iambents

Up at a ridiculously early hour this morning and left The Keating to head down to the Gaslamp Hilton for the first meetings of the day. I managed to slog my way through and at the end of the day I had achieved a lot so I cannot complain too much.

After work I headed out to Balboa Park – trying to get in some last minute sightseeing before the trip home. I took sunscreen this time and even purchased a very expensive hat in the gift shop of my first stop – the San Diego Air and Space Museum. This giant hanger is crammed full (and possibly too full) of civilian and military aircraft. Favourite had to be the Blue Angels F/A-18 Hornet. The building it is housed in is interesting too – built originally by Ford for some 1930s showcase. It was styled to look like a V8 engine.

From there I headed over to the San Diego Automotive Museum which seems like a old boys club – with all the old dudes inside polishing their favourite toys.

There are a bunch of amazing buildings in the Park including the San Diego Museum of Man which is housed in this massive gothic building built for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition. There is also the San Diego Museum of Art with its ornamented door and the San Diego Natural History Museum.

Curiously there is the Old Globe Theatre which was built in 1935 as a copy of a Chicago-based theatre – which itself was based on the Globe Theatre in London. The original theatre was burnt down in the 1970s in an arson attack – so the building there today was built in the 1980s and is completely coated in the names of its benefactors.

The highlight of the park has to be the San Diego Zoo. By the time I got up there my camera only had a minimum of battery left. I had left my visit to Monday thinking that it would be quieter – but I couldn’t have been wronger. The place was completely packed. Interestingly (or maybe it is an American thing) the zoo is privately owned. It takes a similar approach to many Australian zoos in that its exhibits are based around particular habitats and they have done a reasonably good job of making some of these seem quite realistic.

From there I headed back into town and met up with colleagues for my last meal in San Diego at a restaurant called Searsucker. Nothing was going to trump last night – but my appertiser of egg + bacon “pork belly” was just great.

When I got back to The Keating I had a bunch of exploratory emails from one of my grant funding bodies that took me several hours to sort out (and I don’t know for sure that I have sorted out anything). I will sleep well tonight (particularly after a couple of Unisom).

Night

Just a short entry tonight because I didn’t get much time outside of work. I was hiding away a little letting my sunburnt skin have a break too. Will I ever learn? Perhaps not.

After work I dropped by CVS to grab some sunscreen so that I can get out of the hotel and not need to hide away over the next couple of days and then headed down to one of the local award winner restaurants called Nobu in the Hard Rock Hotel. Loads and loads of family style dishes for the group – food was great.

Amongst those ordered:

• Yellowtail sashimi with jalapeno
• Washu beef sashimi
• Yellowfin tuna with cilantro dressing
• Salmon tartar with caviar
• Black cod with miso
• Steamed chilean sea bass with dried miso
• Arctic char with crispy brussels sprouts, aged black garlic sauce
• King crab tempura with amazu ponzu sauce
• Lobster with wasabi pepper sauce

Amongst others. More than $1000 for five of us. But so yum.

One of the outcomes for today was a decision on what the Association are going to value my contribution as. Outcome was favourable – although the way that one person in particular hedged his bets really drove me up the wall. Very narky mood – and then having to eat dinner with this individual did not put me in the best of moods.

I have a 6am start tomorrow morning – and have to do a few things before I can get started – so better hit the Unisom and try to get myself sorted out. Need to be up in 5 hours.