Woke up 8am to get Kat ready on time for her first official day of work (and the wonderful reason why we have had this holiday at all).
We missed the bus by half a block so we had to take the next one, but made it to her work in CHINA BASIN about ten or fifteen minutes late (ie. 9:45am'ish). Work seems to start at around 9am or 9:30am in SFO.
I then did some exploring (mostly shopping) for the day. I enjoyed a nice ride on a surface subway that descended into the Embarcadero Station beneath SAN FRAN, before walking back to the hotel and exploring along the way.
My BlackBerry is amazing! While we were uot of reception (no signal in USA) I could still tell where I was on Google Maps... no idea how!
Kat's workplace.
Amazing architecture!
I missed out on a shoe-shine in NYC and SFO :(
See how steep these hills are? This is why there are cable cars!!
I checked out Westfield Mall again (very impressive; they've got spiral escalators, touch screen information screens, and loads of shops), with my main attention on the ADIDAS shop and the impending STAR WARS range of ADIDAS originals, and also a boardgame shop that's 50% off (most places do this sort of discount after New Years so it's a great time to shop). The pinnacle of disappointment came when I learnt that the limited STAR WARS range premieres on Jan 15, and I'm leaving USA on Jan 14.
Okay, this is stating the obvious...
Avoid!
Lonely lunch :(
Monopoly galore!
This should be Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 (or is it 15) by now, shouldn't it?
Star Wars!
Princess Leia
Disappointment! We leave on the 14th :(
I grabbed a Burger King Whopper value meal and scored a free Whopper as part of a coupon book I picked up in NEW YORK; it was a lonely meal (brunch). For the record, I didn't eat both sandwiches (AKA burgers); I saved one for later, and I opted for a minute maid juice. $7.11.
The rest of my day was spent exploring bookstores and commuting across town (pretty much "coast to coast" to check out BEST BUY for camcorders. I've got my eye on the SONY XR200 for $800 but I've got the dilemma that I'd need to declare it which would push it over the right value.
On my way home on the bus (20min ride roughly), as I boarded, the bus took off without the typical "PLEASE HOLD ON" message and I pretty much went airborne and towards the back of the bus (these things are electric so they got maximum torque) and bundled into a guy wit the bus pretty much all watching. The guy said "you're not trying to attack me are you?" and not to bedone, I quipped "it's nothing personal". Then there was awkward silence. I remembered where I was. Maybe the guy was hitting on me. Awkward silence. Awkward realisation. All round awkward. Mayhaps I should have crashed through the window instead to escape the awkward hit-on line (maybe this guy thought by me hitting into him, I was either hitting on him, or I was into him. Awkward. Thankfully I didn't blush about the crashing scene, and played it uber-cool. Besides, I needed to dig my head into my backpack for twenty minutes anyway.
Also today I saw even MORE beggars and MORE weirdo's. Man, seriously, this town is LOADED with both and it's depressing! The more eccentric ones included a homeless woman who claimed to have breast cancer, no home, and no money, and she had two pets - a cat, and a rat!!
And to confirm my opinion that this place is all one big scam, while walking through Westfield I was pulled aside by some guy to whiten teeth. Being polite, I indulged him and his sales pitch. After ten minutes of him selling his product and why I need to whiten my teeth, I has enough of being polite and asked the price (also, is it just me, or does everyone here think we're Australian, and when we tell them we're from South Africa, they still think we're from Australia?) and when I found out it would be $150 to $250 I said no thanks. Then he offered me a discount. No thanks. Then he offered me a further discount. No thanks. Then he said I couldn't get the special stuff anywhere else, you know, the usual pitch, but then I said how do I get refills if I'm in South Africa, and he said we could order online. Ha! Gotcha buddy! Then he realised his mistake, and we pretty much ended our conversation. All a big scam!!
I met up with Kat around 545pm and we went and bought my BATTLESTAR GALACTICA boardgame for cheap ($27 - the dude at BORDERS said I was far too polite for this city). We explored a few shops in Westfield for a bit and looked for a traditional US diner's experience by trying Louis' Diner, but after we couldn't find the off-the-beaten trail one (turns out it's another franchise and not the real thing), we decided to try Tommy's Joynt as recommended by Art and Donna Barbee.
Kitchen shop. Fancy!
Tiffany's window display.
Tommy's Joynt is about sixty years old and a landmark in SFO. We got a choice of food and the chef even let us try samples beforehand. We settled for Pastrami, mash & gravy, sauteed mushroom salad, and a roll. We shared (this is standard fare in USA - every meal can be shared) and I took a classic root beer from the bar as per John Benn's instruction. The root beer still tastes like toothpaste flavoured coke :)
We headed home after that, indulged in yummy complimentary chocolate-chip cookies and hit the sack.
I was instructed by Pastor John Benn to indulge in a root beer. Job done!
Metro here is precise!! 3 mins to go!
I'm now facing a dilemma about which camcorder to buy! There's a CANON that rates highly but more reviews rate the SONY better than not. A bit pricey though, at $800 it's just over my import threshold to avoid customs!!
We debated the merits of buying an entry-level camcorder and mid-ranged camera, or high-end camcorder. It still seems that a high-end NTSC camcorder will benefit us more than an entry-level camcorder and mid-ranged camera.
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