You ever have one of those days?

a blah blah blog from 2008 I just now am posting.  Funny to see this all these years later.
--------------------------
I remember back when I was 14 my best friend at the time Phil said "you ever had one of those days where it seems like everyone hates you?" Simple enough, almost a cliche, but at 14 I thought "Oh my God, you feel that way sometimes too?". So it's stuck with me all these years. When I have "one of those days" I always think about the first time I was aware that I am not the only one who has them. I guess I have Phil to thank for that. At least that was one discovery not made alone.

Today was one of those days. It was sort of a build up from the previous week. It started with my 2008 performance review. The manager who originally hired me almost three years ago left the company abruptly last summer. And when I say abruptly I meant was escorted off campus by security. He was a visionary, a think tank type of personality. There was always the next big thing to work on. Unfortunately he got sort of an ivory tower mentality and isolated himself and his group from the rest of the department. Even though I am "one of the nice guys" I got caught up in it. I was, without trying, part of "his" group. For all his faults he took care of his better employees when it counted, and I was one of his better employees. But a lot of people hated him and by associated resented me.

After his demise I was assigned a new manager. This new manager is an aging cheerleader. She cheers you on but not much substance, well unless you cross her then she's all business. She is very meat and potatoes. She could care less about the next big thing, has many more people under her, and well I just got rolled up into the very mediocre middle. This year, for the first time, I got a disappointing "meets expectations". Of course there was no substance in the review. Nothing tangible. It was a nice way of saying "you are nothing special".

Meanwhile ... our company has been under threat to be gobbled up by a much larger company. This has been going on since July, they made an offer, our board rejected, the economy got funkily dunkily and I guess we thought it would all just go away cause they could not get financing. Last Thursday they went hostile. "You thought our original offer was too low? Well fuck you we are offering you less" kind of hostile. Sort of Joe Pesci in Good Fellas. "Am I here to make you laugh? Do you think I am funny? Funny how? Like ha ha funny?"

Mergers like this are huge in that my boss' boss' boss doesn't even know what's going on. Larger than all of us put together. Everything that we know, how we exist, well fuck you I want more profits! bang bang bang!

Then on Friday I went out with my see-him-twice-a-year-friend from high school for drinks and he spent 30 minutes apologizing for not being able to invite me to his weeding 3,000 miles away. Of course I wouldn't really want to go 3,000 mile away, but he made me feel weird when he kept apologizing, like I was supposed to feel bad because in the end we are not that good of friends. It was one of those "measure of a man" moments. How important am I really? What is my true worth? When someone I know is giving his thank you speech of life will I get a mention. Will I have influenced anyone, been a good friend? No probably not. I doubt he, nor many other people will miss me much, or care if I am at their wedding.

Then this morning a co-worker, who sat on a project for 4 weeks before handing it over to me last week, sent me an email and cc'd a bunch of other co-workers asking "when will I be finished, it's been 5 weeks already?" I refrained from cc-ing back and told her not to do that again. I swallowed my anger. I hate the silly cc email wars people have. Don't they know no one gives a shit except of the two main people the argument involves.

Meanwhile, one of my functions (not related to the above project) is to produce a score card for how well my department is doing. This score card is sent out globally across the company. I manage what it is we measure ourselves by and get approval from our leadership team. The new score card goes out this week and wouldn't you know it, despite distributing many drafts to the entire department for months, despite presenting to the leadership team for months on the new format, despite everyone knowing when this is going out, everyone this week is finally getting the idea that, yes it's for real, the score card is going out. Now would be a great time to give you feedback. Just use you magic pixie dust  and make it all better. Why the panic you ask? Well our department is not doing very well in meeting our goals and somehow, cause I'm the guy to tell them, somehow I just know they thinks it's my fault. We're talking hour long meetings to debate 1 percent of the score, yes 1 percent. I spend a lot of time defending my numbers, explaining, running new reports, listening to people whine about it. What do I do all day anyways they ask. Now I know how my brother in law feels this time of year. He does tax filings. You should hear people complain to him, everyone turns into a baby when it comes to the report card. Are you sure you did the filings right? Did you miss any deductions? His job, like mine, is all very cut and dry. Just the facts ma'am.

Back full circle, my new manager is cheering me on but with no substance. I am required to take managerial risks but of course, I do not get managerial rewards. This is all fine and good cause you get ahead by acting ahead, but after 3 years it turns into a carrot on a stick.

Even people we give money to were hating on me. We are in the process of refinancing our house. The mortgage company called and said, if you want this loan to go through you BETTER fax us you latest pay stub in two hours. Whoops! Not our fault they didn't ask for this yesterday but it sure as hell is my problem to solve. Cause you know a lot can happen in the 15 days since my last pay stub that they have. "Fuck you send me your stub or no loan."

Then the wife calls and says there is a mandatory parent little league meeting at 6 PM. Fuck! 6PM? Guess I'm leaving work early. But before I leave I got to finish that project that is already 5 weeks late even though I've only had it for 1 week. Oops can't post the project to the website cause Johny hot shot 20-something is out sick today, and instead of a simple system of ftp-ing files to a web server we got to use some thing called subversion that never seems to work. I asked him very nicely over email what was that one step thing I do to create a new repository? He gave me a one word answer, then I ask another question this time a one word answer with "read the manual!!!". Of course doing website maintenance is not my main gig, it's his. I'm just annoyed I cannot do a simple ftp because, you know, subversion will store every copy of the website you ever created. Huh? what? I need to post this project, I'm gonna be late. So that did not get done.

As I'm on the way home I call my wife and tell her Ill meet her at the Moose Lodge, yes an actual Moose Lodge, for the little league meeting. She's giving me heavy sighs cause she worked 2 hours, took a nap and watched Oprah and well "I guess I'll give him (son) a bath and feed him dinner before the meeting". Jesus fucking Christs! After all that I'm getting an attitude from the wife. And I don't even like baseball. My dad never got me involved in sports and even though I suck at it I feel obligated to at least give my son an opportunity to suck at baseball at a much earlier age than I did. We signed up 3 months ago and haven't heard a word. It turns out my son is on the one team with no coach yet, oh yay! this is gonna be fu fu fun.

So here I am feeling stuck in a job I hate in the worst economy ever with a merger hanging over me, a manager who doesn't get or care what I do, late to a little league practice (which in itself puts me out of my element) and a wife doing the heavy sigh on the phone. I go home in time to pick up my son and my wife is asking me something, but I do not hear her, my head is swimming in all my manufactured stress. She asks again "are you gonna have a pita bread thingy" not her exact words. She had prepared dinner and I said "no I'm late to the meeting". And she .....

heavy sighs! shakes her head. I'm not eating the dinner she spent 20 minutes preparing cause I'm late to go to little league whatever ....

"Not now B (I'll call her B), cant you tell I'm having a bad day?"

heavy sighs again "whatever something or rather" blah blah "first thing in the door" blah blah blah

So I'm thinking to myself "no really, not ... to ... day". This is the point where I wish I had a safety word like they use in S&M "avocado" or something. You know throw me a bone, not today, tomorrow sure, but not now, I don't look it but I'm down. I know we do this all the time, but today just for today can we not.

So I scream "Not today. I'm having a bad day" at the top of my lungs. Now I hear jerk, asshole etc. I question her very existence. We got so far from anything that slightly resembles what I expected to get when I said "not today". In fact it was the exact opposite of "not today". It was today and we got into it. She kept pushing the buttons and I kept thinking "why? can you just stop, not that button".

I get to the meeting and it's a room full of Kevin Fedderline looking wanna be baseball jocks. It was disorganized and when I went up to sign the sheet with two columns "parent" and "team" I said I don't even know what team we're on. We haven't heard a word. "Is your Son doing t-ball?" Yes. "He's on the team with no coach". Oh extra yay! I'm out my element, the team's got no coach and even if I did want to volunteer I'm away the first 3 weeks on the season.

We get back home and I am sulking in my home office, in my chair. My son tentatively approaches me, I hug him, and I said I'm sorry I'm having a bad day. I go on to say "It would be nice if on these days you and mommy could just..." he cuts me off by making a heavy sigh sound ...

So thinking back to that fateful day in high school I am reminded of my friend Phil who said "have you ever had one of those days when it feels like everyone hates you?" Yes Phil, yes I have.

I'll be taking a break for a few months to enjoy the rest of summer and to spend time with the shortie and my bottom bitch. I've rearainged the articles and hence the dates shown are not the actual posting dates nor are they in chronological order.

Impeach Bush.

Drive safe.

Thought About Aging Radicals

Ever notice how people who use nudity as a form of protest are the same people who used nudity as a form of protest in the 60's. No literally the same people.

Oh sure you hear about younger kids doing the PETA protest nude, but they are never actually nude, just partially PG-13 nude. So come on 20-somethings! Get naked and stop the war.

Congratulations ...

I usually despise SPAM and that includes people forwarding all sorts of joke and test-yourself email. The one type of SPAM and pop-up I have a hard time resisting is the IQ test. So I take this IQ test which has about 50 questions. In the end, prior to telling me the results, they want me to give them my first and last names, date of birth, email address and mailing address. Of course I was not going to give them any sort of real information so I fill in the informaiton in my usual manner, fake name and a dodgeit.com email address.

What I did not expect was the resulting webpage. I guess you can say what goes around comes around.

Your Logo Here

The latest in corporate gift ideas, scrotum pouches.



You got to wonder who was the first person to think this up?

... and for the ladies cane toad coin purses.

Mega Jesus

From Wednesday's Mark Morford article on sfgate.com



"Note the gleam, the sheen, the hair product, the creepy I-can't-believe-you're-all-falling-for-my-shtick grin splattered all over televangelist and best-selling author Joel Osteen and his not-quite-human wife, Victoria, as they celebrate the grand opening of the new home for the Lakewood Church, formerly the Compaq Center. I mean, come *on* people. Didn't anyone see "V" back in the '80s? Can't you tell the scary lizard race from the Fifth Dimension when you see them? Look more closely. Look at those eyes. Scaly!"

Kill All the Lawyers

Grandma sues over sexual content in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

OK so this grand mother goes to the store, buys her grandson a video game about being a gang banger, murderer for hire and car jacker, but hold the f*cking geriatric phone, she's pissed cause above said gang banger/car jacker/murderer hits some of that virtual ass.

Jesus Tap Dancing Christ!

Having a Big Penis Is Not All That Great

... and I thought I was the only one who thought that way. Finally someone who understands.

People I Love to Hate Volume I

WARNING!

In a pop-culture induced tirade I swear like a druken sailor.

Arnold Swarchenegger



Wait a minute. Do you mean to tell me driving a Humphee while smoking a Dirty Sanchez and making bad puns of your bad movie lines is not enough to turn California around? Hold the phone, you mean going to a perfectly quite neighborhood in San Jose, digging up a fake pot hole on a perfectly paved street, then having a news conference there while the same crews who created the pot hole repave it while you talk about how you are going to fix all the pot holes in California didn't actually fix anything? How can this be?

Arnold do us all a favor and DIE DIE DIE! This in no way is meant to be a threat against you sir, I just hope you die of natural causes or while choking on the above mentioned Dirty Sanchez.


Star Wars Geeks



Oh I'm sorry my search for "Star Wars Geek" did not turn up too many hits in the Google image search. So I searched for "Star Wars Fan". Oh sure that's what you are a fan. No you are a geek and by definition you are not cool, you were never cool and you will never be cool. Get the f*ck back in the closet you f*cking geek. Oh what, waiting in line 6 months before Ep 3 (as you geeks call it) comes out is cool? Who has the time to do that? Certainly not normal people who know a bad movie trilogy when they see it. Oh what, having a Star Wars themed wedding is original? No it's not you cross promoted mass marketed unthinking whores! How about a wedding themed wedding, now that's original! Knowing the Star Wars universe better than your own neighborhood shows you are a hardcore sci fi fan? No it shows you need to get the f*ck out of the house, you sun deprived, freckle face ass wipe! Go back to being run of the mill, girlfriendless, introverted, in the closet geeks, I liked you much better that way. If you are over the age of 12 and now that Ep 3 is over, take a hint from George himself, and move on with your sex deprived lives.


The Run Away Bride



Just look at you you stuck-in-the-headlights-googly-eyed chihuahua! I hate you for being a southern bimbo, I hate you for giving the media another excuse to pump out 400 hours of non-news and most of all I hate you for trying to plan a 600 guest wedding, having 3 showers, 14 bridesmaid, 14 groomsmen and oh wait, you forgot, you don't want to marry your dumb-as-can-be can't-take-a-hint hick fiance who does not want to have sex until he's married because he wants to be a preacher some day. WHAT THE F*CK! And couldn't you have just said a couple of white guys with beards kidnapped you? You actually said Mexicans?!?! You stupid attention craving whore!


Katie Couric



I hate you for interviewing the Run Away Bride and thinking to yourself the entire time "I've got a scoop". Ya you got a scoop alright, a big scoop of steaming dog poo you stupid bitch. Katie, like Arnold, and in the nicest way possible I wish you would DIE DIE DIE. No not of colon cancer either, the last thing I need is another Katie Couric Anal Probe 2 Hour Special. I want you to die by getting electrocuted from a non-grounded microphone when conducting your all too inevitable tell-all exclusive interview with Michael Jackson's boy toy accuser when he turns 18. I can't wait, honey get the pop corn.

Anorexic Hollywood Skank-O-Day



The name changes every 5 years but the body remains the same. Look for the umpteenth time, boney is not attractive. Since when is the concentration camp look a good thing? Tell me why why why do you do this to yourself and why do you not understand that teenage girls across America follow in your barf drench footsteps you kranked out skanks?


Pete Wilson, newscaster



It started during the first Gulf War. KRON was doing a war special. They had a big map of Iraq, Pete had, and this is no joke, a bottle of black shoe polish. During this special he used the map and shoe polish one time to draw a big fat black line across the map. Gee thanks for the visual aid Pete, you're earning your $750k+ a year now! At that point I realised two things, 1) Pete Wilson is useless and 2) I hate Pete Wilson.

Your stupid humorless jokes have never been funny and never will be funny. So the next time you are done with a news piece just shut the hell up. Please relocate out of our market where they find your kind of unfunny humor funny. And way to stick with KRON you stupid unfaithfull butt muncher, the dead NBC affilation body was not even cold when you jumped ship. I hate you Pete Wilson.


To be continued ...

Do The Math

On 9/11 over 3,000 people lost their lives in New York and Washington due to terrorists. So far the U.S. has made exactly one arrest. This month in London just over 50 people died in two separate days of bombing, so far they have made close to 20 arrest.

Compare and constrast.

Dear George I.O.U. $8,000

This is a Letter to the Editor that was published in the Pacifica Tribune. Pacifica, oddly enough, has a vocal group of conservatives that love to write to the paper with letters that basically come down to USA! USA! USA! I just know after London's 7/7 the War on Terror Conservatives will be beating their war drums even louder. I'm not necessarily against blowing up terrorist, however I can not sit quietly when this same group of conservatives complain about taxes. Although this letter focuses on the cost of the Iraq War for my city it applies to every city in the U.S.A. So far every person, children included, has paid $1,011 in diverted taxes towards the Iraq War. By the time it is over in 12 years each of us will have paid close to $8,000. Now take that figure, multiply it by the population in your town and you will see why all local government institutions are going bankrupt. Simple 2nd grade math.

For more information please visit Costofwar.com

+ + + + + + + + +

Dear Editor,

I'm all for the war on terror, low taxes and American pie. But it seems like every 6 months the Bush Administration asks for another $86 billion for the Iraq War, so I think to myself "where is all that money coming from?" Well as it turns out the only source of income for all levels of government is the taxes we pay, be it income tax, sales tax, gas tax, "sin" tax etc. I wanted to know how much the war in Iraq is costing me. I visited a website called costofwar.com which, using the U.S. Congress' own figures, calculates the on going cost of the Iraq War. Here is what I found out, and please someone correct me if I am wrong, because I hope to God that I am wrong. As of this date the total cost of the war in Iraq for just San Mateo County is $705,000,000. In 2003 the estimated San Mateo County population was 697,456. I'll assume the population is about the same now. This means that for every man, woman and child in San Mateo County the cost so far of just the Iraq War (no Afganistan not included) is $1,011.

Pacifica has about 40,000 citizens. That means so far the Iraq war has diverted away $40,432,658 of Pacifican tax dollars. Rummy recently stated that the Iraq War could go on another 12 years. The $40 million mentioned above represents about 2 years of war. That means by the time this is over Pacifica will have "supported" our troops to the tune of $280,000,000! That represents about 14 years of the city's $20 million a year entire budget!

To anyone who supports the war please keep your mouth shut the next time the Fire Department, Police Department and School Districts ask you for a new tax assesment on your property. Also please be silent when they raise the gas tax, which by the way, is the cheapest gas in the world. And hold your tongue every time they raise the bridge toll. After all the money has to come from somewhere and that somewhere is you.

Do you know what brought down the U.S.S.R.? No it was not Reagan as the Republican party would have you believe. The U.S.S.R. went bankrupt trying to build nations. So unless you want the U.S. of A. to go belly up you better pony up some hard earned cash.

Middle East "Nu-cu-lar" Super Power, Brought to You by George W. Bush

This is part of a collection of "letters to the editor" that I never sent out, so forgive the apparent outdated-ness of this. This letter was written after the Iraq Election earlier this year.



While the Republicans of San Mateo were celebrating W's inagural they were joined by others across the globe. Most notable of the celebrants include Iran's Islamic clerical regime, one third of the axis of evil . Despite a costly television campaign funded by your tax dollars the U.S. back Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's coalition was crushed by the United Iraqi Alliance headed by Iraq's senior Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al- Sistani who had spent years in exile in Iran. His political party has very close ties to Iran's Islamic Government. An Iraqi politician was quoted as saying "Americans are in for a shock, one day they would realize we've got 150,000 troops here protecting a country that's extremely friendly to Iran, and training their troops."

So it seems the good ole boy freedom's-on-the-march logic of the Republican party does not pan out in the real world. We created a monster a 1,000 times worse than Saddam. Iraq and Iran will be allies with bonds as strong as our bond with Britain. Iran is known to have REAL weapons of mass destruction, nuclear missiles. Do the math. George W. Bush has created a super nuclear power in the Middle East that hates the very existence of the United States. And if that wasn't fun enough they sit on a vast amount of our precious oil supply.

Posters promoting the election in Iraq are already being replaced with one stating, "They will leave, and we are staying. Iraq -- one country, glorious future." Glorious indeed. While Rome burns, Republicans dance.

The Conservative Gloves Are Off

This was a "letter to the editor" I wrote that was published in the Pacifica Tribune after the Nov 2004 elections.



Well now that the election is over the gloves are off. Coservative author Richard Viguerie, who wrote "America's Right Turn" was being interviewed on National Public Radio (yes the NPR interviews conservatives all the time). He gave a short list of the top priorities conservatives have for the next four years. After each of his items I provide a "blue-ist" response.

1) Take control of the courts and make them "much more conservative in the mold of Judge Thomas" - Coat hanger abortions unless you are rich; and don't expect conservatives to fund preventive measures to reduce abortion such as sex education in the schools and Planned Parenthood funding.

2) No funding for stem cell research - Extremist religious ideology over science, just like the Taliban!

3) Constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage - The first time an amendment will be added to the constitution to discriminate against a large population of citizens. Way to go patriot! All men are created equal unless you are a gay!

4) Vouchers for private schools - The destruction of the public school system, stealing money for public schools and giving it to private schools. Good news if you are rich.

5) More tax cuts - Uhhh MORE tax cuts? I have not noticed any tax cuts. Oh ya I'm not a multi national corporation.

6) Private accounts in the social security system - No money going into the system just when the baby boomers will need it. Also leading economists are nervous that all this money flooding the market will cause a major stock market crash.

7) Oil drilling in Alaska - All the oil in Alaska adds up to just a couple of days of consumption in the U.S.. Why not require auto companies to make cars that get just 2 more miles per gallon, that will more than make up for all the oil in Alaska? Oh I know why, because the conservative agenda is all about the rich getting richer and the poor get screwed.

You silly Bush supporter. You thought the election was about safety from terrorism and the creation of jobs. You've been bamboozled. TheOnion.com (fake comedy news sight) said it best with this weeks all too true headline "Nations Poor Win Election for Nation's Rich".

I find solace in the fact that those with college degrees overwhelmingly voted for Kerry, who receive the second highest number of votes ever in a Presidential election.

Religion as Government is a Path to Hell

This is a short essay written around the time of the Terri Schavio debacle and the funeral of Pope John Paul II.



In modern times religion can provide a moral anchor amongst hyper consumerism, greed and the attitude of "take care of me and my own". However there was a reason why the founders of our great country wanted to keep religion separate from government. Simply put religion as government does not work. In the Muslim world we see extremist religious governments maintain policies from the middle ages, women are treated as second class citizens, punishment for minor crimes can lead to dismemberment of body parts and minority religions are not tolerated. In our own country we see how religion as government does not make sense.

I have been patiently waiting for someone in our so called "liberal" media to point out the hypocrisy of the Religious Right's position on "life" issues. Here we have a situation where Florida's Republican government wanted to "save" Terri Schavio yet this same group of Republicans do not support stem cell research. How can this be? Stem cell research WILL lead to cures for brain damage and spinal injuries, these are the very cures that can heal someone like Terri Shavio. Now they want me to believe that our Federal Court system is full of "activist" judges, yet these judges are doing exactly what they are supposed to do, they are providing a balance and division of power between the three main bodies of government. We see the Republican party do NOTHING to increase the quality of health care, on the contrary they are on a mission to protect insurance companies and large health care providers from law suits, even though the medical association has stated repeatedly that this will have no affect on health care costs. The only way Terri Shavio has been able to afford her health care is from a law suit that she won against a hospital for not recognizing a serious imbalance of chemicals in her body and now the Republicans want to limit the amount someone can win in a malpractice law suit.

This same group of self proclaimed religious zealots recently passed a law that will make it easier for people to shoot each other "in self-defense" and God's gift to mankind Jeb Bush is pro death penalty. It seems the Republican party is picking and choosing what aspects of religion work for them and ignoring the rest. What a disgusting mockery it is to see the pro-war pro-death Bush clan kneel in front of MY Pope. Catholic is derived from the Latin word "catholicus" which means "universal. In other words the Catholic Church, as demonstrated by Pope John Paul II, aims to love and save ALL of humanity regardless of religious beliefs. So how can it be that the pro-corporate, pro-American, anti-everybody else Republican party is now considered "religious" yet the pro-worker and pro-health care Democrats are citizens of Sodom? Who is more evil the guy who pretends to be religious but acts like the devil or the guy who says he is not religious yet his acts are more in line with the teachings of Christ?

Let's all go back to the beginning of this country, have a little faith in our founders and keep religion and government separate. Despite good intentions the path of religion as government leads to hell.

Teach Your Children Well

Kids here's just a quick reminder on what is appropriate content for your age group as rated by the video game industry and the Republican Party.

Suitable Content for Teens:



and ...



and ...




Inappropriate Content for Teens:



For this example we used Grand Theft Auto San Andreas.

Afternoon Tourist - The Ferry Building

There is a lot of redevelopment going on around the Bay Area and sometimes they get it right. One Saturday afternoon we took BART to the Embarcadero station to check out the Ferry Building and the farmers market going on outside. Well let me tell you they got it right! This is sure to be an ever popular addition to San Francisco. It is nice to see a city actually improve and add new life to areas that previously went under utilized. Much like the revitalization of China Basin with Pacbell Park, the Ferry Building redevelopment has essentially added a new neighborhood to San Francisco. Not long ago the Ferry Building was for the most part empty and on the weekends downtown was all but dead.

The Ferry Building

View from Justin Herman Plaza

On Saturdays there is a farmers market that goes from Justin Herman Plaza, across the street the the front of the Ferry Building and continues around the right hand side and behind the Ferry Building. Hundreds of vendors setup shop for the day.

Inside the Ferry Building itself it's like a farmers market everyday with quite a few shops selling everything from farm grown meat to Napa Valley wine and cheese to hand made chocolates. Not to mention books, coffee, fresh cut flowers, fresh fish, antiques and of course all sorts of places to eat. Sit down or take something out back to the pier, find yourself a spot and enjoy lunch with a million dollar view of the Bay Bridge and Treasure Island.

Nectarines
Organic white-flesh nectarines
Most, if not all, produce sold at the farmers market and inside the Ferry Building is organically grown.



CUESA

the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture

They have free public lectures on organic products and the farming industry that produces them.




The Ferry Building

Inside the building on the main hallway.

Just an empty building a couple of years ago now full of life on a Saturday afternoon.

Flower Stand

Inside the Ferry Building

One of several flower stands setup inside.





Organic Produce Vendor

Inside the Ferry Building

One of the many organic produce vendors setup inside.


Culinaire Antiques Shop

Antiques for and about Food

Now how cool is that? It's like renaissance faire for yuppies.


Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker

Inside the Ferry Building

One of at least two chocolate makers.


Handmade Chocolates

Scharffen Berger

You know we had to try a few.




Prather Ranch Meat Co.

Inside the Ferry Building

One of several meat vendors.




Lulu Petite

Gastronomic Delight

I can't remember what they sell, I just liked the sign.



Wheelbarrow Full of Herbs

Herbal shop display

One of several herb shops.






Cowgirl Creamery

Artisan Cheese

Once your number is called your friendly cowgirl will help you find a cheese that is just to your liking by having you try different samples.


Meat Market

Inside the Ferry Building

Now that's more like it. Serve it up! This was very much an East Coast style Italian Deli. Yo Tony! I got your sausage right here pal!


San Francisco Fish Company

Inside the Ferry Building

Fresh catch of the day. I assume the fish sold here is locally caught. Most of the vendors sell localy grown products .


Organic Grocery

Rack full of oil

How many kinds of olive oil and vinegar can one sell? Well apparently many many kinds.

There is another shop (not th e one shown) that sells nothing but olive oil. There, like the Cowgirl Creamery, you sample you olive oil until you find one to your liking.


Mushroom Shop

Inside the Ferry Building

Here's a place that sells nothing but mushrooms, that's right they sell nothing but mushrooms.




Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant

Inside the Ferry Building

They had great wine form all over the world and soeem good deals too. Then again it all taste the same after your second glass.

Hairloom Cherry Tomatoes

Behind the Ferry Building

The fun continues in the back. More farmers selling their wares out.





Potted plants and flowers

Behind the Ferry Building

The farmers market behind the Ferry Building is still larger than most of your neighbrhood farmers markets.

Statue of Gandhi

Behind the Ferry Building

Here Gandhi is shown waving, as if to say "Thank You. Come Again!"

The King of Run-On Sentences

I'm a big fan of San Francisco Chronicle columnist Mark Morford. In high school we were taught ad nauseam to never write a run-on sentence. In his honor I compiled a short list of some of my favorite run-on sentences written by Mark. Here they are in no particular order.

On rock stars who sell out their best songs:
"And maybe that sad epitaph was writ even larger a few years back when stodgy old Cadillac bought the rights to Zeppelin's manic mega-anthem "Rock n' Roll" for use in hawking the wildly mediocre CTS sedan to wealthy boho yuppies, all of whom vaguely remember inhaling back in the '70s and who might've once believed Page & Plant to be demigods but who now only fantasize about owning a riding lawn mower and having sex once a month and glimpsing the babysitter's nipples through her Avril Lavigne T-shirt. "

On the band Cold Play:
"Coldplay is the new creamy soothing balm you rub all over your chafed and itchy thighs after a long day working in the hot sun hauling scrub brush to the weed pile in the backyard while the goddamn kids think it's funny to throw mudballs at the windows and the creepy meth-lab neighbors peek at you through their dark stained Levolor blinds as you imagine them storing up jars of pickled squirrel brains for the winter. "

On a study which showed excesive internet usage is more dangerous than marijuana:
"That is to say, didn't millions of us already sense, deeper down, despite all this mad orgasm of technology and despite all this incredible ability to stay in constant touch and despite how you can now travel almost nowhere in the world save for remote parts of the Amazon jungle where you cannot be tracked or e-mailed or faxed or called on the cell or FedExed a package from Amazon.com, don't you just know that we are, in fact, lowering our IQs and slaughtering brain cells like Karl Rove murders joy? "

On Mel Gibson's The Passion:
"Perhaps you, furthermore, are more than slightly disturbed that millions have flocked to this bizarre ultraviolent blood-drenched revisionist flick and that so many actually believe its story to be absolutely true, and that it just surpassed "The Return of the King" in total box office and is the No. 8 most successful film of all time and it was No. 1 again across BushCo's flyover states during Easter weekend and has sold 650,000 books and 125,000 creepy pewter nail necklaces and you find it all just incredibly warped and disheartening and what the hell is the world coming to."

On John Ashcroft's war against porn:
"Because while 9/11 and the process of gleefully decimating your civil liberties via the USA Patriot Act may have delayed him a few years, Ashcroft & Co. is back on the anti-porn warpath, hell-bent on slashing and burning its way through the porn industry like a priest through an all-male boarding school -- oh wait, bad analogy -- like a hot knife through butter -- nope, not that, either -- like a Halliburton exec through Baghdad -- there, that's more like it -- as the U.S. Justice Department sets its sights on punishing the sex industry and eradicating porn and making the world safe for uptight danceless ultra-pious nondrinking white men once and for all."

On modern grocery stores:
"It's like some bizarrely overlit funhouse, a massive chaotic attack on all your senses and an outright assault on your optic nerves, and that's well before you've even made it past the towering display of Bud Light and well before the huge end-cap cases of Ruffles Sour Cream and Strychnine and about a mile away from the chemical-blasted, hormone-injected, meat-like slabs in the butcher's section that seem to look at you as you amble by, and hiss. "

Careful with that Axe Eugene

Pacifica is a relatively small coastal town just south of San Francisco. It was incorporated in 1957 and hence is a relatively young city comprised of smaller geographically divided hamlets doting the Pacific Coast. Perhaps due to it's young age the city does not have an over abundance of business codes on the books. Although new development is generally frowned upon you never hear too much talk about what type of businesses should be allowed in town.

Pacifica had no specific business code that dealt with the retail sale of fire arms. We did not have any gun stores in town until recently. A gun store, following proper procedures, was allowed to open up in a strip mall right next to Clay Creations a clay art studio mostly geared towards kids. When school is not is session and especially during the holidays this place is packed with children.

You could imagine what an uproar this created in this mostly Democratic community. The local paper was filled with letters to the editor from both sides, although mostly from the anti-gun folks. Soon after this happened the city council passed a law making it harder for gun stores to open, however this law is not retroactive so the current gun store was allowed to stay.

I heard all the usual arguments which I will not repeat here, and for awhile I started to side with the pro-gun crowd. Not so much for the same ole arguments I've heard a million times before but for the fact that that I started to think about the "pro-gun" guys I know. Funny thing is each of these guys, 3 to be exact, are stand up guys. I would trust my life with each of them. Although it is odd that each of them just so happens to be a Republican.

Well as luck would have it, less than 4 months after the store opened a guy rammed his car through the front window, stole a shotgun and started shooting up the place.

Forty Whiners

From: Joe G
Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2005 9:34 AM
To: Matier and Ross column
Subject: Training video prequel: 49ers apologize anew

WHO THE F*CK CARES!
You can go back to reporting news any time now.


From: "Matier and Ross column"
Subject: RE: Training video prequel: 49ers apologize anew
Date: Wed, 8 Jun 2005 10:23:25 -0700
To: "Joe G"

Joe, look, we hardly consider this the biggest story to hit San Francisco. But here are a few facts to consider: They shot part of the 2004 video in the mayor's office, and in a Santa Clara County jail facility. Not to mention that former GM Terry Donahue tried to use the video to save his job. Not to mention that many people did find the video offensive, and that copies were being sent to the mayor's office, the National Football League and the media. Not to mention that it had already cost PR director Kirk Reynolds his job. So I guess we were just supposed to ignore it all in the name of good journalism? Any rate, thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Best, Andy Ross

... and now my response

We live in a hyper sensitive politically correct environment enabled by the media. These tapes are not for public consumption nor are the 49ers publicly owned. The players are not complaining. The Mayor and Sheriff are the only ones who should be held accountable for letting the Niners use their public facilities if that indeed is the issue. Boo hoo the football players like to get a little raunchy. It happens all the time just not on video so why is it all of the sudden an issue? It's News at Eleven!

Let football players be football players. This is not news! What's next San Francisco's perspective on "The Run Away Bride"?

All the Best right back at ya Andy

Updates:
Players leave a "diversity training" session after being told attendance is not mandatory.

49ers can't say 'sorry' enough
At Chinatown forum, owner is asked for jobs, contracts

Michael Jackson: The Man, The Myth, The ... WTF Happened?!?!?

At the time of writing this article the world awaits the jury's verdict in Michael Jackson's child molestation trial.

Michael Jackson born in 1958 was sheltered from the outside world by his mother's Jehovah's Witness faith and his dad's strict and ill-tempered style. When MJ was just a toddler his dad was already working on the first incarnation of what would later become the Jackson 5. The first Jackson 5 album came out in 1969 when MJ was just 11 and from that point on he was a celebrity and a prepubescent sex symbol. When Thriller came out in 1982 he went from celebrity to the most famous singer on the planet, ever, he was 25. He received 9 Grammys the next year and by the time he was 31 he received an American Music Lifetime Achievement award. He was inducted into the Rock n' Roll hall of fame TWICE. He was born a performer, became quickly famous, remained famous throughout his life and hence has no perspective on reality. Of course his parents are due a lot of the blame for his lack of perspective yet since I am one of the people that make up the entertainment consuming public I can not help but feel somehow responsible.

We, the masses, allowed his behavior to go unchecked for too long. We cut him too much slack during our drunk euphoric appreciation of his Thriller album. Maybe because he had the first "feature length" video for the title song Thriller, maybe it was the way he lit up the sidewalk during the Billy Jean video. Somewhere along the way one of us should have stood up and said something. Looking back I can't believe we the public allowed him to go around in a matching red leather outfit with one diamond studded glove. We actually mimicked him in mass quantity, it was hard NOT to find a jacket at Mervyn's with less than ten zippers, the malls were filled with odd looking MJ clones, both black AND white. We looked the other way when he bought a pet tiger and then eventually a pet monkey, we ignored his cry for help in the form of the song titles Beat It, I'm Bad, Dirty Diana and Smooth Criminal.

At which point did we the public notice something had changed? What was the definitive moment when he transitioned from King of Pop to Wacko Jacko? There are so many to choose from. Was it when he took hormones to preserve his girlish voice or was it when he was rumored to have purchased the skeleton of the Elephant Man? Was it his marriage to Lisa Marie Presley or his friendship with Emmanuel Lewis? By the time he dangled his infant Prince over a balcony we were no longer surprised. Hire a Voodoo doctor to put a hex on fellow celebrities? No problem. Live a life of a child's fantasy, create an amusement park in your backyard and collect zoo animals? Why not, he IS Michael Jackson after all. Talk about the virtues of sleeping with young boys in your bedroom on national television? Uh sure o kay, wait a minute... what? Somewhere between ABC and You Rock My World he lost his way.

I'm not sure how you got to where you are today Michael but I should have said something earlier, and for that I am sorry.

Click here to see how Michael would look today without cosmetic surgery.

If A Tree Falls In The Forest ...

I often wonder what it must be like to be in a band for several years, work really hard, spend lots of money going into a studio, spend lots of time away from your loved ones and watch other bands move on and make it big only to have your band be forgotten the moment the band breaks up. Yes this is the fate of most bands, they exist for awhile, create new songs, play a few shows and are essentially forgotten to all except those members in the band. It's sad really, especially for those bands that were good and had talent. I can recall seeing a few of my friends' bands slowly die off, playing to empty bars where once they had a following. As it turns out I guess I have some idea about this. After all I did have a band in high school then later when I was a 20-something. Both efforts never really made it out of the starting gates but they did exist just the same. I do not claim that I or anybody in these bands have any talent, but we had, at one time, a lot of heart. I never made any real sacrifices in pursuing these projects so I can not really cry about all the lost effort. But when each of these projects died it was sad. Being in a band is a lot of hard work even if you are not very good or only played a few shows. When a band breaks up all the songs you wrote sort of just die, never to be played again, never to be heard by anybody else.

Since it's free and there is a lot worse out there, I thought I would setup a few myspace.com sites to honor those forgotten times. If for no other reason past band mates can have a chuckle or maybe even enjoy some of these recordings, provided they get really drunk first. For any major label talent scout reading this, yes I remain available and unsigned, so please contact me with any multi-million dollar recording contracts.

Good times!

More current and sort of on-going is Dough Boy, the premiere band leading the dough rock revolution through out the Bay Area.

Who can forget (well apparently everybody) The Decoys (aka Cadre, aka Aftershock).

And where it all started the band known as Instrumental Music.

and now the proverbial check-back-often-comment: more to come and check back often ...