Costco, A GPS and a Walmart

Day Two

We woke up the first morning in our new apartment ready to spring on a list of errands which went as follows:

1) Find Costco - buy food
2) Obtain GPS (see previous post detailing why)
3) Find Walmart - buy apartment necessities

After talking on the phone with my mother, we had directions to numerous grocery locations throughout the city. Our first goal was to find Costco. However, due to yet another translation error (Annie believing Mother said "Kemp" St. rather than "10th" St.), we were lost yet again.

En route to "Kemp" St. (a street which does not exist), we discovered many awesome parts of San Francisco. We found sweet markets off of Mission St., cool community centers on California St., and the Embarcadero Towers (where my Dad used to work when I was a little girl).

We finally discovered our error and made our way to Costco - I "HEART" Costco. We snagged a GPS, various food items, and experienced the absolute BEST Costco box job I have ever seen. That girl sure was an efficient packer. I was thoroughly and utterly impressed.

I now cannot express to you the glorious feeling it was to have our sweet little GPS - how on EARTH did we get by without it. It contains directions by address, points of interest (which include restaurants, lodging, shopping, attractions, etc., etc.), cross street, and so on. We plugged in that bad boy, I punched in an address, leaned back in my seat, and we headed on our merry way, no problem. Alleluia Brother.

Our next stop was Walmart - according to the GPS, the nearest Walmart was in Oakland. We set off over the Bay Bridge and followed the GPS to the outskirts of Oakland's downtown. As we pulled into the parking lot, Toby quickly realized we were the only white people within probably a 10 mile radius. We both looked dirty and tired and we seemed to be wearing neutral gang colors, so we decided we should hopefully fly under the radar or people would at least take pity on us. Coming to a mutual concurrence, we parked the Camry, hid our GPS, and walked inside.

I must say, I have never been so politely treated in my life as I was treated inside that Walmart. I had such a pleasant experience, I think I'll go there on a weekly basis. Even though it was extremely crowded, throughout the whole period I was inside those doors all I heard was "Excuse me ma'am," "Sorry, honey," "Oh no gurl, its not yo' fault" -- I was blown away. Heck, I fit right in -- Sperry's and all.

No wonder MC Hammer is so cool.

It feels good when you know you're down
A super dope homeboy from the Oak Town
And I'm known as such
And this is a beat, uh, you can't touch
-- U Can't Touch This circa 1990


I daresay Tobe and I had an extremely productive and enjoyable day.