Mount Ventoux vs Mason St.

I've managed to get wireless internet access working from the hostel. Not a particularly eventful morning / afternoon - after stocking up on bagels, I prepared my presentation for Science Foo. I'm still not sure if it's along the right lines but hopefully it's open-ended enough to turn into a discussion if that's what people want to do. I might post it up here at some point.

As late afternoon came around, I decided to go out wandering int he general direction of Fisherman's Wharf. It was around 10 minutes into this endeavour that I discovered that they don't put contour lines on the streetmaps. The road just suddenly leaps up at around 45', amid signs tellign cars to park at 90' to the pavement lest the parallel component of the gravitational force win vs the handbrake. Going up is fine, but coming down is a little harsh on the old knees.

I have plans to cycle across the Golden Gate Bridge and do some exploring when I'm back after SciFoo, but have made a note to hire a bike from a place by the shore. I wouldn't want to cycle that hill in that traffic in either direction. At least anyone who learns to drive there will be a monster at hill starts!

Fisherman's Wharf consists of shops on one side and sea on t'other. The shops differ from UK pierside shops in that they sell more expensive tat rather than cheap tat. I'd hoped to pick up a cheap watch or alarm clock, but prices started at $20. To my surprise (this evening) this is only 12 UKP - I'd no realised the exchange rate had gone back up so much. There's also the rather interesting Pier 39, which is basically a big souviner shopping mall, but with a series of sealion rafts down one side. Yes, sealion rafts. There were tens and tens of sealions basking in the sun - but their spatial awareness could have been better. Instead of giving themselves room and spreading out across all available rafts, they's all piled onto around three.

It was a lot colder than I'd expected - colder than it's been int he UK of late, and with a biting coastal wind. I regretted the shorts for a bit on the way back to the hostel, until the hill warmed me up again. Another highlight was seeing Head First Physics on display in Barnes and Noble - and as of this afternoon it's facing cover outwards rather than spine outwards. I wonder how long that'll last...

I'm still jet lagged / tired - 10pm now is 6am in the UK and it really does feel like it! I'm still catching up with my 32 hour Wednesday, but I'm off to Silicon Valley tomorrow and will appreciate the extra space - both metaphorically and physically - in my queen size room (all paide for by Google / Nature / O'Reilly, that's the life). I also had an email from the editor if O'Reilly's MAKE magazine, who'll be interviewing people at SciFoo for something they're doing. Anyone interested in a sweepstake about how many times I yawn in the final cut?