2006 September


We had a rummage sale to get rid of all the stuff left over from previous roommates. I priced everything super-low since we wanted to just clear up space rather than make money. Thankfully people bought most of the things.



I bought a FasTrak so I wouldn't have to sit at the bridges waiting for the toll booths. However, if the traffic is backed up beyond the point where certain lanes are FasTrak only, it doesn't help much.



It kinda freaks me out driving in the same lane as trolleys drive in.



Jerry, the DHL delivery guy for our office, got us some amazing seats to Malice at the Palace, a mixed-martial arts event. I don't think this one was officially a UFC event, but you really couldn't tell the difference. Some of the fights were over in seconds, but some of them were really good. One guy behind us kept yelling things at the top of his lungs like, "Break his neck!" and "Put your fist through his face!" which was kinda interesting.



This is at a Safeway. I don't think having reserved spots for the police is a sign of a good neighborhood.



I'm not sure how he managed to get in there.



The guy driving the U-Haul took the corner a little soon.



Uh, well, maybe somebody thought the garbage can needed a lid.



So I get home one day, and what do I see in the kitchen but ants running all over the place. Well, actually, not all over the place; they were going back and forth between the back of the faucet and underneath the dishes drying rack. So I lifted up the dishes drying rack and found...



... cat food. Yes, somehow cat food actually got underneath the dishes drying rack. I was literally shivering with disgust. I put down a whole bunch of ant traps and then cleaned the whole kitchen. Cat food? On the kitchen counter? Underneath the dishes drying rack? How? Why? Arg.



The Love Parade is one of the annual events in SF. Unfortunately, I missed the actual parade and only made it to the festival afterwards, which didn't have that much going on. Interestingly, it was right next to the library, and I went in there to finish off a book I had left on BART. The entire library was shaking from the music.



I thought this was a neat outfit and hair style/color.



Ah, the Folsom Street Fair, the nastiest street fair I've been to in the Bay Area. It's mainly a leather/fetish event. This picture is tame compared to some that follow; you have been warned.



One of the booths was set up so fair-goers could whip anybody who wanted to get strapped onto the supports.



One of the rules I learned fairly quickly was if there is a crowd of people taking pictures, you probably shouldn't walk into the area they are taking the pictures of. Because usually something like this will be going on. I'm surprised the police allow this to happen on the street; even though there are ticket-takers placed at all of the entrances and they advise people to be over 18, it's not a requirement. I only saw a few kids, though. There was also a German grocery store in the area, and this old couple was pushing their way back home through the crowd. The looks on their faces said it wasn't what they were expecting to find on their Sunday-afternoon shopping trip.



The women were much more modest than the men. There were a fair number of completely naked guys, but almost no naked women, and not all that many topless ones.



OK, so this lady was an exception.



Well, to each his own, I guess.



There were a lot of booths selling whips, but this woman actually had some pretty definite scars along her legs and abdomen. That's a little much for me.



Not quite the thing I'm going to put up on one of my tables.



This booth was selling horns which are to be strategically placed.



That's a lot of rings.



One of the more impressive booths. They had a big scaffolding and would tie people up on it. This booth probably had the most people watching it; you really had to shove or wait a long time to get in close. Actually, it was pretty boring because it took them forever to get someone tied up.



A nice costume.



A cute bug.



I love these automatic mailing centers at the post office. That way I don't have to stand in line for 20 minutes.



One morning the first so many people that got off of BART in SF got a card for a certain amount off at Jamba Juice. Mine was only $1, though.



Honestly, is it so hard to take 10 seconds to back up and drive back in?



Our office had a bowling party on Friday night, which was a lot of fun.



So I cleaned the kitchen a week ago, and at our last house meeting we had decided to all clean up after ourselves in the kitchen. If you spill something, it's much easier to grab a paper towel right then and wipe it up rather than let it sit there for a month and then have to scrape it off. Unfortunately, some people still apparently haven't gotten the message.



And again.



And again. But, the good news is the current people are much cleaner than the people who lived here in the past.



On the freeway from Berekely to Oakland, where the speed limit is 55, almost everybody goes 65. People generally get a little skittish if there's a police car around, though. In this case, however, the cop was going about 75 and weaving in and out of traffic. No lights or siren or anything. In fact, you really can't make him out anymore; he's in the left lane way up there.



I wanted a big section of cardboard for the hat to my Halloween costume, but none of the boxes I had were big enough. I went to the U-Haul store, thinking I'd be in and out in 5 minutes, and instead waited in line for 45 minutes. One guy actually went down the block and got coffee for himself and his friend and was back way before they got to the counter. They had 3 clerks checking people out, and there were about 10 people renting trucks in the front of the line. Behind them were about 20 of us just buying moving supplies. They should have had 1 line exclusively for our type of purchases and 2 for the truck rentals, since we would have all had to wait in line for about 10 minutes then, but instead they made all of us wait for the rental people.



The Castro Street Fair. It seemed tamer than last year, but then again, I didn't go to the Folsom Street Fair last year, so it might just be a skewed perspective.



This stage had music playing last year, but this year when I was there they had a comedian.



A Greek Food Festival in SF. I was hoping there would be a lot of free samples, but mainly it was just booths selling food.



I don't see why all the buildings don't have umbrellas/coverings, chairs, and tables on their roofs. Having a big flat roof with nothing on it seems like such a waste.