A coup as "smooth as silk"

This morning, Thailand's military successfully overthrew the government headed by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Read article here if you haven't heard anything about this yet.

I wrote one of my friends I saw recently in Bangkok this past summer saying I hoped that things were alright and that what ultimately comes out of this is a better situation for the Thai people. This is what she wrote back:

Dear (Miz E),

Thanks for your kind concern. I think this coup is not that bad, you know Thai coup smooth as silk :P There are many army tanks rolling around the city last night but there's no threatenning or fighting happened, only an order from the coup leader that today is a public holiday, but I still want to go to work....cos no transportation system is disrupted. The only thing I hate is all the TV channels have been re-showing similar programs and annoucement again and again. CNN and BBC here is unable to access.

Thanks again for your email, I am still fine, no injury and a bit excited to involve in this situation- as living in the heart of the city. that's all.

Best,

Yui

Party recap and other great music shows

Friday evening on MLK Jr. Way provided nearly 5 hours of intense partying fun. Attendence was off the charts, beer and spirits consumption also reaching record levels. Only one glass of wine was spilled in the course of the evening.

At one point, I noticed about 6-7 thug-clad white people in my apartment, holding paper bags and drinking Colt 45s. I had no idea who these people were, where they came from, or why they decided to stop by. Because they appeared to be behaving themselves and causing no difficulties, I didn't interrogate them and moved along to go chat with Jackie. It was only this morning that I found out they were the butt of some practical joke. My roommate Pedro had emailed a handful of people saying that the party had a gangster theme. They arrived and were pretty much the only people wearing heavy oversized winter coats, rhinestone jewelry, and baseball caps worn askew. I noticed they actually finished that malt liquor, all 280 or so ounces of it between the group. All I have to say about that is *impressive*.

Here are some shows to take notice of...

September 26, Medeski Martin & Wood, The Fillmore
October 7, Magnolia Electric Co., Great American Music Hall
October 11-12, Sufjan Stevens, Zellerbach Auditorium
October 14, The Elected & Margot & the Nuclear So and Sos, Cafe du Nord
October 16, Bettie Serveert, Cafe du Nord
October 21, Two Gallants, Bottom of the Hill
October 25, Lucinda Williams, The Fillmore
October 30, Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins, The Fillmore
November 9, Islands, Great American Music Hall
November 17-18, Hot Buttered Rum String Band, The Independent

Can't sleep

So I got home at 2:53 am from studio (assignment complete!!!! woo-hoo-yah!) and I really can't sleep. I am kind of wound up. I am not totally doped up on coffee (I had a coffee about 12 hours ago) but working so fast and furious kind of makes one a little stir crazy. This is what I've done since I got home:

1. watered the plants on my deck
2. swept the kitchen floor
3. ditto bathroom floor
4. clipped and filed my fingernails
5. got on computer
6. cleaned out my school bag becauce an After Eight dinner mint got smashed into a crevice of the interior

I have to get up at 7:00 am and I havent slept for neary two days. I got about 4 hours of sleep on Friday and 3 hours of sleep last night. Tonight I will get about 3, too. This gravy train ain't stoppin' at the depot anytime soon, either. There is another drawing assignment due at midnight tomorrow. Er, I mean, midnight today.

In other news, Adam is leaving for home this week and will be gone until the end of next week. He also got a new kitten which he is very excited about.

Hm, my eyelids suddenly got super tired...zz..zzz.........zzz..z

13 days into a journey of neary 1000

Today was day 13 of being back in school. So far we've already turned in about 5 or 6 assignments. We have an enormous piece of work due at 9am this Monday morning, which I am about 40% done with, so I will likely be only ONE place this weekend. Such is the life of a planner-landscape architect in training. It's very much like design bootcamp. Oh, did I mention I just got home and it's nearing 1 am...and that I have to be back on campus in less than 8 hours?

Still, I write to my loyal reader(s)! Now that is dedication worthy of reward.

Tonight was the inaugural College of Environmental Design happy hour down in the landscape courtyard. New to happy hour this year is the required presence of a staff member chaperone. Although most of us in this college are over 25 years old (and some older than 35) we apparently still need someone to check IDs to get through the liability issue of serving alcohol on campus. Even so, tonight's happy hour was a nice break and people seemed to enjoy themselves. There were two grills going, a bowl full of Cheez-It's, peanut M&Ms, and a flowing river of Charles Shaw. Can't ask for much more than that.

Tomorrow is another long day but I remain content. The work in this program is so different than anything I've ever done so it's a rather invigorating experience. Still, I really need to learn to stop what I am doing, look around, and appreciate where my two feet have landed me this time around.

There is word of a party celebration to hit Martin Luther King Jr. Way next Friday. The plan is now being hatched and I will return with more details when they become available. This party will commemorate the 28th birthday of a good friend, Jean Paul Velez, Colombiano and fellow city planner.



I have been told I shall make a chocolate devil's food cake. I'll see what I can do...

Take me to the ferry!

On Saturday, Adam, Maria, Mike, me, and some of Maria's relatives went to the Ferry Building for the S.F. Farmer's Market extravaganza. Taking the 38L Geary from The Richmond District, Adam and I arrived in style. In less than two hours we spent $12 on three yogurt vessels, $15 on some delicious Mexican food, many dollars on organic beef (I was not in charge of this item), and I also took a lot of photos (for a school homework assignment).

Here are a few from Saturday.


Ferry Building, North side


Tasty food from the Primavera food cart (ceviche tostada and a white corn tamale with black beans)


I love red bells...


Ghandi is at the back entrance of the Ferry Building. Go figure.

First day of class

Today was the first day of class. Since someone *might* be curious what I will spend all semester doing, here is a breakdown:

1. Monday/Wednesday, 9am-1pm, LA 101: Fundamentals of Landscape Design
This is a design studio. It has 4 undergrads in it and you can probably guess that we are doing basic stuff. Today, we measured our bodies and have to draw them smaller to scale, and in 3/4 of an inch = one foot. This first exercise gets us ready to draw things later on in the studio that *actually* have to do with landscape design. I learned that I have a 2 1/2 foot walking pace and my armspan is only one inch taller than my overall height.

2. Monday, 6-8pm, LA 301: Methods of Teaching in Landscape, Environmental Design and Architecture
This is a workshop seminar for grad students that are or want to assist the teaching of classes in the department. GSI's (Graduate Student Instructors) are required to take this course at least once during their time at CED (The College of Environmental Design).

3. Tuesday/Thursday, 12:30-2pm: LA 170: History and Literature of Landscape Architecture
This is a basic history class all 3-year students have to take. My academic adviser is the professor. If I am lucky, I may be able to TA this course next year and get my fees paid for.

4. Wednesday, 6:30-9:30pm, LA 134A: Drawing Workshop
This is a fundamental drawing workshop that is taught by Walter Hood. I've heard it is very hard.

5. Friday, 8:30-11:30am, LA 134B: Computer Drawing Workshop
Here we learn the fundamentals of the Adobe Suite (Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop), SketchUp, and AutoCad. I am a little frightened about AutoCad. It looks like a rudimentary video game when you first open it. It's interface looks far from user friendly.

6. Day TBD, 3 hours per week, Thailand Studio Workshop
This course will meet through Sept and part of Oct. In this course, the people who went to Thailand over the summer to do field work will write up our final report.

7. Try to fit time in for fun, exercise, socializing, and doing errands.

Saddle Rocks!

Saturday night's festivities at the Saddle Rack in the belly of suburban Fremont, CA were an overwhelming success. The night almost got off on the wrong foot, however, when we were momentarilly lost in the large office park where the establishment happens to be located. We took a wrong turn at the Sysco compound and ended up going a half a mile or so out of our way, but no great error. We were hardly fatigued by the time we arrived at the door.

The large warehouse that IS the Saddle Rack offers a multitude of sensory offerings to please a variety of club-goers. As you walk in, you are greeted by the Beer Goddess. She has a large tub full of ice and domestic beers available for $4-$5 right away. You don't even have to stand in line at the bar.

The enormous dancefloor is framed by a central stage area (where the 80s cover band plays), a dance cage to the left, and a large video screen on the right. The video screen happens to play live footage of the people featured inside the dancing cage, by the way. Anywhere you happen to be inside the Saddle Rack complex you get a great view of women shaking their butts inside a steel cage. It's brilliant indeed.

In the back left of the warehouse is the mechanical bull and ring area. People sign up and pay a paltry $3 for a go on the bull. Watching a few rounds you learn the gist of how one is supposed to conduct themselves once mounted on the rigid beast. You can only use one hand to hold yourself up and you are supposed to wave around the other arm in wide, erratic circles to counterweight yourself as the bull jostles around beneath you. It's hard to believe that women in miniskirts are allowed to take on the bull, although they end up giving everyone a free peep show getting on and off (or getting thrown). One woman even thought she'd be able to ride the thing sidesaddle. It was ridiculous and she was promptly disqualified. Men on the bull tend to leave the ring cluthing themselves between the legs with a painful grimmace on their faces. Apparently, the ride tends to bruise those regions of the body quite easilly.

In the other wing of the warehouse is something called a "game room." I think there are some pool and fooseball tables there and people selling things like Club Nachos and Saddle Dogs for those with a latent hunger brewing.

The best part about the Saddle Rack is clearly the spectacular opportunity to people watch and people gawk. I declare, these people KNOW how to have some fun in the least likely of FUN places (Fremont). People come to dance, shake their butts, simulate sex on mechanical animals, drink terrible booze, and boogie until they can boo-gie no more. I guess Fremonters don't live those sleepy little existences that I assumed they did. Why would they when they have the diversions of the legendary Saddle Rack in their backyard?

The end of the night was wrapped up at the Hawthorn Suites where 14 of us slept in two hotel rooms. It was quaint indeed, and only $17 a head which included a continental breakfast in the lobby.

Observed today

The following I saw on the dry erase board of the real estate office I am working for this summer (and beyond I suppose, since I am only done with one of three phases of the project).

Oh, I should note that the company is owned by a Persian woman with 4-5 agents working for her.

*******************

Needs and wants:
1. Hours of operation
2. Phone #s
3. Mass mailer to all Persians in S.F.!
4. Easter promotion for next year, include hunt, eggs, prizes, clues, etc.

*******************

Is it me, or do #3 and #4 seem a little strange next to each other? Hmmm...

Wound status

Getting "oriented"

Tomorrow is orientation at Wurster Hall. In my two year history at UCB, I have been to one previous orientation (Fall '04). Last year I skipped it because I didn't really care about meeting the new first years in our program.

But now the tables are turned a bit. Because I am entering a new program, I am again a pathetic "first year". Lucky for me I won't be confused about how to do things, but unfortunately that doesn't get me out of attending the mandatory orientation. I don't really feel "un"oriented per se - I know the faculty, the gist of the curriculum, I know how to use the library, I even have the computer lab manager's phone number programmed into my cell already, etc. - but despite that I will be forced to become more oriented. Is it even possible?

Peer pressure and the risk of not making those critical connections with my future 14 or 15 classmates is the main reason I am going. And the class photo. We can't forget the class photo. Next year I will probably find myself going again, to help out or something. It's the same over and over. Now I know why the faculty all grimmace a bit about these functions. It really takes an immense amount of time and creativity to make these events seem at all different from the previous year's. Alas.

That said, things will become a tad more exciting on Saturday. A plan has been hatched to reunite a core group of city planning compatriots. Of all places in the Bay Area (out of our FREE choice) we have decided that THIS is where we shall descend. We are even organizing some slapdash hotel reservations so none of us have to drive home. So far, we have Mike, Julie, Tom, Eliza, Katherine, and Maureen enlisted to go. I hope more people jump on the party train.

I talked to Mr. Gougherty today and he confirmed that, yes, he will be riding the bull on Saturday evening.

Wound

Today, I did this in a foolish, clumsy tripping incident:



While jogging around a man on the sidewalk, I sidestepped right into an area of the sidewalk where plants are supposed to grow. Basically, in front of a stranger, I tumbled on the sidewalk at least twice and landed on my hands and knees.

I was surprised this was my only wound because essentially i used my palms to stop the trajectory of my body down the sidewalk. Would have expected more gravelly skin scrapes.

The annoying this about this wound is that it occured in exactly the spot where my wrist rests on my keyboard. Therefore, I am leaving little bloody patches on the side of my laptop near the little 'Intel Inside Centrino' foil sticker most of us find on the lower right side of our keyboard area. That is, unless you own a Mac. You wouldn't find those stickers then. Although things are changing....

I've come full circle

It's week three in my new apartment set up on good ol' Martin Luther King Jr. Way. As I said earlier in a previous post, it is certainly a different kind of neighborhood. No more street parties for the kids on Hillegass Avenue. No more visits at my front door from 'Crazy Mike' with his radiation reader. No more views of Lew and Amy with their enormous earphones on. It's good in a way to be in such a different environment.

There is, however, one thing that remains constant in the short relocation to MLK Jr. Way. That constant, of course, is the presence of the infamous procyon lotor, otherwise known as the urban raccoon.

My encounters with the coons are to be different now. In my second floor apartment (I live in a small 3-unit building - two one-bedrooms on the ground floor, and our three-bedroom unit on the second floor) I do not hear their scrambling and carrying on in the crawl space. As well, since we have no pets or outside feeding dishes, I do not hear them pilfering Emily's cat food anymore around 1:45 a.m. Apartment life is good in that way...fewer foraging beasts to irritate you. However, my neighbors with free standing (and for a good part, disheveled) homes still face the same challenges to their management and abatement as I knew on Bateman Street.

Today, for instance, I was walking north on Ellis Street after a casual 3 mile run through Berkeley. Despite the overwhelming volume of my ipod device, I heard a familiar noise which caused me to take a pause and check my surroundings. The noise I heard was coming from two raccoons, recently trapped, sitting outside 3143 Ellis, a drabby beige Victorian with purple trim. They looked and sounded awfully dismayed. They were even using their tiny raccoon thumbs and hands to try and manipulate the door on the traps that caught them.

I decided that I would do the only thing a citizen of Berkeley, CA should do at that moment: call animal control and involve myself needlessly in a situation that appeared pretty much under control. I felt bad for those critters, and I was hoping I could find a way to assist their lawful release. Hell, now that I am on the second floor (safe from their wrath) I can now help my former enemy escape. Karma, people.

I called "Animal Services" and the dispatcher assured me an officer was going there right away. I asked if trapped raccoons are by default the responsibility of the City. She replied "No, not all the time." Therefore, the coons would likely not find freedom today.

An hour later I got a call back from the officer who did the site visit. Apparently, the coons were caught in humane traps by a licensed animal control company and they were awaiting pick up and release. She was kind of annoyed they were trapped and she told me she wanted to release them there but the tenant refused.

Why would anyone *so* pretend to be Annie Lennox?

Tonight, I was in the city having dinner at a very trendy spot to celebrate the late birthday of my ex-roommate Christina. At the close of dinner, two women entered the bustling restaurant and began attracting a great deal of attention (admittedly, mostly from me).

One of the women very much resembled Annie Lennox. So much that she was even wearing clothes that Annie Lennox probably has been photographed in before. She has the same haircut and facial features that Annie Lennox has. Mannerisms and gestures, slightly Lennox-esque.

However, it probably wasn't her because closer inspection of photos on the internet show that the *real* Annie has more wrinkles and is a little thinner than the *Annie* I spied at said establishment. It really made me wonder why a person would ever go to so much trouble to repeatedly and continually be mistaken in public for this singer.

It is very strange indeed. I think even the waitstaff at the restaurant thought it was Annie.

Anyway, I am still a bit miffed.

Such is the ending of my first SF-pseudo celebrity sighting.

Last few days of freedom

Shit. School starts in about 13 days. Holy mother of .... I bester make these last ones count! I am filling in the calendar with things as they come to mind.

Tuesday, Aug 15: Lunch with Brooke Ray
Wednesday, Aug 16:
Thursday, Aug 17: Haircut at Barbarella, car appt at Karmakanix, dinner with Christina at NOPA
Friday, Aug 18: Snakes on a Plane premiere with 456 House
Saturday, Aug 19:
Sunday, Aug 20:
Monday, Aug 21: Dinner with Karen Mauney-Brodek in Hayes Valley
Tuesday, Aug 22: The Clientele
Wednesday, Aug 23:
Thursday, Aug 24: Wolf Parade
Friday, Aug 25:
Saturday, Aug 26:
Sunday, Aug 27:

Trail riding, daith procurement & parking lot checking

Activity: Horseback trail riding
Location: Squaw Valley, Lake Tahoe
Date: August 11 (11am-1pm)
Horse: "Mustang"
Cost: $58 for a two hour ride
Grade: C-/D+
Summary: Trail riding is boring to me, and I never remember that until just *after* I've mounted and rode 15 minutes away from the stables. The ride was made challenging due to an exceptionally slow steed, immense amounts of dust particulates in the air, and the glare of the overhead sunlight. Also, the view you get during the entire ride is of the Squaw Valley Resort and Golf Club.

Activity: Ear piecing
Location: Braindrops, Hayes Street and Masonic Street, San Francisco
Date: August 13 (2pm)
Cost: $41 + $9 tip (includes cost of special cleansing soap for post-op care)
Grade: A/A+
Summary: I've been wanting a new kind of ear piercing for a while and I finally got it yesterday at Braindrops. Braindrops is not your average piercing/tattoo shop. It's appearance from inside looks more like a jewelry shop and spa treatment place - very inviting. There wasn't a wait at all, I got pierced within 15 minutes of arrival and signing my waiver. The person performing the piercing took great care with me and I *swear* it didn't hurt very much at all. My original request, for a rook piercing, was denied - my ears aren't the right shape for a rook. Therefore, I settled for the next closest thing to that, a daith piercing. I guess the shop has a pretty loyal customer base in the city. I can see why..I am glad I waited to come here.
So far, things are dandy in daith-land, except for the fact I have to stick my ear in a coffee mug of heated saline water for 10 minutes 2 times a day. I guess it's better than getting an infection...

Activity: Ground truthing the base map I have created for South Beach
Location: Area of San Francisco bounded by Market Street, The Embarcadero, King Street, and 4th Street (it's BIG!!)
Date: August 12 (4-6pm)
Cost: $6.30 (BART fare, roundtrip, from Ashby to Embarcadero)
Grade: B
Summary: Over the summer, I have created a base map for a large area in San Francisco using aerial photographs from 2004. This part of town has changed a lot since 2004, so after I created the first draft of the map on Illustrator, I needed to print it out and go check places I thought might have new buildings. Basically, in a nutshell, I spent a couple hours riding around and checking on the status of South Beach's many parking lots. Since 2004, many of these parking lots have been sold to developers who then build highrise condominium and apartment buildings and these buildings must show up on the final map. This activity was accomplished on my road bike on a lazy Sunday afternoon, in good conditions with hardly any street or foot traffic to irritate me.

It's definitely a new neighborhood

Day four has passed on Martin Luther King Jr. Way. (Wow, that's a mouthful after using "Bateman Street" for the past two years!)

Today after returning from my brief jog around the neighborhood, for 90 minutes I observed (listened to) one of my neighbors beat the shit out of a punching bag from his yard. Let me explain some logistics: I have a second floor balcony that allows me to observe the activities of my neighbors around me. I can basically see for three parcels in every direction what my neighbors are up to. It's very interesting and I hope that my perspective allows me to learn a great deal from this lot of folks.

Another thing I learned is that our neighbors to the south have their computer station and a digital camera positioned directly in front of both our kitchen and our bathroom. Their computer area, upon closer inspection, appears to have a digital camera pointed toward our bathroom window area as well. This I discovered today as I was towelling off in what I THOUGHT was the privacy of my bathroom. Word of caution: never assume your bathroom privacy is sacred. Always assume someone is peeping. Most likely, this is the case. Do what you have to to safeguard your alone-time in the john.

Another slight disappointment to the move this week is that already I have lost some items. The woman moving out of my room, in the chaos of her own relocation, packed up some of my belongings with her kitchen stuff. Essentially, she swiped three dessert wine glasses. I got them at a yard sale, but I don't think that is adequate reasoning for her to swipe them so callously! I shall inform her of the crime and hopefully they will be fully restored to MLK JR WAY by the end of the week. I have some nice late harvest wine from DeLoache that really NEED those glasses, afterall.

Moving blows

Well, I've up and moved. I am still at my old house tonight, but 95% of my belongings are NOT here. It's lonely and strange to stay in a house you are very familiar and fond of without much of any of your belongings. There are a few remnants to make me feel at home, though.

The things that I've kept behind for tonight's stay are: TV, ipod, camera, computer, Brita water pitcher, curtains & blinds, a suitcase of clothes, flyswatter, two 8 lb weights, Brother printer and cables, carved wooden lizard from Oaxaca, several power strips, my Miyata bicycle.

Yesterday, I moved my roommate C. to her new place at Larkin and Filbert (Russian Hill). After the move was complete, I got picked up by Sripal and Adam and we had lunch at Boulangerie de Polk. It was very crowded and trendy, but the food and service were adequate. Later, we shopped for bicycles on Stanyan Street. At 3:00 PM I took the 71 bus back to Market and 2nd, where C. picked me up to head back to Berkeley. We had to return her U-Haul van by COB.



On a side note, U-Haul offices shall be rightly understood as the closest thing to purgatory as can be experienced here on Earth. Three times during the 40 minutes I was waiting to get my vehicle, customers in line verbally challenged the management practices of the staff. ("I have to wait in this line for 45 minutes to return a dolly? This is bullshit!....etc.") And each time this happened, the U-Haul employees openly heckled the challenger in front of all the other customers. So much for respecting the customer. While in line, many people were talking about the simple changes that could be made to make the process of truck pick up, drop off, and equipment return more streamlined. Some pretty good ideas were thrown around. Unfortunately, the monopoly that U-Haul has on local moves in most U.S. cities precludes the company from ever having to enact any changes that may improve customer service.

I can think of no other worse pain than to having to report to work everyday to a U-Haul office.

Up chest high

I am up chest high in boxes containing all my paltry and frivolous belongings. Out of the approximate 40 boxes I have personally packed, I estimate that the things I actually use on a semi-regular basis is found in fewer than 10 of them. Many of the boxes were never unpacked from the move to CA in 2004. However, I am still holding onto them for some crazy reason.

Here is a sample of the contents of some random boxes:

1. Holiday ornaments, string lights
2. Camera boxes, lamps, hair dryer, GSM phone
3. Special magazines/newspapers, medical device literature, resume paper, framed pictures
4. Cube lamps, planter pots, fish bowl
5. Design supplies (watercolor kit, chart pak markers, colored pencils, triangle, two engineering scales, filled drawing tablets, some blank ones, drafting dots, exacto knife)
6. Bedding, pillows, coffee maker

I could easily continue this litany into the evening but I will spare my reader(s). But there are a couple gems within:



I was going through box #3 a couple days ago and found I have nice, clean copies of the Washington Post and the New York Times from September 12, 2001. I didn't read them over...I'll save those for a rainy day or something. There is also a copy of the Times from January 1, 2000. I also have a copy of Time magazine commemorating the death of JFK Jr. in July of 1999. I think there was also a Vogue magazine with Hilary Clinton on the cover. I'll save that one in case she ever hits the big time....could be a nice little keepsake, but most likely it will end up in the trash come November '08.

I just need two hours...

I am on day two of my most recent lifestyle change decision. Well, to be reasonable, it will likely only last for the next few weeks considering school will begin very soon. What I am doing is trying to walk/run for about two hours each day to achieve a higher state of physical wellness. In other words, my thighs need a little whipping into shape. Grad school is a known source of distress on otherwise healthy and toned thighs and hips.

For most employed or otherwise engaged people, two hours of exercise per day may seem extreme. However, for a person who really isn't working this summer, it is not very difficult to stay on top of. Why yesterday I walked/ran from Berkeley to El Cerrito with hardly much difficulty. It took me about 1:35. Today I walked/ran from Berkeley to downtown Oakland and circumnavigated Lake Merritt, a solid two hour endeavor. I took BART home from 19th Street.

Tomorrow I have no idea where I will go. Perhaps I will do the fire trail which runs for three miles behind the Berkeley science laboratories in the hills. Ususally I drive to the entrance of the trail, but I suppose I can walk this time. I DO have two hours to burn, right?

What will you do with two hours today?

Civic duty

Several weeks ago in the mail I received a summons from the Hayward Hall of Justice, a.k.a. the Superior Court of CA, Alameda County. The paper informed me that I had been selected for jury duty. Having lived here in Berkeley just shy of two years, I suppose I was due for my day on the bench. However, that does not stop me from moaning about it.

I called up the jury hotline last night hoping my group would not be called to court. Sadly, my group, G-2000, was selected. I then had the option of pressing "3" on my touchtone phone for directions to the courthouse. I pressed "3" and was informed I was not to report to the Hayward Courthouse (as described on the summons), but I was to go to Pleasanton's Gale-Schenone Courthouse located on Stoneridge Drive. Stoneridge Drive is otherwise known as a street within a maze of a business and office parks. It is a very unlikely place for a courthouse, I will tell you that.

I decided to take my bicycle on BART because the thought of a 30 odd mile drive on I-680 in the middle of rush hour, not knowing where I am going, seemed like a pretty bad idea. I left Berkeley at 6:50 a.m. in order to make the 7:04 train from Ashby. I managed to make it to the courthouse without much delay by following the Sherrif's paddywagon that was making a left onto Stoneridge Drive assured myself I was not as lost as I felt. In general, lost is a good description for what one feels upon arrival in Dublin-Pleasanton.

Next thing was to check in with the jury clerk and then sit down and wait. Soon enough, the room was filled with about 40 other people just as lucky as I was. Once we were all sitting, the clerk began an instructional video about how to be a juror. In this video, a variety of ethnic minorities who have participated in jury service provide perspectives on their experiences. As a feel-good device, the video seemed to keep people's attention. After the video was over, I put my head down on the table and drifted into a nice slumber, almost forgetting where I was for a little bit.

At 10:30, after nearly two hours of sitting in the jury lounge, we went into court where we were greeted by the slimy counsel. Judge enters, sits, and proclaims that we can all go home because the defendant failed to appear in court.

What I surmise is that the judge had us wait for two hours hoping this dude/dudette would arrive, late as he/she was. However, I guess you only get a two hour forgiveness window for being late. I wonder what the hold up was. She seemed annoyed.

At this point, the jury audibly burst out in relief - apparently we'd forgotten the enthusiasm for jury service we promised after the video had ended. People streamed out of the courthouse, into the blistering Dublin heat, and got on with their lives.