Category: Blatherings

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:

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*

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.

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.

A hilarious Japanese game show: Silent Library

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:

My apartment is approximately in the middle left of this picture.

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.

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

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.