SFO

I am sitting in San Francisco airport right now, in front of a large window, at Gate 82. I have a great view of the runway, and some mountains. I can see my plane, which has just arrived, and is now pulling into the gate. It was 65 degrees and sunny today in the Bay Area. I spent no more than 3 minutes outside.

In my bag, I have about $3,126.67. In cash. I did not rob a bank; I sold a lot of books. This is my job. One of my customers paid me in change, too, so I have a lot of quarters. When I went through security, I realized that the TSA people could probably see that I was carrying quite a wad of cash. I am grateful to live in a country where bribery is rare, because it would be so easy to extort funds from me right now. You wouldn't even need to take me to an ATM.

My plane is boarding now. On my trip to San Francisco from New York, I sat next to an Israeli couple who fought the entire 6 hour and 6 minute flight. I don't speak Hebrew, but I could still tell. There were lots of hand gestures involved. But it could have definitely been worse; I could have been sitting next to a couple who fought in a language I do understand.

hipster fail.

Overheard on the corner of Canal & Lafayette:

Bearded hipster #1: "I lived in Brooklyn for, like, years..."

Bearded hipster #2: "Me too, man! Williamsburg..."

Bearded hipster #1: "Yeah, it was cool or whatever, but I spent so much money on fares. Like, 70 bucks a week on cabs. I used to get out of work, and my phone would be dead, and I'd have to go home and charge it, but I was too lazy to wait for the L, so I'd just take a cab."

Bearded hipster #2: "Yeah. Manhattan is way better."