Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Friday, December 01, 2006

Monday, March 06, 2006

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Learning things the hard way is never much fun. But it usually makes for a good story.

Last week, some of Dude's friends gathered in San Francisco for Passover. It was decided to all stay at the same hotel for convenience of shuttling people around and due to proximity to others it was further decided to stay at Beck's Motor Lodge on Market near Castro.

Beck's has decent, clean rooms. A bit small, but the price is reasonable and parking is free. Dude checked in at 10:00 PM and it being a Friday night, was not surprised that the place was fairly active. In the middle of the night, someone stuck their arm in to the room and moved the curtains aside to look in. This was very strange and a call was made to the security guard downstairs, but nothing came of it.

In the morning, Dude and his friends were watching television. The door was open a bit because the windows only open three inches and being directly over the laundry area, the room tended to get hot and stuffy. At around 9:00 AM, some guy walked by and then opened the door further, stuck his head in and said in a very strange voice, "Hiiiiii."

Dumfounded, Dude and his friends just sat there staring at the unknown individual. At which point, Chet (as he was later named for no other reason that to not say "that really weird guy" any more) turned around and left. Over the course of the next two hours, Chet would walk around the balcony of the second and third floors of the hotel and then leave. Never stopping at Dude's room again.

Then out came the laptop where Dude stole some local bandwidth to find out three very important things. First is that the internet consensus on Beck's Motor Lodge is that it is a reasonable place to stay. Second is that the international symbol for a sexual invitation is to leave one's door slightly ajar. Third is Beck's Motor Lodge is a popular place, wink wink.

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Dude was in San Francisco for work last week at Company B. On Friday, Dude hooked up with some friends from his previous employer, Company A and went to a local watering hole until the place closed. Dude's flight back home was on Saturday and decided to head back to the hotel around 3:30 AM.

Upon walking in to the hotel, Dude told the front desk clerk to make sure there was a wake-up call in an hour. In a moment of lucidity, Dude packed his clothes and other items and then went to sleep. Fortunately (magically), Dude woke up at 4:46 AM only to find that in the zealousness to pack that the phone had been knocked off the hook. The shuttle was due at 5:00 AM so there was no time for a shower. Just pick up the bag and head downstairs.

Dude got to the lobby of the hotel and waited for the shuttle. Outside the hotel was a couple talking, presumably waiting for a shuttle as well or possibly returning from a late evening. The gentlemen was wearing a sport coat and slacks. The woman was wearing an expensive camel hair coat and a silk blouse. After a few minutes, a guy on a motorcycle shows up and parks next to them but doesn't appear to engage in the conversation. Soon, they move towards a black lexus and so Dude starts to think that it's just a very late night.

Next, Dude had to deal with the hotel staff because there was a charge on the room for a meal that Dude never had. After a little bit of argument and an attempt to find the receipt for the meal, the hotel agreed to remove the charge. Returning to the front door, Dude found that the people were gone. With the arrival of the shuttle imminent and the weather being generally nice, Dude stepped outside to wait. Within 30 seconds, Dude was acosted by two different people asking to "spare a quarter." Five quarters later, the shuttle arrives and Dude gets in and sits in the back ready to go to the airport and head home.

Just after the door to the shuttle closes, the woman from the previous trio comes up to the van,. Maybe they were waiting for the shuttle after all. The woman opens the door and says to Dude, "Hello, do I know you from somewhere?"
Dude replies, "No, I don't think so."
"Are you sure, because you look familiar?" the woman asserts.
"No, I'm pretty sure," Dude says.
Finally, the woman says "Well let me give you my card."

Dude took the card and looked at it as the shuttle engine started. On the card was simply a name, Hayat, and a phone number. Looking to the right, the woman was standing on the street side of the van. As the shuttle pulled away, the woman opened her shirt and displayed two large, surgically-enhanced, gravity-defying breasts and then cupped each one with her hand.

Friday, February 18, 2005

Birthday party coming up. Details to follow

Tuesday, July 06, 2004

Due to recent changes in Dude's life, he hasn't had any time to contribute to "A Dude's Blog.

The big news is that Dude quit his job at Company A, a large software company in California. He had a good run there, eight years, but needed a change.

The better news is that Dude has landed a position at Company B, a small software company in California that does a lot of digital image processing. Should be quite exciting.

Dude has plenty of stuff to write about: the new Al Franken Book, "Lies (And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them", the serenity of Bald Head Island, the upcoming trip to the San Juan Islands, the new job, etc.