Going to San Fran for Cisco Live, things to do

[masraum]

I'm going to be in San Fran for a week. I'll be busy every day. I won't have a rental car and I'll be, in the Financial District. The missus is going to go too, so what are some great things that we can see or places to eat that are walking distance. We'll be staying at the Club Quarters.

For you network folks, I'll be going to Cisco Live. I've been doing the network thing for 15 years and this is my first chance to go (someone has finally volunteered to pay for the trip, thanks work). I'm pretty stoked. As soon as Cisco and my company get their stuff straight, I'll be signing up for Mikester's presentation.

[Paul K]

If you have time, go see Alcatraz.

Wife & I flew down there to pick up an '89 Targa. Other than collecting my first Porsche, Alcatraz was the highlight!

[mikester]

I'm up in San Jose all week leaving first thing in the morning...

[ckissick]

You can take the cable car to Fisherman's Wharf. You can also walk there. You can also walk to Coit Tower and the adjacent Filbert Street Steps. Also: Chinatown, North Beach, City Hall.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by ckissick

You can take the cable car to Fisherman's Wharf. You can also walk there. ....

My girl (at the time) and I did this 'bout 15 years ago (cable car to FW), and then we ended up walking countless miles ALL around that day...just exploring. By the time we left a hippie jam band show at the Maritime Hall in the wee hours of the mornoing, we were pooped . I used to attend networking technical conferences on a semi-regular basis...when in CA, I'd blow off "one" day just to head south (PCH down to SD for example) from the OC, or if in SF, I'd head north....particularly if my SO was along. That was when I was first visiting CA....been many times since with Hermosa Bch (friend) and San Diego (sailing) being my ground zero. Love to visit CA....just way too many people for me to live there....YMMV.

ps: SF gets "freaky weird" when the sun goes down imo, but I do like to visit

pps: Hey Mikester....what's your topic?

[Tobra]

Street cars in SF are pretty good, not the trolleys on the rice box, streetcars, though the trolleys are pretty all right too.

If the weather is nice, picnic at the botanical gardens is always good.

Are they playing baseball yet? The ferry over to Angel Island is a pretty nice place for a picnic lunch too.

[masraum]

Thanks all. I'm not sure how much time we'll have. I suppose I may try to schedule nothing for one day so we can take one day just to play.

Fortunately, I've got a while to get it figured out.

[mikester]

Originally Posted by KC911

pps: Hey Mikester....what's your topic?

Secure WAN and Branch technologies.

Riveting stuff.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by masraum

Thanks all. I'm not sure how much time we'll have. I suppose I may try to schedule nothing for one day so we can take one day just to play.

Fortunately, I've got a while to get it figured out.

You might also want to consider flying in/out a day earlier/later...assuming the conference is from Mon-Fri, many times the Fri is a virtual write-off as folks are eager to get back home. Maybe fly in on Sat and have all day Sun to play or on the back end. Sometimes the airfare/hotel rates are such that staying over a Sat night makes the total cost a wash (or even less), and I've had my co pick up the tab for that extra night also. Maybe consider renting a car for one day so you and the "better half" , can head north exploring.

Originally Posted by mikester

Secure WAN and Branch technologies.

Riveting stuff.
....

Congrats! I've been known to shop at Nerds-R-Us before too

[mikester]

Originally Posted by KC911

Congrats! I've been known to shop at Nerds-R-Us before too

It is actually stuff I dig but people hear IPSec and VPN and immediately fall asleep.

So far though I have previewed my presentation to a few groups of folks I work with - at least a shorter version of it (my session is 1 1/2 hours long) and it has gotten very good reviews.

Now to make the 1 1/2 hour version get those good reviews.

[Vipergrün]

Originally Posted by mikester

It is actually stuff I dig but people hear IPSec and VPN and immediately fall asleep.

So far though I have previewed my presentation to a few groups of folks I work with - at least a shorter version of it (my session is 1 1/2 hours long) and it has gotten very good reviews.

Now to make the 1 1/2 hour version get those good reviews.

MPLS? Are your presentations online?

WRT San Francisco, Pier 39/Fishermans wharf should be pretty easy from where you'll be....

[masraum]

IPSec is cool. I supported IPSec/VPN, PIX and 3000 series concentrators on the TAC many years back. I've configured VPN (primarily IPSec) at most of the jobs that I've had since. For a few years I worked at a service provider (voice and data over satellite for mostly oil and gas companies worldwide) where we used a lot of MPLS. That's another great technology.

[dan88911]

Make your way down Market street to the Ferry Building which is at the Embarcadero and Market street there is always a lot going on there. From there you can walk(stroll) peddlecab to pier 39 & Fishermans Wharf. You will have beautiful views of the bay the bay bridge, and restaurants all long the Embarcadero.

[mikester]

Originally Posted by Vipergrün

MPLS? Are your presentations online?

Check www.ciscolive365.com after the event. Registration is free.

I do have some slides on securing MPLS type connections as well as folks assume that MPLS connections through a service provider are safe but simply put they are not 'safe' and the cost of encrypting is usually not very high if anything at all (unless we're talking about over a few gbps of traffic. Enabling encryption through the provider cloud should be standard operating procedure in my opinion but there are implications to doing so and that is something I will cover in my presentation.

Essentially it is about these bullets;

1) The unexpected
2) The landscape of encryption technologies for Securing WAN connectivity, what's changed, etc
3) The next generation branch office architecture
4) Network Security best practices

The majority of the topic is vendor agnostic though the branch architecture stuff does outline some capabilities that Cisco has brought to market that nobody has enabling some things that I think are pretty unique. My objective is to get guys who are responsible for this technology in their companies to adopt better practices around deploying security technologies. Secure WAN is merely an example to frame it around. My hope is that they will walk out with questions about what they are doing and more confident in what they can do.

Hopefully it'll go well. Its my first time speaking at Cisco Live and they only really give you one chance and if you screw up...well, you don't usually get another. I'm not new to presenting or anything - but this is the biggest deal kind of gig I have gotten. I hope I enjoy it!

Like I said - my initial reviews of condensed versions are very good but I've also had a bit of feedback that the parts about encryption are a little...um...too engineering deep but at the same time I firmly believe that is why folks come. That is why I go myself - for the deep dive. This will not be super deep overall but we will look for pearls occasionally.

[stealthn]

Originally Posted by mikester

It is actually stuff I dig but people hear IPSec and VPN and immediately fall asleep.

So far though I have previewed my presentation to a few groups of folks I work with - at least a shorter version of it (my session is 1 1/2 hours long) and it has gotten very good reviews.

Now to make the 1 1/2 hour version get those good reviews.

Eeeewwww I'm all giddy built many a DMVPN....
Do you work for Cisco?

[glewis80SC]

Eat at The Buena Vista..its by the wharf I think where the Hyde street cable car starts/ends. *****in old school restaurant/pub originator of the Irish Coffee great breakfast. The Fairmont Hotel has a cool Tiki Bar on the basement floor, if ya have time and money eat at the Prime Rib House too.
Of all those don't miss The Buena Vista.

[eastbay]

I hope they have a better CAE than the last time it was in SF

[legion]

Be careful.

[KFC911]

Spam reported to mods...

[javadog]

Yank Sing dim sum restaurant is in the financial district. I'd probably eat there every day. You could try walking to Chinatown and the Ferry building. Buses and streetcars could get you to tourist places like the fisherman's wharf area. It's not a destination that would be high on my list, though.

I could recommend a bunch of stuff, depending on what you like to do, but I have no idea what you like...

I'd make sure to stay a couple extra days on both ends of the trip. I'd also rent a car and see other parts of the city. The view from Twin Peaks is incredible. Lots of good museums, restaurants, scenery...

JR