Work is love made visible

…and today is my first day as some­one else’s employ­ee in over two years.

So before I leave the apart­ment, I’d like to reflect on that love.

I enjoy San Fran­cis­co, and so do count­less oth­ers who vis­it here every year. I love show­ing the city to my friends who vis­it. I love help­ing tourists find their way to the par­tic­u­lar land­mark or attrac­tion they are try­ing to find. I love mak­ing the tourists’ stay a lit­tle more pleas­ant. OK, part of that is because I feel a lit­tle supe­ri­or that I get to live in this cool town and they only get to vis­it, but they come from places that have their own good points too. Most­ly, I want to present a friend­ly face to the visitor.

My new office is in Fish­er­man’s Wharf, and I’ll be able to help mis­di­rect­ed tourists every day. And I’m help­ing them come to town and enjoy their vis­it, by build­ing web­sites where they can make tour reser­va­tions. OK, so a lot of my job involves sit­ting in my office and typ­ing out code, so it may be a lit­tle hard­er to remem­ber that I’m help­ing peo­ple have fun, but maybe the rest of you can remind me of that in the com­ing months when I gripe about my job.

And it’s part of my job to know cool stuff like who Emper­or Nor­ton was and that the sus­pen­sion span of the Bay Bridge is tech­ni­cal­ly two sus­pen­sion bridges joined by a cen­tral tow­er that’s taller than the Great Pyra­mid of Giza, and that May­or Alioto drew a line at Clay Street, south of which would be a free-for all for busi­ness devel­op­ment, but that North beach would be pre­served as a neigh­bor­hood. Some­times I get to go out to Alca­traz on the com­pa­ny and take pic­tures and set up IPIX “tours” of cool places.

Ulti­mate­ly, it’s about shar­ing the City with oth­er peo­ple that come here for a week or two for the same rea­sons that I decid­ed to move here in 1988. I have a job where know­ing cool peo­ple like is a busi­ness asset… I mean how great is that?