Archive for June 30th, 2003

Jun 30 2003

Seen & Heard

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Woke up on Saturday to a Bay-full of blissful, silver fog. The foghorns joyfully announced the end of the heat wave in their deep, authoritative voices (they are very convincing). In the distance, I could hear the sea lions at Pier 39 barking their happiness at the alleviation of the heat, with the wild parrots’ wild, harsh voices and clatter of wings providing the top note in this San Francisco symphony of hometown noises. The only thing missing was the bright jangle of the cable car bells, since none dare approach our neighborhood. Note to fans: the 40th annual cable car bell ringing contest is coming up in the middle of July. It’s held on or around our friend Mike C.’s birthday, just for him, even if he isn’t here. If you are, check it out!

On the way to work today, I found an origami crane, made of patterned, dark blue paper. It was abandoned on the sidewalk, so I picked it up and brought it to work, where it is currently gracing my computer monitor. Probably good office feng shui, and it ain’t like I don’t need it, what with another quarterly reporting time just around the corner. The good thing is that we finally have another analyst (sadly, not Colin, who decided not relocate to San Francisco and ditch all his summer plans to take the job)*, starting around the time of the cable car bell ringing contest. The bad news is that we’ll be too busy to train him, but will have to find the time.

As I picked up the crane, a guy passed me with an inflatable doll carried on his shoulders, the way your parents may have done when you were a kid, if that’s not too horrifying a conjunction of images. I’m afraid it gets worse, because the doll was wearing vinyl, flame-patterned boots and nothing else, including its head, which was completely missing. The guy was whistling.

*Because then I’d find out once and for all if he’s really a professor at Yale, as I suspect, instead of the high school student he claims to be!

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