San Francisco
I beg to differ with Roald Amundsen who said, “Adventure is just bad planning.” This morning started with a very normal shower until I discovered that I was stuck in the bathroom. The door, which slides on tracks, had somehow jumped the track. It needed to be pulled in to be freed, but unfortunately on the inside where I was, there was nothing to grab to pull it in by. Fortunately, K was still in the room and hadn’t left for the day, and was able to set me free.
The day was spent in a workshop on “Human Centered Design Thinking”, which is actually about celebrating and using ambiguity until you actually have to make a decision. It was interesting to be in the audience rather than be the facilitator, as I usually am. There was the usual array of discomfort. People who needed to see the whole process before they could begin, people who needed endlessly more detail, and people who were fussed about how uncomfortable this whole thing would make people. Still, I learned a couple of useful techniques, met a couple of interesting people, and discovered some new stuff to read, so it was a day reasonably well spent.
This evening, K lured me to a bookshop reputed to be one of the best used bookstores in San Francisco. We went on the bus, which moaned on the way up the hills, and howled on the way down. It was a little disconcerting, but no one seemed to be paying any attention. I imagine that brake shops do a good business in San Francisco. The bookstore presented the usual perils, resulting in the likelihood that we will have to pay for an extra checked bag on the way home. As well as books, it had an outstanding collection of cards so I am well equipped for the coming year.
We staggered to a nearby diner for a great hamburger, and then split a taxi back to the hotel. The taxi driver told us to expect one million people to be involved in the Gay Pride parade on Sunday, and suggested strategies to get to the convention center, which is on the other side of the parade route from our hotel. The Supreme Court decision today that gay marriage is legal means that this year’s parade will have an additional level of celebration.