I have been in back to back meetings with some visitors from Holland (hej!) and last night at Golden Gate Perk– the best downtown wi-fi laptop cafe (rivals Ritual because you can get bulgogi!) I demo’d my Business Idea for them. I realized how much of it still needs work, it’s like one inch forward ten nautical miles back.

Speaking of nautical… Chatting with a friend last night I realized a distinctly North Beach moment. I’m in my new favorite cafe hangout- Melt– I don’t go there nearly enough to be considered a local- and while I’m enjoying a stellar French onion soup and pinot grigio, the taciturn, witty guy next to me, let’s call him Old Git, gets a call on his cell phone. “I’m not doing anything. Sure. I’ll be there at midnight.” That’s right, he’s walking down to Fisherman’s Wharf to get in a boat and fish during high tide. We discussed the merits and demerits of anchoring in a tanker channel for a quick doze, and then he proceeded to kill time until midnight. Needless to say I went home to sleep. This is like the first time I moved here and saw, not a week later, an older man in a pea coat, longshoreman hat, with a military issue bag over his shoulder walking down Embarcadero. Straight out of central casting. (Note: Old Git is not out of central casting, ha)