PROS & CONS: Life in San Diego

2 days, 1200 miles, and a really long car ride later, we hail again from Wyoming...but only for a couple of weeks. Here is a bit about San Diego if you are considering moving there, or just want a great vacation.

CONS:
1. Our families are both 1200-ish miles away
2. Gas Prices: We paid $4.96 for gas, and when you commute a total of 56 miles a day, it is really hard on the bank account!
3. Traffic: if you live in San Diego get a job near your house, or a house near your job.
4. The police are too busy writing parking tickets to fight crime.

Case in point: I got a ticket at this location for parking facing downhill on a hill and not cramping my wheels. First of all, I think it is questionable how much of a "hill" I am parked on, and secondly, shouldn't laws like this be posted, and thirdly, what the heck does "cramping" mean? I thought cramping was a blessed feeling only for those of the female gender, but apparently, it actually means to turn your wheels towards the curb. Somehow I don't think Midol is going to help me out of this $48 ticket!

PROS:
1. The Weather-between 65 and 80 degrees all of the time! Who wouldn't love that?
2. The Beach
3. Seaworld
4. The FRESH fruit!
5. Hoss's green thumb

Hoss planted these tomato plants and thanks to the fabulous sunshine and his talent there were many tiny green tomatoes sprouting when we left. He also grew a zucchini plant, basil, and saved the lemon thyme from the brink of death, along with most of the in-house greenery.

6. Breakfast Burritos from Albertacos
7. Shopping
8. Avacados!
9. Anything from Rubios
10. The San Diego Temple

11. Gordita shells made right there in San Diego and stocked at the local Costco
12. Spanish immersion
13. Pretty much all of the Mexican food
14. Legoland

I tried to battle Darth Vader, but it was too scary for me, so I passed my light saber off to Super Hoss. He had to pull some fancy footwork, but we both walked away from it, so I think we can call it a win-maybe because DV is made completely out of Lego.

15. The Hoopes

The best reason to live in San Diego. We gotta love 'em cause their family, but we really love 'em. We basically lived in a 5 star bed & breakfast with a 5 star chef for 3 months. We had great conversation, hours in the jacuzzi, and loads of fun. We really miss them.

The Hoopes- Mig, Uncle T and Big T

Yup, the pros definitely outweigh the cons. Now I just have to convince Hoss...

Bargain Shopper Imposter

I freely and proudly admit to being a bargain shopper. Ross, TJ-Maxx, Marshalls, Nordstrom Rack, etc. If you can buy a shirt for $10, name that store and I am there. In fact, I stock my wardrobe with items from these stores so much, that when I actually go to a department store or the mall I am appalled at the inflated prices! Given my innumerable visits to said stores, I feel that I can say with some conviction that to be a bargain shopper, you must possess certain qualities.

1. Patience-sometimes you really have to search for the good stuff and sometimes you have to wait a while in the check out line.

2. Time-it is almost impossible to go to one of these stores for a quick look around, and sometimes you have to wait a while in the check out line.

3. Understanding- expect average to below average customer service, not because the staff is incompetent, but these people are getting minimum wage, it doesn't pay for them to kiss up to the customers, so sometimes you have to wait a while in the check out line.

4. Limited Funds (not necessary in all cases, I hope to always be a bargain shopper and always be appalled at the price of clothing at stores in the mall).

With my expert sleuthing skills, I believe I discovered an impostor on my most recent visit to Marshalls. Believe it or not, I actually did stop for a quick look around with my primary objective being to return some apparel (a difficult to avoid trap in the mind of the bargain shopper...I don't love it, but I like it okay, and it is only $8 bucks, so I will get it anyway...I could be wearing designer jeans with the money I have spent on $8 clothes over the years! But, I have turned over a new leaf recently, if I don't wear it within two weeks, I have to return it, but that is a whole other post...back to the impostor). After about 20 minutes of browsing I decided I would rather go home, so I headed to the checkout line with my returns. Tic-toc, 10 minutes go by. A 7-ish year old boy is skating around on his roller shoes and the checker asks his mother to contain her child for the duration of their time in Marshalls. There were only two checkers, one with an Italian woman and some resulting language confusion, and the other with a little lady who had a lot of baby clothes to check out. Tic-toc, another 10 minutes. I wasn't really in a hurry, and there was a whole rack of purses in front of me, and I was oddly satisfied when I identified a leather Coach bag before I even picked it up. Time for my visual.

All of a sudden, behind me a bit, the 7-ish boy forgets that he isn't supposed to be rolling in his roller shoes in the store. So his mother, right in front of me, chucks her shoe box and stationery kit over Impulse Buy Aisle #1 at the check out counter (Appropriate response?). Turns to leave, and shoves by me (Um, excuse me, sorry I am standing here?) Brushes by the woman behind me, then turns back to her son and says loudly,

Mom: "Offspring, get over here!"

Offspring: "Mom, what are you doing?"

Mom: "We're leaving"

Offspring: "Why did you..."

Mom: "If they didn't take so darn long..."

She then rushed out of the store practically without her son, and left the rest of us kind of stunned. Did a grown woman really just chuck her purchases at the check-out counter? Yup, she did. So what was wrong with this woman? Was she posing as a bargain shopper? Did she lack patience, time, and understanding? If nothing else, I think it is safe to say that she didn't love the shoes, they were just "okay", and definitely not worth waiting around for.

In her defense, there is always a story you don't know. Maybe she really wanted some designer jeans.

Hoss Games

Alright everyone knows I do a little gaming, so I thought I would let you know of one of my favorites, Settlers of Catan (settlers for short), but what most don't know is I much prefer to play the Cities and Knights expansion to the game. Simply put settlers is about a forth as fun. So I'm promoting an upgrade to those I play with, LEARN TO PLAY KNIGHTS. Of course I wouldn't let you just hang, I'm going to help you learn.

Everyone reading this will go Immediately to http://games.asobrain.com/ and make a user (upper left corner, click register). Sign up is free, no email messages, etc... it's simply your gaming name. Now click play, lots of games come up, you want Xplorer (code name for Settlers). Ranking C&K is cities and knights and Ranking Basic is plain old boring Settlers. Click on Ranking C&K, if nothing comes up but a blank screen, download and install Java run time environment (google java). Next join a game in the "waiting for players" section or "create game", you will want to join or create a game with the following titles, default island, default expansion, default official island. The other ones are fun, but you should join those after you get the hang of Cities and Knights.

Anyway let me know how it goes, and remember you should do this right away, once you learn, cities and knights takes no longer to play and adds so much to Settlers.

Hoss Tech

Something to think about. I'm no Windows fan, but I love the compatibility it offers (virtually compatible with everything). Mac's OSX looks pretty, but lacks (in extreme) software, freeware, and hardware. Not to mention a price tag that is 2 too 3 times as much as a pc (now with the switch to x86 and Intel, hardware is IDENTICAL, so what is with the price). Linux, I really love the idea of Linux, looks great, very simple and clean OS (more like mac), and good support for hardware (like PC), but you have to be geek to run it, and sometimes I don't have time to be geek (compiling drivers and looking for kernel spacific software).

So what do I do, wait for some kid in some garage to come out with the next big thing, yep thats it. Micorosoft is to big and to (somebody post and remind me of the "to" and "too rule", thanks) many people demand the compatibility it offers, even rely on it, as it runs software they have used for the last ten years. But they are locked in, make huge amounts of money, and are thus slow to change (or they make huge changes all at once and blow it, and blow it hard = Vista). Mac is to small and anal (=anus), they don't really care about the majority and like it that way, kind of like some people eat bugs, but lets be honest, most don't. So they will do little to make a really great OS and give it to everyone at a great price, they are more worried about getting music into your pocket so they can get some money in thiers, because they don't make money selling computers. Linux, o Linux, way to small and as stated above, in a simple word, Geek.

Someone please kill, barbeque, and eat Microsoft! crush, snort white plastic, and come down of their Macgasmic high! punch, kick, and tell Linux to get a life and do something....so I can have an OS i like. Please, anyone, anyone.

This is a good read, in the same vein, give it a shot.
http://overclockers.com/tips01345/

Question, does anyone read this and think those are good ideas, or am I the fat kid that finds himself talking to everyone and then relizing everyone is blank stairing and thinking "DORK".

T-6 days

My formal education is nearing its end. 4 more business days, and I am officially done working for free. In the hubbub (Is that how you spell that word? Really, pseudo word that was probably never actually meant to be written) of job searching and making myself sound good on paper, we continue to masquerade as San Diego-ites for a few more days.

View of the beach while hiking in Torrey Pines State National Reserve. At the top of the reserve are cliffs overlooking the beach. Don't worry Dad, we didn't stand on the edge.

The Torrey Pine is the rarest native pine tree in the United States. Funny, it kind of looks like a tree grown in Wyoming, but nope, they naturally have a wind blown look, and it is native to the San Diego area. We can't take credit for this picture, we tend to point the camera toward the beach rather than at pine trees (hmm, wonder why?), but I didn't realize that until I started this post.

Let me introduce you to our little cuz, BigT, you've seen him before, but only from the rear.

He blows kisses and he calls me "Wose" and Hoss "Jay-Jee"


BigT & Hoss have a lot in common.

On one of our many adventures, we spent some quality travel time watching Cars and Toy Story with BigT in the back seat. I have to admit this kid has talent; he managed to figure out how to use headphones without ever taking his eyes off of the screen.

Learning curve of today's 22 month old.

Where's Buzz?


There he is.

This is better.


Ahh, now I got it.

We're going to miss this kid!

Cali Adventures: Part Deux

We decided to take the trip of a lifetime and try our hand at Deep Sea Fishing, "we" being, myself, Hoss, milE, Lapple, and UncleT. Let me just start out by saying, My name is Rose and I have never been fishing! Not kidding, no never, not once. So in all my idiocy and of course my daring nature (Ha!), I decided to take my inaugural fishing trip on a boat, in the middle of the ocean. Probably not the smartest thing I've ever done, but it was an adventure to say the least. Needless to say, the morning stared out with rise and shine at 4am, arrival to the boat about 5am, and a scheduled departure for 6am. We all popped a couple of anti-motion sickness pills, took a stop at the bait dock and off we went. The gentle up and down lull of the boat and humming of the motor were kind of relaxing. MilE and I just kept one eye on the land in the distance and enjoyed the fresh air and ocean breeze. We made it to our first stop, dropped anchor and attempted to bait our hooks. Okay, milE attempted, she is so much braver than me! No way no how was I sticking a hook through the nose or gill of a sardine or a anchovy (Yup, they are two different fish. In all my ignorance, I thought it was called a sardine when it was alive, and an anchovy after packaging in those cool metal tins with the roll back lids!). Besides baiting the line, there was no orientation on how to use a fishing pole, and no one took it upon themselves to teach (husbands!), so we were kind of left to our own devices, and a little help from the deck hands. We learned that it is very important to have live bait, unfortunately for the bait fish, many died without cause dangling from the end of our lines. Up until this point we were doing just fine, then without warning the stomach started churning just a bit, a little sweat accumulated on the upper lip, and palms started to feel slightly clammy, these feelings were brought on by a combination of staring down at my line and the boat bouncing up and down up and down up and down up and down... MilE sat down on deck first, I soon followed, my bait was dead anyway. The captain kindly offered us water bottles, which we were charged for later. The rest of this experience really has no words, good thing Lapple was so understanding and caught it all on film!

Here is milE post-wretching and ralphing, and I am soon to be in the throws of it, though I tried desperately not to look at milE as she puked over the side in an attept to avoid the ripple affect of vomit. Lapple said "smile" and we did. Well, milE smiled, I don't think I quite made it.

Here is the beginning for me, the dry heave is the worst! At this point, the vomit is inevitable, I just wanted it to be over!

And here it comes. I don't know why milE is laughing, wasn't she just doing the same thing? She really has a strange sense of humor, or utter lack of empathy!

Still smiling, what is her deal? Whew, glad that is over. Maybe now I can start smiling too.

Just Kidding! Apparently, I have a little more to share. MilE likes to watch.

After this was all over, we both hopped up on the upper deck behind us and laid in our misery. Where were our husbands? Yeah, we don't know either. We took a little snooze, and poor milE ended up having a second bout of sea sickness, which we unfortunately didn't catch in pictures. This all happened before 8:30 am, only 4 1/2 hours to go. We were awakened by cries from the other side of the boat, where Lapple was having the fight of his life...with a fish.

This is before it got really tough, about 5 minutes in.

Hoss and UncleT just fishing and watching. 10 minutes.

Hoss decided to try his luck closer to Lapple, 20 minutes.

Ah, I think his line got caught in some seaweed. 30 minutes.

Still fighting. No one else was catching anything, so everyone started following Lapple around the boat to watch his incredible braun in action. His arms are really starting to burn!
35 minutes.

This fish has taken Lapple almost full circle around the boat. See the giant bamboo pole? That is for poking the sea lions, who are particularly adept at eating your fish just as it breaks the surface and leaving only the head on the hook. 40 minutes.

The end is in sight! Wow, my big bro is the strongest guy I know, well besides my Superman, Hoss. But what incredible endurance. There is speculation on board that this is a Halibut, or a Tuna, maybe a Bat ray! 45 minutes.

50 minutes.
Well, unfortunately, I think it is safe to say that the fish won. It was a good, honest fight, one that will go down in the history books. Too bad it was probably 400 lbs of seaweed (says Hoss).

The day wasn't a total loss. Despite never having fished before, milE and I both reeled in a fish. Let me be really specific here, we reeled in a fish. UncleT couldn't bare for us to go out on the boat and not catch anything, so he did the dirty work, baited the hook, cast the line, waited for the fish to bite, and then passed off the line. What a great guy.

How does this thing work? 30 seconds.

Can you see it? 1 min.

Woah, I guess I should start turning the, ah, reel?! 2 minutes.

There is my fish. Pretty Cool. Now what? 3 minutes.

UncleT: Kiss it! It's your first fish!
Rose: Are you kidding! There is no way I am touching it, let alone kissing it!
4 minutes.

Okay, this is as close as I am going to get.

It really isn't fair that in less than 5 minutes and minimal labor I "caught" a fish, and after nearly an hour of fighting, Lapple had nothing to show for his work except a broken pole. Maybe next time. I think this is going to have to become an annual tradition, well, at least the vacation to San Diego part.

Blog Bonus: A taste of lil-mil and his fantastic pre linguistic skills...and his good taste in lip gloss!

Imitation is a critical step in the development of language!
How do you rotate a video, anyone?

Cali Adventures: Part 1

Lil-mil +2 made the long journey from Philly to San Diego, where life is a vacation, just to visit us...and to play a little tourist. After unfortunate weather delays, they finally arrived safe and sound and we headed off to Sea World, not so bright and early the next morning. Little cuz BigT and nephew lil-mil were in their own little world as they attempted to breach the obviously child-proof fence at this family friendly theme park, with minimal effort, to take a swim. BigT almost made it to the wide open waters, but luckily Rose swooped in to the rescue not a moment too soon.

We visited Shamoo and friends, but must admit, while the Killer whales were neat, they didn't compare in their skill and agility to that of the dolphins. Unfortunately, we were so enthralled with the unbelievably high jumping and incredible splash radius of the dolphins, that we didn't think to document. Our choice of seating was vast, but we opted to heed the glaring signs marking the "soak zone", where odds of getting wet are unquestionable, and stay dry. We were also admittedly entertained by the surprisingly shocked individuals sitting in the "soak zone" as they screamed and unsuccessfully attempted to run or jump to avoid the torrents of water.

Lil-mil wasn't as entertained by the giant marine life as the rest of us, he was much more interested in the multiple birds circling menacingly over head. I wish we had caught it on video, but to paint an inferior picture, he pointed at the birds in the sky and said, "wow", repeatedly. Auntie Rose of course took this as an opportunity for language development and bombarded lil-mil with "bird" along with its sign, and am pleased to report that by the end of the long weekend, he was signing "bird" and "more" with increasing accuracy and of course, his little fingers were oh so cute. Here he is looking a little dazed with the rents, milE and Lapple.


The big boys took an adventurous helicopter ride to the wild Arctic, while milE and Rose stuck with lil-mil on the "motion free" option. We played around in the Polar bear caves, thank goodness all we saw of the Polar bears were their paw prints! Lil-mil was tough and bore the cold with no problem.

Our favorite animal in the arctic was the Beluga whale. Beluga whales are white to blend in with the snow, they have no dorsal fin, they have un-fused neck vertebrae to allow them to shake their heads in frustration when they can't find food, they are the only animal of their kind that can swim backwards, which gives them an advantage against their prime predator, the Polar bear, and their voice scares lil-mil. Who knew? Good thing we went to Sea World.

Here we are with lil-mil in the Arctic base station research lab. He really likes to hang onto Uncle Hoss, he is like a super protector. Who wouldn't feel safe with a superman like that by their side? He even gets a little curl of hair in the front, but tries to hide that, it's kind of a dead give away as to his true identity.


Lil-mil wasn't into petting the Bat-rays, but he had no problem letting Auntie Rose live vicariously through him to pet the starfish. See how I do a little hand-over-hand to "help" him pet the starfish? I actually did end up touching the starfish, come on, I am from Wyo, some opportunities you just can't pass up! However, one look at the million little suction cups on their underside, and their circular claw-like mouths, and it was all lil-mil for holding the little suckers. What a brave kiddo, I think the starfish started feeding on his hand! Good thing Super Uncle Hoss was there to pull it off!