2007 March #1


These two joggers came up behind me and one of them said, "left," which I guess indicates they're going to pass me and I should move out of the way. The problem is that I didn't know if that meant I was supposed to go left or if they were going to go around on the left, so I just stayed where I was. Also, years of track had trained me to get in the way of the runners coming from behind; that way they have to use a little more energy now, which might allow you to pass them at the end.



My ticket is #103. The guy called out, "Number 1!" and for half a second I thought there were 101 more people waiting for their food rather than just 1. It was a pretty terrifying moment.



Trash cans are expensive, where as mop buckets can serve that purpose just fine and still work as a mop bucket when needed.



Since it's the 30th anniversary of the office, the 30th of every month (or a weekday close to it) we have an open house, with food, discounts, and raffle prizes. All of the frame and contact lens companies have been really generous, so we usually give a frame and a year supply of contacts or two away each month.



There was one line open at this Walgreens, and this guy had a coupon for every single thing he bought. Plus, the clerk kept telling him the items he had weren't the ones he had coupons for, and the guy kept arguing with him. The line kept getting longer and longer, and people started yelling things like, "Get another teller!" Of course, I was only buying one packet of large envelopes.



We showed up for soccer Saturday morning and instead of an empty field there were hundreds of kids running around on it. We ended up playing on a field fairly close, though, so it wasn't that big of a problem that day. Since soccer and baseball are starting up, though, field space is getting very hard to find.



Wondercon is a big comic book convention that I checked out. Some of the people dressed up, and this Alien was one of the more impressive costumes.



They had presentations in the ballroom. This guy was talking about the new TMNT movie coming out.



Right after that was one for 300. Gerard Butler was joking the whole way through it; he was quite funny.



How cute; a mother and daughter dressed alike.



And, of course, there were plenty of Star Wars costumes.



It's hard to see, but there's a helicopter up there. One of the San Francisco hospitals is having a problem because they want a helipad and the people who live nearby say it will create too much noise. I'm surprised there's even a debate; some noise every once in a while hardly compares to saving lives.



This is why you don't kick soccer balls with your toes; you get big black lines across your big toenails. But hey, I can see how fast they grow now.



I got to the midnight showing of 300 at about 6:30pm, and since there was only one couple in line, I decided to eat at one of the restaurants in the Metreon. At the Mexican place, the meal didn't come with chips, so I paid an extra $1 for them; after all, you can't eat Mexican food without chips. I got 4 of them. And they weren't worth 25 cents a piece.



After I sat in line for 4 hours (I brought a book, so it wasn't much different from sitting at home reading), they let us in to the theater. Since it was the IMAX, I wanted to be sure I got a good seat. I shouldn't have worried; even after everybody sitting in the line had entered, half the seats were still empty.

There were a fair number of people who had waited in line alone and were saving seats for their friends. A manager came in a said if you were just saving 1 or 2 seats for people who were getting candy, that was fine, but if you were saving more for people who weren't even at the theater, other people could take them. This caused a couple of small shouting matches, as a few guys sat down in the middle of 5-6 saved seats and the people saving them got fairly annoyed. It all worked out, though, because they just moved over a bit into seats that weren't saved.

The seat-saving also caused some amusement as a girl couldn't find the people she was with; they were way on the other side of the theater. They yelled her name, but she didn't hear them, so a couple of other random people by her friends yelled her name too. After a while, half of the theater was yelling for her. People also started doing the wave, and a few times it got all away across the theater.



Before the movie started, a manager went to the front with a bag of posters and little statues. He said everyone should check under their seat because they had taped a slip of paper to some of them; if you found one, you got a prize. So the next time I go to the midnight opening of a movie, I'm checking under all the seats I walk past, just in case.



The movie got out right before 2am, and BART stops running at about 12:30am, so I had to take the bus back. It's always fun riding these late at night because it's not the crowd I usually see on the way to and from work.



Even if they have unlimited local calling, 30 nationwide minutes is nothing. All that makes you do is constantly check your watch while you're on the phone.



The Oakland hospital sent me a letter about a medical study they were having to test diet habits. They'd give me $600 and send me all my lunches and dinners (I spend about $400-$500). Plus, they'd give me an extra $200 if they could suck a little fat out of my side every once in a while. If only I knew I would be staying around for the next couple of months, I'd have it made.



I don't really get the people who carry around the little bottles of hand cleanser. Honestly, unless you have a horrible cut, getting the random dirt and germs you'll encounter throughout the day on the outside of your hands isn't going to affect you at all. See the thousands of other people around you who don't practice your nutty little cleanliness habit and who are still alive? Even if you eat with your hands, stomach acid will take care of pretty much anything.