SF Musings

Here we are. Eve of Day 4, first night in Vegas. Lived it up in the Venetian for one night (super expensive... i booked last minute.. a conference was on). Warmed up in Spearmint Rhino (recommended by a friend) ended up being a strip club (o.O)

Shot, beer, shot, beer, shot. Everyone goes on about Hakkasan being the hippest coolest club in town. Bollocks. We paid $100 a head for a supposed 4 floors: 2 of them were open (on a friday night!) and one of those 2 shut at 2am. Yeah Tiesto was playing but he played the same EDM crap all DJ's (good and bad) play in America. Don't go to Hakkasan. Felt horrendous the next day and spent it entirely by the pool being annoyed by more EDM blaring out of the physically separate but audibly present pool party at the Venetian. I slept several times. Chris was silent and awake mostly, disbelieving how bad he felt. Saturday night!! Went to XS to see David Guetta - only $55 this time and huge outdoor pool vibes (see photo above). Good times, people getting wet towards the end. Warm evenings. Sunday night was culture night at Cirque du Soleil "O" but not before an all day "beach"(pool) party at Encore. More EDM but this time burgers and bloody marys on offer, and the solace of a temperate swimming pool full of beautiful people.

Cirque was incredible: had a tip from a work colleague / Vegas veteran to see "O" at the Bellagio. A stage covering what must have been a 10m deep pool. Monstrous acrobatics, synchronised falling, dancing, trapezing. A bad McDonalds and a little reticence led to our new Marriott abode, slightly off the strip.

Monday, last day, kicked off with an all-you-can-eat buffet at the Bellagio for $22!! Burgers, steaks, prawns, pizza, salads, eggs, Thai, Indian, sushi, sweet stuff that i had no time for.... bottomless bloody mary's. Depressed full-looking people staring into plates pilled up with food they probably won't manage. Hmm.. America, I thought to myself. Off to the Venetian poolside once more (using the cards we acquired from our one night stay...great tip btw). "We should go out tonight really, right?", "it is our last night".

Marquee was the only reputable club we hadn't checked off so we bundled back to the Marriott, drank the remaining Pacifico, and hit up Marquee - for free (who knows... because it's Monday? probably our good looks). Don't remember a whole deal but I know that I was in bed by 4am and Chris got back at 9am. Still need the debrief on that one but he missed his flight to NYC and I had to book the room for an additional night so he could sleep off his hangover. I HAD TO DRIVE 9HRS and all he had to do was get on a plane and have a stewardess bring him water and paracetamol.

Y'ello Yosemite!

Jumped into the new limited edition Penske Mustang GT at SFO and shredded some tarmac via Highway 1: down the west coast towards Santa Cruz. Completely the wrong direction for Yosemite but the ocean roads we supposedly too good to pass up - no photos of that as I was driving - will pool from Chris and maybe post but the long/short of it was that Big Sur was just too far and we needed to get to the park before sundown. Stayed in Curry Village which is one of many purpose built camping areas in the park: bar, shop, cafeteria; not sure what I was expecting but the place was too landscaped and not raw enough for my liking. More of a holiday park, a posh centre parks without the tennis courts or swimming pools (though there probably was a tennis court). It's in the valley so you have huge rock faces either side of you - infamous amongst climbing circles - El Capitan, Half Dome; it was hard to walk through the camp without stopping and staring at the rock faces looking frantically for pin-sized person-shaped coloured dots.

In between 2 nights in a tent cabin we set out for an all day hike to do the Mist Trail: to the top of Nevada Falls and down through its "mist". Fairly busy with people but managed a few quiet spots for deep breaths and awe. Found out afterwards that we weren't supposed to feed the squirrels. Felt bad. There were warnings everywhere about bears - video clips showing in the information office of peoples cars being ravaged by the big boys. We had to empty the Mustang of all food which, given we'd already had a day driving in it, was covered in crisp packets, sandwich wrappers and empty cans. And a lock box outside of our tent cabin - NO FOOD ALLOWED IN TENT CABIN. So we had to lock up all our supplies. Sadly/gladly didnt see any bears. Saw some big mice though. Human sized.

After a 6hr hike trundled off to the bar, chowed down on freshly made pizza, and started talking to an american girl and what could have been her mum. Sorry MOM. The girl had just started work there. I had the usual "Oh have you just finished college too?" "Erm, heh, no" I reply, reeling and riling in equal quantities. Still got it. "I'm older than I look..". We chew the cud for a while with general chit chat but to be honest Chris and I are totally whacked and really can't be doing with the small talk... So Chris starts on random tangents that weren't true to keep himself entertained. I get told that I'm saying Nevada incorrectly.. honestly if I had the energy I would have taken her to the cleaners on the English language and it's subtleties. She seems harmless too but just how smug she was saying "oh iM sorry, i always do that - correct people how to say it". "Yeah but im english, so I have an accent, like tomayto tomato". God im bored and annoyed even recounting this story.

Up the next day to leave for Vegas. The Mustang GT stuck out like an abomination of Mother Nature in the depths of natural beauty, surrounded by wood-panelled family saloons, Prius after Prius, compact 99mpg Smart cars. So Chris and I turn the car on and off a few times just to hear its well tuned overture: a crescendo of burble, roar, and down into a smooth purr while the V8 takes a huge swig of its morning gasoline. Hello day 3.

Taking the Yosemite route to Vegas takes you high (3000ft) where the air temp is in the 20s but there's snow all around - check out the Mustang pics above and spot the snow. Obviously we had to pull over and throw a few snowballs at trees. #lads

*no animals were harmed whilst taking these pictures.

Some shots taken on Chris and Max's Day 1 of vacation. Started off eating brunch, followed by sunbathing in a park full of dogshit. Swiftly moved on to Golden Gate Park - Stow Lake, where we took a romantic cruise. Despite being a Tuesday, the park was full but no one was rowing. Pedalo or rowing boat? You can't stretch out in a pedalo. Took the minirig, some drinks, and set course for a place farthest from civilisation - a hard target with a park surrounded and impregnated by 4 lane roads. Still, the sunbathing terrapins were pretty sweet, baking on the semi-submersed logs. Reminded me of my pet terrapin "Dribble" I had aged 10. Nearly took out a whole family with the hull whilst negotiating a few branches*.

Followed it up with a trip to the SF Botanical Garden next door. Free on Tuesdays. Bonus (wouldn't have paid to go). Plants arranged according to country of origin.. have to say I was a little disappointed: the whole place looked well landscaped but didn't see anything odd or interesting except the odd oversized butterfly.

The day was topped off with a Giants baseball game with some new friends - honestly, baseball is a terrible game. These chaps are considered professional sportsmen yet no one can actually hit the ball. I don't blame them much - the pitchers are cunning and skillful, but the game needs to be tailored to yield more...um...dynamic? People try to rebuttal with "Ye-ha - but what about your guys's cricket". It's true, cricket can go on for days, but the bowler and batsman are better matched and a ball is hit every other go, clean and calculated. Exciting and engaging. Rob reckons I've gone in with the wrong angle and "Don't watch the game. Drink beer, eat food, laugh with your mates. If anything interesting happens it will be repeated on the big screens". Ok got it. I may try another game with my new approach. Two of the three ladies accompanying us grew up in a house where baseball was watched 3 nights a week (they arrived donning the genuine Giants t-shirt) so the nostalgia is there for some, and defend the game and its odd appeal they did. Go Giants.

The bolditalic article on Russian Hill in my last post mentioned a hidden gem of a hill garden called Ina Coolbrith Park, tucked away from the busy Colombus people highway of North Beach. Armed with my copy of The Maltese Falcon (thanks George, Anna) I went in search… I love the pink needles that fall from street trees, lining the cracks of the pavement, turning an urban function into a colour feature. Final approach to the park: picturesque comes close to doing it justice; winding up a stone staircase to reach an upper cul-de-sac, bushes prim and proper, looks like the upper one per cent live here.

By Melissa ChandlerRussian Hill is a neighborhood with that rare advantage of being tucked away, yet central to almost everything. I feel lucky that from where I live I can walk to…

My first 2.5 weeks unassigned to a project have been fun. I've been based out of ThoughtWorks SF HQ in the heart of the city whilst looking for a suitable project: met a bunch of people through various after work activities, done all my Social Security stuff, banking admin, yada yada. But I really want a project now. I've had various leads with various clients but things keep falling through due various reasons.

Turns out the most useful place I can apply my unique set of skills is in Germany - no one else available and the potential to open up more opportunities for the company so here we go. I'll be in Munich from Sunday (9th March) to Saturday April 19th. Grafting, but hopefully jump on the skiing trip Ginner, Matt G etc are planning in Tignes.

The best onion rings i've EVER EATEN. The perfect cross between those onion ring crisps--the fake tasting kind where someone somewhere on an outer London industrial estate has decided that this is what onion should taste like--and real onion. And on top of what can be described as a dense macaroni cheese brick, compacted with magical glue surrounded by a cheesy white sauce.

Random: hey man, I'm just checkin in to see if you need anything. You ok?

Max: Er, yep I'm pretty good thanks sitting on this bench enjoying the view

Random: well I'm just out here preaching the good word. Would you mind if I take a few minutes to tell you about the gospel?

Max: um. I'm ok actually.

Random: ok well is there anything I should be praying for you about?

Max: nope I'm pretty good. Things are going well.