Look. It’s my blog! OoOoOooo…. Sometimes I forget I have it. I swear someday I am going to ditch that time-suck Twitter and come home to this here blog. I’ll do it too! Just not today.

Something about that Twitter fascinates me, tho I do hate how my particular “twitterfeed” is like 99% chat room. I remember the Old Days (yes I have been tweeting since like the first week or something so I get to say Old Days) someone would always call out the chatters and tell them to “get on AIM! This isn’t a chat-room!” I don’t really want to be that guy… Plus it is semi-interesting reading in that voyeuristic way, when I am not annoyed with it. What happened to the “What are you doing?” angle? Now it’s all “@ @ @ @” conversations and you have to scroll around all crazy to keep up. *sigh* Plus I have seen more nudie self-twitpics than I can shake a stick at! Not that that’s always a good thing. LOL. So I guess there are plusses and minuses. Still part of me wants to do away with it like I did the Plurk.

Anyhoo. So do you realize the year is nearly half over already? It is! Ask anyone you know working Retail. If that person in your life is me, let me just tell you then. Backpacks are landing people. Backpacks! That means Back to School. After that it’s all downhill till holiday. [insert cries of pain here] So get your shopping list together and plan that holiday Ham… Have I instilled panic? Heh. So where was this paragraph going? Oh yeah. Time flies when you aren’t blogging. I have been super busy with work. Plus our time off has been pleasantly filled with friends and time with my man. Last week we went to the big San Diego Zoo to check out the new Elephant Odyssey the have been building up in there. It was nice, but immature yet. Animals were still in the “acclimation” stages and weren’t as visible as normal. The big cats weren’t yet moved in. But otherwise super well done. My favorite part will always be Monkey Trails tho. Monkeys rule yo.

So yeah. Still alive and junk. Trying to figure out a balance between online life and real life and my cat. (Inside joke, the cat part. Kinda) If you get anything out of this post, it’s the part in this next sentence: If you think I am ignoring you, I am not. I am just in a weird place right now.

tagged: work blogging san diego update retail zoo

So apparently I have joined in on a new online adventure. New to me anyway. Metblogs.

Ayup. I am attempting to be an author on Metblogs San Diego. Really! See? I know what you are thinking, “What? He barely posts on his own blog anymore!” And I’d have to admit you’d be right. I am absolutely bored over here. My own banter is tiresome, even to me. So I am hoping this will be something fresh and fun. One has to branch out, right?

Fear not tho, I’ll never leave you. Where else can I be completely honest and say something like this:

tagged: san diego online adventure metblogs

Oh look! I DO have a blog!

How is life? Mine, well, pretty good actually. My parents just left Saturday after a fun 7 day visit. Yes, I did say fun. My parents are young for my age as well as young for their ages (it makes sense, think about it). So we were on the go every day. I woke up early, well early for me, every day and took them on an adventure!

Saturday, after fetching them from the San Diego Airport we stopped off at C Level to toast their arrival and enjoy the view. Sunday we headed off to Old Town, where to my surprise there was an Art Festival! We looked at everything. After we were done there, Mom insisted on a trip to the Swap Meet. Ew… we capped off the day with dinner at the Turf Supper Club. Awesome place! What better way to follow up a meal in a dive than a trip to the shishy-est sky bar Altitude?? Monday was all about rest and a home cooked (by me!) meal. Tuesday we did the Geocaching with dad, since it was Richard’s day off. Plus, we wanted to try it with our iPhones. It works! So now we have a log in at the site and 7 caches under our belt. LOL. Obviously Mom had other plans, and was off for a Shopping Day with one of our friends. Later we de-parented at the big SDTweet-Up (#sdtweetup). That was, as always an amazing time! Wednesday my folks and I were off to Temecula Valley Wine Country for a day of tasting and scenery. Fantastic! Thursday was more Geocaching around town. That Geocaching is a great way to see some great sights you wouldn’t otherwise… That night I was pooped so Dad manned the grill and we dined out on the patio at home. Friday was when I finally had to sleep in! Well, till 9:30.. we lazed at the house till Richard got home. He had ditched work early so we shopped and hit up Bing Crosby’s Piano Lounge until it was time for the crowning jewel of the visit: dinner at Kous Kous. My folks got to eat well (very well! you MUST go to Kous Kous!) and meet up with our friends and generally have a great night out. Although we had drinks first at Martinis Above 4th, where the owner stressed me out when he KISSED Richard hello in front of my father. That’s when my father realized we had taken him to a GAY bar. OMG OMG OMG. He never would have known otherwise… Oh well. No harm was done. All was erased by the amazing food at Kous Kous!

As for Saturday… Well that was for packing and the Airport. Buh-bye!

You know what?

tagged: richard gay blog san diego shopping mom food parents surprise wine

The parental visit has been fun. A treat even, since I took PTO and have been on vacation with them. However… This “Julie Cruise Director” business is a bitch. Srsly. We have been going every day. I have seen more San Diego than I think ever before. Well, at least a lot for such a short time. Up at 8 or nine, out the door by 10 and just *going*. The Geocaching makes it more interesting, but still… I WANT A DAY OFF!

So tonight I *am* having a martini. Maybe 2 or 3. I am blogging and reading blogs (at least till my father wakes up).

Only 2 days to go! I can do it!

tagged: san diego vacation family

I have to say. Day 2 of The Parental Visit was great. We were out early, and the plan was to hit Old Town. Tourist-y right? So we get there after a trip to Starbucks (of course) and we find that most of the streets are closed. Why? WTH? It turns out there was an Art Show. Eeeeeew! But Mom was excited. So we looked for parking, and after a bit of drama we find a spot right in front. Rock Star parking! So things were looking up. We did the festival as well as many, if not all shops in Old Town. THen it was off to the… Swap Meet? Really? Well, Mom was looking for this specific type of Mexican ceramics and she heard thru the buzz at the festival that the Swap Meet was a good place to look.

Now Richard has been trying to get me to the Swap Meet for like three years. I have always refused. Ew. I mean, really? shopping amongst other peoples crap? We have a garage full of our own crap, for cry-eye! But it is my mother after all so off we went.

It was the single most depressing thing I have ever seen. It was mostly just what I thought. Trash spread out on pavement for sale. Hrm. Luckily at that point my foot started bleeding from my Lesbian Sandals so we had to cut our “shopping” (ew) short. It was back home for a quick lunce then off to the mall! Where Richard and I retreated to Bing Crosby’s for a drink while Mom got a new handbag. Well Mom is a power shopper and in just twenty minutes she had bought at 4 stores!! Go Mom!! At least she did manage to accomplish the handbag goal as well. Phew! Back home for a wardrobe change and we were all off to dinner.

My plan was risky. A place we never heard of before, that was suggested by a bartender and was well liked on Yelp. The Turf Supper Club. A dive of a place. Grill your own and in a weird neighborhood. It was a hit! Read my review here... We followed that with some relaxation and cocktails at Altitude. It was a perfect low-key night. Pictures on Flickr soon…

Now as for the rest of the week the parents are here, help??

tagged: san diego parents altitude swap-meet turf supper club bing crosby's

OMG. My parents will be here in San Diego, IN my house in just a few hours.

I think I am ready. Well, kinda ready. I mean, I put fresh sheets on the guest bed, cleaned, polished, scrubbed, vacuumed, and otherwise freshened the entire house. Richard trimmed the backyard to tropical perfection. The house is as ready as it will ever be. But… Am I?

I haven’t seen my parents in a year and a half. We get along great. I miss them a lot. However, there is always that nagging feeling that I will be judged. I hate that feeling. Last time they both told me I was fat. Nice, right? Well I have lost a few pounds, so maybe that won’t come up. Hopefully they won’t think we spent to much money in the nearly 3 years since they’ve been out. Hopefully my mother won’t be critical of our friends. Meh. It’s all probably a non-issue. They really are good people. But these are the things in my head. It’s my parents. They give me stress, That’s normal right?

Speaking of all my friends, I met them all through this blog that my parents know nothing about. How the hell do I juggle the conversations if I introduce them to people? As soon as I turn my back Mom will ask “So how do you know Dan and Richard?”. So?? What do I do? Ask all my friends to lie? Really?

Oi vey. So much to stress out about.

tagged: san diego stress parents visit

Oh hai!

So here’s the thing. Last night was the big San Diego Tweet-up (#sdtweetup). There were like over 100 people. It was at The W downtown. It was a blast. However that is all I have time to say about it now! Bummer! This work thing is for the birds… I don’t mind going to work so much. It’s that 9 hour wait till I get to go home that bugs. LOL! Where did I hear that? Anyhoo… more later on the Tweet meet with links and all that good stuff. Proms.

tagged: san diego event the w #sdtweetup. blogging

Last night Richard and I attended our first (are there more?) Dave Diego.

To be totally honest I am not completely sure of the details of the meet up. I did meet some really cool people tho. The reason we went was to meet The Jester of Jestertunes. The event was in The Gaslamp Quarter, which was a mad house due to this other little convention going on in the area… We actually met at Whiskey Girl. It was a blast, even though I was dead-to-the-world tired. But here’s the thing, Jester & crew travelled a long way so how could I not come out to say hi? So even in the middle of our “early” working weekend we were there! I am so glad too.. Jester (or Paul, if you like RL names) is awesome. I felt like I had known him forever… which in a way I think I have, as far as you can know someone through their blog.. Heh. Our local friend and Twitter celeb @gooster showed up fashionably late. I was actually scolded for not warning anyone of @gooster’s hawtness.

We had a few drinks, had some snacks, and conversated about blogs, blogging, blog drama, and large flashlights in unmentionable places. You’d have to know Jester to know that is totally normal.. (There were also a lot of pictures being taken. I am dreading the moment when those surface. There is no way I look good in that many pictures from multiple angles. Be warned that there are double chins and bad hairlines. I was tired!)

Anyhoo, I met a number of Tweets as well as The Jester’s adorable man… all of whom I have to now follow on Twitter. Later tho. I have to get to work. Oi.

tagged: san diego jestertunes gooster meet up dave diego blogography the gaslamp whiskey girl

The SDTweetUp (#sdtweetup) was featured in the Union Tribune! Congrats @jbruin!

tagged: san diego twitter news meet up union tribune #sdtweetup

As you can tell, the San Diego TweetUp was a huge hit. The Meet up, coordinated by the Jennifer Van Grove, took place at The Lafayette here in San Diego. There were tons of local tweets and twitter friendly folk. We gathered poolside, enjoyed an open bar, and mingled.. I love these events because it is always such a diverse crowd. You got your web professionals of course, then there are military people, teachers, and retail folk, to name a few. I think Richard and I made up the retail portion. LOL. Anyhoo, there is a lot of networking which is awesome because it is social networking as well as business because these are “Twitter people” after all.

So if you are local, and on Twitter you really should check it out.. Oh, and if you are a local straight man (I won’t name names, you know who you are): dude, there are hawt chicks there!

tagged: richard san diego twitter tweets networking tweetup #sdtweetup