my brief stay in the SF Bay Area

[Kragen Sitaker]

I came here because of a death; my friend Eric died a couple of months
ago, and I came for his memorial service a week ago.  I've been spending
the time since then appreciating all the people who aren't dead yet.

Today was the day I had planned to fly back to Argentina, but
unfortunately a number of bureaucratic obstacles have lifted themselves
up in my path.  I could go back to Argentina, but I would probably have
to return to the US to deal with them.  So my departure is delayed until
July 4th.

I have had a wonderful time visiting friends and family here.  Every day
I see people I love whom I hadn't seen since last year, and it is
wonderful.  

But my time has been fairly full.  I've been very lucky in that friends
and family have lent me a house, a laptop, a bicycle, and a cell phone
while I'm here; without these, this level of activity would be pretty
difficult.

Some notable recent days:

Saturday: I went to Bolinas to get the Magic Bus; we think selling it in
San Francisco will be easier than selling it in Bolinas.  It certainly
won't be able to sell for the amount of money we've put into it (US$2200
of work late last year, US$800 or so when I rebuilt the engine, US$2000
to tow it across the country, etc. etc., plus the US$4500 that was its
price when we first got it.)  But maybe we can get some fraction of that
money back.

Monday: I made breakfast for one friend, lunch for another, visited the
California Department of State, went shopping in Chinatown, biked
several miles uphill, and traveled to Pleasanton on BART.

Last Tuesday: Said goodbye to my cousin who's lending me his house, met
a friend in Berkeley for breakfast, visited another friend to see her
lab and pick up the cell phone she was lending me, rode over to San
Mateo with the first friend, visited a company I used to work for, got a
phone card to call Argentina with, met a third friend for dinner in
Berkeley, went to a meeting of some friends in San Francisco to
incorporate a nonprofit (shaving with a dry razor as I walked down the
street to get there), picked up keys to a friend's apartment nearby, and
picked up groceries for breakfast the next morning as I walked back to
BART.

I've somehow managed to keep my expenses relatively reasonable while
doing this.  As of Saturday, my average since arriving in the US had
been US$14.14 per day, about 75% of which had been on public transit.  I
suspect it's gone up since then, largely because of the Magic Bus.
Already, though, that's the same as the rent on our apartment in Buenos
Aires.

Some time this week I will need to drive to Modesto and look through a
storage unit for bureaucratic reasons, which is generally an ordeal in
the summer.  I am hoping I can find an early-rising friend or two to
join me.