san francisco

steve and i grabbed a cab to the train station.

sun:

be glaring.

jeff:

reach into steve's bag-o-swag and find a hat to block the sun.

steve:

take a picture.

wore the shirt just for dave ricketts. he didn't even blink; nelson was scandalized.

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the san jose train station.

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cool double-decker train; we sat upstairs where there was a great view. this is steve at the start of the trip.

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this is steve a short time later.

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met dave for dinner! from the left, we've got bren (she and dave just celebrated 5 years together), dave, me, nelson, steve's friend alex, and steve. "california greek" restaurant, good food after a long hard day of booth duty. dave was a guitar student with me at umbc, then moved to albuquerque and on to sf. he used to wait tables here, now plays in a django reinhardt-style band and teaches.

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the waitress grabbed a second shot.

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moo!

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the next day (my one full day in sf), i took the subway to berkeley. got on the wrong train, had to get off in oakland and wait for the right one to come. took this photo looking back at sf, though you can only just sort of tell that there might be something like a city on the horizon.

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you don't really want to know about this.

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got back downtown, took a walk. looking up at coit tower on the hill. on the left corner is the old transamerica building.

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that little red sign points to chinatown; this is as close as i got to it.

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here's the new (since 1972) home of transamerica, up close and personal.

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what the hell; i have an hour or so before i have to meet nelson for dinner -- why not walk up to coit tower and get a view of the city? stopped partway up the hill to get a good shot of the transamerica pyramid. about halfway down it, you can see the platform on which the window washers are working; not a job for me.

the pyramid should have an observation deck. the closest they have is a set of four cameras you can control from the lobby with buttons. boo.

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looking down toward the bay, which you can almost tell is there. as the sign says, this is montgomery; nelson's office is on it, a couple of blocks from the pyramid in one direction and a couple from the subway in the other; very convenient. his company is one of the internet startups displacing more traditional businesses in the financial district.

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some cool houses on the hill. i was especially trying to get the three story pink tower, but didn't feel like walking down the street to get the sun behind me.

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what kind of tourist would i be if i didn't take a photo of the goodyear blimp?

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the bay bridge.

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hmmmmm... didn't you already get a photo of the pyramid?

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i didn't get to any of the truly vertical streets, but this is bad enough. who builds a city on this?

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at the end of the street, climbing the steps to the top of the hill. still a lot of climbing to go. doesn't look like much, but it was exhausting for someone who usually does no more exercise than pushing keys on his laptop. we went to a party that night at which i was able to keep myself balanced on my feet, but that's about all. went to dinner and almost ended up face first in my entrée.

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coit tower from the top of the stairs. still have to duck down a side street and find more stairs leading up to it.

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made it! the tower, up close and personal.

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the view from the foot of the tower. that's alcatraz out in the bay.

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looking down on the city from the top of the tower.

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looking toward the bridge and the embarcadero.

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all these places have balconies and rooftop patios with views of the bay. i can't imagine what they must cost.

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hmmmmm... i thought you already had a photo of the blimp.

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looking out at alcatraz again.

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the sun going down behind the golden gate bridge.

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a statue of christopher columbus at the foot of the tower.

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ok, ok, enough with the pryamid already, yeah?

i actually like this shot; it's one of the better ones i've gotten out of my crappy little camera.

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the building where nelson works.

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he's up there, on the 9th floor. no, i don't take photos just for the hell of it. really.

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popular power world headquarters.

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a startup that spends money on people instead of furniture and carpeting. this is a good thing.

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