The Inland Empire & Arrival in Sunset Beach (CA) -- October 2014

DAY TWO – 21 October 2014

Breakfast wasn’t served until 6 am, and I was waiting just as it opened.  Evert was coming to pick me up at 8 am, so I wanted to have time to get cleaned up, pack, and bring my stuff to the car.  The manager at the front desk last night had given me the okay to keep my car in their garage, as my dealer visits would take me past the normal check-out time.

Checking out the breakfast area, it ended up being a bit more expensive than my work per diem would allow.  Just to get the buffet would consume one-third of my day’s allowance, and it wasn’t that extensive.  Plus I wanted to save as much as the day’s allowance as I could, so I could have some left over for snack items.  I opted for the less-expensive (but still pricey) scrambled eggs plate with hash browns and muffin.  It was tasty, but eating at the hotel meant I was paying for the convenience.

With that done, I got cleaned up, and stowed by suitcase in my rental.  During the check-out process, I informed the front desk of the AC issues, as well as the internet situations, and the person seemed rather apathetic to the situation.  No apology, no thought of knocking something off the bill.  It was just “Here’s you invoice.  Bye.”  Had I time, I would’ve fought this battle after breakfast, or right now, but I didn’t so I didn’t.  The front desk person should be empowered enough to handle situations like this to ensure consumer satisfaction.  I figured I’d be noting this on the TripAdvisor article I write.  If my situation fell on deaf ears there, then perhaps it’ll be read by other management, and action could be taken for subsequent visits.  Honestly, I wasn’t seeing any reason for a return visit at this time.

Riding with Evert, it gave us the opportunity to connect personally, as well as discussing the finer point of the specific dealers in the region we’d be going to.  Since the purpose of the visits was business-related, I’m not going into any details about them, except for the basics of where we went and what impressions of the area I had.

We shot east first to Moreno Valley.  I didn’t see much of the area as it was foggy.  Evert explained there’s a front which moves back-and-forth between here and the coast.  The mornings are foggy here, but when the weather patterns pull it out to the coast it’s been dried out by then.  We were at our locale for a little over an hour, and the area was much clearer when we left.

We went further north to get to Redlands.  This had been once a huge producer of citrus products, so it used to be called “Orange Empire.”  At some point later, and probably to distinguish it from Orange County, this began being called the “Inland Empire.”  Since most of the orchards weren’t here anymore, the area was mostly flat and brown.  With the San Bernardino Mountains in the background, it reminded me a lot of the area around Phoenix (and parts north).  The area was very much made up of working-class people and ranchers.

Some of the formally-empty sections are now being developed, so we had lunch at an In-N-Out Burger in San Bernardino.  Evert suggested that I needed to try a unique California burger.  I did mention I had one on my previous visit, and wasn’t all that impressed.  I also said that we didn’t want to spend a lot of time looking around for a place to get a quick lunch, so it was also acceptable.  This wasn’t carrion-level food like what’s served at Jack-In-The-Box.  A double-double cheeseburger (with no fries) was sufficient to feed the hunger beast for now.  My eating habit is usually a bit more regimented, and I just figured my diet would be slightly out-of-whack this week.

After a stop in the extremely economically-depressed San Bernardino, we shot back down to Riverside.  I picked up my rental, and followed Evert to our dealership on the southern part of the city.  After that visit was done, it was about 3 pm so we were done for the day.  Evert would be heading home to the Anaheim Hills region, and I had the drive along Route 91 (Riverside Freeway) to look forward too.  I hoped to be able to reach my destination quickly, as MapQuest said this shouldn’t be more than an “hour or so.”  I kept that conservative estimate in mind because that’s what it gave me to go from LAX to Riverside to start with.

Yeah, the trip took over two hours, due to the slowness of the building rush hour traffic.  It took over 30 minutes just to cross Santa Ana.  The first part (going from Riverside to Anaheim Hills area) was actually pretty nice to look at, with the Chino Hills to the north and some other mountainous region (which I couldn’t identify) to the south of the highway.  It was much slower when I picked up Route 55, which took me between Santa Ana and Tustin.  As an aside, whenever I hear the name Tustin I always think of the Sand People from Star Wars, which are the “Tusken Raiders.”  I’m sure I’m not the first person to have their brain go to this weird place.  Thanks to the Garmin plotting the route for me, it took me right where I wanted to be.  I took the opportunity to see what eateries and establishments were here, although I wasn’t sure how much time I was going to get to explore.  I was going to want some food as soon as I got checked-in so I could get back to taking care of the emails which had been blowing up my phone all day.

I soon neared the small area known as Sunset Beach.  My route (Warner Avenue) had deposited me on Pacific Coast Highway, and according to the directions the Best Western I’d be staying at was pretty close.  The area reminded me a lot of the “downtown” area of Seal Beach I’d seen last month.  There were mostly businesses and lodges visible from the road (I assumed the houses were located on the side streets), and no building was over three-stories.  This was certainly a place which had the “vacation location” feel to it.

As an aside, I’d been on this section of PCH during the September trip, when we drove from Seal Beach to Huntington Beach for the evening.  It was after dark when we drove that, so I wasn’t able to see too many landmarks then.  I know we chuckled about names of restaurants and such as we went by, but I didn’t commit any of them to memory.  So while I’d technically been here before, it was still new to me.

I saw my hotel, and wondered where the parking was, as Garmin was telling me I’d arrived at my destination.  I turned a corner, and saw a sign for their lot.  The entire ground floor of the hotel was the parking garage.  There was a nice mural on the wall, which showed all the local establishments.  I knew I’d have to get a picture of that at some point.  The parking garage was cramped, and didn’t have much ceiling clearance, but I had a small car which I could easy maneuver.  Still, I figured I’d leave my suitcase in the trunk for the duration.  I’d check in first, see where my room was, and then come back for it.

At the front desk was a pretty young smiling face with a name tag that said “Alex.”  She was very personable and polite, and a joy to talk to.  When I asked for some recommendations on local restaurants I should try, she gave me a couple ones I could try.  The front desk had a painting on it which matched what was in the parking garage.

My room was on the third (top) floor, and faced the highway.  And before you can say anything about potential road noise, I have to note I also had a westward view.  The sunset was already in progress.  There was a small patio which I could sit and enjoy it (perhaps on another day).  The beach was in that direction too, but I just had to figure out how to get there.

Once the suitcase was brought in from the car, and I’d changed out of my suit into some casual wear (khakis and polo shirt), it was time for dinner.  I opted for something which sounded it would be quick, so I cruised back down to the corner of Warner and PCH.  There was a sushi joint (Tsunami Sushi), and an Italian restaurant (Firepit Pizza), but I opted for the Mexican place.

Super Mex was a local chain, and was tucked away in the strip center.  The interior was small, but not crowded.  One of the first things I noticed was the far wall had the same mural that my hotel did.  I wondered if every locale here had this.  I liked how it added some local flare.  Instead of the cheese enchiladas like I normally do at a Mexican restaurant, I just went for the three enchilada plate so I could get one of each type (cheese, chicken, and beef).  I know, radical departure from the norm.  It was very good, but this time the beef was the one which tasted the best.

Back at the hotel I wanted to try to get some work done, and there was some internet connectivity issues, which Alex was able to take care of.  She also pointed out the breakfast area, and what I could expect.  Hmm, didn’t sound like I’d be getting much (if any) protein items tomorrow.

I made a quick jaunt across the street to the stop-and-rob in order to grab some protein bars to be able to nibble during the day tomorrow.  Even though it was after dark, and the area was decently lit, it was still like playing a game of Frogger.  In the middle of the day I might stand in the median if I needed to, but not after sunset.  I’m not very visible then, no matter what I’m wearing.  Then I worked what escalations I could before it was time to drop off.

For more information on the places visited or mentioned:

Moreno Valley (CA):  http://www.moval.org/index.shtml

            Redlands (CA):  http://www.cityofredlands.org/

            “Inland Empire”:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inland_Empire

            San Bernardino (CA):  http://www.ci.san-bernardino.ca.us/

            Anaheim Hills (CA):  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaheim_Hills,_Anaheim,_California

            Santa Ana (CA):  http://www.ci.santa-ana.ca.us/

            Chino Hills (CA):  http://www.chinohills.org/

            Tustin (CA):  http://www.tustinca.org/

            Sunset Beach (CA):  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunset_Beach,_California

            Tsunami Sushi:  http://www.tsunamihb.com/

            Firepit Pizza:  http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/20/1553693/restaurant/OC/Firepit-Pizza-Huntington-Beach

            Super Mex:  http://supermex.com/index.php

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A Drive to Riverside (CA) -- October 2014

DAY ONE – 20 October 2014

I don’t have a lot of brand loyalty, generally speaking.  But if I’m going to fly somewhere, I’m taking Southwest because I’ll earn points towards the flight to NY I’ll be taking in the summer.  With this position, I’ve had arrangements to stay at different brands of hotels.  I commented to the boss that I’d like to remain with one brand if possible, only to earn the reward points.  Last trip I stayed in two different Hampton Inns (which are part of the Hilton brand).  When making the arrangements for this trip, I still had my Southwest flight, but I’d be staying at two other hotel brands.  At this rate, my hotel reward points will be fractured between different brands, I won’t earn anything.

Without getting into the work details (as they’re not really germane to this blog), I planned to visit each of the sixteen dealerships in my region this week.  I landed in LAX about noon, and had told my Field Representative contact (Evert) that I’d be meeting him at 3 pm at my hotel lobby … in Riverside.  Yeah, that’s pretty far-east of Los Angeles.  I figured that would give me enough time to get over there, as MapQuest said it would only be an hour’s drive.

The flight got in on time, but it took about twenty minutes for me to get my luggage out of baggage claim, and then another fifteen or so for the bus to arrive to get to Enterprise to get my rental.  Add another ten minutes of getting their navigation unit set up so it would give me the directions to my hotel in Riverside, so that at up a bunch of time there.  Not to sound like a native Californian who speaks in routes all the time (like the SNL skit), but my planned route was to pick up the 105 east (through Lynwood), then near Norwalk pick up Interstate 5 to Buena Park, and then follow Route 91 to Riverside.  I figured I’d just be coming back 91 the next day on the second leg of my journey.

The damn route the navigation unit gave me took me north on the 110 almost to downtown Los Angeles, and then sent me east on the Pomona Freeway (Route 60).  That took me way north of my territory, and past places like Hacienda Heights and Chino.  The area was rolling hills of brown scrub, which reminded me a lot of the area north of Phoenix.  The area was pretty, but it added another half-hour on to my trip.  It was nearing 3 pm, and I was still 40 miles from Riverside.  A quick call to Evert pushed the meeting back until 4 pm.  He was fine with that, because he could hook into the hotel wifi to do work.

I’d nibbled on the plane, but I’d planned on getting something to eat once I got checked-in, and before I met Evert, but it was clear that wasn’t going to happen.  Not long after getting on Route 60, I pulled out a Cliff Bar from my carry-on, figuring that would hold me over for a little bit.  I attempted to take a bite only to find it was as hard as a rock.  I bought a whole freakin’ box not too long ago, and had nibbled on at a Planetarium event last month.  I swear I nearly busted my front tooth.  Screw that.  I tossed it aside and ate the only Kashi Bar I had within reach.  It won’t last long, but it should hold me until I get to the hotel.  For all I know Evert will want to get a bite to eat as we discuss things.

While driving along Route 60, I saw a huge elephant carving standing on the side of one of the hills.  There were no signs around to say what it was for.  There was also nothing nearby to gauge an accurate size, but I’d seen it from a few miles back, so I’ll gather it was at least twenty-to-thirty feet at shoulder.  Making a quick call was one thing, but there was no place to pull over to take a picture of it.  And even if traffic slowed to where I could’ve brought out the phone camera to use, I could be hit with a $160 toll if I’m caught just touching my cell phone in CA.  Bringing it up to take a picture is not being very discreet.  A few moments, on the other side of the mountain, I saw a sign for Jurupa Mountains Discovery Center.  Well, now I kind of knew what it was; a roadside attraction which I would’ve stopped and checked out (if I wasn’t on a time-table).

Riverside was a nice city, at least the section I could see.  I whipped into the Marriott next to the Convention Center, and then texted Evert to let him know I’d arrived.  When I walked into the lobby, I saw him sitting there waiting patiently.  I told him I’d quickly check-in, drop my stuff down, and come back down with the laptop to show him my game plan for the week.

My room was on the ninth floor, which I liked.  Great view of the mountains in the distance, which I think were part of the San Bernardino chain, but wasn’t completely sure.  I spent a minute taking a couple quick pictures that I’d post later with my TripAdvisor article later, and then went back down to the lobby to talk with Evert.

With the plan set for the week, Evert then departed home.  Even though he lived in the Anaheim area, he’d pick me up each morning, so we could ride together to each of the dealerships.  Now I was ready for some food.  Next to the hotel is Main Street, which is open only to pedestrian traffic, and it seemed to be the best (and closest) place for food.  A quick look in the regional information (provided by the hotel) lead me to Gram’s Mission BBQ for some decent brisket.  The owner, Janaar, was very nice to chat with, and humored me as I took a couple pictures of the joint.

Back at the hotel I wanted to get some work done, as I’d essentially been offline all day due to travelling, and then experienced issues with connecting to the internet in the room.  Even establishing a hotspot on my phone only gave me a fifteen minute window before I was locked out by the hotel’s wifi.  Note that I wasn’t even connecting to their wifi, but it was still blocking my own.  Unlimited access is available in the lobby, but not in the rooms.  I did what I could, which wasn’t much.

I’d hoped my brisket would’ve been enough to last me through the evening, and from the way my stomach was growing I could tell it wasn’t.  It was about 9 pm, and I really didn’t want to go out hunting around too far for grub, so I went down to the restaurant attached to the hotel.  I ended up getting a buffalo chicken sandwich with fresh fruit, and that was enough to satisfy the hunger beast.

All hotels have a little shop for snacks or things a travel might need because they forgot (toothbrush, etc.).  Since there’s usually postcards available, I went to pick one up to send to Bill & Bobby.  I was amused at among the “items a traveler might need” were condoms.  I didn’t see that at either of the Hamptons I stayed at on the last visit.  Perhaps there’s a different clientele which stays at Marriott.  Grin.

I saw the postcards there, showing various images of the Inland Empire area, and picked one up which had the most natural looking scene on it (no buildings).  I asked the front desk later how much that was, and she said since it was just that I could take.  She added “because it’s like three bucks or something.”  Yeah, no prices were listed anywhere, but I couldn’t see any postcard costing more than a dollar or so.  Anyway, that was a nice gesture.

I wasn’t going to get any more work done tonight, and debated swimming in the pool, but the jet lag of the long day was starting to catch up with me.  When the body wants to sleep, I’m inclined to let it.  Unfortunately the AC didn’t work very well during the night.  Air was blowing in, but it wasn’t circulating at all.  It was very stuffy, which made it difficult to sleep.  A ceiling fan to move the air would’ve been helpful.  Suffice to say, I knew there wasn’t going to a lot sleep tonight.

For more information on the places visited or mentioned:

Los Angeles International Airport: http://www.lawa.org/welcomelax.aspx

The Californians:  http://snl.wikia.com/wiki/The_Californians

Hacienda Heights (CA):  http://www.hacienda-heights.net/

            Chino (CA):  http://www.cityofchino.org/

            Riverside (CA):  http://www.riversideca.gov/

            Jurupa Mountains Discovery Center:  http://jmdc.org/

            Gram’s Mission BBQ:  http://www.gramsmissionbbq.com/

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Venice Beach (CA) -- September 2014

DAY FIVE – 19 September 2014

I woke up in a pre-dawn hours, and took a short walk around the area where the hotel was.  Except for the area where the hotel was, and the few commercial structures around it, the remaining area was residential (at least in the vicinity I could see).  The homes seemed to be middle-class or slightly higher, so certainly a nice neighborhood.  With liking both the hotel, and the area it was in, this was a place I’d want to come back to on my own.  I’d grabbed a few brochures of things in the area which I’d like to see on a return visit (like the Nixon and Reagan Presidential Libraries).

We followed Malibu Canyon Road back to PCH, which was the same route we came in on the other night.

I was now able to see the field of flags more clearly now, and that they were at Pepperdine University.  Not all the flags were American, just most.  Still not sure what it was there for.  I was informed that somewhere near here, in the Santa Monica Mountains, was the remnants of the set from M*A*S*H.  There’s another thing I’d want to scope out.

Cruising back down PCH, I got to see some morning water, and those who were out surfing it.  Some sections of PCH had views of the beach, but much you were only able to see the back-end of the houses (which obscured any view of the beach, as they were so close together).  A quick point, the part of the house which faces the road is always considered the front, except if there’s a part which faces the water.  The section which faces the water trumps, and it always the front.  Not sure why, but I learned that long ago.

The rear of the houses were basically garages or car-ports on the middle level of a multi-story house.  There wasn’t much room to park a vehicle on the side of the road, due to how close everything was.  Considering the width of PCH, I guessed that this used to me a single-lane road long ago, and due to expansion to make it two-lanes in each direction, it ate up what room had been there.  Once these houses had a little bit of a back yard, or some other space between them and the road, and now they’re backed right up to PCH.

We didn’t have any meetings today, so per the boss’ directive, today was a “play day,” to enjoy ourselves a little bit before getting back on the plane.  Our flight was around noon, so there wasn’t a lot of time to do stuff (after figuring in the wait we’d have to get through security).  Otherwise, the consensus was to investigate the Santa Monica Pier, as we all remembered it from Lost Boys.

We parked a place near Venice, which was aptly named due to the small number of canals in the area.  This was a quaint, little neighborhood of small houses, and even smaller boats parked along the water.  I could see people taking a leisurely row around the area on the weekend, or to go to a neighbor’s place for some wine and cheese.  The entire section was only the size of a few blocks, so the residents wouldn’t have to travel far.

From there, we took a short walk from this nice area to Venice Beach, which wasn’t as nice.  This was a huge boardwalk filled with shops, and places to get medicinal marijuana.  It was also filled with starving street vendors with poor attitudes, unhappy homeless people, and various street thugs.  There were a few police patrols going up and down the strip to keep the normal people (joggers, inline skaters, and such) from being accosted, but this was certainly the least-safe place we’d been the entire trip.

There were some interesting murals on display here, but I only took pictures of a couple of them.  The above-mentioned undesirable elements took notice when a camera came out, so I did that as limited as possible.  My attempts at not trying to look like a tourist fell a bit flat when my boss kept commenting that she wanted to bring home some hoodies for her daughters.  Yeah, that points us out, too.  If there weren’t the police patrols present, I would’ve been more concerned for our safety.

The actual beach portion of the area was a wide expanse, much like we saw over at Seal Beach, except that the sand were was a bit paler.

We took our shoes off, and wandered across to the ocean.  I noticed again there area was pretty clean of debris and garbage.  Considered what we were next to, I was initially hesitant about wandering across in my bare feet because I thought I’d step on a discarded drug needle.  Once I saw how clean it was, the shoes came off.  And I didn’t want to be picking sand out of my shoes all the way on the return flight.

Only yards from the shore, the only sound we could hear was that of the waves crashing in.  As it was the middle of the day on a Friday, there were only a handful of people hanging out on the beach.  I guess I got use to the large number of people in Austin who somehow have a four-day work week.

Looking to the right, I could see the Santa Monica Pier, which wasn’t even five miles away.  Keep that in mind how hazy something that close by was, and you remember that’s the remnants of the smog.  While the air quality is much better here than it used to be, it’s not completely clear.

I decided not venture into the Pacific to get my feet wet this time.  I know how quickly my pants dry out, but I still didn’t want them to be damp when getting to LAX.  I just enjoyed the sound of the waves, and the sight of the ocean crashing against the coast.  Considering my territory was the Seal Beach region (and points east), I figured I wouldn’t be back to this specific area any time soon.

Just seeing the way the waves came in, I could now understand why surfing was such a big draw.  There’s been some good waves I’d seen in TCI, but not to what was here.  Southern California (at least the coastal areas I saw) were certainly geared towards the “beach lifestyle,” although I still prefer my Caribbean.

From there, it was just a quick hop back on PCH, which took us past the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve, as it was a straight shot to LAX.  My two counter-parts for the position we were here for the seminars had lived in California before, so a lot of these areas weren’t new for them.  Yeah, we worked this trip, but it was in many ways still a vacation for me.  I got to go places I hadn’t been, and had a pretty decent time.  Sure there were a lot of things I wanted to explore and didn’t have the opportunity to do so, but I got to learn the lay of the land so I’d be familiar with the area when I did come back out.  That’s not a bad trade-off.

And I picked up a number of brochures so when I do have the chance to come out here on a personal non-work trip I’d have a couple target locales.  Perhaps I can convince my parents to fly into LAX and meet me, and we can take a Southern California tour next year.  The work project will have me flying to the Los Angeles region for a week every month for the next six, so I figure there’s going to be more information gathered about what interesting things there were to see.

Dropping off the rental, getting to LAX, and standing in line at security wasn’t too bad.  It was busy because it was big, but things moved.  Actually, it was pretty well organized.  The return flight was good, and we got back to Austin at a decent hour.  And TSA didn’t frak up my luggage like they did when I flew to St. Croix in June.

I went to Los Angeles for work reasons, but I see lots of other opportunities here.  I hope on future blogs you’ll be able to read about other interesting things I did when I was out here.

For more information on the places visited or mentioned:

Nixon Presidential Library:  http://www.nixonlibrary.gov/

Reagan Presidential Library:  http://www.reaganfoundation.org/

Pepperdine University:  http://www.pepperdine.edu/

Santa Monica Pier:  http://santamonicapier.org/

Venice Beach:  http://venicebeach.com/

Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve:  http://www.dfg.ca.gov/lands/er/region5/ballona.html

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Thousand Oaks (CA) -- September 2014

DAY FOUR – 18 September 2014

The room I had was east-facing, so I was able to see the sun come up over which I believe was the Agoura Hills.  This section was made up of rolling hills, and it looked really nice.  Because we had one more work seminar to go through today, I only had time for a quick walk around the hotel grounds.  It was enough to give me the general scope of the area.

Our meeting today was only minutes from the hotel.  When we got there, my co-workers humored me (for a few minutes at least) to take a couple pictures inside the Regional Center in order to get a sense of the terrain.  I would’ve enjoyed coming to work at this office every day.  Bummer that in a few months the Regional Center was set to move to a new location, one which I was told didn’t have as nice of a view.

After the seminar was done, we headed out for dinner.  I ended up riding with the boss of my boss, as it gave us an opportunity to geek out and talk comic books.  Our target locale was a place recommended by the “big boss,” a nearby pub-type place called Lazy Dog.

This was nestled away in a shopping complex, so there was a lot of parking available.  We were a large table, and we had pretty decent service.  A lot of that specific information I’d write for the TripAdvisor article about this place.  One of my co-workers (Roy) had a mild allergy to onions and garlic, so the running joke we had during the week was saying that Roy was a vampire.

When Roy ordered his food, he asked specifically not to have any onions and garlic on it, and our server (Jacob) made a note of that.  But when the food arrived, and there was a big white onion snaking out.  Jacob went tearing off back to the kitchen to make sure the dish was corrected.  That was good customer service in order to get things right.  By the way, my Bahama chicken (with its jerk-style taste) turned out okay.

We returned to the hotel so we could change into casual clothes, as the boss commented there was a bar across the street that she wanted to check out.  I said I’d noted it earlier, but I hadn’t said anything, as I didn’t want to contribute to misconception my co-workers have that I’m a drunk who only wants to be on the beach.  Okay, while there is some truth in that, that isn’t a complete definition of me.

The place was called Brendan’s, and we saw there was a hotel attached to it too.  (Someplace to think about staying next trip to the area.)  Roy didn’t come with us for drinks, as he had to familiarize himself with the new material in order to be able to present in the training classes he proctored.  The bosses were buying the drinks, so I was quite happy to enjoy a black & tan, and some rum punches.

A conversation had come up earlier (after those co-workers who went returned from Madame Tussauds), and now there was the opportunity to show the pics.  My co-workers said that I looked like the wax representations of Robin Williams, and I didn’t agree.  (I’ve been told I look like Christian Slater in the past.)  Pictures came out, and were held up to my face, and there was some resemblance in the jaw-line and perhaps the smirk.  That’s as far as I’d give it.  A magazine with Robin’s picture on the cover was later used as a prop to compare my face to his.  Tell me what you think.

While we were sitting in the pub, we saw our server from Lazy Dog (Jacob) strolled in with his girlfriend to play pool.  When it was time for us leave, it coincidentally was the same time Jacob was leaving, so we decided to say hi (and play a little prank).  Jacob’s girlfriend didn’t thrilled when this group of ladies (and me, the lone male) came up to him and started chatting.  She seemed to look less annoyed after she realized Jacob had served us earlier in the evening.  To explain why Roy wasn’t with us, we made an off-hand comment that he was sick because of the onions that was on his burger

Jacob started to rant about how he told the kitchen to make sure that order was right, and such.  We let him chew on that a few moments before we told him the truth.  Jacob had a good laugh about it with us.  My boss said that she wanted to have her picture taken with him (not sure exactly why, as she’s recently married.  Perhaps it was just a flirty thing).  Jacob was a good sport about it, though.

Strange how I’m the one who’s accused of being a lush, and I’m the one who smart enough to make sure we all cross the road at the traffic light.  I might be a drunkard, but I’ve also learned how to stay alive.  Near the hotel was a Wal-Mart, and someone made the comment about wanting to run in and get munchies.  That just opened a flood gate of buzzed adults who acted like children in a late-night store.  This was where my face was compared to the likeness of Robin Williams.  Sure these were my co-workers, but as we were launching a new project, it was nice to build some bonds too.

For more information on the places visited or mentioned:

Thousand Oaks (CA):  http://www.toaks.org/

            Lazy Dog:  https://www.lazydogrestaurants.com/news/yourneighborhood/ThousandOaks

Brendan’s:  http://www.brendans.com/

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