Dreamt a Burrito, Married a Salad

On Monday mornings I have at least one meeting and sometimes as many as three. When the week begins, some managers believe that a kickoff meeting helps the group to hit the ground running (a questionable choice of words if your business is connected with aviation). Monday meetings simply cause me to fall behind from the get-go.

I did manage to put the finishing touches on a report by noon, so I left the office to clear my head. It was a typical San Francisco August day, hazy and cool, though not as cool as last year. The Vaillancourt Fountain was going full blast, but the square was empty. No free concerts today.

The rear side of Vaillancourt Fountain

Groups of joggers ran past me along the Embarcadero. A couple of women, office workers who had changed to their sweats, greeted each other in front of the Ferry Building. They were in their 40’s, trim and attractive, one blonde and one Asian. Pumping their arms and talking animatedly, they speed-walked (or is it sped-walked—should both verbs be in the past tense, he asked idly?) toward SBC park. In five minutes they were 200 feet in front, widening their lead.


Inspired, more precisely, shamed by the example of all that exercising going on around me, I banished the temptation of a pork burrito and made my way to the salad bar. I put lots of color---red, greens, orange, yellow—on my plate to make it more attractive. But I still dreamt about the burrito. © 2005 Stephen Yuen