Escaping the Heat in Menlo Park

Yesterday we made a break for it. 

The majority of homes on the peninsula in the Bay Area don't have air conditioning and we decided since it's been spiking up over 100 degrees, to head to 'The City', San Francisco.

We raided a Coffee Bean on Market Street (The Black Forest cold drink is the best) and Twin Peaks where the wind was hitting around 20 to 40 mph and we stoicly froze to death, but that was much better than sweating to death.

I'm so naive:  I took about $8 in quarters, hoping to park somewhere for a period of time, but SF has different ideas.  Each quarter would have been good for FIVE minutes at one parking meter we were going to park at.  So I did a drive by of Coffee Bean (CB) and dropped off my wife to hit the counter while I circled the block.

We then headed for the Presidio.  Nice little area.  You have access to coast off of the Presidio and we watched a few tankers make their way under the bridge.  (Golden Gate).  It was a fun day.

We made it home by 7 where we missed the worse of it.  Sunday is supposed to be better, but the place smells of smoke from all the fires around the region, but that's for another day.  I basically just wanted to say something about the meter costs in SF with this post.

Time Capsule: Newspaper Headlines 6 mos Ago

Here's a look at some headlines on December 18th, 2008:

• State Halts School Projects (CA)
• Credit card holders livid about 'rate-jacking'
• Oil falls below $40 - OPEC cut ignored
• Mortgage rates fall to 37-year low
• Chrysler shuts down all production
• China slashes gas prices
• Homes lose $2 trillion in '08
• Motorola freezes pension plans
• New York mulls iTunes tax

My Dog Saved a Baby Bird

So last week, while walking my dog, (9 yr old black lab) she stopped in her tracks to sniff something.  Being 5 am in the morning I was on auto-pilot and just lumbering along when the leash pulled tight and just stopped me in my tracks.

Normally, I just tell her to come along and she does, but today she stood her ground and would not budge.  I've never seen her do that before.  She looked at 'it', looked at me, looked at 'it', and back at me. 

"What!?"  I said out loud to her. 

She looked at 'it', in response, saying with her body english, "Would you wake up and come over her and look at this?"

"Fine.", I groggily replied.

Upon a closer look, it seems she had discovered a baby bird that had fallen out of a nest, and it didn't look too good.  It's eyes were still closed.

The odd thing:  It was not near any trees, and no parent birds were swooping in on us to protect it.

I nursed it back to a chirpy curious thing with some water and a few hours later, I took it to the wildlife rescue station near by.

End rescue tale for the day.  My dog got extra treats for her girl scout skills!

A Quote For Mid-June

In life, we should not burden ourselves, if possible, with any regrets.
The past is done with and there is nothing fruitful to be gained by dwelling.
It's akin to looking out the back window while driving a car.

The only thing we should take from it is the lesson learned
from the experience and care not to repeat the situation.