Well, it's finally here: a whole month in Europe!  I'm very excited for tomorrow, when I head off to London!  In case you haven't seen all the posts, emails, etc about how to keep in touch (congrats for finding the blog), here's where you can find me:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/stantheman286

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/stantheman286

Photos: http://stantheman286.smugmug.com/Travel/Eurotrip-2010

Skype: stantheman286

I promise I'll try to upload photos and write as often as I can, but no guarentees :)

Wish me luck and stay in touch!

-StM

Well, it might not be as awesome as Cal's was in 4YOV (Google it), but hey, I'm quite happy with it.  In my new Eurostyle blog fashion (and I thought only pillows came that way...wow, can't believe I said that), let me give you the quick run down:

• Drove to BART on Friday and biked up to Rob's place in Nob Hill.  Had a fun evening touring North Beach and checking out a rum bar in the Western Addition with an awesome pirate theme.
• Woke up Saturday early, geared up, and headed out for a 55 mi bike ride (or 80 km, more on that later) with Ray and 3 of his buddies.  A quick route breakdown: Sunset -> GG Park -> GG Bridge -> Sausalito -> Mill Valley -> Mt. Tam and reverse.  Click me for the route map!
• Rushed back to Rob's, showered, threw on some new clothes and biked back down to BART and got to Milbrae just in time to miss getting a ticket.
• Headed over to MV for Lesley's bday pub crawl up the peninsula.  Glad we only made it up to PA on Caltrain; I was running on about 3 hours of sleep lol.  LOTS of fun and some good dancing!
• Passed out at home in SJ at 2/3am, woke up at 9ish and got all dolled up and headed up to SF again with Kristen on Caltrain to see Wicked.
• We bummed around town, grabbing a random bus and heading down to Hyde and Polk streets for some $3 wine and Thai food.  Made it back in plenty of time for the last train back (I am a little gun shy after last time.)
• Spent at midnight.

You might find this quite surprising, but I actually wrote part of this blog on the Caltrain baby bullet somewhere north of Mountain View at a quarter to 10 in the morning.  Why so?  Well, let's just say I had a bit of a "misadventure" Sunday that has turned out to be a very enriching experience, in more ways than just one.

The story begins on Sunday afternoon.  I parked and took the Caltrain from SJ to SF around 3 p.m. to visit Rob.  He had just moved into the city and was getting back from San Luis Obispo today, and I figured I'd pay him a visit and help him unpack a bit.  I arrived a little late, thanks to all the people getting on for the Giants/Dodgers game (glad to see we've won two in row!), but with the walk from Caltrain up to Rob's place in Nob Hill, I got there just as he was pulling up.

Let me just say that Rob got him self a decent place in a very nice area.  He's RIGHT on top of the hill on California right by all sorts of stuff.  One word: jealous.  That and he's paying less than I am to live in SJ.  Lucky devil.  I took a ton a pictures, please bug me if you want to see them. (you know who you are!)  I'm going to be watching how all this pans out for him, since I've always been interested in living in the city, although lately I've written it off for a place up in the PacNW.

We unloaded his car, then he said we had to drive to Livermore to drop off his car at his old place, since he didn't have a parking permit yet.  I was ok with the trip, as long as I got back at 10:15 p.m., which was the last Sunday Caltrain.  I must say they really like to keep the South Bay separate from the elite culture of SF.  I really hate that, it's part of the reason I chose to drop SF in my places to live.  It's just too full of it self.  But that's for another time...

It took us a while to get to the East Bay (there was an accident on the Bay Bridge), but we made it by 8 and had time to grab some things, chat with his roomies, and have a celebratory beer.  Then his old roommate Bill dropped us off at the Dublin BART station, where I figured we'd get off at Montgomery and then part ways, me heading down 4th to Caltrain.  Plenty of time, I thought.

Let me just say that I've always prided myself in my navigation abilities, especially when it comes to mass transit.  Schedules are my life, I love to plan out trips.  I always make sure I know all my connections and have plenty of time.  This time it was going to be close, but I kept joking with Rob that, "I could always just crash at your place and take an early train back."  I was in utter shock and embarrassment when I whipped out my iPod and opened up the Caltrain app to see the schedule:

San Francisco to San Jose: 9:15pm to 10:15pm (last train)

I glanced at my phone.  It was 9:03 p.m.  At the same moment, a very low warning message (not just low, like turn-off-the-damn-phone low) shot up onto my phone's screen.  Uh-oh.  I quickly called and texted Kristen with what little battery life I had, but she didn't answer.  Rob's phone was also dying, and we were speeding down the blue line towards the transbay tube.  Time to make a decision.

Of course I had been kidding about the whole staying the night thing, but actually I had been reassuring myself with "what-if's" the whole time.  I guess it's good to be a worrier like me sometimes, it makes you consider all the pros and cons.  The good news was I was with a good friend and in a familiar city and my car was cool for 24 hrs, plus I don't have a fixed work schedule.  Hell, why not?

I ended up spending the night, chatting with Rob and his new roomie Neeko and talking about all sorts of random stuff.  I passed out on his couch at midnight in my clothes.  I loved the fact that it was cold enough that I needed a blanket.

I woke up this morning, did some telecommuting (I brought my work notebook and laptop with for some reason) and waited for Rob to get up.  I could have left earlier, but it was his first day of work, and I know him very well.  Luckily, he woke up on time, and we headed down the hill to his work.  We parted at Kearny and power walked over to 4th and got on the baby bullet to San Jose.

It's just amazing how many bikers got on the train, I mean, wow.  The whole bike car looked full as I jumped on board and powered up my Nook.  I relaxed, read my book, and even jotted down some blog notes (some of which I wrote onboard).  At the moment, I quickly realized I was following my dream in a way: waking up in SF, walking to the train, and commuting to SJ for work.  Of course, I'd skip the VTA since I was driving (which would change things GREATLY), but it still gave me a rough idea of the experience.


I don't know what to say, I dropped SF on my list of places to live for many reasons, but I definitely enjoyed the commute, especially on the train.  Being able to relax and even get work done (especially if I had a laptop connect card) could definitely be a routine for me.  Maybe in SF.  Maybe in Portland.  I don't know, it's still all up in the air.  Of course, my rational self still says it's totally unfeasible with the damn VTA taking an hour and half to do the 10-15 minute car ride to my work.  That and the whole way SF people are a little bit high and mighty.  Yea, it's still probably not for me, but maybe a commute in Portland or Seattle would be nice.  Walking in the chilly fog was awesome; I could definitely see myself enjoying that every morning, especially if I was half awake lol.

Oh well, after Europe, the gears will start churning at full speed on the next few years.  In the meantime, wish me luck on the start of my 2-12am Japan days!  Maybe I will get to work Sunday and not Friday?  Who knows, I'm beat and need a shower, later gators...

-StM