Roller Coasters

I've never like roller coasters and our roller coaster ride in the temperature department here in SF is getting a bit tiresome. Why can't we be bored to death with the same temperatures all week? Oh well, guess we would find something to complain about no matter what.

The wind has been bothersome to me also but had coffee with a friend at Blue Bottle Cafe at the SF MOMA today. We sat in a sunny corner where we were protected from the wind so it was a very pleasant afternoon.

Not sure what I will do tomorrow or will be able to do as we will be out late tonight for the coronation of Mr. & Ms. GAPA 2010 at Shangri-La.

Somebody told me today that there once was a cross-eyed teacher who could not control his pupils. Hmmmm....

Bye y'all

A pocketful of dust and one note

After an absence of one year or more, I returned to the gym this week. Am slightly sore but not as much as I expected to be. Of course, I did not try to lift or push the same weight loads as when I left but I will work up to that and hopefully beyond in the coming months.

Clipboards

I can certainly agree wholeheartedly with the letter to a local newspaper:

"Over the years I have often complained about the panhandlers and homeless intruding on my space and asking me for money, sometimes aggressively. Now I would give anything to see them instead of those clipboard-wielding touts that harass me sometimes several times throughout my walk down Fillmore Street, shoving their clipboards and their opinions at me. At least the homeless really need the money."

And this reminds me that it was so pleasant during my recent visit to Boston not to see newspapers and other trash all over the streets and not to to be panhandled at every turn. Only once in seven days was I panhandled. In SF once in 24 hours would be a welcome relief and minor miracle.

Aaron Pekin as Mayor

BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID (even if only for a short time).

Shocker, more of the same, when the next batch of loons take power and implement more of the same lunacy that makes SF a laughing stock to the world, the same clowns that ushered the new set of lunatics in will authentically be puzzled as to why things remain as screwed up as they are, whats that about the definition of insanity being when one tries the same thing over and over again, yet expects a different result, sums up SF to a T.

The above comments are reader comments from SF Gate this morning and I agree 1000%.

Pathetic country that we live in...

When I get up in the morning and read stories like this "9 dead in Connecticut workplace shooting" and "Masked gunman shoots 8 at party", I just want to head for the hills for the rest of my life. When I was growing up in the forties and fifties headlines like that were rare if at all. What has happened to the USA? Of course part of the answer here is the same as in Mexico, Brazil, and other countries - DRUGS, the curse of mankind. Everyone either wants to get high or get rich quickly, or both. I am so tired of it all!

Inconsiderate 25-something neighbors...

The “kids” who live near me are hopeless. I am not even sure those roaming around here at the moment live here. Anyway, the noise has been unbearable at times and is about to push me over the edge. So, unless something changes I will HAVE to move but I can’t really afford it. That is, the higher rent, so I will have to compromise and cut way back on everything by seeking out a compatible roommate. I don’t want to do that but it may be necessary to save my sanity.

STOP - THIEF

Oh great...now someone has stolen the key to the building from the USPS lock box out front. Now they will have to re-key the entire building. I wonder how long that will take? Know what? This neighborhood sucks!

Things that go bump in the night...

Well, in this case it was more like "tap tap tap tap". I could not not tell where this sound originated but it sounded like upstairs or next to me, either of which would have been good guesses for unexplained noises. Apparently this was not the case and I need to talk with the resident building manager now as I saw her standing in the courtyard about six o'clock this morning (I could not get back to sleep.) and I heard several male voices and other sounds. When I looked out the second time I saw what appeared to be fireman taking something (or someone???) out. All I could see was the bottom of black pants with some florescent green markings near the bottom. I never heard any sirens or two way radios so this is a mystery at the moment

This building is such that unidentified sounds are liable to originate anywhere at any time of the day or night. The ghost of Sally Stanford??? Well, her SF bordello did occupy this site until it was torn down in the fifties. Was that an unhappy event for her and how did the current owner's late husband come to acquire the property?

More San Francisco follies

Recently there has been discussions about cell phone towers in the city vis-a-vis health concerns. Well, I for one, am sick and tired of these NIMBYs especially when nothing has been proved one way or the other.

I especially liked some of the comments made on the SF Gate website regarding this matter.

Comments such as:

"You gotta love Bugaboo Nation. They won't get their kids vaccinated but they're worried about cell phone towers."

"Glad I don't live in SF with all the nutcases. They complain when they can't get cell service but then become NIMBY's when the cell phone companies try to install new antennas. And let's not forget there have been no studies showing any harmful links between cell phone radiation and personal health."

"Do you really need another reason to convince visitors and conventioneers to go elsewhere?"

I am really ready to go somewhere else to get away from some of these people.

Oh no...

This is ridiculous! How many more enemies are we going to create by acts such as this in an unwindable war to begin with? Won't the USA ever learn?

Dumb Ass Smart Meters

I don't want any electric meter so connected to P.G. & E. or any other utility that it can tell the company when to turn power on or off in my residence. That is something like Big Brother telling me what I can or cannot do. To hell with P.G. & E. and their freakin Smart Meters.

Quiet 4th

Although some of the rowdies apparently returned in the wee hours of this morning I did not hear them but I did hear some familiar voices around 8:30 AM.

Today was a rather quiet day all around. Went to the 11 AM Eucharistic Service at Grace Cathedral again. The Rodgers electronic organ in the gallery sounds great, probably a lot better than the gallery division of the pipe organ. The organ restoration project is supposed to be completed by late this fall.

It was quiet at home today which was a blessing after the very noisy Friday and Saturday which almost had me calling my shrink for help. LOL

Now I am hearing the noise of the fireworks from the Bay. All week the weathermen and women have been predicting a fog free 4th. Ha! At 6 PM a cold wind was blowing and bringing in the fog as usual. As for those weather people - they are all herby FIRED.

What should I do tomorrow? The kitchen and bathroom floors need mopping. Yuck...
I have been putting that off too long so if it is a chilly windy day perhaps I can get myself moving and do that.

Noisy Neighbors

How does one deal with young neighbors who are very noisy and act like the whole building is theirs? Their playpen so to speak. From the sounds of things they either must be crazy or drunk or both. Certainly no normal person could make this much noise and sound the way they do. This has gotten to be a ghetto on Nob Hill as the only thing the owners care about it getting their money. The owners don't seem to give a damn about anything else so it seems that these immature adults can make all the noise they want as long as they don't destroy things or hurt somebody. Their screaming and loud talking however leads me to believe there could be trouble ahead. I am not even sure that the culprits live here. It almost seems like they might be friends of people who do. One big question in my mind is this. With all the changes in tenants recently why do the noisy ones end up on my side of the building and next door to me. I sure do not hear such noise coming from units in the front of the building.

Is there some sinister plot by S.C. Properties Management to either drive me crazy or drive me out of the building, or both. I have been here 17 years and because of rent control I am not paying "market rent". Perhaps the very rich person who owns the building has decided that she doesn't have enough money and would like to get me out so that she can have even more.

Well, frankly I would like to move, oh gawd, how I would like to but I cannot afford it. If I could I would be gone so fast that all you would see would be a blur.
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Footnote to the above: As I write this at 11:00 PM, the perps just left. I wonder if they will return when the bars close and be just as noisy???????

Foreigners - STAY HOME

Why are foreign nationals suddenly going to other countries to cause problems? First we have the Brit and the Aussie who joined the Red Shirts in Bangkok to deliver incendiary speeches from the Red Shirts' stage during the riots there. Now we have a Swiss National in Singapore vandalizing subway train cars. The graffiti is also reminiscent of what we would see in the NYC in the 60's and 70's. Don't these people have anything productive and positive to do?

California Voters

Let's us not screw this one up. Vote NO on Proposition 16 tomorrow. The misinformation on this proposition is mind boggling but if you want to give P.G. & E. even more power, then you would vote yes as passage of this proposition would be make it more difficult for other energy companies to do business here.

Uncertain future

What lies ahead for Thailand? Will they be able to meet the future peacefully or not? If I had never gone there ten years ago and on other occasions and gotten to know people there, the country's problem would just be a minor blip to me on the six o'clock news but now I know people, very nice people, who just want to live their lives in a peaceful manner, have a job, and not have to worry about politics, wars, or whatever. Now Thailand is on the verge of a very unstable future. I am saddened by recent events but also angered as none of this need to have happened. I can only hope that a solution will be found before it is too late.

What would YOUR government do about this?

Somehow I don't think your government, or mine, would act with such restraint for such a long period of time.

Troubles in USA

If anyone wonders what is wrong with the USA, all they have to do is watch Judge Judy on TV for awhile to see how stupid some people are in this country.

Sadness and anger...

...that is what I feel regarding the on-going violence and lawlessness in Bangkok. What used to be one of my favorite cities to visit each winter is now under the influence of mob rule by the poor and uneducated from the northern provinces of Thailand. The saddest part of this is that this lawless band does not even realize what they are doing to the country and of course they don't care as they are being paid by Thaksin Shinawatra to carry out his dastardly deeds. They are also taking advantage of the King's age and poor health. In the past he would have spoken out and his moral authority would have put and end to this squabbling but now he is too ill to do so.

There is one big question on my mind regarding this sad state of affairs. Why haven't the ring leaders and others who disobey the law, been arrested and put in jail? Don't these acts constitute treason?

Hopeless case?

I have visited Bangkok and other cities in Thailand many times during the past ten years or so and have enjoyed every minute of it. Now, unfortunately, I cannot return due to the increasing social and political instability. Most of that is due to one man who does not even live there any longer and that person is Thaksin Shinawatra, a former Prime Minister, who is one of the richest people from that country, and one of the most corrupt. Now he directs his minions from the safety of another country.

I have hope that the situation will improve but each morning when I get up and read the news and go on-line, it seems that it has only gotten worse overnight. I now have friends there, Thai citizens as well as ex-pats from the USA, and I worry about them although I am sure they will know how to stay out of harm's way but I will miss them.

This also leaves me without a vacation spot in the midst of winter here at home. It was so nice to go to a warm climate for a few weeks and to be with people I know but that seems to have come to an end.

So sad, so sad...