Well, it's been quite a while since the last SF Bay Trojan episode. Yow, the last episode was at the beginning of June.

I've been back to the east coast twice in that time, once to hail Snuffy at his wedding and once for a long 4th of July weekend to praise the return of the great Tiki, Muan-Hotep. Before June, if you remember, I returned for my sister's wedding. Basically, I've flown home every three weeks or so since I came here, which has either improved or screwed up my state of mind. I'm not sure which.

It's a little easier to get into the groove now without needing to think ahead to the next trip (buying tickets, getting everything together, making sure I finish up my work so it has a neat bow on it, etc.) I'm almost, sort of, kinda moved into my apartment. I still have a great big stack of boxes, but the computer is off the floor (if only on a box) and art is now sitting out waiting to be hung up.

It seems like I'm on vacation. Maybe it's the continuous sun. Or the fact that there's a pool and an exercise room near my apartment. Or the fact that I go out to lunch and dinner a lot. Or the fact that I wear shorts all the time. Or the fact that I'm a young and handsome dancin' machine scopin' out the swingin' disco scene. (No, no, no, no, no...)

The tide from the east to west coast continues with Curt Krone bailing from MapInfo and going to Autodesk, because he missed being Dave Paine's love-slave. Actually, that's _completely_ untrue. Really, it is. Curt going to Autodesk has NOTHING to do with that. Honest.

Autodesk (and hence, Curt) lives north of the Golden Gate Bridge, about 1 hour 20 minutes from where I live. We got together a couple weeks ago (with Craig and Mary) to go to Muir Woods, which is also up there.

Muir Woods is cool. They have some large trees there. They have some old trees there. They have some tall trees there. They have offal-pitching primates posing as people there.

I'm sure that hairy-armed Hank with the obligatory Hawaiian-print shirt and $1000 camera (set on full auto) didn't see the sign saying "Stay on the path or you will trample and kill the very precious and endangered forest undergrowth" as he stepped over it to get a photo of his inbred, buck-toothed family. Maybe Hanky can't read. Maybe Hanky should pick up that empty Doritos bag his three-year-old just dropped. Maybe Hanky should be crushed by a giant garlic press specifically built for off-roading jerks.

Once the people-blinders were put on, Muir Woods was pretty cool. We decided to take one of the longer trails, which was generally devoid of people. The terrain is really neat. Its frequency is much higher than in the ADKs. The hills are much more articulated and complicated-- I don't know best how to describe it.

Mary was actually running on portions of the trail. We found out why later: "Because my feet didn't hurt as much." Ugh. You may remember that Mary wore sandals to help me move into my apartment. She also wore sandals here, and they chaaaaaffffed until the blisters popped and it was really icky. Enough said. Nothing needed amputation.

I'll leave it there until next time, when we find out if (a) Curt hunts me down and kills me for my comments about him or (b) you can live on a diet consisting only of Mountain Dew and Clif Bars.

poz

P.S. Meanwhile, I don't know if I will get any of the email sent to me since June 19th (which is the last day I seem to have anything). If anything was important or (actually) funny, send it my way. "I need contact."

P.P.S. Jackie Chan!