I had a fantastic Monday in San Francisco that reminds me of why I'm so excited about living here.
I woke up early, threw on my sneaks and headed out from the pad I'm crashing at in Mission Bay. Then I went for an energizing 2 mile run by the waterside through the Embaracadero and just past the Bay Bridge. The weather was perfectly cool and mild for a run. The city was coming awake around me, shops were opening up, cafes were serving up breakfast, runners and dog walkers were out on the pathways.
And for all of you geeks out there, here's the 3D map of the run from iMapmyRun!
Afterwards I went to one of my favorite coffee joints in SF, Philz Coffee, for a cuppa their "Ambrosia" mix. Perfectly full-bodied, dense and smooth. There's also a Blue Bottle outpost nearby, which is my other favorite coffee spot. So nice being among coffee snobs, I gotta say.
I worked for a few hours remotely, setting up meetings for the week, checking in with my supervisor, blogging up stuff on Betterverse and Nonprofit Commons. My biggest win for the day was organizing a virtual talk by two scientists discussing their new book Infinite Reality , taking place, appropriately, in Second Life.
For lunch, I used the new iPhone app Roaming Hunger to find a food truck or a stand near me with something tasty. It led me to Little Skillet, a soul food joint that isn't exactly a food truck, more of a takeout window on a side street in SOMA. I had their chicken and waffle for $6. The nicely fried chicken breast and large waffle were perfect for lunch, if a bit heavy.
Later that evening, I headed out to the swank Le Colonial , near Union Square, to do some dancing and meet up with friends. Every Monday, this elegant Vietnamese spot hosts the wonderful gypsy jazz group Le Jazz Hot in their upstairs bar. They played a nice mix of slower swing and hot jazz more appropriate for balboa and charleston.
Not that many dancers were there that night, but my friends David and Kim and I had a fun time hanging out and enjoying the vibe. Oh, and the fried calamari are delicious.
Here's a quick video of what the dance floor was like.
And that was just a Monday in San Francisco! I think I'm gonna like it here.