A few days in SD

Because of my delayed flight the day before, I was only able to spend a few days in San Diego. Nonetheless, I had an action packed schedule. On Sunday, I got up early and drove down from Dana Point to San Diego, taking Pacific Coast Highway (PCH).  Below is a picture I took in Dana Point in the early morning.

For lunch, I met up with Briana Smoody, my ex girlfriend from college. We ate at JRDN, the beachside restaurant in Tower 23. Briana is doing great. She's kicking butt at her job at Concerro, engaged to be married next month and her sister, Meagan, is expecting. It was great to catch up with Beej and happy to hear everything is going well for her and her family.
Yesterday evening, I met my old college roommates, Tim Golden and Matt Soleimanpour. Matt's girlfriend, Tina, also joined us for dinner at PrepKitchen, in Little Italy. The food is farm to table Italian. I had the crab bisque and butternut squash raviolis, both of which were very good. Matt and Tim are doing well. Tim is finishing up his last semester for his masters degree in counseling and Matt is doing the lawyer thing at  Manning Kass Ellrod Ramirez Trester LLP.

Today was the day for meeting old coworkers. For lunch, I met my old boss from the American Lung Association, Diane Sutherland, for lunch. For the past six years, she has been the Assistant Executive Director at the Burn Institute. She looks great and seems like everything is going well.

In the late afternoon, I met up with my old ALA coworker, Sacsy, for a drink downtown and then dinner at an El Salvodorian restaurant in Logan Heights. When I lived in SD, Sacsy and I were really close. We worked together, were running partners and I even accompanied her Thailand to visit her family. Sascy is doing good. She has a new job selling medical supplies and her daughter, Malaysia, is college bound. I still can't believe Malaysia is 18 and that that Sacsy has an 18-year old daughter.

Overall, my trip to SD was really good. I was able to catch up with my old friends and coworkers. The trip also made me nostalgic. I really miss the SD vibe and fondly remember the memories I made there. It's unfortunate that SD is so far away from DC

I ended today by driving up to LA and checking into a cheap hotel room right near LAX. Tomorrow, I fly out to Hong Kong.

Justin

PS. While in SD, I did have a chance to visit USD. Below is a pic I took while walking around campus. It always amazes me how beautiful the campus is.