Something strange just happened… I was about to go through the toll booth to get on the Skyway bridge and the lady in the car in front of me waved at me. As I struggled to come up with a dollars worth of change the toll booth worker told me the lady payed for me. Weird.

It turned out I didn’t have a dollar… Maybe she knew.

So I am on the orange line on my way to Midway Airport. I’ve had a really crazy week here in Chicago between work and my outings in the evenings.

I think this is definetely the place I need to move to escape Tampa. I understand the winters are wicked but I think I can endure this. Also the sales tax is rediculous… But I can deal with this as well.

My only complaint about the city is the multitude of vagrants. Some are agressive and I see the same ones all the time. They really should do something to clean that up… Especially given the crazy sales and hotel tax revenues they are bringing in.

I don’t get to come back for atleast four weeks for work (unfortunately). I am Definetely coming in October to participate in the Men’s Health Urbanathlon. Maybe I’ll be moved in by then.

Some of my stories from this week would be very entertaining but I know I can’t tell any of them. Some of my readership cannot be privy to such personal details. Maybe it’s time for a new secret blog. Anonymous even?

I am returning to Tampa for the weekend and then heading back to Newport News on Monday.

Pictured: view from my desk looking down Wacker.

Saturday morning I got a late start. We made a list of the things that needed to be accomplished and it was lengthy. Surprisingly, none of it was really touristy in nature.

We started out and walked to the San Francisco Marathon Expo on Embarcadero. I needed to pick up my shirt and packet for the following days race. My friends weren’t to big on going through all the booths buy they warmed up to it once they started getting free stuff.

After a BOA ATM stop (someone was very determined to find an ATM) we hunted for food. There was some drama because all of us were hungry… And we walked forever because the person who was suppose to know where we were going was really just leading us aimlessly. I’m not going to name names.

We eventually ended up at Chevvys Mexican… Which is terrible because 1) there were pigeons walking around inside and 2) it’s Chevys and they are everywhere. To make this be better… Super huge margaritas were ordered.

After a delicious lunch (any lunch is delicious after having a margarita that big) we took a cab and did some clothes shopping. It wasn’t my normal choice for clothes shopping but I ended up with 2 shirts. We stopped at a bar for some more drinks and then returned to the hotel with an unfriendly cab driver. Most the cab drivers are u friendly in SF… Cabs are not very abundant so I guess they can get away with it.

After hitting the hotel gym for a pretty intense workout I was due for a nap.

I woke up at 10PM with some text messages about going out. Despite having to wake up at 5AM, I joined my friend down stairs in a cab and headed out. I know, I’m an idiot.

I’ll spare the details of the debauchery that ensued… It was a blast. At 1:30AM I had the sense to head out and my drunk friend followed. I’m sure we offended the cab driver several times.

Fast forward 3 hours… The alarm goes off and I feel like complete shit. I couldn’t help but not the overwhelming nasty smell of booze coming from my mouth.

My friend was also up… He had a 7am flight to catch and was walking around the room bitching and packing. I think he was trying to convince me his situation was worse than mine. It was a hard sell… I was about to run a long distance race with a remaining subtle buzz from the night before.

I ran the race and met tons of cool people along the way. Running across the Golden Gate Bridge is almost surreal… Definetely one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. I finished and had lunch with some of the people I met a long the way. Later in the day I had dinner and drinks with an old friend from UF.

Right now I’m sitting in First Class on the plane to Memphis. I was 2 for 2 on upgrades this trip… Not too shabby. I am flying to Norfolk today for a 3 day work week and then Tampa Thursday night. It will be a short weekend home… Heading to Chicago Sunday or Monday.

So yesturday I woke up around 8 and after a delicious free breakfast I headed downtown via BART. BART is expensive… $5 to get into the city.

After failing to check in at the Westin (I’m not terribly thrilled with this hotel but that’s another story) I headed over to Hertz where I got a car for the day.

Big Basin state park is the oldest state park in California. They also allow dogs on their paved roads… So my friend and I took the dog on a lenthy 6 mile trek. It wasn’t anything really amazing but we definitely saw some big trees.

Along the way we ran into some locals who encouraged us to check out Great Boulder, a nearby town. We went to the tacqueria there and had some delicious tacos.

On the way back to San Fran there were these crazy cloud formations coming in off the Pacific. I tried to snap a pic to show what it looked like.

After making a brief pit stop in Buena Vista park we returned the car and checked into a hotel. Dinner was at some Italian restaurant in North Beach. The food was okay… But sitting out on the street was awesome.

After dinner we hung out at someones house for a while (if you were there… All I remember is ’sherpa’) and then, a little tipsy, went to bed.

I left work today around 3:00pm to head to the airport in Norfolk. After sitting in tunnel traffic for over an hour I made it with plenty of time to spare.

The flight to Cleveland was quick… Especially since I ran into someone I had met at work earlier in the week. We had some drinks at my old stomping grounds in terminal C of Cleveland.

I boarded my flight to San Fran and sat down in my seat in the emergency exit row. Just as I had come to terms with the fact that it was going to be a long flight with the big man sitting in the seat next to me, a flight attendant informed me I’d been upgraded. Thank you very much!

It’s kind of chilly here but Im thrilled to be in 60 degree weather after the hot crazy week I had in Newport News… Not to mention the weekend in Hiawasse.

It was definetely a week to remember.

Tomorrow morning after checking in to my downtown hotel I will head out to Big Basin State Park.

I’m almost to the Sheraton now so I’d better go.

Today is my last day here in the North Georgia Mountains. We started the day with lunch at Papas Pizza. It’s nothing special but it’s one of the places I have to go when I’m up here.

After lunch we picked up Martini at the house and headed out to hike High Shoals. It’s a nice hike (a little over a mile) and shaded the whole way. It’s easy to get into the waterfall but it’s not quite as fun getting out (it’s all up hill). It’s really a nice waterfall that you can climb all over when the water level is low.

After dropping the dog off we headed to the Deer Lodge. Even though some new people are managing it, very little has changed. The interior of the place still had it’s charm and the food hasn’t changed a bit. The trout was awesome as always.

Apparently my last post was quite offensive to some people in the North Georgia area. I’ll admit my experience is limited and my generalizations may lack accuracy. However, I did spend 12 summers here in the area and I works at Fred’s Super Dollar Store for 2 of those summers (when I was in high school) and I feel like I know the area quite well.

The people here (the locals, not counting the Florida imports) are quite amazing. People are friendly and very neighborly… Much more-so than in Florida. I won’t take back my dental comment but it’s not a completely fair characterization of the people here.

This place has a lot of funny things about it.. I tried to make light of a few of them. Bill Bryson’s book “A Walk in the Woods” has one of the best, most humorous characterizations of Hiawassee I’ve seen. I highly recommend checking it out.

Tomorrow I head back to Atlanta to catch my 11am flight to Newport News. It’s going to be a lllloooonnnggg day.

Pictured: Martini on the way home from High Shoals, Brasstown Bald out the car window, Deer Lodge, Deer Lodge trout

It’s been a low key weekend so far. Nothing has really happened except for a lot of eating.

I really forgot what it is like to be here. The weather is always amazing in the summer… The temperature rarely jumps into the 80s. There are also some big annoyances… Lots of bugs everywhere and really loud tree bugs at night. If I turn the fan ok high I can still hear them outside.

Tomorrow we are going to one of my favorite places for dinner… The Deer Lodge. It’s a restaurant in the middle of nowhere between Hiawassee, GA and Helen, GA. I can’t wait to get my big plate of French fries and trout.

The people here haven’t changed much…. Still a lot thick southern accents, pickup trucks, and missing/rotting teeth. Personal hygene isn’t a big thing here in the deep south. When you walk into a restaurant and people stare at you- it’s not because you are from out from out of town; it’s because you smell good and have white teeth. How strange.

Pictures in order- family gathering at my aunts house; entrance to Bald Mountain Park; lake Chatuge in Hiawassee, GA; entering Helen, GA; Atlanta Skyline.

I’m exausted. Completeley worn out. I’m sitting in the Newport News airport waiting for my delayed flight to Atlanta. This is truly the smallest airport I’ve ever seen… And yet they designed it so you still have to walk forever to get to the gate.

I’m headed to Atlanta to drive to Hiawasse to be with my family for the weekend. Everyone is there including my grandparents and some family from the Chicago area. It should be a pretty fun, relaxing weekend.

Next weekend I am flying to San Francisco on Thursday night. A friend is meeting me out there for the weekend. Friday I’m renting a car and going to “Big Basin State Park” where there are a lot of redwoods. It’s the oldest state park in california. Saturday I am going to the running expo with high hopes of seeing Dean Karnazes speak… He is definetely one of my heros. Sunday morning I am running the marathon and Monday I am returning to Virginia for work.

I started a new project at work and the transition is rough. The people are nice and friendly but they aren’t as social outside of work. I’m having to find other ways of staying busy after work. Work is also challenging…. There is lots to do and a very accelerated timeline. I’m fumbling around trying to meet the right people and build good relationships so I can do my job.

In general… I’m pretty happy and that’s all that matters. I’m exploring the possibility of moving to Chicago in the upcoming months… Financially I’m not sure I can pull it off. I’m making more of an effort to meet people in the various areas I live and work and that’s making things a lot more interesting as well.

Now that the plane is almost ready to take off… One random observation… Delta airplanes Consistently have the dirtiest windows! I think someone was slobbering on this one!