Leaving California

This morning was the sort of morning that makes business trips worthwhile, both personally and for the company. I actually got a chance to experience a little bit of SF and see a few sights. I was up by 8:00 and got my gear all crammed back in the suitcase. Canadita (another nickname), the client I was planning to brunch with, TM'd me to meet her at 2. That was too late for me because my flight leaves at 3:50. I messaged her back that it would have to be earlier if she still wanted to meet and then checked out of the hotel and left my bags with the bellhop. It was wandering time!

I called Canadita, who was also checking out, and we met up outside the hotel around 10. I wasn't sure what she wanted to discuss because our meeting the day before had been hurried and amidst a chaos of people moving between seminars. She suggested that we just wander around toward the waterfront until we found a fun place to eat. That is totally my style so we set off down random streets.

Canadita, so named for her petite stature and geolocation, was a very interesting person. She is dating an older Russian man and she managed a pretty solid impersonation of his accent, which was funny. She had a slight Canadian accent (aboot and "zed") which reminded me MrBermuda. We strolled at random, detouring to see interesting buildigs, and ended up at pier 1(?). I have included photos of some landmarks we passed on the way.

She bought lunch at a gourmet little mexican restaurant on the water and we discussed some biz ops that should work well for both of us. It is much warmer here but still chilly, especially on the water, so we picked up some coffee at a pier 1 shop. It has an indoor marketplace where you can purchase things like fresh bread, dried mushrooms (the legal kind), coffee and other fresh products. I expected prices to be ridiculous but our lunch was about $6 each and the coffee was the same price as Hometown. On the way back we stopped at some little street artist stands. Canadita bought a souvenier and a gift for her boyfriend. I got a neat little artsy thing for Kristy and chatted with the vendors. I shot a picture of a guy who was making jewelry on the street with Canadita. He turned a soup spoon and piece of a soup can into a pretty impressive hair thing. I thought it was made of silver until he explained how he made it. The street goods they were selling weren't the trite, plastic tourist junk that you find everywhere else. They had hand-turned wooden bowls, jewelry, opera masks, paintings and coins carved into medallions.
Seeing the city was a blast. San Francisco is a much friendlier city than New York and many others that I have been to. People on the street will meet your eyes, nod or even say hello occasionally. There are a lot of homeless and they are fairly agressive. I feel sorry for these people but I don't support their lifestyle. I do usually give a few bucks to folks who are performing in some way. The cabs and shuttles are slightly less psychotic and the horn is left alone a lot more than other cities. Canadita was good company, easy to talk to, interesting and personal but professional. She had good business ideas and is obviously a capable marketing manager. Since she is not from SF, she was not jaded by the city and was as excited as I was to take pictures and dart around to get a closer look at random things. It was nice to be able to do business and still be able to see the city.

I caught a shuttle to the airport and am waiting for the plane. I will post this later as the wireless at the airport is ridiculous.

*posted when I arrived in Vegas