I could live here-there

I’m headed back from the left coast! The Royals impatiently await my returned…I think, I hope. They will most likely hop around for a couple minutes performing smile-making antics until they realized “Oops, we’re Scotties”, and go back to their high-brow intolerance of all things human.

Writing this on the flight back to Dallas, I look back and know a grand time was had in San Diego. I had not been to SD since I was a then-chubby kid of barely double digits old. I cannot remember much except “The Zoo”. Bummer! So this time I had my cameras (3 of them) to well-document the trip. This morning we huffed-it around Balboa Park, home of the world famous San Diego Zoo. We had no time to take in the zoo, put the Park was pretty cool.

Now I’m gonna make a huge assumption in saying Balboa Park is to San Diego what Central Park is to NYC. The Park reminded me of reasons I leaned to the artsy, architecture, landscapey side so many years ago. Perhaps it was an influence subconsciously cemented in my impressionable psyche at such a tender age when mom and dad took us there. Oh geez we’re getting a bit deep now…”yeah right Timbo. Why didn’t your brothers fall victim to such a financially-poor career influence then? They were along on that trip too ya know. Keep trying to explain it the way you are…maybe something will stick one of these days.”

I didn’t get much relaxation on this trip. Besides the full agenda with Hunter Industries, a number of “issues” came up from the office. Those caused several accelerated battery drains of my dumb-phone, bothersome and annoying interruptions to my picture taking, and a few irritating moments injected into an otherwise enjoyable trip to say the least. But that’s all good now. I don’t need to take PTO with my employment! This 3-day trip was in effect the same as a work-from-home-away-home trip. I can charge my time away: two days of office emails and texting…one day of professional development training with Hunter Industries. All from a place at least 25 degrees cooler than home!

Several new friendship were made this week. Even though I was old enough to be each of my trip compadres’ father, our enjoyment of each other was mutually shared (yes 4 of the 5 were younger than my FS). Ahhh how I like to be around young professionals as they seem to keep me from becoming too much of a grump and less cynical of my chosen profession, not to mentioned challenged in my daily talents and in denial of my aging attitudes towards being a working stiff. Thanks you guys – Ray, Cody, Scott, Chris, and of course the guy that instigated this trip, my good professional brother Charley. It all went on his credit card and he was gracious enough to share his experiences of the city having grown up there. (last night’s dinner at the Greystone Steakhouse was simply delightful).

I ate too much of wonderfully wrong stuff to progress with my tonnage-loss efforts this week. I fear the talking scale at home will take a scolding tone once I step foot on it’s unwelcome mat. We’ll just have to wait and see what a deli sandwich, one Gin & Tonic, grilled seafood and fried calamari from Asti Restorante, a couple glasses of Cabernet Savininon, Pandora Breads breakfast sandwich, the Double-Double at In-N-Out Burgers, the renowned crab cake from The Greystone menu, a cold Samuel Adams from the tap at The Gaslamp Bar and Grill, a bland pale ale microbrew at the Bristol Hotel we-close-early-around-here bar (10pm…WUWT?), that San Diego omelet from Daisy’s Restaurant, and the lunch-time Wild Salmon in corn tortillas tacos from Rubia’s does to my self-esteem reluctantly standing buck-naked as my weigh-in is realized tomorrow morning. Perhaps I should get a haircut, clean my ears, shave, and clip all finger and toenails before stepping on the scales….