Overheard on the 57 bus...

2 older ladies, sitting across from me on the bus this morning...


1. On debating whether to move from Oakland...to Texas.
LADY 1: "I don't know, I've been to Houston and it ain't so bad. I mean, there must be 5 million people or something that live there. How many people you suppose live in Texas? If there are 5 million people in Houston, there must be a WHOLE lot in Texas. That state is huge!"


LADY 2: "Well yes, but have you ever BEEN outside of Houston. Let me tell you. That place is like the Twilight Zone. Just like the Twilight Zone. It is big and scary. I can't live there."


LADY 1: "Well, and my mother tells me that the food prices are out of control. So, you know, the housing prices might be better, but y'all won't be able to EAT."


LADY 2: "I don't know. My mind isn't made up yet. It ain't like I'm staying here for my grandkids because I don't have any. But, I have to stay here for my nieces and nephews because SOMEONE has to teach them THE rules and THE manners. And you know it ain't going to be their mother."


LADY 1: "And it still is Texas."


2. On people texting and driving (as person swerves around bus and nearly hits us):
LADY 1: "Did you see that? I swear, there are so many people driving who shouldn't be driving. They be texting, and talking on their cell phone, their heads in their laps, driving like they are crazy! They all know it's illegal and they. don't. care."


LADY 2: "Well, they probably are crazy. You know there are a lot of crazy people here."


LADY 1: "That's true. I don't know how any of them know where they're going when they aren't even looking in front of them."


LADY 2: "You know what they should do? They should make them ride a horse. Because then, even when they're texting, their horse know where they be going."


LADY 1: "That's right, when you get caught, they take away your car and you have to buy a horse."


3. On the "new" ACTransit buses in Oakland vs. the "old" ACTransit buses:
LADY 1: "I loved them old seats in the old buses. You know, those fiberglass seats? They were so much better than these seats."


LADY 2: "Oh, I know what you're talking about, they had a little cushion?"


LADY 1: "No, no, no. No cushion, just fiberglass. But they were molded real well. They were so much more comfortable, especially for thicker riders. Oh, you know, my friend told me the other day that I have lost inches around my waist. You think it's from climbing those stairs? Well, anyway, I liked those old seats better."


LADY 2: "Mm hmm..."


LADY 1: "I know, I'm always looking backwards. But that's the other problem about these buses. I call them the baby buses because they seem like the only people they be made for are people with babies and strollers. All this open space in here. Must be for strollers. And then they have the seats facing each other. Who wants to be looking backwards on the bus. If I'm going north, I want to be looking north. I just don't understand who thought these buses were a good plan. BA-BY.BUS-ES. That's right."


There are those rare, rare days where I totally love riding the bus. And today was one of them.

How you know you've become a Californian...despite your best effortss.

So, we've been living in Oakland since November. When we first moved to California, we sort of felt that we were surrounded by crazy people. We don't really feel that way anymore. In fact, we really feel at home here now...that we belong among these "crazy people." However, that sometimes makes us reflect upon what that says about us...Tonight, we catalogued the ways we've become more "Californian."

1. The number of coffee-making-apparatii you own has increased exponentially and you consider beans that have been roasted more than 2 days ago to be "undrinkable." Also, you refuse to drink coffee at any restaurants that serve only brewed coffee instead of espresso.

From L-R: Chemex, Mokka pot, air-tight bean canister, (2) sizes of French Press, and Toddy for cold press coffee

2. You refuse to buy produce that either:

a. Isn't grown in an immediately recognizable Bay-area city,
b. Isn't on your "farmer's market calendar," or
c. Has no farm/city/organic label next to its price tag.

d. Also, you're so concerned about seasonal produce that you're willing to preserve lemons; spending 2 hours preparing them one evening and then storing them in your already crowded closet, taking care to shake them at least twice a day (we have no idea if these are even going to be edible/tasty).

3. You're willing to either
a. pre-order your Tartine bread 72 hours in advance
b. wait in line for an hour to purchase said Tartine Bread - or -
c. read a copious amount of blogs, feed your own starter, and stay up until midnight to make your own bread at home...all the while hoping you might be able to produce something even REMOTELY reminiscent of Tartine bread (THIS IS STILL RISING!!!).

4. You plan your morning runs/bike rides around the days that the garbage/recycling/compost folks come because you can't imagine getting out of bed before 6:30 a.m. for any other reason...let alone getting to work before 9 a.m. AND you wear extra gloves on said runs/bike rides because it is below 50 degrees.

5. It's not enough to have merely one variety of salt in your home for cooking. Aaron insists that these all taste unique...

6. When it is 55 degrees outside, you wear (3) layers of wool PLUS a rain jacket because you're FREEZING. (Also, when there is a ***SNOW WARNING*** you're afraid to leave the house because your heater might stop working and your cat might freeze to death.)

7. Your living room doubles as a wool-drying clothes rack...

AND...you own his and hers yoga mats.

8. You don't have a gym membership but you have (3) or more wine club memberships. Including one that totally stresses you out because they are only open Tuesday-Saturday from 11-6 and you have to rent the zipcar because the wine is so good that you buy too many bottles and they are too heavy to carry to the bus stop (which is 9 blocks from the store).

9. The act of buying fish has become a serious moral dilemma.

10. Your "green sensibilities" have taken over your reason. You are both members of Zipcar and you become enraged when the Prius isn't available to reserve so you have to take the GAS-HOG Mazda 3 for your errands. More importantly, you start bringing home kleenex, paper towels, and fruit peels in your pockets because you are APPALLED by the fact that restaurants/offices/coffee shops don't offer composting.

Please, please, please don't let us lose our Midwestern sensibilities. We're quite concerned that we've become, shall we say, "soft." Kindly remind us that average highs of 50 do not equal winter, an absence of fresh lettuce at the farmer's market is not a catastrophe, and that people actually do, in fact, go to work before 9 am...and that isn't some sort of socialist manifesto.

Cat Porn

Here he is. In all his glory. My co-worker, the B-man. Sunbathing...because it's 62 and sunny in O-Town. And that's how he rolls...I love him. SO MUCH. But not as much as Simon.