My San Francisco Adventure

So I am sitting at a Starbucks (big surprise right?) in advance of a meeting I have here in San Mateo later this morning and figured I would give you a quick recap of my San Francisco adventures.

After a very long flight with unfortunately, no interesting conversations to be had (as I was stuck by the window next to a guy who slept the whole time), I arrived in San Francisco. What an amazing view of the coast and the bay as we flew in! Would have been nice to have someone to share the moment with but alas middle seat guy was sound asleep sawing great logs and aisle guy had been attached to his iPod since take off. So I soaked up the San Francisco scenery from the sky alone and just knew I was in for a great day!

Had a delightful chat with my cab driver Vu who is originally from Korea who is here "just trying to make it." A bright and interesting young man that was shy initially but very friendly and informative once I got him talking. Despite his best efforts to get us killed (something I think is part of the cabbie creed) we arrived with a skid (literally) at the Grand Hyatt - and grand it was! I bid my new friend goodbye and headed in to get settled in my room.

After checking in with Amy, a helpful gal originally from New York, who absolutely loved my Ripple blue dress shirt, I made my way to the elevator. Now don't laugh....I was on the 31st floor and when I got in the elevator the number wouldn't stay lit. I thought what's the deal here? I got out of one elevator and caught another one - same result. Confused and concerned my floor had somehow been mysteriously locked down for maintenance or some high level security threat I headed back down to the front desk and waited patiently for Ms. Amy to help me. I explained my dilemma and she laughed and said, "Mr. Harper, you will be staying on one one of our exclusive floors so you will need to insert your card into the elevator so that your floor can be accessed."

A bit confused and humbled by the realization that the organizers of my conference appearance set me up in some swanky accommodations, something I am not used to, I made my way to my room surely giving Amy and her co-workers a chuckle. The room was fantastic but it was the amazing view that really made it for me (picture attached). I have found as I get older that I like to stop and soak in the architecture and design that makes a city a city. I could have stayed all day at that window just looking and watching but the growl in my stomach reminded me that I had not eaten anything that morning. I set off to find lunch and perhaps a few interesting people to talk to along the way.

As I came off the elevator Amy came out to greet me and ask if my room was alright. I sheepishly said, "Absolutely. Once I figured out how to get up there!" She smiled and assured me that it happens all the time and told me to enjoy my stay and contact her if I needed anything. Still feeling dumb about not knowing how to operate the elevator I appreciated her taking that extra step to make me feel welcome. That's customer service!

More on my San Francisco adventure to come....