San Francisco by the numbers

Number of wonderful, cool, relaxing days we spent in San Francisco: 4

Number of museums visited: 2 (Asian Art and Museum of Modern Art)

Number of men spotted wearing leather chaps: 7

Number of men spotted wearing only leather chaps (and a thong): 1

Number of Victorian houses described by Mrs. Monkey as "ooh, pretty": 27

Number of crazy fast cab rides: 1

Number of cable car accidents involving a cable car transporting the monkeys and a not so fortunate Honda civic that was totally not in the lane it should have been in: 1

Number of members of the monkey family that ran a marathon: 1

Number of times Mrs. Monkey(the athletic supporter) had to visit the port-o-potties at the race location due to pre-race nerves: 4

Number of times Mr. Monkey (the athlete) had to visit the port-o-potties due to pre-race nerves: 0

Number of racers that beat Mr. Monkey: 1,820

Number of racers Mr. Monkey beat like a rug: 2,435

Minutes it took Mr. Monkey: 259

I don't get it

There are many things I do not understand: why teenage boys wear shorts long enough to qualify as capri pants, why I know who Nicole Ritchie and Paris Hilton are, basic principles of chemistry, the appeal of scallops, etc, etc.

But here is what I really don't get: tanning salons in Tucson.

On my morning drive to swim practice and then work I counted three tanning salons. I won't harp on why tanning salons are bad (except, of course, to say that they are bad. Cancer is bad) but I find it puzzling that people would pay money to sit under fake UV radiation when it is so damned hot and sunny here that I can accidentally get a tan just getting from the parking lot into work. We're expected to get around 100 days with a temperature of at or near 100 degrees... getting a tan seems like it should be the least difficult part of living here in the summer. Maybe I am just cheap (okay, no maybe there) but I just don't get it.