Friday - Manila - got the Bird Flu

So yesterday and whatever part of the day before was spent traveling and getting over a cold...I started to get sick Tuesday after partying too hard Monday night (yeah Lisa, Pam, E, Blake, and Wolf!). The flight from SF to Manila was long - like two work days...and the Hong Kong airport is the most modern looking airport I’ve seen, while the Manila airport needs a little work. In fact, Manila reminds me of Cairo - lots of traffic, lots of cars that are being held together with paperclips, and lots of rundown buildings. But let me go back to Hong Kong for a minute. The airport and the highrises around the airport got me thinkning about how the US is gonna get its butt kicked by the Chinese. We’re like a bunch of fat cats eating Krispy Kremes and drinking vanilla lattes while the Chinese are busy building their infrastructure and manufacturing the electronics that fry our brains.

OK, enough of that - going back to SF, on Monday E had to work so I spent the day shopping and checking out downtown. I needed some clothes for my trip and finally bought my first pair of $200 jeans...seems like everyone is wearing designer jeans, so I broke down and got a pair. Downtown SF is a combination of Baltimore 10 years ago and Georgetown - there are a lot of rundown places and crazy ass homeless people mixed in with high-end stores like Bebe, Ben Sherman, etc.

Later that day, E and I went to a CrossFit class in SF - wasn’t that good to be honest...I can see why our clients pay us good money to train them. The instructor did little more than tell us what to do without any correction at all. After we got home and changed into some fresh digs, we headed to an improv class that Eric takes. I’ve neve done acy acting or taken an improv class, but let’s just say that apparently I am a natural. We did some “warm-up” moves, like the ninja game and the greeting game. Then we did some acts in pairs where each actor had a goal to pursue. The cool thing is that neither person knew the other’s goal or the setting - so you to...drum roll please...improv. 3 hours later I was addicted...definitely going to find a class in DC to join.

Then we went to the divest bar in SF and milked the juke-box for all it was worth...and I learned the diamond dance. You’ll just have to hang out with me sometime to learn it.
Finally, on Tuesday, E and I went to Alcatraz (we got up too early and henceforth, I got sick). Alcatraz was cool - what an amazing piece of real estate in the middle of the bay. One day that place will be condos or a private home.

So that’s all for now - the crew here in Manila are going to the wedding dress rehearsal.

Peace,
Graham