sister been and gone

My sister L and her husband A (ventidrip) were in town for a few days; it was nice to see them again, especially when L had more spare time (last time was at A's sister's wedding, so it was a bit hectic.)

Wednesday night, we were just going to grab a quick dinner, but we ended up going over the bridge to Coronado for a bit, then picking up her college friend E in Pacific Beach. From there I took them to Ranchos for a quick bite of dinner, then dropped them back off at their respective hotels.

I took a half-day on Thursday to go to the Wild Animal Park with L. Yes, again. We just did the tram and a quick walk though the "Heart of Africa" exhibit, which was about the right amount of walking for her (she's expecting in August or so.) That's the nicest thing about shelling out for the yearly membership: going to the park for just an hour or two is fine, you don't feel like you're wasting lots of money if you have to leave early. (And at 40$ a pop to get in, that could sting a bit. I'm at the 120$/yr membership level, which gets me and a guest into one or the other park for free once a day, with free parking at the W.A.P. to boot -- I've definitely made that money back this year...)

She took a few hours to recover and meet up with her husband; I went and collected E, then the four of us met up at South Beach for yummy fish tacos. It has been really insanely crowded there lately, and even the waitstaff had no idea what was causing it. We had to be pretty serious table vultures just to get a place to sit down; I can't imagine what it's like if you go in there not being familiar with the Ocean Beach Slacker Seating Rules. The tacos were very good, though -- I just have to figure out how to make it there on weekday afternoons so I can enjoy the yummy food (and look at the cute waitresses!) without having to deal with huge crowds and loud music...

We took a quick jaunt up to La Jolla to see the seals, then dropped E off at her hotel. Back to O.B. so that L and A could pick up their car, and we called it a night. We made vague plans to meet up Friday (which got called off on account of us all being exhausted), and talked about maybe going to the Midway Museum on Saturday (which didn't happen because we all slept in). Oh well...

It was a lot of fun having them visit, and I hope they make it back soon.

random new acquaintances

Felt a little guilty for sleeping in despite having made vague plans with my sister, but since they slept in as well, I don't feel too bad. :) Lounged around the house until about one, then headed out to Ranchos for lunch.

I'd been planning on sitting by myself and working on the Reader's crossword puzzle, but R was there and invited me to sit with her group of friends. They were lots of fun: the two gentlemen were both geeks (one at IBM, one a gov't contractor, both working with computers) and generally leftist, Tilley-wearing, world-travelling good people. As we were finishing, we were accosted by the food reviewer for the Reader, who is a charming fellow from New Zealand. We'll have to see if our quotes show up in next week's review...

After eating, we walked over to a local supermarket (because R had remembered a good deal on compact flourescents, which T wanted to buy a handful of and bring home to Maryland(!)), then R went to the pier while the rest of us walked to the Ocean Beach People's Co-Op; I wanted to pick up some soap, and V and M wanted to show T and S the spiffy new building.

From there, I went to Obee's while the other four headed over to Dog Beach. I finally got around to working on the crossword puzzle, which wasn't as easy as usual -- there were two spots that had me stumped. At least I did better than the bartender T, who usually outclasses me easily at crossword puzzles. If it weren't for the fact that he's from England, he'd completely blow me away; as it is, some of the more obscure Americanisms still escape him.

Finally, someone turned up the scenery knob today. Just at Obee's, there were three girls who were insanely attractive; add that to the cute waitress, and one of the cutest waitresses from another pub stopping by for a drink, and it was very distracting. Earlier, there was some wonderful scenery at the co-op -- not surprising, really: take a town that is [in]famous for it's fabulously fit population, and hang out at the health food store. Wow.

A nice day of decompression. Which should come in handy, as a friend is coming over for some computer help tomorrow, then I'm flying to DFW for work Monday-Tuesday, then to PHX next weekend for a show (but I get to see deliriumdreams, YAY!), and lots more travel, visitors, and general busy-ness. Whew.