Back from San Francisco.  That was an awesome trip.  Minimal computer time, no twitter, no cell phone, no facebook, it felt great.  Read this book, Emergency by Neil Strauss, loved it.  That, combined with the lack of technology and the natural beauty of SF and surrounding area has got me motoring to learn some new skills.  Wrote them down on my to do list.  They involve guns, knives, and camping.

The return back to Toronto was disastrous.  It included massive check in lineups, rude US Airways agents, turbulent flights, delayed flights, missed connections, rude/frustrated/stressed passengers, terrible food, lack of food, lack of sleep, unwanted overnight stay in Philadelphia, long security lines, rude customs agents, etc.  It was probably the roughest 24+ hours of travel I have ever experienced so far.  Likely won’t be traveling on US Airways ever again.  They suck.  At the hotel they put me in, speaking with the hostess and the way too happy to be working at 1 AM check in clerk girl at the hotel they both told me that US Airways always fills their hotel every Saturday and Sunday due to overbooking and missed connections due to delays.  Hopefully I won’t have to go through anything like that again.  After the delayed flight back into Toronto in the morning, I proceeded to run out of the airport, take the Airport Express to downtown Toronto, take a cab into work and then work an 8 hour shift.

Disastrous return aside, that was a really chill vacation.  Probably saw everything I needed to see in SF, my favourite being a night tour of Alcatraz, but what I really enjoyed was the friendly vibe of the city.  Went to the park on a Saturday, random hippies just chillin out, smoking pot in one spot.  Kids flying their kites in another, lesbians listening to live music someplace else, college fratboys playing frisbee elsewhere, etc. etc.  Everybody just out, sharing the space at the park, having fun.  Everybody I met was friendly, from the crazy Swedish sisters that felt the need to kiss each other way too much (note: beware of Swedish girls who come to California looking to become Actresses), to the random girls stopping us on the streets to give us props and high fives for no other reason but because we both had somebody in the group with luggage. Seriously, who does that?  Apparently San Franciscans.

Heck, even the baseball game was fun, and I didn’t even drink or anything and it was cold.  The energy of the crowd was what kept the game exciting, and of course the fights and near fights that broke out.  And the random chants of USA and LA Dodgers support swine flu were good times as well.

My watch stopped working near the end of the trip.  I only write this because I noticed I wore my watch today.  wtf, habit I guess.  In fact, I wore it everyday since it stopped working.  I made it a running joke anytime we were on a time commitment that we either had lots of time, or we were late because it was 11:20 (what my watch is stuck on).  Sadly, I found that way too hysterical for my own good and beat the joke to death.

I had a fmylife.com moment when, in order to save paying the $1.50 fare to ride the bus by using my bus transfer that was about to expire, I ran to catch the bus only to drop, scratch, and crack my Armani sunglasses my brother gave me.  I broke an expensive pair of sunglasses in order to save $1.50. FML.

I have pictures. I have videos. I’m sure they’ll show up somewhere.  Awesome time with a great group of friends.  Ate well, played well, and even had time to work well.