Steve Jobs Keynote 2006

I woke up this morning in San Francisco ... it was 4am Pacific Time, 7am back in Toronto. The latter is what my body is still ticking by so it was no big achievement getting up at that early hour.

Last night, having gotten off the plane around 6:30pm local time, I needed to get down to the Moscone Center before 8pm to pick up my convention badge so I could attend the next morning's Steve Jobs keynote. I hurried in the BART (subway) arriving down to Powell St. station just around 7:50. I rushed with my luggage down sidewalks along a path I had rehearsed on a map earlier on my flight. I was slightly lost at one point, and followed my instincts in a "which wire should I cut? Blue wire? Red wire?" kinda way. I arrived at the front door of the Moscone just as the doors were being locked. I managed to get ahead of the security officer and enter a door he had not yet locked. I was in, got my badge printed on time and headed to the hostel. I asked somebody how to get a map of the city and he promptly suggested I look at transit shelters for direction. He then took me to the door following which I thought he was going to point me in the right way but he walked me all the way to my destination. San Franciscans are friendly to tourists, just like I am to those in Toronto. He introduced himself as David and went on his way.

I walked into my dorm and quickly was reminded I was in San Francisco: a sign on the door details instructions on how to deal with an earthquake. They're very common in California so I did go through the procedures and educated myself on the subject. Soon, in walked Greg, one of my room mates. We talked for a while about our reasons for visiting San Francisco and about our home towns and later, room mate # 2 came to the room and I quickly detected he was Brazilian. Bruno asked if he could tag along with me for my first night San Francisco discovery tour. When I arrive in an unknown city, I like to simply wonder around and get my bearings.
After having my first meal since departing Toronto (only pretzels were served on my two flights), which was a horrible soggy, vomit inducing Burger King Whopper (yuck!), Bruno suggested we check out some of the local bars. We walked around the city in search of some Hostel recommended places. The first stop was at a bar described in a flyer as "Loud Rock Music". It was pretty punky, filled with lots of inked skin and sketchy personalities. We had a drink each then moved on to the next place.

During our walk, it was unavoidable to notice how many homeless people are in this city. If you think Toronto is bad, then you must visit SF. In addition to plentiful, they are also extremely determined. One guy walked up to me begging for money. He wouldn't listen to my reply because he kept on talking. He was getting too close for comfort and I was getting my fists ready. I finally shook him off by walking far beyond his staging ground as if he had a dog chain around his neck linking him to his favorite begging spot. Also worthy of mention were the many prostitutes, wearing barely anything, walking the streets in many numbers. Some of them were definitely transvestites.


San Francisco Police cruiser

Our second place was better than the first. The interior design was still very grungy with dozens of beer bottles mounted together to form a chandelier and no dress code whatsoever but the women here were classier so we were happy to stay a while.

It was 5:30 when I walked out of the shower this morning and was ready to check "WATCH A LIVE STEVE JOBS KEYNOTE" off my list. I walked down Mason St to Market St and getting used to being confronted by bums along the way, I made my way to 4th. As I approached the Moscone Center, I saw in the distance what seemed like a few people milling around. I thought "Great! I'm early and one of the first in line". However, as I got closer, a dark garden next to the entrance got brighter and revealed a lineup so long it wrapped around the block. I was not early enough.



I met a few more people while waiting in line, one of which was from Toronto. We discussed The Leafs and Tim Hortens as the line slowly progressed. We were brought into a waiting room and 3 hours later people rushed into the theatre in order to get a good seat. I took some photos and was put on the three jumbo screens while oblivious that the thousands of people in the theatre were watching me use my tripod to take a far away self portrait.



I recognized the look and feel of the theatre as I had seen it before on the net. Steve Jobs came on stage and we were off! I was reminded throughout the presentation why I, along with many Mac users often say: "When you got Mac, you don't go back!". The user friendly, life enhancing technology presented at the keynote made me feel like a giddy kid on Christmas day. What came to mind during the keynote is how much easier my life is going to be with iLife 2006 and how productive I will be professionally with those new tools. I won't discuss exactly what was said because you can view the entire keynote for yourself by clicking HERE.





I walked out of the keynote satisfied to have finally been there, done that. I wondered around the Metreon, a Sony designed mini mall, and walked through gardens and up Stockton St, visibly San Francisco's version of Yorkville. I stopped for some yummy street meat and came upon Union Square. Suddenly a very loud alarm sounded while I was there. When I say "loud", I mean ... the entire city and suburbs can hear this. It sounded like a military alarm in war time. I automatically assumed it was an earthquake horn and got ready to follow the rules I had read in my room. Some people on the street seemed concerned while others simply walked by. Before I could find a clear place for cover, it was announced through a loud speaker that this was just a test. Phew! That's enough fake earthquakes for one day!








I returned to my room at the Hostel to recharge my camera, my PowerBook and myself and will hopefully find a Wi-Fi Hotspot somewhere in the city so I can upload this to my website and you can all have a glimpse of my first days here. Since it's only 1pm, I'll be going to the two major attractions in the city: Fisherman's Wharf and other famous piers and then I'll take a cable car to The Golden Gate Bridge just as the sun sets.

Today's pictures to follow tomorrow.

North America Discover Tour 2006

I'm descending from 30,000ft on a cramped US Airways flight approaching Charlotte, North Carolina while gazing at the puffy clouds outside and the glaring sun high in the sky.
Along the next 10 days, I'll be reporting live (or as live as it gets) about my latest spontaneous trip.



Now, you might be thinking: Why would I want to go to Charlotte, North Carolina? I don't. It's a stop over between Toronto and San Francisco.
Continuing my North America Discovery Tour, which I began in the summer of 2004 when I visited Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa, New York and Washington D.C., I'm visiting some of the remaining US cities on my list.
This year, I'm hitting the ground running: With the smell of the 2006 New Years Eve fireworks still lingering in the air, I'm striking off two major world cities I've had on my MUST BE TO list for as long as I can remember. The two cities are San Francisco and Los Angeles. I decided to hit many birds with one stone by also satisfying another long standing dream of mine: Watching Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer deliver his annual keynote speech at MacWorld. For Apple lovers such as myself, this is the Holy Grail of events and this time I'll be there instead of following it on streaming video.



The next ten days will essentially encompass three major trips:

- San Francisco: I'll see the city, walk along the famous piers and take pictures next to the Golden Gate Bridge. I'll visit Alcatraz and walk down the steepest street in the world: The Guiness Book of Records holding "Lombard St."

- Road Trip USA: I've always dreamed about getting in a car and just driving aimlessly along the US Pacific Coast, running into towns and cities along the way. That's what I'm about to do on January 15th. I'm renting a car, getting on the road, rollin' down the windows and singing "Life is a Highway ... and I'm gonna ride it all night long!" all along the way. Some of the anticipated stops are Cupertino (for a quick look and photo-op @ Apple Headquarters), San José, Santa Cruz, 17 Mile drive, Pebble Beach and of course Santa Barbara at the request of Rosanna who dreams of going there and wanted to at least see it through my eyes. Anything else I'll leave pretty much to spontaneity.

- Los Angeles: Who hasn't had the urge to take a picture next to the Hollywood sign or walk down the Walk of Fame? I'll do that and more when I arrive in L.A. Of course, being an architecture buff, I have to see with my own eyes Frank Gehry's titanium and aluminum masterpiece: Los Angeles Disney Concert Hall. Disneyland itself is of course located just outside L.A. so that will be part of the duo theme park visits I'll make while down there. Universal Studios is the other park I'm eager to experience. Finally, how can I forget the incredible beaches of Malibu, the shopping on Rodeo Drive and the rollerblading babes of Santa Monica? I'll try to locate some tv and film sets and definitely get a picture next to a Baywatch lifeguard tower. Somehow I don't expect to encounter lifeguards that look anything like Pamela Anderson.

This trip was originally designed to include a two day stop in Vancouver, BC, but after considering the poor weather and realizing how filled my 10 days would already be in San Francisco and L.A. , I decided to skip my final Canadian frontier until another day.

I'm putting the finishing touches at this first blog entry sitting at a Starbucks in Charlotte Douglas Airport. I better get going to find my connecting flight to San Francisco.

I'll attempt to keep these blogs short so that everybody's able to read them on their spare time instead of dedicating hours to reading a novel like recounting of my travels. There might be some techie terms since I AM here attending an Apple convention after all. Many pictures will be forthcoming.

Stay tuned!