You see some strange things...
I took my new bike out for its first official spin today. I actually rode it once before I owned it as part of a test ride, but today was my first ride as the owner. I didn't do any real "mountain biking" with it, I just rode it around on some surface streets by Jeanne's house and along a dirt trail that runs along the Saratoga Creek. All in all, it was probably about a 6 mile ride. It's been about 4 years since I last rode a bike and I forgot how tiring it can be even on flat surfaces. I guess it is good to get started on flat ground to recondition my body before hitting up any big hills.
I spent part of the day today up in the city. I've been up to the city a lot this week - four days in a row. I went up for a meeting at 11 a.m. at Sunset Youth Services where I will be teaching a video production course to some young people. I met with the Executive Director of the center and her husband to discuss how I wanted to be involved with the center. I am really looking forward to the experience. After I finished up with that meeting, I headed over to Union Square where I was supposed to meet my friend Sarah for lunch at 2 p.m. I got to Union Square at 1 and headed to Starbucks where we were scheduled to meet. I intended to get a mocha and to then sit down and use my computer while I waited for her to arrive. As luck would have it, just before I was about to pay for my mocha, the fire alarm went off and the store had to be evacuated. Nothing was really on fire, and I don't know why the alarm went off, but it did. However, I did get a free mocha out of the deal. Once the alarm went off, the barristas returned to the store while the patrons were made to continue waiting outside. Since I had already ordered the drink and the cup had been written, they made the drink and brought it out to me. When I indicated that I still had to pay I was told not to worry about it. How nice! Of course, this meant that I couldn't sit down in the store to use my computer, so I took a walk and took a few photos at Union Square. One of those photos is pictured in this entry. When 2 p.m. rolled around, I headed back to Starbucks to meet up with Sarah. I hadn't seen her since May, 2004, so it was good to catch up. She came with her roommate from freshman year and No. Cal host, Kathleen, whom I had never met despite attending the same University. Not too surprising - with 2000 students in my class, I couldn't possibly have known everyone.
As I was taking the metro back to my car (which I had conveniently parked in the Stonestown parking lot) I saw some very interesting things. First, there was a guy, probably about 30 years old, who boarded the train with two younger girls (one probably a high school freshman, the other perhaps in second grade). When they first boarded, I first thought that they knew each other, but I quickly gathered based on their conversation that they had only just recently met. I don't know that for sure, but I suspect it is very likely. The guy wasn't doing anything particularly strange, but the mere fact that he seemed so interested in talking to these two girls made me slightly uncomfortable. I also witnessed vandalism in action. Some punk kid (who happened to white - one of only 3 other white people I could see on the train) decided it would be totally awesome to write on the inside of the doors with magic marker. It wasn't totally awesome; rather, it was totally lame. They have security cameras in the train, but I don't know if they caught him or not. I thought of saying something to him like, "you know, you're really not that cool," but then I thought better of it and decided not to do anything. Social inaction, perhaps, but I'd rather that than risk some personal injury for confronting a clearly misguided individual.
I spent part of the day today up in the city. I've been up to the city a lot this week - four days in a row. I went up for a meeting at 11 a.m. at Sunset Youth Services where I will be teaching a video production course to some young people. I met with the Executive Director of the center and her husband to discuss how I wanted to be involved with the center. I am really looking forward to the experience. After I finished up with that meeting, I headed over to Union Square where I was supposed to meet my friend Sarah for lunch at 2 p.m. I got to Union Square at 1 and headed to Starbucks where we were scheduled to meet. I intended to get a mocha and to then sit down and use my computer while I waited for her to arrive. As luck would have it, just before I was about to pay for my mocha, the fire alarm went off and the store had to be evacuated. Nothing was really on fire, and I don't know why the alarm went off, but it did. However, I did get a free mocha out of the deal. Once the alarm went off, the barristas returned to the store while the patrons were made to continue waiting outside. Since I had already ordered the drink and the cup had been written, they made the drink and brought it out to me. When I indicated that I still had to pay I was told not to worry about it. How nice! Of course, this meant that I couldn't sit down in the store to use my computer, so I took a walk and took a few photos at Union Square. One of those photos is pictured in this entry. When 2 p.m. rolled around, I headed back to Starbucks to meet up with Sarah. I hadn't seen her since May, 2004, so it was good to catch up. She came with her roommate from freshman year and No. Cal host, Kathleen, whom I had never met despite attending the same University. Not too surprising - with 2000 students in my class, I couldn't possibly have known everyone.
As I was taking the metro back to my car (which I had conveniently parked in the Stonestown parking lot) I saw some very interesting things. First, there was a guy, probably about 30 years old, who boarded the train with two younger girls (one probably a high school freshman, the other perhaps in second grade). When they first boarded, I first thought that they knew each other, but I quickly gathered based on their conversation that they had only just recently met. I don't know that for sure, but I suspect it is very likely. The guy wasn't doing anything particularly strange, but the mere fact that he seemed so interested in talking to these two girls made me slightly uncomfortable. I also witnessed vandalism in action. Some punk kid (who happened to white - one of only 3 other white people I could see on the train) decided it would be totally awesome to write on the inside of the doors with magic marker. It wasn't totally awesome; rather, it was totally lame. They have security cameras in the train, but I don't know if they caught him or not. I thought of saying something to him like, "you know, you're really not that cool," but then I thought better of it and decided not to do anything. Social inaction, perhaps, but I'd rather that than risk some personal injury for confronting a clearly misguided individual.