Misadventures on the San Francisco Transit System

There are approximately 8,000 ways for me to take the transit system to and from work. I am trying new routes one day at a time to find the most ideal and quickest route. Not every attempt is good and/or successful. Well, if successful means I make it home eventually, then I am 100% successful...eventually.

Factors to take into consideration:

1. How early I have to wake up

2. Walking distance from home

3. Level of overcrowding

4. Safety of stop location/neighborhood

5. Ease of transfer

Today is Wednesday, and I have made 5 trips on the bus. At least once a day (thus far) something has gone wrong.

Monday (muni L to 28): GOT ON BUS HEADED IN WRONG DIRECTION. REALIZED THIS FACT AFTER APPROXIMATELY 1/4 MILE. JUMPED OFF BUS IN UNFAMILIAR NEIGHBORHOOD, CROSSED BUSY STREET. RAN (and cried a bit) ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE LAST STOP IN THE HEAT OF MID DAY, CLAD IN AWFUL OLD NAVY FLIP FLOPS, CARRYING MY PURSE AND A HEAVY OVERCOAT.

Tuesday (71 to the 33): NOT TOO BAD. BUS GOT HIGHLY OVERCROWDED WITH HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AND ELDERLY ASIAN PERSONS. FORGOT TO GIVE MY SEAT TO ELDERLY ASIANS. ELDERLY ASIAN WOMAN LOOKED AT ME AND POINTED TO THE "Law requires seats to be given to elderly end disabled persons" SIGN, SPEAKING INDISTINGUISHABLE BROKEN ENGLISH. REALIZED SHE WAS SPEAKING TO ME, TRIED TO UNDERSTAND HER, COULD NOT. OLDER MAN NEXT TO ME TRANSLATED. I MUMBLED, "You have a good point" NOT KNOWING WHAT ELSE TO SAY. FELT LIKE AN IDIOT.

Wednesday (18 to the L muni): RESEARCHED ROUTE TIMES. APPROX TRAVEL TIME= 32 MINUTES. IDEAL! GOT ON THE 18 AS EXPECTED. TRANSFERRED TO THE L MUNI AS DIRECTED. L MUNI FILLS TO CAPACITY...UGH. TRAIN SAT IN UNDERGROUND STATION FOR 10 MINUTES FOR NO APPARENT REASON. DRIVER INEXPLICABLY LEFT THE CAR TWICE. ACTUAL TRAVEL TIME: 45 MINUTES. 25 MINUTES LATE TO WORK.

Yo Yo Yo

Quick update. We're all moved in and settled. Still organizing and figuring out how to go from 850 sq ft to approx 280 sq ft. I really love our house and our cozy and compact space. The weather is foggy every day where we live (sometimes all day) but it makes for cool weather day and night- hooray for no sweating. We've gone to the beach twice already as it only takes about 10 minutes to walk there. It may be a little windy and chilly, but I'm definitely going to take advantage of our proximity to the sand and sea. We had our friend Tim Koide over yesterday and shot some film of us at the beach...I don't know that we can post it though.



I'll take some video and pictures this week and get them posted as soon as I can.



Thank you to all of our family and friends who helped us in so many ways these past few weeks. We couldn't have done this on our own. We miss you all and hope to post more info soon.

Don't Worry, Be Happy

This is it! If you missed out on visiting us, it's too late. We're moving out today and driving away tomorrow. However, you are always welcome to come see us in our new place...unless we don't want you to. In which case, uh...it turns out that we DON'T have room for you. Sorry.

I am currently sitting amongst about five thousand boxes, wondering how this will all get out of the apartment in an organized way. If only I could open up our living room wall on one large hinge and get some kind of truck to scoop it all out. And then I could be carried out to the car by gypsies in this chair...

A girl can dream...

Clap Your Hands Say Stop Pushing Me Around

Great show last night at the Gallivan Center. Scott is in L.A. so I went to the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah show with the Harris family and it was the most energizing thing I've done all summer. I have been such a shut in (working from home, packing, being lazy, not having a car) for the last several months that it felt great to do some people watching, listen to good music, see old friends and get crushed in a "mosh pit" (it's not like I was at a hard metal show).

As the show opened I was in the front center of the audience near the stage and all was going well. Nearby, dancing ensued and quickly turned to jumping and flailing (ok, I flailed a little). As soon as the second song began all mayhem broke loose. I was being tossed and turned (literally, I unwilling got spun around at least 360 degrees) like I was playing the childhood pool game "washing machine" (anyone remember that one?). Tessa and I nearly fell over multiple times and I definitely got whacked in the head more than once. Fortunately, Jared and Big Josh (and an unknown large, black guy) held the crowd enough for us to escape any legitimate harm. I was worried from time to time for my safety, but surprisingly enjoyed being in the sweaty, crowded, pulsating audience.

A highlight of the evening....running into old (and some relatively new) friends. Let's list them, eh?

-Jon Jon, Phil, Nikki, Cameron, Tara, Amanda, Wyatt, Shane, Sam Gray, Julian & family, Andrea Faulkner, Gracie Humiston, Troutmans, Jeremy, and many other randoms from Provo.

It was nice to say hi and goodbye to everyone as Scott and I are moving in less than a week. Woo hoo! Sad!

In honor of Drew's wedding

Our friend Drew Danburry (feat in yellow) recently got married so I thought I'd post this video of his because it puts me in a good mood (and my last post was a little grumpy). Drew is the kind of guy that always puts you in a good mood, so it's fitting. Congrats on your wedding!

Facilities run by teenagers suck...

It is no secret that I feel this way, I have whined about it many a time. Sorry adolescents. If anyone disagrees with this universal truth, I guarantee you'll change your mind after patronizing any of the following places:

Any low-grade fast food restaurant

Water parks

The Movies

Teenage incompetence example #1 (location-Seven Peaks):

Me: Hi, we'd like two hamburgers and a hamburger combo....

Daft employee: (long silence as she searches for the picture of a hamburger on her computer screen)

Me: ...and a Coke.

Daft employee: (long silence as she searches for the picture of a soda on her computer screen)

Me: We'll also get a side of onion rings.

Daft employee: (looks up from screen as though startled from deep concentration) ....What?

Me: A side of onion rings.

Daft employee: We're out of onion rings.

Me: Ok, a side of fries then.

Daft employee: (long silence as she searches for the picture of french fries on her computer screen)

Me: And can we get the combo drink in a bigger size?

Daft employee: (confusedly) No. You'd have to order a separate drink for that.

Me: Can't we just pay extra for the larger size?

Daft employee: Uh...no.

Me: Hmmm... thanks.

We then waited for at least 15 minutes for our order although there were only 2 other orders before ours. As Scott will attest, I am not patient with inefficiency. Manufacturing efficiency is in my blood.

Teenage incompetence example #2 (location- Seven Peaks)

(standing in line with Scott to have our tube "baby-sat" while we go on tubeless slides)

Me: (to Scott) This is taking forever.

Daft employee: (Flips through at least 85 season passes to locate the gentleman's pass in front of us in line) [note: the passes are contained in a small box with no dividers, they are NOT alphabetical]

Me and Scott: (standing in silence, daring to hope that the season pass will be found in the next 60 seconds)

Daft employee: (without looking up to see just how ridiculously long her line has now become, flips through more passes)

Me: (aside to Scott) I can't believe how long this is taking.

Small blonde boy who steps in front of me: Excuse me... (squeezes right in front of us)

Me: (quietly to Scott) Does this kid really think he can cut in front of us because he needs his pass? He's NOT going before us.

Daft employee: (finds season pass for gentleman #1)

Next gentleman in line: (to daft employee) Hi, I need my season pass.

Daft employee: What is your name? (begins ridiculous search all over again without even blinking)

Me: (to Scott) What?! This is so stupid. Why aren't those cards in some kind of order?

Approximately 5 to 1 million minutes later....still waiting

Daft employee #2: (walks over from other end of the counter) Hi, what do you need?

Me: (annoyed) HI. WE NEED TO DROP OFF OUR TUBE.

Daft employee #2: Oh, ok.

Scott: (to Daft employee #2) This would go a lot faster if those passes were in alphabetical order.

Daft employee #2: Yeeeeah, they normally are. She's trying to get them in alphabetical order now.

Me: (at a loss for words... She's organizing them NOW?)

Teenagers, I DARE you to prove me wrong here. I DARE you to be good employees. Please make me eat my words. My time will inevitably be in your greasy hands again at some point and I beg you to search within yourself and find the will to do your job with some level of skill and speed.

Super Helpful

I was feeling unexcited about my job as a health coach this week as I pondered over my lack of desire to help people lose weight/get healthy/change their lives. My job is all about behavior change, but I kind of dislike helping people change.

I don't like listening to people tell me about the walking they did or did not do last week.

I don't like people telling me that they need motivation.

I don't really want to help.

Am I a monster? I don't want to help people? As I thought about this I realized that although I don't like coaching people to healthier lives, I do like to help in general. I've compiled a few examples below to demonstrate how great I am at helping, or just how great I am in general.

I hope it is now clear to everyone that I am a wonderful human being who delights in service of all kinds. I am super helpful.

Dedicated to my friend, Phil Smallwood

I usually don't post random Youtube videos, but our friend's the Lawrences showed us this and I laughed so hard. I absolutely love it. It makes me wants adorable Asian babies. The vocal stylings at 1:25 are my favorite.