…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.

I’m in San Diego, although that’s not where the picture was taken…

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.

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…

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?