The Kindness of Strangers

So, I know I am quite a bit overdue in writing this blog entry, but there has been SO MUCH going on that unfortunately, The MUNIverse & Me has taken a back seat...as in the back seat on the bus...you know...the one that's like a long bench seat that is often covered in sunflower seed shells, graffiti, and old chewing gum...yeah, that back seat. It's not for lack of trying either. This work thing just puts a monkey wrench in my creative writing outlet. Ironic that I work at an art school, isn't it? Nothing like working at an art school to have your creative side stifled by work! Just a warning that this post will be all over the place...there's so much to say and so much to show you that I don't know where to start. But I can't blame it all on work. There has been so much going on at home that nearly everything has taken a back seat. I swear there was a week that went by where I couldn't even remember if I had brushed my teeth that week! Yes, I said 'that week'. So if you read my last post about my dog, Beans, you will know who and what has been taking up all of my time. The good news is that Beans is on the mend, and that means that I can get back to blogging! In that post, you will see the donation page that we set up in an effort to raise money for the outrageous veterinary bills that we were slapped with. We managed to raise almost $2,500!! That's approximately 1,250 MUNI trips!!

Why, oh why, didn't I ever follow my 6 year old dream of becoming a veterinarian? Oh, that's right...I went to college and my 20 year old dream of becoming a businesswoman threw that 6 year old dream down a flight of stairs and locked her in the closet! I blame it all on the 1988 film, 'Working Girl', starring Melanie Griffith...when she still looked like Melanie Griffith and could actually land a leading man like Harrison Ford. She made the working world look so glamourous...glamourous enough to put an extra 'u' in the word, "glamourous"...you know, like the Europeans do... I watched that movie and dreamed of commuting to work when I was an adult...living in the city, riding the train with my briefcase and suits with big shoulder pads...Now she looks like she freebases crack off of a hot waffle iron...hence the sweaty face and over-inflated lips! And my commute to work will likely encounter someone on the train freebasing off of a hot waffle iron...but I digress...back to our fund raising page..We were completely overwhelmed and quite frankly shocked at the amount of money we were able to raise in such a short time. It amazes me that complete strangers will dig deep in their pockets and go out of their way to help a dog they have never met, but other complete strangers won't give up their seat on a bus to a fragile, elderly, blind woman with a cane! I mean, I get it...I love dogs WAY more than people, but I'm not an ass...she's BLIND for crying out loud! She can't even SEE the seat, let alone sit in it! And maybe that's a good thing because she'd probably be more pissed off if she saw WHO was taking up her seat!

So the kindness of strangers has been on my mind lately and I've been more observant of how complete strangers treat each other on MUNI. Now I've been known to get testy if provoked, and if you've read my previous posts you will no doubt know that I'm no angel...not even close. But again, I'm not an ass either. If I see someone with more gray hair than what I have on my head, I get up and offer them a seat. If I see a pregnant woman or a woman holding a baby, I get up. I might even get up and offer my seat up if I see a cute couple who want to sit next to each other. But not some people. They play ignorant to the big blue sign over their head that reads "Under law, these seats must be vacated for elderly or handicapped persons." "Under law"...hmmm...when was the last time the kid with his sagging pants, loud music, neck tattoos, and bag full of Jack-in-the-Box was arrested for NOT giving up his seat? "Under law"?? Doubt it.

Now there has been kindness spotted on MUNI...like the three people that will help the little Asian woman unload her 37 bags of groceries at her stop, or on the extremely rare occasion, the woman who will dig out change from the bottom of her purse because some complete stranger is 16 cents short on the fare. Yes, I've seen it...but it's rare.

In my attempt to be more observant of people over the past few weeks, I was able to record some epic video for you...sadly, it is NOT the kindness of strangers. The first clip is one of the "regulars" on my MUNI route. Notice that he has his drink in hand, is mumbling something unidentifiable, and is apparently too good to wear shoes...for that reason I call him "Shoeless Joe Jackson". I shot this so that you would get an idea of the people I come into contact with on a daily basis:

 Now while this guy wasn't being rude and was just minding his own business, you still want to avoid eye contact or else a lengthy one sided discussion is sure to ensue.

This next video is typical of a Friday night commute home...apparently, the gentleman (and I use that term loosely) did not appreciate getting jostled on a crowded train. Something tells me that it was NOT his first time on MUNI...something also tells me that he picked that day to go off of his medication. Notice the older man on the right who doesn't flinch, the beeping of the doors that want to close, the giggling teenagers in the background, me saying under my breath "oh, seriously?!", and the woman who busts me taking the video at the end of the clip...*WARNING: This clip is rated "R" for strong language...or "R" for "Really?!?"

Now here is someone that I would definitely give my seat up for...Aunt Bea! Now if you remember, I have mentioned her in a previous post. Not sure of her real name, but our regular bus driver asked me where "Aunt Bea" was one day when she missed the bus. I loved that he called her that! One look and she is definitely "Aunt Bea"...and I love that I was able to capture her putting on her lipstick. The same lipstick that seems to be more on her teeth than her lips! She's sweet though, and I wanted you all to meet her:

Ok, so here's your SAM of the week. I honestly can't tell if he's sleeping, or just pretending not to notice all of the "kindness of strangers" going on around him:

Be kind to each other, give up your seat, and thank you for riding Muni!

Yours Truly

Help Save Beans the Corgi!

Hi, All-

I am putting this out there to all of my MUNIverse friends in the hopes that you might be able to help save my dog, Beans the Corgi. For those of you who may not know Beans, let me tell you a little bit about him and our need for help.

Beans is an amazing 6 year old Pembroke Welsh Corgi. He loves to play ball, go to the beach, do tricks (he does a mean high five!), and meet new people. In fact, he has become something of a local celebrity in our neighborhood....probably because he's the only dog in the neighborhood who will carry his own leash when we go for walks. That, and the fact that he will pull me in the direction of the nearest human if there is a slight chance that he can get a belly rub.

I adopted Beans when he was just an 8 week old puppy. I had intended on adopting a red and white female, and when I saw his litter of 8 puppies, he just stood out to me. They say that you don't pick a dog, the dog picks you. Well he picked me that day, fell asleep in the crook of my arm and he has been with me ever since. In our 6 years together, the longest we have been apart was 10 days...and it wasn't easy!

We've gone on many a camping trip and long road trips up to Oregon so that my mom can see her "Grand-dog". The bond I have with Beans is like no other I have ever had with a pet. We just "get" each other. When I'm down, he knows it and is quick to comfort me with a lick to my face or just simply laying next to me. We have seen each other through some difficult times...kennel cough when he was a puppy, a torn dew claw, apartment moves, deaths in the family and my divorce two years ago.Without him by my side, I'm not sure I could have come through everything as well as I did.

This week, we had our worst nightmare come true. Beans literally went from being a happy, seemingly healthy little guy to being a parapleigic overnight! He was diagnosed with Intervertebral Disk Disease (IVDD). We aren't really sure how it happened, but Tuesday morning when we went to go for our walk, he couldn't move and was dragging his back legs behind him. We rushed him to our local vet who took x-rays and determined that he had some sort of back injury. After giving us medication and having us confine him to a crate, she referred us to a Neurologist.

We went to see the neurologist, where we received some pretty upsetting news. He has ruptured disks in his back and he needs surgery right away to help him walk again. With the surgery, there is a 90% chance of recovery. Without it, his chances are 50/50. Of course, we want to opt for the surgery. However, we were given an estimate of anywhere from $4,993.78 on the low end, to $5,952.78 on the high end. This is why we are asking for your help!

We are responsible pet owners and have VPI Pet Insurance. However, VPI requires that all costs be paid up front, then have you submit a claim form, and may or may not cover the cost. When I spoke with VPI, given the diagnosis, they quoted me about $1,200 in coverage. We would still be short. Now, we have looked into credit cards, etc. but due to our financial situation and my recent divorce, we just can't swing it. Currently, I am the only one in the household bringing in a steady income and trying to support myself, my boyfriend, and little Beans....all while living in one of the most expensive cities in the country. Something has to give.

Without surgery, Beans could recover on his own, but there is no guarantee. Without surgery, he will most likely develop bladder issues and infections since he can not control his bladder and we are forced to "express" his bladder for him at least 3 times a day. This would just make his situation worse.

The only other option would be to put him down. He is only 6 and still has a lot of life left in him and sparkle in his eyes....the thought of doing this is too heartbreaking to bear.

We are good people who have a great dog and don't want to lose him simply because we cannot afford medical treatment. That being said, we are looking into other alternative options (other surgeons, holistic care, and possibly a wheel cart if the surgery doesn't happen). Your donation (no matter how little) will go directly to his care....I would then like to take whatever we raise and pay it forward so that no one else ever has to go through this feeling of helplessness when it comes to saving the life of their pet. I've never done anything like this, but if I don't try to ask for help, then I am doing him a disservice as a pet owner and friend.

Thank you so much for your consideration! (...and thanks for riding MUNI)

Yours Truly

MUNI P's and Q's

Whenever I went anywhere as a small child, I was always hearing the phrase, "Be sure to mind your P's and Q's!". When I heard this, my school-age brain always pictured a plate with peas on it and trying to walk while holding the plate so that none of the peas rolled off onto the floor (as peas tend to do)...hence, "minding my peas". I never could quite wrap my head around what the "q's" were except that they came after the "p's" in the alphabet.  It wasn't until I was well into adulthood that when I heard that phrase again, I realized my mother was trying to be funny and that the "P's and Q's" she was talking about were actually "Please and Thank You's". I've been thinking about this a lot lately while riding MUNI, and realize that more adults should have had a mother like mine!

One would think that if you were raised in any kind of a society where you had to interact with other people, you would come to learn certain social rules if you will....Meaning that the only people who should be ignorant of these social rules would be the ones raised by wolves. And it is more common that you would think...I once had a fascination with researching stories of "feral children". In fact when you type the word "feral" into Google, "feral children" is third on the list in the drop down menu! (You just tried that, didn't you?) Yes, feral children! These are children raised by wolves, bears, cats or other animals in the wild. These children are usually abandoned or victims of some horrible circumstances that led to them being raised in the wild...or like my comic friend, Karen Smyth says, maybe their parents just weren't ready for an indoor baby. Who knows?! My point is that after riding MUNI for 10+ years, it has become apparent that some of my fellow riders were raised by wolves!

While riding MUNI, there are some general social rules that one should adhere to. I probably should have mentioned these from the beginning, I feel the need to outline a few of them now:

1.  MOVE OVER!
-This means, don't hog up the seat next to you with your backpack, pink plastic bags, or moving boxes. I paid my fare and I want a seat! It also means move to the back of the bus so other people can get on. Or, move over on the platform if the arriving train is not the train you intend to board. I realize that there is that inbred feral instinct to remain huddled in a pack, but seriously...MOVE OVER!

2.  GET UP!
-If an elderly blind woman gets on the train, for crying out loud...GET UP!! If a frail little old blind woman doesn't deserve your seat, you sure as hell don't either! The same rule applies for obviously pregnant women...unless you intend on boiling water and ripping up bed sheets on a moving bus, GET UP! Don't sit there reading your book pretending like you "didn't see the sign". Puh-lease!!! You can obviously read, so read the sign above your head that says "These seats must be vacated for elderly or handicapped riders". So unless your "feral instincts" have taken over and you have peed on the seat to claim your territory, GET UP!

3. DON'T BE A PIG!
-This rule should probably be top of the list...anyhow, here goes...don't litter, "accidentally" drop your newspaper under the seat, leave your beer bottles to roll around on the floor, or leave remnants of your lunch on the seat next to you. Unlike wolves, you have opposable thumbs...use them, hold onto your trash, and dispose of it properly.

4.  DON'T BE A PIG! (Part deux in 3D)
-MUNI is no place to conduct your personal hygiene matters. This goes for clipping your nails (both finger and toes!), don't brush your hair, put on makeup, blow snot rockets, spit on the floor, or brush your teeth! Unless your bathroom is on wheels and regularly filled with 50 other people, what makes you feel that this ok?!? I'm guessing it's that "feral need" to attract a mate...you know how certain birds display or preen their feathers (think peacock)...Hmmm...now I'm thinking, "mind your PEAcock and Q's"??

5. MIND YOUR BUSINESS!
-You don't need to look over my shoulder to read the paper or pretend to be reading your own paper while taking sneak peeks at my iPhone to see what game I might be playing and/or what my text messages say. I also think this could apply while listening to your own music...keep your Lady Gaga Superpussy Paparazzi Thundermix Remix to yourself! You have headphones for a reason.

6. RESPECT MY DETERRENTS
-This means that if I have my headphones on, am wearing sunglasses, and reading a book all at the same time, I don't want to be bothered! These are the universal "freak deterrents"...for without them, surely every homeless-high-cracked out-toothless-stinky-could be a tourist-first time rider-full of questions and random small talk-FREAK will seek me out and try to be my new BFF. Even wild animals have deterrents...think skunks!

Keep in mind that these rules apply to buses, trains, trolleys, station platforms, bus stops, and escalators. I've included a few pictures of those who were obviously raised by wolves and not by a lesson teaching pun maker like I was!

This bench easily seats 4 people...but NOT TODAY!

Mind your own BEESWAX, Gramps! The earphones are on and clearly he has reached a new level of Angry Birds that you just wouldn't understand!

While I appreciate the earphones, move that Barney backpack!

Here's your SAM of the week:

Remember to be nice to people and for those of you raising "outdoor babies"...maybe it's time you bring them in. After all, they'll only get in fights with other outdoor babies and get into the garbage.

Thank you for riding MUNI,

Yours Truly

Play Ball!

So as Summer in the City is coming to an end, there are a few glaring things that can not be ignored. One, we've only had about a week's worth of Summer....meaning the mercury actually hit 80 or above in San Francisco....unless 50 and foggy is your idea of Summer. I know, I know...it's blazing hot wherever it is that you live. Put a sock in it! Sorry to be so grumpy, but that's all I've been hearing since April! Two, the throngs of MUNI riders crowded on the station platforms decked out in orange and black in support of their beloved World Champion Giants. Yes, it's baseball season again!

Now although I'm a big sports fan, baseball moves a bit too slow for me to actually watch it on TV. I've always been more of a basketball or hockey kinda gal. So, I'll admit it...I jumped on the Giants bandwagon last year and I challenge you to find me anyone living in the Bay Area who isn't an "A's" fan who didn't! It's great to live in a city when a local team wins a national championship. It's the one thing we can all get behind and the one common denominator for making small talk with the stranger sitting next to you on MUNI...and for that reason alone, I say "GO GIANTS"!!

We San Franciscans are lucky enough to have one of the most beautiful stadiums in all of baseball. The Giants Stadium (I'm sure it has an official name like Starbucks Park or Purina Pet Chow field, but I can't keep up with the ever changing corporate names that adorn our beloved park, so I just call it Giants Stadium) sits right on the water and our home runs are actually called, "splash hits". You can literally sit in the stands and see boats out beyond the outfield waiting for one of these so called, "splash hits" to come their way! They also serve things that other ball parks don't like Gilroy garlic fries, sushi, beef brisket, crab sandwiches, and something called a "ChaCha bowl".

The only problem I have with Giants Stadium (other than the fact that they are always changing their name and that they do not have the Weight Watchers Point Plus Value listed next to every food item on the menu) is that because of its proximity to downtown, most fans take MUNI to get to the games. Now it's fine if it is an afternoon game, but evening games usually mean overly crowded buses and trains during the rush hour home. True that those going to the game are coming inbound  while those of us going home are going outbound, but there are always those amateur riders who can't grasp the concept of one side of the platform being for inbound trains and the other side of the platform being for outbound trains....which worries me when I think of these same people trying to drive on a two way street. Same concept. So because they can't seem to wrap their brains around this, there are always a few who are on the wrong side of the platform and end up going the wrong way, not unlike salmon swimming upstream. Game nights, although crowded, are always a source of frustration and amusement for me. Frustration in that there are four times as many people on the platform...and amusing when I can see that the trains going inbound are just as crowded (if not more so) than the ones going outbound. I get a certain satisfaction when I peer across the platform and see all of those amateur riders decked out in orange and black with the same tired and frustrated looks on their faces as those of my fellow outbound passengers.....it reminds me of a yin yang symbol...perfectly balanced. There might also be a bit of "schadenfreude"  (look it up! or listen to the YouTube clip of the original song from "Avenue Q" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCQGQ5qBQTA&feature=related) on my part as well.

I also love to see the looks on the faces of those Giants fans when they encounter the same creepy riff raff that I'm subjected to on a regular basis. There's the barefoot dreadlocked guy who sleeps on the New Montgomery inbound platform, the toothless woman who is a dead ringer for Janis Joplin (should she have lived to her mid seventies...or maybe she did...I'm just sayin'!) who tells people to "give me a seat", or the guy who dresses in clown makeup every day and wears half...no, make that quarter shirts that barely cover his man boobs! But I guess that maybe it's just conditioning them for seeing the Giants pitching staff...a la "The Long-Haired-Pot-Smoking-Hippie, Timmy Lincecum", Brian "Fear-The-Beard" Wilson, and some guy we just call "MadBum" (Madison Bumgardner). Ah, yes, just another example of why I love this city so much! PLAY BALL!!

 Timmy Lincecum...have another bong hit, Timmy!

Brian Wilson....Love the spandex tuxedo, Bri!

Here's your SAM of the week:

Thank you for riding MUNI,

Yours Truly

I've gone international...and other updates!

Hi, All-

Just wanted to let you know that I was playing around with some of the features of Blogger, (the site that runs this blog) and have enabled the mobile device function. This means all of you out there using iPhones, Droids (I'm looking at you, Angie!), and other smart phones can now access the blog directly from your phone and it will be in mobile format! I also changed the settings so that you can email the blog posts to other people and you can now leave comments without having to register. Pretty cool, huh? Also, check this out....I looked at the statistics of who was looking at the blog and where they are located and found that there were 4 views from Germany (must be those German tourists!!) and 1 from Malaysia! I've gone international!!

I'll be on vacation for the next two weeks so look for a new post in August. Enjoy the rest of your Summer and...

Thank you for riding MUNI!

Yours Truly

Fireworks!

When Summer comes to the city, you can usually count on one thing...well, two things actually...lots of German tourists and fights on MUNI. That's right, fights. There's something about the combination of tourists, heat, holidays, and school being out that always seems to be a recipe for disaster.

Recently, all of these factors collided on Independence Day weekend. Now I'm probably one of the least patriotic people you will ever meet and I haven't seen a good fireworks display (by choice) in several years...due to the aforementioned tourists, heat, holiday hub bub, traffic, crowds and kids out of school. Don't get me wrong, I love this country and am very grateful for all of my rights that I do have...I just don't go around waving a flag or wearing a "Support Our Troops" appliqued sweatshirt. Living in this city has given me a new found patience and tolerance for all people and their rights and freedoms...some more so than others.

Now an occasional altercation isn't anything new to MUNI riders. As I had mentioned in a previous post, all sense of decency and decorum go right out the window when MUNI pulls up to a stop and there is a large crowd waiting to get on. In fact you will often hear a terse, "can you move down?! there's plenty of room!", which will elicit a reply of "I can't move down any farther!"....or "Can you please turn off your cell phone/radio/iPod and/or use some headphones?! No one wants to hear the crap you call music!", which will usually elicit a few "F-bombs".

So you can only imagine how a hot MUNI train filled with tired impatient tourists and the working stiffs who just want to get to their destinations could lead to many a verbal altercation if someone disrupts that commute or acts less than decent. I have to admit, I have been involved in a few of these myself (see the post "True Colors"), but they have never amounted to more than just spouting off...which any local can tell you is par for the course...especially if someone invades your 18" of personal space. But never have I been involved in a physical altercation. Oh I've imagined plenty of them! I've imagined punching people in the neck who refuse to give up their seats to the elderly or ripping the nail clipper out of someone's hands and shoving it up their nose because they wouldn't stop clipping their nails on the bus. So I can easily understand how physical altercations come to fruition.

So it wasn't that big of a shock to me when a brawl broke out between my boyfriend, (we'll call him Tony) and another passenger. Now let me start by saying that Tony is not one to start anything, but he will definitely finish something should someone be in danger or be at the receiving end of some bully. He's also 37 and a bit too old for your average school yard scraps. But it all started when we were just six stops from home and young (17-20 year old) VERY stoned guy (I named him "The Stoner") forced his way onto the already overcrowded rush hour train. Tony and I were standing fairly close to the door and were getting routinely jostled every time someone got on or off the train. Jostling is to be expected. Flat out pushing and shoving will buy you an ass kicking...as The Stoner found out.

As passengers were exiting the train, The Stoner was like a salmon swimming upstream against the tide. When he finally got on, he proceeded to push those around him to try and create room for himself. He didn't discriminate either. He actually pushed an elderly woman so hard that she exited the train at the next stop for fear of further physical abuse. Two stops prior, Tony had actually offered her his arm to hold onto because it was so crowded and she was so frail. Well, when The Stoner got around to pushing Tony, he was taken by surprise when Tony pushed back. A few hard shoves back and forth, and Tony had had enough. In the true WWF style that he had been raised on as a kid, he became Randy "Macho Man" Savage and grabbed The Stoner in a half-nelson and pinned him on the floor. Knowing that Tony can certainly hold his own, I actually found myself in awe just watching the whole thing go down. It always amazes me how witnesses react in these kinds of situations. Some women screamed, some scampered to the front of the train, one guy just stood there holding onto the hand rail, some closed their eyes and pretended it wasn't happening. Those who had scampered to the other end of the train had alerted the driver...who called police...thus bringing the train to a full on stop. Tony had done it. He had become "That Guy". You know...the one who ruins EVERYONE'S commute?! Our train was stopped and other trains had started to back up behind us. Great!  As the scuffle continues, The Stoner is persistently trying to reach into his backpack. Tony then demands, "What are you going to do? Are you going to pull something on me?", to which The Stoner replies, "yeah...a gun!". Great. See, this is one of those freedoms that we are all afforded that I'm not crazy about. NO ONE is crazy about this when you are trapped on a train with a guy who claims to have a gun! It's at this point, that the back door of the train opens to let people on/off....and just like something out of a Schwarzenegger movie, Tony saw his opening and picked The Stoner up by the back of his pants and hurled him out the door onto the street! Which was followed by his backpack being thrown in his general direction as well. This happens not once, but TWICE. Yes, twice. The Stoner gets up off the street and tries to scramble back onto the train and is twice denied by Tony. In true San Francisco fashion, all of the onlookers who previously did NOTHING start cheering for Tony and his heroics. The cops come, pat The Stoner down, find no weapons, decide that he's "not right" and detain him anyway. Tony and I both get interviewed along with a few other passengers and are asked whether or not we want to press charges. We decline and are sent on our way. Wow, and I thought it was going to be another year without fireworks!

Thank you for riding MUNI,

Yours Truly

Here's your SAM of the week:

Al Pacino

So as I had mentioned in my first post, it's really the people that make each MUNI experience unique. Just to be clear, when I say "people", that encompasses everyone from the drivers, fellow riders, neighbors who wait at the bus stop, the buskers playing their instruments in the stations, and any animals that may make their way onto MUNI. Yes, animals.

In my 10 years of riding MUNI, I have shared rides with everything from dogs, cats, birds, rats, live crabs, and chickens. Yes, chickens! While dogs are acceptable as long as they are wearing a muzzle and have paid the $2 fare, other animals are not...which never seems to stop people from bringing the whole pet menagerie on board. Several years ago before San Francisco banned the sale of livestock at the Chinese markets, I was riding the 31 Stockton bus through Chinatown to North Beach. At the time I was working as a nanny (and hating my life!) and this was the most direct, albeit frustrating, route to take to work. Let me set the scene....Chinatown in San Francisco is the largest on the West coast and the second largest behind New York City's Chinatown. It is full of designer knock-off handbags where, for example, you can buy a Coach purse...only it will say "Cooch", and heck for $20 who cares? It is also full of 10 cent tchotchkes (look it up! Urban Dictionary defines it as "a small piece of worthless crap"...I couldn't have said it better myself!) that were made in (you guessed it) China! It is also overrun with Asian people coming from and going to the market. So at any given time at any given bus stop on Stockton, there will be a sea of short black-haired folks with pink plastic bags (everything in Chinatown seems to come with one) pushing, shoving, elbowing, and downright fighting to get on board. Now I played college basketball, and I'll be damned if the best "box out" I ever received wasn't from a 4' 9" octogenarian Asian woman! Literally, you would think that every bus is the last one to or from China! But I digress...So my bus pulls up to a stop on Stockton, and there seemed to be a ruckus coming from the front of the bus. It was apparent that the driver was not going to let someone on. There was indecipherable bickering back and forth when finally the driver announces, "You are not bringing a live chicken on my bus!"...which was followed by the woman holding her chicken by the legs and several swift thuds of her wailing it against the side of the bus until it was no longer "alive". Problem solved.

So to make my trips more entertaining, I like to assign people random names. These are usually the same people that I see at my bus stop everyday or that I encounter on the train on my ride home. For example, there is a little old frumpy lady who lives a block up from me. She is probably 60, but dresses like she is 80 and always has a winter coat on and lipstick on her teeth. She's very sweet and chatty and wears orthopedic shoes. One morning she wasn't at the bus stop, and our usual driver actually asked me, "Hey, where's Aunt Bea?". And so you have it...Aunt Bea. There's also a Russian neighbor who is a mathematician for Kaiser Permanente. He REEKS like garlic. Morning or afternoon. Garlic. Therefore, I have named him "The Garlic Ruskie". There's also Hello Kitty, Captain Stubing, and a woman I just call "Angie" because she is a dead ringer for a former co-worker of mine whose name was Angie. I'm sure you will hear more about them in later posts.

Being a dog lover, I always get a kick out of seeing dogs on MUNI. As I'm waiting for the bus this morning, this woman comes to the bus stop with her cute black and white puppy on a leash...not sure of the breed. Could have been a Cocker Spaniel, but was lower to the ground and had curly fur. It was obvious they were going to get on the bus. It was also obvious that this woman was going to ignore the muzzle policy. Now as I was saying, I like to assign names to my fellow riders...that includes dogs. I love a good dog name. Personally, I think it's hilarious when pets have people names like "Steve" or "Walter". So looking at this puppy, I had already decided that it's owner had probably named it something predictable like "Lucky", "Bandit" or "Pepper". So imagine my surprise when the bus pulls up and the driver says, "Your little friend is going to need a muzzle and you're going to have to pay two dollars for your little friend." The woman begrudgingly put the muzzle on her dog and paid the fare. She settled in next to me and as I reached out to pat her dog I said, "What's his name?". "Al Pacino", she replied. Of course it is. So I "said hello to her little friend". Seriously? Al Pacino? Why didn't I think of that?

Thank you for riding MUNI,

Yours Truly

Here is your SAM of the week: