the first audioblog...from noisy san francisco

Chris and I decided to be tourists today, and since I live in North Beach, just a short hop, skip, and a twirl from Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 (godawful tourist traps for those of you not familiar with the City By the Bay), we decided to head down to Touristville to see if we could blend in.

There are three redeeming things about Fisherman's Wharf that will keep me going back there from time to time. First of all, the point of this whole audioblog, the sea lions that completely took over Pier 39 about a decade or so ago. They just kind of showed up one day, and they're cute, albeit quite stinky.

Yucky.

The second thing I like about Fisherman's Wharf is the Musee Mechanique, a fascinating and fun museum of old mechanical carnival attractions. It's usually housed out at the Cliff House but since the Cliff House is undergoing extensive renovation, it's at the Wharf for the time being.

However, my favorite attraction at the Wharf would have to be the Bushman. He's this homeless guy who huddles by a garbage can, camouflaging himself with tree branches, and scares the shit out of tourists and locals alike. I once spent over 45 minutes sitting on the curb about 20 feet from the Bushman, nursing a bottle of malt liquor in a paper bag (love brownbagging...it's so...naughty and illegal), cackling at the startled tourists. Yes, I could probably have used that time a bit more productively, but come on. The Bushman is hysterical. It never gets old.

So...here you go. An audio snapshot of San Francisco's Pier 39, January 15th, 2005, at approximately a quarter to two in the afternoon.

UPDATE

Okay, I just listened to my blog for the first time (had to load it on my iPod because the sound card on my jalopy computer is fried). I sound like A Total Douchebag. I guess I was a bit self-concious with my first audioblog, not to mention I was freezing my ass off. No, really. It froze solid and fell off with a loud "THUD" that scared some tourists from Oklahoma. It's been hella cold here.

Okay, maybe I made that last part up. My ass is still attached to me. And I can't believe I just used the word "hella" in my blog. I promised myself I'd never do that.

Lastly, I just photogoogled the word "douchebag" so I could provide an illustration for this particular entry, so you can listen to the audioblog and imagine it's actually the douchebag talking. This is what came up:



This blog is so going downhill. :-)

I should probably log off and go to bed now.