Friday, May 29, 2009

What in the sam HELL is going on here?!

So, as you dear readers may or may not know I live, work, breathe, laugh, cry (you get the picture) in the great burg of San Francisco. I know we've had our ups and downs, this fair city and I, but mostly I like it. I like that is pretty progressive and fairly enlightened. I like that it's surrounded by ocean and bay and trees and mountains. I like that it's 7 square miles from end to end both ways so in order to get ANYWHERE in the city it takes less than 20 minutes.

One thing that I have a problem with however is the zoo. We went fairly soon after we arrived in San Francisco and I have to say I was really unimpressed. The parking situation was ridiculous and it's so far away that it makes taking public a little difficult. It was super expensive and I'll pay good money if the zoo's worth it. I know it costs a lot to run a zoo - I've played my share of Zoo Tycoon. The habitats were pretty shabby. The animals looked bored and I'm pretty sure one of the walruses was dead.

So, then a couple Christmases ago I'm watching the news and they have a story about a tiger attack at the SF Zoo. See, I thought to myself, those animals are bored and mad and now some zoo keeper just got the worst of it. But then I found out that is was in fact some 19 year old kid and he buddies from San Jose that had been at the zoo...after hours...on Christmas night. I followed the story and the blame game that went on between the families and the zoo and even the public. It came out that the walls around the enclosure were 4 feet lower than the standard and there was some mishandling that occurred once officials learned that the tiger had escaped. There was no substantial proof that they were taunting the 350 siberian tiger before it jumped over a mote and a wall just to attack these guys, but let's be real here, we've all seen those a-holes at the zoo or Sea World or anywhere else humans and animals come together. We've all seen those people that bang on the glass, scream and yell things at the animals, further proving to all around just who should be locked in a cage. I don't believe for a second that these guys were just standing there quietly singing "Silent Night" when the tiger jumped out and made it her mission to destroy them.

I was also pissed off when following the story further I found out the the 4 cops that responded to the scene ALL emptied every bullet of their guns into the tiger after they distracted it coming out of the bushes. That's the best we could do under the circumstances? Shoot the tiger with your guns 24 times? That oughta do it boys, you think? By the way, those cops ended up getting medals for their bravery shortly after. I think we are way too fast to judge these animals after something like this happens. Maybe it's because I think it is 99.99999% always the humans fault for stuff like this (because we are supposed to be the smarter ones) but I don't think animals have to be destroyed when they do what comes natural to them. Usually when I say things like this people immediately say that I can say such things because it didn't happen to me. But I am telling you right now that if I was standing next to a bear shouting at it and throwing stuff at it and that bear knocked my goddamn head off, I would in no way expect anything to be done to the bear. Some say there is a reasonable expectation for safety when going to places like the zoo but I say fuck that. You paid your money to enter a place with confined animals. They get out, it's all creatures for themselves I say. Myself and those I care for included. Besides they were there after the zoo had already closed anyway. They were technically trespassing.

You may be thinking to yourself "what is the point of this bloggie you crazy animal activist you?" The tiger is dead. The kid is dead. The cops have been given medals and the other guys he was with have already been arrested like 8 times since then for being drunk and sending the San Jose cops on a 140 m.p.h. chase thru the city, clearly they are on the right path to early death or incarceration. Well I'll tell you! I had just let it go. Just forgotten all about the tiger attack when I casually went to sfgate.com to get my daily dose of San Franciscoy news and I saw it.

The San Francisco Zoo agreed Thursday to pay $900,000 to two brothers who survived the fatal attack by an escaped tiger on Christmas Day 2007, sources familiar with the case told The Chronicle

GodDAMMIT! I hate this city sometimes.


Friday, May 22, 2009

Well it's friday

and that means here are the things that are bugging me.

People taking their (non service) dogs into restaurants, stores, malls, Safeways, coffee shops...yes I love my dog too but she's still a dog. All that happens when you take your dog into a crowded place is they get stepped on, kicked, tripped over and otherwise hurt. Leave them home!

People voting stupidly on state budget measures to "stick it to the government" you're not hurting that politician that will ALWAYS make 200K a year - you are hurting public services...and it's all fun and games until YOU need help.

Those damn Harry Potter books are good! It's the movies that suck!

Being made fun of for wanting to see Night at the Museum 2. I'm sorry-it looks funny and has like 27 hilarious people in it plus, the first one was good. Fuck you...jerk.

Having shows like "My Name is Earl" get canceled while "The Cleavland Show" gets a second season before the first season airs.

Being labeled as jealous because I hate someone. No, that person just happens to be a useless human being.

Reading articles in magazines and newspapers about how it's not all a bad thing when you lose your job. "Use the time to find yourself" Sure, if you are independently wealthy. Don't mock people that are out of work by saying they should find a new hobby. Here's a good hobby...how about trying to keep a roof over my head?

Not being a mutant, witch, elf or other magical creature. I'm sorta done with just being a regular human.

When people are fake scared of stupid things. Sure, I have irrational fears of things too... spiders, drowning, and falling off high things to my death-scary things. I'm talking when people are plastered in horror to the wall of the elevator because my 11 pound dog that looks like this:
is in the elevator with them. Or people that will break their necks to make sure a pigeon doesn't land within 40 feet in any direction of them. Man up you infants! It's not like it's a clown or anything...now that shit is scary.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Who Knew

I went to the library right across the street from my house (and a few blocks down from my job) today on my lunch hour. I've been meaning to get a library card for awhile now but they have weird limited hours and I kept forgetting. I finally got over there today and got a library card and I have to say that I am still a little awestruck by libraries. When I was a kid I really loved visiting the library. The entire downstairs of the building was the kids section. It was like our little domain. I used to hang out there while my mom would have meetings. I remember the toys that my mom told me not to touch cause she didn't want me to get sick. I can remember every little nook and all the shelves that held my absolute favorite books. I remember where the audio books were and the player that had the best headphones, some of them pulled out your hair like a mother fucker. Hell, I even remember the smell of the place.

I haven't really thought about the library much since I've gotten older but I pass one everyday when I walk Pox and it got me thinking. Given the economy these days, the prospect of having my time taken up by something that is 100% free looked pretty damn good (also I've had tons of people bug me about reading the Harry Potter books and there is no way in hell I am going to buy those bitches) . So, I decided to go get a library card. Normally this would be the part of the bloggie where I have some terrible happenstances occur and I scream and yell and gripe about it for 3 more paragraphs but not today my friends. I walked in with the paperwork already filled out (available from the website), my license and a smile and 10 minutes later I had my card. I even got to pick which one I wanted from 6 choices! After I got my card the lady gave me the rules and the hours and told me that you can check out up to 50(!) items at one time, and overdue books are 10 cents a day. A dime a day?! That's what it was when I was little. I thought she was going to say $20 a day or something. Weird.

I got my card, wandered over to the kids section and picked up the 1st and 2nd volumes of Harry Potter. As I was looking for a backup book that I would read in case Harry Potter was as dumb as I feared I noticed how the selection had really increased since I was last in a library. There were bestsellers, and cookbooks, and books that I didn't even think had come out yet. There were tons of audobooks, DVDs and CDs. I started thinking about how something like this could survive? How could it be free? How could they still be charging 10 cents a day when you don't get your ass back to the library on time? It was incredible...and then I saw the self checkout computer. You can now scan your card, scan the books, get your receipt and be one your way without speaking to anyone. My own non social tendencies aside that is fucking awesome. I don't understand how it works but I am happy libraries are still around. Go visit your library today. Reading is FUN.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Hell with Wings: The Florida Saga- Part 2

Sorry for the delay everyone...I know you were on the edge of your seats and I took my sweet ass time finishing the story. Well you might have to reread part 1 but it's WORTH it! Cause here is the stunning conclusion to the story!!

So we were sitting on the runway in what appeared to be little more than a prop plane on the runway in Talahassee Florida. The pilot had gone back to the gate to "ctrl, alt, del" us and we seemed to be ready for takeoff. After a quick flight we were in Miami. We landed outside, away from the terminals so we had to take a little bus from the planes to the actual airport. This was an unfortunate situation for more than a couple people who had about 12 minutes to make their connecting flight. We got to the actual airport and they ran-I'd like to think that they made it but since they were having the same luck as we were...I'd say probably not. The Miami airport is sorta strange. It's definitely what you might expect if you imagined an airport in Miami. Lots of scantily clad ladies, lot's of spanish being spoken, and I actually couldn't cross the street from taking Pocky outside cause a dude was salsa dancing in front of a cab. Seriously, I'm not being stereotypical. Not to mention that everywhere I turned I was greeted by a sign that said "Welcome to Miami" immediately causing Will Smith to jump into my head with his immortal "welcome to meyammi"
We had a bunch of time to kill so we decided to get something to eat which was actually really awesome. The plantains were really good. A million points for having Cuban food in an airport! So we boarded the plan for the last (hopefully) leg of the trip. We knew this one was going to be painful since a non-stop from Meyammi to San Francisco is pretty much the longest flight to experience in these continental United States. And we felt every minute of it. It was long, Mike had someone squishing him which in turn squished me which in turn squished Pocky down at my feet. Oddly enough this person that was squishing us happened to be watching the DVD of the movie that was also playing in the plane. Odd enough I know but the crazier thing is that this person was an adult and the movie was Bedtime Stories with Adam Sandler. Creepy huh? I thought so.

But finally, 6 hours later, crossing multiple timezones, and going 3 hours back in time we were home. At the baggage carousel I headed straight for the little room where they take care of lost luggage, since there was a better than average chance that our luggage was not on this side of the country. I go in and start to tell my tale and the dude cuts me off mid-sentence and tells me to wait until all the luggage gets off of this plane. So, I say ok and go back to the carousel. We watch every bag go round and round until there aren't any left. So, this time Mike goes into the room and a lady types some random numbers into the computer and then tells us that our luggage is on the flight coming in from Dallas...our original connection destination if you recall. I say-yeah I doubt it but ok. We move over to that spot, watch every single fucking bag go round and round and round until it stops. This time we both go into the little room and I am ready to crawl over the counter and jam them into one of the unclaimed suitcases. We start the process of starting the lost baggage claim and I just can't stop myself from saying something. It wasn't the fact that our bags were lost, it was the fact that I knew an hour previous that our bags wouldn't be there and we could have been home already.
But as my complaints fall on very very deaf ears I realize that with my lack of sleep and food consumption I probably shouldn't get too worked up since I don't really want to leave here in the back of a cop car or an ambulance. We fill out the form that tells them we have guess what?! a black suitcase with wheels on it, we pile into a cab, 20 minutes from home.
At home, as my head hits the pillow and I am just about asleep, all I can say to myself is: goddamn I hate Florida.