A Fireworks Tradition

Since childhood, I've loved watching fireworks. In a mid-sized city, it was easy to park the car, spread the blanket and spend the evening munching on junk food and listening to live music at Ah-Nab-Awen park with my Dad until the show began. The fireworks show quickly became a father/daughter tradition.

While living in the Bay Area has brought a number of changes, one of the hardest adjustments was Fourth of July celebrations. First of all, it's supposed to be HOT on Fourth of July. Thankfully, we lucked out with a beautiful day today... but it's not always the case. Secondly, watching the fireworks in San Francisco has never been very appealing-- especially with the threat of fog (which, by the way, makes things chilly). And I'm still getting used to the fact that I can't buy sparklers at the store, but our neighbors can set off fireworks at 2 a.m. all week and nobody stops them.

But I'm happy to report that we've found a new fireworks tradition! For the past two years we've gone to the July 3rd Oakland A's game where they put on a fabulous fireworks show set to music. Have I mentioned that I'm a sucker for fireworks set to music? From our inexpensive seats we watch all the fireworks we want and can still make it home on BART in 10 minutes. And on the actual holiday, we can usually catch a glimpse of the fireworks around the bay from a hill in the neighborhood which definitely beats fighting the crowds in the city. Next year we'll just have to bring my Dad!

Happy Fourth of July!

Calculate cab fares

Even though I'm not taking a cab to work anytime soon, this cool website calculates estimated cab fares within San Francisco. Now if somebody could figure out a way to just find a cab, any cab, in Oakland...

San Francisco Taxi Fare Finder [via Google Maps Mania]

Commuting Fun

While we live in beautiful, sunny, cheap Oakland, both of us work a block away from each other in San Francisco. We keep similar hours at the office, so we typically commute together. Thank goodness we have each other for intelligent conversation...because our commuting choices pretty much suck. In two years living with this situation, here are the commuting alternatives we’ve come up with:

1. Car to BART, short walk to the office.
2. Walk to AC Transit transbay bus, long walk to the office.
3. Drive to public garage in San Francisco, short walk to the office.

Here’s a summary of these choices:

	Option 1 – Car/BART	Option 2 - Bus	Option 3 - Car
Cost (Round-trip per person)	$6.20 + a little gas	$7.00	Toll - $4 Parking - $13 ($26 divided by 2 people)
Time door-to-door	40 minutes	50 minutes	20-60 minutes depending on traffic
Environmentally Friendly?	Sort of.	Yes!	No!
Other notes	Cost will go up soon, $1 extra for parking starting next month	If we get a nice bus, we can sleep. If not, we arrive with a headache, backache, and whiplash	Driving sucks, but the office will pay for a couple days of parking per month for “emergency” purposes.

Sooo, you soak all that in? We're pretty much tree-huggers, so driving isn't really an option, nor is it anywhere near affordable. Earlier this summer we switched from Option 1 to Option 2. Option 2 is pretty awesome...we get to leave our car at home, we always get a seat, and there's a nice 2-3 mile walk built in. Option 1 works pretty well too...it's cheaper and a little faster, but lately we haven't been getting a seat and we need to drive (while still partially asleep).

Great...except that lately all of our AC Transit buses have been crap-tastic, plastic-seated, loud, and old old old. There is such a huge difference between the posh charter buses and the old local buses. Going 60 mph in one of the local buses is such a horrible way to get to work that we wish we could switch back to BART. We could do casual carpool, but that is a little creepy and tricky with two of us.

I really shouldn't complain. Having two relatively good public transportation options is better than in most areas. Both options are so close to being enjoyable! Maybe we can find some neighbors and carpool everyday...bleh!