San Francisco
I was in San Francisco a few weeks back since slatepelican and I
spent Yankee thanksgiving there after I made a pilgrimage to the
'plex in Mountain View.
I have a strange relationship with San Francisco. I've been there
quite a few times now, so I know my way around, but I still don't
really feel like I know the city well in terms of where to go for
various things or which places are sketchy, which are yuppy, which
are hipster, etc. In NY, there are pretty clear geographical borders
(like rivers, which are kinda hard to miss) between areas of the city.
Anyway, there are a couple things that always bug me about SF. The
first is that stuff closes super early. I thought SF was supposed
to be a big city but I've struggled hard to find dinner at the very
reasonable hour of 9pm. WTF? The second thing that always bugs me is
how hard it is to get around in SF. If you have a car, parking is a
PITA. If you're on foot, MUNI sucks. A bike is pretty much the best
way to do it, but since I don't live there and I'm always visiting,
I don't always have one. And even with a bike, you have to contend
with SF's formidable hills.
Anyway, I think SF is probably a pretty decent place to live, but as a
visitor I often find it frustrating. It's sort of like programming in
a new language and having to look up how to do little mundane things
because you're not yet familiar with everything.
Harpfucker
Say what you will about the coalition, I think Harper is really the
guy who screwed up. He had a strengthened minority, and attempted
to govern as if he had a majority. He really didn't need to put the
extra hardcore measures of slashing funding for political parties
and reducing women's rights in the budget, but did so anyway as if
to taunt the opposition parties.
Frankly, I'm proud that the other parties didn't just "grin and
bear it" and stood up to the Cons. Those measures were stupid and we
don't need them, and as a result of the opposition parties' courage
we won't have them.
What frustrates me is that in terms of public opinion, the whole thing
has come out in favor of the Cons. I really don't get it. Never in
history has a prime minister of Canada been so desperate as to ask
the governor general to suspend parliament. How can that possibly
make Harper look good?
