Growing Perceptions

Day after day, I awake to a relatively large list of ‘things to do’. I have this list scribbled upon my bedroom mirror in red dry erase marker. My current list runs 23 items deep with 7 items completed.

Some days I spend hours staring at this list pondering ‘Where do I begin?’ I spend so much time trying to figure out where to start that I let entire days slip by.

As an attempt to resolve my time inefficiency, I am currently constructing a time analysis program. The application is based off of a topone report article titled ‘An Exercise to Maximize Your Time‘ written by the Infomedia Staff. Once this application is complete, I will be able to analyze, in detail, how effectively I spend my time, and as a result, I will be able to adjust my workflow schedule to maximize productivity.

Any individual working from home would agree that time management is essential to maximizing productivity. I have learned this lesson, and I am making every effort to address this issue… despite having spent most of my time this morning playing guitar.

San Francisco view from Hotel Nikko

This past weekend, October 2nd to October 4th 2009, I headed North to San Francisco. I caught a ride with my uncle Hector and his good friend’s Mario and Rudy.

The drive North took about 5 and a half hours. Though most of the journey was through farmland and dry brush, it is always great to experience the scenery along the road. Arriving in SF is almost breathtaking. The layout of the city is much different from Los Angeles. There is definitely more to see than could be absorbed at first sight. We arrived at our hotel, hotel Nikko, at around 7:30 or 8:00pm.

We headed towards the San Francisco’s Cigar Bar & Grill soon after our arrival. The Cigar Bar is a great place to hang out in SF. Two of the bar’s owners, Neil Rideout and Matt Kahn, joined our table. After a few hours of great music and great food, we headed back to our hotel room.

The next morning, we ate breakfast and walked around Union Square for bit. I appreciate the needlessness for a car within the city. Everything is walking distance creating a more social atmosphere. After resting back at the hotel for about an hour, I left the group and met up with my good friend Tim Masterson.

Turns out, an event was taking place this same weekend known as LovEvolution (formerly known as LoveFest). I met up with Tim and his friends at the event’s parade. The crowd attending the event was massive. People were dressed in outrageous costumes. Each float in the parade was actually a stage where DJ’s blasted intense dance music. Each float was packed with people dancing. The majority of the crowd was within my age demographic: college students. However, the overall age range spanned from about ‘8 to 80 years old.’ After spending sometime inside the rave with Tim and his friends, I decided to take some time exploring on my own. I mostly walked around attempting to absorb the free-thinking attitudes of this vast crowd. A few hours passed and I headed back to the hotel room.

I spent the rest of the night watching the USC v. Cal game which my uncle and his friends were actually attending. USC eliminated Cal. After meeting back up with Tim to grab some food, I called it a night.

We headed back home at about 12:00pm. The ride home took a bit longer than the ride up but the scenery was still worth the drive. Overall, the trip was very satisfying. I learned a great deal about traveling, San Francisco, and people in general. I hope to explore more cities throughout my life, but I definitely hope to head back to SF soon. Thanks to everyone that I interacted with and everyone that made the trip possible.