I don’t know. Maybe it’s my computer or cookies or something. But the pictures hardly ever load up properly when I login. And facebook isn’t much fun without the pictures.

Yes. I do rant.

The other day, I was sitting on the MUNI in SF, and the bus had passed its stop and well was on its way, when I see a man running heavily in what I thought was a futile attempt to catch the bus. To my amazement, the bus driver pulls the bus over to the side, even with cars parked alongside the curb, and lets the huffing man on. Of course the man was very grateful.

Actually, I shouldn’t be so surprised. Many times when I’m on the MUNI, I find that the drivers take the time to make sure everyone gets on the bus. When they see someone running in the distance, they stop and wait for them instead of driving off as soon as the light turns green. Also, MUNI operators aren’t as anal as AC Transit drivers in checking to see you have the right bus fare. It makes me think that the MUNI operators really care for the people of their community.

And then you have the AC Transit drivers. So many times, even when you’re merely a feet away from the closing bus doors, the bus goes roaring off as you stare dumbfounded before trudging off to walk the rest of the way to class. Sometimes, if people are really lucky, the bus driver gives them a middle finger salute too before leaving them in the dust.

This got my mind running down a list of questions trying to analyze the possible reasons behind the difference in the two bus systems. Does AC Transit recruit lower caliber drivers? Are MUNI operators better connected with the community they serve than in the East Bay? Perhaps MUNI drivers are paid higher wages than the AC Transit drivers, and so are much happier? Or maybe it’s due to the demographics they serve; perhaps AC Transit drivers are so sick of obnoxious college students trying to sneak on without the right sticker that they have become jaded? I wonder…

I just polished off half a whole cantelope all by myself. I ate it the dig-with-a-spoon-into-the-cantelope-bowl style. I thought I’d share that with the rest of the world.

Now my stomach feels like it can look like half a cantelope.

Omygosh. The view of the Bay when on the bridges is too awesome. When I told people that I think San Francisco is great b/c of the view everytime you drive to work, they told me that it would become old and I would get tired of it. I don’t know. I’ve been on the Bay Bridge quite a number of times, and each time I have a renewed appreciation for the looming arches and supports. As I was on the bridge even this morning, those grand arches seemed very much like a solemn gateway, guarding the entrance that opens into the buzzing metropolis set against crags and ridges overlooking the expansive waters.

The other two bridges are amazing as well. I love how the extensive Richmond-San Rafael Bridge seems to curl and coil across the water. Not to mention how it rises and dips as well. In fact it looks somewhat like a grand rollercoaster. And then there’s the Golden Gate Bridge (which is actually more of a rusty red color). Wow. Comng out of the forest-surrounded Golden Gate Park on the US-101/CA-1 you immediately are met with the sheer towering splendor of San Francisco’s most famous icon. And again, the view while on that bridge is breathtaking; you can even see the other two bridges as well.

Come to think of it though. My words don’t do the views justice. Neither do pictures. You need to go see them for yourself.

I have way too much fun setting up a blog.

Two years ago, in 2004, I overhauled my website, making the transition from a sophomoric how-many-animated gifs-can-I-stuff-here HTML exercise to a cleaner, classier look using Cascading Style Sheet (CSS). My CSS layout functioned well enough in Internet Explorer (IE 5.0+), but it was never designed to be viewed with other web browsers. If someone tried to view my website using an alternative web browser, such as Mozilla Firefox, it would be a jumbled mess. This was something I wanted/needed to remedy, since I understood that more and more Internet users are relying on alternatives as their default web browser. However, I just never found the time or patience to sit down and slog through more CSS and HTML code.

Until now. Except I decided to turn to PHP. I find PHP quite useful. This new thing is much more powerful than what I could code with mere HTML and CSS. And it looks more professional too. The admin panel is amazing as well. Although I don’t code from scratch anymore, I still have a sense of ownership b/c there are still some nitty gritty things in terms of management. Technology has freed up coding time so I can do more interesting things on the blog. So it’s a shift from back-office coding work to more value-added front-end management. Hahahaha. Can you tell I’m a business/economics major?

And I find the timing to be quite fitting, as this renovation will also mark the beginning of life after graduation. So with that long, vociferous, jargon-filled prelude, welcome to version 2.0 of the Pig Pen – where the pieces of my life are scattered here and there for your viewing pleasure.