Tilden and my 1st field assignment

January/February is a slow time for retail, as a result workers tend to get a few more days off. Some folks become desperate for hours and money. They call every day to see if someone called out sick. I'm not like that at all, not that I couldn't use the money. But I see it as I've earned these months after working the long hours and dealing with the exhausting craziness of November and December. It is tough to exclude yourself from Holiday Parties and not see your family, meanwhile almost everyone else is skipping out on work to shop, cook, decorate, and drink themselves to a Happy New Year.

I've decided to take my added time off (about 4 hours less per week) and explore my surroundings. This week I checked out The Exploratorium in San Francisco. The building from the outside is impressive. The domed building with columns resembling a Greek or Roman structure dominates the Presidio/Marina skyline. Inside there are several exhibits that are meant to teach people about science, how their senses work and how they can be fooled, mechanics, and to a lesser extent living things. I think I would have liked it better if I had never been to the Museum of Science in Boston. Some of the exhibits didn't work and it was small compared to the Boston Museum of Science. No awesome IMax either!

Hiking has been another activity I have taken on regularly as I continue my preparations for many backpacking treks this summer. This week I scurried across the Bay to Berkeley where Tilden Regional Park is located. I scurried up a slick and muddy trail to Wildcat Peak on the Northwestern edge of the park where the views were amazing in spite of the foggy haze that tried to hide the Bay. I can only imagine how beautiful the entire bay must look on a clear day from atop Wildcat.

Finally this week I took on my first assignment in the Field at KALW. My work brought me to the campus of City College in San Francisco, where the powers that be recently canceled summer classes in the name of bringing the school's tight budget in line. I asked students how they felt about it. Most were pissed, a few even dropped F-bombs on my recorder. The story will likely air Monday on Crosscurrents. Unfortunately I will not voice the story as I believe it is part of a larger story that another reporter is working on, but I should be credited for my work. Steps in the right direction.