Summer look

Yep, I've updated the template - no idea what you lot all think about it but it's reasonably up beat for me I think.

So.. bask in the glory of the...er... white.. with swirly patterns..

Calgareeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

After Boston I managed to stay put in one place for another night, before I was shoved on another jet and parked in front of yet more customers. This time I ended up in Calgary, Canada.
Thanks to a combination of traffic, lying alarm clocks and completely forgetting Canada is in a different country and therefore requires me to go through immigration I almost missed my flight. Frantically stuffed myself into a seat on the Horizon "we're a division of Alaskan so we hate you as well" Airlines teeeny tiny jet and slept for the 1.5 hour flight.

Calgary just whizzed by... customer... then dinner.. dinner was fun though, had Elk of all things and an extremely lovely bottle of South African Merlot called Fleur Du Cap.

Now I've just got back to Seattle after my one night stop over.. and again I nearly missed my flight here!

Boston & Bust

Sometimes I do absolutely love my job. These past few days I didnt think I would though. After getting back from San Francisco I got two days to chill out before being bundled back on another plane to Boston to support a Financial Services roundtable at Microsoft's Technology Centre in Waltham, MA. Personally that sounds about as much fun as being trapped in a barrel with Liam Neeson (I should qualify that by saying I hate Liam Neeson). I'd got one night in Boston, and a 6 hour flight at either end with Alaskan "we dont believe in entertaining our passengers" airlines. But.. Boston was absolutely gorgeous, for a brief moment I questioned my decision on relocating to Seattle, and then somebody reminded me the only reason I'm getting a relocation is to support Microsoft, so I kind of have to be here.

What's even better is that thanks to the marvels of corporate entertainment, I got to do something which would make any knowledgable baseball fan curl up and cry. I got to do the legends tour of Fenway Park. I knew nothing about baseball before Monday night, but we got to walk around the park before the game started, I found out that it's the oldest and most presitigous ball park in the States, and generally is seen as true baseball mecca. I got to stand on the famous green monster (highest wall in any park), and then we got shown to our Legends suite.. so called because we were joined by, and entertained by one of baseballs biggest legends, an awesome player from the 70's called Fred Lynn. Really nice guy, took the time to sit and explain how baseball worked to me as well, signed a ball for me and was generally a jolly nice chap.
So.. I've been suitably educated, my friends here are all very jealous of me, and I'm slowly beginning to realise based on peoples reactions just how big a deal all that was.

Big difference watching the Red Sox play compared to the Seattle Mariners, so I might switch to supporting the Red Sox, apparantly there's no loyalty issues and I can use the "I'm foreign" excuse anyway!

Flew back into Seattle on Tuesday, exhausted but happy...

Disaster at 40,000 feet....

I thought I'd be safe flying back on a Friday. Flying out to San Francisco on a Tuesday filled me with terror but aside from the flight time being changed without me knowing the flight was fine, slept all the way.

Returning from San Francisco to Seattle was slightly frought with terror. This is going to sound like a far fetched joke, but unfortunately it's terrifyling real. So, there's me, settled into seat 22C at the back of the plane next to a poor girl with a broken leg and on the aisle, allowing me to get my elbows battered by mad trolley hostess women. Three rows infront of me is a very large guy with a big hat, who's taking up two seats.. big guy!

45 minutes into the flight. It happens. Terror. We didnt hit turbulance, nothing went wrong with the plane..... and I am *not* joking..

Brace yourself.

The fat guy soilled himself.

Rather spectacularly.

Apparantly it ran out of his trousers.

I have never been so utterly grossed out.. and the smell... on a plane.... urggggh. Along with a couple of hundred other passengers I didnt feel well at all.

Where little cable cars, climb half way to the stars....

I know i know, ages since last post and I've been catastrophically busy. But thanks to the marvels of "out of office" everybody is leaving me alone because I'm at an event in San Francisco, so I get the chance to update things, catch up with friends and so on and so forth.

So... San Francisco! I landed this afternoon after a completely uneventful two hour flight from Seattle, and my first impression of the city was "arggghh... it's bosnia". For a start my wonderfully supportive and caring employer has booked me into the "Best Western - Civic Center Motor Motel". Best in what way? When compared to being accomodated in a burning cardboard box? Perhaps a local penitentiary... to be honest the small island housing a prison in the bay (Alcatraz) likely offers better accomodation. When I checked in the Russian mafia employed chap at the front desk immediately grabbed a map and circled four whole city blocks, technically surrounding the hotel and said "You not go here at night... it not safe, bad crime". Great! Welcome to San Francisco, sorry about the air quality and the traffic, oh and by the way, if you go here you might die!

However.. I've registered for the event im here for, in what I'm assuming is "downtown", this city's financial district.. and it's very very nice. it actually reminds me of a more spacious version of London's West End, around Leicester Square, through to Pic circus and around there. They're very big on their architecture here, their artwork, and there's such a great cosmopolitan feel to the city. Tried a fantastic wine bar call Vino Venevo, which you serve yourself at.. basically the concept is you buy a glass, and then wander around the various pumps connected to bottles all evening until you cant focus on the labels anymore.. then you wander out into a cab (or down a street you shouldn't and get shot!). It's certainly taken the edge off the cess pile of a hotel.

A friend of a friend of mine moved here some years ago, and recently got married.. and I can kinda see why somebody would want to stay here. The nice parts of the city are VERY nice, less American than other places and a bit like a bigger scale version of Seattle. But it's still a bit dirty.. air quality is absolutely awful, pollusion is a major problem here. It's also not very leafy, and Seattle... I have a theory im turning into a Northwest Snob and missing the real values the place has to offer.

So, I have a full day of work eventy things tomorrow, and probably some kind of company sponsored piss up in the evening, but Thursday I dont have anything until 4pm. I contemplating one of the city tours for $44 snap away a few pics, actually get to see SF in more detail than I did from a taxi or the drive back from lush wine bar.

I've been told to aim for a terribly trendy club called Fluid which is very good.. so might try that as a late night wrekcless party thing.

And one last thing.. I had possibly the second finest cup of coffee in my entire life this afternoon from a tiny boutique coffee place, it wasnt starbucks, it wasnt part of any chain, but the coffee was absolutely stunning. I will be walking up to there before I head to the convention centre in the morning. If anybody is in SF and really really appreciates coffee, head to Korso Cafe, 114 Bryant Street. Oh and the finest cup of coffee in the world so far discovered can be found in London Heathrow Airport, in Terminal 3 at Costa. :)