The Frisco
Friday we had a really cool social barbeque thing in the afternoon at work. It was pretty cool. We had nachos, beer... and jello shots. Hehe. Google is awesome. So yeah, I got to hang out with the interns some more. It was really cool. After the barbeque, I got on the bus and headed to the CalTrain station. Thayer decided to putz around and so I waited there for an hour for him. But it was okay - it was a nice evening, and I had my ipod (and therefore good music) with me.
After about an hour on the train, we reached the end of the line, and emerged somewhere in San Francisco. I had written down directions from both Google Maps and Ben (Hindman), but I decided to go with Google's since it was a nice night, and I wanted to walk. Turns out we started going the wrong way. We started out here, got really lost, and finally found Market and Steuart. I was looking for Market and Turk, so we could get to Polk and finally to Clay. Thayer and I ended up just finding a Metro map and getting to Clay, and just walking a lot. It was pretty cool though. The street didn't have any trash or people on it or anything. As we were ascending the hill, we walked up into the fog. It was pretty cool just walking into a cloud. Especially since it was so hot, it was very relaxing. We walked past this one building which looked really cool. Standing at the base of it looking up, it looked like it went straight up. It wasn't until we passed it today in the daylight, that we realized it came to a point. Pretty sweet how it was designed to look straight from the bottom. It looked really awesome in the fog - even more so since we couldn't see the top. Then there were these fins or wings or something on the side of it. In the fog, it looked like there was a skylight shining at an angle out of one floor. It was pretty cool.
So, we finally made it to Ben's. He and his friend Dan had gone to a Radiohead concert, and we got to his place just a few minutes before he made it back, so timing was pretty good. We wanted to go to a bar, but there wasn't much around him that wasn't a gay club. Literally. We kept walking by this club that had lots of posters of gay things on the outside. That's San Francisco for you, I guess. Anyway, we found this one little diner that was open until 4am, which was pretty nice. Everything else had closed before 11pm. It was pretty lame.
On Saturday we all slept in and made it to the Metreon around 2:30 or so. Chris, Ben and I got into a long techie talk about Blu-Ray. Poor Dan. He isn't techy at all, and had to listen to us blather on about it. We finally stopped and wandered around for a while before seeing a Blu-Ray player, and wanting to see the difference. It wasn't on, but we got talking again. When we looked up Dan was gone. Dan doesn't have a cell phone, and he had a plane to catch, so we thought he would be nearby. We spent the next hour or so looking for him, but to no avail. We finally gave up, and assumed he had made his flight.
After being ditched by Dan, we tried to find The Mission, but it didn't work so well. We gave up and just went down to the Wharf and Pier 39. On the way to the pier we passed this one guy on the street making paintings. I usually just ignore these people, but Ben and Chris stopped, so I went to see what he was doing. He was just putting a bunch of blue spray paint on this sheet of paper. A few incredulous glances at Ben and Chris, and we still weren't leaving, so I waited to see what he was doing. He started splattering white paint on it, so I was even more confused. Then he takes off this bucket that he had put in the middle. Suddenly there was a planet. Okay, maybe there is something to this guy. He started "randomly" spraying more, especially heavy on the bottom. Then he took some magazine pages and starts smearing it. Suddenly there was fog rolling towards the planet. Then he takes a plaster trowel and starts scraping it on the ground. He then carves away a bit in the center, making two lines down the middle of his planet. "What the heck is that for?" A few more swipes later, and he has the Golden Gate Bridge. By this time I'm getting pretty impressed. He sprays a little white on a corner of the planet, and suddenly there's a halo around it, and a sun rising. A little white beneath the bridge and some smear, and there's moonlight on the water. A burst of white and another can, this time sprayed on the inside, and there's a moon. Some white against wood, and there's meteorites streaking across the sky. By this point our jaws are dropping. This is really very impressive. I look at buying the painting, but its $20. He has a bunch of others for only $5, but I don't want to carry it around, so on our way back I pick one up. It's really pretty sweet. I'll show it to you guys when you come over.
After the painter, we walked to Pier 39. I didn't believe it, but they had a "No Thongs (except on feet)" sign. I was a little disappointing. Not that I imagine there being lots of thongs out in the cold, San-Franciscan summer. We really wanted to just sit on the pier and have some beer, so we wanted to find a bar. The closest we found was a really good pizza place on the second level at the end of the pier. The pizza was amazing - chicken, pesto, garlic, and basil, I think is what it was. Delicious. We also had a bottle of Pinot Grigio, which was really good.
After that we walked back (didn't take a cab up the steep hill because none of us cared that much) to Ben's place. We got some beer and sat on the back porch just talking and sipping beer. I wasn't able to really enjoy it, though - I think I just wanted more good wine. But there wasn't anything decent which wasn't really expensive at Whole Foods, and they only had one Riesling, which was more than $20. But whatever. It was still fun just hanging out there and talking. I think this was around the time I had put on Ben's fedora. Apparently I looked kinda like Indiana Jones. But without the whip. We were tempted to get one, but given the fact that our best chance would have been one of the gay sex shops, we decided against it.
On Sunday we went back to a crape place we had not quite had a chance to eat at for breakfast. We then went back to Ben's place, listened to lots of cool music, and then headed over to the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park. It took us a while to get there, but we eventually found our way in and parked. The tea was really good, and the scenery awesome. It was really sad how the place's been around for over a hundred years, but the last forty, it hasn't been run by the original owners (or their descendants), because of the fucking internment camps. Seriously. What the fuck? Anyway, it looked really cool, and we ended up spending about an hour and a half discussing philosophy and religion on a bridge in the middle of the place. Fucking awesome.
Chris and I grabbed some Taco Bell, and just missed the 7pm train, but we finally made it back around 9:30. I ended up missing my stop, but Garrett was nice enough to find the next one and get me. Thanks a bunch! I really don't understand why Ben and I didn't hang out earlier. I've known him since freshman year, but we didn't start hanging out until this January. Every time we do, we have a great time. I'm just glad we started doing it finally. Ben's an awesome guy - even Chris liked him, and that's saying something.
Wow. Awesome weekend. This summer's going to be really awesome.
After about an hour on the train, we reached the end of the line, and emerged somewhere in San Francisco. I had written down directions from both Google Maps and Ben (Hindman), but I decided to go with Google's since it was a nice night, and I wanted to walk. Turns out we started going the wrong way. We started out here, got really lost, and finally found Market and Steuart. I was looking for Market and Turk, so we could get to Polk and finally to Clay. Thayer and I ended up just finding a Metro map and getting to Clay, and just walking a lot. It was pretty cool though. The street didn't have any trash or people on it or anything. As we were ascending the hill, we walked up into the fog. It was pretty cool just walking into a cloud. Especially since it was so hot, it was very relaxing. We walked past this one building which looked really cool. Standing at the base of it looking up, it looked like it went straight up. It wasn't until we passed it today in the daylight, that we realized it came to a point. Pretty sweet how it was designed to look straight from the bottom. It looked really awesome in the fog - even more so since we couldn't see the top. Then there were these fins or wings or something on the side of it. In the fog, it looked like there was a skylight shining at an angle out of one floor. It was pretty cool.
So, we finally made it to Ben's. He and his friend Dan had gone to a Radiohead concert, and we got to his place just a few minutes before he made it back, so timing was pretty good. We wanted to go to a bar, but there wasn't much around him that wasn't a gay club. Literally. We kept walking by this club that had lots of posters of gay things on the outside. That's San Francisco for you, I guess. Anyway, we found this one little diner that was open until 4am, which was pretty nice. Everything else had closed before 11pm. It was pretty lame.
On Saturday we all slept in and made it to the Metreon around 2:30 or so. Chris, Ben and I got into a long techie talk about Blu-Ray. Poor Dan. He isn't techy at all, and had to listen to us blather on about it. We finally stopped and wandered around for a while before seeing a Blu-Ray player, and wanting to see the difference. It wasn't on, but we got talking again. When we looked up Dan was gone. Dan doesn't have a cell phone, and he had a plane to catch, so we thought he would be nearby. We spent the next hour or so looking for him, but to no avail. We finally gave up, and assumed he had made his flight.
After being ditched by Dan, we tried to find The Mission, but it didn't work so well. We gave up and just went down to the Wharf and Pier 39. On the way to the pier we passed this one guy on the street making paintings. I usually just ignore these people, but Ben and Chris stopped, so I went to see what he was doing. He was just putting a bunch of blue spray paint on this sheet of paper. A few incredulous glances at Ben and Chris, and we still weren't leaving, so I waited to see what he was doing. He started splattering white paint on it, so I was even more confused. Then he takes off this bucket that he had put in the middle. Suddenly there was a planet. Okay, maybe there is something to this guy. He started "randomly" spraying more, especially heavy on the bottom. Then he took some magazine pages and starts smearing it. Suddenly there was fog rolling towards the planet. Then he takes a plaster trowel and starts scraping it on the ground. He then carves away a bit in the center, making two lines down the middle of his planet. "What the heck is that for?" A few more swipes later, and he has the Golden Gate Bridge. By this time I'm getting pretty impressed. He sprays a little white on a corner of the planet, and suddenly there's a halo around it, and a sun rising. A little white beneath the bridge and some smear, and there's moonlight on the water. A burst of white and another can, this time sprayed on the inside, and there's a moon. Some white against wood, and there's meteorites streaking across the sky. By this point our jaws are dropping. This is really very impressive. I look at buying the painting, but its $20. He has a bunch of others for only $5, but I don't want to carry it around, so on our way back I pick one up. It's really pretty sweet. I'll show it to you guys when you come over.
After the painter, we walked to Pier 39. I didn't believe it, but they had a "No Thongs (except on feet)" sign. I was a little disappointing. Not that I imagine there being lots of thongs out in the cold, San-Franciscan summer. We really wanted to just sit on the pier and have some beer, so we wanted to find a bar. The closest we found was a really good pizza place on the second level at the end of the pier. The pizza was amazing - chicken, pesto, garlic, and basil, I think is what it was. Delicious. We also had a bottle of Pinot Grigio, which was really good.
After that we walked back (didn't take a cab up the steep hill because none of us cared that much) to Ben's place. We got some beer and sat on the back porch just talking and sipping beer. I wasn't able to really enjoy it, though - I think I just wanted more good wine. But there wasn't anything decent which wasn't really expensive at Whole Foods, and they only had one Riesling, which was more than $20. But whatever. It was still fun just hanging out there and talking. I think this was around the time I had put on Ben's fedora. Apparently I looked kinda like Indiana Jones. But without the whip. We were tempted to get one, but given the fact that our best chance would have been one of the gay sex shops, we decided against it.
On Sunday we went back to a crape place we had not quite had a chance to eat at for breakfast. We then went back to Ben's place, listened to lots of cool music, and then headed over to the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park. It took us a while to get there, but we eventually found our way in and parked. The tea was really good, and the scenery awesome. It was really sad how the place's been around for over a hundred years, but the last forty, it hasn't been run by the original owners (or their descendants), because of the fucking internment camps. Seriously. What the fuck? Anyway, it looked really cool, and we ended up spending about an hour and a half discussing philosophy and religion on a bridge in the middle of the place. Fucking awesome.
Chris and I grabbed some Taco Bell, and just missed the 7pm train, but we finally made it back around 9:30. I ended up missing my stop, but Garrett was nice enough to find the next one and get me. Thanks a bunch! I really don't understand why Ben and I didn't hang out earlier. I've known him since freshman year, but we didn't start hanging out until this January. Every time we do, we have a great time. I'm just glad we started doing it finally. Ben's an awesome guy - even Chris liked him, and that's saying something.
Wow. Awesome weekend. This summer's going to be really awesome.
posted by Alden | 23:51
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