• About

LIVEdigitally

Treasureful Huntings of San Francisco for Make Benefit Glorious New Years of China

Posted on March 6, 2007 by Jeremy Toeman

IMG_3465 team Boarat Treasureful Huntings of San Francisco for Make Benefit Glorious New Years of ChinaAround this time every year, a clever man named Jayson Wechter organizes the San Francisco Treasure Hunt.  And every time around this year, a much less clever man named Jeremy Toeman smacks himself in the head for missing out on the fabled event.  But 2007 saw a collision of fate so grand it was impossible to avoid.  The alignment of my birthday and the hunt on the exact same day! 

The first, and possibly most important, task was to come up with a name.  I went gunning to win:

The Jayson Wechter “I Never-Met-a-Pun-I Didn’t Like Award” is given to the teams with the cleverest names, which are often related to the year of the Chinese zodiac (2007 is the Year of the Boar).

And thus… Boarat: Treasureful Huntings of San Francisco for Make Benefit Glorious New Years of China.  Didn’t win.

IMG_3455 clueNext up, the hunt itself.  Not sure when it went up (then down), but there was a Web page with some clues prior to the hunt.  To the right is a sample clue.  That was about the most obvious moment of the event (all my other photos of the event are online here). 

We met up at Justin Herman plaza, ready to psych up for the hunting, and amidst the 900-or-so people (here’s one account and another one here) became determined to finish in the top 5 percentile (for those of you who find that ambitious, keep in mind this means we really just didn’t want to be in the bottom 5).  A glance around at cleverly costumed teams and we felt a little, well, woozy.

IMG_3477 bart station to get under market streetUpon the beginnings of the hunt, we saw most teams grab a sitting place in the plaza or on a nearby table.  We naturally immediately set out for a nearby bar and ordered a couple of pitchers.  We did a little divide and conquer, and about 45 minutes later had all 19 of the clues “mostly solved” and a mapped out plan to find our answers.  Our first clue went off without a hitch, as did our second.  By number three, we hit the Chinatown Parade.  Luckily, we dashed under Market street to avoid the chaos, although got stuck a few more times (although the detour/pee break at the Westin was a nice moment).

Everything was going great through the first 7 or 8 clues.  We’d arrive in a location, quickly narrow down the specific target, jot down an answer, and be off like the wind within moments.  We’d play little games with other teams, making oddball references to nonexistent clues and other forms of misdirection, and our spirits were high.

IMG_3484 steps down from coit towerThen we got stuck on one clue in North Beach.  Then, disaster struck as we made the ever-so-costly mistake of misinterpreting another clue and walking all the way up to Coit Tower.  Yes, all the way up.  We were tired.  Not enough hamantaschen to go around.  One of our flashlights was dying.  But we rallied nonetheless! 

We headed down the steps, toward the water and our next clue.  Within moments we were back on track, but were perilously low on time.  We did a little walk-jogging.  Two, three, then four more clues nailed within minutes.  Team Boarat was back on a roll, we were the virtual kings of our castles. 

With less than 10 minutes left to go, we made the ambitious move of going for two final clues.  One we got, the other we didn’t (we later found out we were less than a block away), and we ran back to Justin Herman plaza to submit our entries.  And with that, we knew we were winners. 

IMG_3485 team Boarat Treasureful Huntings of San Francisco for Make Benefit Glorious New Years of ChinaNot because we got the most right (We got 16 of 19).

Not because we were fastest (The winning team was done 40 minutes earlier.  Jerks.)

Not because we had kick-ass red buttons that said we we finished.

Why?

Because… Well…  Unlike some other teams, I get a clock radio, they cannot afford. Great success!

Share this:

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Reddit

Related

Posted in General, No/Low-tech | 2 Comments
« Digg: Communists or KGB?
A bit about a byte (and a bit) »

2 thoughts on “Treasureful Huntings of San Francisco for Make Benefit Glorious New Years of China”

  1. tivoboy says:
    March 6, 2007 at 8:28 am

    happy birphday!!

    Reply
  2. Andrew says:
    March 6, 2007 at 3:40 pm

    so jealous, but I will make up for it in the Urban Iditarod race this weekend.

    Reply

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

About

Jeremy Toeman is a seasoned Product leader with over 20 years experience in the convergence of digital media, mobile entertainment, social entertainment, smart TV and consumer technology. Prior ventures and projects include CNET, Viggle/Dijit/Nextguide, Sling Media, VUDU, Clicker, DivX, Rovi, Mediabolic, Boxee, and many other consumer technology companies. This blog represents his personal opinion and outlook on things.

Recent Posts

  • Back on the wagon/horse?
  • 11 Tips for Startups Pitching Big Companies
  • CES 2016: A New Role
  • Everything I Learned (So Far) Working For a Huge Company
  • And I’m Back…

Archives

Pages

  • About

Archives

  • January 2019
  • April 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • May 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • June 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • July 2007
  • June 2007
  • May 2007
  • April 2007
  • March 2007
  • February 2007
  • January 2007
  • December 2006
  • November 2006
  • October 2006
  • September 2006
  • August 2006
  • July 2006
  • June 2006
  • May 2006
  • April 2006
  • March 2006
  • February 2006
  • January 2006
  • December 2005
  • November 2005
  • October 2005
  • September 2005
  • August 2005
  • July 2005
  • June 2005
  • May 2005
  • April 2005
  • March 2005
  • February 2005
  • January 2005
  • December 2004
  • November 2004
  • October 2004
  • September 2004

Categories

  • Convergence (81)
  • Gadgets (144)
  • Gaming (19)
  • General (999)
  • Guides (35)
  • LD Approved (72)
  • Marketing (23)
  • Mobile Technology (111)
  • Networking (22)
  • No/Low-tech (64)
  • Product Announcements (85)
  • Product Reviews (109)
  • That's Janky (93)
  • Travel (29)
  • Video/Music/Media (115)
  • Web/Internet (103)

WordPress

  • Log in
  • WordPress

CyberChimps WordPress Themes

© LIVEdigitally
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.