San Fran – Day 3

Today was another day of “MBA” classes with a focus on financial stuff.  Again, it was really interesting and if nothing else certainly opened my eyes to a lot of the financial goings-on in the world around me. I did have one flash-back to my University Econ class when we started talking about “Net Present Value” but it passed quickly and fortunately we weren’t being tested on it! The fire-alarm system however was being testing and it made for a very long day.

For my tourist-ing adventure tonight I figured I’d head out to the Pacific Ocean proper and see if I could get a glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge. Unlike yesterday though it was surprisingly cold (~60F, 15C) but it was a “wet” cold, with all of the fog. I hopped on the 38 bus and travelled up Geary toward the ocean. In a Jon Classicâ„¢ move I got off the bus a little early when I saw some park area north of the bus and figured I could walk from there (c: I couldn’t… it was a lot further, so I stretched my legs a little and then got back on the bus (c:

Land’s End was as expected, rocky with ocean slamming into it. It was pretty sweet 😉

Land’s End

Tourists on a rock

Soaring on the wind

Fisherman

Container ships in the mist

More Flying

I walked around for a while and tried to get a glimpse of the GGB but it was not to be. Leaving the Land’s End park I trucked down Geary figuring on getting something to eat when I glimpsed a sign for the Legion of Honor! One of my friends in Denver recommended it as a place to go, and even though I new it would be closed I figured I should at least stop in.

The Legion’s Front Door

Just inside the gate and kicking back on the porch was a famous favourite:

Rodin’s The Thinker

Just around the corner from The Thinker was something to think on, a Holocaust Memorial. It was simultaneously haunting and very out of place, but well done none-the-less.

Holocaust Memorial

Holocaust Memorial

The rest of the night was strictly speaking uneventful but interesting none-the-less. I had dinner at a Chinese restaurant, since the whole area was very Chinese and then hopped back on the bus to the hotel. Ah yes, public transit: if you want to meet some characters, take the bus!

The one that I hop on is an accordion bus, two busses spucked together by a plastic accordion.  While I’m ranting about accordion busses  I really wouldn’t recommend them to people who get motion sick, as it goes over each bump and corner it sways sickeningly! At the back of the bus there was a gigantic man, he literally took up two seats. I passed at least two homeless people and found a seat near the back. At the next stop a man got on, he was wearing a leather jacket, black toque, and track pants that were being worn down below his buttocks. With his right hand he was holding up the track pants, tugging with every step; and with his left he was carrying, dry cleaning. Yup, pressed white shirt, pressed dark pants, wrapped in plastic and ready for the day job I presume! There was also a couple of lesbians, a hippy, and a whole host of other people-watching gold on the bus ride.

Tomorrow is more classwork on… lets say, management? I honestly don’t remember but we’re done the finance part and on to the management, marketing and strategy sessions which I’m really looking forward too.