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2012

Yeah. That.

Don’t Listen Here

You can spend $45 to go see Nickelback this week.

Or you could buy 45 hammers from the dollar store, hang them from the ceiling at eye level and spend an evening banging the demons out of your dome.

That $45 would also buy you a lot of pickles, which have more fans on Facebook than the band. It would also buy you an introduction to rock guitar video course that would allow you to surpass the band’s skill level in five hours or less.

$45 is also enough to see Men in Black III five times, buy a dozen Big Macs, do 10 loads of laundry or so many other experiences as banal and meaningless as seeing Nickelback but that come without having to actually hear Nickelback.

But if you must, the band is playing the Idaho Center on Wednesday, June 13, at 6 p.m. Tickets start at $45.

Did I mention that I really fucking hate Nickelback and can find no evolutionary explanation to justify their continued existence?

Rotten day

8:15 AM. (EDT): Arrive at Greensboro airport.

9:15 AM: Board United plane for Chicago.

9:45 AM: Leave plane due to equipment problems.

10:15 AM: Get in line for rebooking.

11:35 AM: Get rebooked.

1:30 PM: Board USAirways plane for Philadelphia.

3:05 PM: Arrive Philadelphia.

4:05 PM: Board plane for LA.

7:00 PM (PDT): Arrive in LA.

7:45 PM: Realize checked bag never made it to LA. Arrange delivery sometime tonight.

8:15 PM: Arrive at Fox Rent-a-Car.

8:30 PM: Informed that fox Rent-a-Car (from whom i’ve never rented a car) will not rent to me because I’m on their “do not rent” list for some transgression they can’t seem to identify or explain.

8:45 PM: Walk next door to Thrifty where I have to pay nearly a hundred dollars to rent a big-ass SUV (all they had left) for one day just so I can get to the hotel which is about thirty miles away.

9:45 PM: Finally arrive at hotel.

10:15 PM: Finally have dinner.

11:30 PM: Luggage still not here.

Am I being punished for something? That’s pretty much every travel nightmare you can have, all pressed into one day. The hotel was the only part without a glitch.

It will get better, right?

Better day

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Things are looking a little brighter today, even though I didn’t get very much sleep last night. I was a little stressed.

This morning, though, I found a Mexican breakfast within walking distance of my hotel. I also yelled at someone at Fox Rent-A-Car…and will do more of that later because it amuses me so. I’ve made other car arrangements, I have my luggage, and I’m about to go have lunch with a friend. So there’s hope…

Done

We did the presentation this morning and it went really well. I was amazed by the turnout, especially considering we were not in the main conference hotel and were part of a session held at the ungodly hour of 8AM on Sunday morning. So I’ve now done my first presentation at a national conference (which is nice) and I’m pretty much done and can start enjoying things a bit more (which is even nicer).

Coming up:

  • My third meal in as many days at a hole-in-the-wall tacqueria.
  • Maybe an evening trip to the beach with a friend who’s never seen the Pacific Ocean.
  • Freebies at the exhibits.
  • More Safeway diet grapefruit soda (I’ve missed it) when I get back to my room.

The actual vacation starts Tuesday.

For some reason, I’m having trouble uploading photos in the WordPress app. I may link to some stuff on flickr later today.

I always forget…

…how much I like San Diego. At some unspecified point in the future, I’ll have lots to say about things I do and don’t miss about California. But tonight is not that point.

Today:

  • Wound my way from Anaheim to San Diego.
  • Covered the El Cajon Blvd. and University Ave. strips.
  • Walked around Ocean Beach.
  • Had dinner in Pacific Beach.

Tomorrow:

  • A bit of laundry.
  • More strips and diners and motels.
  • Maybe downtown.
  • At least one used bookstore.

Wednesday night in San Diego

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I think I decided this once before but I have to say that I find that San Diego–at least for me–is probably the most livable city in California. If I were offered a job that would allow me to live fairly well here (which is highly unlikely) I might actually consider it. That’s significant; I can’t really say that about any other city in California. More on that later, if I feel like it.

Today:

  • Breakfast by the beach.
  • Toured North Park, South Park, Normal Heights, downtown, and Linda Vista, among other areas..
  • Excellent Indian buffet for lunch.
  • Way too much sun.
  • Several used bookstores.
  • Fast food dinner snack.
  • Shot many vintage Safeways.

Right now I’m sitting in the room watching TV and considering whether or not to venture back out. “Not” seems to be winning. Tomorrow it’s up to LA for five nights.

Thursday night in Pasadena

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Today:

  • Breakfast at Rudford’s in San Diego.
  • Drove to Pasadena and checked into the mid-century motel of my dreams.
  • Lunch at L&L Hawaiian Barbecue.
  • Took a couple of first-day drives around the city to soak in the essential LA-ness of it all.
  • I’m glad I still love it here.

Tomorrow: Who knows? There are many possibilities.