May 29 2009

San Francisco Adventures Day 4

This morning we found ourselves lagging with all the hiking and picture taking, so we decided to lay low and take it slow. We made our way over to the Haight and ate an Eggs Benedict at the Gulp and Squat, terrible name, good food.

kenykev09We came back to the house and messed around on our laptops and talked about us, what else, and were excited to hit up the Adobe FlashCamp SF this afternoon. I read about it and mentioned to Kenny he should go since it was in his city and FREE to boot. That instigated me coming up and here we are.

Well it starts at 5 to 10 with free beer and pizza, presentations on the latest in Flash, Flex and Air products. We first walked around south of Market and hit up a Whole Foods for dinner (no pizza or beer for me!) and grazed on a little over a pound of salad.

Why is it when they have all that good stuff at the salad bar mine always weights so much? I like to think its the hicama and other heavy veggies, not the amount. Delicious!

img_0795img_0796Next we hiked back and hit up the legenary Adobe building itself where the event was being held and sponsored. It was, simply put, Geek Central, and as we walked in and stood in a line of fellow designers (and by the looks of the people there, developers galore!) to get our lammy name tags, bag of schwag, t-shirt and hit the scene.

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After a few initial presentations and a product give-aways we decided to hit the road. It was beginning to get a little over my head with back-end functionality, etc. and we ate dinner at a great Italian restaurant in Noe Valley, then back to Kenny's to check out our freebies, laugh and geek out on our laptops.

A good day was had by all...

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May 28 2009

San Francisco Adventures Day 3

img_11772Well my legs, calves and feet are sore from all this walking in The City these past three days. Today Alvin had another photo shoot all over town.

We went down to the Embarcedero, through the Financial District, took a cable car ride, hit up Grace Cathedral, The Fairmont, The Mark Hopkins, down into China Town, over to North Beach for Italian and along Broadway to pose under Big Al's. Later we went down to the Castro for more hilarious photo ops in the evening after a coffee break.

Whew, such tourists, but you can't see the City from sitting around just playing on your laptop.

You can see more Alvin pictures on the Photo page.

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May 27 2009

San Francisco Adventures Day 2 – Part 1

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Holy smokes, it feels like I have been here a long time already and it has only been day two.

Today found us waking up after not much sleep to eating some breakfast, drinking two double espressos and showers. We were out the door by 11am to traipse about The City and show Kenny my past. After yesterday's mad hiking, we decided it best to drive and walk today.

We first headed to the Haight to pick up some putty for my fake Austin Powers teeth and my super model photo shoot. Long story short while Kenny was at SDSU after I left he took a photography class and asked if I would model for him for a project. I brought my Austin Power teeth and coke bottle glasses to distract and Alvin was born! So we decided to take pictures of Alvin all over San Francisco. They will be in another post after I get them from Kenny, good times and terribly funny.

img_0599Anyways, after we drove up Haight to Stanyon to Fredrick to Lincoln Boulevard, we went directly into the Sunset District where I grew up and came to 1487 27th Avenue - the streets, the neighborhood, the whole Sunset - has changed so much! Looking at the house and garage, I am amazed at how my dad parked the Ford LTD Station Wagon in there!

Memories I think are best kept as just that, nothing compares to them. My childhood home looked SO SMALL and nothing looked like I remembered at all.

Then we made our way down to St. Ignatius College Prep where I attended high school, down to Ocean Beach and the Zoo, went along Lake Merced where I fished off the dock with friends, over to the Great Highway and up the coast to the Cliff House. We walked around and took some pix and then up California Street and detoured to the Palace of the Legion of Honor and posed with the Thinker statue by Rodin. Then out past the Lincoln Park golf course, to Sea Cliff and then hit Clement Street for Chinese at Yet Wah. Delicious, but the memories of going with Dave and the flavors were just not the same.

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We then went to Peets for a pick up, before driving through Pacific Heights, down and through the Marina to Chrissy Field and out to Fort Point at the Golden Gate where we helped celebrate it's 72nd birthday today!

Then we hit Highway 1 through the Presidio and made our way back to where I went to grammar school, St. Annes. The church was closed! I wanted a photo shoot damn it! Oh well, off we went down to the Sunset again, and hit up the Windmills, Soccer Fields and live Bison area. We looped around the museums of the De Young and the California Academy of Sciences and rounded Stow Lake and the Chinese Pavillion.

Driving back to Kenny's place to crash on the couch, we passed the Painted Ladies Victorians which are always featured in movies of San Francisco. Whew, what a day and it's only 5:30pm.

Tonight we are supposed to see a drag queen friend of Kenny's named Cookie Dough, should be interesting, but we'll see... it's been a long day. Pictures of this excursion are on my Photos page, enjoy!

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May 26 2009

San Francisco Adventures Day 1 – Part 2

img_05181img_05191OK, then we went to his place, visited with his cat Killer and hung out for a quick geek laptop check in on Gmail. After the coffee kicked in we then hit the streets of San Francisco.

We left his apartment near Alamo Square and took a walk up the hill to the park and the view of the Victorians that you always see in the movies. Next we went down to the Castro to eat at Zapatas. After the much needed food we hiked up the hills of the Castro, up Collingwood to 20th Street, over to Church (the biggest hill in the City!) and down to Dolores Park, along Dolores to the Mission, back to Market Street and a refreshing Red Bull at Cafe Flores. We then went down underground and took the Muni Metro down to the Civic Center and a protest and march to round off the afternoon.

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I swear we walked almost 6-7 hours total (5 to 6 miles total) possibly?  After the protest march we hit up the Chessecake Factory over the beautiful MACY*S at Union Square. And yes, after all the hard work of recently loosing some weight, I did not have my favorite dessert of cheesecake!

It was a great day. Tomorrow is another day and adventure. I think I am taking Kenny around to all of my childhood haunts and visit old neighborhoods and memories.

I'll post the balance of my pics to the Photos page, enjoy. Time for sleepy time...

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May 26 2009

San Francisco Adventures Day 1 – Part 1

After I landed here in San Francisco to visit my buddy Kenny, we went to his place to put my clothes away and hit the streets. We first went to this incredible neighborhood market, Falletti's and I know Dave would love this place. Check out a few snaps of the iPhone here.

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