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In looking back over some of the bits I've written, I realize that there should be a section of my site just to bitch about the public transportation in the Bay Area. So naturally in witnessing the sheer mass of it all, I figured a reality check bit might be in order.       For starters, I grew up where there was basically no form of public transportation, in Oroville, CA (yes, I too find their websites primitive yet informative.) There was some form of a bus and it went somewhere, but it really didn't run that often and it had only a couple of stops around town, doing me little good as I was a good five miles from downtown proper. That being that, we all pretty much drove cars. When you were 16 it was time to put away the rusty dirt bike you picked up somewhere for cheap and get something you didn't have to pedal around. Something that inhaled gas and hurtled you to your destination. In a nutshell, a four-wheeled box that lost value every time you looked at it.       Once you got a car, you got expenses. The average teenager could probably exist quite well on $100-200 a month (oh yeah, times have changed!) but once the gasoline-powered vacuum cleaner came in to existence, your money went in to a black hole. At the time, I thought I loved to drive. It gave me freedom and it was fun.       So seven years later here I am living in San Francisco without a cars (two years strong!) and realizing that I really hate driving. Beyond the ridiculous cost of the car, driving is stressful and you don't enjoy anything when you're at the wheel. It took many crossings of the Bay Bridge before I was doing it in the Casual Carpool one day to realize what an awesome view it is coming in to downtown SF.       Now I find myself entering the spoiled years of public transportation and not having to drive. I use Bart everyday and the SF Muni sometimes. I've started to let the few minutes of lateness that these systems usually are become sand in my mouth, grinding away at me. It seems I've forgotten the "joy" of sitting in traffic or the "wonders" of parking in Lower Nob Hill all very quickly. The fact that I do know what it's like not to have these systems in place has done little to quell my grumbles and while it is true that these systems are running at a less than stellar level from five years ago, they're still running pretty well. It's unfortunate that the fares tend to keep going up, but such is life in the big city.       It seems to really all boil down to the destination as to how much you enjoy the way you get there. When I first started dating Jenya and had to come in from the East Bay it didn't matter how I got there as I was always looking forward to the destination. These days, as I lug my barely conscious carcass out to Walnut Creek, I can't help myself but find the short cicuits in a system that I should otherwise by damn thankful to have.       I don't know if there's a way around the griping. Everyone I know who does the same commute I do reaches a boiling point with it somewhere during the tenure of their stay with the company. It's a long, long commute with a lot of walking that isn't cheap to a town that most certainly is not San Francisco. The only way around it is to not do it in the end. Kind of a dumb resolution that I've come to, but I guess that is about the only one I can reach. Add another few paragraphs to the griping...

There is simply no easy way to do it. The trip up the coast of Croatia from Dubrovnik is just not a simple affair. That is, until you hit the new highway that Croatia has so graciously built for everyone. It makes you forget much of the extremely long time it takes to get from Dubrovnik to Split.       The new road is naturally very smooth and clean. It just opened in June and is still rather devoid of cars, as well as a lot of settlement save a few gas stations here and there. But what you will miss in old country charm, you'll save in time. The old trip used to take eight hours and it is now cut down to a mere five; maybe four if you don't fear the Croatian police, which if you were smart, you would. They're large, all-business fellows.       It doesn't seem like the route, which veers way out through Sibenik and Zadar before cutting inland saves all that much time, but with the very straight roads and the fact there are two and even parts that are three lanes, it makes getting around the slow vehicles very easy. Such was not the case on the old road where you could be stuck behind very slow or even burning bus for some time.       I'm pretty new to European roads in general and was amazed at some of the things they did to make this road possible. For one, there are a lot of tunnels, such as this one that is seven kilometers long. While a hole through rock is an interesting engineering feat, it's hardly that notable most of the time (the 21-mile Loetschberg tunnel being an obvious exception.) While the tunnel itself is merely a structure it is what happens at each end that is amazing. On the one side nearer the coast, you enter with the barren rocks and the white coastal rocks all around you. On the other end nearer Zagreb, you exit, finding yourself in a vast verdant forest that seems to stretch forever. All the rest of my group were busy sleeping, but I watched the shole change and it was something to behold.       Beyond the convenience of the tunnel, there are a couple of sites to see, like up in the northern area, there are the ruins of a castle (Sokolac Castle in Brinje) just off the side of the highway which are a nice site to see. It's rather nice raods, somewhat like the more northern areas of California, but naturally with a difference (yes, in addition to the castles.)       Once you get in to Zagreb, it all gets the same as it used to be before the new road opened. Of course, you need to pay all of your tolls and what not along the way, but you get used to that in Europe for the benefit of speedy travel. Otherwise, it's the ox cart for you.

Yeah, that's a cruel title, but it's not mine. Gary Shandling came up with that, who is not really one of the "beautiful people" anyways, but such is the irony of comedy. Basically, his thing is that he says he saw two ugly people kissing and it blows his mind as to how they can constantly do it, because what's the deal? Are you looking at each other and going "Oh yeah!"? I don't think so. So why does this happen?       Gary, I don't know. All I do know is that when a couple hops on the train car and sits across from me in the booth seat and is honestly way too old to be acting like a couple of horny thirteen year-olds under the football bleachers it is a painful thing. But there they were and they just couldn't stop. And of course I had to wonder how this woman (who really wasn't unattractive, just older) could be wanting to get in to a deep, everlasting liplock with this guy (who truly looked like he had a face for radio and a body fit for modeling an astronaut suit.)       It got to the point where I had to start acting like a child repressing bad thoughts by closing my eyes and turning my MP3 player up far more than was healthy to try and blot them out. But everytime I would crack my eyes open, there they were getting as close to making the sign of the two-backed beast as was legally possible in public. I'm not one to say there should be laws, but honestly, there should be laws. They were doing it just to torture me, because we got off at the same stop and I got stuck being them on the escalator until I could take no more and made a mad dash up the steps to freedom and much needed fresh air.       In hindsight, I should have said something, but what do you say? "Um, sorry, but your making out is making me nauseous. For the love of all that is holy and natural, please stop." I think that would have been more cruel (albeit factually more accurate) than what they were visually doing to me.

As I'm sitting here on Independence Day and enjoying my day off from work, I'm realizing that there is little I can do tonight in the way of festivities because tomorrow I have to go in to work. Work of course is made all the more difficult if one is hungover or even just tired from getting to sleep late.       Naturally this all got me to thinking about why we take off the 4th of July? Obviously this is the actual day of the holiday and needs to be celebrated justly, but if you think about it, most of the activites of today are at night. Wouldn't it make more sense to work a half day on the 4th and then take off the 5th, or just take off the 5th? Me thinks so. After all, we get this right for Thanksgiving where we take the day after the big meal off. Who doesn't need a day off to recover from all the turkey. And who doesn't need a day off to recover from the fireworks we watch and booze we all drink.       There are of course those that make a whole day out of the celebration and would be pained not to get the whole day off, but I would think those need even more time off than those of us who are just up late from the "ooohing" and "ahhhing" at the bright lights. I doubt this will ever come about, but it's just a thought about how mercilessly cruel we are to ourselves in the USA. The Croatians have got it right and always take another day off after the day of the holiday, like I found out on Easter. And if they can do, then so can we, I think.

A lot of people haven't heard of the Lines Ballet Company before and I don't really know why as they are without a doubt one of the most amazing modern ballet groups in existence. I've only seen two performances by them, but they were both amazing and I try to see them any chance I get, which isn't too often because even though they're based in San Francisco, they don't seem to be here all that often.       Just yesterday I saw their student group performance at the Fort Mason Center. At first, I was a bit concerned that this was going to be some kind of a kids' performance that parents attend. A free recital for the pushy adults if you will. I was a little worried after the first number which had all the students on the stage. It looked crowded and the dancing wasn't as good as what I had come to expect by the company. This perception was fortunately knocked clear out of my head once the next dance came on.       It was wonderful. The choreography was fantastic. King and his other company create amazing routines that are graceful, challenging, sad, and happy. The later was definitely true of a bit that was all about penguins. It was hillarious and vastly entertaining. I guess that's one of the things that makes this type of ballet so great is that it doesn't take itself too seriously.       There are two other performances by this group at the beginning of August and I highly recommend for anyone who can to check them out.

Okay, so there aren't too many ways to get up and down the coast of Croatia unless you have your boat there and for some reason I'm going to go out on a limb and say you don't (unless of course you're that English chap I met last year who had a sailboat docked in Dubrovnik.) That being the case, there are basically only two ferry lines to get from Rijeka to Dubrovnik. The first one is Marco Polo (I'll be damned if I can find their actual website) and the other is Jadrolinija.       I've never taken Marco Polo. I've heard they're fast, pretty affordable and good overall. This is what I've heard from Croatian friends and I generally tend to listen to them as they take these things all the time. I will probably give these guys a try the next time I'm in the big HR.       That being that, I have taken Jadrolinija; twice. My first time was from Dubrovnik to Rijeka. This was an overnight ferry (22 hours!) and I had a cabin. The weather wasn't so hot outside, but it was comfortable. We generally stayed in our cabin which wasn't a four star hotel, but was perfectly serviceable. At first it seems far too noisy to sleep on the ferry, but as the engines drown on, you get used to the sound of the chugging diesels. It lulls you in to one hell of a deep sleep that made me happy I was getting off at the end of the line instead of Zadar where you get off in the middle of the night. It wasn't bad overall. I though, "Hey, I could do this again, no problem." So, I did it again.       That was this time, hopefully my last time taking the Liburnija. This was the exact same ship and route that I took a year ago, but it was the opposite direction from Rijeka to Dubrovnik. There was one other big difference and that was that it was screaming hot when we left Rijeka, probably about 37C (95F) and it had been a long bus ride from Pula to Rijeka. Once on the boat, all seemed fine. It was the same as it had been before. We were in slightly different rooms, but they were the same layout. We made sure to get food beforehand to avoid the overpriced and rather lackluster ferry servings.       Right, so we're all ready for the ferry right? Wrong! While the rooms are air conditioned during the day, they pull a nice trick on you and turn off the ventilation system at night because its so "cool" apparently. Yeah, that's a good one. Since when has it been cool in a completely enclosed space (the windows don't open, trust me) and when has turning off the air to passengers' rooms ever been a good idea? It sucked. It really sucked. At some point around 2AM, you wake up in a grizzly sweat and this is after making sure to sleep nearly naked with no blankets on. After tossing and turning, you might be able to wrestle yourself back into slumber, but your kilometerage will vary on that one.       Once morning rolls back around, the air comes back on. But, at this point, you'll probably be on the decks watching the islands go by. Don't worry if you miss them here and there though because you'll be going through them for about the next eight hours. And this is where its probably the hardest because a heavy monotony sets in with your trip on the ferry. Twenty two hours is a very long time. You realize this as you sit out in the sun, go down and take a nap, sit out in the sun some more, then nap a bit more. You're very thankful once you hit Dubronvik and you're thrilled to leave behind your ship prison.       It may seem from what I've written that the difference all comes down to the temperature outside, but that's not entirely true. It mainly comes down to how many times you've riden the ferry. Most of the Croatians who ride it seem to get very drunk on the ride because that's all there really is to do. I believe that there is one way in which the ferry is very acceptable and that's the five dollars or so that it costs to sleep on the deck. I think this has to be the cheapest way to legally cover a distance I've ever seen, but you can only really do it during the warm summer months. The other catch is that you really need to do it in pairs in order to watch your belongings. If you're not a deck-sleeping-backpacker though, I might recommend the Marco Polo route or possible even flying if you can afford it.

So, how does Dubrovnik compare when going there at the end of May as opposed to the beginning of April? Well, it's more crowded for sure. The tourists are coming in in throngs, but you just learn when the herds are out walking the street and you can get around them. For reference, it's mostly the late morning and then the early evening. If you head out at times other than those, you'll actually be able to walk down Stradun without any major headaches. Head out in the throngs though and you'll want to start punching out the cows as they drift down the narrow streets. Of yeah, there are a lot more Americans there now, but so far these seem to be te more adventuresome souls and we haven't gotten the doofballs from the Midwest or the snobs from the Coasts that give Americans the worst of names when travelling abroad.       The tourists aren't the worst thing though. They pretty much just stick to the main streets like the Stradun and they don't venture on to many of the side streets where you can still get around pretty easily. What is tough is the heat. When we were there it was about 33C (90F) which with the humidity was tough. Even our friends and the other residents had more than a few choice words about the heat because it was apparently very much out of season for the area.       Of course a lot of heat makes one thing work really well and that's swimming. This time around, we were actualy able to go in the water. It was a little cold at first, but we got used to it quickly enough. That was probably the biggest change that I was thankful for over visiting a year ago because the water is beautiful and amazing. While I'm more of a "power wader" as opposed to a strong oceanic swimmer, I could still appreciate the water and being able to see everything that was drifting past my feet.       I think we actually saw more of the places in Dubrovnik the first time we were there, but the one thing we didn't see was the Dubrovnik Museum of Modern Art which while not one of the museums like there are elsewhere in the world is an amazing building with a nice, growing collection of pieces.       We did see the Aquarium again which didn't realy change much from last year, but was a nice place to find refuge from the hot sun that was outside.       I really wish we had seen Cavtat again or Trsteno, but at the same time, it was a nice, relaxing spot in the holiday. My friend Viana and her rooms were a welcome thing because it provided a nice base away from the complete confusion of the old town, but still close enough that we could walk there or take the very fast bus.       Needless to say, Dubrovnik is still great and while it is getting more tourists, they seem to be handling it pretty well despite that. I suppose this is the way of former Ragusa as they have always managed balance over the years, whether it be getting both the Turks & Venetians happy or just holding on to their culture with floods of Americans and Germas wandering their beautiful marble strets.