San Diego ups and downs...

I took a quick trip to San Diego last night and today. A good trip. Very productive. Warm and sunny. Good food. Overall...mostly positive.

Let's begin with the landing this evening at SFO. An approach from the south and perfect afternoon lighting made for some interesting patterns in the salt flats and on the runway.




Naturally, there were a FEW annoyances...as most business trips have. An obvious annoyance was the bathtub in my hotel room!! Can anyone say 'lawsuit'? These shards of paint formed a decorative ring around the entire tub.

But let's focus on the positive. The hotel was very comfortable, and located on picturesque Shelter Island, with its marinas and joggers and restaurants. Its also VERY convenient to the airport.


One quirky little sign to wrap up this post. The 'Boll Weevil' restaurant is located on Shelter Island and is apparently a small regional chain famous for 'half pound steerburgers'. Let me just say that a boll weevil is a nasty looking insect, and in no way makes me want to savor a Boll Weevil classic 1/2 pound peanut butter bacon cheeseburger.

Summary of a day...

1. I woke up in a bland hotel room in San Diego...staring at the all-too-familiar sprawl before me.

2. In spite of leaving early for my meeting, I arrived 10 minutes late because each detour I tried to avoid traffic turned out to be worst that the original route.

3. After two years, I was able to try the hole-in-the-wall Boll Weevil restaurant for a greasy lunch...I needed comfort food. (I first spotted this dive on a business trip in 2006.) Out of insane curiosity, I ordered the peanut butter and bacon burger...it was wonderful.

4. Noticed that my Blackberry is possessed. Somehow, it thinks that I have 23 THOUSAND email messages. It may need to be taken out back and shot...or at least sprinkled with holy water.

5. Flew home in time to watch the snoozer presidential debate. I'm sure I'm not the only person who wanted Sarah Palin to run across the rear of the stage in a moose costume screaming "Maverick"!!