San-Fran Trip Day One

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During my first day in San Fran I was able to do a bit of driving/venturing.

As soon as I landed and got to my rental care I hit the road to M5 Industries to see if I could find anyone from Mythbusters around but they were all in the shop filming and I'm not one to go knock. (I'm bold, but not that bold!) From there I drove off to the address I found online to M7. This is where Tory, Grant and Kari play. But that came up a bust as well. (If you know me at all then you know I eat, dream & live Mythbusters!)

So now with 2 strikes to the count I decided it's time to get checked into the hotel. This proved to be an adventure all in itself.

It seems that in this economy the hotel staff unions figured it's a GREAT time to strike and picked my hotel as their picket place for the week. So this entailed dealing with the following:

1. 90% of the front of the hotel being a picket line from 6am to 12pm. Armed with bull horns and chants.
2. Zero room service
3. Zero maid service (fresh towels sparingly provided on request only)
4. Zero gift shop service. (this means a $2 soda was going to cost me $6 in the mini-bar)

But I said Ok this is no biggie. I'm only here for 2 nights anyway. So I quickly unpacked and hit the open road again. This time it was to Petaluma.

The drive was easy and very scenic. Lots of clear open sky, mountains, water and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Once I arrived in Petaluma I found my way to the TWiT Cottage, home of Leo Laporte's TWiT netcasting network.

When I walked in, I first thought I was trespassing but was quickly welcomed in by Leo himself. He introduced himself and some of his staff and they gave me a quick tour of the studio where they were in the middle of a broadcast.

Since I knew enough geek speak and a bit about video/Internet broadcasting I also got to tour the upstairs where the large san was stationed and got to see the mixing studio as well. (I was told most people didn't get to see that.)

In the middle of discussions about how TWiT operates my only question was "how much is the power bill?" I mean come on. I have the KING of the Internet at my disposal and my big question is that? Needless to say I was a little star stuck & all smiles.

I have to say meeting Leo was a really cool. He took an interest in me, why I was in San Fran and what I did for a living. He made time for me and really engaged me. He's one class act!

So after getting some free TWiT schwag I was back on the road. Then on the road its where I realized I was so "star struck" that I forgot, despite me having a camera in my pocket, to get a photo with Leo & an autograph. Maybe next time?!? (Strike 3!)