I’ve been in San Francisco this week, at a conference for work.  I love this city.  (Even apart from the fact that as I was arriving amidst the sunshine and palm trees, the news was showing a cheerful-looking reporter (probably drunk) standing in the snow in Bangor, ME, talking about 12 more inches in the forecast.)

Here’s the coolest thing about the conference: recognize this guy??  Yes, he’s gotten a lot older, but is still hilarious.

John Cleese! John Cleese!

Much of his lecture was about the value of making mistakes, which came in handy when I got lost on my morning run the following day.  I looked at my map before I left, and thought I would run along the water for a while then take a left and cut back to my hotel.  Unfortunately, the map failed to show a several-story-high cliff in the middle of this route, and sadly I had forgotten to pack my grappling hook.  I tried to get around the hill, past the hill, and eventually even resigned myself to going over the hill.  I found one of those cool San Francisco staircases winding upward into hidden gardens, past beautiful homes looking out over the Bay.  It was beautiful.

However, all that winding meant I totally lost my sense of direction, and the series of turns that I needed to make to get off the hill completed the process.  I was desperate enough to start attempting to navigate by the sun, and found myself taking quite a tour of the city — Telegraph Hill, North Beach, Chinatown. (Know how many joggers are in Chinatown at 7 am?  The same as the number of non-Chinese people — one.  I did not exactly blend in.)  Eventually I spied Macy’s in the distance and, better yet, managed to find my way down to it and the
n on to Union Square.  I don’t know how many miles I ended up running, but my fitbit buzzed for my 10,000 steps before I got back.

Late Wednesday night, after the conference ended, the rest of the family arrived.  We’re ensconced in a cozy flat in Nob Hill and looking forward to five more days in the city.  I’m glad to be done with the conference, except for having to put away the corporate credit card.