i always imagined that i would really like the city of San Francisco, and my visit confirmed this thought.  the fact that i had high expectations and still left pleasantly surprised says a lot.  now i just have to wait for some big company to offer me a 6-figure salary so i can move there, and i'll be all set.  until then, i will have to survive on my memories of the week well-spent.  or the 3 days well-spent actually, since i was on my friend's couch with the flu for 4 of them.  
anyway, we checked out Berkeley and the cool shops and bistros on Telegraph, and all the students mobilized on Protestors Row.  there's one guy who's been living in a hammock up in a tree for a year or something, protesting a public university making deals with private companies and stuff like that.  other people want standardized testing removed from admission consideration and everybody wants more diversity on campus.  and i know that the administration absolutely LOVES the fact of all these kids out there taking rips at them.  even if i think some of these people have no idea what they're talking about, it's cool that they're out there mixing it up.
at the public train station there was a guy playing guitar.  the guy had about a 6-inch green mohawk, crazy tattoos and piercings and leather and stuff, and he was singing Cyndi Lauper's 'Time After Time' in a very soothing baritone.  it was hysterical.  speaking of public transportation, they have the CityCar program there, where your $8 monthly membership fee gets you access to vehicles in the city for when you can't walk or ride the bus or whatever.  in Vancouver they do it with bikes and i thought that was cool.  
then in the city we saw about 100 people in wedding dresses walking around the financial district for some unknown reason.  Fishermen's Wharf was bustling fun.  we saw where the sea lions took over Pier 39 after the '89 quake, then there was some guy boogie boarding in front of Ghirardelli Square wearing some kind of skeleton costume.  i saw Chinatown, the world's curviest road, Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, 100-foot rock cliffs in the middle of downtown, and the science exploratorium at the amazing Palace of Fine Arts.  
we went to a house party in Oakland one night.  everyone was really cool, the DJ played good music so people actually danced, and i met this great chick by slapping her head a few times after a candle caught her huge afro on fire.  wow.  i never thought i would like living in a big city, but i could easily see myself in San Francisco.