It all started with a request from a_chatterbox to reunite Pooh with his long-lost buddy quikchange. And so it began.
Pooh's excited about the trip!
Aren't flights fun?
- Flight to Dallas cancelled due to weather; reroute through Chicago
- Flight to Chicago delayed over an hour due to weather; miss flight to San Jose
- Get told by American Airlines that there are no other flights to the bay area out of Chicago that night
- Get told by another kind soul in the same situation that there is, indeed a flight to San Francisco leaving shortly
- Attempt to convince AA people of same, and fail
- Attempt to convince other AA people of same, and succeed
- Mad dash across O'Hare (jeebus is that place giant) to get on flight
- Stand in line with 30 other people in pretty much the same boat
- Get on flight; wait while we sit on tarmac for 2 hours due to weather
- Arrive in San Francisco at 2:30am (5:30 eastern), cab (!) to Santa Clara
- Pay cabby, 4 hours sleep, knock back rediculous quantities of coffee before heading off to nVidia
Thankfully, I had Pooh's good, kind company for this ordeal. I also read Orson Scott's Ender's Game, which was pretty damn awesome. Though it killed my Treo's batteries.
Drinky
After interviews, I met up with Saul and Jimbo for some drinky drinky. Somehow, these blokes have managed to find a hick Irish dance pub in Mountain View. It was somewhat alarming to me to discover that such a place exists.
Needless to say, much beer was had by all, and Jimbo even joined me for some prairie fire (though a proper prairie fire, like you'll get in Calgary, will have a full shot of Tabasco).
San Francisco
After a long sleep and some french toast at the creamery, I hit SF (with my trusty Peet's Coffee of course; they still remembered my order!)
Just basically did some sights (Fisherman's Wharf, Golden Gate Park, Union Square) and then met up with a friend for dinner in little Italy. A nice, restful day before another day of planes and airports.
The city from Fisherman's Wharf
All in all, it was a good trip. I got to quite like the bay area, and it seems I may not be back there for quite some time, so it was sort of a chance see the old haunts and say "good bye".