California observations, Part II

This "observation" post will be much shorter than the last...just a few funny things I've seen over the past few days. Overall, what these observations tell me is that Berkeley is waaaaay more liberal than I ever could have imagined (and I thought some people in Bloomington were weird! Ha! How wrong I was...)

1. Ukulele playing cyclist - yesterday I was at the RSF gym on Berkeley's campus, just reading my latest People magazine, listening to my iPod, and getting in a good workout on the elliptical. I looked up to see one of the oddest sights I've ever witnessed at a gym - a man riding the stationary bike while simultaneously playing his ukelele. He even had the sheet music out! I think if someone did that at the SRSC at IU, they might be asked to leave or at least to put the instrument away.

2. Laptop browsing runner - just when I thought things couldn't get any more strange, this morning I saw a guy running on the treadmill with his laptop propped up on the display panel of the treadmill! I guess a good magazine or book just doesn't satisfy some exercisers anymore... I would be afraid that my laptop would fall off and smash to pieces on the treadmill's belt. It's hard enough to read long documents on a computer screen while sitting down, let alone while bouncing up and down running. That guy must be pretty talented...

3. Tree people - Karl and I went on a walk around the UC-Berkeley campus the other day and saw a group of people literally LIVING on the sidewalks outside of the football stadium...yes, they had beds and everything! We saw news crews there and asked one of the reporters what was going on, and apparently these people have lived there for almost two years protesting the cutting down of some trees outside of the stadium. Actually, I think at one time they were living IN the trees, but law enforcement officials forced them to come down from the trees, hence the move to the sidewalk. I can't even imagine living in a tree or on a sidewalk for two years. I'm all for nature, but I don't think my desire for tree conservation is strong enough to go to those extremes... And this brings up the question: what do these people do for a living?!?! I saw one guy eating a really yummy looking sandwich that he had to have bought somewhere. Where does the money come from for a good sandwich when you have spent nearly two years living on the sidewalk? I'm scratching my head at this one. (I couldn't find any great photos of the people living on the sidewalk, but here is a pic of one of the tables of supplies set up near their beds...)

I hope everyone is having a FANTASTIC Wednesday!!!! :)