So ends my first week back at work following my vacation in Italy. It went by fast as there a ton of paperwork left over from the previous weeks. We made significant progress so I feel good about that.

Now, the month is almost over and then begins the home stretch. There are a number of things to do and to look forward to during the next two months. I expect there will be obligatory parties but mainly I am just looking forward to the time off and setting my own schedule.

After my flights to Thailand in January I should have sufficient frequent flyer miles for a free international flight. I already have enough for a domestic flight (pre-Italy) but Italy combined with Thailand should really push it up there. If so, I would like to return to London. I was only there two days in 1999 on the way to Paris so I only saw the bare essentials.

Oh, there are so many places I would like to go. I will have the time but I'm not sure about the money right now. High on my list is Portland, Oregon as well as Seattle, Washington, and a return to Vanouver, B.C. I have not been there since sometime in the late eighties.

Soon we will have a new governor so things could get interesting in Sacramento. I'm not sure Arnold or anyone else can fix things however. The state is too obligated to spend money on certain programs due to the approval of a number of ballot measures in recent years and there is little or no wiggle room in the budget the governor.

The is considerable controversy recently about the underperforming BART extension to the airport. This does not surprise me as large groups or families with lots of luggage are going to use some sort of door-to-door van or taxi service, not rapid transit. The other problem stems from the fact that the two destinations in the same vicinity (SFO & Millbrae) leave some people confused. We can thank Quentin Kopp for this mess. The better and less costly alternative would have been to build the Sky Train so that it connected with the Millbrae BART/Caltrain station. But NO, Quentin wanted to go into the airport. He said it would be a one-seat ride as well as other things. Well, it isn't for those living along the Richmond line and the Bay Point Line, or those on the Fremont line south of Bay Fair Station. They must transfer most times unless the get lucky and some trains are being run past Daly City Station. Those runs are not part of the regular schedule however. One curiosity though. When I returned from Italy, there was a Bay Point train on one track in addition to the Pleasanton train I boarded which was run express all the way to Daly City. (I assume the Bay Point train made all stops.)
Clearly BART officials have got to re-think how they handle the scheduling of trains to SFO and to Millbrae.