2nd September 2008
San Diego Snaps

This is far overdue, but back in early August I took a week-long trip to San Diego for training for work on the TrackWise QMS system developed by Sparta Systems. Each day I was in training from 8-5 under the tutelage of a wonderful professor of knowledge, Izzy, and at night I was free to wander about and take in whatever sights I could manage.

While I could write a ton about what I did, etc., I’m just going to show you some of my favorite pictures taken and let you fill in the rest with your wonderful imagination. These are all taken with my old 1.2 MP cameraphone, so I apologize in that they aren’t terribly crisp or wonderful, but I think you’ll get the idea.





The view of myself in the DEN bathroom. This is the boredom of a four and a half hour layover, but hey, where else to screw around but an airport?





The bed in the suite I stayed in on the last night, due to an overbooking at the main hotel. It was loverly. (Sheraton Suites, downtown SD)





The wash from the bay tour boat, so beautifully foamy in the afternoon sunlight. I tried not to think how deep the water actually was below us.





Fresh breaded calamari for my appetizer on the first night. Thick as fingers and digit-licking good. Well worth the $23 at the Blue Point Oyster Bar, Gaslamp Quarter, SD





A cookie from a shop at DEN; heaven in a small, squishy circle.





Cremé Bruleé — if you’ve never had one, you don’t know the true meaning of oral orgasm. I could have had twenty of them, but the beauty is that they only give you one and all the time in the world to eat it.





I got a kick out of the fact that DEN had personalized soap dispensers.





Dusk comes to the San Diego harbor, seagulls hover overhead, and jackasses in pimped-out Mustangs patrol the shore.





YO! HOMIE! Have you been out walking in the dark with your sunglasses on? This isn’t Timbuk 3 anymore, man!





The main entreé: Lobster-crusted seabass with black truffle oil. Words fail to describe properly.





At the San Diego Civic Theatre during the intermission for Phantom of the Opera, looking down on all the “Mezzanine Level” people. We balcony folk were much more refined, even if we had bloodier noses.





The Horton Plaza, an open-air mall near the Gaslamp Quarter in San Diego. Fun with all its random ramps and escalators and stairs.





What a pretty bird! Not a plane of mine, but I simply adore the machines of commercial aircraft and it’s fun to take photos of them.





The really, really long line to get checked into the United counter at SAN. Incredible…took me an hour-fifteen just to get inside.





The chandelier at the SD Civic Theatre.





Do you know how freaking tall these things are? They’re huge!





A view down the hallway of my main hotel; as you can see, all open-air. No bugs, no snow, no problem!





A view of the marina from the classroom we were in all week. Rough, eh?





The San Diego Skyline from the harbor tour boat. Pretty.


All in all, I have to say San Diego was one of the nicest major cities I have ever been in. The people were generally friendly and helpful, the city was clean and organized, the public transportation was timely, cheap, and fast, and the weather was beautiful. If there was a major city where I could see myself living, SD would definitely be on the top 5 list.


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7th March 2008
Low Resolution Recap

I will, true to form, write a bit more of a recap of my trip out East in a moment, but for now I shall entertain you with some photos I took with my cameraphone while I was prancing around on the eastern seaboard. As one might expect, the resolution and quality of these photos is crap, but my wife wanted the digicam for taking pictures of some baby or something, I dunno what she was on about….

First up, some shots of the two Airbus 319 jets that I rode on, the first from MSP -> EWR, the second from PHL -> MSP. As some of you know, I *love* commercial airliners, so this is like aviation porn, minus that whole copulation thing:
Our Airbus 319 From MSP to EWR

Our Airbus 319 from PHL to MSP

Next, we have a glass of the “Wee Heavier” Scottish ale that I had at the Nodding Head Brewery in downtown Philadelphia which was, unfortunately, a wholly worthless experience. On Wednesday night I walked 12 blocks at 10:30pm to find this brewery and sample its wares to only be greatly disappointed and leaving after 2 tries. At least the walk was nice.

A Glass of “Wee Heavier” at the Nodding Head Brewery in Philadelphia

Next, some scenes from the inside of the Sheraton Philadelphia City Center hotel where I spent one night, a much nicer hotel than the Sheraton Meadowlands in East Rutherford, NJ, but still way overpriced for what you got.

A big-ass clock that they had in the lobby; it wasn’t even running, so it was impressive only in stature.

The Huge Clock in the Sheraton Philadelphia City Center Lobby

The dining area of the hotel where they served breakfast, mixed with a kabob of angst:

The Dining Area of the Sheraton Philadelphia City Center

The entrance, complete with bellhops and smoking hobos:

The Entrance of the Sheraton Philadelphia City Center

The lounge with a baby grand piano outside. I thought about tinkling the ivories, but they would have fined me for it, I suspect:

The Lounge and Piano of the Sheraton Philadelphia City Center

The view of Philly from my hotel room; note the dirty windows and my shitty camera:

The View from My Room at the Sheraton Philadelphia City Center

The view of the NYC skyline from my corporate offices — mmmm……Jersey:

The New York City Skyline from the 15th Floor of Corporate

A really shockingly bad photo of Manhattan at night, taken from the parking lot of the Chart House restaurant in Weehawken:

A Really Bad Picture of NYC from the parking lot of The Chart House

This, folks, is why memories are not captured with Samsung.


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4th March 2008
Travel as an Inspiration Stream

I really should fly more often; it provides a never-ending supply of A-grade fodder for blogging and picking the nits of the human race. Mind you, it doesn’t require a very long stretch of the imagination to come up with a sharp quip about some of the things you see.

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