Do I know the way to San Jose?

I thought I did. But somehow, I took a couple of wrong turns after leaving Courtenay's apartment in Presidio Heights and didn't find my way onto 101 South until I hit the Cesar Chavez onramp in the Mission District. For those of you unfamiliar with San Francisco, this is a very stupid way to go. I'm just so used to heading toward the Bay Bridge when I leave her place and, well, this time I needed to go the opposite way.

This foolishness made me fifteen minutes late for my interview with Channel 11 technology and business reporter Scott Budman. I've heard it is very unfashionable to be late for television interviews. But Mr. Budman was very gracious about the whole thing, and invited me inside the studio with a handshake and a smile.

This was the first time I'd done an "in-studio" television appearance, and I was a bit overwhelmed by the cavernous size of the place. This is a big-city station, and the newsroom looked like something you'd see in the background of a CNN broadcast, with people bustling among their cubicles and a giant row of giant clocks pointing out the time in various parts of the world.

Mr. Budman led me back to a dark, black-walled studio with blue-screens and we sat in directors chairs facing one another. He asked some good questions, I talked, and it was all over in 20 minutes. If all goes as planned, the report should air later this week. (Althought I've learned already that not everything that gets produced by reporters gets printed or broadcast.) I'll let you know as soon as I find out more.

The Channel 11 Studios are, as fate would have it, just down the street from eBay headquarters. I couldn't pass by without stopping by to say hello.