*Finally* Exploring San Francisco

     Start with something slightly sad (in a sarcastic sense): I’ve lived in the Bay Area for over TWO years and the only time I have been to San Francisco besides for work is for a baseball game, to do my paperwork for my student visa and to go to Pier 39. OH and a meeting at a hotel (can’t remember which one). This is sad for me (but not really sad when you think about it).               
     Now something happy: last night began my quest to remedy this. My cousin and her boyfriend just moved up to San Francisco and live up on Market. Since she’s so close, we decided to do dinner and since I wanted to avoid a late night and have more cousin time, I stayed the night at their place. I had so much fun. First off, I was out of the office at 5:15 and at her place by 5:25. Changed by 5:45 after a quick business headshot (oh yeah, she’s a kickass photographer as well). Out the door walking through the shopping district, China Town and Little Italy all by 6:15. Do you realize how amazing that is for me?! Usually I don’t get home until after 7 and barely have the energy to do anything besides a simple dinner and put on jammies. I loved it.                
     We decided to walk since this is the city and parking can be a total bitch. Plus it’s more fun. It looked like rain was threatening but we forgot umbrellas, despite her boyfriend’s warning (he stayed in to work; girls night!) Well about 5 minutes into our walk and about halfway to our destination (right on the cusp of Chinatown) it began to rain. We looked at each other giggled and ducked into a shop to buy some cheapy, but really good umbrellas. Oh well, adventure begins! Continue walking, all the while trying not to decapitate our fellow pedestrians (they were huge umbrellas, check out the picture below). All the while I am “oohing” and “ahhing” at all the sights in Chinatown. It really felt like I was in a different country all of the sudden. Then BAM! We turn the corner and we’re in Italy. Well it felt like it anyways.

     We went to this adorably tacky/gaudy Italian restaurant called ‘Mona Lisa.’ Authentic Italian to the max. All the waiters spoke Italian and were from there originally. Some things never change. Had the most delicious Italian food I’ve had since I was actually in Italy. To top it off, we had a great conversation, received free dessert and got the numbers of 2 of the waiters (they offered, I kept them :))     
     Walked off our delicious dinner back to her building, got changed and went to a fancy bar for some drinks. Chatted a bit, looked at the pouring rain and how pretty the city gets when it’s soaking wet and then back up to her place. Changed into jammies and watched 2012. I wanted to watch King’s Speech and she agreed then said it “Nope! We’re watching something more fun.” And it was. Snuggled with her kitty, who according to my cousin, usually bolts from the room at the sight of any person besides her and had a wonderful night in.                
     Needless to say, this will become more of a regular occurrence. In fact, it made me realize how much I miss living in a city, where you can just walk everywhere. She lives in an area where everything is in walking distance. Oh and my commute to work this morning? Woke up at 7, out the door at 8 and at work at 8:10. YES please. I want to move to San Francisco…now if only I could afford it. 

No Internet = Huh?!!

     Something interesting is happening at my office today. Because of the recent storm(s)…(well we call them those anyways) in San Francisco, Comcast has had some trouble keeping our phone lines and internet connectivity, well, connected. I have not truly been without internet access in years. Even if it was down for a few minutes, there was always a way to re-boot it or go elsewhere. Working in an office where Internet connectivity is absolutely essential to the way we work every day is a verrrry interesting experience when there is nothing working. Our phones are down, so we’re using cell phones to call necessary people, and our server is working so we’re working on documents (well everyone else is…I’m the intern and therefore have nothing pending except research…on the internet). But other than that, there’s a lot of chatter.

     So what does one do when there is no outside work connectivity? Read the paper of course. Yes, I actually sat down with the office copy of today’s Wall Street Journal and went through the entire thing. No, I didn’t read the entire thing, but I did read a good number of the articles and looked at every headline and sub-headline. Then I read through last week’s “Time Magazine” about Japan’s crisis. And now I’m eyeing out lobby table chock full of “Wine Spectator” magazines, “Bloomberg” magazines and “Fast Company.” I have never read any of these publications (besides “Time” of course), but today is the one day I didn’t bring a book for the train. Le sigh. The Internet went out about 8:45 came back about 10:50 and is now out again after about 15 minutes of working; just enough time for me to check all my email and send a few replies and inquiries out. Now, I’m sitting here, occasionally picking up my desk phone for a dial tone and typing away at this.

     Also, an interesting thing happened when I read the Wall Street Journal. I came across a “Destinations” blog, with a piece about an American living in Florence. Yes, I know I talk about that city a lot (I bet if you “control F” on my entire blog, that word would come up at least 100 times). I loved reading her take on it and not only did she talk about the beauty and wonder of that city (it’s my favorite, couldn’t you tell?) but she also went through ALL the red tape that it takes to even stay there long term. It’s a lot. And it’s frustrating; but so worth it. I day dream about that place and because I was day dreaming about it, I dream about it at night. And I wake up with a pang in my heart, wondering when I’ll get back there. I really, really miss it. But I digress.

     I will add to this as the day unfolds. Most of us just want to work from home, even if that means loading a bunch of necessary documents onto flash drives and reloading them tomorrow with freshly updated versions. If I had more comfortable walking shoes, I might just go (finally) explore the city. But nope. Oh and there’s chance of thunderstorms today. Nooo way. 

**Update: Internet finally returned for an extended period of time around 1 p.m. after going in and out several times. Seems to be holding. Thus this posting.**