Can you spot Colin in the city?

Can you spot Colin in the city?
Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

Travel. It can be a thousand miles, a hundred miles, or just a mile. On this weekend in September it turned into more than just miles for Elijah, and specifically, Colin. Eli’s been to Alaska, Europe, the Cook Islands, and even Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Colin’s been to Vancouver… Washington. So on this beautiful weekend in September Colin ventured out of the state of the Northwest and into a new experience. A city. The city of San Francisco, California. And he seemed to like it. There’s so much to see, so many “Bangers” as he put it. (“Bangers” for those of you who aren’t in your early 20’s refers to hot woman.) And he’s right. And I love that. But that’s not all we saw in the short amount of time Colin and Elijah were here. We also saw a bevy of other things which I thought were pretty banging (including Santa Cruz, the Golden Gate Bridge, the house the Grateful Dead lived in, etc.).

Check them out. I put up the pictures here.

I See a Marriage

The Young Couple
Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

Gabe and Sarah are probably somewhere around 18,000 feet on the side of Kilamanjaro wishing that they’d done a few more training hikes before the wedding. Wherever they are on there well deserved honeymoon, one thing is for certain; they’re looking back on the wedding with a huge smile. It went off in true Gabe/Sarah style—planned perfectly with lots of libations, dancing, friends, and family. Their vows were probably the highlight of a highlight filled wedding. Well thought out, well delivered, beautiful and sincere, they showed just how much these two care about each other. Long live Gabara, I mean Sarabe, I mean… well you know I mean. Raise your glasses to a wonderful newly married couple.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Time to Celebrate!!

This just in: Elijah Michalowski is officially an Esquire. Send your congratulations to him (and any litigation problems), he just passed the Oregon Bar.

This Isn’t NYC

Originally uploaded by soul collector.

Yesterday I took the Bart home from SF. The Bart, for those of you who don’t know, is the Bay Area’s subway system. It is, however, no NYC subway system. No urine in the stations. No humidity while waiting for the trains. And no hard plastic seats. They actually have soft upholstered seats in the trains (a little skank if you think about what can soak into upholstery). But the weirdest, most opposite NYC subway thing I’ve noticed while taking the Bart happened to me yesterday afternoon.

The platform was extremely busy when I got to it. My train was about to arrive so I rushed over to where the train door was to open. But, unlike back in the big apple, there wasn’t a mob of people pushing themselves ever closer to the tracks. No, as I looked around I notice that people were lining up in single file lines. SINGLE FILE LINES. Two lines per door. What is this, grade school? Do people in the Bay Area not have the ability to navigate entering a door opening without being placed in a perfectly straight line? Is the Bay Area the hidden vortex that vanquishes complex spatial movements and makes it so society can only exist when it is put into the elemental norms of a first-grade like singularity? Come on! A freaking single file line?!!?

So the train arrived and you know what I did? I didn’t go all New Yorker and push my way through the door. I didn’t cause a revolt by yelling something smart and witty about breaking the bonds of social norms. And I didn’t boycott the whole situation and decide to take a bus. No, instead I got into line and entered the train just like everyone else. Stupid peer pressure. I hate single file lines.

Strangers

San Francisco Tolls!
Originally uploaded by eriqliza.

Let’s hitchhike. To work. Kinda. They call it Casual Carpooling and it consists of standing in an unmarked line at an underpass. A constant stream of cars visits the line and picks up two people at a time. This is not sanctioned by the government. There are no signs directing you to where you’re supposed to go. No money is passed between people. No one talks during the ride except to say “hello” and “thank you”. And we’re all strangers. Complete strangers. The ride ends when you get dropped off on in SF at the bus depot. Apparently Casual Carpooling has existed in the Bay Area for over 20 years. The reason? Because it costs 4 dollars to go over the Bay Bridge, but it’s much faster and free if you are in the carpool lane with 3 or more people (I suppose it’s extremely expensive if you get caught in the carpool lane with 2 or less people).

I’ve tried it… three times. It’s not scary. Super easy. And very affordable. Let’s hitchhike to work. You will like it.