Many many months ago (early September), I had predicted that my UCLA Bruins and Missouri would meet up in the NCAA basketball tournament this year, and I was right. Sarah (who just happens to be a Mizzou alum) scored us some tickets and came up from LA, making for a killer long weekend of basketball, exploring the City, and, of course, partying.

The Bruins and the Tigers descended upon the San Jose Arena... and apparently, so did the Bible thumpers for god-knows-what reason. (No, really, think about that one.) While they were preaching fire and brimstone outside, though, the real action was inside. Sure, the Sweet Sixteen game started off slowly, but the pace eventually picked up and the fans got what they came for. Particularly the Mizzou fans... [insert hearty grumble here].

Of course, since the tickets were obtained through the Missouri alum association, my Bruin ass had to grin and bear our loss while sitting in the Black-and-Gold section, but come the next game in the tournament, I was cheering for the Tigers as well - though obviously not as much as this fuzzy gentleman here. Otherwise, a bit of time was spent drowning the old Blue and Gold sorrows at the nearby Mission Ale House, where we ran into 80's Dude over here on the right... We tried to keep our voices down while making fun of him and discreetly taking this picture, but who knows? Voices Carry...

Of course, what sort of weekend hosting a first-timer in the Bay Area would it be without hitting all the tourist traps? Fortunately, SF has the distinction of playing host to some of the more beautiful tourist traps in the country.

From the oddity of the giant Dutch windmills to the surrounding flowers, Golden Gate park was a must see. Sadly, I'd forgotten my wooden shoes - I've since made up for that faux pas by drinking copious amounts of Heineken. At any rate, we then moved on to one of the more breathtaking views in the City. In fact, so far, it would be hard to guess you're in a metropolitan area at all...

Naturally, the next stop was the Golden Gate Bridge. What kind of tour of SF would be complete without seeing this big red mass of cables and steel? Stunning, isn't it? I live around here but am still in awe of it. As digital shutterbuggery goes, the bridge was the subject of many megs of photos, so I've stuck with the best - The excellent view from Sarah's cam, and then the one that will one day be the cover of the Global Underground 067 CD, DJ Omi-San: San Francisco. (I can always dream, right?) Fort Point at the base of the bridge provided the setting for the trippy photo of entirely too many doorways.

Hey look, kids! Big Ben! Parliament! Oops, er... make that the Transamerica Pyramid.

I hadn't been on a proper cable car since I was about 6, so this afforded me the perfect opportunity to indulge the tourist within. Lemme tell ya - these things are fun! The drivers alone have so much personality that it's worthwhile to get on these things. Between the two cameras, there's still a load of cable-car-Streets-of-San-Francisco action I need to edit together - Sorry, no Michael Douglas car chases included... Although it would've been fun to see one of those chases down Lombard Street. And for the photo on the right, I lay on a thick Scottish accent and shay, "Gentlemen... Welcome to the Rock."

San Francisco really shines on these rare gorgeous, sunny days. But it always gets to shine at night, whether it's the neon overload of Chinatown or the always beautiful skyline at night - if you can see it through the fog. Of course, night time in SF is also a bright spot indoors, as well...

Looking to show our out-of-town guest a bit of the San Francisco vibe, we hopped over to Club Six (see past pictorial) for that semi-underground feel and some funkin' house grooves.

Beyond the good music and stiff drinks, it was all about great company - L-R: Andrew, Laura, Dave, Sarah, Me, Sarah, Dave, and this last guy, we don't know who he is, but he had a bottle of Guinness, so we figured he was cool enough to be in the picture.

There was someone who once said you shouldn't trust blue drinks... have enough of them, and these lights start talking to you. Have even more, and you end up having a contest to see who can imitate the Moby Play album cover the best - Dave won. (Ok, ok, it was more of a cheerleading competition.)

Just before 2:00, it was time once again to locate the now mandatory EXIT sign - this time modeled for us by the lovely Sarah. (Someone call Sajak - we've found Vanna's replacement!) We then headed to Ten15, where Grant Plant was spinning one of the most uninspired sets ever. In fact, the highlight was the fact that one of our party got past the Draconian security with a bottle of distilled spirits in his sock - naturally, that contributed to the fact that I don't remember much of that portion of the evening. Although it was very cool to run into Trideev and Naz there, a pleasant surprise to be sure. It wasn't until I reviewed the camera's content that I remembered our walk outside of the club, where Dave laid claim to an overturned shopping cart (click it to see the whole thing). Our lives may never be the same. By 4:00 or 5:00, we opted to sober up at the Baghdad cafe, where they have really damn huge portions. I mean, look at the size of this plate compared to Dave's head!