Category: San Diego Living

  • Goosebumps

    Goosebumps

    In August we will have lived in San Diego for eight years, making it the longest place Kristen and I will have lived in our adult lives. (Chicago, 1994 – 2002; Romeo, 2003 – 2008)

    While we’ve fallen in love with and great enjoyed everywhere we’ve lived… there’s just something special about San Diego. While the tagline might be America’s Finest City we’ve become smitten with a place that grabs your heart in unexpected, sometimes non-touristy spots. Here’s a few snapshots of places that have given me goosebumps over these past eight years.

    Sunrises over San Diego Bay

    https://www.instagram.com/p/zFZca_sjtY/

     

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    While tourists slumber, San Diegans take in the sheer, raw beauty of San Diego’s bay. Some of my most haunting moments of solitude have come on a glassy paddle across a silent bay to the bass-laden flats in Chula Vista, watching the sunrise over the mountains, light pouring over where darkness had taken hold. In this distance you hear revelry play on Naval bases while gradually the city wakes up to make noise.

    Watching the tiny blue line burst forth into an indescribably sunrise, goosebumps.

    Beach Bonfires

    https://www.instagram.com/p/5yNlUIMjrV/

    While tourists leave our beaches and head for their hotels, locals don fleece to flock to the fire pits partaking in the glorious ritual of a beach bonfire BBQ as the sun sets. Whether at Mission Beach, Ocean Beach, or our newfound favorites in Mission Bay… sitting around a fire while the day slips into night is always magical. Goosebumps.

    Viejas Arena

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BDUiuq5sjnX/

    I couldn’t be more proud to be associated, if only as a fan, all that’s happening at San Diego State University. The development phenomenon goes far beyond the success of football and basketball… but it is symbolized by what  happens at Viejas.

    Selling out an NIT game in 12 minutes, goosebumps.

    Christmas at the San Diego Zoo

    https://www.instagram.com/p/xDUY3HMjqh/

    Definitely a “locals only” kind of tradition. Each year, after the presents are opened and with supper digesting, San Diegans head to the San Diego Zoo to stroll.

    Have you ever heard the lion roar? It’s sound fills the entire park. Goosebumps. 

    Landing at San Diego airport

    https://www.instagram.com/p/nVuEI4sjlL/

    Confession? I dreaded flying home to O’Hare or Detroit’s Wayne airport. It was good to be home, but it was never quite like landing at Lindberg Field.

    There’s nothing quite like sitting near someone on a plane who has never landed in San Diego before. You see aircraft carriers, the Coronado Bridge, and then… you fly between some skyscrapers before landing right next to the harbor.

    Coming home after a long work trip, goosebumps.

    Here’s to many more years of San Diego goosebumps. 

  • Kayaking, a New Obsession

    Kayaking, a New Obsession

    I don’t even know how to describe this obsession. Which is, I suppose, the definition of an obsession.

    As the summer began I had a tiny spark of a thought that I needed to find something fun to do that’d get me outside more. I have a personal philosophy of recreation but I had just let it lapse.

    My first thought was golf. I absolutely love golf. I grew up playing the game. I love playing… I’m actually a decent enough golfer. (Official handicap is 7, though 11 is more like it.) And, especially while we were in Michigan, it was a constant source of solace. So I started doing research on that. In Michigan I was able to get a membership at a course for under $1000 a year. (I played 5-6 times per week!) But here in San Diego there’s just not that cost-effective option, a course membership would cost me at least $500 per month! On top of that I need new clubs, so we’re really talking about something that’d be $3000 to start and $500-$1000 per month to do well.

    Yeah, too much.

    Then we went on vacation to Yosemite, where my favorite thing is to play in the Merced River. After which we went to Cayucos, where Kristen and I spent about 40% of our time either on the beach or walking the beach.

    Somewhere in there I got bit by the idea that we needed to get into kayaking here in San Diego.

    So when I got home in late-July the hunt for kayaks began. After several days of trolling Craigslist, asking a bunch of questions, watching way too many YouTube videos, we bought 2 kayaks and all the gear. (PFDs, car carriers, paddles, and everything else.)

    And since then we’ve basically tried to find any available excuse to get the kayaks out on the water.

    Fishing with Paul at Lake Murray

    Exploring caves and getting flipped by waves at La Jolla

    And pretty much any time we’ve got some free time I’m thinking… “I wonder if I can paddle….”

  • Paddling to La Jolla Caves

    Paddling to La Jolla Caves

    Kristen, Jackson, and I had a great time paddling out to the La Jolla Caves.

    Conveniently missing from these photos is proof that I got dumped in the waves twice and Kristen & Jackson got dumped once. We’re all OK, just a great time getting wet and exploring our town!

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  • Two San Diego State Universities: The Power of Winning

    Two San Diego State Universities: The Power of Winning

    I’m new to State. I moved into the College Area in 2008 and quickly adopted them. I’m not an alumni. I didn’t grow up in San Diego. They are just the school that’s near my house and I enjoy going to football and basketball games.

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  • San Diego via Timelapse

    Oh baby, this captures so much of what makes San Diego a beautiful place to live.

    I can’t wait for my little rail kit rail & dolly kit to arrive so I can start learning how to shoot these kinds of time-lapse shots.

  • Transportation matters

    Since moving to San Diego in 2008 I’ve taken a lot of public transportation. In fact, part of choosing where we live was proximity to public transportation.

    I can catch the bus about a quarter mile from our house and the trolley is about 1.2 miles away. With a bike that means I’m 5 to 15 minutes away from one of those options all the time. Speaking of my bike– I tend to ride my bike anywhere I can within about 3 miles.

    Here’s what I know

    I interact with people I would never, ever encounter if I drove my car everywhere. Normal folks like me headed to/from work. Tourists perpetually lost. Homeless folks. Mentally unstable folks. Rich folks, poor folks, cops, drug dealers, addicts. And every other combination of people you can imagine.

    My interactions aren’t always conversations. Sometimes it’s small talk and often times it’s just observing.

    When speed and convenience become the objectives of getting where I need to go I miss out on the richness of these interactions.

    No, the trolley isn’t the fastest way for me to get to work. No, riding my bike after dark on a busy street isn’t the safest option. And yes, I recognize that I’m fortunate to live in a place where these are options.

    But here’s the thing: Most don’t. In fact, given the choice almost every person I know would rather get in their car and zip to their place of work than wait on a bus or ding-ding on the trolley.

    Each day as I’m walking somewhere or riding my bike or sitting on the trolley zillions of cars go by. Most have a single person in them. Most of those people are doing something else. (Listening to the radio, talking on their phone, etc.)

    And those of us in the slow lane are the ones smiling.

    So what’s the point?

    You can make the choice to slow down. Walk places when you can. Leave the car in the driveway. Make time to take time.

    We all know life isn’t about getting to our destination. So why not embrace the journey in your daily life? 

  • Paul’s Fishing Trip

    Kristen and I decided that we’d give each of the big kids an experience as part of their Christmas. So Megan is going whale watching with mom and I took Paul fishing out on the open ocean.

    After a lot of research online I booked our day on the Daily Double out of Point Loma Sportfishing. (Yelp review) It was pretty reasonably priced and the reviews were good, especially for those with kids.

    We weren’t disappointed! We both had a great time, made a lot of memories, caught some fish, and had plenty of stories to tell.

    (click on the images to see them full-sized, sorry about the upside down ones!)

    These are the fish bags… each hoping to be filled with fish.
    A beautiful sight with San Diego beginning to fade into the distance
    My boy, looking very serious before we left the docks
    Boats in the harbor
    A sunny day having a blast with Paul
    A gorgeous tall ship sailing out of the harbor when we were coming in
    Looking off the bow into the harbor
    That’s Cabrio, the famous lighthouse on top. Now it’s a national landmark
    Filleting our catch!
    The seagulls & pelicans chasing the boat, hoping for some scraps
    Not as interested in this one… “Dad, stop taking pictures!”
    Hawaii in the distance…
    Our fish getting sliced-n-diced
    Our catch!
    I’m sure there was something important here. Just enjoy…
    There were whales over there.
    We took a lot of these pictures. I love hanging with my boy!

     

  • Passing on a love of sports

    My dad took me to lots of games at Notre Dame. Later in middle and high school it became more about football than the other sports. But I have lots of fond memories of spending time with my dad at Notre Dame basketball, hockey, and football games. I even remember a couple baseball and soccer games along the way.

    Even though no one in my family went to Notre Dame, we lived so close and experienced so much there, that I have a pretty strong connection to the campus. My friends and I rode bikes all over campus. (Don’t tell my mom!) We played hide-n-seek near the Grotto and skateboarded the trail around St. Joeseph’s Lake. We yelled and made echoes between the giant buildings and dared one another to go into the administration building. (aka Golden Dome) I spent hundreds of hours in the library (aka Touchdown Jesus) during my senior year of high school and still have 10-15 unpaid parking tickets for parking in the basketball coaches spot when he wasn’t there.

    But most of my memories of Notre Dame are from Saturday’s in the Fall. My dad had a group of friends who put on epic tailgate parties. 75-100 people would hang out and party between 3 motor homes starting before dawn and going until dark. When I was really young we went to almost every game because you could always find a ticket for free or almost free. That changed in the late 1980s and early 1990s when Lou Holtz had them in National Championship form year after year. But I managed to find a way in to a lot of games in those days. My stepdad had a brother who was an usher who could sneak me in. I’d get to the stadium several hours before the kickoff and sit in his usher seat during the game. When it was too cold or I’d get bored I’d climb into the scoreboard and watch the game from that little window, listening to the TV cameramen shuffle their feet above my head as they operated the endzone camera. For a couple of years my stepmom was an MBA student and we had tickets at the front of the student section. During those years I got to go to the games it was too cold for my dad and stepmom to enjoy. Cemented in my memory for a lifetime is freezing my butt off and hunting for hot chocolate during the 1992 snow bowl.

    San Diego State

    There’s no comparing Notre Dame to San Diego State. Pretty much everything that could be different about the two schools is different. But what isn’t different is the proximity of where we live. I grew up about a mile from Notre Dame’s campus and my kids are growing up about a mile from San Diego State’s campus. So I want my kids to experience the campus. (Um, the positive sides of campus activities!) That’s why I’m commited to taking them to football and basketball games and other fun/educational things offered on campus for kids.

    I’d love for my kids to build happy memories about a place with their dad. Just like my growing up around Notre Dame… every moment isn’t memorable and not everything is going to make a lasting impression.

    What are you doing to build memories with your kids? What kinds of things did you do with your parents which built lasting memories? 

  • San Diego blackout live blog

    4:00ish – they power went out, first we thought it was just a breaker. Ten a neighbor banged on our door.

    4:05 – saw on twitter lots of activity. Hearing it’s out all over San Diego. Crazy!

    4:08 – trolleys are down, people are leaving work. Beer thirty came early! Thankful I didn’t go back downtown after my meeting at Journey.

    4:21 – kids got bored, playing dominos. (lofi fun!)

    4:32 – kids bored again. Goodbye dominos.

    4:44 – hearing sirens on El Cajon Blvd. Eerily quiet out there.

    4:47 – taking bets on when the power comes back on. Paul says dinner, Megan says tomorrow. When do you think? Also seeing on Twitter that parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Baja are out

    4:55 – filled up a couple jugs with water, just in case.

    4:59 – cell service is completely slammed. I’m not getting anything through now.

    5:04 – just heard that SDGE is reporting power will be out into the night, maybe as late a tomorrow.

    5:09 – off to find ice

    5:15 – Vons is closed, strike 1.

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    5:21 – you can always trust a liquor store to be open. Unfortunately, my favorite one is sold out of ice. (avoided buying booze, tempting)

    5:29 – Paul (age 8) is telling me he thinks this was caused by a solar flare.

    5:37 – everywhere is either closed or out of ice. The upside is that everyone is calm and courteous on the roads. There will be a massive party tonight, you can feel that coming.

    5:46 – good news, no problems with water (yet) watering the garden. It’s cooling off rapidly out there.

    5:52 – looks like the gas is out, too. Thankful that our roast was already done for dinner. Weird that the gas is out.

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    6:04 – lots of sirens in the distance, no bueno.

    6:10 – bad news on the roast, we have to eat it all.

    6:21 – Filling up more stuff, the water pressure is noticeably lower. We are also sitting in the back yard now. Going to be a night of community!

    6:33 – sitting outside and playing, “I survived the blackout and all I needed was an Apple, baboon, cotton candy, deer, ear plugs…

    6:39 – the world may end… We have no cell service.

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    6:55 – going to take a walk, might as well be neighborly

    7:15 – rolando community BBQ tonight, awesome. Everyone is out walking and talking. Best night ever!

    7:38 – back from our walk, digging out candles. SDGE is saying maybe no power back until tomorrow. Some area have a water emergency, so far not ours. Have I mentioned how quiet it is? No planes or anything.

    7:48 – darkness is arriving, the kids are pacing in a dark house. They have no idea what to do. How many hours until the sun rises?

    7:56 – with darkness settling in, all I hear is chatter of neighbors, crickets, and a helicopter over City Heights. I hope the helicopter pilot got epic shots of a dark city. Crazy.

    8:01 – on our walk a gas meter looking thing was running, sounded like a generator. Anyone know what that is?

    8:10 – saw on twitter that school was already cancelled for tomorrow. Summer vacations revenge! Thankful our area not under water restrictions yet. Am I obsessing about water or is it just hot?

    8:25 – brought the kids outside to look at the stars. The moon is almost obnoxiously bright.

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    8:29 – forced the children to eat all of the ice cream, also informed them that school closed tomorrow. Best day ever!

    8:48 – listening to am 600. Heard they are restoring power to OC, Tijuana.

    8:58 – KPBS is reporting that the power is back on at SDSU. I guess the giant toga party is ending…

    9:09 – spoke to an AP reporter covering the blackout.

    10:25 – we see lights on far out to the east on the hills. We secretly hate those people.

    10:34 – power is on in La Mesa, just like 2 miles from here. Now I’m just wanting this over.

    10:35 – if the power isn’t on by morning, filet mignon and eggs for breakfast.

    10:48 – power on at SDSU & La Mesa, but Rolando? Nothing. I’m calling Jesse Jackson in the morning.

  • Mexico isn’t Scary

    Not-so-scary street tacos and real Coke

    I spent yesterday with some folks from Amor Ministries in Tijuana.

    The point of our trip was to visit some recent Amor houses built in a colonia to create a video inviting NYWC participants to spend a day of convention there building a house. The houses we saw were anywhere from 3 days old to 10 months old. If you aren’t familiar with how it works, essentially Amor acts as an agent of blessing for a local group of pastors. Individuals from the community request help from their local church, and the pastor asks Amor to build a starter-house for a family. They intentionally don’t do everything because they want the family to come in and make it their own.

    You aren't afraid of a place where children buy neon colored baby chicks, are you?

    Here’s the reality for Amor (and YWAM, whom I visited last year): Fear of gang violence has lead to tons of people from the States stopping their annual trips down. Conversely, the downward dip in the economy has meant people already poor in TJ are now much poorer.

    All Amor is trying to do is help the local pastor answer the question, “How can the church be Good News so that the community will hear and receive Good News?”

    Let me just say this: Forget what you’ve heard on the news. Yes, there are problems. Yes, drug cartel violence is horrible and deadly. But is Jesus always asking you to do the safest thing? 

    But TJ is still TJ. It’s a border town. And a border town is a border town. (No one ever claimed that Sarnia or Windsor Ontario were the hallmarks of Canada, did they?) If anything it’s much more developed than it was when I first went there 10 years ago. And I don’t think there is anything there to be afraid of for you or I.

    Now, if you’re buying or selling drugs. Or at a club until 2 AM. TJ might be dangerous for you. But so is Carlsbad.