A day trip to SF, another pair of sunglasses lost

Before I get to SF, a quick recap on the week: .....

No, just kidding, it wasn't THAT boring. Work is getting much more interesting; they've assigned me a few tasks/projects to work on. I can tell that they're probably considered mundane tasks by most, but I'm having a lot of fun learning the ropes. I hope that I continue to have plenty of work to do (sounds like I will). The big company picnic in SC is this week, we'll see how I hold up during the games this time around on the hardware team (aka the "dark side" to my firmware buddies). I think I can handle it.

I found a new bike route! It's about a 20-mile exercise run that travels through Campbell, Saratoga, Los Gatos, and a bunch of other surrounding neighborhoods. I grabbed it off of MapMyRide.com, which is a great site. I was a little worried that there wouldn't be enough hills to make the ride worthwhile. WRONG. How could I forget from two years ago; those hills west of Saratoga can REALLY fight back. Not that they are really steep and high like those I took on in San Diego; no, it's worse. These hills are at a slow/medium incline and they last for MILES...not cool. You turn the corner, there's more uphill, turn again, more hill. Does it ever end? (Of course it does, but I like the dramatic buildup...) I'm also toying with biking to work. It's about 10-15 miles through flat areas, plus we have showers at work. I'm just not sure if I want to use my nice bike (and wear my "Spiderman costume" as Blake so nicely pointed out). I may get a junker bike to ride around, because I'd like to ride to the store too by bike, save some gas and be green.

I'm already missing the house in SLO, or more so my roomies and friends. I like being on my own and having my own place, but man, meeting new people in a new place is TOUGH, especially for me. I'm trying out MeetUp.com, which hooks people up with common interests. I'm still looking into good groups, they have them for newcomers to the Bay as well as for different age groups. Shoot, they even have an INTJ personality group! (An ENFP already sent me a message to join their forums lol) We'll see how that goes.

Other quick week updates:
- Found a new fish store with a HUGE selection and good prices. Definitely my new store for my reef tank.
- Got a haircut at a cool place and have started trying a new do. I haven't really mastered it yet, I'll probably post some pics one of these days.
- Went to SJ Friday night, checked out San Pedro Square. They also have a First Friday Festival on 1st street which was kinda cool. The square has a few bars and mostly restaurants, so it'd be a cool place to go with people one of these days.

***

Alright, now on to SF. Kristen and Ursula, you'll appreciate this (and Nikki and Blake will laugh): I spent part of Friday planning my entire Saturday in SF out. That's a definite if you're going somewhere, even if you want to play it by ear; there's got be SOME sort of basic plan. And to help with my plan, I grabbed a book at B and N on Friday. I had a hard time choosing, since the tourist books had stuff to do but were too...touristy. On the other extreme, the books for people moving to this area were too...boring; they told you where to find the local schools, grocery stores, etc. Not for me! In the end, I found a great little number (dad, you'll love this): San Francisco: Free & Dirt Cheap. I gotta say, it was a great investment. It's still a tourist book, but a lot of stuff avoids the main tourist mess (well some of it, the stuff that costs big $$$). It also talks about places to eat, sleep, explore, and more. I made a list of places I wanted to see and then picked a bunch of it based on a map of where I was going to go. Don't worry Ursula, I skipped the Musèe Mécanique for now. I also left a lot of art-related stops off since they weren't on my route. I combined it with a bunch of old stops since I hadn't been to SF since Blake and I visited Nikki and Ursula last year. In summary, my trip consisted of the following:

- Ferry Building (Farmer's Market)
- Union Square
- Chinatown
- Coit Tower
- Pier 39/Fisherman's Wharf
- Ghirardeli Square
- Cannery
- Lombard Street

I got up early this morning, ate a little, and drove to BART, which I took to SF. Next time, I think I'm trying out CalTrain; driving 40 miles to BART seems like a lot of effort and gas, but it's still probably cheaper.

The first place I headed to was the Ferry Building, which I had never been to. I went to check out the Farmer's Market, which is why I got an early start. They sell a TON of fresh organic fruits and other foods, along with giving all the free samples you could want. I checked out the various stuff, deciding that it probably wouldn't last the whole day and trip back to SJ. There was also an arts and crafts fair in front of the building, which I checked out. I'm still trying to figure out how to fill out all my wall space. I bought a small set of 3 paintings of SF.

Next I grabbed lunch real quick at a bagel shop before heading over to Union Square. I was hoping that there would be an art show going on over there too, but unfortunately it was an event with all the local SF chefs giving lessons, so it was all closed off. Too bad.

I walked over to Chinatown to see if there were any buys for my place. No such luck. I did get to see a cool parade of several of those people dressed up as giant dragons. They ran from store to store, dropping firecrackers all over the place. It was pretty cool.

After that I went over to the Coit Tower. I can't believe I never had gone up there. The steps alone were pretty cool; I guess there's something like 370 steps up Filmore Street to the tower. I took a lot of good shots from the top. However, like the free book suggested, I avoided paying the $5 for the short elevator ride to the top of the tower. Besides, it was PACKED. Going to SF during a summer weekend was probably not a good idea, but I felt like doing it. Tough luck me.

I walked over to Pier 39 to search for more art and posters to hang in my apartment. I couldn't believe I didn't find anything at City Art, the huge poster store on the pier. I guess Kristen's policy of not buying it unless "you absolutely love it" was kicking in. It's probably a good strategy for an ex-impulse buyer like myself. Of course, not having much of a source of income during college killed that habit. I did end up finding some posters in the National Parks store. It sounds kinda weird, but they had one that was a cool display of all the different artsy park logos. The other was one I saw at City Art, but it was $5 cheaper. (gotta love the deal)

I checked out Fisherman's Wharf REAL quick; it was absolutely overrun like you would figure. I did stop at the Boudin Factory, which I guess I've always ignored until the book mentioned it. I toyed with doing the $3 tour, but I stuck with the free views of the chefs making bread. (including crocodiles and turtles out of loaves!)

By this time, I was kinda of exhausted from all the walking. I ended up walking about 4-5 miles today. I skipped the trolley both ways since it was packed, plus I've done it enough and could use the money. I headed over to the park in front of Ghirardeli Square to people watch. I brought my notes on my novel in case I needed a rest, so I spent a little time jotting down more ideas and picking character names. I'm sorry to say I'm not going to go into details, you'll just have to wait until it is published haha.

I went up to Ghirardeli Square, checked out the shops, and grabbed a sample chocolate at the shop. I felt like some soup, so a grabbed a breadbowl at Boudin before heading back to BART.

On the way back, I took a random road and just listened to music. It's fun to just check out a city. It's a grid anyways, so it's not like I was going to get lost. I put on my iPod and just kinda blended in with everyone, checking out the city outside of the touristy areas. I grabbed a quick pic of Lombard St, since I don't think I ever saw it up close.

I headed back via BART and drove home. Only once I got back to the BART parking lot did I finally have my phone again. I kinda forgot it in the car ALL day. Whoops. In the meantime, I managed to lose my sunglasses somewhere between Boudin and walking. That's how it goes. It's also why I buy cheap ones now; I'm always losing them.

Tonight I just took it easy, watched a movie, and planned some stuff for tomorrow. I'm doing a little shopping, maybe a hike, we'll see. My legs are pretty tired from today, but I want to try out my other new book, a list of 100 hikes up here in the Bay Area. I still have a lot of stuff I need for my place, like tables, lamps, frames, a microwave, etc...you know, just a tiny list. Some of the stuff I'm hoping to get for my bday, we'll see. I'm watching my money, although now that I have a higher income I'm not getting so nervous, but I still watch my spending. No sign-on bonus yet, but it should be there within a few weeks. I got my moving and first paycheck already, which was awesome. Now I just need to set up some vacation...and plan some trips woo! I'm thinking Europe for a month next year (I can borrow a week). We'll see...

Alright, that's 1,800 words of randomness, I hope you were entertained :P...I write a lot "sometimes".

-StM