Construction Distraction

Hubba Bubba

Meet Bubba-ji Lender, the newest addition to Page Street. Although we are big on big dogs, we opted for this pint-size pet for city-pooping purposes. He's a shichon pup (shitzu-bichon). Yup, a designer dog, of course.

Plastic Fantastic

On a recent trip to the East Bay, the big blue-and-yellow building beamed down on us as we neared the Emeryville exit, beckoning us into the land of cheap, chic and cheap furnishings. Our last and only visit to Ikea was with Guruji and family over a year ago. The guru stayed in the car while we shopped - smart man. The monolithic Disneyland of Swedish style was teeming this mid-week day with eager consumers, and it was only 11 a.m. Never again, we said to each other as we blindly shuffled through the bottom floor in deer-in-headlights bewilderment. Still, armed with our trusty colossal cart, we persevered, hunting down a pair of smart sawhorses for our new makeshift desk, white blinds at a bargain basement price and this plastic lotus-like lamp, that might pass for a fashionable fixture when it's hanging 18ft overhead. Salivating thoughts of an O Chame lunch in Berkeley helped us through the 45 minute wait at check out, as we chanted "never again" over and over. PS. We returned a week later for more blinds. Never again.

F***ing Foundation

Finally, a workman or two punch in. They knock down the last walls, and inadvertently break a pipe. Water gushes into the Pit Stop's basement and no one knows how to turn off the water main. Clark, our 260-pound contractor, supermans it shut in the end. Minor blip, compared to the following day. One by one, one guy snaps off the floorboards. He pops a hole through the Pit Stop's wall, accidentally. Another blip, unparalleled with the end-of-the-day ridiculous discovery: The foundation -- rotten, rotted, and in some places, the brick collapsed and disintegrated into the sand. Progress, at the very least.