was looking for, so instead I just took the only bus I could find to Haight street.
Buena Vista Park
My knee wasn’t feeling great at this point and so when I came to Buena Vista Park, my next stop, I wasn’t sure I could walk the trails, which were uphill all the way, to get to the top of the peak. I really didn’t want to cancel two of my first three planned events, so I went ahead and started up the trails.
The trail was only about .3 miles but it was steep and it was mostly steps, which made it more difficult. I got to the top, took a handful of shots, one or two worth taking and after resting for a bit, I started back down the trails.
On the way down, my knee REALLY started hurting. I couldn’t really bend my knee and every time I put any weight on it, it really hurt. As I was walking, I could hear these people screaming and howling and it freaked me out a little bit. I tried to speed up but it just made my knee hurt worse.
I looked through the trees and I could see the Golden Gate Bridge, the first time on the trip I could see it. I took two pictures of it and kept walking until I got to the bottom. I rested on a bench, one of three that were around. This woman came up and sat next to me and immediately lit up a cigarette.
While in San Francisco, I noticed a lot more smoking than I’m used to seeing here. I didn’t expect that. Throughout the city, there are warnings that state: It is known to the State of California that cigarettes cause cancer. Call me crazy but I thought the warnings were funny. It’s as if California has some inside information and they’re sharing it with us.
This was the first time I started using the pain pills but they were for my knee, not my side, which is why I had them on me. I got up off the bench and began walking, my next stop being Haight-Ashbury.
A Picture of a Sign Post
Generally, I don’t like taking pictures of signs but I couldn’t visit San Francisco and not take a picture of the Haight-Ashbury sign.
On the way to the sign, I noticed that all the stores opened late. One record store only opened on the weekends, another didn’t open until 12pm. I was really expecting to see some great record stores and it was clear that I wouldn’t get that chance.
I did see a store called ‘Cannabis Company.’ I would’ve gone in to see what they sold but they wasn’t open either. There was one store front that had a giant pair of female legs (I assume but it could’ve been a guy wearing stockings and a skirt) sticking out of a window.
While taking the picture of the Haight-Ashbury intersection, a girl walked by and I took a few steps toward the intersection (for the angle on the picture, not because she walked by). She said that I didn’t have to move and that “this is Haight-Ashbury and we should share everything.” She then asked what I was doing later in the day. She was very strange.
Lost Around Kezar Stadium
I knew I could take Haight to Golden Gate Park but I didn’t bother pulling out a map. Instead, I just walked west on Haight, figuring I’d run into the park and there’d be a sign pointing me to the Conservatory of Flowers.
It was a good plan…except I should’ve taken a right on Stanyan instead of a left.
While on Stanyan, I passed by this store and a three guys came out and before the door was even closed, they asked if I had any money to give them. As always, I avoided eye contact and kept walking. They yelled at me again and I just kept walking, trying very hard not limp.
I thought about what it must be like to be them. When I exit a store, I don’t think about asking the first person I see for money. He didn’t know anyone would be outside when he came out the door. His first instinct when he saw someone pass by was to ask for money. I can’t really imagine asking strangers for money. There’s a certain hurdle you have to cross to beg random people for money.
I realized at some point that I wasn’t heading in the right direction. I saw a McDonald’s and I thought about stopping to eat but there were five or six guys blocking the exit with signs begging for money, so I just kept walking.
I came to Kezar Stadium, which I didn’t think anything of. It was like a high school field, you know, with a lot of space in the middle and a track around the outside. I later found out that it was at Kezar Stadium where that scene was shot in ‘Dirty Harry,’ the one where Callahan shoots Scorpio in the leg and starts rubbing his foot in the wound. Had I known that, I would’ve taken a picture.
The stadium also marked 5.7 miles of walking during the day (not that I knew that at the time, I just knew I’d been walking a lot). That was more than I’d expected for the entire day and it wasn’t even half over yet. In addition to getting lost multiple times, I also was walking from stop to stop without getting on a bus. I had used the bus less than expected up to that point.
I consulted my map and finally got going in the right direction.
Conservatory of Flowers (or Plants)
I felt like I was going to fall over, so I stopped at this bench in front of a large patch of grass dedicated to ‘lawn bowling.’ I have no idea what lawn bowling is but I thought it sounded funny.
I must’ve sat at that bench for 30-40 minutes. I was hungry, thirsty and I just didn’t feel like walking anymore. I got up after the long period of sitting and my knee still wasn’t feeling any better. In fact, it felt a little worse.
I got to the Conservatory of Flowers, and the building was pretty cool looking. In front of the building, there were three sets of flowers and it looked nice. I took several pictures, purchased a ticket and went in. The first few exhibits contained virtually nothing but plants. There’d be a flower here or there but that was it.
Not just that but the humidity was so high that the lens kept fogging up and I couldn’t get any pictures.
Overall, it was a disappointment. I’d planned to spend an hour and a half there but I spent just about 30 minutes, most of which were in the final exhibit, which also had nothing to do with flowers. They built a mini-version of San Francisco with trains and trolleys running around famous city landmarks.
Skipping Academy of Sciences
There were some places that were scheduled because City Pass had coupons to get in free and Academy of Sciences was one of them. I was okay with going but I wasn’t really excited. And when I saw the line, which was just short of forever long (like it was Space Mountain), I didn’t feel too bad about passing on this one.
Instead, I went to a bench across from the Academy and in front of the De Young museum, which I was about to visit. While I sat, I could feel my knee tightening up. I took another pain pill and tried walking but it was hurting unbelievably painful and I kept feeling like I was going to fall over. I sat back down on a different bench before going into the De Young.
Inside the De Young
I still wasn’t used to how I was supposed to present my City Pass to gain admission into places. The Modern Art Museum had me go to the ticket window and exchange the coupon for a ticket. The line to the ticket window was really long and I was concerned that what if I stood in line, got to the front and it turned out that I just needed to get the coupon ripped by the admissions person?
I asked an employee walking around but he told me he didn’t handle those issues. I asked another person and they said that I needed to stand in line. She told me that there was another ticket line downstairs that didn’t usually have a line.
I walked down the stairs and it hurt really bad. I couldn’t walk normally down the stairs, instead I had to put my right foot on a step and then my left foot on that same step. Pause. Then do the same thing for the next step, so I was always standing on each step.
Sure enough, there was no line downstairs. There were also no exhibits and so when I got my actual ticket, I had to turn right back around and walk upstairs.
And literally, there was nothing interesting in the museum. They were going to have King Tut there in a few weeks. But I’m not sure that’s all that interesting either.
Skipping Another Thing
Despite getting lost, walking slow and resting on benches a lot more than planned, I was still making great time, primarily because I skipped Twin Peaks and the Academy of Sciences and spent far less time than expected at the Conservatory of Flowers and the De Young Museum. This is important because if I had enough time, I wanted to be able to go by the Golden Gate Bridge.
Physically, my knee was hurting and it obviously wasn’t something I’d planned on but my side was feeling good. It had seized up on the plane twice and once at Buena Vista Park but that was it. The pain pills I’d taken were for the knee. During the rest of my time out there, my side would never seize up again and was never an issue despite that being my number one concern.
I passed by the Japanese Tea Garden but because I didn’t want to pay $5, I didn’t go in. First of all, I hadn’t seen anywhere that the Tea Garden cost anything. Second, I was disappointed by the Conservatory of Flowers and the Cartoon Museum (both charging around the same amount) and for some reason I had linked the three.
The Botanical Garden
So I went straight to the Botanical Gardens. This didn’t speed anything up, time-wise because I had assumed that I would walk through the Tea Garden, take a couple pictures and keep moving. I didn’t expect to spend more than five minutes there
At first, the Botanical Gardens were disappointing. The lake was okay but mostly it was a collection of plants, uninteresting plants at that. As I went through though, there were some nice flowers and more interesting looking plants. I was enjoying everything until I realized that I didn’t know how to get out. There were no signs that indicated where you were or how to get out.
I didn’t think it was a big deal (yet) because I still was taking pictures and just wandering around. I saw a blue jay and a couple squirrels that were very close and being surprisingly still. I liked the pictures I was getting of the plants but at some point, I did want to leave.
I was so turned around, I didn’t even know what direction I should start heading in. Every time I saw what appeared to be a way out, there was a fence keeping me in. I felt completely trapped. I asked an employee but she said that she didn’t know where the exit was and said she thought I might be able to go out that way (as she pointed off to the side). So I walked that way. Did I get out?
No.
I did find another employee…two of them. So I asked and the guy said that he didn’t know the official exits but that there were holes in some fences and if I went through the hole, I could get out. The woman didn’t say anything. And where were these holes? Of course, he pointed.
And I followed the direction he pointed. It was bizarre because here were three employees and none of them seemed to know how to get out. I wondered if maybe they weren’t employees at all. Maybe they were former visitors and they couldn’t get out so they just began working, planting stuff in the ground. Maybe this would happen to me. I don’t leave but I learn that I have quite the green thumb.
I didn’t find any holes in the fence but after nearly a half hour of walking around with the sole purpose being to find an exit, I finally got out. Looking back on it, there are just two exit points. The way I got in and the way I got out. That’s it and there are no signs. Looking back on it, I’m amazed I didn’t become an employee there. In total, I managed to cover 1.6 miles in the Botanical Garden with the help of another pain pill.
Stow Lake
I saw an entrance to get into Stow Lake, the next place on my list but it was straight up hill and it looked like on the map there was another way in, so I continued further before realizing that there wasn’t another way in on that side and so after walking all the way out of Golden Gate Park, I turned around, retracing my steps, went to Stow Lake.
The purpose of Stow Lake was to get some water shots and, most importantly, a picture of the waterfall. But see, I didn’t exactly know where the waterfall was. The entire route around Stow Lake is 1.1 miles. I didn’t realize that then and for some reason, in the plan, it seems that I assumed that I would be able to go straight to the waterfall and then leave without having to circle the entire place. But I couldn’t.
I got two pictures of the waterfall, some duck shots and photos of a few turtles. There was also an interesting gazebo that I kept trying to frame with some shots in the foreground that didn’t turn out quite as good as they appeared in my head when I took the pictures.
Streetcar Adventures
Because of the time I’d spent walking around Stow Lake and Botanical Gardens, I was no longer doing as good on time as I was earlier. Still good but just not as good. I’d walked 10.9 miles so far during the day, just under twice what I’d planned for.
I thought about stopping for lunch/dinner but I really wanted to make sure I got clear day light pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge. The sky was starting to get a little brighter and instead of the cloudy/rainy pictures I feared, I thought my Bridge shots might come out okay.
To get to the streetcar to take me to Queen Wilhelmina’s Windmill, I had to retrace the steps that I’d already walked twice after having left the Botanical Garden.
I saw the street car stop and I crossed the street to get to the stop, which was in the middle of the median. I didn’t know if the streetcar would be going east or west for this stop but I was betting west.
It was going east.
I decided to take it anyway figuring that this streetcar going east would get me closer to the one that was going west. Looking back, this logic makes no sense. Why didn’t I just get out at the next stop and wait for the one going my direction? I don’t know. If I said I was delirious because of the pain or maybe because of the pain pills, would that make sense? I don’t know.
I continued through several stops, watching the west bound car pass by at one point before getting out. And again I thought about getting something to eat but now I was doing just about even with my time expectations.
For some reason, I decided that instead of standing at a streetcar stop, I’d walk east to get closer to an oncoming westbound streetcar. Again, I realize this makes no sense. But then I couldn’t find another stop, so I turned around and started walking back to the last stop I knew I’d seen. As I did that, a streetcar arrived. People were getting on and there was no way I’d be able to get to the stop on time the way I was walking.
So I attempted to run, a hobbled run, and even then, I knew I couldn’t make it to the front of the car. The back exit was open, so I jumped into it just before it took off toward the next stop. While my knee was hurting, it was a dulled pain but my knee was extremely swollen. I was able to put both hands around my right knee but when I tried that on my left knee, my thumbs were about two inches from meeting.
The next two miles were spent on the bus and when it came to the last stop and everyone was ordered off, I didn’t feel like moving but I got off anyway because that’s what I do. I leave when I’m told to get off the bus.
In Search of Windmills
The next thing I was looking for was Murphy’s Windmill. I had printed out nothing on the place, partly because I thought a windmill would kind of stick out and if I walked on the road by the windmill, I’d see it.
Well, I didn’t.
I searched up and down the road, went down paths and trails and I couldn’t find the damn thing. I finally found windmill but it was Queen Wilhelmina’s Windmill, which meant I’d crossed the entire width of the park, in a circuitous fashion and completely missed Murphy’s Windmill and found the other one I was looking for. Rather than turn around and search for Murphy, I decided to forget about, take pictures of Queen Wilhelmina and move on.
The thing about the windmill is that I realized my first few shots weren’t really showing how gigantic this structure was. Finally, I found a shot that had some cars in the picture that really showed how gi-normous this thing is.
The Beach
Across from the windmill, was a beach and it was the first time I’d ever seen the Pacific Ocean. I walked along the beach taking pictures. It was very difficult to walk on the sand with my knee and I was glad to get back on the sidewalk again.
How to Get to the Bridge
The plan here was sketchy. I wasn’t sure if my side would be up to going any further from here when I was first making the plan, so everything at this point was optional. It was about 4:30pm and I was a bit ahead of schedule. The other thing I didn’t know when putting the plan together was how easy the bus situation would be.
As it turned out, my side was fine to go further but my knee wasn’t. So instead of going to Baker Beach and Seal Rocks and then on to the Bridge, I decided to go straight to the Bridge. The problem was that I didn’t have a scenario for that.
So I looked at the bus routes, found the closest one that would get me to a connecting bus that would go by the Bridge.
The Bridge
As much as I was hurting, I was excited to see the Golden Gate Bridge. It really had cleared out and while not perfect, it was good enough to get some decent pictures. The problem was that for some reason, the camera was set on medium. The plan was for all the pictures to be shot in large/super fine mode. Instead all the Bridge pictures from Friday were medium/fine. This means that while the pictures will look fine 4x6 and passable at 8x10, there’s no way they can be blown up past that.
Keep in mind that I’d eaten breakfast at 5:30am. I had one glass of orange juice because they wouldn’t refill it. I never at lunch and now it’s just before 5pm. I never ate or drank anything during this period of time and had now walked just under 15 miles during the day.
There was a little café near the Bridge and a gift shop. I figured that the gift shop would close at 5pm, so I decided to go there first before it closed and then I’d eat. I left the gift shop and got to the café right at 5pm and it had just closed. A café that closes at 5pm? How weird is that?
I thought about walking on the Bridge but my knee was hurting too bad and I decided to go back to the hotel, eating dinner around the corner at Mel’s Drive-In. I never did end up walking on the Bridge, which I would’ve loved to have done but I just wasn’t up for it. I felt like I was about to collapse at this point and just wanted to eat, drink and go to bed.
At Mel’s
In ‘American Graffiti,’ the big restaurant was Mel’s Drive-In. I wish this had been the one they filmed it at but apparently that one’s gone. Still, it was cool to have been at this one. They had a bunch of pictures of the movie everywhere.
The waitress came by and I made sure they had free refills and I probably should’ve just ordered water but you know when you haven’t had a Coke and you really, really want one? Well, that’s what I felt like. Another waiter brought me a small cup of water and I drank Coke after Coke after Coke. If a waiter passed by and saw I was getting low again, they’d get me another one, even though they weren’t my waiter.
The whole staff was extremely friendly and very quick and attentive. I ordered a cheeseburger and fries and I ate as quickly as possible.
But then I started feeling a little sick halfway through the hamburger. I almost felt like I was going to throw up. I asked for some more water and tried to focus on not vomiting. My head started hurting and I began feeling a little dizzy. I decided to stop eating and get back to the hotel.
With my receipt, they gave me a ‘Use it or lose it’ coupon for 15% off my next order for the next day. I was going to have breakfast there on Saturday morning, so I made sure to hang on to the coupon.
Back to the Hotel
I got back to my room at 7:30pm I had brought some prescription-strength ibuprofen with me on the trip but I didn’t carry it in my bag because I didn’t want to have three bottles on me. I took a couple pills and iced my knee. The top of my knee was ghostly white with a dark red ring around it and a little purple mixed in there too. It was very swollen.
I looked through the pictures I had taken and was disappointed there were no ‘money shots,’ pictures that I could say, ‘This is why I came here.’
I looked through my plan for the next day, which thankfully called for a lot less walking. I didn’t realize it then but looking back, I walked 15.1 miles on Friday, almost 10 miles more than I’d expected to walk. I’d planned to walk about 12 miles for the entire trip and in my first two days, I was already over 17 and a half miles.
The Next Day Plans
Saturday, I was planning to go to Lombard Street, ride the cable cars for the first time, tour Alcatraz, AT&T Park and the Cable Car Museum, as well as visit Coit Tower, Grace Cathedral, China Town and Pacific Heights. I expected about 3 miles of walking.
One Last SF Trip Note for the Day
I sent in five pictures to the AJC’s Weekend Away and they posted all five. Mine are pictures 27-31 and can be found here.
To be honest, most of the other people’s pictures suck. The South African ones are good but some of them could’ve been taken anywhere. A couple of them were pictures of people in what appears to be a restaurant. It makes me wonder if AJC just posts whatever you send them. I’ve never had a picture rejected that I’ve sent in. Am I that good or are standards that low?
In Current News
My lease is up with my apartment complex and I was notified that on April 21st, there’d be a pizza party renewal thing. I’d expected my lease to go up at least $20, maybe up to $40 more than what I was currently paying. But the notification advised that if I signed by Tuesday, it would be at the same rate, plus I’d have my choice of a $200 gift.
The three gifts were: a $200 coffee maker, a $200 carpet cleaning or $200 off the first month’s rent. The coffee maker wouldn’t be worth it unless it spit out two $100 bills on its first use. I’m okay with my carpet how it is. I could always go for $200 off rent. So that’s the one I went with.
After signing everything, I saw that my next door neighbor’s renewal is also up. And because I’m nosy/curious, I looked to see what their rate was and they were paying almost $100 less per month for the same size apartment and everything.
Final Thoughts
I’m going to Talladega on Sunday. I’m looking forward to what kinds of pictures I’ll get but I’m concerned what I’m going to do for the next two and half hours of cars racing around a circle. I’m thinking about pretending I’m deaf for an hour and going up to people saying, “What time is it?” in that crazy deaf person’s voice and when they answer, I’ll reply, “I can’t hear you. I’m deaf.”
I saw a Chevron sign that read: Now we open 24 hour. I thought about going inside the store to see if it was run by Asians.
I saw ‘Crank 2: High Voltage’ and while it’s not going to be confused with a great movie, I had a lot of fun during it. I was funny. It’s good when you can say funny stuff to someone and not be shushed. I also enjoyed the drive home and trying to think of any demographic groups the movie didn’t offend. It pretty much went out of its way to offend most groups.
I’ve decided I’m not going to become a song-writer, which means anyone’s free to use the following line: You don’t know what you say when you say what you say. It might well come from a real song but if it doesn’t, feel free to use it. If you could just mention the blog in the liner notes.
Is there a way to make these San Francisco recap posts less boring?
Friday, April 24, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Covering SF: Thursday April 9th: Art, Planes & Baseball
So…it’s been a while. Let’s catch up for a minute. How are you doing? Everything well? I know, this weather’s been crazy. Are the Braves scaring you as much as they’re scaring me?
I got back from San Francisco on April 13th and I kept meaning to write about what happened out there but it was going to take too long and I kept putting it off. I’ll break it into separate entries to make it easier to go through.
Have I mentioned that I’m writing this on a different computer? Does it look different? My right arm feels funny while writing on this computer. I wonder what that means.
When I first left for San Francisco, I was writing down notes in my cell phone to remember and then transcribing them into a journal that my girlfriend gave me before the trip. But then pretty soon, my notes and everything became less detailed and you’ll see why once I tell you what happened.
Converting Audio Files
When I left you little Droogies, I had learned that all those audio books I’d downloaded wouldn’t play on my mp3 player. I’d found a conversion program but it would only convert three minutes at a time unless I paid for the full version. Since it appeared to work and the initial tests showed that it would play on my player, I paid the extra $20 to get the ‘key code’ and start converting.
The conversion took forever. I had 13 files and I ended up going to bed with it still converting and when I woke up at 5am, it was still converting. I was able to get 12 of the 13 files completed and on my player for the flight out there.
Waking up Thursday
I struggled going to sleep Wednesday night. I was thinking about the plan, the conversion process and about different things that I needed to remember. I fell asleep around 12:30am and I kept waking up through out the night off and on. I probably slept about 3 hours all together.
At 5:50, we left for the airport and I was hungry but I thought initially I would just eat something at the airport. But then I couldn’t wait, so we stopped at Chick-fil-a. Turned out it wasn’t open yet. I swear that I’ve seen Chick-fil-a restaurants open at 6am but this one didn’t open until 6:30. So I thought we could stop at one on the way.
At Hartsfield
I expected traffic to be heavy but moving. Instead, it was really moving and we made really good time on the way up there and arrived at the airport around 6:30, so I never stopped and ate anything first.
There wasn’t a line for the initial security check, so I breezed through that and there were only a handful of people waiting to take their shoes off and go through the metal detector. That went pretty quick too. I was already at the gate by 6:45 and my flight wasn’t scheduled to leave until 8:30 (and didn’t leave until 8:45). I really didn’t plan on everything going so easily, leaving me two hours to just sit and wait.
All the vendors that served real food weren’t open yet, at least I didn’t see one that was open. There was a newsstand like place that sold candy but that wasn’t what I was looking for.
On Wednesday, Pardon the Interruption was on ESPN2, so while I saw the episode, I missed ‘the big finish’ that airs during SportsCenter. I was able to download that part of the show on video podcast and I watched it at the gate along with several video MLB podcasts.
The biggest annoyance at the airport were those beeping carts that carry certain people to their gates. Why do those people get a cart for and why is that beeping sound so high pitched. There’s something about that tone that drives me insane. I could’ve bit one of those cart people.
And those cart people. They looked so smug up there on their cart. Glancing around at the rest of us who were born without the privilege of a cart waiting to take us from gate to gate. The repetitious beeping probably didn’t even bother them. They grew up with it. I bet they miss the beeping when they’re not on the cart. Bastards.
On the Plane
Once I got on the plane, I looked around to see if there were any Arabs on board. Is that bad? Should I not admit that? And whenever there are Arabs on board, I always feel a little better when I see a couple soldiers dressed in army fatigues. It’s like I think that those soldiers are used to battling Arabs overseas, fighting them on a plane should be second nature (even if the soldiers are flying in from serving on an airbase in Germany, never seeing any combat in Iraq).
Well, there weren’t any Arabs on the plane and I felt relieved. You know, that sounds bad…I think…maybe.
I was so tired and I was on the plane and I wanted to go to sleep but I knew I wouldn’t be able to. I flew first class from Las Vegas to Atlanta on a red eye and I still couldn’t fall asleep. If you can’t sleep on a flight like that, you can’t sleep on any flight.
The two people next to me were boyfriend/girlfriend, or a really handsy brother/sister. The guy wouldn’t shut up. He just kept babbling about what the weather is usually like in California and how much better the West Coast is. Thankfully, once we were in the air, they both fell asleep.
When the flight took off, my side began to seize up. When we started to descend, it seized up as well. I was concerned since the next day would be my major walking day with at least five miles of walking.
Playing Trivia
Each seat had its own television screen and you could watch television, pay-per-view movies and make CD playlists. But the best thing they had were video games, most notably trivia.
I love trivia and I’ve been on flights where they have trivia. Those flights will show you a question, give you a few seconds to think of the answer and then it reveals the answer. This one, though, was interactive and you could play against other people on the plane. I won the first several games that I played, my main competition coming from a passenger named JAAACK. He was pretty good and one a few while I was playing.
Sometimes I would take a break from playing and watch television, or one of my podcasts but every time I’d go back to trivia, JAAACK was still at it. He was my rival. He was like Lex Luther to Superman or Martin Luther to Charles V.
While on the Plane
The other thing you could do on this screen was track where the plan was as it flew across the country. What struck me most about flying over America was how different each area was. You had the long stretches of plains, then mountains, then reddish mountains/canyons, followed by desert. It was pretty amazing.
They served food on the flight but the menu was weak. Because it was morning, there was the choice of a bagel, a croissant (a word I refuse to say), and a fruit plate. They also had Peanut M&Ms and Pringles for sale and the standard peanuts and cookies that were free.
Additionally, I had a bag of Reece’s Pieces that my girlfriend had given me for the flight (two bags actually, one for the flight out there and one for the flight back). I started with the cookies, followed by the Reece’s and I ended with two bags of peanuts. And that was my breakfast.
Arriving in San Francisco
I landed in San Francisco at 10am (Pacific Time) and the airport was right on the water, so it looked like we were going to land on the water and it was kinda freaking looking. The airport was smaller than Hartsfield but was very crowded and there wasn’t a lot of room to walk without running into someone. It felt like I had to walk around half the airport to get to the BART, the system that takes you into San Francisco.
It wasn’t raining, though it was clear that it had been raining and might start raining again very soon. It was windy and while I was glad I had my jacket on, the heat was jacked up very high in every building I went inside of.
At the Visitor's Center
From the airport, I went to the SF Visitor’s Center to pick up my City Pass. My first concern of the trip was that the pass would have some loopholes on it that would keep me from visiting the places I wanted to go to or would have some cap on how many times I could ride the buses or something.
I’d scheduled several minutes at the Visitor’s Center because I was going to ask several questions about the city and the City Pass but it was clear that the guy at the counter didn’t really want to answer any questions.
I asked how the MUNI pass (within City Pass) works and he said, “I’ll answer that when I explain how the pass works.”
All he said was how long it was good for and that I’d better not remove the coupons myself or they’ll be voided. I really didn’t know how I was supposed to get on the bus (and especially the subways) with the pass. I figured I could just ask the drivers or someone at the station when I needed to use the pass.
I was turned around and asked Visitor Center Guy where the Mosser (my hotel) was. I wish I could reprint his directions because they were the most convoluted set of instructions I’ve ever been given, especially when I realized where the hotel was. I knew I was only a block and a half away but he said ‘turn here’ at least four times. Instead, he could’ve just said go up the stairs and turn right at Old Navy. I looked at my map and got to the hotel without a problem.
At the Hotel
I was concerned I would be allowed to check in so early. I’d packed so that the bag I’d carry with me out in the city was inside the luggage bag and if they wouldn’t let me check in, I could either carry my luggage bag with me to the Modern Art Museum, Yerba Buena Park and the Cartoon Museum or they might let me check in my bag up front. If they did that, I’d unpack the luggage bag, and take only what I needed that day with me in the smaller bag I’d carry around with me.
As it turned out, they let me check in without any problems. I was on the eighth floor and while the hotel was old, it wasn’t dirty or anything. It was just very small feeling. The bed was about 6 feet long and 4 feet wide and reminded me of a coffin. There wasn’t much space between the bed and the sink.
The restroom was in the hallway and there was a men and women’s restroom, though both simply had a single toilet in them. There was just enough space for the door to open without hitting the toilet. At first, I couldn’t figure out how to turn the light on. There was no light switch to be found. So when I got there, I closed the door and peed in the dark. I mean, I’ve been using the toilet for a lot of years and if I just aim straight, there’s no reason I really need light.
It turned out that there was a button that you could press for the light and depending on how many times you pressed it, the light would stay on for a certain amount of time. For instance, if you pressed it once, it would stay on for five minutes, twice would be ten minutes.
The bathroom was also in the hallway and the light worked much the same way. It was a bathtub with a shower and like everything else in the hotel, it was small.
When I’d checked in, they gave me the option to upgrade to a bigger room, one presumably without shared facilities but the cost was $25 per night. I didn’t really think it was worth $100 to upgrade, especially when I wasn’t sure how much bigger the rooms would be.
The room did have a television, and it was mounted up high in the room near the door like it was a hospital. There was no air conditioner and initially the room was hot but there was a fan and it worked okay enough. While there was a closet, there wasn’t a chest of drawers. Each morning, I just kept repacking my suitcase, except for my shirts, which were hung up in the closet.
I never did figure out how to work the clock radio. The only time I could set the alarm for was 7:30am. I kept trying to change it to an earlier time but I couldn’t do it. The first night I used my cell phone alarm but it didn’t work either. The rest of the trip, I just woke up when I woke up and thankfully I never overslept.
To Yerba Buena Park/MOMA
After reconfiguring my luggage so that my smaller bag that I’d carry around with me would have everything I needed that afternoon, I walked to Yerba Buena Park. On the way there, I saw Mel’s Drive-In and Denny’s, both places I’d planned to eat at on my trip and they were both a half block or so away from the hotel. Also nearby was the Metreon, which housed a full movie theater that included an IMAX screen.
The Park wasn’t far from the hotel either but it was much smaller than I’d expected. I only took pictures of a waterfall and the front of the Modern Art Museum but there wasn’t anything else worth taking shots of. I spent a lot less time in the park than I’d expected.
Seeing Art
The Modern Art Museum (or MOMA as it’s called) was the first test for my City Pass. I took it to the admissions desk and they ripped out the coupon and gave me a ticket. I walked around the museum and…well, I saw stuff. Nothing really worth taking pictures of (though I’m not sure we were supposed to take pictures of it or not).
I feel funny about taking pictures of art. In many cases, someone saw something, took a picture of it and then drew a picture of what they took a picture of. So I’m taking a picture of a picture they drew of a picture they took.
Of course, many things in the museum weren’t drawings of anything. They were splashes of paint on a canvas. I don’t know how you determine if that piece of art is good or not. How do you judge that art?
I’d look at those sorts of pieces and move to the next one but I wasn’t going to spend a bunch of time trying to figure anything out. But there were those who were more than willing to spend time with each piece. Staring at it. Left hand against his chin. Pondering. Awaiting some sign that would give him a supernatural understanding of that piece. Just what were those seemingly random lines trying to convey. He just kept studying it. A certain look of self-importance. He was going to understand this piece. They weren’t just random lines. There was a meaning.
I found starting at him more interesting than the pieces themselves. He was wearing a brown suit jacket with dark blue jeans. And sandals…with socks on (did you have hafta ask if he had socks on? Of course he had socks on).
But he spent too much time with each piece and I had to keep moving. One canvas had four squares drawn within each other. It was called Homage to a Square. That is not art. It’s a faithful rendering of a well-known geometric shape…four of them inside each other. Not art.
I did see a Jackson Pollack painting. Can’t really say I was impressed but it did make me think of Ed Harris and in a couple of days I was going to see Alcatraz, which was in the movie ‘The Rock,’ which also starred Ed Harris. Ed Harris is good.
Seeing Cartoons
I got through MOMA pretty quickly, all four floors of it and I moved on to the Cartoon Museum. It was very small and I had some misgivings about even going inside of it. I mean, I’m not a cartoon guy. Part of what intrigued me though is that it said that they also had the history of political cartoons and I thought that sounded interesting.
When I was putting the plan together, the website for the museum listed a cost of $4. When I got there, it was $6. It’s not like it’s a huge difference but I checked the cost of everything a couple days before leaving. The website was update again on 4-14, the day after I got back to Atlanta and it lists a charge of $6.
The museum was small and they didn’t allow photography. I debated whether to pay the money or not but I decided to go ahead anyway.
Mainly it was a museum about ‘Watchmen’ with a couple other cartoon strips. And I mean that literally. There was a cartoon strip of Dennis the Menace and a couple from the Peanuts. There was no cohesive story or history being displayed. A couple of sketches from some well known artists but mostly it was just ‘Watchmen.’ Some of the displays appeared to come from the movie, you know, like props but others appeared to be replicas of props used in the movie. I wasn’t sure what was from the movie and what wasn’t.
There were some original sketching for the comic (excuse me, graphic novel) but there wasn’t much of an appeal in that. I’d planned on taking pictures of those things and sending them to my brother who would at least be interested in those sorts of things.
There was a constant video running of the making of ‘Watchmen.’ I watched the part about Dr. Manhattan. Somehow I was able to make it through the rest of the trip without visions of a blue penis dancing in my head, which is especially impressive considering that I was in San Francisco.
As for the ‘history of political cartoons,’ there were three or four cartoons. That was it.
Seeing Baseball
My next stop was AT&T Park to watch the Giants play the Brewers. This was my first chance to use my City Pass to ride the bus and I was a bit nervous about it. At the art museum, they ripped out my coupon. Was the bus driver supposed to rip out this coupon? Maybe giving me an actual MUNI pass instead?
I stood and waited for the bus and I got on, showed the driver the inside of the Pass, turned to the actual MUNI pass page but he said that he needed to see the date it was validated, which was April 9th. He seemed to say that it was only valid for that date. I was confused and he told me to just sit down, which I did.
I followed his path on my map so that I could get out at the right time. I got out on the corner of 3rd and Townsend and walked the rest of the way to the ballpark, past a McDonald’s and a handful of scalpers. (Those the park was at least a third empty at its peak, so I don’t know how much any scalper could make off a game like this)
I was concerned that the stadium officials would let me in with my bag, which is a bit larger than regulations allow. But when I went in, I had it opened, the guy peered in and let me through.
It was cold, though not unbearable…until I got inside the stadium, above right field where homeruns count as ‘splash hits.’ It’s right above the bay and the wind ripped through and it was VERY cold. I had my jacket on but I’d taken the inside lining out so it was basically nothing more than a windbreaker. And that was fine through most of the day but it was difficult during the game.
I noticed the flags were flying at half-mast and I wondered who had died. I took a picture of the flags to show how hard the wind was blowing. I took several pictures around the stadium, most of which would’ve turned out better had the weather been better.
The tarp was on the field when I got there and I wasn’t sure whether the game was going to be played or not. I’d gotten to the park a couple hours early, in hopes of seeing batting practice but the players were warming up inside instead.
Meeting Manson
I went to check out where my seat was and I was pretty sure I could find it without help but an usher asked if he could help. The usher was wearing a large dark green jacket with his hood up and he had ungroomed looking beard, and he reminded me of Charlie Manson. I told him I was looking for section 327. He said ‘It’s all around you. Be more specific.’ I said, “I’ll be sitting in row 5 seat 5.” And he pointed behind me and said, “It’s up there.” He turned away, mumbling, ‘Thank you for that.’
And that’s something I would notice a lot in San Francisco. If you asked for directions, most people would point. There was a lot of pointing going on. The funny thing is that at the Visitor’s Center, when pointing would’ve actually helped, that’s when I get the long drawn out instructions that were impossible to follow.
It’s not that the usher pointed though. I mean, row 5 seat 5 was right that and there’s no directions you can really give for that. It was the strange mumbling that I found odd.
I went and bought a hotdog and drink and went back to my seat to wait for nearly two hours for the game to start. The cup was like the one I got in St. Louis. It was really cheap and I don’t think it’ll last very long before it starts breaking down.
While I was sitting in my seat, a person mentioned that the flags were flying because of a player who’d died. I couldn’t hear everything, so I checked my cell phone (which now had no bars of battery power) to see what had happened. Angels’ pitcher Nick Adenhart died just a little bit after having pitched six shutout innings against the A’s in his season debut, with his father in the stands. He was hit by a drunk driver who’d run a red light. The driver was driving on a suspended license due to a conviction for drunk driving.
Over the next few days, I kept thinking back to Adenhart’s death. Especially because the game he’d pitched in was against the other Bay Area team and the news in the area was covering it every day.
Almost Winning Money
Around the fifth inning of the game, a woman was selected to play Concentration on the big board. Her job was to match each card in under 30 seconds and her row would win a $20 gift card. I was barely paying attention but she won and the woman behind me slapped me on the shoulder and said that I’d just won $20 because she was in my row. She offered to switch places with me and I just laughed.
Then the woman who’d won the game came back to her row and when they checked her ticket, it turned out that while she was sitting in row 5 and on the big board stated she was sitting in row 5, her ticket was for row 6, meaning I didn’t win anything and the woman behind me walked away with the $20 gift card.
Leaving the Game
I left the game in the sixth inning because it was really cold and I was nervous that I might get sick since it was also misting a little. I went out the wrong exit and wound up having to walk the entire distance around the stadium, which was made worse when a street was closed because of player parking. I had to walk through the marina area to get to a bus stop.
I got on the bus, and this time I just showed the front of my city pass and was waved on by the driver without a problem.
I got back to the hotel by about 6:30. The goal was to be in bed by 7pm in each night so that I could stay on East Coast Time. I was very tired and I knew I’d have no trouble going to sleep.
I watched a little bit of television before checking my plan and setting my cell phone alarm for 4:30am.
Next Entry
The next post will cover what I did Friday, when I visited Castro Street, Golden Gate Park and Haight-Ashbury. But the biggest thing that happened Friday is I twisted my knee that morning, which would impact the rest of my time out there.
Final Thoughts
At work, they’re planning a Biggest Loser, weight loss challenge. They’re also putting together a snack day for each week. Hmmm…
If you get a chance to watch ‘Thrilla in Manilla,’ an HBO Documentary about the third Ali-Frazier fight, watch it. Even if you aren’t a boxing fan, it’s worth watching.
If you get a chance to watch ‘Flash of Genius,’ starring Greg Kinnear…don’t watch it. While it does eventually end, it’ll feel like it’s been the 10 years the movie covers.
To the person getting married for the third time: You know what they say, ‘The third time’s the first time after the second time.’
I got back from San Francisco on April 13th and I kept meaning to write about what happened out there but it was going to take too long and I kept putting it off. I’ll break it into separate entries to make it easier to go through.
Have I mentioned that I’m writing this on a different computer? Does it look different? My right arm feels funny while writing on this computer. I wonder what that means.
When I first left for San Francisco, I was writing down notes in my cell phone to remember and then transcribing them into a journal that my girlfriend gave me before the trip. But then pretty soon, my notes and everything became less detailed and you’ll see why once I tell you what happened.
Converting Audio Files
When I left you little Droogies, I had learned that all those audio books I’d downloaded wouldn’t play on my mp3 player. I’d found a conversion program but it would only convert three minutes at a time unless I paid for the full version. Since it appeared to work and the initial tests showed that it would play on my player, I paid the extra $20 to get the ‘key code’ and start converting.
The conversion took forever. I had 13 files and I ended up going to bed with it still converting and when I woke up at 5am, it was still converting. I was able to get 12 of the 13 files completed and on my player for the flight out there.
Waking up Thursday
I struggled going to sleep Wednesday night. I was thinking about the plan, the conversion process and about different things that I needed to remember. I fell asleep around 12:30am and I kept waking up through out the night off and on. I probably slept about 3 hours all together.
At 5:50, we left for the airport and I was hungry but I thought initially I would just eat something at the airport. But then I couldn’t wait, so we stopped at Chick-fil-a. Turned out it wasn’t open yet. I swear that I’ve seen Chick-fil-a restaurants open at 6am but this one didn’t open until 6:30. So I thought we could stop at one on the way.
At Hartsfield
I expected traffic to be heavy but moving. Instead, it was really moving and we made really good time on the way up there and arrived at the airport around 6:30, so I never stopped and ate anything first.
There wasn’t a line for the initial security check, so I breezed through that and there were only a handful of people waiting to take their shoes off and go through the metal detector. That went pretty quick too. I was already at the gate by 6:45 and my flight wasn’t scheduled to leave until 8:30 (and didn’t leave until 8:45). I really didn’t plan on everything going so easily, leaving me two hours to just sit and wait.
All the vendors that served real food weren’t open yet, at least I didn’t see one that was open. There was a newsstand like place that sold candy but that wasn’t what I was looking for.
On Wednesday, Pardon the Interruption was on ESPN2, so while I saw the episode, I missed ‘the big finish’ that airs during SportsCenter. I was able to download that part of the show on video podcast and I watched it at the gate along with several video MLB podcasts.
The biggest annoyance at the airport were those beeping carts that carry certain people to their gates. Why do those people get a cart for and why is that beeping sound so high pitched. There’s something about that tone that drives me insane. I could’ve bit one of those cart people.
And those cart people. They looked so smug up there on their cart. Glancing around at the rest of us who were born without the privilege of a cart waiting to take us from gate to gate. The repetitious beeping probably didn’t even bother them. They grew up with it. I bet they miss the beeping when they’re not on the cart. Bastards.
On the Plane
Once I got on the plane, I looked around to see if there were any Arabs on board. Is that bad? Should I not admit that? And whenever there are Arabs on board, I always feel a little better when I see a couple soldiers dressed in army fatigues. It’s like I think that those soldiers are used to battling Arabs overseas, fighting them on a plane should be second nature (even if the soldiers are flying in from serving on an airbase in Germany, never seeing any combat in Iraq).
Well, there weren’t any Arabs on the plane and I felt relieved. You know, that sounds bad…I think…maybe.
I was so tired and I was on the plane and I wanted to go to sleep but I knew I wouldn’t be able to. I flew first class from Las Vegas to Atlanta on a red eye and I still couldn’t fall asleep. If you can’t sleep on a flight like that, you can’t sleep on any flight.
The two people next to me were boyfriend/girlfriend, or a really handsy brother/sister. The guy wouldn’t shut up. He just kept babbling about what the weather is usually like in California and how much better the West Coast is. Thankfully, once we were in the air, they both fell asleep.
When the flight took off, my side began to seize up. When we started to descend, it seized up as well. I was concerned since the next day would be my major walking day with at least five miles of walking.
Playing Trivia
Each seat had its own television screen and you could watch television, pay-per-view movies and make CD playlists. But the best thing they had were video games, most notably trivia.
I love trivia and I’ve been on flights where they have trivia. Those flights will show you a question, give you a few seconds to think of the answer and then it reveals the answer. This one, though, was interactive and you could play against other people on the plane. I won the first several games that I played, my main competition coming from a passenger named JAAACK. He was pretty good and one a few while I was playing.
Sometimes I would take a break from playing and watch television, or one of my podcasts but every time I’d go back to trivia, JAAACK was still at it. He was my rival. He was like Lex Luther to Superman or Martin Luther to Charles V.
While on the Plane
The other thing you could do on this screen was track where the plan was as it flew across the country. What struck me most about flying over America was how different each area was. You had the long stretches of plains, then mountains, then reddish mountains/canyons, followed by desert. It was pretty amazing.
They served food on the flight but the menu was weak. Because it was morning, there was the choice of a bagel, a croissant (a word I refuse to say), and a fruit plate. They also had Peanut M&Ms and Pringles for sale and the standard peanuts and cookies that were free.
Additionally, I had a bag of Reece’s Pieces that my girlfriend had given me for the flight (two bags actually, one for the flight out there and one for the flight back). I started with the cookies, followed by the Reece’s and I ended with two bags of peanuts. And that was my breakfast.
Arriving in San Francisco
I landed in San Francisco at 10am (Pacific Time) and the airport was right on the water, so it looked like we were going to land on the water and it was kinda freaking looking. The airport was smaller than Hartsfield but was very crowded and there wasn’t a lot of room to walk without running into someone. It felt like I had to walk around half the airport to get to the BART, the system that takes you into San Francisco.
It wasn’t raining, though it was clear that it had been raining and might start raining again very soon. It was windy and while I was glad I had my jacket on, the heat was jacked up very high in every building I went inside of.
At the Visitor's Center
From the airport, I went to the SF Visitor’s Center to pick up my City Pass. My first concern of the trip was that the pass would have some loopholes on it that would keep me from visiting the places I wanted to go to or would have some cap on how many times I could ride the buses or something.
I’d scheduled several minutes at the Visitor’s Center because I was going to ask several questions about the city and the City Pass but it was clear that the guy at the counter didn’t really want to answer any questions.
I asked how the MUNI pass (within City Pass) works and he said, “I’ll answer that when I explain how the pass works.”
All he said was how long it was good for and that I’d better not remove the coupons myself or they’ll be voided. I really didn’t know how I was supposed to get on the bus (and especially the subways) with the pass. I figured I could just ask the drivers or someone at the station when I needed to use the pass.
I was turned around and asked Visitor Center Guy where the Mosser (my hotel) was. I wish I could reprint his directions because they were the most convoluted set of instructions I’ve ever been given, especially when I realized where the hotel was. I knew I was only a block and a half away but he said ‘turn here’ at least four times. Instead, he could’ve just said go up the stairs and turn right at Old Navy. I looked at my map and got to the hotel without a problem.
At the Hotel
I was concerned I would be allowed to check in so early. I’d packed so that the bag I’d carry with me out in the city was inside the luggage bag and if they wouldn’t let me check in, I could either carry my luggage bag with me to the Modern Art Museum, Yerba Buena Park and the Cartoon Museum or they might let me check in my bag up front. If they did that, I’d unpack the luggage bag, and take only what I needed that day with me in the smaller bag I’d carry around with me.
As it turned out, they let me check in without any problems. I was on the eighth floor and while the hotel was old, it wasn’t dirty or anything. It was just very small feeling. The bed was about 6 feet long and 4 feet wide and reminded me of a coffin. There wasn’t much space between the bed and the sink.
The restroom was in the hallway and there was a men and women’s restroom, though both simply had a single toilet in them. There was just enough space for the door to open without hitting the toilet. At first, I couldn’t figure out how to turn the light on. There was no light switch to be found. So when I got there, I closed the door and peed in the dark. I mean, I’ve been using the toilet for a lot of years and if I just aim straight, there’s no reason I really need light.
It turned out that there was a button that you could press for the light and depending on how many times you pressed it, the light would stay on for a certain amount of time. For instance, if you pressed it once, it would stay on for five minutes, twice would be ten minutes.
The bathroom was also in the hallway and the light worked much the same way. It was a bathtub with a shower and like everything else in the hotel, it was small.
When I’d checked in, they gave me the option to upgrade to a bigger room, one presumably without shared facilities but the cost was $25 per night. I didn’t really think it was worth $100 to upgrade, especially when I wasn’t sure how much bigger the rooms would be.
The room did have a television, and it was mounted up high in the room near the door like it was a hospital. There was no air conditioner and initially the room was hot but there was a fan and it worked okay enough. While there was a closet, there wasn’t a chest of drawers. Each morning, I just kept repacking my suitcase, except for my shirts, which were hung up in the closet.
I never did figure out how to work the clock radio. The only time I could set the alarm for was 7:30am. I kept trying to change it to an earlier time but I couldn’t do it. The first night I used my cell phone alarm but it didn’t work either. The rest of the trip, I just woke up when I woke up and thankfully I never overslept.
To Yerba Buena Park/MOMA
After reconfiguring my luggage so that my smaller bag that I’d carry around with me would have everything I needed that afternoon, I walked to Yerba Buena Park. On the way there, I saw Mel’s Drive-In and Denny’s, both places I’d planned to eat at on my trip and they were both a half block or so away from the hotel. Also nearby was the Metreon, which housed a full movie theater that included an IMAX screen.
The Park wasn’t far from the hotel either but it was much smaller than I’d expected. I only took pictures of a waterfall and the front of the Modern Art Museum but there wasn’t anything else worth taking shots of. I spent a lot less time in the park than I’d expected.
Seeing Art
The Modern Art Museum (or MOMA as it’s called) was the first test for my City Pass. I took it to the admissions desk and they ripped out the coupon and gave me a ticket. I walked around the museum and…well, I saw stuff. Nothing really worth taking pictures of (though I’m not sure we were supposed to take pictures of it or not).
I feel funny about taking pictures of art. In many cases, someone saw something, took a picture of it and then drew a picture of what they took a picture of. So I’m taking a picture of a picture they drew of a picture they took.
Of course, many things in the museum weren’t drawings of anything. They were splashes of paint on a canvas. I don’t know how you determine if that piece of art is good or not. How do you judge that art?
I’d look at those sorts of pieces and move to the next one but I wasn’t going to spend a bunch of time trying to figure anything out. But there were those who were more than willing to spend time with each piece. Staring at it. Left hand against his chin. Pondering. Awaiting some sign that would give him a supernatural understanding of that piece. Just what were those seemingly random lines trying to convey. He just kept studying it. A certain look of self-importance. He was going to understand this piece. They weren’t just random lines. There was a meaning.
I found starting at him more interesting than the pieces themselves. He was wearing a brown suit jacket with dark blue jeans. And sandals…with socks on (did you have hafta ask if he had socks on? Of course he had socks on).
But he spent too much time with each piece and I had to keep moving. One canvas had four squares drawn within each other. It was called Homage to a Square. That is not art. It’s a faithful rendering of a well-known geometric shape…four of them inside each other. Not art.
I did see a Jackson Pollack painting. Can’t really say I was impressed but it did make me think of Ed Harris and in a couple of days I was going to see Alcatraz, which was in the movie ‘The Rock,’ which also starred Ed Harris. Ed Harris is good.
Seeing Cartoons
I got through MOMA pretty quickly, all four floors of it and I moved on to the Cartoon Museum. It was very small and I had some misgivings about even going inside of it. I mean, I’m not a cartoon guy. Part of what intrigued me though is that it said that they also had the history of political cartoons and I thought that sounded interesting.
When I was putting the plan together, the website for the museum listed a cost of $4. When I got there, it was $6. It’s not like it’s a huge difference but I checked the cost of everything a couple days before leaving. The website was update again on 4-14, the day after I got back to Atlanta and it lists a charge of $6.
The museum was small and they didn’t allow photography. I debated whether to pay the money or not but I decided to go ahead anyway.
Mainly it was a museum about ‘Watchmen’ with a couple other cartoon strips. And I mean that literally. There was a cartoon strip of Dennis the Menace and a couple from the Peanuts. There was no cohesive story or history being displayed. A couple of sketches from some well known artists but mostly it was just ‘Watchmen.’ Some of the displays appeared to come from the movie, you know, like props but others appeared to be replicas of props used in the movie. I wasn’t sure what was from the movie and what wasn’t.
There were some original sketching for the comic (excuse me, graphic novel) but there wasn’t much of an appeal in that. I’d planned on taking pictures of those things and sending them to my brother who would at least be interested in those sorts of things.
There was a constant video running of the making of ‘Watchmen.’ I watched the part about Dr. Manhattan. Somehow I was able to make it through the rest of the trip without visions of a blue penis dancing in my head, which is especially impressive considering that I was in San Francisco.
As for the ‘history of political cartoons,’ there were three or four cartoons. That was it.
Seeing Baseball
My next stop was AT&T Park to watch the Giants play the Brewers. This was my first chance to use my City Pass to ride the bus and I was a bit nervous about it. At the art museum, they ripped out my coupon. Was the bus driver supposed to rip out this coupon? Maybe giving me an actual MUNI pass instead?
I stood and waited for the bus and I got on, showed the driver the inside of the Pass, turned to the actual MUNI pass page but he said that he needed to see the date it was validated, which was April 9th. He seemed to say that it was only valid for that date. I was confused and he told me to just sit down, which I did.
I followed his path on my map so that I could get out at the right time. I got out on the corner of 3rd and Townsend and walked the rest of the way to the ballpark, past a McDonald’s and a handful of scalpers. (Those the park was at least a third empty at its peak, so I don’t know how much any scalper could make off a game like this)
I was concerned that the stadium officials would let me in with my bag, which is a bit larger than regulations allow. But when I went in, I had it opened, the guy peered in and let me through.
It was cold, though not unbearable…until I got inside the stadium, above right field where homeruns count as ‘splash hits.’ It’s right above the bay and the wind ripped through and it was VERY cold. I had my jacket on but I’d taken the inside lining out so it was basically nothing more than a windbreaker. And that was fine through most of the day but it was difficult during the game.
I noticed the flags were flying at half-mast and I wondered who had died. I took a picture of the flags to show how hard the wind was blowing. I took several pictures around the stadium, most of which would’ve turned out better had the weather been better.
The tarp was on the field when I got there and I wasn’t sure whether the game was going to be played or not. I’d gotten to the park a couple hours early, in hopes of seeing batting practice but the players were warming up inside instead.
Meeting Manson
I went to check out where my seat was and I was pretty sure I could find it without help but an usher asked if he could help. The usher was wearing a large dark green jacket with his hood up and he had ungroomed looking beard, and he reminded me of Charlie Manson. I told him I was looking for section 327. He said ‘It’s all around you. Be more specific.’ I said, “I’ll be sitting in row 5 seat 5.” And he pointed behind me and said, “It’s up there.” He turned away, mumbling, ‘Thank you for that.’
And that’s something I would notice a lot in San Francisco. If you asked for directions, most people would point. There was a lot of pointing going on. The funny thing is that at the Visitor’s Center, when pointing would’ve actually helped, that’s when I get the long drawn out instructions that were impossible to follow.
It’s not that the usher pointed though. I mean, row 5 seat 5 was right that and there’s no directions you can really give for that. It was the strange mumbling that I found odd.
I went and bought a hotdog and drink and went back to my seat to wait for nearly two hours for the game to start. The cup was like the one I got in St. Louis. It was really cheap and I don’t think it’ll last very long before it starts breaking down.
While I was sitting in my seat, a person mentioned that the flags were flying because of a player who’d died. I couldn’t hear everything, so I checked my cell phone (which now had no bars of battery power) to see what had happened. Angels’ pitcher Nick Adenhart died just a little bit after having pitched six shutout innings against the A’s in his season debut, with his father in the stands. He was hit by a drunk driver who’d run a red light. The driver was driving on a suspended license due to a conviction for drunk driving.
Over the next few days, I kept thinking back to Adenhart’s death. Especially because the game he’d pitched in was against the other Bay Area team and the news in the area was covering it every day.
Almost Winning Money
Around the fifth inning of the game, a woman was selected to play Concentration on the big board. Her job was to match each card in under 30 seconds and her row would win a $20 gift card. I was barely paying attention but she won and the woman behind me slapped me on the shoulder and said that I’d just won $20 because she was in my row. She offered to switch places with me and I just laughed.
Then the woman who’d won the game came back to her row and when they checked her ticket, it turned out that while she was sitting in row 5 and on the big board stated she was sitting in row 5, her ticket was for row 6, meaning I didn’t win anything and the woman behind me walked away with the $20 gift card.
Leaving the Game
I left the game in the sixth inning because it was really cold and I was nervous that I might get sick since it was also misting a little. I went out the wrong exit and wound up having to walk the entire distance around the stadium, which was made worse when a street was closed because of player parking. I had to walk through the marina area to get to a bus stop.
I got on the bus, and this time I just showed the front of my city pass and was waved on by the driver without a problem.
I got back to the hotel by about 6:30. The goal was to be in bed by 7pm in each night so that I could stay on East Coast Time. I was very tired and I knew I’d have no trouble going to sleep.
I watched a little bit of television before checking my plan and setting my cell phone alarm for 4:30am.
Next Entry
The next post will cover what I did Friday, when I visited Castro Street, Golden Gate Park and Haight-Ashbury. But the biggest thing that happened Friday is I twisted my knee that morning, which would impact the rest of my time out there.
Final Thoughts
At work, they’re planning a Biggest Loser, weight loss challenge. They’re also putting together a snack day for each week. Hmmm…
If you get a chance to watch ‘Thrilla in Manilla,’ an HBO Documentary about the third Ali-Frazier fight, watch it. Even if you aren’t a boxing fan, it’s worth watching.
If you get a chance to watch ‘Flash of Genius,’ starring Greg Kinnear…don’t watch it. While it does eventually end, it’ll feel like it’s been the 10 years the movie covers.
To the person getting married for the third time: You know what they say, ‘The third time’s the first time after the second time.’
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
And Today Arrives, McNabb News & Podcasts
So this is it. The whole purpose of restarting the blog was to chronicle the time between when I bought the plane tickets for the trip to San Francisco to this moment (and the of course the trip itself).
I swear when I first bought the tickets, everything seemed so far away. I was thinking that maybe I should’ve gone in March just so I wouldn’t have to wait so long. April 9th seemed like WAY too long to wait.
Did the time go fast? It certainly didn’t feel like it when I was going through each day. In a way, it was like the days were going slow but the months went by fast.
I woke up early this morning and packed my suitcase. I was able to get all my stuff, plus an additional side-bag in one suitcase. That way, I only carry one bag on the plane going out there but I can carry two bags on the way back. Also, if I can’t check in early and have to carry the bag around with me to Yerba Buena Park, it’s much easier to carry one bag instead of two bags. And if I buy stuff while I’m out there, I won’t have to stuff it into one bag.
Podcast Frustration
I had paid for and downloaded several Ricky Gervais audio books and podcasts. I mean hours and hours of these things. Only, apparently they won’t play on my mp3 player. I searched the Internet to find a converter for these m4b files but I couldn’t find a free one that would convert files this long. I downloaded a free one to test it and ended up having to spend $20 to buy the full version.
I hated doing it but if I didn’t, all the money I spent on the podcasts would be wasted because it’s not like I’m going to really spend hours in front of my computer listening to Karl Pilkington ponder the mysteries of the world and Ricky Gervais howl with laughter.
So as I’m writing this, I’m converting one of the files and if it works out okay, I’ll convert the other files over night and move them to my player in the morning before I leave.
Hotel Thoughts
I’m interested to see what my hotel, The Mosser, is going to be like. It appears that I have a shared bathroom, which is hard to picture. In their list of amenities, they don’t mention having TVs in the room. This isn’t a big deal. My DVR will tape the double feature of ‘The Office’ on Thursday but it’ll be weird not having a TV.
Of course, with the hours and hours of video and audio podcasts and multiple movies and TV shows I have on my mp3 player, it’s not likely I’ll be bored. I’m also bringing a book, ‘Game of Shadows’ (about BALCO and steroid use in baseball), a magazine (Reader’s Digest) and a journal that my girlfriend gave me so I can keep track of stuff I do out there.
Scary Letter
I got a letter today in the mail and when I opened it, it showed that I owed almost $5,000. I was pretty sure that I didn’t owe anyone that much. I looked further and it turned out that was a collection agency on behalf of my apartment complex and the letter was actually for Mr. McNabb. Apparently there’s trouble in Purple Moon Tattoo Land.
I can’t imagine running up a bill that high. That’s around seven months of not paying rent. No wonder he got evicted.
Final Thoughts
‘Scrubs’ is really bad. Sending the gang down to the beach for a vacation/wedding? It doesn’t get much worse than that. Maybe the producers should watch the first season and try to remember back when it was good.
I’ve learned some things about ‘Lost.’ First, everyone looks really serious. Second, the music lets you know what’s going on and how you should feel about it. And I think people can die but aren’t really dead…or something.
I swear when I first bought the tickets, everything seemed so far away. I was thinking that maybe I should’ve gone in March just so I wouldn’t have to wait so long. April 9th seemed like WAY too long to wait.
Did the time go fast? It certainly didn’t feel like it when I was going through each day. In a way, it was like the days were going slow but the months went by fast.
I woke up early this morning and packed my suitcase. I was able to get all my stuff, plus an additional side-bag in one suitcase. That way, I only carry one bag on the plane going out there but I can carry two bags on the way back. Also, if I can’t check in early and have to carry the bag around with me to Yerba Buena Park, it’s much easier to carry one bag instead of two bags. And if I buy stuff while I’m out there, I won’t have to stuff it into one bag.
Podcast Frustration
I had paid for and downloaded several Ricky Gervais audio books and podcasts. I mean hours and hours of these things. Only, apparently they won’t play on my mp3 player. I searched the Internet to find a converter for these m4b files but I couldn’t find a free one that would convert files this long. I downloaded a free one to test it and ended up having to spend $20 to buy the full version.
I hated doing it but if I didn’t, all the money I spent on the podcasts would be wasted because it’s not like I’m going to really spend hours in front of my computer listening to Karl Pilkington ponder the mysteries of the world and Ricky Gervais howl with laughter.
So as I’m writing this, I’m converting one of the files and if it works out okay, I’ll convert the other files over night and move them to my player in the morning before I leave.
Hotel Thoughts
I’m interested to see what my hotel, The Mosser, is going to be like. It appears that I have a shared bathroom, which is hard to picture. In their list of amenities, they don’t mention having TVs in the room. This isn’t a big deal. My DVR will tape the double feature of ‘The Office’ on Thursday but it’ll be weird not having a TV.
Of course, with the hours and hours of video and audio podcasts and multiple movies and TV shows I have on my mp3 player, it’s not likely I’ll be bored. I’m also bringing a book, ‘Game of Shadows’ (about BALCO and steroid use in baseball), a magazine (Reader’s Digest) and a journal that my girlfriend gave me so I can keep track of stuff I do out there.
Scary Letter
I got a letter today in the mail and when I opened it, it showed that I owed almost $5,000. I was pretty sure that I didn’t owe anyone that much. I looked further and it turned out that was a collection agency on behalf of my apartment complex and the letter was actually for Mr. McNabb. Apparently there’s trouble in Purple Moon Tattoo Land.
I can’t imagine running up a bill that high. That’s around seven months of not paying rent. No wonder he got evicted.
Final Thoughts
‘Scrubs’ is really bad. Sending the gang down to the beach for a vacation/wedding? It doesn’t get much worse than that. Maybe the producers should watch the first season and try to remember back when it was good.
I’ve learned some things about ‘Lost.’ First, everyone looks really serious. Second, the music lets you know what’s going on and how you should feel about it. And I think people can die but aren’t really dead…or something.
Monday, April 6, 2009
SF Thoughts and KFC's Promise
Today is Monday. Tomorrow is Tuesday. The day after is Wednesday. And the next day I’ll be leaving for San Francisco.
Am I scared? Yes.
The easy answer is the weather, which they’re now forecasting rain for the entire week, Monday to Friday. But that’s not it…I don’t think.
It might be the unplanned stuff or something not working out right or me losing something/forgetting to bring something.
The truth is, I don’t know what it is. It’s just a general fear. And maybe it’s the expectation factor. I didn’t go anywhere last year and the last place I went was on a road trip to St. Louis where all I really did was wander around a park, go up the arch and watch baseball. The last time I flew anywhere was to Boston (the trip where I got pulled out of line and had a slight altercation with a TSA official).
Maybe it’s the feeling that this had better be good because how long it’s been and how long it could be before I get to do something like this again.
Today, and the last couple days, I’ve been mainly preparing for coming back. Washing clothes so I don’t have a giant stockpile for when I get back. Tomorrow I’ll be pre-packing, so I can know what I’m bringing and how everything fits together.
As for the planning, there’s really nothing else I can (reasonably) do. I’ve done all the research, printed all the pages, and planned the best I could. There’s only so much planning you can do before you just let go.
I think one concern I have, and have had for a while, is that I don’t want this to be a trip where I hit point after point and the vacation is more of a checklist and I come back and either I’ve hit all the checkpoints or I didn’t. Those aren’t usually fun. This is about being away and I need to feel that. Running from point to point is just another kind of job. I’m concerned that I’m missing the spirit of a vacation.
I don’t want to come back and feel that I left something major out but I don’t want to come back so worn out that I almost regret going.
I just want this to be good.
101% Satisfaction Guarantee
I was in the drive-thru at KFC and I noticed a sign on the window that stated something like ‘Customers should be 101% satisfied with their visit.’ I don’t understand this. I mean, obviously, someone can only be 100% of anything within themselves. If they’re completely satisfied, then they’re 100% satisfied.
Yet, you hear about give 110% or 150% of yourself all the time. But KFC doesn’t go for the standard cliché. Instead, they settle on having the customer be 101% satisfied. And I felt slightly offended. If it had been 100%, I wouldn’t’ve thought anything. Had it been 110% or 150% or 200%, I would’ve probably rolled my eyes but there seems to be a certain amount of resignation in saying 101%.
They’re just shooting for 1% more than what you expected. For instance, I expect between two and three napkins. They gave me 15. That translates to about a percent. So I guess I’m 101% satisfied.
Final Thoughts
A man shot himself in a theater while watching ‘Watchmen.’ It just shows that seeing a naked blue man on screen affects people in different ways.
Am I scared? Yes.
The easy answer is the weather, which they’re now forecasting rain for the entire week, Monday to Friday. But that’s not it…I don’t think.
It might be the unplanned stuff or something not working out right or me losing something/forgetting to bring something.
The truth is, I don’t know what it is. It’s just a general fear. And maybe it’s the expectation factor. I didn’t go anywhere last year and the last place I went was on a road trip to St. Louis where all I really did was wander around a park, go up the arch and watch baseball. The last time I flew anywhere was to Boston (the trip where I got pulled out of line and had a slight altercation with a TSA official).
Maybe it’s the feeling that this had better be good because how long it’s been and how long it could be before I get to do something like this again.
Today, and the last couple days, I’ve been mainly preparing for coming back. Washing clothes so I don’t have a giant stockpile for when I get back. Tomorrow I’ll be pre-packing, so I can know what I’m bringing and how everything fits together.
As for the planning, there’s really nothing else I can (reasonably) do. I’ve done all the research, printed all the pages, and planned the best I could. There’s only so much planning you can do before you just let go.
I think one concern I have, and have had for a while, is that I don’t want this to be a trip where I hit point after point and the vacation is more of a checklist and I come back and either I’ve hit all the checkpoints or I didn’t. Those aren’t usually fun. This is about being away and I need to feel that. Running from point to point is just another kind of job. I’m concerned that I’m missing the spirit of a vacation.
I don’t want to come back and feel that I left something major out but I don’t want to come back so worn out that I almost regret going.
I just want this to be good.
101% Satisfaction Guarantee
I was in the drive-thru at KFC and I noticed a sign on the window that stated something like ‘Customers should be 101% satisfied with their visit.’ I don’t understand this. I mean, obviously, someone can only be 100% of anything within themselves. If they’re completely satisfied, then they’re 100% satisfied.
Yet, you hear about give 110% or 150% of yourself all the time. But KFC doesn’t go for the standard cliché. Instead, they settle on having the customer be 101% satisfied. And I felt slightly offended. If it had been 100%, I wouldn’t’ve thought anything. Had it been 110% or 150% or 200%, I would’ve probably rolled my eyes but there seems to be a certain amount of resignation in saying 101%.
They’re just shooting for 1% more than what you expected. For instance, I expect between two and three napkins. They gave me 15. That translates to about a percent. So I guess I’m 101% satisfied.
Final Thoughts
A man shot himself in a theater while watching ‘Watchmen.’ It just shows that seeing a naked blue man on screen affects people in different ways.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Bein’ Mean and Peein’ Green
I now have less than a week before I leave for San Francisco. Time has moved so fast…sorta. I don’t feel completely prepared, though I don’t know much more I can realistically do.
The Weather Channel is calling for rain on Friday, sun on Thursday and Saturday out there. Obviously it’s too early to hang too much on such an early forecast but I’ll be watching the reports every day until I leave. Of course I don’t want it to rain at all while I’m out there but if it has to rain, Thursday would probably work the best and Friday would be the worst day for rain. If it rained Friday morning, I would cancel the trip to either Twin Peaks or Buena Vista Park. The point would be the view and that would be lost in the rain.
San Francisco appears to be a city where the weather changes frequently, so even if it does rain, it probably won’t last the whole day. So long as I get some good skyline shots and quality shots of the bridge, I’ll be okay.
Crazy Dreams
I had a couple really bizarre dreams last night. In my first dream that I remember, I was beating up my grandmother…only she wasn’t actually my grandmother. It was a person portraying my grandmother in my dream. So I was beating up my grandmother but it looked like someone else. Does that make it less wrong?
My second dream had me sabotaging a space shuttle and running from authorities throughout Gwinnett County. It was unclear whether the shuttle was taking off from Lilburn. Anyway, federal authorities caught me and they ran all sorts of tests on me and in one of them, I peed green urine. They said that proved that I was the one who caused the shuttle to explode.
So how’s that for a night’s worth of dreams? I’m beating up grandmothers and exploding space shuttles. I’m an absolute asshole…and I pee green.
A Perfect Game with Imperfect Announcing
I was watching a replay of Randy Johnson’s perfect game against the Braves from a few years ago. My brother and I were at that game and didn’t realize it was a perfect game until about the 6th inning, a couple innings after realizing that no Brave had gotten a hit yet.
This was the first time I’d seen the Arizona feed of the game and those announcers, Mark Grace and Tommy something, are horrible. Tommy what’s-his-name was talking about the most memorable moment at Atlanta Fulton County Stadium was ‘in 1990, no, it was 1991, when the Braves made the trade for Fred McGriff and the press box caught on fire and it sparked the team to their first division title since 1982. You (Mark Grace) were there because it was against the Cubs.’ Mark agreed that he was there too.
Okay, several things: First, it was 1993 and the trade sparked the team to winning their third division title in row. Second, it was against the Cardinals, not the Cubs. I don’t know where Mark Grace was with the Cubs but he wasn’t in Atlanta.
And were any corrections made? No. Instead, the announcers went on babbling about something else.
Final Thoughts
I saw a story about a super strong three year old. He reportedly can lift five pound weights. So what? I can do that too and no one’s writing an article about it.
Have you ever had a day like I had yesterday? I had one…yesterday.
The Weather Channel is calling for rain on Friday, sun on Thursday and Saturday out there. Obviously it’s too early to hang too much on such an early forecast but I’ll be watching the reports every day until I leave. Of course I don’t want it to rain at all while I’m out there but if it has to rain, Thursday would probably work the best and Friday would be the worst day for rain. If it rained Friday morning, I would cancel the trip to either Twin Peaks or Buena Vista Park. The point would be the view and that would be lost in the rain.
San Francisco appears to be a city where the weather changes frequently, so even if it does rain, it probably won’t last the whole day. So long as I get some good skyline shots and quality shots of the bridge, I’ll be okay.
Crazy Dreams
I had a couple really bizarre dreams last night. In my first dream that I remember, I was beating up my grandmother…only she wasn’t actually my grandmother. It was a person portraying my grandmother in my dream. So I was beating up my grandmother but it looked like someone else. Does that make it less wrong?
My second dream had me sabotaging a space shuttle and running from authorities throughout Gwinnett County. It was unclear whether the shuttle was taking off from Lilburn. Anyway, federal authorities caught me and they ran all sorts of tests on me and in one of them, I peed green urine. They said that proved that I was the one who caused the shuttle to explode.
So how’s that for a night’s worth of dreams? I’m beating up grandmothers and exploding space shuttles. I’m an absolute asshole…and I pee green.
A Perfect Game with Imperfect Announcing
I was watching a replay of Randy Johnson’s perfect game against the Braves from a few years ago. My brother and I were at that game and didn’t realize it was a perfect game until about the 6th inning, a couple innings after realizing that no Brave had gotten a hit yet.
This was the first time I’d seen the Arizona feed of the game and those announcers, Mark Grace and Tommy something, are horrible. Tommy what’s-his-name was talking about the most memorable moment at Atlanta Fulton County Stadium was ‘in 1990, no, it was 1991, when the Braves made the trade for Fred McGriff and the press box caught on fire and it sparked the team to their first division title since 1982. You (Mark Grace) were there because it was against the Cubs.’ Mark agreed that he was there too.
Okay, several things: First, it was 1993 and the trade sparked the team to winning their third division title in row. Second, it was against the Cardinals, not the Cubs. I don’t know where Mark Grace was with the Cubs but he wasn’t in Atlanta.
And were any corrections made? No. Instead, the announcers went on babbling about something else.
Final Thoughts
I saw a story about a super strong three year old. He reportedly can lift five pound weights. So what? I can do that too and no one’s writing an article about it.
Have you ever had a day like I had yesterday? I had one…yesterday.
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