Busing It

Today I had to sit through a mind-numbingly boring, all-day presentation on how to use a computer program for work. Afterwards, I was walking to the bus stop cursing the inefficient waste of time that it was when I saw a homeless man get excited over the melted remnants of a mostly-eaten Mc Donalds sundae that he had just dug out of a public trash can. There were no more than 5 bites left in the plastic cup, and, as the nature of the milkshake, the original customer had undoubtedly stuck a plastic spoon inside the ice cream directly after swirling it around hi mouth several times.  Not to mention what other trash and germs had found their way into that melted mess while sitting in the trash, but it was enough to put a smile on this man's face. Made me feel pretty bad being annoyed about my training session.

In an effort to be equally sappy, I'll comment on bus ride that followed. I don't like driving, and I don't really enjoy riding the bus either. I'm pretty sure that the happiness I feel from avoiding the stress, time and money of finding parking in the city is equally countered by the inconvenience and smell of the bus, the fear I have as we're crawling up steep hills that we might not make it, and the fact that going up these hills makes the person to my right unabashedly lean all over me. I'm pretty sure I didn't save any time avoiding parking when I got off the wrong bus stop and had to blindly guess how to get where I was going- all while huffing and puffing up the hills. But for a moment, I looked around at the crowded bus- at all the people who were going the same direction at the same time, and felt really happy that we were that many less cars on the road. And that is nice.

I have about 30 minutes before my art class tonight, and I'm very torn as to if I should shower or nap before heading out. 

Commute

So, while my daily commute to work now is immensely better than it was in St. Louis for countless reasons, driving in San Francisco is not without it's own special little quirks.

Unlike some other states I've moved to, here in Cali you have to retake your written exam in order to get your California driver's license, because this state is full of its own special little rules. Apparently my test left out the question of how to properly navigate through a 4-way stop. While I have naively been thinking that this maneuver would be the same as how we do it in any other state, I'm now forced to reconcile that the law is simply different here. The correct way is undoubtedly to slow down slighty, but never actually stop at any point during the intersection, and pay no mind to any other car that may be in the vicinity. Bonus points for honking and flicking off any other driver who assumed we were taking turns. Obviously a tourist. 

I am very excited to report that gas stations here are now all in the 3.90's! Except of course, for the one gas station around Mission Bay who refuses to go under 4.50.  While I don't understand the logic in this, I understand even less the one or two oblivious morons who are always there filling up their tanks. Keep in mind there are gas stations within a block of this evil one.

One final thing (for today) I don't understand is this. I pass it every day on the way home. I don't even know what to say or ask about this.