As The Race Winds Down

Some great op-ed pieces from the NY Times. Well worth your time.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/opinion/26warner-1.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/opinion/26dowd.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/opinion/26brooks.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Cuidate.

TFF

This skit cracks me up to no end.  Sarah Palin is a good sport for going on the show, but she did not really deliver.  The cast sure did though.

Hodge Podge

Back to the Bay Area and back to the Grind. I worked most of the week and then worked a college football game on Saturday as part of a police detail. I am really hating my dayshifts, I have to say. There is too much activity going on, too many annoying people calling in with "What if..." questions, and little if any down time. Not to mention the alarm going off at 6 AM. I feel like I am back in high school. Not a good thing.

Tip jars are bugging me. Is there anyplace without a tip jar these days? Dry cleaners, coffee places, and the like. What is next? Muni drivers? Grocery store cashiers? I worked in restaurants for years, so I feel partial to servers and take out servers. But what is the criteria for giving a dry cleaner a tip? If they simply cleaned my sweater and did not loose it or fuck it up, does that justify a tip? If whatever person serving you (ie. at Peets or Jamba Juice) is pleasant, does that necessitate a tip? It just kind of bugs me. Dunno what the solution is.

Between the election and the financial crisis, NPR speaks of nothing else these days. It is hard not to get wrapped up in the panic of the media and the government. Once again, thank you 24 hour news cycle. I am fortunate that I work for the government, so I feel a bit more secure about my job security. At the same point, at best life is a crap shoot. Panicking is not going to do me any good. I will try to cut my spending Suze Orman. I really will. I am a hard worker and still young enough to prostitute myself in a pinch. There is always the corner Mary. (I am kidding to all of you taking me seriously. I would use the Internet, the corner is too cold.)

Obama is up, McCain is down, and Sarah Palin is the gift that keeps on giving. Who would have thought a month or so ago that she would have turned out to be such a train wreck? I am thankful for small miracles. They occur all around us.

Hope you are all doing well. Cuidate.

Bad Blogger, Bad Blogger

I apologize for taking a hiatus over the past couple of weeks. The world may be coming to an end, but this blogger needed a vacation.

I took off for Honolulu the last Thursday in September. I flew Hawaiian, partially because they have a non-stop out of Oakland and partially because I just like 'em. Kitschy Hawaiian music and videos, an airline that still has pretzels and a meal service, and local employees. What more does one need? Now that Aloha is no more, Hawaiian is all the islands have. I hope they are able to make it in these financially strapped times.

My good friend E joined me on Thursday and spent the next few days with me. What seemed like a good idea in the beginning turned out to be a not so good idea in the end. We ended up fighting like an old married couple and irritating each other to no end. I suppose that I have a routine when I go back to Hawaii and he had some different ideas about what he wanted to accomplish. On top of that, the trades were not blowing to their usual strength and it was unseasonably hot for most of the days. That being said, there is no place like Hawaii to me. I was able to meet up with some old acquaintances and make some new ones. I always enjoy my time there.

I came home for just a quick day here to pack and repack before heading to Phoenix to help my friend Christi relocate to Las Vegas. I lived in Phoenix for just shy of a year back in 2004 and going back always feels like putting on an old familiar t-shirt. There is a certain feel and a certain smell to the town that will never go away. I love the dry heat, the stillness of the desert nights there, the margaritas, and the promise that the town seems to hold closely, but never delivers on. (When the hell is that stupid light rail going to be finished anyway? 2024?) This trip was all work and no play. Moving is never fun and Christi and her mom were a bit over their heads with this one. So my birthday was spent packing stuff into boxes and eating pizza on paper plates and plastic chairs. Friday morning, the packers arrived and the house was packed up onto a 16 foot rental truck in a few short hours. The rest of the day was spent cleaning up the remaining chaos and preparing for our early morning departure on Saturday.

7 AM came soon enough and off we went. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the 16 foot truck drove very well, almost car-like. Compared to previous nightmares with U-Haul trucks (aka tanks), driving this thing was a breeze. We made good time until heading north from Kingman, Arizona towards the Hoover Dam. Ignoring all of the large No Moving Trucks signs, Christi kept encouraging me forward saying, "We've checked with security a bunch of times and they say it's fine." So we arrive at the security checkpoint just south of the dam only to run into Mr. Stern Security Guard who, in no uncertain terms, emphatically does not allow me to pass in the moving truck. Back to Kingman and then detouring around the famed dam adds a couple hundred miles and two and a half hours onto my drive. Ah, the fun never ends when you are moving. I finally arrive in Vegas at around 4 PM. Between the long hours that day, the previous night's food poisoning, and the unloading of the entire truck at double speed, this puppy crashed something fierce. Thankfully, four Ibuprofen and a good night's rest did wonders for my worn out carcass.

We spent yesterday recovering, returning the rental truck, and I met up with an old buddy of mine from years ago in Thailand who now lives in Vegas. Small world. My friend took me to dinner at the L.A. Chinese chain Chin Chin at the NY NY Hotel on the Strip. I used to get takeout from there all the time when I was a flight attendant, but I had never eaten in. The food was really good and we had a nice time. After dinner, we ended up walking the length of the strip to the TI resort. It was a perfect night in Las Vegas (and a rare one); not too hot and not too cold. The biggest addition to the Strip as of late is a massive project consisting of a new hotel, a business tower, a city center, and high end condominiums by the MGM Mirage group. The area will begin to open sometime next year and consists of six or seven massive towers that are a huge addition to the ever changing skyline. Vegas has truly become the city that never sleeps.

I arrived safely back in San Francisco this evening and am back to work tomorrow. Hope you are all well. Thank you to all for the massive amounts of well wishes, e-mails, calls, and texts I received on my birthday this year. I have the best group of friends and family ever.

Cuidate.