Something Matt said reminded me of "the Bushman". About a week after my parents left I was talking to Bob on the phone about the visit and I told him we went to Alcatraz. He asked me if we ran into the Bushman on Fisherman’s Wharf. I had no idea who the Bushman was.

Quote from some travel site:

“Beware the Bushman! Ok, so now I've ruined one of the most fun activities in the city, but then, not everybody who visits San Francisco reads [the website where this was posted]. Here's the deal...in the Fisherman’s wharf area, there's this man, who hides behind a *tree branch on the sidewalk and scares the crap out of tourists as they walk by. Traditionally, after you get scared (and leave a few coins in his jar) you move to the other side of the street with the rest of the tourists and wait for the next unsuspecting fellow. He can attract large crowds during the summer, so if you're walking along down fisherman's wharf, and you see a crowd of people staring at you...LOOK OUT!!! The bushman might be waiting, ready to pounce.”

See, this might be my non-California mentality peeking out again but I think of walking down the street as a sort of social contract if you will. It goes something like this, You agree not to jump out of a shrub on the street and screech at the back of my head and I agree not to punch you in the throat. Simple really. Anyway I guess he targets foreign visitors, children and women – whoever he can get the biggest scream out of and demands money. So that puts Bushman in more of the asshole column than quaint San Francisco tradition in my opinion.

My secret consolation is that I guess the Bushman jumped out at Jodi on her last visit. And if you know Jodi or have at least read the canned ham incident you can imagine the burning sense of justice I felt because the Bushman gambled on the wrong victim that day. I don’t think she gave him the now patented Fucko-Gets-a-Sock-in-the-Crotch® but God I wish she had.

She's going to kill me if she ever reads this site.

* Actually, it’s a bush he rips out of the city's landscaping around the Wharf.