What a Trip!

I'm on the plane looking back on the week that was. The first bit of my trip was spent working, as I wasn't able to get my shit together prior to departure. Luckily, all the deadlines were made, so life is good. I was also rather ill when I went out. The bad news is that I am still coughing up funky stuff in the morning, but I am otherwise doing well.

This flight would have been a Delta Song flight, but since they re-absorbed Song, many of the perks of a Song flight have been eliminated. I would love the option of a sandwich, but I don't have one. They also changed the in-flight entertainment system. Now all the buttons are small, and difficult to hit. It's not called "Fitt's Good Idea", it's called Fitt's LAW. Bigger buttons equals a faster time to acquire a target. What were giant buttons you could mash with your palm, are now tiny buttons you can only hit with your smallest finger. Even then, they are spaced so close together, you still run a risk of a target miss. Perhaps I am biased, as I got to work on the UI for the Song entertainment system, but bad science is still bad science.

Hotel T&M was a blast. I am glad I finally got to meet Nigel. He's such a good boy, even if Rachel won't let him have any attention. When I arrived, I was able to see pagerbear for all of 5 minutes, but I was able to see both bearfuz and john_nyc for the majority of my stay. I was also able to catch my friend John on his way to Australia for 2 months. While we have chatted online for years, this was our first meeting. He's even more dangerously charming in person than any other medium. He also made these lovely chocolate-and-caramel concoctions as a birthday treat.

Prior to my arrival, notdefined was able to score tickets to the SF Symphony performing Mahler 8. Alas, Tom couldn't join me on the night of the concert, as he was too busy singing Tenor on stage. My, my, my, does that fellow look handsome in a tux! Luckily, we were able to get together after the performance. My friend John, Tom, and another Tenor, Jeff Bowles (Note to thornycJeff says "hi"), and I went to Martuni's for cocktails. After many drinks, and long conversations ranging from Inferno to the amazingly bad singing at the piano. Note to chanteuse You're just not allowed to sing Morrissey, nor Radiohead, nor anything in French. You're hurting the music loving population. Stop. Please. After that, we tried to find coffee, but everything in SF closes at 11pm on a Saturday, let alone after midnight (Note to NYCers WTF?!?!)

I also tried to get some dinner-things happening with various SF folks, to little avail, although I did manage to get a really great home-grilled meal with the sweet beastbrisket, his partner Lang, and a tattoo artist friend whose name I can no longer recall. We ate outdoors. Mark Twain was right, there is never a winter so cold as a summer in SF. Immediately after eating, we went inside to catch a newly downloaded episode of Doctor Who (Thank you Bit Torrent!) Any episode that involves cat people, and a human who has been reduced to being a giant skin-graft has got to be good.

The icing on the cake however, was Sunday. Nothing could have prepared me for what was in store. kitchenbeard created a most amazing birthday feast. The menu for the event can be seen here. Words cannot describe how much I enjoyed it. Huge thanks go to Stephen for researching, preparing and presenting the varied dishes. notdefined also gets credit for coming up with the idea.

I also spent quite a bit of time at the gym. It's a crying shame there isn't a wormhole from NYC to the Gold's Gym in SOMA. Not only is the equipment top-notch, but quite a bit of the patrons are HOT. Contrast this with the Chelsea NYSC, and well, there simply is no contest. I'd *much* rather have a workout in SOMA, even if they don't have a towel service, forcing you to buy a towel when you (twice) forget to bring your own. When not at the gym, I was also at Starbucks more than a few times, usually in the back, with computer-on-table. That's where I ran into doubleohsteven and fuzzygruf who both had birthdays this week. I actually ran into them quite a few times on the street. I wondered if they were following me ;-) I also managed to score brunch with le_lapin, who is probably still biking to LA for the AIDS ride. Wish him luck!

So, a huge thanks to Tom, Morgan, Stephen, and everyone else for such a fantastic week. PIctures will be forthcoming, as soon as I can downlaod them from Tom's FTP server (I was able to use his camera, as I neglected to bring mine… what was I thinking??).

What a Trip!

I'm on the plane looking back on the week that was. The first bit of my trip was spent working, as I wasn't able to get my shit together prior to departure. Luckily, all the deadlines were made, so life is good. I was also rather ill when I went out. The bad news is that I am still coughing up funky stuff in the morning, but I am otherwise doing well.

This flight would have been a Delta Song flight, but since they re-absorbed Song, many of the perks of a Song flight have been eliminated. I would love the option of a sandwich, but I don't have one. They also changed the in-flight entertainment system. Now all the buttons are small, and difficult to hit. It's not called "Fitt's Good Idea", it's called Fitt's LAW. Bigger buttons equals a faster time to acquire a target. What were giant buttons you could mash with your palm, are now tiny buttons you can only hit with your smallest finger. Even then, they are spaced so close together, you still run a risk of a target miss. Perhaps I am biased, as I got to work on the UI for the Song entertainment system, but bad science is still bad science.

Hotel T&M was a blast. I am glad I finally got to meet Nigel. He's such a good boy, even if Rachel won't let him have any attention. When I arrived, I was able to see pagerbear for all of 5 minutes, but I was able to see both bearfuz and john_nyc for the majority of my stay. I was also able to catch my friend John on his way to Australia for 2 months. While we have chatted online for years, this was our first meeting. He's even more dangerously charming in person than any other medium. He also made these lovely chocolate-and-caramel concoctions as a birthday treat.

Prior to my arrival, notdefined was able to score tickets to the SF Symphony performing Mahler 8. Alas, Tom couldn't join me on the night of the concert, as he was too busy singing Tenor on stage. My, my, my, does that fellow look handsome in a tux! Luckily, we were able to get together after the performance. My friend John, Tom, and another Tenor, Jeff Bowles (Note to thornycJeff says "hi"), and I went to Martuni's for cocktails. After many drinks, and long conversations ranging from Inferno to the amazingly bad singing at the piano. Note to chanteuse You're just not allowed to sing Morrissey, nor Radiohead, nor anything in French. You're hurting the music loving population. Stop. Please. After that, we tried to find coffee, but everything in SF closes at 11pm on a Saturday, let alone after midnight (Note to NYCers WTF?!?!)

I also tried to get some dinner-things happening with various SF folks, to little avail, although I did manage to get a really great home-grilled meal with the sweet beastbrisket, his partner Lang, and a tattoo artist friend whose name I can no longer recall. We ate outdoors. Mark Twain was right, there is never a winter so cold as a summer in SF. Immediately after eating, we went inside to catch a newly downloaded episode of Doctor Who (Thank you Bit Torrent!) Any episode that involves cat people, and a human who has been reduced to being a giant skin-graft has got to be good.

The icing on the cake however, was Sunday. Nothing could have prepared me for what was in store. kitchenbeard created a most amazing birthday feast. The menu for the event can be seen here. Words cannot describe how much I enjoyed it. Huge thanks go to Stephen for researching, preparing and presenting the varied dishes. notdefined also gets credit for coming up with the idea.

I also spent quite a bit of time at the gym. It's a crying shame there isn't a wormhole from NYC to the Gold's Gym in SOMA. Not only is the equipment top-notch, but quite a bit of the patrons are HOT. Contrast this with the Chelsea NYSC, and well, there simply is no contest. I'd *much* rather have a workout in SOMA, even if they don't have a towel service, forcing you to buy a towel when you (twice) forget to bring your own. When not at the gym, I was also at Starbucks more than a few times, usually in the back, with computer-on-table. That's where I ran into doubleohsteven and fuzzygruf who both had birthdays this week. I actually ran into them quite a few times on the street. I wondered if they were following me ;-) I also managed to score brunch with le_lapin, who is probably still biking to LA for the AIDS ride. Wish him luck!

So, a huge thanks to Tom, Morgan, Stephen, and everyone else for such a fantastic week. PIctures will be forthcoming, as soon as I can downlaod them from Tom's FTP server (I was able to use his camera, as I neglected to bring mine… what was I thinking??).