Yearly Archives: 2009

In which I find a uke enthusiast at a Macintosh convention…

Since I have to work in an office for my living (gee, where’s my fairy godmother to give me money-making ukulele talent instead?), I’m happy that one of the main tools I use is a Macintosh. It provides an interface that gets out of the way so I can get my writing and design work done without having to worry about the computer’s operating system.

We’ve been a Mac office since 1986 (I know, that’s before lots of you were even born!) and one of the side benefits of running a Mac for so many years is our long-standing tradition of attending the annual MacWorld Expo held each year in San Francisco.

While Mark and I started attending in 1988 (believe me, it was a much different expo back then), for the past decade or so, my dad and I have made MacWorld Expo an after-holiday date. Dad flies to Sacramento, I pick him up and we travel in my trusty 1987 Mazda 626 (36 mpg!) to San Francisco, where we take in the show and some great dining.

Son, Matt (who is an Apple service technician and sales manager at BitVision), joined up with us at our hotel near Fisherman’s Wharf and we rode the iconic F Train streetcars (photo above by Matt Dale), hopping off at the nearest stop to Moscone Center. These cars originally operated all over the US and even in Italy; today they’ll get you from Fisherman’s Wharf and all the way down Market toward Castro for a meager $1.50. It’s a bargain—and a delightful experience to boot!