Monday, December 9, 2002
Today the 8:30 AM bus didn't show up. The bus at 8:50 AM came and this bus driver, as was her norm, wouldn't let people out at 8th and Judah like most drivers do. "Sorry, this is not a stop—I can't let you out here." Indeed it's not a stop, but the street is not a busy one. I always look back for bicyclists when other drivers let us out at this corner, but there's never anything to be worried about—there's not enough room and not enough traffic to warrant concern. She turned the corner and just before the left turn at 9th and Judah, she announces, "I'm letting you all out here since I have to turn right! I know this isn't a stop, but I'm letting you out here." Worked on the interview reply form all day to work in changes from James and code 4 new pages. Worked through lunch at my desk eating leftovers from Eric's Restaurant. Met with Susie. We had a great meeting about the (lack of) direction for the Center for Self Care and about how overwhelmingly overworked we both are. Dinner at Tower Burger with Patrick: he got a cheeseburger and fries. I got fish and chips with a small side of cole slaw. It was our first time at Tower Burger, and in retrospect it was for me a Guinan experience, but I didn't know that until after we left. We ate at Tower Burger because we planned to shop for groceries at nearby Tower Market. Tower Burger has delicious very basic American diner food for average prices, considering it wasn't full table service. We paid US$13.50 for our meal, which included a cup of hot tea and a soda. I described the ambience as creepy and Patrick laughed at that and said, "I think it's nice." Part of it was the decor, part of it was the unusual methods of how the all-Asian employees created rapport with the customers—"Oh! You didn't see I put the hot tea on the counter for you to pick up so I bring it to you—no problem!" I can't really explain it all, but I'll try. The decor was: 20-foot ceilings, tile floor (brown, I think), walls painted pumpkin, laminate tabletops, padded-seat chairs made of metal, booth benches lining one wall, 3 styles of pendant lamps—all modern but very different from each other, and the one sure sign of Asian management: the wall clock made of fake-gold-plated metal and glass (or was it plastic?) shaped in a circle, oval, or in this case, rounded-corner square. The weird part for me was that it was all too tasteful—and clean—for a typical Asian-owned establishment. (Yes, even with that wall clock.) I say this not to be spiteful toward Asians, but out of my own experiences. I've had this same feeling before in just a few other Asian-owned establishments, and I've decided now that this feeling causes within me an urge to discover exactly what happened. I can only surmise that they hired a decorator who finished the start of the project and then they made their own changes at a later time. I wanted to ask: "Why didn't you just get all matching pendants?" or "Why did you think those pendants would go well with that wall sconce?" or "Why is that wall clock in 80% of the Asian-owned restaurants on the west coast?" (Yes, I've been to them all.) In the end, I suppose what bothered me was that they seemed to have chosen some elements for longevity (the tables and chairs) but others for aesthetic beauty (some of the pendant lamps) and when they brought it all together it didn't quite work. Somewhere along the way things went from beautiful to nice just by a few poor design choices—as evidenced by Patrick's observation: "I think it's nice." Like an injustice of interior design. Like Guinan and every fiber of her being. I said it felt creepy to me, and I still stand by that now. We shopped for groceries at Tower Market, but the meat counter had closed so Patrick plans to return tomorrow with Sam to complete our grocery needs. Patrick said he wrote the first paragraph of his next novel today. Worked on Domenica's site. It now validates as XHTML 1.1 and looks perfect or acceptable in MOZ1.1, IE6.0, NS7.0, NS6.2, NS3.04, NS2.02. It looks awful in NS4.08, OP6.05. That's just the Windows side. Must test on Mac, too.