Goodness from the Shoebox blog:
“San Francisco drivers face a second day of tough commutes as crews perform emergency repairs on the Bay Bridge. Does this mean they can’t just hop a picturesque streetcar while enjoying a bowl of mouth-watering Rice-a-Roni and watching Karl Malden and Michael Douglas solve crimes? Could TV have lied to us?”
Last night during rush hour commute, a cable assembly on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge snapped, sending a 5,000 lb chunk of metal careening to the upper deck of the bridge.
A couple vehicles sustained some damage, and luckily, only one person was hurt. No fatalities.
This bit that broke off was part of a “fix” done over the Labor Day weekend. This is the famed S-curve I spoke of here.
As of today, Cal Trans is saying the bridge is closed “indefinitely”. Due to high winds, it may take several days for the welders to get the new piece in place.
Ugh. Since approximately 280,000 cars traverse that bridge every day, this is not a small matter.
This is, in fact, a very huge matter.
Thankfully, neither The Good Man nor I have to cross that bridge to get to work and back, so for us, you’d think, this is no big deal.
But you’d be wrong.
A major traffic hindrance like this changes the whole traffic pattern of the area. Since we live near the next bridge to the south, the San Mateo Bridge, that means much traffic will now be diverted our way so that folks can get back and forth across the Bay.
It will also affect the rest of the bridges and highways in the area. You’d be amazed the distance the ripple effect will have.
Which got me pondering how much we tend to rely on infrastructure, now, as a human race.
I mean hell, just go one day without electricity, and you remember all the little things you take for granted.
The Good Man recently had some major car troubles and was without his ride for about a week. Whoa, that really threw a kink into our lives.
Sometimes, you know…I think to myself, maybe a shotgun shack in the middle of the woods somewhere with a hole in the ground for sewer and a roaring fire, and my manual Underwood typewriter for jotting down my manifesto might not be such a bad idea.
Then I surf over to Zappos.com to look at adorable shoes and use my credit card to pay and have the UPS man put that box right in my hands and I think…
nah.
Yep, sorry things were so quiet around here yesterday, but The Good Man had a day off from work, so we had a nice Monday together.
And what did we do with that Monday off?
Well. We went to the San Jose Tech Museum of Innovation.
Cool, right?
They chronicle the history of the rise of technology. Especially fitting here in the Bay Area where so much technology got its start.
Oh, and they have an awesome hands on display that shows you how earthquakes work and how the ground liquefies. That display has done a lot to help me understand the phenomenon so well.
But that’s not why we went…
Noooo.
We went to see Star Trek – The Exhibition.
Complete with a replica of the bridge of the Starship Enterprise.
I sat in the captain’s chair.
Because *I* am a good partner to my sci-fi lovin’ husband.
I even leaped through the gateway to the City at the Edge of Forever (the, uh, Guardian of Forever). Oh yes I did.
Because I knew it would make him happy.
Look, I’m not a Star Trek fan. Nor am I a hater.
Ok, fine, I’d watch a few episodes in the early days when I was hanging out with my big brother. I’ve seen a few of the movies and none of the more recent series (which were heavily represented at the exhibit).
But this day was not about me. It was about The Good Man. And heck, to spend time with him, I’d endure much geekier than a bunch of costumes and gadgets!
Did I ever tell you that in the early days of dating, he took me to a Bela Lugosi film festival?
And I had a great time, too. Because when The Good Man is happy, I’m happy too.
I made him go see The Crafty Chica when she was in town, so really, fair’s fair.
Last weekend, The Good Man and I were putting a clean to our home. We’d let it go for a couple weeks since I’d been traveling and he’s working a lot of extra hours.
We’d let it go too long and it was time to be grown ups and get to work. I started on the bathroom while he worked on the living room.
We generally attempt to be fairly conscious residents of the planet. We recycle, we keep our cars running right, and we try to use environment friendly housecleaners.
I say “try” because, well, dammit, we don’t always succeed.
There I was in the bathroom, cleaning the mirror over the sink. There were a few weeks of soap splashes and toothpaste flecks on the glass that needed tending to. I had an ammonia-free cleaner that promised “no streaks!” in one hand, and a wad of paper towels in the other.
Well, that label on that bottle lied. There were plenty of streaks. PLENTY.
I got fresh paper towels and rubbed at the glass harder. Just smeared everything around. I really put some elbow grease into it. It only slightly improved.
So, without much remorse, I dug around in the cabinet where we keep cleaners and extracted the good old ammonia based glass cleaner.
*spray spray, wipe, rub*
Done.
DONE!
No sore arms, no troubles, no streaks.
Clean mirror gleaming, I turned to the bathtub and the soap scummy mess waiting there.
Do you think I picked up the “safe and gentle” cleanser?
Nope! I grabbed the scrub with bleach and squired with reckless abandon!
Ok, yes, I do have at least a little remorse.
There has got to be a solvent/cleanser/scrub out there in the world that actually WORKS and is also earth friendly.
Doesn’t there?
And then I ask myself why I’m getting all bundled up over household cleansers.
It’s so…1950’s of me.
