A Good Day in the City

Ambient was warming as the fog was burning and we timed it well in terms of getting on public transportation to find seats for an hour long ride into San Francisco.

It turned out to be a gorgeous day and we with our visitors from out of town revisited parts of the city we did not have an appetite for by ourselves.

We started at the Ferry Building and pier 1 on the northeastern corner of the city and went west all the way to see the historic piers that provided home for trade ships over 100 years ago along with some restored hardware.

Quite a Parabolic sight - old cargo ship Balacutha in foreground to the Golden Gate Bridge

Alcatraz - the rock

that is a Tall Sail - or is it?

Along the way we also saw the newest addition to the sea faring culture parked at pier 27 that now welcomes large cruisers - over 2,500 of them to go gawk while consuming all day buffets. The one in the dock belonged to Princess Cruise Lines.

We also wandered the birthplace of a 100 plus year old chocolate making establishment started by an Italian called Ghirardelli.

Today owned by a large Swiss holding company they produce fine American made chocolates right here in the bay area.

Calories boosted by a helping of cacao and sugar we snacked our way a few uphill city blocks to view the crooked most street called Lombard and then sauntered some 260 steps down to another that appeared to go up and downhill at the same time. The glutes are gonna hurt tonight.

Subsequently ambled our way towards the sound of sea lions perched at pier 39. Watched them sunbathe and then feeling light headed from hunger wound down to an ice cream shop back at the Ferry Building.

Live Life King Size

no SPF needed - Sealions @ Pier 39

Wrapped up the day by the Bay Bridge and witnessed the light art come aglow and then went into the underworld to find our commuter train back home.

Comments

Costa Rica

Our first foray into Central America. That elongated isthmus that forms the geographic boundary between two vast continents of North and South America. Specifically landing for NYE 2026 in San Jose, Costa Rica. Capital city for this region that does not have its own army, instead relying on its big bro the Estados Unidos to the north is a metropolis of approx. 500K people. Largely wilderness and with both a Pacific and Carribean/Atlantic coast the country is rich in bio diversity. In Spanish it means the rich coast so named by Columbus landing in early 16th century and being mesmerized by the local tribes sporting gold jewelry. Our stay included visiting the foothills of a large strato volcano called Arenal and enjoying the naturally heated thermal baths for a while. Lunching amidst lush forest and watching indigenous species of avian noise makers fly overhead. Toucans, some sort of pea hens, multiple song bird species completed the spectacle. Iguanas and a lonel...

Charges attract

It is said that opposites attract meaning people with contrary viewpoint sometimes find chemistry to be together. But I'm referring to a modern twist where people are merely attracted towards a common place because their uber communication device aka smart phone is about to die. The charging station. From airports to hotel lobbies or even bathrooms, when in need they are attracted to this power outlet like moths to a flame or a junkie to a needle. A whole new business of supplying these hyper connected folks is now born whose lifesaver product is a backup charge. Asian tourists perpetually carry a phone sized battery pack stuck to their latest Apple phone updating their status to folks in Hong Kong or Shanghai or Bangalore as they pose for selfies with weird facial expressions and fingers pointed out in a letter V. Vain? PS: I dis'charged' my blogger duties making this insightful observation as my phone is about to breathe it's last and my flight gets call...

Back in DC

This time for a tech conference in the realm of what else? AI. But applied to an oft neglected space called Knowledge Management. The latter is a community of practice that focuses on analyzing, organizing and making available reams of data that have been gathered over time by various functions within an organization for anyone in the company to utilize. This function or process is ripe for applying AI agents (or agentic AI framework) and optimize for better outcomes. It was informative. More rewarding was getting acquainted with folks who practice this craft as well as learning of what they see in the corporate or public sectors. Since the venue was Washington DC it also afforded me the chance to take evening strolls albeit the weather was trying. With wind chill in the single digit it still is a glamorous place to perambulate through history absorbing what this country has been through since its founding days. I was able to visit the place Lincoln was killed along with his monument t...

Brown Motion

Search This Blog