Bay area, Oct 8-9th

I'm planning out a work trip up to San Jose, and will be extending it to allow some time to explore. I'll be done with work stuff around 5pm on Friday, and am open to meeting up if anyone is interested. Tentative plans have my return flight for sometime on Sunday.

Any specific suggestions on a possible meetup lunch/dinner location on Saturday? And any general recommendations on things to do? I've been to San Francisco a few quick times in the past, but never have explored much of the other areas around.

I have a birthday party to go to on Saturday night, but could meet up any of the rest of the weekend, I think.

Aw, too bad it's not the prior weekend (Oct 1st), you could come to the Release Party.

I'm up for a meetup, either day...

Hugo

Uh oh. Apple iPhone employee, going to a bar. This spells trouble.

LOL
Better start checking Gizmodo again :p

You are two companies out of date

http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=959196

Woah! I certainly missed that too! And he switched from Apple to Google? When the heck did that happen?

And wow am I curious to know what this new thing he has going will be

What is even more interesting is that he only worked at Google for a month. Gotta be something cool and super secret!

Personal hotel booked, decided to stay in San Jose for the weekend as well.

Any good restaurant suggestions for that part of the area? Most of the previous suggestions on the board seemed focused on places in San Francisco proper. (Stinking Rose, Cliff House, Etc...)

Gordon Biersch is a good brewery/restaurant. Kind of formulaic, but good.
Same for Elephant Bar.
http://www.gordonbiersch.com/locations/san-jose-ca
http://www.elephantbar.com/

Really ritzy would be Alexander's Steakhouse.
http://www.alexanderssteakhouse.com/

A friend of mine swears by Little Lou's BBQ. I haven't been there yet, but had a bottle of sauce that was a hit at the ranch party.
http://www.littlelousbbq.com/

edit:
Gordon Biersch is just around the corner from a comedy club that's pretty good, too.
http://www.improv.com/
Not sure of the headliners for this weekend, though.

Gordon Biersch's looks good, and they have a location in Palo Alto. I'm going to aim for that location for anyone potentially coming from up north. Saturday at 6pm work for those interested? (Stu, I know you are out due to the birthday party.)

Also looking to have a brunch somewhere more in the San Francisco area on Sunday, around 10:30am if others wanted to meet up then. After that, I'll be heading up to Petaluma to see the Twit studios.

Saturday at 6pm at Gordon Biersch works for me!

For a chain place Gordon Biersch is actually pretty good. They make great Arnold Palmers there

I had a good trip, sorry I wasn't able to meet up with you Stu, but I still look forward to your next camping meetup And thank you Hugo for having dinner, really enjoyed it.

Beyond the empeg side, ended up meeting with another friend in SF, along with exploring to get a feel for the south bay area. I definitely want to make it back again for a longer period.

Oh, and lesson learned, yawning to try and clear pressure in your ears during the descent of a flight is a bad idea. Not sure if that was the exact cause, or something else like my headphones, but my trip ended with a brief ER visit. Seems my left ear drum is rather unhappy, though they don't expect any permanent damage. Should start hearing again out of that ear in a few days.

Glad your trip was a success. Very sorry to hear about the ear problem! Hope that resolves easily. Gosh! That's a worry you don't need.

I was sick all weekend- even took a couple days off work. Weird sore throat thing. Can't shake it. Didn't feel like risking being out more than I had to be.