Random, Sodden, Statistically Unproven Observations

It’s difficult to find a seat on the Caltrain "bullet train" during rush hour. Sometimes no seats are available when I get on in the morning at Hillsdale Station, which is about 20 miles south of San Francisco. Because the trip takes only 25 minutes, standing is not much of an inconvenience, but I can no longer count on getting any work done on the train in the morning.



Birds seem to be bombing our cars more frequently and with heavier artillery. That’s the price of living in a wildlife-protected area.

Retail stores, like TV networks, are granting new ideas less time to build traffic. Given their high fixed costs, shopkeepers are pulling the plug more quickly on loser product displays, product lines, and even whole stores.

Speaking of retail, automated checkout, where the customer can scan and pay without interacting with a live person, is becoming commonplace as well as easier to use.

The Apple iPod is a great product—we have two in our household, and I have many friends that have at least one in theirs—but its accessories are unreliable. The earphones, cables, and adapters break easily. Replacing the battery is now only difficult, instead of impossible, for the average consumer.

Political observation #1: Kerry-Edwards bumper stickers already outnumber the Gore-Lieberman signs of four years ago. In the Bay Area the anger against the current administration is intense, and this humble observer has noted that, because the K-E bumper stickers always seem to be on a newish SUV costing $30,000 or more, the driver is probably not angry about his personal circumstances. Then I think about how the angry people on the other side of the world were recruited from the middle and upper classes, the university-educated, and the privileged. Maybe our cultures aren’t that different, after all.

Many women who are in their 40’s and 50’s are looking better and healthier than they did ten years ago. This statement applies to very few guys, but it may just mean that we’re less willing to have some work done, not counting hair plugs.

Political observation #2: the promise of Hillary Clinton may never be a reality, just as once-heir-apparent Ted Kennedy never became President or even received his party’s nomination. John Edwards is an attractive candidate in 2008, if K-E loses, and in 2012, if K-E wins. Other up-and-comers, such as youthful Tennessee Rep. Harold Ford, will be formidable candidates in a few years.

It’s impossible continuing to justify sending my (paltry) annual donation to that educational institution a few miles south of here. The school rakes in multi-millions from the most exclusive shopping center in Northern California, government research grants, and earnings on its investments. It owns acres of land, which, if fully developed, would be worth billions. It collects license fees on hundreds of copyrights and patents, including one on Google’s technology. Hard to believe that it would have closed 100 years ago were it not for the founder’s widow, Jane, who depleted her personal fortune and sold her jewels to keep the university alive. A woman who changed the history of California, if not the world. © 2004 Stephen Yuen