Notes, quotes and dust motes

• Balance your checkbook, pay your bills and review your monthly spending plan. Or create one.

• Attend a full yoga class followed by a meditation session.

• Read a book (“The Fall of the Roman Empire”), watch a movie “Apocalypse Now.”

To which I would add, eat compulsively as an emotional response to the decline of American democracy. But that’s just me.

Apparently, you could not pay U.S. Rep. Kevin Mullin to watch the speech, even though, it could be argued, he actually is paid to do so. A few days before the speech, Mullin announced he would boycott it “in protest of the ongoing damage President Trump is causing to our country.”

And it was just a few weeks ago Mullin was urging us “not to look away” from the excesses of the Trump administration.

NONSTARTER: I had to laugh at the recent news stories about the deteriorating road at Surfers Beach near the Pillar Point Harbor. The proposed answer from the state was to move the road inland. The last time state officials tried to move a deteriorating road inland, we ended up with two tunnels at Devil’s Slide.

MORE ABOUT BART: The “doomsday” scenario BART says it faces if a regional sales tax increase does not pass calls for shutting down 15 of the system’s stations — including those in South San Francisco, Colma, San Bruno and Millbrae.

This is foolish in so many ways, but consider the efforts, for example, in South San Francisco, where the city has approved housing specifically walking distance to BART. It is a widely held understanding — indeed, an article of faith — in the transportation industry that transit-adjacent housing is highly valued. A 2019 report by the National Association of Realtors and the American Public Transportation Association concluded that residences located within a half mile of transit sold at prices 4% to 24% higher than properties outside that zone.

BUZZING ALONG: Local political insiders already are closely watching the supposed race for county assessor-clerk-recorder and elections chief, amid expectations that Supervisor David Canepa will campaign for the job with the subtlety of a bullhorn, further adding to his legend.

I say “supposed race” because the other candidate, Jim Irizarry, currently assistant chief elections officer and assistant assessor-clerk-recorder, has yet to form a campaign committee as of Wednesday. One would assume he knows how. This undoubtedly is fuel to those, and there are those, who think they can push him out of the race.

None of this is all that far away. Mail-in ballots are scheduled to be sent out on May 5, a scant 68 days from today.

HONKED OFF: No doubt, you were as pleased as I was to see there is progress on resolving the Foster City geese problem. Or relieving it, one might say.

I was particularly happy to see that the method they are using successfully is called “hazing the geese.” I assume they have hired consultants from local college fraternities. This opens up a whole new realm of approaches. They could hire middle school girls to tease the geese. Young children could pester the geese. And, of course, they could hire local columnists to annoy the geese.

IT’S BACK: After a several-month hiatus, Bob Marks and I have resumed our podcast, The Game. Last week’s episode was an in-depth discussion with new Sheriff Ken Binder about the office’s response to ICE, should it make its presence felt in our county. On Friday, we interview Julie Lind, head of the county’s Central Labor Council, who was named (by me) the most influential figure in local politics. You can find the podcast at TheGamePeninsula.com, and anywhere else you find these things.

I PROMISE: A final thought about that series of columns on the most influential people in the county. Unquestionably, I bypassed those who, it could be argued, have massive influence — Oracle honcho and media mogul Larry Ellison, for example, or Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. There are other kinds of influence, sometimes far-reaching. But the principal interest here is local. Always local.

THIS IS US: On patrol for bargains, a regular correspondent went by Mollie Stone’s in San Mateo to see what he might find on sale as the store prepared to close.

He noticed that the Spam was right next to the escargot and caviar.