A day in S.F.

The office setting I am working at in San Fran is quite a bit different that what I have back home. The building is located on a major street with the office on the 12th floor. It reminds me of my early career in Chicago. Lots of people always in a hurry or trying to look important.
I left my posh hotel room just before 8. No, I did not put on the fat robes they had hanging in the closet. I prefer to walk around nekkid. The walk to the office is only a couple blocks from the hotel. But I walked out to find it raining. Crap! I then proceeded to walk in the wrong direction but corrected myself after only a half block. In the couple block walk I have 2 McDonalds to choose from should I find the urge. Surprisingly, no Starbucks that I saw. And unlike Chicago, there isn’t a Walgreens on every other corner.
My boss came out to claim me in the receptionist area. She proceeded to introduce me to everyone in sight whether she knew them or not. It was then time to meet with her and go over what I would do for the next couple of days. I then spent an hour with tech support to get the pc working for me. I do not have a phone to use, but have my cell with me which hurt when Al calls for a dial-a-shot 3. I would have killed for a shot at that point. My keyboard tray vibrates from the sounds of the building and it annoys the crap out of me. At least the people around are pretty cool and I have been able to set up the training times to my liking.
The boss decided to take everyone out for lunch. We headed down the elevator and out the door into the misty rain. We went down one street, across another and into another building. Up two escalators back outside before arriving at a Mexican restaurant. First thing my boss points out to me is the waitress that is really a waiter. I hadn’t noticed that much until I went to the men’s room. Moments later he was in front of the urinal next to me. Ok, I made that part up but I told that to my boss to make her laugh. Seriously he did make for one ugly chick. And his forearms were way too big for a chick.
Lunch was ok. It did seem to make for a long afternoon though. I worked on some minor work before I could head on out. I was given many tips on where to go eat. I think some people think I am too picky when it comes to food. I don’t like seafood. I try it once in a while to see if my tastes have changed but it rarely does. I think it may be the smell. I turned down Vietnamese because it sounded too disgusting and French. In the end my boss suggested I should go to Gordon Biersch. Beer and food. I am so there. Besides all the other places that were mentioned were said to be "trendy". I don’t do trendy. I do comfortable. Think about this. I know I will have to eat a dinner or two by myself when I go on these trips. Why do I want to sit in some hoidy toidy restaurant by myself when I can get good food in a pub atmosphere that I am comfortable with? Thus when I mentioned if I couldn’t make up my mind I would head to a Hooter’s, they laughed. Ah screw them!
I decided to head back to my hotel room first to wash up before making the walk. As I headed up the street, I couldn’t help but notice the blind man approaching me. His cane was out in front waving back and forth as he walked. But there was one problem. This sidewalk is quite wide and has a number of trees lining the street. It looks great. But a blind man can’t take that in anyways. I watched as he approached the tree wondering if the cane would do it’s job and he would be saved. It was like slow motion. Whoosh. Whoosh. Then I saw it. The cane went back to the left as he took his next step. BIFF! Could I have said something? Possibly but I don’t think it would do any good. What would I say anyway? "Hey blind guy, watch out for the tree!". He didn’t hit it hard so he was ok. I didn’t laugh either because it wasn’t really funny. It was like watching a minor accident about to happen. Just interesting enough for me to say I watched a blind man walk into a tree.
As I got closer to the hotel, I noticed some person walking behind me in a forceful manner. I kept hearing the clomping of their shoes on the pavement. It was pretty loud. It would start and stop as I did. I wondered if I was being stalked? Of course I kept that thought in my head when I turned down a new street and heard the walker stalker had turned as well. When I turned into the hotel, it followed me there as well. It then followed me to the elevator. It was at that point that I noticed this dude had snowshoes for feet. No wonder he was so loud.
So I walked to the Gordon Biersch restaurant. It was maybe ¾ of a mile from the hotel. Not a bad walk. I really wanted to walk and take in the city. It is pretty cool place. I walked along the bay towards the Bay Bridge until I arrived at the restaurant. They just so happened to have a beer tasting party going on so that worked to my benefit as well. I bellied up to the bar and had some guy go behind the bar and ask me if I had been helped. I looked at him and wondered who he was as he was not dressed like an employee. He was dressed very casually and was carrying a big glass of beer. I inquired about a beer list and what the seasonal offering was. He then proceeded to give me small taps of every beer they had along with a description of each. It was like scoring a free pint! I settled for the new Winter Bock. Excellent beer. I ordered a nice ribeye and attempted to return the dial-a-shot to Al. He answered and let me know he would have to call me back. He was talking with the Blonde. No problem. 10 seconds later, the Blonde was on the phone speaking with me. Poor girl was just getting out of work and was sober. It was good to finally talk with her instead of her voicemail.
I ate a great meal and finished another Winter Bock for dessert before heading back. It ended up being a nice day. Hopefully tomorrow would bring me even better stories to tell. I will be heading out to diner with a co-worker who thinks I am too Mid-West for the West Coast.