Back in Oakland

I flew back last night. Took BART home from the Oakland airport, which took way longer than it should have. We touched down at 6:01pm. I didn’t get my checked bag until 6:37pm. As I was waiting for my bag, I saw the AirBART bus go by. It turns out there was only one bus running, so it was after 7pm before the bus came back. Get to the BART station, turns out I just missed the relevant train. Wait another 15 minutes for the next one. It’s 7:35 or so by the time it comes. By the time I got off BART, I decided to just take a taxi home rather than walk the last mile in the rain with my bags, getting me home at around 8pm, two hours after my flight landed, close to an hour and a half after I left the airport. Next time, I may consider doing the taxi or shuttle thing.

I think it’s actually easier to fly out of SFO now that BART’s been extended, even though I live in Oakland. No bus to deal with. Just some trams that run regularly and can easily handle the crowds, unlike the AirBART bus which is always packed full when I’m on it. And AirBART charges $2 for the privilege of squeezing in!

On a positive note, I’d like to praise the Dell Digital Jukebox, Dell’s MP3 player. I was listening to it on the bus. As we got to the station, I heard a BART train arriving above on the platform. I start running towards the stairs with my bags flapping. I forget that my MP3 player is in my (loose) jacket pocket. It flies out, hits the concrete floor from a height of about 3 feet, skids across the floor, through a half-inch deep pool of water, before sliding to a stop 10 feet later. I pick up the wet MP3 player, which is still on and playing music. I turn it off. I dry it off as best as I can with my t-shirt. I turn it on. Works fine. The thing is pretty durable. It’s the second time I’ve dropped it on concrete without it breaking. Good stuff. It ain’t an iPod, but, for what it is, it’s pretty darn good. Oh, and, of course, the arriving BART train was the wrong one. Eit.

And now, a plea. I still have no idea what I’m doing on New Year’s Eve. Does anybody in the Bay Area have interesting plans? If nobody has interesting plans, would anybody be interested if I threw open my doors for the evening for a mellow get-together?