Patrick's Soapbox

pier 7

Congrats on the student scholarship! I'll be going to the WWDC for the first time on the student scholarship as well.

If the weather's good, a walk out along Golden Gate Bridge is wonderful. San Francisco is one of America's most striking cities, and the bridge offers great views. Not quite up to Vancouver for scenery, but close enough.

SF is also one of the two best cities on the West Coast for international cuisine. Although I'm sure you have great Asian and Indian food in New Zealand, San Francisco can almost certainly match what you're used to. The Mission District can be reached on the BART subway, and there you can get food from all over Latin America.

Finally, take the 'N Judah' Metro line out to the Golden Gate park and Haight Ashbury neighborhoods.

Of course, this all presumes that the weather is decent and you find some time to get away from the WWDC proceedings. Personally, I don't see any openings in my conference schedule from 9 AM through 8 PM from Sunday through Tuesday, and the same on Thursday. I might be able to kick myself loose around 5 on Wednesday.

BTW, you do know that the student developers get a full day of sessions on Sunday, June 5th, don't you?

The schedule hasn't been posted yet, but WWDC alumni have been saying it runs from at least 9 to 5 on Sunday, with a break for dinner, followed by a sort of job fair from 6 to 8 PM. if you're looking for work here in the Land of The Red & The Blue, you certainly should make a point of getting to the Sunday sessions as soon as you can.

If you're getting into SFO shortly after noon, it's likely that you'll miss the afternoon developer session while getting your luggage stowed. You might consider an earlier flight, if one exists.

My wife is going along for the ride, but it's a good thing we have friends in SF, or she'd be on her own most of the time (which is not our usual way of doing things).

You can find my WWDC session schedule at http://ical.mac.com/macartisan/WWDC%20Sessions. If we have any overlap, give me a yell at macartisan [at] mac.com or look for me iChat while there.

Again, congratulations!

at May 17, 2005 08:38 PM by: Macartisan

Hi Patrick

I love your blog...! It's a lot more involved than many others that are around. It's very unique with the layout you've created...and it's also great to see some quality- Wellington-based blogs. (or NZ based full stop for that matter, have checked out so many and not many have a great content/format quality and balance in my view). I'm a 'teach yourself HTML/sort of find my way around' girl myself...have been busy incorporating features and shaping up the right formats, gradually getting there... or so I feel.

http://smarty-nz.blogspot.com/

The photoblog-section (for which I just opened another blog) is in the format I originally started the blog with, so the format on that link looks pretty dated (to me anyway).

Still have a fair bit to learn, but pretty chuffed with what I've achieved so far. Write me some lines if you get a chance! smarty.silvia@gmail.com or post a comment on my blog, up to you... ;)

Smarty

(ps - sorry this comment has dragged on a bit, was obviously in the mood to write)

Be sure to check out SFMOMA - the museum of modern art - a couple of blocks east of Moscone West.

Also, the Exploratorium is amazing. Hands-on science centre. While there, check out the Palace of Fine Arts...

Of course, a hike to Coit Tower, a trip to Alcatraz, a walk across the GG bridge...

If you have time, see if you can get a tour of Pixar HQ, at the other end of the Bay Bridge.

You can also take CalTrain south to some pretty cool places (stanford, san jose, etc...) if a week in SF is too much...