A Great Sign
Date: 2006-09-24
I’ve been meaning to post this one for a while. I snapped this picture a few months ago off of Van Ness in the city here while I was waiting for my car to get washed:
A Great Day
Date: 2006-09-22
A mashed together play-by-play description of my day:
I woke up, showered and shaved, and ate a couple slices of pizza. I left the apartment and walked to the corner of Hyde and Union where I waited for about 10 minutes for either the cable car or the bus. Neither arrived in that time frame, so I waved down a cab. The cab driver was talking on his cell phone the whole time in another language, and within about 10 minutes, we arrived at my destination – 150 Spear Street. I was early, so I went into the Walgreens and got an Arizona iced green tea. I nervously chugged 12 ounces of it and chucked the rest. I drank it fast enough where I almost got a brain freeze. And I didn’t want to have to pee during my test.
Up to the 12th floor I went. I signed in, stored my items in an office, and entered the test room. I plopped my butt down in the chair and went to work on my third attempt at passing the Building Scalable Cisco Internetworks exam. Approximately 90 minutes later, I completed the test and was presented with a “next” button. I clicked it and the screen magically said, “Congratulations!” I had passed by 16 points, hardly a landslide, but it doesn’t matter at all how many points you pass or fail by. I’ll take it.
I went back to the front desk to grab my score report. Delighted, I quipped, “Third time’s a charm!” I went into the office where my coat was stored, grabbed it, and went down to the street. I left a voice mail for Alyssa, sent Rich a text message, and made my way towards Market Street. I decided that today would be a good day to take the cable car, so I walked up California Street towards Powell Street.
Well, the walk was a little farther than I expected, but that’s OK – I got there and I could use the walk anyway. When the cable car finally arrived, it was packed to the brim; I had thought it might be since this is the one that all the tourists get on at Market Street. No worries – I got on the one continuing on California Street which was practically empty. I got off at Polk, and remembered that John Barleycorn, one of my favorite bars even though I have only been to once, was on Larkin. Backtracking one block, I discovered, not surprisingly, that the bar opened at 5pm (it was noon at this point). I figured I’d have my celebratory alcohol a bit later. Walking up Polk Street, I didn’t see anything else that I wanted to do, so I just went back to my apartment.
Arriving back home, I played a riveting (seriously) game of Madden, broke my good news to a few people, and then took the bus down to North Beach. I walked along Columbus and marveled at the beauty of the day. Maybe it was just my exciting achievement from earlier, but the perfect weather certainly didn’t hurt.
I knew exactly what I wanted at this point – a light lunch and a latte at one of the cafes. I stepped into one cafe, saw the women behind the counter, and remembered how they messed up my order the last time I was there, so I went next door to Cafe Greco. I got a proscuitto, mozerella, and roasted red pepper on focaccia bread with a Diet Coke. That was one of the best sandwiches I can remember having in a long time. As I ate my sandwich, I casually perused my the book for my next test (Building Cisco Multi-Switch Networks) while, also casually, evesdropping on the two tables on either side of me. One man was arguing with a coworker over voicemail, and a man and a woman were discussing the finer points of relationships and love.
I asked the man next to me to hold my table (prime sidewalk table) while I went inside and got a latte. I came back out and drank my latte while continuing to read my textbook. This test looks like it will also be challenging, but not as much.
I don’t like idly sitting at a restaurant table when I have nothing left to consume, so after I finished my latte, I walked further down Columbus. Alyssa called me and I stood in the alley for a bit talking on the phone and observing my surroundings.
Then, I went down to City Lights Bookstore where I started to read “8 Weeks to Optimum Health” by Andrew Weil, M.D. I have thought for some time that it isn’t very clear what is good for you and what is bad for you. So many people from so many different directions are telling you that you need to consume/not consume do/not do so many things. I think it would be very difficult to keep track of them all. So this is the kind of book I was looking for. He takes a lot of advice from a lot of different places, and kind of mashes them all together for kind of a user’s manual to your body. Works for a hacker like me.
I bought that and two other books and went across the alley to another one of my favorite bars – Vesuvio. I discovered that they are open from 6am – 2am every day. That is awesome. I got a Guinness and a Jack and Ginger, read my book, and realized that I like the bar even more than I did before today.
After I started to feel a little too tipsy to read properly, I decided to head out. I caught the bus back home, played another game of Madden, bought some Cod for dinner, made dinner, ate dinner, started laundry, then wrote this post.
Whew. What a great day.
Zee Lack of Zee Blatherings
Date: 2006-09-16
Hello my faithful readers. I apologize for the lack of posting lately. I’ve been busy with kicking my own butt into gear 🙂
Alyssa and I went jet skiing for my birthday yesterday, and it was great fun. I’ll post some pics later and do a more thorough update.
*waves*
Last Night
Date: 2006-09-03
Rich is out here in San Francisco for a brief visit. Yesterday, after tooling through the Fisherman’s Wharf, North Beach, and Chinatown, we went back to the apartment for a spell.
For dinner, we went to Yabbie’s Coastal Kitchen on Polk. We ate up a bunch of raw oysters, clams, mussels, shrimp, ceviche, crab, and lobster. Good dinner. Then we got some Swensen’s for dessert. Then the night really took off.
We were going to head out to North Beach to get our drink on, but we decided to hit up some Rambo and beer instead. Three Rambo movies, 1.3 gallons of Heineken, and one late-night pizza later, we hit the hay.
Awesome. Off to the A’s vs. O’s game today.
What Will Our Children Think?
Date: 2006-08-29
I am currently reading After the Ice, a book on global human history between 20,000 and 5,000 BC. I was in City Lights and was looking for a history book with a large scope, so this sounded like the perfect one.
I have often found myself frustrated with early man as I wait for him to domesticate plants and animals. Not that early man was stupid, but I wish I could go back in time and tell them the basic concept of what they need to do so they have thousands more years of comfort.
And that has made me think: What will our descendants wish we had thought of earlier? Will it be some obvious technological breakthrough that we are missing? Or maybe it will be some societal change, like “Why didn’t they embrace peace more quickly? It’s so obvious!”
Thoughts like these make me wish that after this life is over, I could spend one year living in each of the next five millenia, just to see how things turn out.
Good Ol’ Libraries
Date: 2006-08-24
I’ve got a new idea. I think I am going to make a point of visiting all the main libraries along the Caltrain and BART stops. That’s a lot of libraries. Tomorrow it is Palo Alto.
I think I’ll be able to hit up a lot of coffee shops this way, too.
Silent Library
Date: 2006-08-23
A hilarious Japanese game show: Silent Library
One Great Week
Date: 2006-08-19
Man I have really been loving life since I quit work. My biggest fears about being unemployed were that I would be unmotivated, bored, depressed, and I’d sleep in way too late. Well, I have been slightly bored for maybe a couple hours at a time, but that is about the extent of it.
I went to the main San Francisco library on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I went there and back on foot. I can’t say it is a “nice” walk, as the further south you go, the crummier it gets. But it was neat going down a different street each day, just to confirm that there were no little shops that I was missing. The only things that I found were a grocery store on Leavenworth that I had been in once and since forgot about, and a restaurant on Jones, Alegro Romano, that I have never gone to but have been meaning to. I’ll need to make sure I go to these places.
One interesting thing to note is that on Hyde and Leavenworth, things get pretty ugly pretty quickly as you walk south. On Jones, however, it takes a bit for things to get ugly (but they definitely do get ugly). One funny story from Wednesday (the Jones day): As I walked down Jones, I spotted a tourist couple in one of their tourist cars (a tiny little open-air thing that just scoots around town). You might call it a two-person scooter. Anyway, if you know anything about the Tenderloin, you will know that it isn’t a tourist attraction. So the first thing I wondered when I saw these people is…what the hell are they doing in this neighborhood? And secondly, what could their GPS-guided tour possibly be telling them about their current location?
They were parked on the side of the road, and a man passed them going the other way on his bike. He said, “I’ll race you!” I found that pretty humorous, but the tourists probably didn’t, because their little scooty thing wasn’t starting. I saw the guy give the keys a turn, and nothing happened. I walked past them, but then I turned back figuring that these poor people could use some help. I said, “It won’t start?”
He replied “No, it’s starting.”
In a statement completely ignoring what he had just said, because it obviously wasn’t starting, I said, “Oh ok. Do you have a cell phone?” as I showed him mine.
“Yeah, we’re just parking it here.”
I figured, OK, if the guy doesn’t want help, then it isn’t my problem. I am guessing his girlfriend let him have it right after that.
Anyway, getting back to where I started – The main library is very nice, but mostly I just holed up at a desk and studied for a bit. Actually, I hit up the library cafe every day, too. Studying can make me tired, and sipping on a diet coke helps keep me awake.
The cafe is surprisingly nice. Strange, though, that they don’t let you bring in outside food. It makes me wonder where I am going to eat my lunch once it starts getting even colder.
Thursday, as I mentioned earlier, I made it to the Western Addition library. I also walked here. I walked along Scott street, and man oh man, the houses here are nuts. If you want to see the craziest entrance to a house, go to Scott and Pacific. The view was beautiful:
In contrast to walking to the main library, it took a good long while for this super-ritzy neighborhood to degenerate into even a middle-class neighborhood.
The Western Addition library is pretty nice, too, although obviously smaller. I went outside to have my lunch and noticed a homeless woman having a lively conversation with…herself. Well, that’s OK. It wasn’t bothering me much. But then she started talking about a fight she had with someone. “Kablauw! Hahahaha!” she said. And then a few more times. She became less and less amused with the conversation…time for me to go back inside.
Evidently she didn’t like what she was saying to herself, and started a rather lively argument. In go the earbuds, but she was obviously bothering the other patrons too. Oh well, made for a more interesting day for me, at least.
And you’ve already seen how my quest for excellent bar-b-que went later that day. Well on my way back on the bus, I spied a tasty looking cheese-steak place. My hand instinctively pulled on the cord for the next stop, and in I went.
This place looked awesome. It looked very close to Jim’s Steaks in Philly. I thought I may have just found cheesesteak nirvana.
Now, at Jim’s Steaks, it is definitely a little soup-nazi-ish. That is, they’re going to be short with you, but they’re definitely going to get you your steak. This place was a bit different. Standing directly under the “order here” sign for approximately three minutes, I looked right at the cheese-steak guy who was standing behind the counter. Nothing. Out I go. I satisfied my craving for grease at Za Pizza later that night, and burnt my tongue on a slice of pepperoni, “not too hot,” I asked for. So much for customer service that day.
Yesterday, I decided it was high time to head over to Berkeley. I had only been there once, and I decided that I would like to go again. They have an excellent public library. It is a good-size library, and there are some really neat parts of it. They have a rather large science fiction section, as well as an impressive reference section. I found an Encyclopedia Brittanica from 1911. The reference section always makes me want to spend a whole day there. Unfortunately, I did have some work to do.
After studying in the library for a bit, I walked around town a couple of times looking for the perfect coffee shop. I guess I had an impression of Berkeley as being the home of great, cozy coffee shops. I will definitely have to say that none of them seemed particularly cozy. However, I did end up settling at Tully’s coffee where there was some outstanding customer service. I do believe I will be writing them a letter.
Both Friday morning and afternoon, I caught the cable car. What a joy it is to ride. Confused, due to the lack of signage, on what was the official way to signal that you would like to get off at the next stop, I struck up a short conversation with one of the cable car operators. What a charismatic bunch those guys are.
This coming week, I hope to check out at least one or two more cities. Maybe Mountain View, Palo Alto, or San Jose.
A Little Story I Made Up
Date: 2006-08-18
Alyssa asked me to tell her a story over IM. So I did. And since I had already typed it all out, I figured I might as well make you all suffer just like she did when she was reading it. Anyway, here it is, unedited:
there was a little boy named Jimmy
Jimmy grew up in Arkansas
His daddy was a farmer
and he didn’t have a mommy
it was just him and his daddy
they lived on the farm that had been passed down through the generations
there was a man named hank
who came and bought the produce from Jimmy’s dad, Bruce
Hank and Bruce came to become good friends over the years
in fact, Jimmy and Bruce rarely saw anyone but Hank
Jimmy always wondered why his daddy did not like other people
but it didn’t bother him much
they always asked Hank for certain odds and ends from town
and in fact, Bruce didn’t even send Jimmy to school
he didn’t want Jimmy interacting with the other kids much
but Bruce wanted his son to be educated nonetheless
so he had Hank buy books for Jimmy
he tought Jimmy how to read
but beyond that, he didn’t know much
but since he had books, he could teach himself things
when he was 15, he decided that he was starting to get interested in Economics
unfortunately, he didn’t have any Economics books
he didn’t ask for much from his daddy, but his daddy always got him whatever he asked for
so the next time Hank came by, Bruce asked him to bring back an economics book
“Bruce,” Hank said, “sorry, but the price of corn has gone down. There isn’t enough to cover the cost of a book.”
Jimmy was let down, but he wasn’t one to complain
It was a year later, and the price of corn still hadn’t gone up
Jimmy was getting tired of the books that he had
so in his boredom, he set out to town
he had to try to find a way to make some more money
There, he saw another farmer, who sold his produce himself in town
they got to talking, and Jimmy explained how he just wanted some more books
the conversation got to the subject of the price of corn
“Yeah I’m just here in town today to pick me up a new pair of snakeskin boots! On sale for $150! What with the price of corn going up, and all!”
Jimmy was shocked
“You must be confused, old man.”
Jimmy walked away only in half belief of the old man
he didn’t want to believe him
but at the same time, he had to find out more
he trusted old Hank, so he decided to go find out more
he went to Hank’s office, but no one was there
He stepped in the door, and went to the desk to write a note to Hank. He started to write – “Hank, we need to talk. Thanks. – Jimmy”
as he placed the note on a piece of paper on the desk, he saw the price being paid to other farmers
it was far more than what was being paid to old Bruce
he was already very mad, but he had to find out more
he went rifling through the file cabinet, and found out that poor Bruce had been swindled his whole life by Hank, but never this bad!
all in all, Bruce was owed over $30,000
Furious, he went home to Bruce
he explained the situation; Bruce was heartbroken
Bruce was so distraught, that he just retired to his bedroom
come next morning, Bruce did not come out for breakfast at normal time of 6:30am
Jimmy knocked on the door
Bruce said, “I’ll be out soon.”
7 am came, then 8am
by 9am, Jimmy knew that Bruce would not be out for a long while
after checking on his father and seeing him just curled up in bed, Jimmy decided that he had to take matters into his own hands
he could not stand to see his father like this
Jimmy hopped in the tractor, and lumbered along at 15mph to town, 40 miles away
2 hours and 40 minutes later, he arrived
he drove right up to Hank’s office
in fact, he didn’t just drive right up to it
he drove right THROUGH it
the office was now split in two
on one side was Hank, sitting dumbfounded at his desk
Jimmy was about 130 pounds; Hank was about 250 pounds and known for his great strength
nonetheless, Jimmy walked right up to Hank’s desk and looked him right in his eyes
didn’t say a word
Hank opened a drawer at his desk
and pulled out…
his checkbook
he walked right out of the split open office, due east
(the farm was west)
for two weeks, no one saw or heard from Hank
Jimmy tended to the farm while Bruce lay in bed most of the day, only coming out for meals
after the two weeks passed, Jimmy discovered an envelope in the mailbox with no return address
it had two items in it:
a blank check made out to Bruce
a small slip of paper that said “sorry”
Jimmy cashed the check for $30,000 and upgraded the farm significantly
Hank was never heard from again
unfortunately, Bruce just wanted his friend back
the end
Not Working is Treating Me Well
Date: 2006-08-16
It’s the middle of my first week without a job. It is going great so far. I’ve been waking up at a decent time so far – 7:30 to 8am. And I’ve made it to the library and reached my study goal each day.
If things keep going as they are, I’ll be able to pass this first test within about 2-3 weeks. If I had a job during all this, you can guaran-damn-tee that it would take me months to be able to pass this first test. I honestly feel so much more productive without a job.