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Day: October 5, 2006

Happy Birthday to Me

Published by NiteMayr on October 5, 2006

Hey there; it’s my 31st birthday today.  I’m somewhat more sober than I planned to be at this point, but since NiteGirl isn’t here I guess I’m okay with the little buzz I got on from dinner.

It’s Day Two of my trip to San Francisco:


I snapped this on the walk to the actual reason for my visit (training).  I passed many a new sight on the way and we were a little lost.  We used a transit map to locate the street (Battery) and find the actual place we were going to.

We passed a place with a giant sign that said “Comics and Toys” and aggreed that we would have to check it out later.

We detoured down “Bush” street and found Battery and after what seemed an eternity; we found the place.

We passed a neat statue on the way; it was outside a building with giant columns.

It is “Brittania” but all cut up into sections; check it out:


The actual training room was fine, I had a good wireless signal and was able to catch up on some work during the down time and got some decent info.

They took good care of us and fed us a nice lunch; but it took all day.

The coffee break and drinks were great, lots of soda and coffee and fancy water,  I really should have snagged one of the cylindrical bottles to take a picture.

As it was, after the training we were to re-convene for dinner.  I looked forward to this as it was an excuse to drink a bit,



This odd sight was outside the training room.

The USB key was on the desk, I posed it here with the fork.  I’m a bad photographer.


We stepped into Jeffry’s Toys and checked it out; it was awesome!  Comics, Toys, rare toys.  It would be my fave shop if it wasn’t so damn far away.

After a long walk back to the hotel then back to the restraunt and getting lost, we had a great night in there and I took pictures.


Before the meal, we had drinks and stood around and chatted.  Then sat down and there was a speech or two.



The appetizer was great, if small.  Tiger Shrimp, Tuna Rolls and Pot Stickers.  Superb!


The main course was great; as was dessert.

I had a great time talking to the Sales Engineers that shared our table, they were great folks.

After the meal Curtis took off, I intended to stay, but since Renatta was leaving I figured I should walk her to her hotel (it’s late in an unfamiliar city, I don’t like the idea of anyone walking home)

We caught Curtis then headed out.


As it happens Kevin came along and walked Renatta to te hotel and Curtis and I walked back to our own hotel, past all the people who worked downtown but had to head home.  Some homeless guys were packing up for the night and I saw a whole group of girls being let into Halloween stores.

It was a good walk home, I got a call from Nitegirl and noted that I had missed a ton of calls,

Oh well, another Birthday goes.

San Francisco Trip: Day One

Published by NiteMayr on October 5, 2006
I arrived early at the airport and checked in using a kiosk.  the Security line moved quickly so it was a breeze getting into the airport terminal.

I stepped into the bathroom to put my braces back on and use the facilities.  While I was engaged in the act the Muzak switched to “Alive” by Pearl Jam.  Shades of Final Destination crept up on me and made me shiver just a bit about the trip.

I took the escalater up and saw the awesome Helicopeter you see in the pic to the left, so I snapped a shot then moved on.

I had to search for a good seat in the lounge so as to avoid the Fox broadcast and still enjoy the CNN broadcast.  A lady was alying accross all of the seats under the CNN TV so I took one off to the side and settled in for a long wait.

I called nitegirl and the office and made sure everyone was good.

After a while Curtis showed up and I told him that the flight was 15 to 20 minutes late, which elicited some sounds of disapproval.

We chatted about politics and then I made off for a lunch (roast beef sandwhich with horseradish, yum)

Eventually our plane arrive and we were ushered onto the beat.  I was in seat 1A (right at the front crouched over to my right against the bulkhead).  I had a chance to sit on the aisle, I think I will do that on the way back.

After a short flight (in which I dropped and lost access to my IPOD, retrieved only after landing) we deplaned in SF and briskly walked to the Taxi Stands.

A brief negotiation led us to the only taxi in the stand that accepted Credit Cards, also the largest a big minivan with an impressive collection of dings, dents and scratches.  A real Road Warrior.

Like all Cab rides in SF, it was FAST, BUMPY and possibly illegal; the driver never turned on the meter.

The Driver was a Russian Immigrant; apparently his entire family left russian previous to the fall of communism and never went back.  He dropped some knowledge about the (lack of) virtures of marrying one’s car and that the reason the isrealites were lost in the desert for 40 years was because it took a whole generation of them to lose the emotonal trauma of being slaves.

I missed a chance to take a picture of AT&T Park (Darn).

After the Driver dropped of the other passanger who came with us, we were dropped at the SF Marriot (55 Fourth Street) which was not on front street.  Which made all my maps useless (I didn’t know this until today though)

The Hotel is big, huge really, with three different restraunts and elevator stavks, (Low, Mediumand high) or as I came to call them, Good , Better and servants (low rise).  The hallways to the rooms are labyrinthian and drab, it takes a full 4 turns to reach the rooms, no joke.

My room as a good view:

More

If you look at the pictures you will see an Apple Store and a Virgin Megastore.

We (Curtis and I) went out and checked them out; as well as searching for a nice place to dine.

After passing around the blocks a few times and being hassled by the homeless we hit a nice French Restraunt called “Jazz Bistro:

This was a nice place with good atmosphere and friendly staff, I recommend it if you are in teh area an dlooking for nice french food.

The menu was great, it even had escargot and frogs legs.

I enjoyed a nice bowl of French Onion Soup and some Lamb Stew.

They supplied us with crusty bread and I enjoyed a couple of Becks with my meal.

Before our food came, a large man in a blue shirt came into the place, which made me fell great about me, as I am a large man too, but not so large and much better groomed.

After dinner, in the rain; we walked back towards the hotel.  As it was “House” night, I wanted some junk food for some TV watching (which I never ate) so we stopped in Rite Aid.

The Rite Aid was pretty busy and it took a bit of searching to find the chips and pop.  Walking back through the place I noted the neat security caps they had on all the booze and briefly considered buying some rum.

Paid for my Junk and we breezed out, to be confronted with an odd scene, a homeless guy fighting some office wonk.  the Office wonk called for help, police, whatever and I snapped a pic of the melee.  A few people intervened for the homeless guy who was allowed to run away.  I’m inclinded to beleive that the office wonk was trying to prevent a crime, but since he is not a cop, smacking some homeless guy is just not on.

The walk home remained pretty serene, there were a number of cops outside the buildings in those pictures up there, but I have no idea what was going on.  The whistles the porters used to summon cabs were awesome, like loud train whistles.

I considered heading to the theater to see “jackass: number two” but since it was bound ot be pricey I decided to just stay in.  I called my boss to clear getting Internet access at 13 bucks a day and then checked my mail and posted the pix from the day.
House was a rerun and so I fell asleep really early and woke up at 2:30AM.

NiteGirl called me around 10:30PM, but it didn’t really wake me up.