Guests and grapes

One of the British hack contingent is staying over for an extra week and her husband arrived yesterday. They’re staying with me for a few days so early Friday evening was spent frantically tidying up and cleaning.

Today however we got up early and headed up to wine country for a day’s sipping and (not) spitting.

The difference between the city and outside is amazing. The top of the Golden Gate Bridge was wreathed in fog as we drove underneath it but within minutes we’d emerged into bright (and burning) sun. From the rest of the day barely a cloud was seen and the temperature stayed in the upper 90s until dusk.

We took in a couple of Sonoma wineries (vineyard just isn’t said over her it seems), the Ravenswood and Imagine. We got lucky at Ravenwood, they were having a party and for $15 we could taste as many wines as we wanted and got to keep the glass – bargain. There was a good collection of Zinfandels and a very nice port but none of them really grabbed me.

Next stop was Imagine, just down the road. This had a much broader selection and I was very taken with a couple of the wines. Ended up blowing the budget and getting two bottles, one nice, one for special occasions, and a half bottle of port.

Imagine also has a policy of commissioning artists to do one off labels, and has a gallery of the best of the bunch. There are some stunning pieces of work there.

We stopped off at Napa after a hair-raising drive through the mountains. Normally we wouldn’t have driven so far but S decided the GPS was wrong, drove us in the wrong direction and we ended up at a dead end leading up a mountain.

After an excellent dinner, at which I had ostrich for the first time in ages and we shared another bottle of wine S, our designated driver, was getting sleepy so we headed home. After an hour trying to find a parking spot we made our way, in some cases unsteadily, to bed. A very nice day.

Quizzers with attitude

OK, maybe I am getting geekier.

Today we took part in a quiz organised by the hosts, basically covering technical knowledge. As you can see from my expression, we won. My colleague R is wearing his war face, but he's a sweetheart deep down.

To my surprise we won the competition, so a prize will be winging its way to my office. It will also mean we shall have to defend our title next year, for honour's sake. Well, let's not beat about the bush, for competition's sake too - I get very competitive at times.

Geek fest

Day one of the official conference and it was just as I’d imagined – fun and reassuring.

Fun because learning new stuff, and taking the piss out of people who think they can fool you by recycling old stuff, is my idea of a good time at work. Not the only way to have a good time, but let’s face it, if you’re paid to do it so much the better.

Reassuring because every time I worry about being too geeky I come to somewhere like this and realise I have a long, long way to go. When you see lines of excited techies trying to cut in line for a seminar on “Mechanical, thermal and reliability study of a non-lidded processor in a low profile socket*” you realise that while it takes all sorts to make the world go round, you are thankfully not one of them.

Still and all there were slight irritations to the day. Top of the list is overenthusiastic public relations folks. Guys, it’s a new chipset, not a cure for cancer.

* Actual title

Beware Sake

Spent Sunday out at Coit Tower, the highest publicly accessible point in the city centre. I was showing a couple of my friends around and decided to do it literally.

Coit Tower is on the peak of Telegraph Hill and looms over Fisherman’s Wharf. It has survived pretty much everything the geographically unstable city can throw at it and was built by the delightfully eccentric* Lillie Hitchcock Coit.

Coit was a card; wearing trousers when such behaviour was thought shocking, gambling and smoking cigars and generally scandalizing society one hundred years ago. She was also an honorary fire-fighter, and commissioned a very butch statue to them in Washington Square Park.

It’s a lovely building, made even better by a huge display of murals featuring life in California, done in a very nice 1930’s style.

Then we wandered around North Beach, then down to China town and across to the foodie heaven that is the Ferry Building. Then back to the hotel to meet the others for dinner.

We were taken to a very upscale Japanese restaurant - definitely an OPM (other people’s money) place. I later found out it cost our host $400 a head - and the waiter agreed to add a few covers to the receipt so the host wouldn't get fired.

There the night was filled with sake, sushi, sake, Kobe beef and a few more sakes. I didn’t realise quite how drunk I was until I got outside and the air hit me.

This morning was very grim. All in all not the state to meet my new boss in.

*ie a bit mad but with plenty of money

Old friends

There’s a major technology conference on next week so a lot of British friends are over.

It’s really good to see R, I and M and M again. You don’t realise how much you miss people until you can’t see them every week and it was superb to see them again. We caught up on gossip, shared stories and generally chewed the fat.

I’m growing accustomed to the American way of life but there’s a part of me that will always be British, and they exemplify why. Frank, and frankly obscene at times conversations, chuckles over times past and plans for the future. Damn good to see them again.

Lurgy

Today started off badly and got worse.

Woke up at 9:30 with a killer headache and aching joints. My body was trying to tell me something and the message was relax.

I think I slept 18 hours today. It’s not a virus, just that I’ve not so much been burning the candle at both ends but taking napalm to it.

Paying for torture

Today I joined a gym, not the first time I’ve done this but it’s a curious feature of modern mankind that we do so.

Two hundred years ago our ancestors would have laughed it the idea of paying to work out. Life was tough enough as it was. Now we pay to torture ourselves, or get fit which is what it’s all about.

It used to be part of my contract that we got free membership of the local gym if we went more than 25 times a year. That was great, but the new contract didn’t include it, so membership lapsed.

As my friend S reminds me once you reach 40 the body is as good as it’s going to be so it’s time to get in shape before the great downhill road starts. In fact, sod downhill, I intend to get better and break the trend.

So the local YMCA looks good. Golds gyms are a gay cruising spot, Crunch has a really bad reputation and the local place has a pool so I can get in 20 laps before work and still have hand muscle control for good typing.

Plus, even though the gym is rather shabby it’s still more advanced than London’s facilities. There’s a computer system that monitors how you use the machines and gives you points for doing it right. Get enough and there’s a free massage at the end of it or discounts on membership. A good incentive.