Winding down in San Diego...

I’m leaving San Diego in about 3 months.  It’s sad/exciting to write that.  It’s amazing that a five year period of my life is so neatly packaged and now it’s (almost) over.  Aug 13, 2008- brand new resident, Aug 9, 2013- board-eligible Navy otolaryngologist.  Woo-hoo!  I definitely feel ready but there are a few things I’d like to do in San Diego before I go:

*Bonfire on the beach  (5/25)

*Del Mar Fair (didn't happen this year but I went two years ago so it's been done)

*Del Mar Races (opening day baby!)

*Eat at Hodads (5/17 at the ballpark)

*Stand-up Paddle Boarding (5/30 Fiddler's Cove)

*Brunch and Bike on the 101 with SMS (our first date!)

*Dinner at the Marine Room

*Dinner at Oceanaire, or at least Baked Alaska!

*Lunch at Kitchen 4041 (6/5)

*Dim Sum in Kearny Mesa

*Ray at Night (not going to happen!  Second Saturday of the month and 7/13 is M&M's party and 8/10 is Marissa's wedding)

*Hillcrest Farmer’s Market

*Little Italy Farmer’s Market (6/8!, 6/22, 6/29)

*Shakespeare Festival show (7/23 R&G Are Dead)

*Show at La Jolla Playhouse

*Picnic at the Gliderport

*Hang out at Altitude
[ADDED 7/1]
*Thanksgiving sandwich at Big Front Door (It was good, not great)
*Meal at the Carnitas Shack
*Free Tuesday Museums in Balboa Park (Science Museum)

Here's a great article I found on the different neighborhoods of San Diego.  There are a few more restaurants in the article that I'd like to hit up. 

Climbing with SMS

Apart from SMS, another big thing that has entered my life in the past 5 months is rock climbing.  SMS has been rock climbing since 2002 and is really, really good.  I marvel at some of the rock he climbs.  In general, he makes it look so effortless and the routes he climbs are not easy.  Some of the things he climbs don't even seem like fun to me, they're so tough!

He really loves it and has shared the sport to me.  I climbed a little bit indoors in college, but SMS and I have gone both to the gym and outside.  It's been awesome to have such a fun activity to share as a couple and it's really nice to do something outdoors on the weekend.  It is such a nice change-up from being inside during the workweek.

The pictures above are from Mt. Woodson (left) and El Cajon Mtn (right).  I'm belaying Kate from the most comfortable tree perch up a 10b crack, which I climbed too!  Bottom left is SMS on a 12a face(!). The picture on the right is me descending after our multi-pitch climb on El Cajon by the "Diamond of San Diego."

Above are more El Cajon pics.   The hike in is about 75 minutes.  The handholds overall are really great as long as one doesn't go off route (read: me).  Mark looks like he is having a little more fun than me in the action shots but the selfie shows we are both having an awesome time!

Coachella, Day 3

 Day 3 was a little sad because we knew that there would be a lot of awesome bands we would miss since we had to get back.  That’s sort of the nature of Coachella though since neither one of us had Monday off plus we were starting to lose energy.  Bands we missed that I wanted to see included Rodriguez, Wu-Tang, Vampire Weekend and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  

Coachella Fashion!  This conversation started when
the guy in the pink spandex complimented the girl on
HER spandex.  The dude in the short shorts tried to
 get in on the fashion game too.

  BUT, we did see some great shows.  After realizing that we had totally, 100% drained Jenny’s battery, we tried to jump from a neighbor’s car which didn’t work.  After we saw the sets we wanted, we called the tow truck who had to call into dispatch to figure out how to jump a hybrid.  The complicating bit was that we had drained the battery so completely, that the security system also had to be reset.  I felt like we got our $40 worth but whatever company was staffing the lots were making a KILLING.

  So what sets did we see?  The Airborne Toxic Event who were surprisingly good.  Surprising in the sense that I had heard the group name but never any of their songs and it was awesome.  The Gaslight Anthem was also quite good but the high point and where we called it good was seeing the Lumineers. They are so good live and I had really wanted to see them so I left Coachella pretty happy with all the bands I had managed to see.  Of course there were conflicts on the schedule but overall, it was another great experience.

  

The drive home was uneventful once the battery was charged and we were on our way. 

Setlists

The Airborne Toxic Event

All At Once 

All I Ever Wanted 

Does This Mean You're Moving On? 

Changing 

Wishing Well 

Safe 

Timeless 

Sometime Around Midnight 

Missy 

(with I Fought the Law cover/medley)

The Gaslight Anthem

Howl 
The '59 Sound 
Biloxi Parish 
Handwritten 
Old Haunts 
45 
Old White Lincoln 
Mulholland Drive 
Too Much Blood 
American Slang 
The Queen of Lower Chelsea 
Here Comes My Man 
Great Expectations 

The Lumineers

Submarines 
I Ain't Nobody's Problem 
Classy Girls 
Ho Hey 
Flowers In Your Hair 
Dead Sea 
Falling In Love 
Charlie Boy 
Stubborn Love 
Big Parade 
Flapper Girl 

Coachella, Day 2

Saturday started off with a pretty early wake-up.  While it wasn’t as hot as my first Coachella, the heat and the light woke us up around 7.  That morning, we hung out and read our Kindles/book, took a brief nap later in the morning and just generally hung out.  Our nearby neighbors were a bunch of Marines from 29 Palms and they were pretty hilarious.  They weren’t obnoxious at all (aka, they were quiet late at night), but they were definitely having a good time.  They were also concerned that we might not be having a good time since we were so mellow so they very nicely came over to share their sweet tea liquor and also asked if we were doing alright.  We assured them that yes, we were having fun so they were relieved. 

Our Neighbors

Our Neighbors on top of their car

  Tawnne and I headed in around 3 and had no problems sneaking in our Everclear to spike our drinks inside because a girl smooth passed out in front of us as we were walking in.  There was much more passing out this year than what I remember last time but she seemed fine and security was distracted.  We saw the entire Dropkick Murphys set and they were so high energy and such amazing musicians that it was an awesome start to the day.  We stayed around and watched the Violent Femmes, who played their whole first album.  They sounded great but looked like Jimmy Buffett with aloha shirts and the suggestion of manboobs so it was sort of depressing that yes, high school was a long time ago for the two of us!

Violent Femmes

  We saw a little bit of 2 Chainz who was totally tearing it up on the Mojave stage.  He was awesome and I definitely want to listen to more of his stuff.  Then we had a break until the Postal Service.  Afterwards, we saw Franz Ferdinand, which was definitely a highlight.  It was hard b/c The XX and Two Door Cinema Club were playing but we stayed for the entire FF set and it was totally worth it.  We then saw the tail end of Janelle Monae, who was INCREDIBLE.  She had the most energy of anyone I saw that weekend and she did a great cover of “I want you back.”  After her set, Tawnne headed back and I stuck around for a little bit of Phoenix and Sigur Ros.  They were both good and cool points if I had stayed but I was so tired I just decided to head back to the tent.  I stopped in the shower trailer on the way and then went to bed.

Setlists

Dropkick Murphys

The Boys Are Back 

Burn 

Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ya 

Prisoner's Song 

Out On The Town 

Citizen C.I.A. 

Jimmy Collins' Wake 

Rose Tattoo 

Out of Our Heads 

The Irish Rover 

(with James Fearnley)

I'm Shipping Up to Boston 

T.N.T. (AC/DC cover)

Franz Ferdinand

No You Girls 
The Dark of the Matinée 
Evil Eye 
Do You Want To 
Michael 
The Blackpool Illuminati 
Walk Away 
Right Thoughts! Right Words! Right Action! 
Take Me Out 
Ulysses 
Can't Stop Feeling 
Outsiders (with Drum Jam outro)

Janelle Monae

Suite II Overture 
Dance or Die 
Faster 
Locked Inside 
Sincerely, Jane. 
I Want You Back 
(The Jackson 5 cover)
Cold War 
Tightrope 

Two Door Cinema Club

Sleep Alone 
Undercover Martyn 
Do You Want It All? 
This Is the Life 
Wake Up 
Sun 
I Can Talk 
Next Year 
Something Good Can Work 
Handshake 
Eat That Up, It's Good for You 
Someday 
What You Know

Coachella, Day 1

So, Tawnne and I borrowed Jenny’s MASSIVE car (a Toyota Highlander) and made our way over to Coachella.  Tawnne had bought tickets several months before when the went on general sale.  Unfortunately, only she got into the ticketmaster queue and there was a two ticket per person limit so we couldn’t go group-style but she and I had fun before and were super-excited for the weekend.

  
We got there Friday.  SMS and I went cake-tasting at VG donuts that morning and it was awesome!  The cakes were so good and the samples provided were ridiculous in size.  To clarify, they were ridiculously big since I have heard of other places that provide teeny-tiny samples.  Two were free and we bought two more and we pretty much decided on our cake that day. [Although we ended up going back one more time, picking another flavor and tinkering with the design.  But now we’re done.  Three tiers, chocolate cake w/cookies and cream filling and vanilla cake with bavarian cream w/chooped fresh strawberries.  Yum!]

  Ok!  Back to Coachella!  So, we left SD shortly before lunch and arrived in Indio about 2.5 hours later.  There was no traffic (yay!) but we were really slowed down in Indio between that BevMo shopping and the longest wait at a “quick” Mexican restaurant for a late lunch.  The food WAS delicious though!  I had an amazing shrimp taco, El Gubernator!  

  We got to the campgrounds and set up our tent.  Super annoyingly, Tawnne’s tent stakes were confiscated because they said the polo ponies could step on any forgotten ones and injure themselves.  While I certainly don’t want a horse getting hurt, wtf?  They was no mention of it on the website and since they have so many people CAMPING, how else are tents secured.  Especially during wind storms, which happened later in the weekend.  Honestly, I think the guy at our station may have misinterpreted the policy because there were lots of metal stakes being hammered in.  I had another tent so we used those stakes rather than purchase plastic stakes from Coachella.  

  By the time we walked in, we had our first scheduling conundrum.  We had heard really good things about Alt-J, but they essentially overlapped Of Monsters and Men.  While it is possible to go back and forth, it takes longer than I would think to walk across the Fairgrounds and we really wanted to see all of M&M.  They were great!  We were really close to the front and they played beautifully.  They’re a little more musically complex than I had initially appreciated on the cd. I was also happy to see them b/c I missed them in December when I hedged my bets that my co-chief resident’s wife would deliver early and I wouldn’t be on call.  I lost that “bet” so I couldn’t travel to see them.

Of Monsters and Men

  Just before we went to M&M, we heard the last two songs of Metric.  That’s definitely a band I want to hear more of.  We didn’t hear Local Natives, another band that I heard is worth checking out.  We saw bits of the Beach House, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Band of Horses.  I really liked Band of Horses, although I want to look at the setlist to get an idea of songs to look up.  

  The end of the night was definitely a highlight.  Jurassic 5 were awesome and so upbeat with tons of energy.  Following their act was Tegan and Sara, who totally rocked.  I really love their music, although I only know their new stuff which was pretty much all they played.  

  After the concerts, we headed back to tent camping and crashed.  Tawnne went for a shower but I was done.  

Coachella set-lists

M&M

Dirty Paws

From Finner

Slow and Steady

Mountain Sound

Skeletons (Yeah Yeah Yeahs Cover)

King and Lionheart

Lakehouse

Little Talks

Six Weeks

Metric

artificial nocturne  
youth without youth  
help, i’m alive 
synthetica 
breathing underwater 
sick muse 
dead disco 
gold guns girls 
gimme sympathy 

Band of Horses

Is There a Ghost 
The Great Salt Lake 
Laredo 
No One's Gonna Love You 
The Funeral 
Knock Knock 
Ode to LRC 
The General Specific 
Am I a Good Man (Them Two cover)

Jurassic 5

Back 4 U 
I Am Somebody 
Jayou 
Nu-Mark desk solo 
Hip-Hop History 
Break 
Monkey Bars 
Improvise 
Cut Chemist and Nu-Mark solo 
Quality Control 
Concrete Schoolyard 
Countdown 
In the House 
Freedom 
King Tee 
Red Hot 
A Day at the Races 
What's Golden 
This Is 
(outro)


Tegan and Sara

I'm Not Your Hero 
I Was A Fool 
I Couldn't Be Your Friend 
Back In Your Head 
The Con 
Walking With A Ghost 
Shock To Your System 
Call It Off (Impromptu because of drummer delays)
Living Room 
How Come You Don't Want Me 
Now I'm All Messed Up 
Closer 

Sea World

Elaine, SMS, Fadi and Mia!

This weekend, I met SMS’ friends Fadi, Elaine and their cute daughter Mia.  It was a great weekend.  I missed them on Friday because they came in late and I went to bed early.   I don’t normally do that- I’d rather stay up and wait- but I was SO tired and I was on call.  I felt like I’d be really screwed if I stayed up and then got called in.  So, off to bed I went!

Jumping whale

Oh, splash zone!

The next morning, Linda and Rip made everyone breakfast and then we packed up and went to Sea World.  It was actually more fun than I was expecting.  I was looking forward to hanging out with friends, but even the shows were pretty good!  There was a Pet Spectacular show that was embarrassingly impressive to me.  There were a lot of cats, dogs and pigs that had routines and tricks.  We also saw the Shamu show and stayed well out of the splash zone!  We noticed that the show has changed quite a bit- the trainers don’t get in the water with the animals anymore. There was also a young whale that had just been born on Valentine’s Day!  

I got my ticket for free thanks to SeaWorld's Hero Salute program!  The program gives one free ticket to active duty members and three immediate dependents every year.  I had to fill out the form on the computer, print out the voucher and then turn it into the ticket office to trade it in for a ticket (and show my id).

I think the highlight for me was seeing Mia play in the soft floor play zone.  She’s just so cute!  She’s full of smiles and just a total delight!  Elaine and Fadi are awesome, too. That evening, we had pizza at my house and watched the sunset from the roof.  Then, we walked to Extraordinary Desserts and split two pieces of delicious cake!

This is most definitely not Mia.  But it is
how I felt after dessert!

The next day, we had a delicious brunch with caramel overnight soaked French Toast and bacon.  Yum!  Then we went off to Cabrillo National Monument.  We went up to the lighthouse and appreciated the views.  Then we went down to the Tidepools and scrambled around the sandstone cliffs.  Next, SMS, Elaine and Fadi went to Rip and Linda’s (whose home we took over for the weekend while they were up at Newport) while I had to go into work to repair a mandible.  Boo!  Although it was a good case, I am not as into trauma as I used to be!

Slow fizzle...

I'm having the nicest Friday evening after a week that started off packed with evening events but slowly whittled down to a nice, mellow Friday night unwind.  Not that I'm complaining- this week was great but I'm slowly feeling a little burned out from too little sleep, too much activity and still having a TTD list that I can't ever complete.  This very mild ennui is mainly due to lack of sleep and hydration, which I'm trying to remedy.  Lots of water today, no coffee and upping my sleep although still measly at 6.5 hours.  But I will do better.  Sleep is vital.  And lack of sleep is associated with weight gain, which I've unfortunately also noticed that last few weeks.

Whah, whah, whah.  Woe is me!  Let me tell you about the fun parts of my week!  Monday night, I went out with some friends to the Imagine Dragons concert at House of Blues.  It was an awesome show!  There was a ton of energy and I really liked the slightly harder rock style they played, although they too have several songs with the "California Calypso" rhythm that I hear in so many songs (songs that I like, don't get me wrong!).  My favorite song was "On Top of the World" and "Radioactive."

Before the show, Jenny, Colleen, Brooke and I went to Sea Rocket Bistro.  I had the yellowtail with curried cauliflower puree, sauteed cauliflower and kale, which was delicious.  I love veggies done right!  The company was great as was the food, although the service was pret-TY slow.  Afterwards, we picked up Tawnne and off to the show we went!

On Tuesday, I went climbing with a guy that I linked up with through the Facebook running group I'm a part of.  Unfortunately, it was a bit of a bust since he hadn't been climbing in awhile and didn't pass the belay test at the gym so I was partner-less.  I ran into one of SMS' friends Debora and got a few belays off her so all was not lost.

Wednesday, SMS and I went to Happy Sushi (fair) and then went climbing which was a lot of fun.  I feel like I'm slowly getting better but my initial quick pick-up has slowed a little bit.  But I'm working on my strength and endurance and I'll get there!

Thursday, I went out to dinner with Cat and Brooke at 100 Wines, which was so much fun since I hadn't seen Cat in forever.  We took full advantage of the happy hour menu cheaper eats and got a delicious melted Brie, lamb meatballs, caramelized cauliflower and a marinara pizza.  It was so much fun to try different things off the menu and the conversation was great.  We were there for two hours!

Tonight, I was supposed to go to a Williams alumni event but I took a pass.  I did some sprints this afternoon after finishing all of my online training and now I'm catching up on the blog before I finish cleaning up my room.  I started cleaning at 430 this a.m. since I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep.  I'm going to see SMS and his friends this weekend.  We're going to go to Sea World which HOLY CRAP is so expensive.  I get in for free but I definitely had some sticker shock when I bought the tickets, even at the military discount rate.  I could go skiing for that price!  Anyway, time to stop sounding like a cheap old lady!