San Francisco has turned cold finally - I guess Indian Summer is over. And when I say cold, I mean really cold. I put the heating on in my apartment for the first time this Fall. Over the past two weeks I've experienced first a warm New York City, with a single day in the forties, then a chilly Dallas, where on one day the temperature varied between 33 and 65, a hot San Francisco when I was here one night on Halloween, and now finally the cold, foggy days leading into Winter here.

My last day in Dallas, however, turned warmer. It was a pleasant 65 degrees and the birds were singing lustily, reminding me of my childhood in England, for some reason.

Beautiful Fall day at our customer's site in Dallas

We had one final set of meetings on Thursday morning. Chad, the droning project leader on our customer's side, was on top form. I swear that if he addresses me one more time as "Big Guy" I'm going to pop him. In other ways, the meeting gave some insight into the kinds of quality issues major food manufacturers face. As part of our project, we'll be converting database codes into wordy descriptions, and, in this case, the subject matter was "foreign" substances that can be found by customers in their food products. They had codes for a wide variety of such things, including "multiple dead insects", live insects, condoms, and even "bloody matter!" Ugh - gave me a lot of confidence in the packaged goods industry!

By ten-thirty, our mission was over, and we were free to depart. My flight wasn't until two, so I still had time to do a brief workout at the gym.

I lucked out on the flight home again, and grabbed a First Class seat. I could get used to this! And by three thirty, I was home again, albeit feeling completely wiped out. I was too tired even to unpack, so I spent the evening watching TV, something I hardly ever do at home.

This morning, though, I felt a bit more energized, and started to catch up with my life again, after a two week absence. This time I'm home for a whole week and a half before my next trip - whoopdedoo!

So I finally posted my ad the other day! I've already gotten a few responses. Nothing too exciting so far, except from one guy, who sounds like a potential something. I do find, however, that getting in touch with people through ads is emotionally draining. So I've put off responding until the weekend.

Tonight, as I usually do after working out with Cecilia, I crossed Market Street to pick up my chicken-caesar salad from Pasta Pomodoro. I don't remember what I used to eat before Pasta Pomodoro opened! I eat there at least five times per week (sad, isn't it? :) The guys there are mostly super-friendly. Tonight, three different waiters addressed me by name, making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Actually, I began to notice, for the first time, how cute one of them is. He's not the sort of guy I'd normally really notice, but when he was taking my order, he gave me such a sweet, irresistable smile. He's probably straight though - most of the people who work there seem to be. Oh well, there's always my ad :)