Monday, December 13, 2010

AGU Fall Meeting

Absolutely no moto content in this post. This week, I'm in San Francisco for the AGU (American Geophysical Union) Fall meeting at Moscone Center. This enclosed merry-go-round is at the Yerba Buena Gardens and to me it seems somewhat out of place. These first two pictures are taken from the same place. In other words, while riding on the horse of your choice, you can keep an eye on Moscone Center.

I think that there are something like 16,000 people at this conference. This is very unlike all of the other meetings and conferences I usually attend as there is almost no IT component. The focus is on reporting on science. Today, I must have walked about ten miles today just going up and down all of the rows just in the poster sessions and around the downtown area.

The Christmas decorations were out. This is Union Square taken from Powell Street towards the Macy superstore. Last night, there was some sort of concert going on as the place was packed. Not that it's ever really empty. Downtown San Francisco always seems really crowded and there seems to always be something going on. One thing about San Francisco is there is no shortage of are good places to eat. It is always a challenge to pick a place. Yesterday, I met the logistics manager from Barrow for dinner and we found a very good steak place. Today, I went to a 60's style diner with fairly typical diner fare.

Modest food but balanced by fairly modest prices, always a real issue anywhere in downtown San Francisco. I made a quick stop at the Apple's flagship store on Stockton Street to ask them about an issue with my laptop. A couple of weeks ago, I tried to get it to boot from the install DVD and it just sat there for hours. Of course, at the Genius Bar in the Apple Store, it booted up just fine. Oh well...

For the exercise (and the t-shirt), I signed up for the AGU 5K fun run on Wednesday morning. The real challenge is going to be getting to the start line by 7:15 AM. And I'm sure that it will be miserably cold.

7 comments:

  1. Did you actually take the first shot from the saddle of a horse?? That would be cool. The meeting and locations sounds great. Great things to learn in the daytime and forget about at night. LOL. Good luck with the fun run. I hope the weather cooperates. Just remember, it is probably warmer in SF then in Fairbanks. -Lori

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  2. So thats how you survive life in Fairbanks- by buggering off all the time to marginally warmer places.
    Tell the logistics man from barrow (sounds like a Sherlock Holmes character) to take you to eat proper ethnic food in San Francisco . Steak and meatloaf you can eat anywhere.198 2nd Street is home to Umbria. Home cooking as I knew it.

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  3. Sounds like you are having a little adventure away from home. Hopefully the weather is nicer than we had in Seattle on the weekend. Of course it is fall and that means rain, rain and more rain and if you are lucky some fog. Have fun and keep the updates coming.

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  4. Lori:
    Nope, didn't take the picture from a horse but standing outside of the enclosed merry-go-round. They claim that the fun run is supposed to be "fun". We'll see about that...

    Conchscooter:
    You're probably right about me escaping the colder weather periodically. There is a pretty good assortment of decent ethnic food in Barrow. What you can't find is a good steak.

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  5. Trobairitz:
    It's been raining steadily all day but otherwise, no complaints. I don't think that I would use the word "adventure" but it is definitely fun to learn new things. And this is a great place to learn new. Plus, it's a good opportunity to initiate discussions.

    Richard

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  6. Love the merry go round. Looks like a nice trip away from the snow and the cold. :)

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  7. You're right, San Francisco has the best restaurants. That Apple flagship store would be fun. And that's a nice photo of the Christmas decorations. Hope you had a nice 5k run today!

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