Friday Randomness

I started out thinking I’d do ‘Friday 5’, but as usual, things got out of hand quickly.

Thanks Obama

Gasbuddy tells me there is cheaper gas around, closer to $5.19 a gallon. Our gas powered car is at 1/2 tank. Do I fill her now, because prices are going to keep going up? Or do I wait in hopes they will go down? We don’t drive this car far, the electric car does most of the driving around here. This picture is at about 7:15am, thanks to the time change it’s still a little dark. I walked over to Sprouts to buy creatine and probiotics.

Flowering Trees

This picture was taken about 1/2 hour later on my way home before work. I think it would have been a better photo if I could wait until the trees were out of the shadows, but I had to get to work. See the planter with the large rocks in front of the office building? It used to be a fountain, which came on at 7am. Mulder and I were walking past one day when it started spewing water up, and he almost jumped out of his fur. Still makes me laugh when I walk by. There’s a little cafe in the back of the building where you can get a tasty breakfast burrito, which pretty much counteracts the probiotics and creatine. Or maybe they balance it out?

Gross BART Behavior

I was reading an article in the NY Times the other day about the financial woes of our local transit systems, and came across this quote. I had to wonder, is Mr. Laub referring to one person who was smoking crack AND cutting their toenails? Or are these separate incidents? To be clear, I have absolutely no desire to see anyone cut their toenails in public, but it’s not exactly on par with smoking crack. I did a little google search (why didn’t I just look at the article?) to find a picture of Mr. Laub with his dog…are dogs allowed on BART? And found this amazing Reddit conversation.

Next I went back to the NYT article, and found the picture of Mr. Laub and his lovely dog.

Turns out that yes, dogs are allowed on BART – Service dogs on a leash, and pets if they are contained in an appropriate pet carrier. Emotional support dogs are considered pets, not service animals. I would argue that this dog is lovely and very sweet, but that unrestrained dogs are more dangerous than people cutting their toenails. I would MUCH rather see the dog, but Mr. Laub is clearly flouting the rules himself.

The BART issue is that ridership is way down since the pandemic. People do not want to pay $7 each way if they can work from home, plus of course the time it takes to get from the suburbs to San Francisco. The downtown area has definitely not recovered. Even with Return to Office mandates, lots of companies only require employees to be in the office 2 or 3 days a week. The article says that many cities pay much more into their transportation systems, whereas BART has always been mainly funded by fares. (When it first started, the story was that it would be free after the first few years.) So BART is saying, we are $400 million in the hole (per year) right now, so we need a sales tax increase or BART is going to go away. That would really suck. Sigh.

Soft Serve

A couple of weeks ago, I was walking in one of our local parks, and came across this Mr. Softee ice cream truck. I considered stopping for a cone, but I had just had breakfast and wasn’t hungry. Also, I had no idea whether Mr. Softee is any good or not. So I looked it up, and sure, it’s good, but the burger place downtown near the pet store where I volunteer is even better. Plus, they sell a kids size cone, so if I want a sweet treat, I don’t have to go all in.

Awesome Yoga for Upper Back Posture

Wednesdays I generally go take care of cats on my lunch hour, but since Julia was adopted on Tuesday (YAY again!) I had the hour to myself. Yoga to the rescue…and wow, was this practice JUST what my neck and back needed. She starts off lying on a rolled up blanket, and I was shocked at how great that felt. My chest was tight from chest presses the day before, and also I sit in front of a computer all day, so I definitely hunch. Really, really good, highly recommended very gentle practice.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Suzanne mentioned making this recipe and I decided to give it a try. I feel like one of those people who comments on a recipe and says ‘I didn’t have sugar so I subbed in tuna, not a fan, 1 star.’. I mean, I didn’t do anything that dumb, but the recipe says to cook your chicken in a 425 oven for 40 – 45 minutes. That sounded like too long to me, so I took it out when it hit an appropriate internal temperature. It didn’t brown or get crispy bits, even though I had it under the broiler for the last 5 minutes or so. I don’t know how long I had it in there, actually, but when I cut into it, it was juicy and very tasty, but just barely done. Likely if I had left it in for 10 more minutes I would have had better luck. I used boneless skinless thighs, so drying out wouldn’t be too much of an issue. I made a double batch and froze 1/2 in the marinade, so future me won’t have to figure out what’s for dinner. I think I might try grilling it outside next time. My oven is touchy and doesn’t do the best job browning things.

My Thoughts on Iran, Trump, Epstein, Ukraine, etc.

I mean, we don’t get cicadas around here, but they seem to have the right idea.

The Age of Innocence

Last thoughts on The Age of Innocence, which we read for Engie’s book club. As I mentioned last week, I went all in…I read the physical book along with everyone, then I watched the movie (twice), and then I listened to the audiobook. I was struck, while listening to the audiobook, by a few bookended passages (from the first and final chapters) that I felt summed up the novel.

Chapter 1 – Newland has arrived at the opera late, on purpose.

”The second reason for his delay was a personal one. He had dawdled over his cigar because he was at heart a dilettante, and thinking over a pleasure to come often gave him a subtler satisfaction than its realisation.”

Chapter 34 – Newland and his son, Dallas, are in Paris, and Dallas has just told his father that they are going to meet up with Madame Olenska. It turns out that May told Dallas about Ellen on her deathbed, and that Newland had given her up because May asked. When Newland states that May never asked, Dallas replies:

”No. I forgot. You never did ask each other anything, did you? And you never told each other anything. You just sat and watched each other, and guessed at what was going on underneath. A deaf-and-dumb asylum, in fact!”

And of course, on the last page of the novel. Dallas has gone up to meet with Madame Olenska, and Newland has decided to stay downstairs on a bench with his memories and dreams.

”It’s more real to me here than if I went up,” he suddenly heard himself say; and the fear lest that last shadow of reality should lose its edge kept him rooted to his seat as the minutes succeeded each other.”

Sublime. I know quite a few of us loved this novel, while some tolerated it and a few DNF. I loved it and am sad to leave it behind.

Weekend Plans

Last year for Maya’s birthday, one of her gifts was a promise to go get pedicures and manicures together (why does it bother me to say ‘mani-pedi’? I don’t know, it’s so much quicker, but I don’t like it.) Well, her birthday is the end of this month, and we never did it, so that’s what we’re doing tomorrow. In addition, we’re going to lunch at a Roman/Italian restaurant downtown. I’ve been there before, they have amazing cacio e pepe. Maya hasn’t been, but we saw them on Check Please, Bay Area the other day, and she wants to try their Margherita pinsa (similar to pizza, but authentic Roman style).

In the meantime, my plans today are mostly to pop up a bowl of popcorn and watch Hamnet, since my DVD arrived the other day.