Good lord, what was I thinking?

"Believe people tell the truth." Intellectually, I can believe this. Truly I can. No really.

Really.

But it's so hard.

Today was Kevin's first day, not yesterday as planned. I walked him around the house, showed him everything, and asked him if he wanted to work outside or inside today.

He said outside so I showed him the front yard, and all the tasks just waiting and ready for him. The first being move this pile of dirt onto that yard.

I had no gloves that would fit his hands (ours having been left at Mark's during the potential Kitt Launch), so we went to OSH to get him some gloves (and if we happened to buy more plants, eh, goodie!).

As we were leaving, we (meaning Kevin) was approached by a man in a dark suit and a sob story: his car ran out of gas (right over there!), and it's in the bike lane. He works at the Safeway at Shoreline and El Camino, and, although he had enough money for gas, they were going to charge him $8.95 for a gas can. It would be either $125 if they tow his car, or $8.95 now, could we help? "Here, look, see, this is my ID, so I'm not lying to you or anything." Did we have $9 to spare?

My thought, "Yeah, right." Kevin's reply, "I'll buy you a gas can."

What? Um, okay. So Kevin and I wandered back in the OSH and bought a gas can. Much to my surprise, the guy was still waiting after we returned. He thanked us, took the can and started walking (slowly) away.

We drove off.

Wow, these Smith brothers are all really, really nice guys. Generous, kind, honest. Wow.

But the whole thing just struck me as odd. I played with is for a while in my mind. For example, there is no Safeway at El Camino and Shoreline (it's at Middlefield). Cars don't get towed for being in the bike lane, for the most part, and it'll be more than $125 to get the car back if it is towed.

At lunch, I mentioned it to Kevin: "You know, that guy wasn't driving a car. The ID he showed you was an identification card, it wasn't a driver's license."

He replied, "Really? Well, I didn't give him the receipt, so he can't return the can for money."

And smart. Those Smith brothers are smart, too.

Today is the first day of Kevin Smith's "internship" at the Hodsden House of Smith Employment. Much to my surprise, I'm actually nervous about it. This won't be the first time I've hired one of the Smith brothers. And it's not that I don't really enjoy the company of the Smith family (still unclear if Mrs. Smith will ever talk to me after last year's bitter zucchini incident), because I do a lot.

It's just that I've had all of three conversations with Kevin.

Ever.

And none was over 4 sentences long.

And the longest email conversation I've ever had with Weak Sauce, er, Dollar, er, Kevin was my summer job offer, followed by an acceptance of the offer. As in, not much of one.

So, he's the quiet type. And I have no idea what he's thinking. And I'm all nervous about it.

Bah.

Mom recently sent me a care package. She must have sensed I was feeling blue, and sent the cheer-me-up box.

In it was small fat book, Instant Karma, by Barbara Ann Kipfer. It lists "8879 ways to give yourself and others good fortune right now." On this book was a note:

"Every week I pick a different saying and focus on it for the whole week. It works! XXOOXX M"

Did I mention how great my mom is?

Well, she's the best.

So, now I have my instant karma going.

I figured I'd start on page 318. This week, I'm going to "believe people tell the truth."

This will be difficult if I watch any CNN or read any political literature. I wonder if I can stick to just the Economist this week...

Kris drove the two of us up to the City today to participate in the second annual San Francisco Digital Photo Rally, organized by Shawn Yapa. Basically, it's a photo-based scavenger hunt for 50 items on a list provided by Shawn at 1. At 4:30, everyone returns and we all review the photos, assigning points for each photo - highest number of points wins.

We drove my car up to the City. At one point, Kris was in a driving jam and had to decide between braking really hard or accelerating away from the problem.

He chose to accelerate.

After a short moment, he smiled.

"Whoa. Acceleration. I never thought I'd feel it again!"

While watching an old episode of Law and Order: SVU (an episode I hadn't seen before, of which there are very few), a character commented, "The historical figures I respect most aren't the ones who started wars, but those who brought about peace."

After hearing this statement, Kris hit pause on the TiVo and turned to me. "You know how many people know Winston Churchill. How many people do you think know who the prime minister was after him?"

Blink.

Crickets.

Bella howling in the distance outside.

"Um, I don't."

"Exactly. Peace, my ass."