Category: Before

The Fremont Lenin had a sort of crown of thorns and a new decoration for his hat this weekend.

Broadway

After an afternoon spent shuffling through tax papers, leaving forms behind at copy shops, and getting stuck in traffic. I decided to unwindwith a cup of tea at Bauhaus. It’s such a nice day.

Just as I walked inside, there was a quick motion in my peripheral vision. A woman shouted, “Get him! He took my purse!” I hesitated. A couple of guys dodged out the door and into traffic. My brain had to actually process the word “chase” before I could run after them. I followed them up Melrose and then right – behind The Chapel bar. I ran up the alley and saw, twenty feet ahead of me, a barista pull the thief down. (How did he get around the counter so fast?) Another guy grabbed hold and the thief stopped struggling. They sat on him calmly. I stood back catching my breath and shaking from adreneline and nerves. I eventually realized it would be a good idea to call the police. I answered the dispatchers questions, pacing back and forth between the alley and the street, looking for the address and then the purse snatchers description. The victim walked up and someone handed her the purse. She stood off to the side, holding the purse close. The police pulled up. They looked everyone over, and one of them asked the victim if she was a friend of the thief. The purse snatcher and captors untangled themselves. The thief stood up, and I realized that his haircut and clothes didn’t match my description of him. His shaved head was bleached blonde locks. His jeans were sweatpants. His t-shirt was long-sleeved. I walked back to Bauhaus, accepted a free cup of tea, which clattered in its saucer as I carried it to my table.

I’ve seen this bird before.

Alright then. It seems that I’m beginning to recognize individual birds… I’ve either been spending too much time with the birds at the store, or I’ve been hanging out at the waterfront too much.

An exciting-looking dark purple cloud out past The Sound rises up in the west and then pushes itself inland. By the time I’ve dropped Samantha off at work and found a parking space up here, it’s reached out almost to the other horizon. From underneath, that cloud looks suspiciously like a drab gray sky.

Update: (The clouds were burned away quickly enough.)

On Saturday someone walked up and down Broadway labeling some of the people and things that were found on the sidewalk.

Earlier in the week I saw this group. They had chosen their own label. Presumably they were protesting something. They just weren’t letting on exactly what it was.

Last week Samantha’s store received two new deliveries of bird products. There was new ceramic chicken inventory and a box of six dozen yellow craft chicks. These guys are made from real feathers and lightweight synthetic bodies. Every bird is unique, but they’re variations of three basic poses. There’s the one shown here. Another pose has the bird’s head tipped a smidgen to the side. The third is like the first, except that the bird’s eyes and beak are glued to the back of its head. The chicks are priced to sell – only $5 apiece.

Samantha’s boss is entertained that I’ve been tracking the various birds that have been in and out of the store, and she let Samantha know that I should take one home. I chose one with a backwards head.

Last time I promised a shipment of taxidermied baby chicks. Now I have to report that the order has been canceled. But I’ve heard that there may be a shipment of baby ducks coming along shortly.

When this starts getting too morbid for you, I recommend cleansing yourself with a visit to Sensitive Light‘s recent batch of birdwatching photos.

‘Atmosphere’ – Photo Friday

My April Fool’s prank was a hit. I heard back from most of the targeted site’s owners and Mike Whybark worked everything out in the first twenty minutes.

What happened: I put together cloned versions of some of the sites that link to Beans for Breakfast, and I had a script substitute the clone for my usual site layout whenever someone arrived at my site via a link from one of the targeted sites. So some readers who followed links to this site from other weblogs yesterday saw a version of my site using a layout stolen from the linking site.

I bulldozed through the source code of several weblogs in a couple of sittings last week, replacing their content with Movable Type templates. I lost momentum at the end and didn’t get to a few of the sites I’d wanted to do. Also, the last couple that I did finish are lazier adaptations than some of the others. Here are some screenshots.