Back in the Bay

Took a five hour trip down the 101 to the city by the bay. Sounds like a song lyric, eh? Except it was raining all the way (hey! Rhyming!) so I couldn't enjoy the trip as much as I usually do. It's hard to listen to podcasts and music when you think your car might fly off the road through hydroplaning.

Still, I made it in one piece, hitting the Golden Gate Bridge shortly after dark. It's not as impressive at night, but then it's Thursday and I don't think they light the thing up like a christmas tree when it's raining and in the middle of the week.

I'm staying in a Best Western on the wrong side of Market--they call it the "civic center" unit, and it's only $54 a night because they're doing construction--but since I have no one to impress by my hotel room, it's just peachy with me. They have a refrigerator, free wireless internet, and a TV with some cable stations. And a bed. What more does one need?

When I finally got here I took a walk on the mild side and strolled down Market. I'm not sure what I was looking for, other than to stretch my legs and have a cup of tea, but I ended up walking nearly two hours. My only "experience" was some tall fellow who fell in step with me, commented "Do you know how important Kennedy's senate seat was?" Then said, "Excuse me, I need to go across the street and yell at the sausage shop." Which he did. Hey, for a Thursday it was a pretty good show.

I'm here for a seminar on how to do civil appeals. The thought is that eventually I'll learn to do appeals and can stop competing for the local dollar. There are never enough appellate attorneys and I can do that anywhere.

For now I'm back in the hotel room, my legs aching agreeably and a bottle of water by my side. I had the notion to go into a "real" San Francisco bar, but I didn't see one in which my lilly white posterior wouldn't have been kicked. I'm too old to get into bar fights, though Bukowski was still duking it out in bars at my age. Of course, Buk had lots of experience in bar fights and would have whupped the whole city of SF if he'd had the chance.

Buk, this swig of Fiji water is for you...