"Blogging San Francisco, Part Two..."
This morning, for some odd reason, I woke up singing "Red Light" by Linda Clifford. Those of you who know the film Fame will know it as the song to which Leroy dances during the audition process. Why in my head? I don't know, but I had it on my player as I jaunted over the convention center today to pick up my program.

And I'm glad I went to pick it up even though I didn't have plans to do anything there today because I went to the wrong convention center. I mean, I went to Moscone West and not Moscone North. We were probably told it was at Moscone North, but I just knew it was at the Moscone Center. Still, I just walked across the street and found the right place, picked up my program, and came back to the hotel for Da Man.

Today was Alcatraz day, our day to be together since we're going to be apart for most of the rest of the trip. And, now our legs are killing us. We got there and bought our tickets, ending up on the last boat out for the day. It never crossed my mind to buy tickets early, but apparently that's the thing to do. Still, we wandered around the wharves, ate more than we should, and spent a little time at the arcade museum. I have not played the Star Wars video game until early adolescence, but I played it again today!

Alcatraz is a must-see. It's much smaller than I expected, housing only three hundred men, but it was never full. The audio tour featuring former inmates and guards was great, truly made the trip. One thing I noticed, all of the inmates seemed to be white. Was there segregation in federal prisons in the 50s and 60s? We only heard a few prisoner's stories, but I did notice that in what I heard. I took a ton of photos of random things that will probably mean nothing out of context, but I'm glad we went. Now, I can spend the rest of the time conferencing and meeting and feel like I did have some time with Da Man doing something we'll remember.

The time zone change is still quite noticeable, but at least I get out of bed early. We were asleep last night by eleven, but getting up between seven and eight in the morning is easy since my body thinks it's after ten. Wish I could trick my body into thinking that more often when I'm at home.
- posted by Nels @ 8:21 PM | | | Link |