Don't believe this

But I do, I was there, I saw it happen.

246pm, grabbed a cab in downtown San Francisco on a Tuesday afternoon. Around the 500 block of Market Street.

315pm, same day 29 minutes later, I'm sitting in a plane bound for Phoenix.

San Francisco one more time

I'll never live here but I think i've written more about this city than any other. Something about it that makes me wonder why I don't visit more often. This trip was like all the others. Airport, office, nice dinner, hotel room, airport, home. Dinner at Anchor and Hope Restaurant. Not bad. Pic is from Gate 44 at the airport as I awaited my 6am flight back to Minneapolis.

Cheated

In business, I'm all for people making as much money as they honestly can. But I don't like it when I feel like I've been tricked, even when I deserved it. Two nights ago I stayed at the Hilton on O'Farrell St. in San Francisco. Not the best of hotels, but reliable, predictable, within walking distance of the financial district, and adjacent to a great Indian restaurant.

The M&M's I took from the mini-bar were great. My favourite candy. I dozed off with a half-empty regular sized bag next to me. What did they cost me upon checkout? $8.35.

I asked for it. I'm sure there was a sign in the room with the prices posted. I knew they would cost double or triple the price at Wal-Mart. But ten times more? Still bugging me.

So they got a few extra bucks, perhaps $5 more than most hotels. But rather my leaving as a satisfied customer planning to come back, I left thinking about the type of attitude that would charge so much for so little and wondering where else had they stuck it to me.

Shortsightedness is a bad habit. I suspect this is a problem elsewhere at this Hilton. No doubt, they'll get by without me, and the other late-night candy cravers. I stay there about twice a year. But loyal customers are hard to come by, and they just lost one......

Then again, they were pretty good M&M's.

San Francisco 1982

I am wandering the blocks around the TransAmerica building, searching for an old hangout, Paoli's. As a young broker trainee in SF in the early 80's, this is where you would find me occasionally. Unwinding with friends. Talking about the market like we were old veterans. Watching the 49ers march through the playoffs on their way to the Superbowl. Missing my wife and new baby girl. Apart from the TA pyramid, nothing looks familiar.
.................

Sfo to msp

How many times have I taken this flight? Lost count. Listening to "Stone walls and steel bars" on the ipod while flying somewhere over Iowa.
Thankful for small things, such as the dad two rows in front of me who is traveling with baby and working overtime to keep the cries to a minimum.
I love the city I just left and understand why so many people want to live there. For all its problems it is continually creating opportunities. It fights all the government efforts to stifle the soul of the entrepreneur. You can almost feel jobs being created and destroyed. Even here, capitalism will find a way.
... And the climate and scenery are hard to beat.
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Another day in San Francisco

10 am - its a long day already that started at 5am. I'm two hours into my third meeting of the day.
4pm - a productive day but still in same meeting and dozing. Dinner ahead at 630. Only 6 more hours until I hit the sack.
7pm - Dinner at the Olympic Club. Food was very fine, service even better.
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It's my Fault

In the afternoons, San Francisco is like any other big city. Crowds of suburbanites pounding the pavement, moving their bodies back and forth between places of work, dining establishments, and home.

In the morning... San Francisco is special.

In the mornings there is a taste and feel to the air, both crisp and with a hint of moisture. Yesterday morning on the edge of Chinatown I walked down Kearny Street toward Market, past old Chinese women on their way to work at a local shop, past the smiling hobos just waking up, past traders rushing to get in before the New York open... it's hard not to fall in love with this place. Here the smells of the city do not sour overnight, they ferment.

I never miss San Francisco when I am away, but when I am back I always wonder why.

Note: The Ton Yong Thai Cafe at 901 Kearny Street is a great place for takeout and a late night escape from drug-addled prostitutes in pickup trucks. As I stand on a street corner outside a non-descript Hilton at 11pm these ladies remind me of a favourite quote from the heroine in the novel Kushiel's Dart, "When Love cast me out, it was Cruelty who took pity upon me."