I am back in Louisiana from my various travels. And let me tell you, I am pooped. But I had a blast in San Francisco, where I hung out with the ever charming and fabulous Gail Carriger!

On Thursday night, the night of my arrival in San Fran, my friend Jana and I went to meet Gail and the wonderful ladies of io9 at their meetup at Borderlands. It was a hoot, everyone was super friendly even though I was a bit jetlagged and slow with the uptake, and we had a great time. There is all sorts of photrographic evidence here. I am the very short, chubby one with the very, very red hair. Jana is the statuesque, blonde goddess. She’s my oldest friend and I love her. After Borderlands, Jana and I met her brother, Louis, for Peruvian food. It was ridiculously good, and I adore Louis, so all in all it could not have been a more perfect evening.

Friday, Jana had to have an emergency root canal (fun!) so after she went to work for the morning, I went to meet my friend Sascha Illyvich for coffee. Which turned into lunch. Which turned into a rather epic bar session. In between imbibing things, however, we made one awesome stop where we did not put anything in our mouths: Cask. There we bought my favorite whisky, Bruichladdich, which is an absolute pain to get ahold of in the states. I bought two: one for that night and one to take home.

And then we drank more.

Saturday found Jana and I at brunch, with Gail Carriger and her lovely friends. Following which, Jana and I did a little shoppie-shop, and then we went to see Crazy Heart. I will be reviewing it shortly; but for now I can officially say I loved it. Then I cooked dinner for Jana and her friend, and then Jana and I had an early night.

Sunday I had brunch with Jana at a gorgeous restaurant called Plant, on the Embarcadero. It was a beautiful day and I really wasn’t looking forward to flying back to freezing cold Illinois. But fly I did, and then the next day I drove back to Louisiana (plus one bottle of lovely whisky and minus the price of one speeding ticket, as per usual).

So all in all it was a FABULOUS vacation. I miss Jana very much, so the chance to spend time with her is always a pleasure. And it had been an entire year since I’d seen her, over last New Year’s. It was also nice to finally take a real vacation from work: I didn’t do anything the entire time I was away from Chicago. I only sort of checked my email, even. I’d been flat out right up until then, and then I just floated, in Jana-space, and it was exactly what I needed.

So thank you to all my lovely friends (both old and new) in San Francisco. I’m sorry some of you missed the meatloaf: there’s some in J-Rock’s freezer.