SF visit

Just wrapping up my first day in San Francisco. It's been 12 years since I was last here and just packed into the day a series of visits. I'm now sitting at the old subway stop I used to take home. And it hasn't been remodeled since I left. It's been a very surreal day to say the least. 

I just finished having drinks with my old boss from the first engineering job I had out of school. I was the only female engineer at first and I think the second or third one the firm had had.   It was nice catching up with Dick and he was the same old Dick. Now divorced and feeling odd man out at the company.   We shared stories on dating, the new regime, and gossip about old coworkers and I felt like part of the old gang. So strange considering I was the bottom of the totem pole back then. And now we were swapping stories about business development. How far I've come. 

Can I say that I don't remember people queuing up for boarding the subway. I just got in the subway and there were lines! That's new.  

 

That's what is strange. The old office was remodeled and there are different stores but in general the part of SF I was in today is pretty much the same. No new buildings. It's just like I left it. But it's all hazy and I can barely remember it all. And yet rushing down Market Street I had a flash back of running the same sidewalk, rushing to catch my ferry home. I was so young then. 

I loved chatting with Dick over bears at this old bar we'd go to. Back then they had a good happy hour of free food and motorcycles hanging from the ceiling. Which I always wondered about as a structural engineer in earthquake land. 

Now I'm on the subway where one of the trips home after the happy hour I had a horrible case of food poisoning and ended up locked in a public bathroom at the El Cerrito stop for a good hour before I was able to call my roommate to come get me. 

Mid-afternoon I caught up with Nicole who I worked with at my last job. We ended up talking a lot of shop about work stuff and at the very end realized how we could help each other out professionally. 

Lunch was with Ben and Rose. They are such wonderful good people. We had a great time catching up and sharing lessons learned about how to climb the ladder. 

And everyone was so sweet and treated me. I haven't paid for a thing!  Well except for the very expensive public transportation.