Jimmy's Busy Busy Day

Well, the night ended well - I had a very good italian meal at a place recommended by Caesar. The moment I sat down, I realized... I've been here before! I think Pamela and I had eaten here not at the 6 years ago visit, but at the one before that (when we were visiting Al and Patrick and the traveling couch). Then, as I ate the entree, I realized I was having the exact same MEAL as well - the flavor was quite distinctive (and delicious). So it was like a crazy timewarp in my head.

Wednesday it was up and at'em: Using my Central Timezone Superpowers, I was in the gym by 5:45am PST, had a full breakfast, and had left myself PLENTY of time to get to Oakland for my 9am meeting. One problem as I got dressed: I forgot cufflinks. And just try buying cufflinks before 9am people... they're not something starbucks and walgreens carry. So I improvised with some little bits of tin foil - rolled and crimped. Once the jacket was on, providing basic structural integrity to the cuff, the tinfoil link worked admirably.

The 9am was at a classic older hospital in Oakland which has been used as the set for several movies - classic architecture with arched windows and beautiful stonework. The guy I was meeting with, despite having exchanged emails with me 2 days earlier, did not have me on his calendar, and so we rescheduled for later in the day. And I headed down to Palo Alto for my next meeting, plus a Target for Cufflinks, plus some starbucks to kill some time.

Alas my NEXT meeting also had a hitch: The person I was meeting with was at the hospital with her 2 year old kid: Her 5 year old, 2 year old, and the dad were roughhousing and the 5 year old fell down on the 2 year old just wrong, and the 2 year old's legs got BROKEN!!! Oh the horror. So I met with a surrogate and got the info I needed, and it was a valuable trip (I was also dropping off champagne that they had requested at our trade show booth - a VIP perk!)

Back up to Oakland following the inevitable In-N-Out visit (Double, no cheese, animal style - DELICIOUS), where the meeting took all of 10 minutes.... Man, if he wanted to stiffarm, he could have done that much earlier in the day.

Mildly frustrated with the way the day turned out, I decided I needed a tonic of some sort. So I punched the coordinates into the GPS, and 40 minutes later I was standing amid giant redwoods in the John Muir Park. The smell was intoxicating and everything was shining: It had been raining all morning and had just cleared up for my arrival. A bubbling brook provided the soundtrack and I felt all tension floating up into the leafy canopy.

Then I decided I needed a snack and a view of the ocean, so I hit the GPS again, and 40 minutes later was relaxing on the porch of the Mill Beach Distillery just north of Half Moon Bay. The waves were crashing in (a windy day), and the ocean just kept on going and going off into the horizon. The sky was blue without a cloud, and I had a light snack of mini-burgers: 3 small burgers with different toppings: Bacon Cheddar, Swiss with Aoli, and roasted pepper and avocado.

While the visuals were amazing, the temperature was around 10 degrees off for maximum comfort, and so I decided to return to the city. Since I had been doing such a day of journeys, I had a plan of action for the rest of the night.

It began with a drink while watching the sunset at the Top of the Mark: This is 19 floors up on Nob Hill, and was a big landmark in the 1940s - troops coming home would meet loved ones up there and look out on the bay. Time hasn't been too kind to this landmark, which now feels quite like any other hotel bar: Pictures from the 1940s identify a large round bar in the middle of the room... but the middle is now given over to a dance floor, and a standards band was playing... which was ok I guess, but the actual BAR was relegated to a corner. Still, the view was amazing, the music sounded nice.... It sort of reminded me of my time in Tokyo having a drink on the 49th floor bar... looking out over a city.

Then down to Tonga, the polynesian tiki bar in the basement of the Fairmont Hotel: It was just as great as remembered. It's hard to describe - it's dark, giant tiki idols are everywhere, and there is ropy ship rigging all over the place, and thatched roof huts. There's a pool in the middle of the room, on which there's a boat with a live band. Before they play, there's a "thunderstorm", complete with rain falling. I had appetizers and a "zombie" while the band played horrible horrible horrible 1970s and 1980s covers - they opened with "More than a woman" by the BeeGees. The place was packed with conference attendees all wearing leis, and they were in a dancing mood, so the atmosphere WORKED.

Finally some sushi at a place I had been to way way back... and it was good, not great. The restaurant was pretty empty, and even though the staff was chatting in Japanese, they refused to speak Japanese to me, despite me starting in Japanese a few times... they just switched to "YES SIR, HERE YOU GO SIR" mode. Checking the reviews after the fact, people said the wait staff were terrible (confirmed), sushi was ok (confirmed), and lamented the fact that since changing owners 3 years ago it had gone downhill (AHA!!! So my memory from way back wasn't completely off!)

Back down the hill and into bed... and up this morning at 5:45. No workout needed: Running up Nob Hill to make sunset at the Top of the Mark was enough heart pounding for 24 hours, and I'm about to head off to breakfast up in that area. I considered trying to get an earlier flight today, but I couldn't get a confirmed seat... and I was already booked in an aisle... and after the pain of the flight out in that window seat, I didn't want to risk personal injury again. Also, I got up 30 min too late to make an earlier flight anyway!

So I have a couple of hours in SF left. I have done SO much here, it's sort of mind boggling. Now, some may say I am doing TOO much: I'd just say that if I was here with Pamela, we'd be spending more time on each thing - we'd have made a whole night of the Mill Beach Distillery for example... but it's just me and my hyperactive brain here.

So - off to breakfast, then some WORK (yes, I actually have been doing that as well - it's just not as interesting to blog about!) then home to see my wonderful family.