Traveling, is good. San Francisco, is lovely.

Greg — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 22:09:10 +0000

Bay Bridge

Waiting for BART

For a large chunk of 2007 and almost all of 2008, I spent a lot of time in San Francisco. I worked for a fascinating start up company based in the Mission District and because of my role (Sr. Product Manager) I needed to be in SF quite often. At least to start. At first it was a great adventure.

After a while though, the constant travel became a bit of a drag. I think primarily this was because in general, I prefer to be at home in the evenings than in some stuffy hotel room regardless of how amazing the bed is or the other amenities. I just flat out prefer my place. Sorry SF. No disrespect implied. By the time by visits would be wrapping up on any trip, I was ready to get back to Portland and the comforts of my home.

Aim here

Roof

As a result, I think that I started to tune out on the natural and unnatural beauties of the city. I took for granted how awesome it was to have the opportunity to spend time (any time) in one of America’s (and the world frankly) greatest cities. I also think the cliche about time making the absent heart grow fonder (or however that goes) is a true thing.

And so, with that said, I found myself in San Francisco on business this week for 2 days. I was traveling with a co-worker who had NEVER been to San Francisco which left me completely aghast. “What? How is that possible? Really??! Why…Why, we must show you things!”. I suppose I shouldn’t have been shocked. I mean there are tons of cities in America that I haven’t seen too. But, I guess I figure any warm blooded American would find the chance to get to the Bay Area and walk the streets of San Francisco. But clearly that is an ill conceived assumption on my part. After all, I haven’t been to Casper, Wyoming…or, ummm….Duluth, Minnesota. But I digress.

SF @ night

In repose

Since we flew in to San Francisco under the cover of night, it was hard for my co-worker to get a sense of the city. But even as we rode in to the city on BART he was slowly warming to the positive public transportation and the ease of use the trains and busses provide the citizens. We walked a few blocks to our hotel and checked in, then met up with some friends of mine from my former company at the Thirsty Bear in South Beach. Later on we broke company and I went on to meet other friends and my co-worker wandered around. Getting together the next morning he was shocked that most kitchens in restaurants shut down around 10PM in the city (I was unaware of this by the way) and we went about our day, walking to our meeting.

Missile

Hallway

Lucky for us, our meeting broke 2 hours early and we found ourselves with extra time to wander around. As we were close to the Bay Bridge, I gave him the tour of the waterfront and took in the perfect weather. Looking North to Oakland and Berkeley was almost 100% clear as the day could not have been any more perfect. The weather was just beautiful and reminded me what a great city San Francisco is. We could not have found ourselves with more perfect weather to wander the city in. The sights, the smells (both foul and good – walked by a guy making Pot Stickers on a cart….wow) and the multitude of people you can see in the city provided a great distraction with time to kill. I think it’s high time to schedule another visit where I have nothing but time to see, eat, and experience the greatest city in California and one America’s treasures.

Israeli Draw

Greg — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:29:12 +0000

Sigh.

It shouldn’t be a surprise to me that the latest election in Israel is essentially a push. Both Kadima and Likud are separated by one vote only and even that one vote is not conclusive. So each party is now talking to its closest large party to form alliances. Which apparently will give us either a total right-wing extreme party led by Netanyahu or a more conservative nationalist party led by Livni.

This is from an ABC news online article:

Nearly everyone seemed to agree on one thing after Israel’s fifth election in a decade — that the nation’s fractious election system isn’t working. Livni, Lieberman, and Defense Minister Ehud Barak of the Labor Party said in post-election speeches that the system, in which votes are splintered among a proliferation of parties, must be changed to allow more stability.

With all of the civilian votes counted, Kadima won 28 seats, Likud 27 and Yisrael Beiteinu 15. Labor, for decades Israel’s ruling party, won just 13 seats. Overall, right-wing and religious parties won a total of 65 seats, compared to 55 for center-left and Arab parties.

I don’t follow the news in Israel every day and I can’t pretend that I can speak with authority on what decisions are made. Far from it. But its pretty clear that with every election over the past 10-15 years or so, there is always a stand off and then some back room negotiating to form a government. I think its time for a change in Israel beyond this election and it starts with how they vote in a new government. It’s too confusing and polarizing from what I can tell.

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Traveling, is good. San Francisco, is lovely.

Israeli Draw