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Perhaps with soaring gas prices, they can't afford to stop for bathroom breaks?

Soooooo, along with the warm temps this weekend came a big burst of sneezy-stuff in the air. I can usually battle through my spring allergies, but this weekend was rough. Sure, my Claratin did its job for the most part, but my decongestant left me horribly stuffed up. You see…I have been buying the new formula of Sudafed…the one without the Pseudoephedrine. But on these really bad allergy days, it just doesn’t cut it.

So, in red-eyed desperation this morning, I stood in line at the pharmacy counter, entered my drivers license into a tracking system, and got the good stuff…the real Sudafed WITH the Pseudoephedrine.

Please keep in mind that the last time I took this stuff, I had nightmares at night with psychadelic images, a song-stuck-in-my-head soundtrack, and for some odd reason…George Bush. Scary sh**.

So, today was a bit of a fog…one meeting running into the next. On my BART ride back to the office this afternoon, I wasn’t paying attention and somehow missed my stop. Sigh…I ended up in West Oakland…waiting for a return train. [Oh yeah. The photo above was taken with my new Blackberry. Its still West Oakland.]

Great…wait till the dreams tonight!

We took advantage of the first truly warm, sunny day of the season, and took a tour of the local micro-climates on Saturday. North to the Carneros Region of Napa where it hit 91. West through Petaluma to Pt. Reyes Station where it was a pleasant 75. South along the coast, and then up and over to Marin where it was back around 80. And then south into the City and back into the mid-60s.

We did hit a couple of snags along the way, like the horrendous traffic as we tried to go through Stinson Beach. We turned to Emily (our GPS) and flipped a quick U…Emily took us up a narrow winding road into the Mt. Tamalpais Watershed. Not the quickest route home, but some amazing views…like the compressed view above that shows Stinson Beach in the foreground, and the hills of SF in the distance.

Heh, one amusing story from our traffic jam in Stinson Beach. We watched in amazement as the heavyset driver in front of us stopped his car in the middle of the road, got out of the car, took off his shirt, and then walked into the bushes to pee…while traffic continued to inch forward ahead of him. (He didn’t seem troubled by our inconvenience.)

Saturday night, we did dinner with our friend Brian, and discovered more warm-weather fans crowding the streets of the Marina District. We tried to go to one of our favorite spots–Mamacitas—but we were told the waiting list was longer than the kitchen would be open! (Never fear…we moved on to the Presidio Social Club for a satisfying dinner…even though our favorite banana cream pies were gone for the night 🙁 )

Sunday, we tried to take our lunch out to Ocean Beach to enjoy some people-watching, only to find WAY TOO MANY people to watch…we wisely diverted into GG Park for our sandwich.

Now, suddenly, the temps have dropped dramatically and the fog has swooped in, completely blanketing the valley below our house. Amazing how quickly our tiny weather pockets can change.

I know that most of you won’t care, but one of my long-time guilty pleasures ended today.

I’ve been an avid listener to the irreverent Don and Mike radio show since I first moved to the DC area in 1991. After I moved to SF, I found D&M on a Sacramento AM station, where I could catch the show on occasion. In recent years, the always-fresh D&M podcasts on iTunes have kept me entertained on my frequent flights. The show has always been one of my ties to my post-college life in DC.

With Don’s retirement today, the show has come to a festive-but-sad close. (Mike is carrying on solo, fyi.)

After so many years, I have many fond memories, but I think my favorite will be listening to the show when D&M were doing a dramatic reading of the Kenneth Star report of the Monica Lewinski scandal. To this day, my friend Kim and I still talk about that show 🙂

Thanks for the memories, D&M. I have NO idea how I will sit thru five-hour flights now!!

With a little bit of luck, I got an up-close glimpse of the Olympic torch today, as it wound its way along an unexpected route through San Francisco.

I hadn’t expected to see the torch, because I was across town at Ft. Mason in my photo class. But without notice, my classmates and I heard helicopters overhead, and quickly realized that the torch had been re-routed our way. How very cool. (Not so cool for the folks along the PLANNED route from which it was diverted…sorry.)

In the morning, I had made my way over to Justin Herman Plaza to see the early morning crowds gathering for the torch ceremonies. In the face of vocal protests nearby, the Olympic celebrants were full of energy and color.

And for the record, yes, the Free Tibet protests were certainly present across the city. Their numbers grew through the day, and eventually forced the rerouting of the torch. Protests are certainly part of the fabric of San Francisco life.