SFO to Atlanta, Georgia

Wednesday 09/05

So I was up at 3:00 a.m. showered and out the door by 3:50 waiting for the bus to the airport, the flight was uneventful but cramped, I had some guy sitting next to me wanting to take over my seat too.  The view from the plane was awesome, we flew over the Rocky Mountains, over Denver and then over Memphis, where you could see the Mississippi Delta and river.

Been here at Atlanta airport for ages waiting for the next leg of the flight to Dublin, we should be boarding soon - thank goodness for WIFI, it cost me $6.75 for 24 hour WIFI and I got to talk to D and Em for ages on Skype, just finished talking to a colleague and going to pack up the computer now so that we can start boarding.

Chat tomorrow from Ireland, unless they have WIFI on the plane over like they did coming here :)

Last day in SFO

Tuesday 09/04

Pretty much uneventful day today, the girls took me for lunch to a Japanese restaurant, then K gave me a lift through to Millbrae at 4 o'clock, but not before all the good byes and hugs from my team and from Sri.  I miss them already, but I want to get home to see my family, miss them so much!

Driving to Millbrae, we had to take the San Jose / San Mateo bridge, the fog had come down behind the sky scrapers in San Francisco and the view was awesome, like a fog blanket over the city - it was also weird driving on a motorway that crosses the ocean.

What I could not get over was the amount of traffic, even though each morning I had watched the traffic report on TV which starts at 4:30 a.m. at 5:30 a.m. this morning there was already a huge traffic jam on the Interstate 680 which was due to a CHP being shot by a motorist today - lots of shootings in SFO.

So K dropped me at my hotel and I basically just lazed about and then decided to go and get some dinner from the Mexican place across the road, I didn't realise it was a fast food - The Chipotle Grill and of course having no experience at ordering mexican, I really mad a twat of myself, but managed to get something to eat at the end of it.

And now I am back here thinking that I had better get some sleep because I need to be up before 3 a.m. so good night everyone and goodbye SFO ... I will be back to this wonderful city! 

Labor Day

Monday 09/03

Well I haven't done much today, took a walk to the Apple store at Stoneridge Mall to get an iPod touch and then went to the Cheesecake Factory for the best Milkshake I have ever had!  I have spent the rest of the day here at the desk in my hotel room, chatting on skype and blogging ... it's just too hot outside and I need to pack!

Tomorrow after work I am off to a hotel in Millbrae which is close to the SFO airport so I don't miss my 6 a.m. flight on Wednesday morning.

Will chat again soon, but I best start packing!

Downtown San Francisco - Labor Day week-end

Sunday 09/02

So ... my trip the previous day had been pretty successful, didn't get lost except maybe for waiting for the Marriott shuttle on the Dublin side of the Bart station instead of the Pleasanton side, but that's another story.  I left the Residence Inn at about 10:00 and headed over to the Marriott and got the shuttle over to the Bart. 

I got off at Montgomery Street Bart station and then walked over to Union Square, I am not sure what I was expecting to see but I though it would be a big shopping Mall, there was one but that was in Market Street.  There are loads of expensive shops round the area, so I did a bit of browsing and then decided to head down Powell street to Market as the Internet had said to go there to get tickets for the Cable Car (which is like Cable bus), well the queue was round the block, about 300 people in the queue, so I just went shopping!

When I was all shopped out I jumped on the Bart at Powell Street and headed back to Pleasanton, walked from the Bart to Stoneridge and did more shopping and then back to the hotel, let's hope my suitcase is not going to be over weight!

I was so hot when I got back that I decided to go for a swim, the water was awesome and I ended up chatting to a girl called Lisa from Florida, then went over to the Marriott for the best burger I have ever had! and a Heineken of course.

Then off to bed for me.

My week-end in San Francisco

Saturday 09/01

I met Mustafa down in Reception and we got the guy from the Marriott to take us to the BART station, I was so glad M was with me as I was a bit nervous about my first trip into SF.   But by the time he showed me the ropes and gave me his BART map it was really a piece of cake.

I decided to get off at the Civic Centre Bart station as I wanted to get to the Spirit shop on Van Ness street to get Emily a halloween costume, I wasn't sure where about it was, so thought I would just start at the beginning.  It was probably a good place to start as I got to see the Opera house, civic centre and some other cool buildings.

After getting off the Bart and walking down to the start of Van Ness by Market street, I couldn't believe how many homeless people there were and they came in all shapes, wow really sad.  I walked for ages and eventually thought well either I missed the Spirit store but will just carry on walking as it doesn't look that far on the map, I eventually come across the store and spend ages there.  After the store I plan to head down to Pier 45, so check with the store girl who says to me to get the bus as it's too far to walk, I reckon it can't be that far and carry on walking.  Well it took me ages and yes it was far but I eventually got there.  Miraculously I end up in front of the Ghirardelli Chocolate shop, I should have gone in but I didn't.

The weatherman had predicted that it was going to be a cold and cloudy day in SF, but to the contrary it was absolutely beautiful.  I first went to the Maritime museum and then did a boat trip around the Golden Gate bridge and Alcatraz, never got to Sausilito where T had told me to go.

I did a bit of touristy shopping and then decided after getting a bite to eat it was time to head home, I found the trolley bus in front of Walgreen's so went in to get a few things, found Peanut Butter M&M's on special!  Got the bus to Embarcadero Bart station and then the Bart back to the hotel.

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Work ... work ... and play ...

Okay so let me start at the begining, I had just got back from SA and on my 6 month anniversary with the company, my boss who I have never met in person said to me that everone including our new QA person from Toronto was going to be in Pleasanton the following week.  So I went on line and found a good air deal, so I told her and she told me to book - within 5 days of booking I was on the plane.

Sunday 09/26

We had a braai the night before with good friends, who left round 9pm, so I had to madly rush and finish packing - I was then up at 3:30 a.m. so D could take me to the airport for my flight to Paris, then an hour wait and the flight to SFO.  Wow, it was long - luckily I sat upstairs where there weren't that many people and I had two empty seats next to me for most of the flight.  Well with an additional 8 hours daylight by the time I arrived in SFO, I had been awake for like 20 hours.

Monday 09/27 (HOT)

My dear collegue T who came over to Ireland for 3 months to mentor me came to fetch me in the morning, it was so cool to see her again so soon and I met my boss for the first time and the new guy from Toronto - Monday was a short day as we left the office at midday for a team outing at Wente Vineyards in Livermore, it was loads of fun and great way to meet all the people from my team.  Ended up playing pictionary with the guys what a laugh. 

After T dropped me back at the hotel, I was chatting to the rest of the guys who were here from Dubln, so we ended up going out for dinner to the Cheese Cake Factory at Stoneridge Mall - it was great to have other people from the Dublin office here else I would have been all on my own.

Tuesday 09/28

A busy day at work and uneventful, then ended up going out with the gang again, this time we went downtown pleasanton and had dinner at a mexican restaurant called Blue Algarve Club I can't find a website but there is a link to facebook, we then had a night cap back at the Marriott.

Wednesday 09/29

Well today was another busy day and a last minute invitation to a team dinner at the Cheese Cake Factory at 5:30 - at 3:15 the alarm goes off in the building and we have to evacuate, well it took them at least 20 minutes to evacuate the building, by which time we could have all been burnt to death - I still had time to go back and get my sun glasses and a visit to the rest room and I was still in the same queue. 

Dinner at the cheescake factory was nice and it was nice to be out with all the team, reminded me of my days in SA when we used to go out for lunch / dinner.

Thursday 09/30 (HOT)

Well Thursday was another short day at the office, it was the company meeting out at the Marriot in San Ramon seems like a good place to stay to explore the Napa valley wine region.  Anyway the meeting was good, I couldn't believe how much people in America drink and drive though, reminded me of days back in SA.  

After the meeting and getting our T-shirts we all headed over to The Firehouse No. 37 in San Ramon which was a great night, but I wasn't in the mood to drink, so couldn't wait to get back to the hotel.

Friday 09/31 (COOL very COOL)

Another busy day in the office, T came back to the hotel with me to unload the Computer and stuff, we then walked over to the Marriott to wait for Stu and then got our favourite driver from the hotel to take us to downtown Pleasanton, once there we got some wine from the wine shop and went to Strizzi's for dinner which was good, then we had to wait for our driver, but it was great we had a good view of the "Blue Moon".  Once back at the hotel, I said my goodbye's to Stu who was heading off the next morning to the Yosemite (which looks absolutely awesome)  and T who was going off to Oregon, I was still going to see Mustafa in the morning before he headed off to Vegas - I was being left in Pleasanton all on my own.
 

San Francisco

What a whirl wind month, I got back from South Africa on the 5th of August and the 21st I was booked to go to San Francisco ... it's been an awesome, but busy week.  Today I went into the city and did some sight seeing awesome, awesome, awesome!!!  Will tell you all about it.