Hi All,

Well, I have seen true love and it is good. Yesterday I attended a wedding here in San Francisco and it was wonderful to see the very happy couple (Min & Sam) exchange their self-composed vows with each other. You could see and feel the love they have for the other as they spoke from the heart in front of family and friends gathered for their very special day. They both had been searching for "the right one" for a long time and it was heartening to see them so happy together up there. Kudos, congratulations and many, many, many happy years together!

Instead of flying up for the joyful event I decided on Friday to drive up instead. That way I could maybe take an extra day to get back into LA and perhaps do some sightseeing along the way. Consequently, after arriving home from vball league Friday night, I packed the truck with some camping gear (just in case), got my clothes and suit together (yes I do own a suit, 2 in fact), went to sleep about 2ish, woke up 6ish, and finally got onto the 405 about 8 am for the drive north (I'm crazy. I know).

The weather in LA Saturday morning was yucky to say the least, cloudy and gloomy, but by the time I got up to the Grapevine the sun was shining in a partially blue sky and the day turned out to be quite a pleasant one for my drive north. Even though it was a 3 day weekend (for some anyway), there wasn't too much traffic and I was able to blast my way up the 5 freeway. Driving through the San Joaquin Valley is always a trip as you never know what kind of agricultural experiences you're going to... well, experience!

Just past where the 99 splits off towards Bakersfield I was soon surrounded on either side by fields of cotton ready for harvest. Though it was a pleasant low 70's day I couldn't help but feel like I was looking at fields of scrub with clumps of melted snow hanging off of the branches, like what you might see up near Mono Lake in the winter. Cool looking I thought. Along with the view though I had to play dodge ball with the tufts of cotton that had fallen off of the trucks taking the baled harvest to wherever. Now and then I would see huge machines doing whatever they do to get the cotton off of the plants. Interesting.

Up near the exit for Kettleman City I was just cruising along when my nose started twitching. "Hmmm, what's that odor in the air?" As I drove the tinglings turned into a full frontal assault upon my olfactory senses - the pungent aromas of urea and manure assailing me from all side. I crested the road and sure enough to my right was a huge, and I mean huge (well, huge for a city boy) cattle lot. Gross! I held my breath and stepped on the gas to leave behind the polluting vapors as quickly as possible. (Well, you see officer, there were these cows and they were really stinky, and....)

On a more pleasant note I also passed some fields of bright orange pumpkins ripe and ready for the local pumpkin lot at a corner near you. It's hard to believe that it's already October and that Halloween is a-coming. Where did the summer go?

I decided to enter SF via the Bay Bridge which may have turned out to be a mistake as it took me about an hour to get across, but I finally entered Baghdad by the Bay a mere 6 hours after leaving home. Not bad for almost 400 miles I should think. I easily found the hotel where I am staying, and composing this - the Hyatt Regency - and went to check in. Well, it turns out you're not supposed to check in until 3 so my room wasn't ready and it wasn't gonna be ready until 3 so I just had to park it for a while. I had hoped to catch a quick nap before the reception, but you know how best laid plans go sometimes.

So I parked it, made a few phone calls (cell phones with the right calling plan can be so cool!) and just looked around the spacious atrium waiting for my room to be ready. Inside the hotel is pretty cool as each floor is cantilevered out a little bit more than the one below so that at the very top there is just a little bit of space for the skylights to let in the day's glow. The elevators are visible from the lobby and are vertical cylinders with spherical caps on each end. It's quite a nice little ride up and down looking out on the people in the lobby below.

My room was ready as promised at 3 so I went up and made myself comfortable. Only a few minutes after entering I was shaken by the thunderous roar of an afterburner kicking in very close by. It seems the Blue Angels were performing that day and I had a veritable ringside seat, up on the 16th floor with a view of the bay where many of the stunts were taking place. I of course got out my camera and shot some, I hope anyway, cool shots of the daredevil pilots and their hot machines.

Soon it was time to get ready so I did and I must say I looked good. You all may not believe this but I clean up pretty well. So well in fact that I had to take a picture of myself 'cause it doesn't happen very often and I wanted proof just in case. I walked to the reception area which was in the Rincon Center and saw that it was to be held out in the atrium there which was very nicely done and very open, the centerpiece of which was a shallow pool of water into which a steady stream was falling from the skylight ceiling way high above adding a soothing background to everything.

After the very nice ceremony we all sat down for the Chinese Banquet. Paul and Amy were at my table so I wasn't totally alone and the others there were all very nice (of course) and we all had a good time. Now remember that pool I told you about? Well, they turned off the water dropping from above, before most people had arrived, and several time I heard people ask, "Is that the dance floor?", because you see, the pool was very shallow and, well, it looked like an extra shiny floor. It looked so much like the floor that not once, but twice people waded right in like they could walk on water or something. Once to get a better picture, and once to get to the real dance floor! Too funny! No serious damage done though and all 3 people handled their "misstep" with aplomb.

So now it's Sunday morning and I have to get out of here. I'm still not sure where I'm going but for sure somewhere pretty (I've got my camera), and I think I need some sunshine in my life so I'm going to go see if I can find some of that too. It's actually bright and beautiful outside here in the city so maybe I won't have to go far. I'm thinking I might first head north of the city, maybe to Point Reyes, but I'll have to check the weather situation for the area before I head out. I hope everyone's weekend is going/went well and if so inspired perhaps I'll relate the next part of my little adventure next week.

Take Care Everyone,
Chris