Category Archives: San Diego, California

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Where The Turf Meets The Surf

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Is the dumbest slogan of all time. That being said, MK and I were pretty excited to attend the Pacific Classic million dollar purse day at the Del Mar Race Track. We got ‘gussied up’ a bit and then went cheapo and got great parking and general admission tickets in spite of all the weird old lady protesters (yes, you were weird and old). And that was all we could accomplish.

Horse racing is apparently something you need to know about before just showing up. There were families of screaming babies, completely drunk (before noon) possibly homeless scary smelly people, and the richest old men I’ve ever seen, all jumbled up together placing bets. There were way fewer hats than I expected, apparently opening day is the big deal hat parade, grr. I was overwhelmed at the size of the place even though we’d been there before for the fair. There was the Turf Club, the jockey place, restaurants, betting stations, computers, tvs, and free shirts everywhere.

You got a little brochure thing that only had the names of the horses and when the races were. The tips for betting by the windows said “1. State track 2. State race 3. Pick your horses 4. Pay”. Huh? I knew from all the talk recently there were 30,000 ways to do things. The first few races we decided to share what our picks WOULD BE and see how we’d do. We didn’t get a single horse. So we watched. It was like going to Vegas and not gambling, it felt a little odd but was probably for the best. We are not good at that sort of thing.

Now we’re just working on our online crash courses (kidding). But the afternoon was a blast, even though we didn’t make it all day. We were toast halfway through. There’s a concert while SB’s here (that starts tomorrow!) so we might go back soon.

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Not Enough Time

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After the Comic Con excitement wore down (more pictures, click here! – I totally forgot to say I ran into my buddy Brian Posehn again) MK’s little bro, my little Brother-In-Law, took one of those 48 hour flights from FL to check out the West Coast.

Reuniting the brothers is a little like having twins of hilarious not funny around. Add BB to the picture, and well, there was a paper airplane contest. And a punching bag contest. Beach day after beach day. Surfing, snorkeling, boogie boarding, eating, drinking, dancing and clubbing. For the short trip BIL had, he did just about everything. There are a ton of pics up here and here that I think you can see if you have Facebook (correct me if I’m wrong, but I really don’t want to put them all up…)

We played volleyball too. And went to the hardest to get in to night club downtown. And we all thought it was super lame, which was hilarious. We partied at the Hard Rock hotel and stayed up later than I have in forever! We saw a band and did the Farmer’s Market and had some great wine.

After BIL left, we also had to say goodbye to our close friends BB and MB, who are moving on to bigger and better things but still broke our hearts by moving away. We had a giant dinner out and got sent home with all the stuff they refused to take with them, which it was hilarious to be on the receiving end of for the first time.

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Should Have Brought My Ray Gun: Comic Con 2008

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The weekend was full of crazy fun, in spite of our Comic Con being a little weak. I could have done the convention for three whole days. We waited too long (since we didn’t know the power of the nerds) and the tickets were sold out every day but Sunday. It was fine though, even if the crowd wasn’t at its height it was overwhelming, even after a giant preparatory breakfast at the Broken Yolk. We just missed the cast of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, but we did get to see tons of hilarious costumes and people freaking out over free stuff. Best costumes: Bender and Marvin the Martian, methinks.

My favorite moments were trying to get on a unicorn, yelling at MK to take more pictures, and meeting the writers of my favorite web comic: Cyanide & Happiness. You’ve surely seen them in posts here before. Well, they drew me my very own (FREE!) comic:

"It's the alcohol that's addicted to me"

"It's the alcohol that's addicted to me"

That makes me cooler than anyone that I know. Don’t be surprised to see it framed and mounted and lit up on the most important wall of my house soon. If you make fun of my glasses, I will punch you in the throat.

As a casual observer that knew very little about a lot of the things going on there, I was expecting to see nothing I knew anything about. But if you’re into Lost or Heroes or any regular TV junk there’s just as many people like you as there are in Battlestar Galactica costumes. No, not as many. But some. My point is it’s not just Star Wars fans, only mostly.

There were traditional newspaper comic writers there (being completely ignored) and people that write graphic novels and rows and rows of people I’m pretty sure are just good at drawing but never drew for the company that makes the characters they draw (walking there was totally awkward).

Here’s a link to the rest of the pictures. SB, this Jabba the Hut is for you.

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Shamu Makes Me Happy

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While I put the finishing touches on my Comic Con thoughts, here’s the link to the San Diego Sea World Shamu Cam.

Finding this made my day.

Shamu Cam

Sometimes when we drive back from Mission Bay we catch a glimpse of the show. We’re waiting for the kiddos to go back to school before we go check it out for ourselves…

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Why I Haven’t Called You

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There’s not much to say besides that the last few weeks were right back in our style: party-company-mode. After getting back from our trip JM came and we did everything there was to do. As in, all of San Diego. We saw the fireworks. We went to the beach. As I mentioned here we shopped every mall. We snorkeled every cove. We tried some surfing. We lounged. We ate more ice cream than I’ve ever eaten. I didn’t even know I liked ice cream. We saw a yacht. We saw some sky-advertising? We counted a dozen weddings. We not exactly legally got as close to planes landing as we knew how…

RD and JML came for Comic Con, which gets it’s own full review, but I mention it since we had some great dinners and were all together one night to play UNO all night and get a great pic of JM in a cage. Priceless, really.

Here’s the link to the pictures, which I’m pretty sure say more than my words even can. Really.

Leopard Sharks La Jolla Cove

Leopard Sharks La Jolla Cove

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San Diego County Fair

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I’m only a month late telling you about my day at the fair. It’s held at the Del Mar Racetrack grounds. We got to park for free and ride on the top of an open double decker bus. I beat MK at that game where you roll the balls and make the horse move. I won a turtle. He beat me at Skeeball and won a duck. It was sheer excitement. I got to enjoy a roast beef sandwich and an Orange Julius. I taught MK the fair rules I learned from my Dad: Animals first. Then food. Then games. Then rides. So we got to see all the chickens, and the pig race. I gave serious thought to the idea of a pot-bellied pig as a viable dog alternative.

Here’s the link to the silly pictures.

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All Time Lows And Highs

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Does no one read blogs in the summer? Does no one blog in the summer? Is it too summer? I don’t know what you’re up to but it’s awfully slow around here, and on my feed reader! To be fair, my computer time is pretty minimal now that the sun is back out. Don’t ever visit SD in the June Gloom season. The gray weather is the worst.

Maybe you’re busy. We are. We swam with freaking leopard sharks last weekend. And snorkeled in the cove. And THEN took a Hobie Cat out on the Bay. We joined a volleyball group that is perfect – MK can play and I can drink ‘punch’ and watch. We’re traveling for the rest of the week and weekend to see family and friends and get in some trouble. KE took me shopping at her new boutique and I got some outrageous dresses. If I get skin cancer, I will blame it on this summer. I don’t think I’ve ever been this shade before.

We clubbed at the Hard Rock downtown, which for all it’s Vegas efforts, is pretty lame. Envy beats it hands down. We saw Spencer Pratt and almost no one even cared. He was with dudes. All dudes. Quite possibly paid-for posse dudes. That was the funniest thing ever.

My favorite cousin ever is coming to see me. Which means I will again get my wardrobe updated. We are going to Comic Con with RD. It is going to rule.

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Fighting Over Seals, Part Two: Current Dilemma

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Today, if you go to see the seals you might wander into a different scenario depending on the day. The failure of the city to resolve the issue is causing people to take unimaginable actions.

Some days the seals are left to themselves. People walk the seawall and enjoy the view of the beach and the ocean. Children smile and point and get excited to see the animals. Tourists are taking pictures. Chances are good it’s a cloudy day. There will be a small table staffed by a volunteer selling “We just need one beach” t-shirts supporting the seals.

On a sunny day, weekend, or holiday there might be a different scene. The seals will be out in the water looking for a rock or ledge to rest on. Recently some snorkelers have gone so far as to hire private security and put signs up proclaiming their right to use the beach. Families unaware of the small signs warning of the unsafe fecal bacteria levels will allow their children to use the beach and swim in the water. Cops are now trolling the area more regularly.

People not paying attention are finding their pictures on the web and on the local news – they will be found and ticketed with a heavy fine for breaking the Marine Mammal Protection Act that tells them they must stay a certain distance away from the seals. Recently a man was even sentenced for threating the seal activists.

The stress this must be causing the animals is hard to imagine. The fear of disease is a concern of the locals. The problem is clear – the situation needs to be resolved once and for all. All the back and forth is just making the place harder to visit and enjoy. To dredge the sand will cost over $500,000, with $50,000 in annual maintenance going forward. The seals last hope may be the Navy, who have the ability to say that dredging could change the California coast too dramatically and may damage the other landscape. Whether or not the seals are allowed to stay, I certainly hope to see the resolution of the issue while I live here.

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Fighting Over Seals, Part One: Background

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Here in La Jolla, there is a Children’s Pool that was trusted to the city ages ago (1931) by Ellen Browning Scripps. It consists mainly of a sea wall. The idea was to have a safe place for the kiddos to swim. Over time, seals started hanging out on the beachy part on breaks from their adventures. Over more time, they began to birth their pups there annually – the only place of it’s kind in Southern California. This pool has now become famous in its own right – the number one tourist attraction for La Jolla.

In 2007, some mean spirited lady named Valerie O’Sullivan sued the city for not keeping the conditions of the trust. Mainly, she wanted the sand that had accumulated dredged so the seals would leave and kids could swim there again.

On the one hand is the trust. The city is supposed to do with what you give it exactly as you wish.

On the other hand is the change in time since that trust. There are dozens of other safe beaches and pools for children that weren’t previously established. Not to mention EBS wanted kids to enjoy the pool, arguably they enjoy watching the seals (more of that in Part Two).

The city is slightly on the side of the seals, trying to find ways to hide behind marine mammal protection laws in order to avoid pushing them out. In addition, they’ve tried to find that the water would be bacterially unfit for years to come. Unfortunately they seem unable to find a convincing argument for the seals. It has been two years of heated debate back and forth over what to do. I’m currently reading the entire history through the court briefing (if you’re crazy it’s right here).

Here’s the link to the Friends of the Seals.

Here’s the link to the Friends of Mean Spirited Monsters of the Law.

In Part Two I’ll tell you about the recent escalation of the situation and the pros and cons of change.

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All In Good Fun Of Course

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This sign was over at Seaport Village in San Diego not all that long ago. I forgot about it until I started pulling all the pictures off the camera phone. Which you have to do when you end your service…

Bonus: Here’s one I took of Papelbon at one of the many Mariners/BoSox games I went to in Seattle: