San Francisco

I can honestly say I do not remember how long the flight from Sydney to San Francisco was.  I know my connection in Sydney was as tight as a fishes proverbial, so I'm glad I got some US currency in Melbourne before I left, but all the stress and running around of the last week or so dissipated in to the extra space of the premium economy seat I managed to secure by checking in online early.  I still have no idea how I got away with it, since I didn't even pay for my seat in the first place (all that travel for work has to be useful for something), and a week ago when I tried to change to the same seat, the website wouldn't let me.  The lesson for the day is first of all, seatguru.com is your friend, and with a bit of research and the right timing, you too can diddle airlines the way they have diddled us for decades.

My arrival in to San Francisco and transfer to my hotel were painless.  Once I got off the train and pretty much instantly got my bearings I quickly realised that maybe I need to challenge myself and holiday other places, since considering I'm so far from home, I'm a little too familiar with this place.  It's not a bad thing, but there's something to be said for the buzz you get from discovering some place new.  I spent most of the afternoon hitting the usual haunts looking for cheap designer boxer shorts, and a compulsory trip to Fishermans Warf for In-N-Out Burger, before returning to my hotel and collapsing in a heap.

The rest stop turned out to be not much more than a nanna nap, since I wanted to hit some bike shops before they closed in search of a bunch ride tomorrow.  I never found a bunch to join, but I did find a couple of shops I haven't visited before, including REI, where I had to stock up on some supplies for my hike in a few weeks.  My original shopping list only really called for a bear proof food container, a pocket knife with a firestarter, and a small shovel for digging poop holes off the trail.  I managed to walk out with more gear than I could carry (including probably 1 of each Clif Bar product or flavour REI stocked), spent waaaaayyyy too much money, and forgot the shovel.   I might wind scratching around like a cat in a litterbox for a week.

Since my bike shop/REI mission took me to the south side of town, I decided to wander past AT&T Park since the Giants were playing and watched the last 3 innings of the ballgame from the free area underneath the arcade in right field.  I figured AT&T owed me something, since they won't sell me a sim card with any data attached to it for my iPhone, so as a result, any updates will have to come when I have free wifi somewhere, which will suck trying to do live twitter updates of the Tour Of California.  Also, my card reader has decided it doesn't want to play, so I haven't got any photos up yet.  I'm just gonna have to go into the Apple store again and play with the iPad again, I mean, buy another card reader (in case anyone's wondering, yes they appear to be fantastic devices, but I don't have a need for one)

P.S. : I know nobody cares about US late night TV in Australia, but Conan got screwed! Leno is terrible, but Jimmy Fallon is better than I thought he would be, and is that Quest Love playing drums in his house band?

P.P.S. : I was wrong, Jimmy Fallon is still a tool