Traveling

Here's a list of things I've learned about traveling to San Diego this week:

1. Don't piss off the US Custom's agent. It really isn't hard to do either; in fact I'm somewhat convinced he sort of likes being pissed off. Anyways, despite angering this most temperamental of beasts, I was able to weasel my way into a work visa and onto my plane just in time (after being thrown back into Canada once, mind you).
   
   
2. Sometimes it pays to take a cab. My hotel is only a 20 minute walk or so from the office I was working in, so to me it made sense to just walk to and from work. Well, that makes sense when it isn't 8000 degrees Fahrenheit outside.
   
   I wore a suit to work on Wednesday, and I must say that as I left the hotel I looked damn good. I pretty much was guaranteed to make all the women at the office swoon when I got there.... except that by the time I walked through the front door my shirt was literally soaked right through. I'm not exaggerating (I wish I were), it looked like someone had poured a bucket of water on me and slapped a suit jacket over top. Thankfully the suit jacket hid my shame, but it was at least an hour before I dried off.
   
   I took a cab this morning and consider it $15 well spent.
   
   
3. Speaking of the heat, pack some shorts. Who the hell goes to California and forgets to pack shorts? The answer, of course, is me.
   
   
4. Speaking of forgetting things, apparently in San Diego when you ask for a toothbrush, they bring you chocolate mints. Very odd.
   
   
5. Don't expect the place you're staying to be like the place you're from. This is probably a given for most people, but nothing is ever a given for me. I come from a land where 7-11's, Subways, and McDonald's are plentiful and spring forth from the streets like dandelions on my brother-in-laws front lawn. Food is always in sight, no matter where you are.
   
   Apparently in La Jolla, San Diego, the only buildings that developers have the plans to build are hotels and "office parks"; you know, the cute little groupings of fancy office buildings with names like "Eastgate Technology Centre" and "Regent's Delight".
   
   Seriously, I went over 24 hours without food upon arrival because, as far as I can tell, it doesn't exist. I've been surviving on Hostess Cup cakes and instant noodles from the vending machines in the lunch room at the office. I can't wait for the scurvy to kick in so I can see what it looks like to have my joints bleed from the inside.

I might have some more to add to this by the time I get home, lets hope one of them is not "Don't get lost in an area controlled by the 92 Hoover Crips".