Back from the Bay Area…

[katster]

At work, trying to get things done. There’s an interesting concept.

Anyway, let’s begin with a picture:

I am absolutely sure that isn’t what they meant, but I got a pretty good chuckle out of it.

So, I went to the Bay Area. Things I did:

• Went to the Office of Letters and Light (the folks who run NaNoWriMo) to sign my ML form for the coming year. I may be the only ML who will do it that way.
• Drove to mactavish’s place; got smothered in kisses by Zoe, who is my second most favorite dog in the world after my own. Also, forgot to take the greenies wrapper out of my pocket after I opened them to give to doggies, which led Zoe to keep sniffing my pocket hopefully that there would be a second treat. Also, saw chickens and got a slice of awesome bread that deyo made.
• Got back on the freeway, drove back to 680 and made the loop around into the South Bay, as 880’s traffic can get really bad. Stopped in Milpitas to kill time; found disgusting bathrooms and that picture in the Borders there.
• Went to the BASFA meeting because (a) I’ve been wanting to go and (b) the UK TAFF delegate was supposed to be there. Alas, stevegreen ran afoul of the air travel gods and failed to get out of Seattle until 5:30, which meant that he was too exhausted when he got here to make the trip down to the meeting. So sad! But other than that, I had a good time, even if the meeting went way longer than I expected.
• Got back in the car, and drove home mostly without incident, although I got slightly lost in Concord/Walnut Creek/Pleasant Hill looking for caffeinated goodness, which probably cost me a half hour. Paid my bridge toll in dollar coins, which I think weirded out the attendant a little. (Why did I have dollar coins? Well, see, I give TAFF delegates shiny gold coins.)
• Got home at 1:30 AM; got back up and went to work this morning

I think that’s about it. I don’t know when the next time I’ll make a trip over — finances are kinda tight. Folks are trying to talk me into showing up at Silicon, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. I’m hoping for a Big Game trip, myself, but again, money’s tight, and getting a ticket to Big Game at Stanford’s breadbox is difficult.

That’s about it. Guess it’s time to go back to work, now that I figured out why I was critfailing my HTML roll.

Originally published at retstak.org. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa...

The main hassle was that I finally managed to get a seat on the 4pm flight (only four hours later than planned), then that plane's AC broke down and we eventually moved to another jet, which didn't leave till 5:30pm. By the time I hit SF, I'd been in queues or aircraft or similar for eight hours, and felt like a damp rag. No fun.

Still here till Friday morning, though. Staying with athenais. Anything's possible.

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

ps. Can I exchange gold coins for seat upgrades?

[katster.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, you can, but you'd need a lot more of them than I gave Chris. ;)

(They're actually dollar bills in convenient coin form, with pictures of Presidents.)

-kat

[katster.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I just don't really have the gas money to go there and back again, as much as I'd like to go back to Berkeley for a day. (Berkeley's my alma mater, so I like going back and visiting the town where I spent my college days.) Sacramento's just far away that the Bay Area is a day trip, but not a short one.

It's about 240 km from my house in Sactown to the South Bay. To put things in perspective -- about the distance from London to Sheffield, if I'm looking at things correctly. Berkeley's about 50 km closer, which, again if I'm looking at things correctly, is about the distance from Birmingham into London.

But don't feel bad, I like going into the Bay Area when I get the chance, and I've been looking for an excuse to go to a BASFA meeting, so it wasn't a wasted trip even if I didn't accomplish the goal of seeing you. :)

Ah well, you know, life happens. I'm sure I'll catch you at some other point down the road. Hope you're enjoying your trip.

-kat

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

Well, if it DOES happen again you should give me a call and kill time with me in Fremont instead of at Borders in Milpitas. ;) I have a good caffeine source or two here, too.