THURSDAY 12.30.99 1:32 pm:

I'm busy packing, getting ready to head out to San Francisco for the first week of the New Year. King and Gwen are my hosts for this California adventure. Tune in to this page to check out some of the things I see & do in SanFran. Here's where I'll be staying.

Look very closely at the GOLDEN GATE PARK (between the E and N in GOLDEN) and you may see me cavorting with a basset hound. Soon, anyway. (I'm expected to arrive at the SanFran airport tonight at midnight, PT.)

FRIDAY 12.31.99:

I arrived in San Francisco after some 12 hours of travel (by van to Nashville, flight to Dallas, flight to SFO). Gwen retrieved me from the airport and took me to the current Rhoton West establishment -- a spacious apartment located a block from the edge of Golden Gate Park and some 10-12 blocks from the Pacific Ocean.

I saw a seagull fly by the kitchen window earlier today, but I really didn't realize how close to the edge of the continent I am until I went with King to wait for the bus taking us to downtown SF (meeting Gwen at the Warfield for the Eve's concert celebration). King pointed back at the other end of the street.

"See that dark line on the horizon?" he said.

"Um, sure, " I replied.

"That's the ocean," he patiently explained.

Wow, I thought. It might have been a hill or a bank of clouds -- I hadn't noticed it. On Saturday I'll probably get a chance to see the Pacific for the first time (from a closer vantage point than a bus stop).

At the Warfield we saw Hot Tuna (with one of Jefferson Airplane's founders) and Planet Drum (with Grateful Dead's drummers). King and I didn't hang around to see Rat Dog, but the rest of the Grateful Dead fans seemed to be having a groovy time. <grin>

King watching Khan in his apartment.

The Warfield on Market Street

SATURDAY 1.01.2000:

New Year's Day. First day of The Big Rollover. I'm not taking any strong stands on "New Millennium" vs. "2001 as the true mathematical heir" -- it is The Big Rollover from 1999 to 2000 and that's enough for me.

For those of you just tuning in -- I'm in San Francisco, California. Today King took me and Kibble on a winding route, walking from the apartment through the southwestern end of Golden Gate Park and then -- The Ocean.

The park is a beautiful green mixture of tall old trees and soft sprays of grass. Trails ranging from barely-perceptible indentations on the springy grass, to footpaths of dark cinder, to paved roads that amble and stretch and intersect -- inviting you to make your own way as you make choices of paths beneath the twisty oaks and pines. The sun was falling near the horizon (just beyond the trees!) and ever so often slanting golden rays through the canopy. Kibble shuffled along (as basset hounds shuffle), snuffling the underbrush as King commented on the curiously specific uses of the park. He pointed out the lawn bowling area, the fly-fishing casting pool, the dog runs, the remote control boat lake, the bison paddock. I guess you can't be too specific when it comes to bison.

After a while we happened upon a large wooden windmill which is next to something I like to call the Pacific Ocean. Very windy but it isn't very cold in any kind of bitterness -- probably around 60 degrees. We walked on the grayish beach out to where the incoming surf was reduced to a thin film of water flecked with foam.

So this is the Pacific: my first sight of it or her or them. As King watched Kibble dash (as fast as she dashes) on the sand, I called my friend Trish to let her hear the thundering sound of the rolling surf (using the cool PCS phone my brother Scott gave me for Christmas); I figured Trish would enjoy the sound since she grew up on the Florida beach and undoubtedly misses it. Got her voicemail and what with the wind interference the Pacific was probably indistinguishable from static. I imagine this is the modern version of listening to a seashell.

We left the ocean and followed Fulton Street some ten to twelve blocks back to the apartment. Kibble was getting tired and I was losing the spring in my step, too. Next, King gave me an overall orientation of San Francisco by driving me in a large circle through Golden Gate Park, through downtown, along the waterfront and back to the 38th Avenue apartment. Did I mention that the weather -- though crisp -- is very nice? San Francisco doesn't seem as crowded as, say, Manhattan, and the city appears clean and friendly.

Also, today I reinstituted my Plus One exercise program, wherein every day I do one more push-up and one more sit-up. So today the total is 1 (each). Sure, it doesn't sound like much now, but jes' wait until this time next year! When I tried this last summer I got up to the 40s before I drifted away. I like the sense of gradually building on a daily basis, and it seems to serve as a good reminder that today is a day to be reckoned with.

New Year's debris: Overstatement trapped in a tree

Golden Gate Park

Bison in extremely still pose

The incoming ocean

King & Kibble beachcombing

Self-portrait

Them there rocks poking outta the sea

Historic corner of Haight & Ashbury

SUNDAY 1.02.2000:

Another day surveying the San Francisco Bay area.

Today King drove us over the Bay Bridge to Oakland, then Berkeley, and then over a big hill and some twisty roads which eventually led us back to San Francisco.

I visited my first California grocery store (a Safeway).

And slept.

(For more info on The City, check out SF Gate.)

alcatraz island.

golden gate bridge, seen from berkeley.

hills beyond berkeley.

downtown SF (bay bridge on right)

MONDAY 1.03.2000:

Today's travels took me across the famed Golden Gate Bridge (The Big Red One) to Marin County (turns out it's pronounced mare-IN).

But first, we ate lunch at Joe's Grill on Clement Street (though some people call it Bill's Place) where I had a perfect bacon-BBQ-cheeseburger.

King, his wife Gwen and I went to Muir Woods, part of the California Parks system. The coastal redwoods there ("closely related to the sequoiahs") are very old and extremely tall (sometimes as old as 2000 years and as high as 250 feet). We walked through the trails for a couple hours and then drove around more twisty roads, finally discovering an overlook that displayed the coastline alongside the rolling hills.

After returning to San Francisco, we rested and then went to the Red Vic Movie House (a small comfortable place on Haight St.) to see "Three Kings." I was surprised by the movie (the previews made it look like a rehash of "Kelly's Heroes") & liked it.

Afterwards, strolling back to the car, we stopped by Amoeba Records, a former bowling alley converted into a large music store (used & new CDs, LPs, videos) with an immense selection and excellent organization.

Gwen overlooking Muir Beach

TUESDAY 1.04.2000:

It was actually overcast this morning -- the first non-bright-blue-sky treatment I've seen since last Friday. And it rained, at least enough that I could see the raindrops; evidently this is the first significant precipitation in three weeks. By the time I left the apartment, though, the familiar blue sky had emerged.

This afternoon I took a tour through the Bay Area Video Coalition facility in downtown San Francisco. They provide video technology to community organizations and artists. Those of you familiar with my obsession with community-oriented communication will recognize the extent of how fascinated I was to see a sustainable working example of something I've been ranting about for years. Wow.

The Macworld Expo kicks off tomorrow.

View from top of Transamerica Building

WEDNESDAY 01.05.2000:

(Due to an Earthlink/Mindspring outage the update was posted later than planned. )

I''ve updated the design of my daily updates, hoping to make it more read-able.

I spent much of the day at the Macworld Expo in the Moscone Center, downtown San Francisco. It's not as big as NAB/Las Vegas, but it certainly is a sizable exhibition. They're expecting some 70,000 people to visit this week. Upon entering and riding the escalator down into the depths of Moscone I saw Gregory Hines just standing there, talking to a couple people just like a normal person. I didn't have a chance to say hello (or snap a photo), but it's probably just as well (for fear that he'd ask me to show him what little tap I've learned so far).

For pictures of the Expo being set up, check this out.

The Apple booth is large, featuring lots of iMacs, G4's, iBooks, Final Cut Pro and the like. I watched a demonstration of OS X ("coming out within 12 months!") and the new Aqua interface (kinda odd).

Lots of other booths, lots of drawings for free iBooks. (As I anticipated, the first day is mostly a blur; later visits should provide more coherence.)

I sat through a good demo of Dreamweaver 3 & Fireworks 3 at the Macromedia booth. I must admit I think Dreamweaver has developed a good set of capabilities for creating web pages (I use it for this site, in fact).

I seem to have a knack for picking the #5 bus that goes out of service on its trip toward Ocean Beach. There's evidently some sophistication in picking the right vehicle that I'm missing.

Tomorrow I may be travelling out to Silicon Valley as King plays tour guide again.