Sunday was possibly the last autocross at Sierra Municipal Airport. The border patrol is building a hanger adjacent to where we usually play so we can’t run there while the area is under construction. Furthermore, after the construction, they might have equipment occupying the same space where we run, so we might not be able to come back. Unfortunate, since I’ve heard many folks say that they thought it was the best autocross venue in the state.

None the less, the last event this past Sunday was wet and wild. My competition runs were in some light rain with the pavement damp and I rang off clean runs of 53.898, 52.047, 52.723, and 52.394, the best of which was good enough to crack into the top 10 in PAX times.

Time only runs in the next heat got a little more interesting with more rain. Rain and 615s with little tread left made for some fun; a tail happy rear end and some all wheel drifting look cool but kill time. The best of my time only runs was a 52.457. Oh well, at least I didn’t smoke my best competition time in a run that didn’t count for once.

Oh, and my new bed rocks, best piece of furniture I ever bought.

Ocean Beach:

Torrey Pines Gliderport overlooking Black’s Beach:

Coronado Beach:

All were fantastic. Went to a party at a friend of Brad’s and could just barely see the fireworks from the backyard. Drinks and smores were an excellent end to a very fun day one.

Thursday was Sea World and the Humane Society. We saw all the shows (well, all but the one we weren’t interested in) including the night shows, which were cool.

We left during the afternoon to tour the San Diego Humane Society then went back to Sea World for the night shows, any of the exhibits we missed, and for the cable car ride which was awesome at night. Definitely got the most out of the Sea World ticket.
Friday we went back to the Humane Society. Since Summer was interested in their training program, we basically got another tour and got to see and play (and help train a little) some of the animals that were up for adoption. Then we went off to La Jolla Cove since it was too crowded to visit on the 4th. We got some great pictures, and Summer got a little bit wet while trying to catch a photo of one of the crabs walking around.

We also walked all the way down to see where the sea lions come up on the beach.

Yes, we walked to the end of the ‘pier’, and yes, we got wet, again. Haha. Then we went to dinner at George’s at the Cove and it was fantastic. We ate upstairs, overlooking the cove; the view, even though it was bit overcast, and the food were both fantastic.

We spent most of Saturday in Balboa Park walking around sightseeing, goofing around, and we also went to the Photography Museum.

We also went down to the Gaslamp Quarter on Saturday to check it out, as well as the ‘Dr. Seuss’ mall. Both the malls we went to, this one and the one with the movie theater and where Brad works, were completely outdoors. Blows my mind that the weather is that great in San Diego. Maybe I’ll rethink not wanting to move again…

Lastly we braved the crowds and saw Transformers, which I have been wildly anticipating for the past, oh, year or so. I was very impressed and very entertained an I want to go see it again while it’s in theaters. Other than that, I’ll keep my inner geek from gushing. The only thing bad about this vacation was that is had to end, sadly. There’s plenty more to do, so I definitely want to go back sometime, and sooner rather than later. It was fun and relaxing and exactly what a vacation should be! I think the next trip might be to Meeeeeeexxxxico though. Sweet.

I ended up with a crazy number of pictures from this trip, and they are all here.

Friday night, went to the usual Starbucks VW gig at Grant & Swan, good times as always. Something about going to one of these things when your car is running right just feels good. Skipped out on the Applebee’s portion of the evening to head down to a bar/club for some drinks and shakin’. Very good times. Saturday was a lazy morning, followed by some much needed wardrobe additions thanks to a graduation gift from my grandparents, then to the pool. Sunday, more pool time and Pirates 3. Hello Keira Knightley. Good movie, very entertaining, I think better than the second. Today, went hiking up at Mount Lemmon and to Rose Canyon Lake.

Beautiful scenery. Company was great too.

I will finish off this evening with laundry, ice cream, and Sporanos reruns. All great weekends end too soon.

The Transformers look too complex and ‘alien’ like. Well, first off, this isn’t the cartoon, and if these things really did exist and really did transform to and from complex machines like automobiles and helicopters, they would probably look pretty damn complication in their ‘person’ modes as well. All that stuff just doesn’t wrap up in a super simple package like, oh, wait, the cartoon. Secondly, the Transformers are aliens and are supposed to be vastly superior in technology to us. Makes it seem appropriate to me that they are pretty complex things.

They don’t transform into the same cars/things! Well, part of this is the business side, and the fact that companies like Volkswagen and Porsche do not license out their nameplates and designs. The other part is again, contribution to the reality of a live action movie. If this were ‘for real’ a huge robot could not conceivably transform into a handgun (Megatron). It’s just not possible and honestly, if I saw that in the movie, it would just seem stupid. Yes, I am disappointed that Jazz will not be a Porsche and that Bumblebee will not be a Volswagen Bug, but that’s life. I’m not thrilled that most of them will be GM cars, but whatever, that’s not what I’m seeing the movie for. People seem so surprised at this, when really, what did you expect? They wouldn’t make the movie if they couldn’t make money off it, and if GM stepped up, kudos to their marketing department for trying something new. I bet no new car has been showcased in such a manner that the new Camaro will be in the movie. I am certainly not going to be shopping GM cars anytime soon, if ever, but I’m not going to let that ruin the movie for me.

The movie is too dark. First, you are judging the entire movie from 2 minutes of footage with almost 0 dialogue. Stupid. Second, ah, the story revolves around a war. Last time I checked, war isn’t exactly a bright and shining happy story line. I sure hope it isn’t as dark as some of the old Batman movies, but I think it’s an intriguing take that will enhance the realism (relatively speaking) I mean, this is still a scifi fantasy thriller, but hey, it’s cool that they’ve gone to such great lengths to maintain some touch with reality).. This also isn’t a movie that seems geared to kids were everything is happy go lucky and sunshine and puppies. To truly portray a war between two ‘races’ there’s going to be destruction, death, and some general darkness over the storyline..

The director sucks (Michael Bay). So you aren’t a fan, who cares. Don’t write it off. People also seem to forget that this movie is being executively produced by Steven Spielberg, one of the greatest movie makers of our time. So even if you aren’t a fan of Mann’s work, why don’t you wait and see. Stop writing it off just because you didn’t like whatever his last movie was.

It pains me to see people rip apart these movies, even after they come out as if it were feasible to take every aspect of the comic books and translate it to the big screen. That would be silly. It holds true for X Men, Spiderman, Transformers, all of the recent comic book movies. I love watching these movies, even if the stories are ‘updated’ and the characters have evolved or changed. I’m excited enough that this movie is made at all, even more so that is appears so far to look pretty cool. It will be fun to go see it and get into that same state of mind as when I was a kid watching Transformers, just thinking ‘this is sooooo cool’. I’ve watching the preview probably 10 times, and it’s still not lost a bit of its entertainment value. I can’t wait until Juily 4.