Dragon Blogger’s Stay In San Francisco
I arrive at the airport around 12:40pm and hail a SuperShuttle which takes about 15 minutes to arrive. I know it saves money to ride in a SuperShuttle, but I was squeezed in a small van with 6 other people. It was the most uncomfortable 30 minute ride I have had in a long time. In the bench in front of me was a geriatric woman squeezed between two people who looked like ex-convicts and she looked fearful of her life. In my row I was squeezed between a very heavy set and sweaty man, and an indian fellow who was using his iPhone the whole time and laughing to himself. There was an Asian man behind me and another Caucasian fellow typing on his blackberry. The van was loaded with 7 people not including the driver, the air conditioning was very low. The smell of sweat and body odor was thick in the air, I was literally almost gagging within ten minutes because the smell of human body odor mingling with people who wear too much cologne wafting through the van was making me sick.
Of course my hotel wasn’t the first stop, the van dropped off four people before depositing me on the street corner of my hotel. I was thoroughly nauseated and paid my SuperShuttle bill, grabbed my one laptop briefcase and proceeded to gulp in what passes as fresh air in a downtown city as quickly as possible. It is worth paying the extra 20 dollars to get a taxi or cab ride next time, it was almost unbearable.
So I arrive at The Galleria Park Hotel on Sutton street in Downtown San Fransisco, where the hotel has the sidewalk chopped up due to construction right in front of it. The Hotel itself is modest, but right away disappointing. There is no continental breakfast which I wish I had known that prior. The room itself is just fair, bed is fairly comfortable and passable. The had a hot water maker in the room which allowed me to make fresh brewed hot tea which was decent though. They had a fitness center but I never had a chance to try it because I only packed work clothes and didn’t have workout attire.
So, I checked into my hotel and proceeded to walk to my co-worker’s office. Remember, I traveled to San Fransisco on a business trip to meet some co-workers who I have worked with for 2 years and never met in person. I arrive at their office which is just six blocks away from the hotel on Market street. I end up very confused, it turns out that the address listed for my co-workers in the company system was 2 years out dated. My coworkers actually work in a different building, so I had mapped the nearest hotel to the wrong building and now was standing outside a company building where my co-workers do not work.
This embarrassing oversight cost me another hour as I had to find their correct building and walk from the Market Street building to the correct building about 10 minutes away. (At least it was in the vicinity). I arrive at the building and have a meeting with my co-worker and then my co-worker’s take me out to dinner to one of their favorite Italian restaurants in San Fransisco. The Place is called “Caffe Sport” The restaurant was pretty good probably a seven on a scale of one to ten in my book. The sliced bread came out with a mild marinara dipping sauce which was nice, though some olive oil or seasoning would have been preferable. The restaurant serves dishes “Family Style” where the entree’s come out in big plates that everyone shares. We ordered three entree’s, the Lobster with garlic cream sauce, the Pesto Penne, and the Calamari. All three were good, but the penne in pesto sauce was my favorite of the three dishes by far.
After dinner we hung out at a nearby tavern for about an hour discussing work and getting to know each other outside of work. I am an unofficial supervisor of my co-worker for about two years, and I learned that my co-worker was actually nervous for the last two months about me visiting him. He thought he was in trouble and had the impression that I was this strict militaristic type of boss (shows how much he didn’t know me). It was really good to break the ice with these people, both of them were extremely gracious and treated me to dinner out of their own generous pockets. It was nice to finally get to know some people outside of the office, thought I regret doing most of the talking (as usual).
Here’s to Randy and Pipes, it was great meeting you guys in person and I always enjoy working with you over the past 2 1/2 years. These are two hard working people who know what its like to balance work and family life.
Today I am meeting some more co-workers for lunch and then my flight leaves at around 4:15pm to head back toward Phoenix, Arizona. I will probably have a post tonight about how the flight and arrival home went.
-Dragon Blogger
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Thank you for your comment, man I really feel sorry for you drivers of those shuttles. Out of curiosity does it pay better to be a driver of a shuttle or a taxi cab? If they paid the same, wouldn't the preference to be a cab driver and deal with less crammed passengers? I imagine it must either pay more, or easier to get the job or else nobody would do it.
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