Wheelchair and restrooms

On my way out of the TL, one local says to another "Man, you gotta move your wheelchair out of the way." To which the man in the wheelchair says "Hold on, I am going to the bathroom right now."
😕💩🚫

Looks like these guys are having a great time!

Funny Video: Watch 13 Dogs and 1 Cat Civilly Share a Holiday Meal http://www.people.com/people/package/article/0,,20319528_20884329,00.html

Smells like teen spririt

After a light rain in the city early this morning, it was not too much to wash the funk out of the streets, so it smells like B.O. on my whole walk into the office.....

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCEQ3ywwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DhTWKbfoikeg&ei=SiCHVJ_IEJPnoAT27oHoAQ&usg=AFQjCNHDCvZOXxn3CzvfMFxUs9ZBsX0sCA&sig2=l9eEvabi2KM2qrYJsQHx8w&bvm=bv.81449611,d.cGU


On the upside, this guy who smiles and winks at me everyday, stopped to give me a pastry he bought for me.  He said he wondered if I could help him get out of his current house situation because his landlord sprays his room every other day for bedbugs and hates gays.  I told him it was nice to meet him and to have a happy holiday.......anyone want a pastry, it's wrapped nicely in a napkin.....

Buy me my alcohol

Walking to the Bart station this evening,  I heard this:

Cop: I am going to need you to take your stuff and leave this street ma'am.

Lady on a milk crate: I just wanna know when you are gonna buy me my alcohol!

Fried chicken

I was walking back to the office from across the street and I heard the following

"mmm, this fried chicken is the best"

Then she dropped her $1 paper tray and all the chicken fell on the sidewalk.

"Don't step on my chicken" she yelled to anyone who would listen.

And then she sat on the sidewalk and ate it off the ground.

Twerking with the Perp

Hi, I am back....

Some dude was getting arrested outside my office today. His girlfriend was standing by his side, well, maybe not by his side, but rather she was showing her support for her boo by twerking on the hood of the police car. Work it girl!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgoyVRO0A0E

BART Fail

Whaaaaaaaaa,  train I am on is busted. Door is not closing and so we are holding at WC station for operator to fix. Ugh. Why is BART so rickety?  I can't wait for this:

https://www.bart.gov/about/projects/cars

UPDATE:my train is out of service now at Lafayette, 2nd time this week, I think that's a record.

Adventure 356 on BART

Seriously,  smell nasty mechanical odor on train and then train is taken out of service.  Lame

How fun would these be to find?!

8 great public spaces hidden in downtown San Francisco - Urban Landscapes – John King http://blog.sfgate.com/johnking/2014/03/26/8-great-public-spaces-hidden-in-downtown-san-francisco/#21770101=2

As much as I love

..commuting to work on a train instead of driving, it's a bummer getting on a train that smells like pee....
Too bad the picture isn't scratch and sniff, then you'd get the full effect.

Lesson learned, you can even pee on pavement in Concord

I was walking home from Bart station because my home is that close to the N. Concord Station.  Dude in front of me opened up and let go. Guess it's not just San Fran that people feel free enough to use the pavement for a restroom.

Hey look at all those helicopters in the sky!

Now this explains why the helicopters were circling the skies over the Powell street BART station.  Hopefully no one was hurt and any disaster was averted!

Suspicious backpack closes part of Union Square http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Suspicious-backpack-closes-part-of-Union-Square-5319127.php

How does this happen?

Someone is under the train at Balboa station. Ugh.

BART

Gak! It's Friday night, stopped into Urban Outfitters to get some cute travel gifts for my tween and teen nieces who are going on a trip next week and then hopped on BART. 

BOOM. Train is being held due to police activity at 12th Street in Oakland.
And we continue to wait 5, 10, 15 minutes.
 Then I get this from BART.

 / Major delay at 16TH in SFO, MLBR and East Bay dirs due to police activity

Well which is it a$!#holes? 12th Street in Oakland or 16th street in San Francisco?

Finally cleared to go and the effin passengers can't fugure out how the hell to get out of the way of the doors to close them....

BtW: since when is Urban Outfitters for potheads?

Dead fish

You guys.  Two dudes heated up their lunch in the kitchen and it's fish. And it smells like dead fish and it's so nasty. Grown men are getting up from their desks and walking away in pure disgust. People are falling out of their desk chairs and passing out. Everyone is coughing and acting like there is a fire. Should we pull the alarm? Just kidding.

I feel bad for the dudes trying to eat their lunch, but, I guess perhaps they should take into consideration their lunch smells like an old fish died in their garbage can that already had a dead fish in it for a few weeks.

Major system delays

So this morning I woke up to text messages from BART as early as 4:57, notifying me of major system delays due to mechanical issues. As the morning went on, my phone was in a constant of  alarm with updates from BART texts regarding the delays increasing.  To add to the fury, ABC news got in on the action and alerted subscribers (me) about BART delays. So, in order to learn more information about how my morning commute would unfold,  I logged into my Twitter account and all hell broke loose in my brain. Tweets from SFGate, BART ABC among many others notifying anyone viewing there was a major BART delay AND a fatal crash on Highway 24 that was "snarling" the morning commute.  Is it helpful to know about these types of issues ahead of time or does it just better to be blissfully ignorant and live in the moment?

I was in full panic mode at this point.  Should I drive to SF,  have someone drive me, get up and not shower or put makeup on and just rush to the BART station now in hopes I could catch the last train in existence? Anything short of renting a helicopter were on the table as options. One would think that a relatively intelligent and sane woman would not panic,  no such luck. Besides, if you ask my husband,  I possess neither of those qualities as of late.  Nonetheless,  I drafted a text to the new boss, explaining my fear that BART was so delayed that I was going to be late, but that I was doing my best to get to work today. Thank god I drafted it but did not send it. My second error was to call the family. I tried my sister first because I figured she had to go to work and she would be awake. No answer. I contemplated calling my retired parents to get much needed advice from my dad. I figured he was a subject matter expert since he commuted into SF for 35+ years. Thankfully I waited on this call too. My sister eventually called back and after I explained the situation with BART,  she said,
"Don't go into work,  this isn't your fault, you can make it, oh well". All during this time, I continued to get updates from and about BART delays.

Ok, decision time, I reflected,  what's the worst that can happen? I am just stuck on a train. I am just going to go for it and see what happens. I hopped on a train at N. Concord Station and we cruised through to Rockridge with no issues. Then, the train stopped. People were packed in the train like sardines, the windows were dripping with condensation or whatever nastiness was in the air.

 

The Operator came on and indicated we were going to be slow moving from here on out to Embarcadero. Then we sat between MacArthur and 19th for about 20 minutes. We were finally told by the operator that the issues were cleared up and we would move through to SF without any further delays. At full-speed he said. Then...there was a medical issue at 19th Street and we were stopped before we reached that station. When it rains it pours. We waited and waited and waited. Some knucklehead had the nerve to say, "Doesn't that sick dude know how much he is inconveniencing hundreds of thousands of people by having a heart attack.". Uh, he said it out loud and I'm pretty sure he's just an asshole. The whole train when quiet after that. Bad karma dude.

 

For the most part, it was no problem for me. I eventually sent a text to my boss, who rides BART from Walnut Creek. She was stuck on a train behind me still in between Walnut Creek and Lafayette.  Taking the train was soo much better than having to drive. I wouldn't even know where to start between the 680/24 traffic to the tunnel and them merging onto the Bay Bridge.

 

Finally the trains moved out and as each station passed by, I was hopeful I would make it to SF by lunchtime. And I needed to go to the restroom.

 

I made it to SF 1 hour and 50 minutes after I stepped onto the train at N. Concord. I ask myself again, is it helpful to know about these types of issues ahead of time or does it just better to be blissfully ignorant and live in the moment. I still would have gotten on BART this morning and I still needed to get to work, whether I knew about the problems or not, it would not have changed anything.  I guess the only thing I can think of at this point is because I knew ahead of time that BART was having issues, I made sure ot use the restroom before I left the house. Then being stuck on the train would have actually been miserable.

Okay, time to get to work for a few hours and prepare for the evening commute home!

 

 

What to do in this type of situation??

Proceed to the nearest mall ( I went here:
http://m.westfield.com/sanfrancisco)
and shop until drama is over. One new Umbrella from Nordstrom,  a cup of coffee, a cupcake from Cako and tons of people-watching later, I am on my way home.

BART service resumes after S.F. chase http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/BART-service-resumes-after-S-F-chase-5271239.php

So this happened

UPDATE: Crews Removing Derailed BART Train From Concord Tracks « KRON4
http://news.kron4.com/news/bart-train-derails-near-concord-station/

Enough said...

Who knew I was being greeted by a local celebrity every morning?

Every morning as I walk up out of the Powell Street BART station, I walk up a few stairs and there is Steve. He says "Good Morning Pretty Lady".

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/nevius/article/Homeless-ex-bank-robber-has-a-shot-at-redemption-5249868.php#photo-5910833

When I first started working in the city in December, I too thought he was just another homeless person looking for handouts. Really, all he wants is a smile or hello. I made the mistake of ignoring him and he repeated his greeting and said 'I hope you have a better day'. Ever since they, I say hello.  And now, I just ran across this article. Good luck to him.

Happiness is....

...finding a new route to work and when I am almost to my office, I found this place:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/happy-donuts-san-francisco-3

Before I even read any reviews, I walked inside and liked what I saw. The shop is kitty corner from Glide Memorial; I think it's divine intervention! Praise the Lord!  It was like a breathe of fresh doughy air in the TL. And the coffee and donut holes were just what I needed to start my morning right.  The only thing that would have made this better was to be able to take a few moments in the shop and enjoy all the selection of sugary treats. I guess there's always tomorrow!

Diet coke and date

I went to the liquor store to grab some essentials (diet coke, chocolate doughnuts, Funions or whatever other snack attack I may have at the moment).  I grabbed my soda and decided on chips.  I stood in line. There was an eclectic mix of patrons; one included a three-legged dog, another was a man dressed like a woman and there were a few others but I can't even go into the details, they are beyond words. 

Someone tapped on my shoulder and asked me if they could borrow a dollar. I told them I only had exact change for my snacks and turned around.  Another tap on the shoulder and I was asked if I wanted to go on a date.

"Sorry, I'm married, I don't think my husband would like that very much."  My suitor responded with "Well, if you change your mind, you know where to find me." Uhhh, I'm pretty sure I won't change my mind on this one.

Mechanical issue

Lol (not really). The smell I mentioned in the earlier post? That is on my train. Nice, we are in the Transbay Tube now. There is a supervisor making his way to trouble shoot. Good times.

The operator just mentioned the second car is filling up with smoke (burning odor) and we should make way for those passengers to move to other cars. Uhhh, I can smell it too.

I've never been so eager to get to the TL with its unique aroma...

Smell of something burning

It's not a good sign when the BART train smells like something is burning, like rubber, huh?

This is why I don't read the news

I don't want or need my mind filled with worse case scenarios, ugh:

http://sfappeal.com/2014/01/concerns-over-contact-between-ships-anchor-and-transbay-tube-briefly-halts-bart-service/

Smell

Someone sitting next to me or around me on BART smells like pee.

Or it could be already in the seat I am currently sitting on. Gross.

Hmmm, my mom always told me "check your upper lip" in these types of situations.

Excuse me, I know you f*#@ing heard me!

Oh god, it happened.  I am finally not shaking anymore.  I was walking to work, on my usual path. It was drizzling and I figured the streets of the TL would be deserted. No such luck. As I walked from one block to another, I looked up from under my rain jacket hood and saw a larger than usual amount of locals hanging outside the liquor store.  I just marched on my path, trying to disappear, but angry at myself for wearing my stupid bright green raincoat. I know I stick out like a sore thumb in the TL anyways, but to wear a bright color when most all locals wear some type of black or dark colors is foolish.

I walked past the group of people and in order to avoid tripping, I looked up for an instant. My eyes caught the gaze of one of the folks standing on the corner.  I am not sure if it was a man or woman, but they smiled, so I smiled back.  Ok, nothing to worry about.

As I passed the crowd (of about 25 people), I suddenly heard a "Hey, you"! I ignored it. Surely it wasn't for me. I don't know anyone here and no one would address me like that (I think).  Suddenly, I heard a more insistent and closer voice say "Excuse me, I know you f*#@ing heard me, b*tch." Okay, keep walking, I chanted to myself.  And that's when it happened. I got pushed on the back. I was holding my coffee, which spilled down my hand and arm. I gripped it so tightly, as if my life depended on it. My 'friend' came up next to me and pulled my jacket to make me stop. I looked over and she had a crooked wig and 1 tooth left. She was holding an empty small bottle of Bacardi.  Was she going to hit me over the head with it (duh, it's plastic) and drag me down the street? She said "Hi, I know you effin heard me back there, oh wait, I thought you were my friend from up the street. You don't live here, off Van Ness? Do you have .35 cents I can borrow."

I could see my final destination, a mere 25 feet away. I looked up and only saw locals. I wanted someone to be behind me or in front of me who could help me out of this situation. I had visions of the pack of people coming at me from behind and stripping me of my worldly possessions. Ugh, I just had to remember what my dad keeps saying, "Don't worry about them, they aren't going to bother you, just ignore them and keep on walking." Errr, I'am not sure if that is entirely correct advice, but we'll just go with it.

I replied to my 'friend' that I didn't have any cash and I didn't live around here and for her to have a nice day.  She said "you too, have a nice day" and walked off...

Good grief, by the time I got into the office, I was shaking like crazy.....

Bed bugs you say

Yeah, can I get a nasty up in here?! WTF! I've already been told I could be exposed to some pretty unsightly things working in TL. Hookers, drug deals, fecal matter on sidewalk, hepatitis,  and now this?  If you read my earlier post about the trip in today, you get the idea it wasn't the greatest morning. I felt like I needed to be committed in a straight jacket after that commute. I got off the train and was never so happy to walk through the city's roughest neighborhood to my office.  As soon as I entered my code and walked in the door, one of the director's stopped me and told me to not let anyone else through that door. Stupid me, I asked why.  "Oh, we had the exterminator here for an unscheduled visit and the spray needs to sit for an hour and not get wet."
Hmmm, roaches are old news to me. I didn't care. See a few weeks into this gig and I am not even fazed my the little buggers.
Flash forward a few minutes later when I opened my email.  Shit....
"The exterminator just left. He sprayed for bed bugs since we had a sighting last night." @$!#/&&($

Say hello to my little friends:

Molasses

As in slow as molasses. This morning so train ride was was/is stupid. Train operator said we need to go slower due to rain. I don't want to curse or be angry at it. We need it desperately.  But but but...we are packed in this bitch ass train: windows are steamy, it smells like no one showered or brush their teeth or cleaned their clothes. And the guy in front of me wants to body slam me while he does his best impression of " Look Ma, no hands"! Really, I am wedged so deep in this train I wonder if I will be wrinkled when I get out!

Hooka?

This is happening right now.  This outfit. I want to take a full body shot, but I am afraid her pimp will bitch slap me for publishing his merchandise. Are you kidding me? How awesome, only on Bart and in in SF!

Taking Care of Business

Coworker, "Do you know who sings Taking Care of Business"?

Me, "No".

Coworker, "Do you know the song"?

Me, "Yes, I've heard it before".

Coworker to another coworker, "Do you know who sings Taking Care of Business"?

Other coworker, "BTO, of course".

They both look at me and ask "Where have you been, how do you not know who BTO (Bachman, Turner, Overdrive) is."

Me, "Uhhhh".

My bad, it came out the year before I was born, are you serious people?

For your listening enjoyment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJprEyXMrIk

Rain, rain rain!!!

Whoop, your rain dance worked girl.....http://gertips77.blogspot.com/2014/01/global-what.html

As I came out of the Powell Street BART station, what do I see...RAIN RAIN RAIN...It's a light mist, but who cares. I'll take it. Do I have a rain coat on? No. Do I have my umbrella? No. Do I at least have a hood on my jacket? No. But I don't care.

I almost slipped 1/2 dozen times on the slick streets, but I don't give a darn. We have not had rain in Northern California since early December (I think).

This has taught me a valuable lesson. Don't believe the weather apps. They lie.  They said rain wasn't happening until Thursday.  Also, I need to remember I am travelling across the Bay, into a completing different micro-climate. So, what may be 60 degree weather in Concord is not the same in San Francisco. 

Keep dancing Gertips, I'll take more of the rain.

Wine breathe

Hey all you wine drinkers, did you know when you drink red wine, your breathe stinks? Ha, I'm not talking about right at the moment you are drinking, but the day after? More specifically, the morning after?

Yeah, I have to sit or stand very close to folks on BART and the morning after smell of wine is nasty, I'm just saying.  You don't realize it until you have someone standing over your shoulder, trying to read what you are doing on your phone or sitting next to you breathing their hot stale breathe on you. So, do everyone a favor and if you are going to drink LARGE or small quantities of red wine, make sure you brush your teeth twice before going out in the morning, chew some gum or wear a mask....

Gift from God

No, I am not taking about men, though sometimes men think they are a gift to everyone. But my story is about a man.

I was desperate for a cold diet coke to enjoy with my lunch. My only option was to head three blocks down to the mall and buy a soda at one of the many options at the food court or go 10 feet out the door of my office to the corner liquor store. If I went down to the mall, I'd probably buy a whole entire lunch for $15 and not eat what I brought, thereby not saving any money. Plus, I would be forced to shop at mall, again, not helping save any money. 

 

I was a little hesitant since that particular store appears to be a hotbed for local activities. A typical day may include a customer (if you can call them that) running out of the store with a bottle of booze and the owner chasing him down the street yelling "hey, you have to pay for that, you pay me"! Dude, you are not getting your money, the "thief's" shoes are constructed of old sneakers and duct tape. I am pretty sure he needs to beer more than you don't need the money. Other activities at this corner store include the locals getting into screaming matches and 9 times out of 10, the police have to show up to break it up. I'm not too keen on venturing over there and getting in that mix.

Anyways, the desire for a soda was too great, so I mustered up the courage to walk over and entered the store. I didn't need a password, no secret handshake or cover charge. There were a few folks grabbing snacks and some should have bought soap or toothpaste but we'll just overlook that. I grabbed what I needed and got in line. As I waited a gentlemen (eheh) came up behind me. His cane knocked my leg and he mumbled an apology, so I looked back at him.  I guess that was all the opening he needed to strike up a conversation.  He smiled and I smiled back. He had a gnarly looking black eye and some recent scrapes on his face. It's a good thing he had the cane, because he was swaying back and forth.

 

"My name is Mathias, it means gift from God" he slurred.  I said "that's cool, my brother and stepson are both named Matthew and I have heard about that meaning before". Mathias then said, "I love God, he is good. He helped me get sober". I said, "Well, that's great" as I looked at the counter where he rested his 40 ounce of beer...

 

 

Holding train where?

Most of the time when I am on BART, I am doing something on my phone like looking up news, learning the latest celebrity gossip, or listening to music.

I am not really paying attention to what station we are approaching.
 

About two weeks ago, there was a broken down train at Embarcadero and all trains were delayed by 15 minutes, while they cleared the tracks. My train was stopped at 19th and 12th Street stations in Oakland and again at West Oakland station. For a brief moment, I thanked my lucky stars that I wasn't stopped in the Trans Bay Tube. I've heard of evacuations that require riders to get off the train while in the tube and journey out on foot. Ugh.
 

I've ways been curious about what The Tube looked like from the outside: you know being that it's under water and all. Are there starfish and sea creatures feeding around the tube? Are sharks lurking around because they can sense human flesh inside? And, is there a diver under there on a regular basis patrolling for leaks or cleaning the algae off?

 

Curiosity and more importantly, urgency to know more about my fear of being stuck in the tube forced me to look up information on this. To tell you the truth, unless I am missing something, there is not a whole lot of live pictures of the tube. Perhaps this is self preservation because it would freak eveyrone out to know what the outside of the Tube looks like under water. If you know of a site that would share this, send it my way...

Here is what I did find, pretty interesting that BART was the inventor or the submergable tube and it has since been used in other countries.

 

Yellow Brick Road

The other day, I had to go to a meeting off site and it was located in a building at Golden Gate and Leavenworth. Traveling through that area I noticed what looked like yellow bricks painted on the sidewalks. It certainly was not as shiny and bright as the one we are accustomed to seeing in the movie, Wizard of Oz, but it was still very noticeable.

Curious, I asked my coworkers and they told met they were in fact painted to look like a Yellow Brick Road for children to easily follow a safe passage to and from school. 

Here is a great article about when and why it started:

http://studycenter.org/centralcityextra/2012/02/safe-passage-for-kids-along-gritty-route/

Now I can't get the little Munchkin's voices out of my head singing "Follow the Yellow Brick Road."
 

Little yellow corvette

If you are ever in Concord driving near the North Concord BART station around 7:10 on weekdays, look out for the AHole driving in a new model yellow corvette. He's a jerk.

¹jerk

noun \ˈjərk\

: a stupid person or a person who is not well-liked or who treats other people badly
 

I first met up with him when I was driving north on Port Chicago Highway about to make a right turn into BART. Oncoming traffic was finishing making their left turns into BART. The lights had all changed for a good ten seconds and up the hill comes a yellow vette at a really fast speed. I just had a feeling I shouldn't turn yet, and boy, I'm glad I didn't. This d*ck ran the red light and entered the two lane road to BART. Wow, you look so cool dude.

I took my right turn and followed him in. The next thing I see, he's in the outer lane heading straight and moving at a fast pace, because he passed a half dozen cars.  Then without his signal or slowing down, he cuts off a row of cars and turns right into the first parking lot. My eyes were glued to this guy because I thought for sure he was going to cause an accident. Nope, but in fact what he DID do was to not slow down and drive right through the crosswalk that currently had about a dozen people waking through it.
 

If you see this cool dude driving around North Concord BART, flip him the bird for me...oh wait, actually, there's always tomorrow for me to meet up with him again...

 

 

Dancing chihuahua

I was walking to the BART station last night and heard music playing on the streets. This is really not uncommon on the path I take. As I grew closer to the music,  I noticed a group of men looking down towards the ground. They were all smiling and laughing and seemed to be thoroughly entertained.  There was one particular man who was hunched over and I thought perhaps he was performing some new dance move I desperately needed to learn. Nope, turns out he was holding his Chihuahua's front paws, making it stand up tall and having it dance to the music.

Everyone was having a grand old time of it. I don't think the dog enjoyed it much...perhaps he should consider doing like the locals do and putting a hat on the ground to get some extra pesos for his performance....

 

Bombs away

It was a sunny warm afternoon. I was walking back from lunch to my office in the TL. Many of the local residents were out on the sidewalks. I smiled and say "hi" to a few. Feeling confident, I suddenly felt something wet on my shirt collar. Not paying attention to it, I looked down and right at that moment a bird that was sitting on a shop overhang pooped on my pant leg. Yep, it happened.

That piece of shit! ( no pun intended) I'm embarrassed and pissed.   I tried to hide my shame. I was wearing black pants and the shit was white, not all white, they were speckled with brown bits.. I digress...as I lifted my head to confidently walk on, I met the gaze of one of the locals who was missing all but one tooth, and in a wheel chair that was held together with duck tape. He laughed and laughed and pointed his finger at me. His cackle echoed through the streets.  Not cool.

This moment brings me back to my freshman year at CPHS. I walked across "The Quad" to grab a Cheese Zombie and right at the perfect moment a swarm of seagulls uprooted from their spot and one blessed me with poop. It was nasty and runny and of course everyone cool who was standing on the perimeter of "The Quad" saw and laughed and chanted "Freshman, freshman, freshman". Needless to say I wanted to die that day. I guess my shame wasn't as bad the other day when I was the shit on, but apparently it's still funny when someone gets crapped on.

I might take up walking with an umbrella everyday.

La Cucarachas

When I started working in the city a week ago, I was curious about how things worked. When I worked in rural areas I didn't have to navigate around garbage trucks, police, protesters or wild animals. I most certainly didn't think about bugs. If you know me, I am really not a girly girl. I pick up spiders and throw them outside rather than scream and have the hubby kill'em.

So when I started working in the TL everyone kept telling me nicely to watch out for the "bugs". Then, the persons desk that I took over cautioned me to always clean my desk if I ate at it cuz there are bugs, BIG ONES.  I had the pleasure of meeting one face to face a couple of days ago. I had eaten a banana and left the peel on my desk for about a minute until I got up to throw it away. When I picked it up, a cockroach wiggled out. GROSS!!

Then today, I heard a scream from a co-worker. I'm nosey so I asked what happened. She told me she ate a roach?!  For real, how does that happen? Apparently it crawled into her salad and she thought it was a cherry (you know the dried berry salad mixes) and ate it. When it crunched then squished in her mouth, she realized it wasn't a sweet cherry and pulled it out to inspect. NASTY.

I gotta go, I am feeling something crawling on my arm.....

Monday madness

My first Monday commute after the holidays (insert sarcasm here). Let's be honest no one enjoys going back to work but really do we all have to be aholes about it? NO. As I turned into the North Concord BART station, I noticed something different in the air, it wasn't the disgusting smell of gas from the water treatment plant. It was an extra hustle and intensity at the station. No,  it was everyone being angry to have to go back to work. People were just jerks.  Car after car cut me off, people walked to the station any which way they wanted, not caring for cars, people or wheel chairs ( maybe a little bit exaggerated) instead of crosswalk. I tried to back into my spot and someone walked behind my car.  REALLY!!??? WTF!!

Train was packed. Then it broke down at Embarcadero station. YAY!!! Held at 12th Street and West Oakland stations. The delay was reported to be around 10-15 minutes.  A little lesson in BART etiquette, if you board a crowded train and there are more than a dozen people standing, more than likely it's not cuz we want to stand but because all the seats are taken. Don't be "that' person who walks through all the cars disrupting us to find the golden seat. It doesn't exist. 

D.O for the B.O.

Let's discuss body odor for a quick minute. I don't know about you but when I embark on something new I get nervous sweat, the kind that is super smelly, soaks through your shirt so everyone stares at you kinda sweat. YUCK I know, but really, you know what I'm talking about.  If I am going to an event or new job I get super nervous and I get wet armpits! At first I think I don't smell because I love layering scents but maybe I do stink???

Well in my never ending quest to pay attention to what I put ON my body, I have been researching alternatives to deodorant. Most ideas involve recipes that include coconut oil. Okay, I love the coconut oil movement, but I'm just not "there" yet. I had to bring out the big guns this week. I  was at Trader Joe's and saw they had a deodorant, so I picked it up.  The key word here is "deodorant". My dumb dumb self didn't realize that this new deodorant did not have antiperspirant in it, the one ingredient I specifically needed!! Tuesday morning rolls around, I think  "yay" get to use my fancy new deodorant... WRONG!  Bad decision, bottom line is I smelled, so bad in fact that I kept wondering what I ate that included onions. Nice scent right?  At least the only positive thing that could come from this debacle is that BART smells like ass. Like a combo of pot, bad breathe, booze and what else you may ask? BO.  Soo, I took my sisters advice and wore my husbands deodorant and it worked! I don't smell like a man, or at least I don't think I do. And the best part is I don't smell like BO anymore. #winning

Now, I just have to remember to wash my coat, my stink was so bad it went through my clothes and now my jacket smells like a day old Onion that I left in my pocket. Maybe this isn't the time to try DIY  laundry detergent?! NONE!

Monday, December 30, 2013

My first day. Got on BART, no problems. Came out on Powell street by the escalator and had about 10 minutes to kill. I looked around and saw a cute little couple hugging goodbye. Cute little means really short, they almost looked like teenagers.  My gaze moves around to other sites; the tourists lining up at the Cable Car station.  The Police Officer looking serious and posted outside of H&M, and the people coming up from BART like ants. I catch the 'cute couple' again and they are making out. I look up at Nordstrom's and around more, just people watching. Oh yeah, there's that guy holding up the Jesus Loves sign.  As I glance around, the 'cute couple' is still making out. By now, I'm curious. I look for camera's. Are they filming a gum or breathe mint commercial? How could anyone stand and make out for that long? I look around at others to see if anyone else notices or is watching them. Nope, the commuters are still moving around like ants.  Cute couple are STILL kissing. When I say kissing, I mean full on, make out session.  Not something you see everyday? Well, I never have in Walnut Creek or Pleasant Hill.  They are out in the open, at the top of the Powell Street  BART station!  Commuters are required to walk around them.  They break it off after 10 minutes and go their separate ways. Welcome to SF.