Notes from the Left Coast

I flew out on Monday to San Diego just in time to miss the 6-8 inches of shit that fell in Worcester - calling it snow wouldn't do it justice. From what I hear it was the wet heavy stuff that is known in New England as heart attack snow (because people have heart attacks trying to shovel it). As I type this - it is 70+ degrees and the sun is shining brightly and warmly into my hotel room.

The airline of choice for this trip was Southwest. Some people can't stand Southwest's open seating but I like it and I love the fact that Southwest is almost always on time and if you are late or early they are helpful in getting you on an earlier or later flight. (Last night my buddy Nat gave me a great tip for flying Southwest. He said that if you wait till just after midnight of the day of your departure flight - you can print out your boarding pass from home and it almost always will guarantee you seating in the "A" boarding group - in effect giving you a better choice of seating. Thanks Nat.)

Last night I had a special treat. My buddy Bart's mom lives on Coronado Island (called an island even though its actually a peninsula). His father in law Nick has a nice Sea Ray boat and Nick was nice enough to take us on a cruise of San Diego harbor.

Lots of cool stuff in the harbor like seeing Navy Seals cruising at top speeds on their zodiacs or seeing the ship from the movie Master and Commander in dry dock but nothing as awe inspiring as seeing three aircraft carriers up close (four if you count the decommissioned Midway).

There was the newly returned Abraham Lincoln, the Ronald Reagan and what I believe was the Stennis. Those three ships probably equal the naval might of the rest of the world's navies combined. Awe inspiring.

Even more awe inspiring was the fact that later at dinner I found out that Captain Nick had 977 carrier landings and two distinguished flying crosses. I found this out from Bart (Nick wasn't with us for dinner). He was just a nice unassuming guy. The real hero's never tell you about their accomplishments (hello John Kerry). Awe inspiring. Thanks so much for the cruise Captain Nick.

That's it for now. I'm going to go sit out in the courtyard of the hotel and soak up some sun before going into HQ to give my presentation.

Cheers!