Stories heard

As the Mac proggies find new ways of effing up my images.. ("The images cannot be rotated without trim as the ratio is not a factor of 8" - Graphic Converter Plus.. "Save images at JPEG compression of 5?" - Photoshop 7 , when Ive ALREADY done all that and all I just wanna do is rotate the *^%$$#% images. GAH!) lemme relate a few stories..

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"At least the commute got better", Fred said with a bitter laugh as we drove through the light traffic up the peninsula freeway.

The tech downturn and recession hit the area hard. Not as many nice cars are evident, the tech ads arent as pervasive downtown.

I have conflicted feelings on that I, I said. On one hand, it seems like suicide to go into an area when the economy is depressed. On the other hand, I was kinda rooting for a recession, I admitted.

Fred was silent for a bit, thinking of a way to explain the reality to me. Finally she said, "I would say maybe 40 percent of my friends lost their jobs. Its been brutal."

At least the traffic is lighter.
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Average August High Temperature for SF 64.2 degrees

But its &%$#&* AUGUST, I whined.

"Well, in October we will get a brief heat wave. And in the winter it'll rain a lot, so by the spring everything will be green."

Im learning a lot about fog and chilly weather. In SUMMER.

No wonder the last time I was here, in the fall, people kept saying it was the best time of the year.
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"Cali is different" I opined...

"You have no idea just how different" said the talkative man on the bus. "The politicians are especially wild."

"Why?" I asked sleepily, hoping he would shut up so I could get some sleep before the next 'rest stop'.

"Lets see. The mayor of Oakland, who used to be governer, is gay, and one of his former lovers is in a sham marriage. And that man is the current governer."

My bullshit detector, dampened by sleep deprivation, didnt go off. So I believed him.

Funnily enough, in the golden daylight of California ... it doesnt seem so far-fetched from what Ive seen so far either.