JavaOne Conference

For the first time in four years my company set me to a conference. The last time my company sent me anywhere it was to our office in North Carolina. I went there to gather up all of the information that I could from the people that worked there before we laid them off. When I started at Alcatel we went to the JavaOne Conference each year. In 2000 I think we sent 7 or 8 people to the conference. This year I was the only person who got to go to the conference. In May, when my company made the decision to let me go to the conference things were finally beginning to look up after 4 years of almost constant layoffs and uncertainty. Now, several months after the conference, we have imposed a moratorium on travel and the future is uncertain. In 1980 Ronald Regan asked the American people to ask themselves if they were better off now than they were four years ago. In my case the answer is easy - I'm definitely not better off. I can only hope that the American people have enough sense to throw George W. Bush out of office come November.

The Conference was quite good and I really enjoyed going to it. I learned quite a lot and it was definitely worth it.

Quite often, when traveling, one can get better rates if one stays over the weekend. By going to the conference on Saturday instead of Sunday I got an extra day in San Francisco and saved the company money. Since I was on a tight budget I decided to take the Bart from the airport to the city. The Bart was cheap ($5), easy to use and convenient. Taking the Bart back to the airport had a couple of interesting moments. At one point the train that I took announced that it was no longer going to the airport so I had to exit and take the next train, which came in 5 minutes. There is a loop at the airport. The second train started to head in one direction and then turned around. At first we didn't know if the train was going back to the city or not, but it was just taking the other end of the loop.

The Museum of Modern Art

The first place that I went on Saturday was to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Tom and I had been to the Museum the last time we went to JavaOne and saw a great Magritte Exhibition. The current exhibition wasn't as good but still somewhat interesting. The exhibition was by a photographer (I've forgotten his name) who took photographs of houses in the San Fernando Valley (where I live). All of the houses served as sets for adult films so somewhere in each of the photos one could set the lights, cameras, sound equipment as well as the actors and actresses.

Whenever Randy and I go to a Modern Art museum we try to find a painting that is an all blue painting. After my visit to the museum I called Randy and told her that I didn't see one all blue painting at the museum, I saw two. She appreciated that.

Chinatown

I went to Chinatown during the afternoon. I spent a lot of time walking around, looking at all of the little shops. I like the way all of the business have a Chinese theme to them. Even the Banks look very oriental. Sally and I took our first trip after she moved out here to San Francisco, and we enjoyed Chinatown very much. I still enjoy it.

Union Square

My Hotel was located near Union Square and very close to the Cable Car Line. Even though the end of the cable line was close to my hotel it was very crowded. I found the best thing to do was to walk up the street a couple of blocks and then catch the cable car. Union Square isn't all that interesting although there was a protest going on while I was there.

The Gay Pride Parade

Sunday happened to be the day of the annual Gay Pride Parade. Normally I don't care for parades but I thought that this one would be worth checking out. I've seen clips of the Gay Pride Parade on TV many times but I really didn't know just how large it is. Starting the parade were the "Dykes on Bikes". I was really amazed at how many participants there were. There were roller-bladders and people on floats and numerous banners and flags. But, as with most parades, I was bored after 45 minutes and set off to the conference center to collect my registration materials.

View Movies of the parade

California Palace of the Legion of Honor

The Legion of Honor wasn't very close to my hotel so I took the bus. Taking the bus in San Francisco isn't difficult but it takes a long time. I went to the Legion of Honor because they are supposed to have a very good Impressionist collection. Before leaving I checked out their web site and saw that they had a special exhibition on Art Deco. The web site informed me that the art normally exhibited in galleries 21 - 25 (or whatever their numbers were) would be in storage during the Art Deco exhibit. Unfortunately they didn't say what art is normally displayed in those galleries. I guess they just assume that everyone would know.

When I got there I checked out the grounds before going into the museum. There was a well done memorial to the holocaust and a good view of the Golden Gate Bridge. The Art Deco exhibit was better than I thought it would be and I liked it quite a bit. Unfortunately all of the Impressionist paintings were, as I feared, stuffed in the attic so I wasn't able to see them. The thing that I found most annoying about this was that there were a bunch of paintings in other galleries that weren't very interesting, but artists that few people have heard of and that were virtually empty for lack of interest. Why didn't the curator of the museum chose those paintings to stuff in the closet? Over the years there have been a number of times where I've gone to a museum so see a specific piece only to discovery that it isn't there. I don't mind so much when the painting is out visiting another museum but it really galls me when the painting is placed in storage. I have several theories on this:

1. Museum curators are Elitist Snobs. I suspect that some museum curators feel that it is their duty to force the public to learn more about the obscure artists. Sure, everyone likes a Monet or a Rembrant, but if they really knew art they would find the Felicien Rops in the corner just as interesting. This seems to be what happened in Colmar when the curator replaced the Museum's only Monet with some Renaissance painting of Jesus on the Cross. The museum only had about hundred paintings that looked almost identical.
2. Museum curators are Idiots. Sometimes I get the feeling that they just don't think. I think that this is what happened at the Legion of Honor.
3. Museum curators are Evil. Perhaps they just hate people. I can't think of any other reason for what happened when I went to visit the Yale New Haven museum a while ago. The museum was undergoing renovations so some paintings had to be placed in storage. The powers that be decided to devote an entire wall to one God-awful Duchamp when they could have used the space to display some of their works by Van Gogh, Picasso and Monet. When I mentioned to the guard on duty that they made a poor choice with the Duchamp he just hung his head and said "yes, everyone says that".

Golden Gate Park

After the Legion of Honor I took the Bus to Golden Gate Park and walked around for a couple of hours. I spent most of my time at the Stow Lake, the Japanese Tea Garden and the Rose Garden.

Grace Cathedral and Nob Hill

Grace Cathedral is the third largest Episcopal cathedral in the US. It looks a bit like Notre Dame, but not nearly as impressive. While I was there I ended up talking to a woman who is a docent at the Cathedral, although at the time she was just there to help about with preparations before the service. She was very nice and quite knowledgeable and she pretty much gave me a private tour of the Cathedral. The stained glass of the church is very nice and there are also a number of interesting sculptures in the church. The church was well worth the visit. Also, the cathedral is located on Nob Hill which affords a great view of the city.

Karina

Before Leaving for San Francisco I emailed my friend Karina who lives in the Bay area to see if she wanted to get together. Karina had moved up to the Bay Area when the economy was doing great, but since 2001 jobs have been a bit scarce and she too has seen her standard of living and her security decline.

My Hotel

The great thing about having done a lot of travel in Europe is that almost all American Hotel rooms seem large. I stayed at the Montecello which is located within walking distance of Union Square. The only thing that wasn't great about my room was the view. I had an inside room which meant that I didn't have any street noise, but the room didn't get much light and there was nothing to look at out the window.