A BART employee is now off the job and facing serious charges for false imprisonment and soliciting a lewd act.
   
According to the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office, it all took place while he was operating the train.

Prosecutors announced Wednesday they have charged veteran BART train operator Calvin Peter Tom in connection with an incident that took place on an eastbound train headed from the Rockridge station to Orinda on August 4.

Authorities said Tom invited a female passenger and a boy into the cab of the train.

Once they were both inside, Tom allegedly asked the woman if he could fondle her breasts and then he blocked her from leaving when she refused his advances.

A BART spokesman says Tom was immediately placed on unpaid leave and escorted off the property, but the 14-year employee decided to retire before he could be disciplined.

"Even without any sexual advances and false imprisonment charges, just bringing somebody into the cab could be a termination offense," said Linton Johnson, Chief BART Spokesman.
   
The woman managed to get off the train in Pleasant Hill and reported the incident to BART police.

"There was also a child in the cab with this female passenger," Johnson said. "So if all of these charges are true, then he has some serious answering to do before a judge and jury if this goes to trial."

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I cried during an episode of "Tabitha's Salon Makeover" on Bravo yesterday.  As if watching three hours of the show in a row (instead of getting out and working in my garden) wasn't low enough.

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At the 1986 Crystal LIght National Aerobics Championships (hosted by Alan Thicke?) via OMG Blog

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Wow, I can't believe it has been 2 months since my last post.  I think the main reason is my iPhone hasn't been working for that long.  The voicemail isn't working and I can't get internet access so I can't email pictures, so I have nothing to post.  I wrote a good halloween post a couple years back, if I knew how to link to that I would.  I don't really have anything to say.  Nothing is going on.  I'm fighting with Bank of the West.  They really screw you over with the overdraft fees.  I swear they hold them until applying puts you in overdraft, then apply them.  They suck.  Don't ever use Bank of the West.  I fucking hate them.  As soon as I can I am closing the account and switching to Chase.  I don't care how big of a pain in the ass it is, I hate BOTW so fucking much.  I hope a million people read this post and everyone closes their accounts.  If any of the three people who read this blog have accounts there, please close them.

I am breaking from my hermetically sealed life to actually have brunch with my friend (and former co-worker) Lisa Chan tomorrow.  I love Lisa.  I'm actually looking forward to a social obligation for the first time in years.

Other than that, we are broke, I can't catch up on our bills, my back is killing me but I have used up the 30 physical therapy appoinments my insurance covers this year.  I can't seem to get a day off from work for the life of me.

Oh, and fuck comcast too!  I want to get AT&T Uverse so I can bundle in our iPhones and internet, but they don't offer it in my area.  In othe words, they don't offer it to poor people so that Comcast can keep ripping us off.  A few weeks ago we started losing random channels above channel 39 in the bedroom and kitchen until finally we had nothing above 39 left.  Comcast told me I had to go to the comcast store and purchase converter boxes.  Then I found out the same thing was happening to my parents and Comcast sent them boxes for free.  So I called back and they did that for us.  But you have to install them yourselves which was a pain and now I have an extra remote for each tv along with an extra little box that looks shitty sitting on my kitchen counter.  Everything is bullshit these days.

Have a great day!

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For my Dad's 75th birthday party, a bunch of his friends pooled together to buy him a $150 gift certificate to Bay Wolf, a restaurant I have always wanted to try and whose cookbook I love.  Since my parents feel like they'd never be able to spend $150 at an expensive restaruant, they've invited me to go with them for dinner tomorrow night.  Tony and I cut out the upscale restaurants years ago.  We used to go several times a month to Dona Tomas or Tamarindo or Soi 4 in Oakland, but we went cold turkey on that.  So this is my first nice restaurant meal in a long time and I can't wait.  What should I order?

http://www.baywolf.com/dinnermenu.pdf

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My poor Tony.  He went to the US Consulate in Rio on Monday, paid the $165 fee and filled out the paperwork so he could be issued temporarly travel authorization documents so he could return to the US (because his green card was lost along with his wallet).  He is scheduled to fly back home on Tuesday, and as of today (Thursday) his document still hasn't been "approved."  Apparently it has to be approved by the Department of Homeland Security and that is where the delay is.  It's interesting though, the form letter that the consulate gives out to people in this situation says that, depending on how much information you are able to provide, they may be able to issue the document the same day, or it can take "several weeks."  I don't know what information they are talking about - Tony even happened to have a color copy of his actual green card with him which he handed over to them.  Tony went to the consulate this morning with high hopes that they'd have his paperwork ready, only to be told its not ready yet and to check again at 2pm.  He told me all this through a sobbing phone call at 6:15am this morning.  I thought it sounded hopeful that they said to call back at 2pm, like they expected to actually have something by then, but then I got to work and checked email.

They originally told Tony they would email him when his document was ready.  Since he has limited access to email, I emailed the consulate as well, asking them if they could also email me when it is ready.  That was on Monday.  Today I get an email from them saying "Nothing is yet approved for Mr. Contreras.  Please check with us again NEXT WEEK" (emphasis is mine).  This is really breaking my heart.  My poor Tony.

Anyone out there in my lvast egions of readers have an "in" with the Department of Homeland Security or the US Consulate in Rio?

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1.  Why is Cat Cora an iron chef?  I mean, she's a good, maybe even a great chef, but an iron chef?  Correct me if I'm wrong, but did she ever have a big name restaurant?  A cooking show?  Where did she come from?  And on a side note, can we do away with the pink himalayan salt blocks as a serving device?  I hate that.

2.  Why is Michael Jackson's family so attached to this idea that he was murdered?  Today on the radio I heard their spokesperson saying that they want justice for Michael.  I understand being upset with the doctor, and maybe even bringing some sort of charges against him, but murder?  The last thing this doctor wanted was for Michael Jackson to DIE.  That just fucks up his life and dries up a hefty paycheck just for putting some guy under sedation every night.  At the guys REQUEST.

3.  Why do lattes cost so much?  I've never been a latte person, but about a month ago a coworker (and one of my closest friends, Meghan) asked me to get her a latte while she was tied up on a call and said to buy one for myself, and for some reaon I loved it.  Its the regular non-fat latte from Caffe Centro in South Park.  I've tried non fat lattes at other places since then (never at Starbucks!) and I just don't enjoy them as much as the Caffe Centro version.  But the Caffe Centro version is $2.75, and the "regular" latte is pretty small.  It just seems pretty pricey, so I am trying to stay away.  Today I tried making one in the kitchen at work with the little Flavia machine, using the creamy topping pack with a dark espresso roast pack and it was nasty.

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After a tough summer money-wise, with Tony not working nearly as much as during the school year, money is tight already as we head into the end of August.  I was looking forward to the start of the school year and the resumption of regular somewhat decent paychecks coming in from the other half.  Unfortunately, this was the year that Tony had to go the the ABADA Capoeria retreat in Brazil for two weeks.  Luckily they bought the ticket and are taking it out of his paychecks over time, but still, timing on this trip is not great.  I was able to scrape together $200 cash for him to take with him, with another $600 being transferred over from another account (after a three day hold) that he would be able to access starting today with his ATM/Debit card.  So of course, 2am on Saturday night, I get a call from Brazil, that yes, big surprise coming, Tony lost his wallet!  Also his green card, but we'll get to that later.  So given that our account is already overdrawn by $100, I figure the card will be declined should anyone try to use it, at least until i transfer the $600 over on Monday.  So since it is 2am and I'm a bit groggy, I decide I am safe to wait until the morning to cancel the card.  So I come into work this morning, pull up our bank account and lo and behold, it is $900 overdrawn!  Someone has put through four charges for $200 something each and I am now $900 in the hole.  So I call the bank and dispute all the charges after Saturday morning (the last time Tony used the card) and they will most likely be credited back to me, but its going to take a while.  So now I am stuck with the problem of how to get Tony some money, because he has none, and first off he needs $165 to give to the US Consulate to process travel pass he can use in lieu of his green card.  Which could also take up to 15 days.  So needless to say, it's been f-ing stressful today. And poor Tony is down there with no money, no green card, and no idea when he'll be able to leave the country.  As we've learned, a US citizen losing a passport in a foreigh country is a much lighter load than a "resident alien" losing a green card.  Of course I'm mad at him for losing his wallet (again), but I feel awful for the stress he's under.  Usually these problems are just handed over to me to deal with and he's not used to doing it on his own.  I really feel for him and feel helpless.  I hope this all works out ok.  Meanwhile I have to dip into my meager emergency savings to cover for this $900 until the bank drops the charges.  Looks like bean and cheese burritos for me the next two weeks.

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Well, the BART thing worked out, so no worries about that anymore.  The MacBook thing worked out too, sort of.  I went to the genius bar at the Bay Street Apple store in Emeryville.  A very helpful she-male took care of me.  The hard drive is dead.  Since I've never had any repairs done to my MacBook, and even though it was no longer under warranty, they offered to replace the hard drive with a new one at no charge. I guess that's good.  I tell you though, I would not want to be one of those genius guys.  The stuff they have to put up with!  These idiots who know nothing at all about using a computer - I mean not even the basics - but are unhappy with the way their computer is working. I can't go into the details, but this idiotic woman next to me was not going to be happy unless her computer was "fixed" immediately.  It was painful to listen to her.  They told her it would be 2-3 days before she could pick up her computer and she was not having it.  Then they told her for $100 she could by some Mac Care plan that would move her to the front of the line, but she still wouldn't have it back until the next day.  She refused to pay the $100 because of all the "frustration" she has been through and refused to accept anything other than getting it fixed same day.  She kept saying this annoying line "you are dealing with a red head here."  I was so sick of listening to her.

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3:30 on Friday before a BART strike and no new talks scheduled.  Great.  It takes a lot of balls to turn down a contract after the two other unions agreed to it.  And by the way, my BART fares have gone up almost every year for the past four, but my salary has not budged.  Monday is going to suck.

Can someone tell me how much it costs to ride the AC Transit F bus into the city?  It picks up two blocks from my house.  I'm too lazy to look it up.

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