San Diego 2005: Greg's journal - Tuesday (#1)

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greg
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The admin around here must be getting old and soft.
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San Diego 2005: Greg's journal - Tuesday (#1)

Post by greg »

TUESDAY (07/12/2005):

My flight out of Little Rock was at 1:00pm, but my wife dropped me off at the airport at 10:00am
because she needed to go to work at her university (she's a graduate assistant) by noon.
The three hours in the Little Rock airport was nearly uneventful, except for a discussion
with fellow passengers who were going to Las Vegas to see the Taylor-Hopkins fight,
and the arrival of the "Global Peace Ambassador" plane. I assume this meant that Bill Clinton
was back in town, and explains why my backpack was searched thoroughly, and why the desk
attendant was worried that my 50-pound suitcase actually weighed 52-pounds.

Seated next to me on the flight to Las Vegas was a 20-year-old passenger named Amber.
She was quite talkative and somewhat excited about leaving Arkansas behind and moving
to San Diego. Since we both had the same two-hour layover in Las Vegas, and the same
flight from Las Vegas into San Diego, I wound up hearing about her goodbye party,
semi-boyfriends, and most recent tattoos. I guess it was a lot like watching MTV,
which doesn't show videos anymore, but instead follows "real world" people around
hoping they'll do something entertaining. Since I am 29, I did found out that
I am actually closer in age to her mother (age 37) than I was to her (age 20),
Though I guess going to a convention for comic books should keep me from
feeling too old.

Arriving in San Diego, Chris Scott (Knightt_333) and Justin Ehart (architect) had earlier
flights which meant that they would be waiting on me as last to arrive. They must have
recognized me instantly and flagged me down before I had a chance to see if I
could recognize them. We had spoken by phone regarding the plans for San Diego,
and I had probably seen photos of both of them on the board, but I appreciated
them finding me as opposed to me trying to pick them out of a crowd.

I had a chance to get to know Justin while Chris interrogated local car rental locations,
in order to figure out which one actually had the reservation. Before long, we were
on our way to Dollar Rent-a-car, instead of Fox Rent-a-car, because Dollar had a
reservation on file for a much better price than anyone else was offering.

San Diego was exactly how I pictured it... which rarely happens.
The only other time something was exactly how I pictured it was Harvard University,
which I visited in fall 2003 during a business trip to Boston. Since I had never
been to California, I wasn't disappointed by San Diego's sites matching what
was in my mind for the city.

Our hotel was the Motel 6 in Chula Vista, about five or ten miles south of
San Diego's downtown area. Located at the E Street exit on I-5, we had quick
access to the McDonald's, Black Angus steakhouse, and the trolley system,
since all were located just a few steps from the hotel.
After settling into the room with our bags, we heard from Magnus Ramstrom (magnusr)
that he and his family would be able to come over for dinner.
View from hotel (1), View from hotel (2)

Magnus arrived shortly with his wife, Anne-France, daughter Elinor (age 10),
and son Lucas (age 7). The kids were happy to see a McDonald's in the parking lot,
so there was no way anyone would deny two Swedish children a meal at Mickey-D's.
I'm not sure that either child spoke English with much fluency,
but McDonald's is undoubtedly an international concept.

This particular McDonald's also served "Dippin' Dots" ice cream, which is
a cup of frozen, BB-shaped balls, that you eat with a spoon. After the meal,
Justin asked Magnus whether the kids might like chocolate or strawberry,
and then got both kids a cup of chocolate Dippin' Dots.

I'm not sure if anyone there, besides me, had eaten Dippin' Dots before,
but I can tell you that they are very, very cold. Lucas' first bite
was a large spoonful of Dippin' Dots, which must have surprised him with
the cold temperature, as well as given him an instant case of "brain freeze",
so instead of a "yummy" response, he gave only a look of severe pain.
A few minutes later, all was fine, and I believe both children enjoyed
the dessert, but it was definitely smaller spoonfuls from that point on.

The children needed to return to the hotel for a decent night's sleep,
since the next day would involve a trip to Sea World. Since I wouldn't
be spoiling anything for the kids, I told Magnus that the Shamu (killer whale)
show was the hallmark of Sea World, and that anyone sitting in the lowest
seats would be very wet by the end of the show.

Magnus surprised the three of us by handing each of us an inked page
from the Unity 2000 series. I felt a bit embarrassed for having brought
no gifts for anyone to San Diego, but very thankful to Magnus for the page.
After following Magnus back to his hotel, the family remained behind
while Magnus joined Chris, Justin, and I, for a late-evening activity.
We found a small coffee-house called "The Living Room" and ordered
drinks and had a seat outside. The cool breezes of about 10pm moved
us back inside where we chatted until the place closed at midnight.
I had a Brazilian soft drink of some kind... it tasted like a mixture
of fruit punch and Sprite.

We dropped Magnus off at his hotel and returned to Motel 6.
At this point, Justin demonstrated an amazing and very enviable ability
to simply fall asleep with no problem. Seriously, the man can put his
head on a pillow and be snoozing within two minutes. What's even
more amazing is that he can do this in the uncomfortable position
of laying on the floor, since we had three guys and only two beds.
Justin's sleeping bag and a pillow were enough for him to be
"out like a light" almost as soon as he had laid down.
Chris and I chatted until about 3am, then turned out the lights.

-Greg Holland
Last edited by greg on Thu Sep 22, 2005 9:51:49 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Eric Jackson
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You gotta have Faith!
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Post by Eric Jackson »

dippin dots rock! :thumb:


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