Day Eight - The Return

Day Eight – The Return Home

Again, I would like to give the advice I mentioned on the first day of this trip regarding luggage. Go with the larger suitcase that is not packed completely full over a smaller suitcase that is jam packed. It doesn’t weigh less because the suitcase is smaller, and the larger, less full suitcase allows room for items that were accumulated during the trip. Items like the Padres souvenir cup that was purchased and left sitting under my seat at the ball game (idiot!).

For those who have not been to the San Diego Airport, it can be rather confusing. All drop offs for departures and pickups for arriving flights are on the same level, so when the cab driver dropped me off and I walked in the doors and saw the baggage claim area, I was a bit confused. The signage at the airport was not real great either, and it took me a while to realize I had to go up a level for the check in area. Once I was through security, I realized what a bad layout they have in the gate area. The gates are basically in the hallway, creating tons of crowding and congestion when people hurry to get in line and wait to board the plane. The seating area to wait on the planes is basically one giant area, situated around a bunch of different gates. This adds to the mystery of wondering which person at your gate will be the one sitting next to you on the plane. With so many gates sitting in one area, you also have to wonder who exactly will be on your flight.

The flight home was long, but survivable. I did come to one realization that anyone who has flown will understand, and that is the fact that it is impossible to sleep comfortably on a plane. No matter what I did, I could not completely fall asleep. When I did, I would wake up with my head tilted in some awkward position that made my neck hurt. Not only that, but I had the constant fear that being in one of those awkward positions would lead to sleeping with my mouth open and drooling. Therefore, I did everything I could to keep from falling asleep, despite my tiredness, just to make sure I didn’t embarrass myself. After landing in St. Louis, the adventure had just begun. The arrival time was scheduled for 5:53 pm. When we touched down, they announced local time at 5:55 pm. Not bad. We then proceeded to pull off the runway, and sit nowhere close to the terminal as we waited on another plane that was at our gate. Great scheduling by American Airlines. We sat for a good 15 minutes, and finally started rolling towards the terminal, only to see that the other plane was still at our gate. We waited some more. Finally, we pulled into our gate at 6:20 pm. After departing the plane, I stopped by the restroom then went to baggage claim, where the adventure continued. American Airlines had another flight that had arrived just ahead of ours, and then our flight. I know that two fights landing within a half hour of each other can be taxing on the baggage crew, but seriously. I waited for a good 20 minutes before bags from our plane started to appear at terminal M2, despite the fact that we were told our bags would come out on terminal M1. Mine was obviously the last one off the place as it took forever. Finally, around 6:50 pm, my bag appeared and I left for the metrolink station, only to find that the escalator was not on. This led to a walk across the airport to the other side and up another escalator, then back the way I came. I left the airport terminal at 6:55 pm, exactly one hour after our plane touched down. Way to go St. Louis Airport!

As I got home from the trip, there were several things that stood out in my mind as having noticed during my week long venture.

Strollers and Kids
Isn’t there an age or size limit on when kids are too old for a stroller? I saw so many parents pushing around a stroller with kids who were way too old/big to be in a stroller. Make the kid walk for crying out loud. No wonder American society is getting fatter and lazier. I realize the zoo and Sea World are exemptions to some of this, especially those kids at the border line age/size, and getting tired with all the walking in those places. I’m talking about other areas though, like around the hotel and shopping areas. When there’s a 9 or 10-year old kid in a stroller, I think that’s a bit much.

Stroller SizesS
Speaking of strollers, what is up with these SUV type strollers now days? Why is it a stroller has to be twice as big as the 6 year old kid riding in it? Some of these strollers were bigger than my car. Not only does this seem ridiculous, but it does nothing but get in the way as these idiot parents push these gigantic strollers in crowded places and bump into everyone around. These must be the same parents with the giant SUV who bang into things in parking lots.

Overweight People
This is a touchy subject for some, but I noticed a lot of overweight people walking around. Sadly, most of them were others at my conference and in my profession. It made me wonder though, with all the walking I did to see all the sites, how could these people weighting 300-plus pounds, or even the short, dumpy people, move around without getting exhausted? I saw numerous overweight people who were stopped and sitting and breathing heavily after a five-minute walk. This cannot be healthy. I felt kind of bad for some of them, as I realized that there was no way they could have seen and done all the things I did without spending an extra $100 on cab fares to get everywhere – like 10 blocks down the street. It also came to my attention at the Padres game, wondering how the 300-pound woman next to me managed to squeeze into that seat. It couldn’t have been comfortable to sit there for three hours.

Airports Good for People Watching
I think airports have to be one of the best places in the world to people watch. I spent an hour in the San Diego Airport just sitting there watching others. There’s such a wide variety of people and characters and personalities, and so many different situations and moods they could be in at an airport, that it is sometimes comical to just sit and watch.

Cell Phones are Killing Politeness and Manners
This is something I have noticed for a while now, but it was very apparent during this trip for some reason, and that is the rudeness that cell phones have brought into our society. I’m not going to say cell phones are evil, I tend to like mine very much. However, I think that some people should have their cell phone privileges revoked until they learn some common manners. The list of violations are many and not worth going into detail about, that will come in a later post at some other time. I’ll just say that cell phones seem to be the cause of a lot of rudeness in society, and it appears to be getting worse.

San Diego - Day Seven

DAY SEVEN

Today was baseball day. I got up and took the five-minute walk to Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres. I got there about 10am and picked up my ticket at will call for that night’s game, and then paid a little extra and took the tour of the park.

Petco Park is fairly new, only four years old, so it still has that clean, new appearance. The tour showed us all the seating areas, including the high rent seats behind home plate. It only costs $23 grand for a seat license, which gives you the right to buy season tickets at $20 grand each. That’s $43,000 per seat, per year. There are 181 seats in that section, and a little math says that’s almost $8 million in income right there. No wonder these pro ball players make so much. The tour showed all the unique aspects of the park, including the old historic warehouse down the left field line and the suites in that warehouse that overhang the left field area. Another unique aspect is the Park in the Park. Beyond the right field area, there is a park with a grassy hill and a little waffle ball field. General admission tickets can sit there and watch the game, or you can buy bleacher seats which go from that grassy park area down to the right field fence. In front of those bleachers, and going right up to the fence is a big beach area with sand for kids to play in during the game. The park is very fan friendly, as it is wide open in every aspect, with no closed off concourse, so you can see the field from just about every part of the park, no matter where you are. Another fan friendly aspect is the seats themselves. Each section of the stands is laid out like normal parks, but the seats are not straight in those sections. The seats are actually angled so the seats are facing towards the infield area, which can save on the neck strain from turning to watch the action the whole game. For the players, Petco Park features a really weird configuration in the outfield as far as distances. The left and right field power ally areas are deep, with the left field ally measuring 400 feet and the right field ally measuring 401 feet. The distance to straight away centerfield however, measures just 396 feet, a little different than most parks where centerfield is the deepest area of the park. I noticed also that there was no tarp anywhere to be found. The tour director mentioned this a little later and said they have a tarp, but it is actually stored under the seats in the left field area. Because it doesn’t rain much in San Diego, they don’t need the tarp that often, so they keep it hidden and out of the way. In fact, in the four-year history of Petco Park, they have had just one rainout and in the past 23 years, they have had just two rainouts. That’s pretty impressive. And of course, like most of these tours, I got to go down on the field. This included walking in the dugout and behind the home plate area. Overall it was pretty cool to see a lot of the park features and areas that the general public cannot visit or see during game days. After that it was off for some lunch, then walking around some of the local shops to kill some time. Then I went back to the hotel to pack for tomorrow’s departure and relax before going to the game that night.

That night I went to the Padres game, adding Petco Park as baseball stadium number seven where I have seen a professional baseball game. I got there early and walked around the park during the visiting team’s batting practice. I stationed myself in the leftfield stands area, hoping for that age old dream of every fan and getting a baseball. I was not, however, going to be the guy from the Budweiser real men of genius commercials who goes diving for a ball. But, I actually saw one home run ball come near me where three men, all in their 40s and 50s, went diving in the seats to try and retrieve. At that point, I felt ashamed to be a fellow human being. It was that embarrassing and ridiculous to watch. I then got pictures of future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux as he warmed up in the bullpen prior to the game before heading to my seat. I decided to take out a second mortgage on my house and eat my dinner at the ballpark. I was actually surprised by the prices at the concession stands, which were lower than I thought. That or the St. Louis Cardinals concession stands are way overpriced. The biggest complaint I do have about the concession stands was their selection. They had a wide variety of foods, but not at the same place. For example, I planned on going for a hot dog, nachos, and a Sprite in the souvenir cup (which, as I am typing this, I just realized I left the cup under my seat – I’m a moron!). Unfortunately, the nachos were at the concession stand half way across the upper deck, but the concession stand with the nachos did not have hot dogs. I didn’t understand that, and I didn’t want to buy nachos at one place then go get a hot dog and drink at another. It all seemed like trouble waiting to happen, so I went with a hot dog, pretzel (no salt) and a Sprite in the souvenir cup that I could conveniently leave underneath my seat (idiot!).

Finally I got to my seat, only to have one of my fears come true. The seat to my left was occupied by a lady who had to be pushing 300 pounds, and did not have a pleasant aroma. That was totally counter balanced by the person in the seat on my right, which was occupied by a four-year old boy attending his first ever baseball game with his dad. I quickly made pals with the four-year old to divert my attention from Shamu on my left. The game itself was a typical baseball game, and I quickly fell in line with the home fans, cheering for the Padres despite their blunders and eventual loss. I wanted tickets for this game so I could see Greg Maddux pitch, who is a future, first-ballot Hall of Famer, and to see San Diego’s great closer, Trevor Hoffman. For those who don’t know baseball, Hoffman has one of the best entrances in baseball, as they play the AC/DC song Hells Bells as he enters. I wanted to hear that song as he entered – that was my only goal. Unfortunately, San Diego gave up four runs in the seventh inning and lost 6-4. Maddux took the loss, and Hoffman never pitched. They did have a great fireworks display after the game, which I stayed for and because of the fireworks got completely distracted and forgot my stupid souvenir cup under my seat (moron!). The evening ended with me stopping by for a large helping of cookies and cream ice cream in a waffle cone, which I ate on the walk back to the hotel, where I got to my room and realized I left my stinking cup under my seat (idiot!).

San Diego Trip - Day Six

DAY SIX

Turns out it didn’t take long for my return trip to the USS Midway. A couple of people I know wanted to go on Monday so I tagged along. We went in the morning, assuring plenty of time to see everything. Having rushed through everything yesterday, I took my time today, listening to all the narratives provided for each section of the ship. It was equally as impressive as the day before, and I got to see and hear more details on the various sections of the ship.

After that, I headed off for Coronado Island. The most direct route from my hotel to Coronado Island was directly across the water in the bay, so that’s the way I went over. I took the Coronado ferry service, which was a 15-minute boat ride across the bay and provided me a new perspective from which to see the city. Once on Coronado, the goal was to go and see the famous Hotel Del Coronado. The bad part was the ferry dock and the hotel are on opposite ends of the island. This led me on a walk that was a little more than a mile, and took me through the residential areas of the island. I have to say that it was perhaps the cleanest place I think I have ever visited. Every sidewalk was clean of dirt and debris; every lawn was kept up nice; all landscaping was well taken care of. The houses were all small and almost right next to each other, with no more than five or six feet between houses, and no two houses on the ten-block walk were the same. Each was different and had its own look. Even the landscaping for every house was different. It seemed like a very peaceful place to live.

I finally reached the hotel, having decided that I should have bucked up and taken a cab across the island. The hotel itself was immaculate and had this aura of sophistication. I walked around the outside and admired the architecture and unique design of the hotel. It reminded me of some kind of castle. I then walked through the shop area of the hotel and realized that aura of sophistication has a price tag, as everything in the stores were about five times more than a normal store. I went through the hotel to the beach access area and walked out on the beach towards the Pacific Ocean. The beach area here was much different than the beach I visited earlier in my stay, as this beach was very clean and was not overwhelmed with kelp. One area in front of the hotel had a bunch of rocks along the beach, creating some great photo opportunities. I walked around the rocks and in the water, and found a really cool looking seashell, intact and unbroken with a cool star design. I later found another one similar to the first, only it was a darker color. When I picked it up, the bottom felt tingly so I turned it over and found that it was not a shell, but some kind of living organism. The bottom was a purplish color and had tiny tentacle-like legs all moving about. I watched in fascination for a while and then gently placed it back in the edge of the surf to let it go about its business. The next order of business will be to look it up and find out just what that thing was. After spending quite a bit of time on the beach, I made my way back to the hotel. I ran across this odd looking tree out front, called a dragon tree that had on sign on it saying the tree served as the backdrop to a famous scene in the Marilyn Monroe movie “Some Like it Hot,” which was filmed in the Hotel Del Coronado. I then walked through the inside of the hotel, at least the part they would let me, and into the courtyard area that has some beautiful flowers and trees and landscaping.

I was so relaxed and happy about the visit to the Hotel Del Coronado and the beach that I didn’t even mind the walk back across the island to the ferry dock. I took a different street this time so I could see another collection of houses on the island. After returning on the ferry to the San Diego side of the bay, it was time for dinner and I decided on a nearby seafood place called The Fish Market, which is famous for its selection of fresh fish. I opted for my favorite, the salmon, and was not disappointed. I ate by myself and sat out on the patio area which was in fact closed off by windows, but had a few screens that let in the breeze. As I was sitting there, a seagull landed on the edge of the patio around the restaurant and walked up and down that edge for a good 30-40 minutes, just looking in at all the people eating. It was as if he was waiting for someone to start throwing him bread crumbs, not realizing there was window in between him and us. It got to be comical as he kept eyeing people in the restaurant wondering why we wouldn’t give him any food. As I ate, I looked out over the bay and was amused by not only the confused seagull, but the little dive bomber birds. I don’t know what kind of birds they are, but they are about 8-10 inches long, with a wingspan about the same, and look almost like miniature sea gulls. They would fly around 10-15 feet above the water, just gliding in the air, then all of the sudden they would dive straight down into the water. When they dove, their entire bodies would go completely under water for a couple seconds, before popping back up with a small minnow or fish of some kind in their mouth. It was amusing to watch. Towards the end of the meal, a pelican flew over and joined in, doing his own dive bombing for food, which was just as amusing.

My timing proved to be absolutely perfect, as I left the restaurant and went around to the opposite side to get a great view of the sunset. The view wasn’t the same as my earlier sunset viewing, but spectacular none the less. As I looked out, I had the water of the bay in front of me, with the reflection of the orange sun. Then there was the hill of the Point Loma area I had visited the other day, with the sun setting behind that hill. Once again, as I was getting pictures of the setting sun, another sailboat crossed the bay directly in front of the setting sun. Another coincidence and bit of luck with good timing on this trip, and another relaxing scene to end the day.

San Diego - Days 4 and 5

DAYS FOUR AND FIVE (Sat and Sun)

Saturday began the work portion of the trip. I vowed to do my best to participate in all the things I should, to make up for all the fun I am having and am planning to have on the trip (minus the sun burn stuff). I slept in before heading down for registration and a brunch. I then proceeded to the exhibit hall, which featured vulture salespeople throwing their website design and technology products to anyone who was in the vicinity. I walked quickly, grabbing as much free stuff as I could without being harassed, and quickly vacated the exhibit hall and headed back up to my room.

After some television to kill some time, I then went to my first meeting of the convention. I think it may have been my last meeting of the convention. It was one of those long, drawn out, boring meetings that took about three times longer than it really needed to take or should have taken. I resorted to sending text messages to my sister just to kill time. The meeting lasted about two hours total, after which I decided I really didn’t have the energy to make the next meeting I had planned on attending, so it was back to the room where I vegged out and watched more movies until dinner.

Our conference office was springing for dinner, so a group of about a dozen of us all went to a nearby restaurant. It was on the bay, and was a very nice place, but ridiculously overpriced. I have no problem paying a lot of money for a meal, but I had better leave the place thinking wow, that was great food. I should not have left the restaurant thinking well, for $23, that piece of fish was just okay. A meal costing that much should be something you can’t walk down the street to another restaurant and get for half that price. But hey, I didn’t pay, so why should I complain?

Sunday was a lazy day to start. I was pretty tired from all the activity the first few days and from all the sun, so I decided to leave the alarm clock off when I went to bed Saturday night. I guess I needed the sleep. I didn’t wake up until almost 10:30. After a luncheon for the convention (again, free food – whose to complain?), I had the afternoon to myself since I had decided the day before I had attended my last meeting of the convention. I decided the visit the USS Midway Museum, one of the hot spots I had decided before the trip I absolutely had to visit.

The USS Midway is an out of service aircraft carrier that was docked and turned into a museum. I wasn’t sure what to expect, other than being a big history and military history fan I was sure I would enjoy it and I wasn’t disappointed. When I first boarded the ship, I was given headphones and an iPod like device that served as a self-guided tour of the ship. There were signs showing which paths to take and directions to go, and each stop or area of the ship had a yellow sign with a number on it. This assured that I was going in the right direction and all I had to do was punch in that number and the iPod device would play a description of the area I was visiting at that time. It was an ingenious way of providing a narrative on a tour around the ship, while still allowing me to walk and visit different areas at my own pace. I became a quick fan.

The tour started on the hanger deck with a few planes on display and the requisite tourist area with snack shop and gift shop. I then started the actual tour by going through the berthing spaces for the crew, showing their bunks and living quarters, which were incredibly cramped and tight. It advanced to the junior officer’s quarters, which were slightly more spacious, but still pretty cramped. Then I took a detour down to the engine rooms and brig. It’s funny how they put the ship’s jail in the bottom, near the hot and noisy engine area, a sure deterrent that culprits would not want to screw up and visit the brig again. Then it was back to the hanger deck for a couple more displays of planes.

Then I went down into the guts of the ship, going down the incredibly small steps, which were no more than six inches in depth, and steep stairs that went almost straight down (mom – this tour is NOT for you). This level featured all the chow lines and wardrooms for the officers to eat and hang out in, as well as some of the living quarters for the executive officer and Chaplin of the ship. It was basically the “city” part of the ship, that contained the post office, sick bay, laundry areas, eating quarters – all the things necessary for day to day activities that were not directly related to the ships operation. It was amazing to see all of the services provided, and the living quarters for the ships crew and basically what they lived in during their deployments. I was constantly amazed at how someone could find their way around the ship without the handy little yellow numbered signs. All the hallways looked alike, and were not made for anyone over six-feet tall.

Then it was up to the flight deck, where there were numerous planes and helicopters on display, showing the different types of aircraft that flew on the ship. Taking note of a tip provided on the museum guide map, I went straight over the line to climb up and see the island superstructure, which contained the bridge and flight control areas. This was a newly opened area and by far the coolest thanks to some good timing and good luck. This part of the tour was guided by volunteers, most of who served in the military and many of them served on that very ship. They only took 20 people per group through this part of the tour, which lasted about 15-20 minutes. As they were admitting people for the next group, I was desperately hoping the line wouldn’t get cut off right in front of me, causing another 10-minute wait before beginning. Luckily, I was number 19, and allowed in this group. Good luck charm number one. As the guide went through a brief introduction and explanation of what we were going to see, a volunteer lady working on the other side allowed a gentleman and his son to join the group, giving us 22, and explained to our guide that this gentleman, by the name of Joe, actually served on the USS Midway. Good luck charm number two. Joe wasn’t that old, and I found out later he served on that very ship as a navigator for five years in the mid 1980s. I quickly made it a point to move close to him and hear his stories.

The tour proceeded to the flight control area. This was the area where the flight control officers directed and managed all aircraft traffic on the ship. There were two seats in an area that overlooked the flight deck, and it had all the information and chart boards used to direct the craziness of moving planes from the hanger to the flight deck, launching planes and recovering planes coming in to land. I can’t begin to imagine how stressful that job must have been. From there, it was off to the navigator area. Good luck charm number three set in as I ended up next to Joe. The guide turned that portion of the tour over to Joe, who told about the area we were in, what it was used for and what their job was. He added stories and little tidbits about that section of the ship from when he served, and it was obvious from his tone of voice and the expressions on his face that he was truly enjoying the moment as he recalled all his past memories. It was really neat to see someone who served on that ship, in this very room we were standing in, talking about all his experiences and the times he remembered from the ship. As the group was leaving to go to the next area, Joe asked if I could take a picture of him and his son standing over the chart table where he once had worked. It was obvious that Joe truly loved being able to get that picture with his son, and I was glad to be able to help.

The group then moved to the captain’s bridge, where the actual sailing and control of the ship took place. Having come in after the rest of the group with Joe and his son, we partially listened to the tour guide, but Joe then started telling his own explanation, complete with stories and anecdotes from his days on the ship. Again, lucky charm number four as I got the inside scoop on some great stories, including the time Joe once got caught sitting in the captain’s chair – an absolute no-no on any ship. He again asked if I could take a picture of him and his son standing at the helm of the ship, and I was glad to help out.

That part of the tour ended, and it was back down to the flight deck. My only bad luck portion of the visit was timing. I didn’t arrive at the Midway until almost 3pm. They say the self-guided tour with the narrative takes about two hours. As I walked out on the flight deck, it was already 4:45 and I hadn’t visited the aircraft or displays on the flight deck, and it closed at 5 pm. I went over to an area in the middle of the ship where a veteran who flew planes on the Midway back in the 1970s was talking about landing on an aircraft carrier. He had some great information on what that experience was like. Because of my bad timing though, I missed the gentleman on the other side of the ship who talked about the experience of the catapult take offs as well as a couple other areas and the aircraft on the flight deck. I tried looking at the aircraft until they basically came around and kicked me off the boat. It was truly a great visit, and one I could easily go back and do again later this week should time allow, which may be tomorrow evening as luck would have it. The convention is actually having a reception on the flight deck of the USS Midway Monday evening, so I’m sure I’ll do what I can to attend that event and be able to walk around and look at the aircraft, although I’m not sure what portions of the boat will actually be open.

Prior to dinner, I met some friends at the ESPN reception that was part of our convention. We met there and decided on when and where to go for dinner. While killing some time before going to change for dinner, I looked around the room and noticed Bill Walton, and decided it was now time for me to head out immediately (I can’t stand Walton). For dinner, a group of us decided to hit a very historical landmark bar/restaurant in the San Diego area, located two blocks from our hotel – the KC Barbeque. Why is it historic you ask? Well, for those movie fans out there who have see “Top Gun,” it is the restaurant where they filmed the scene that has Goose playing the piano with Tom Cruise’s character helping sing. How could I not go to that restaurant and see the place where they filmed one of the best “guy” movies of all-time? Our table was even right next to the actual piano used in that scene. It’s a good thing it has that historical movie significance too, because the restaurant itself wasn’t all that great. It’s very small first of all, and we had to wait 30 minutes before our order was taken, and over an hour from the time we sat down until we got our food. The food wasn’t even that great, it was just okay. The other bad part was leaving my camera at my hotel room and not being able to get pictures. I still have time left though, so I can always hit that place again for lunch sometime to get some pictures.