Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Laptop troubleshooting for student JC. Interview prep, interview. Student MB stopped by to pick up a computer and left me a very nice bottle of wine. Laptop troubleshooting for student LE. Chatted with my mom and my sister on the phone. Took an N-Judah train to Duboce Park. I luckily got a seat but after a few seconds I realized I wasn't so lucky because the man seated next to me talked with his hands a lot to his friend next to him and that would not have been a problem if he didn't have a black in pen in his hand. He had a stack of blank cards on his knee and was writing the same thing at the top of each card. I feared that his hand would stray in the vicinity of my suit causing possibly irreparable grief. In my experience, Muni trains jolt, bus drivers play chicken with other cars on the road forcing sudden stops, people occasionally shove their way through or trip over some slacker's foot which is hanging in the aisle—all kinds of unfortunate things happen on Muni if you're not paying attention and even sometimes when you are. I got up, noticed more empty seats in the rear car, then switched. In the rear car, a policeman or Muni security official was doing the same thing—walking around with an uncapped pen in his hand. Muni officials were checking for fast passes today. I saw one woman receive a ticket. I hurried past and around him—not too quickly as to arouse suspicion, but he checked me for a fast pass anyway (which I had, of course). Dinner at Harvey's (415-431-4278, 500 Castro Street at 18th Street) with Patrick and Mom Ryan. Harvey's recently renovated—it's mostly new and nice inside with fine wood finishes all over. There's nothing on the walls except one painting. On the way over it was freezing cold with strong gusts of very cold wind. This sure ain't like Seattle in June, I'll tell you that. I had lemon tea and a ranch wrap with crispy chicken and side salad with ranch dressing. Patrick had tea and a spicy buffalo chicken salad. Mom Ryan had tea and a chicken and mushroom panini sandwich. The food here is essentially all stuff people might normally eat for lunch rather than dinner. Joel, for example, might come for dinner, take one look at the menu, and then walk out. We couldn't get dessert because they didn't have any to offer (!). "We're still working on it," we were told. The music was too loud for us to have a comfortable conversation, but otherwise we had a good experience at the new Harvey's Restaurant. $44.64 after a $6 tip—typical for a non-alcoholic dinner for 3 in San Francisco. Home. Left a message for Nate. Chatted with Tina.