http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Vernecular/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Vernecular en-us Sat, 26 Dec 2009 04:15:24 +0000 Sat, 26 Dec 2009 04:15:24 +0000 And we're off again...First omen of uncertainty when checking in at a self service terminal I had to enter the first three letters of my country of residence Luxembourg couldn't be found.Picked up Gregory Maguire's 'Wicked' and the sequel 'Son of a Witch' about the story of the Wicked Witch of the West from Frank Baum's 'Wizard of Oz'. Hope those paperbacks sustain me through 16h of flying.Next http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Diego/blog-346936.html Last day in LA so went down to Venice Beach to see the famous boardwalk. After that I did some shopping managed to pick up an autographed copy of Neil Gaiman's latest book. Yay.In the evening Rachel was so kind to give me a tour of the Grove Rodeo Dr where all the stars shop and Beverly Hills BIG housesAfter that it was an eery ride back to San Diego where I'll be taking the flight back hom http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Venice-Beach/blog-346815.html After my hearty and filling pancake breakfast I set off to visit the first of my three destinations.The Getty CenterThe Getty Center. I was a bit wary since the bulk of it is a museum and I tend to have the attention span of a butterfly overdosed on caffeine in museums but it turned out quite different.First of all the Getty Center is awesome it's located on the top of a mountain and you have to http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/blog-346456.html Some random observations the cars here are oversized an Audi A4 is considered medium to small you see everything driving on the roads here vehicles that belong in museums scrap yards battlefields... Americans are very courteous drivers but... there is something like a LA second a LA second takes less time than a regular second and is measured as the amount of time it takes for the driver http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/blog-346457.html La JollaLa Jolla or the jewel is a bathing site in the NorthWest of San Diego. Visited it briefly in the morning and was greeted by the salty smell of the Pacific Ocean. Surfing in November not bloody fair.Los AngelesAfter visiting La Jolla I meandered to Los Angeles the GPS unit and me not getting along. First impressions it's huge rush hour any time of dayAfter refreshing in the hotel http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/blog-346119.html So picking up where we left yesterday in the end I was so knackered I just slept in one go to 11 AM. Then I head off to downtown to the Gas Lamp Quarter. Very charming neighbourhood. Got a California wrap as lunch.After that to Balboa Park which is huge. So I settled visiting the surroundings of Casa del Prado. Once again sunny weather lots of people out and about and some minor attractions. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Diego/blog-345760.html Started off with my first evening and day in San Diego Picked up the huge car at the airport and drove to my host in San Diego. He dragged me straightaway to some clubs. Lots of fun lots of drinking and a massive hangover to boot.Saturday was spent on some walking and viewing local political activism there was a huge rally 15000 people against proposition 8 known as the ban on gay marriage. I http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Diego/blog-345457.html Just overheard someone ordering a 'decaf double small latte' I'm not a coffee expert but how can such a thing even exist http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Diego/blog-345071.html Since I received a comment asking me what in fact I'm doing here I'll elaborate a bit on that.I received the opportunity to attend LISA'08 also know as the Large Installation System Administration conference. It's a one week conference in sunny California during which you can meet fellow sysadmins from all over the globe and attend training sessions by people who actually wrote the software. It's http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Diego/blog-344422.html not enough powerstrips to feed all the laptops no free WiFi in hotel room breakfast not included overpriced breakfast at one of hotel restaurants odd afternoon break snack a pretzel with mustard http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Diego/blog-343689.html So first impressions of LISA08 very relaxed atmosphere I've been stuffing my face here after having to live on airplane ratios some hair styles here are... interesting... MacBooks Everywhere people use phrases as '... so if I parse your statement correctly..' and noone in the room finds this odd http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Diego/blog-343386.html San DiegoSan Diego at last After two days of being cooped up in planes I was greeted by a blue sky with a few of the cuddliest of clouds and a frisk breeze from the harbour blowing away the mustiness of sitting too long in planes.The trip was not as expected but as feared. After landing in Paris CDG I had exactly 50 minutes to catch the flight to Atlanta. And that day CDG wasn't showing itself http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Diego/blog-343378.html