Dolly’ll Never Go Away Again

Hi folks.
There was some kind of DNS problem on the 1st when I tried to come back. Seems like it’s fixed itself somehow.

So much for my dramatic return.

Anyway, it’s time for me to get back on the wagon (I’m not sure if that’s the right analogy, but whatever). First of all, let me go over what’s happened since I last updated regularly.

When I first started this blog, I had a pretty consistent daily update pattern. Sure, it wasn’t all gold (was any of it?), but at least I had something up there every day. That is, until April 2nd, when I went to an SF Giants/Oakland A’s exhibition game. I was working in San Mateo at the time, and waking up incredibly early, spending a lot of time on the road. Staying up for a night game in San Francisco was ultimately too much for my routine. I never recovered. To this day.

It's like a rainbow. — Cold, Crowded, Bunch of people who don’t know what they’re doing…Kind of like the DMV.

The game, I think, just made it clear how tiring it was working in San Mateo. It was a lot of time on the road. Grateful as I was for their giving me the opportunity, I had to get out of there.
And I did.

Before I move on from here, let me share some moments from my time working in San Mateo, documented with Instagram. Some recurring themes: bad food, office stuff, travel grievances, and cups. After the break, it’s photoblog time.

Do I look professional? — There I am on my first day in San Mateo. All young, innocent, baby-faced.

My blogging station — For a while there, I was using that Starbucks as my little office.

Cup — I also started to get fancy with my cup shots.

New cups in new places, exploring the cuisine in San Mateo

That's a bold statement. — That’s a bold statement.

Would you believe...? — Would you believe…?

The girl had my drink ready before I fucking ordered it. I've become a regular. — It came to a point where they had my drink ready before I even told them what I wanted…In other words, I became a regular.

Anyway, enough of that cup shit.

Party at the DMV... — I will never understand how a person can stand in line that long at the DMV. For fuck’s sake, make an appointment.

Drainage problem. — San Mateo wasn’t all bad. That giant nasty puddle was kind of pretty.

So, apparently The Hulk lives in Bodega Bay... — Someone there has a good sense of humor.

Guy in a pimp suit gave me 87 dollars in singles.

There's a state employee for you. — They even let me wear this for Halloween.

It's 5 o'clock somewhere. — Still, I was glad to get out of there every day.

For some reason, he thought it was a good idea to bring it inside. — There was something dark about this place.

I think they over printed those handbooks. — The waste…

Oil jellys. — This subconscious notion that I’m extra responsible for the destruction of the earth.

It's too early in the morning to be confronted by death. — In more ways than one.

On many days, I was witness to horrible accidents of many kinds. That one above there looks must have resulted in at least one fatality. The more I was on the road, the more I got the sense that it could be me some day. And even if regularly passing death didn’t phase me, sitting in traffic for hours did.

I was in traffic for that long. — One particularly bad day had me on the road for 2 hours and 8 minutes. To go 30 miles. That’s less than 15 MPH average. (I’m pretty sure that MPH is inflated because there’s bound to be a stretch where I was going faster…Which means a large portion of that commute was spent going less than 5 MPH.)

All routes still blocked... — See that blue dot on the bottom? That’s where I was. See that town on the top? That’s where I was going. Accidents and bad traffic every way in between.

Grateful as I was for the job (or at least, that being the polite thing to say), I had to get out of there. And I did.

The staff in San Mateo was nice, though. They wrote me a card. They gave me 50 bucks at Starbucks (which I still haven’t used up, ‘cuz I only went to Starbucks ‘cuz it was the closest place down there. Ironic). They took me to lunch.

Nobody will believe I ate 3 of these. — Out of some kind of peer pressure, I managed to eat something I would never eat before, or since. I ate 3 of these.

Working in San Mateo was an experience. And transferring to offices closer to home is insanely easier on the mind. I’ll miss the time I had to listen to music and/or podcasts. I’ll miss being able to stop by Great American BBQ on the way home. And, I even though it was such a slog, I will miss views like this:

Anyway, enough reminiscing. Here’s to me getting off my ass and being more creative this year. At least a little bit.

Is your time worth so little that you can line up for hours in the cold? — I now work in El Cerrito. And nothing has really changed.

Dolly’ll Never Go Away Again

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