26 May 2006

Swallowing my pride

I previously posted that I would rather drive through the crazy mess of traffic in San Francisco and Berkeley, than to ride BART, the next time I visit the Bay Area, over BART's display of anti-choice ads.

Well, it looks like I'll have to swallow my pride and ride BART. I have just arrived in South San Francisco, and will be heading for Berkeley and Oakland (not to mention the City) tomorrow. The change of mind comes from the obscene gas prices ($3.25 per gallon regular, $3.45 per gallon premium for my BMW, these are Costco prices, retail is higher), and the even more obscene profits the likes of Exxon-Mobil are making.

In Berkeley, I am scheduled to meet with an acquaintance from the Democracy Cell Project. I hope this will be a productive meeting, as productive as my DC trip last September. I'll make sure to wear the "infamous" pink outfit that I wore in DC (and like to wear to Code Pink meetings). And more importantly, I hope to come away with some fresh ideas that will be of use in my more conservative section of California.

The rest of the Memorial Day weekend will be spent all over the Bay Area, primarily as I explore the sights and sounds of the settings that are featured in my novel. I'll have photos up in my novel blog.