Author: SDSpivey

NYC

SDSpivey

There is a woman in Clearwater, Sophia. For several years, she has set me up with guys who need a ride from one job location to another.

Because she had let me make a lot of money, when she needed a ride herself, I agreed, even if that trip was over 2,500 miles long.

These NY pigeons are huge.

She needed to go to NYC to deal will some immigration stuff.

I left the house on Saturday afternoon at about 3pm and headed down to Clearwater, to get her.

After loading the car, we set off just before 6pm. Google had given me the travel time of 18-20 hours, but when I entered the address into Waze, it said 15. Whoa, that can’t be right, but hopeful.

I was actually presuming that 20 hours would be more correct, allowing for rest stops and gas.

As it was Saturday, the traffic wasn’t bad, except for the singular accident that was only a few miles away from her house, we didn’t even get across the bay yet, that delayed us about 30 minutes. Only one, so I can accept it.

I ran up I-75 until just past Ocala, then had to cut through the dreaded US-301, speed trap alley. I was conscious of the signs and had no problem with cops, but did have a downpour.

Once in Jacksonville, I got onto I-95, and had the oddest direction I’ve seen, “Rt turn in 903 miles”. That does make it simple, just hit cruise control and relax. Except it isn’t that simple, as there are a few by-passes around DC, Baltimore, and Philly, so the turns were much sooner than it stated.

I was fine until around 5:30 or so, I was starting to feel it and was having a hard time keeping my eyes open, so I checked my rest stop app and there was one 20 minutes away. Even in that short time it was hard, I only realized the exit was there at the last moment.

She had asked me several times, while stopped, if I was okay. I was, at those times. I was trying to get closer to daylight before allowing her to drive, as I don’t know how well she can drive at night, but when I stopped and got out, I was hoping she would offer to drive then. Nope, she just went back to sleep. Oh well.

I got in the passenger seat and slept very briefly and poorly, without the car running, it got quite hot, especially for 6am in VA.

Around 8, I got out and went to the toilet and changed my shirt, it was sweaty. I wish I could get a shower, but no option there.

An hour or so later, we stopped at the largest Huddle House I have ever seen, it was almost a real restaurant. We were still in VA, but they had Yankee prices, coming to over $30 for just the two of us.

Google had shown me a toll bridge, going across to Staten Island. Wikipedia says it is $16-24, depending on day and time. In Clearwater, Waze was giving me a estimated toll of $72. WFT???

In looking at the directions, it had a few toll roads and express lanes. The latter I could ignore, but the others I was going to have to get closer before it would re-route better.

After breakfast, I tried again. Too many tolls around DC and beyond, even with the settings changed to bypass tolls, it would not.

Waze, Google, even (shudder) Apple Maps would not skip them. Since I knew about the one bridge, I tried setting the destination for Newark, NJ, just across the river. That did work, partially.

I took the I-495 loop around DC on the west side, since I had previously gone on the east, when I drove home after buying a car off eBay. I then headed up towards York, PA. This was adding at least an hour, but it was the only route I could get to come up without tolls.

One item that bugged the crap out of me, the signs state “YORK PA”. There is no comma, even though there should be. I initially wondered what the “pa” was.

Near York is Lancaster, which is kinda funny if you know the War of the Roses. Also went through Reading, which lends its name to a work truck company.

I was passing Newark airport, right about the same time as was originally supposed to be picking up a couple in Tampa, that was flying from there. For some reason they didn’t want to ride 20+ hours in my car. Odd.

I followed the directions to get to Brooklyn, seeing signs for “Holland Tunnel”, but went across the Verrazanno Bridge instead. There was a toll for this bridge also, but it had tickets and accepted cash.

As the car before me took the automated ticket, I see the message stating he may proceed. As I pulled up, no ticket was dispensed, but the message said “E-ZPass accepted”. I have a SunPass, not E-Pass or E-ZPass. I guess it is just a singular message.

Directions led me across Staten Island, then we went to Brooklyn’s China area, for dinner. Somehow we missed lunch.

Sophia is originally from the Cantonese region of China and was home sick, so we went to a Cantonese restaurant. It was good, but still full from breakfast.

We arrived at the restaurant around 6pm, only 24 hours since I picked her up. God I’m tired. After several stops and a detour, the 20 hour estimate sounds accurate.

20 minutes to drop her off, then 45 to my hostel, in Queens. Strange that the subway would take an hour, I thought public transport was supposed to be faster.

Arriving at the hostel, I find a reasonable close parking space and go to check in, 8pm, nearly 29 hours after I left the house. I get in bed and don’t get out until almost 10am. I wasn’t sleeping the whole time, just enjoying not being in the car.

 

I roamed around, for most of Monday, just looking for something interesting. I got a egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast at a bodega, not bad, but not good either. Just something to fill the hunger need.

For most trips, I have time to plan and organize my time. This was an almost a spur-of-the-moment trip, so I didn’t have any subway knowledge or iPad program. If I don’t know which line to take and where to get off, then it would be very difficult and expensive.

I did go down into the nearest station, and asked the employee about any 3, 5, or 7 day tickets, many cities have them available for tourists. They did not, but she stated they have a “temporary” card that I can load up and then it will simply deduct the price as it is used.

There are many problems with that. First, I have to store money on the card, which I probably won’t need. Second, I will have no idea of how much is remaining, unless I know the price of every use and correctly deduct the amount in my head. And also, can I get the unused remainder back? Probably not.

New York is boring. Well, for me at least. I don’t care about sports, so the Yankees and Knicks are out. I can’t afford Broadway, and I didn’t bring the right clothes anyway. There are quite a few good museums, but when I was checking online, the prices are outrageous. Several were $30, and one was over $80, just for me to walk around a bit and looking. It isn’t like I’m taking them home. I would have like to head to Chinatown or the Korean district, the problem of getting there and back, safely and inexpensively.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind spending money on a vacation, but I was here for “work”. I had given her a large discount to what I would have charged someone else, so I didn’t want to go over budget. Also, I don’t want to throw away money, so some frugality is always needed when away from home.

I ended up at a small river side park, very nice looking, but not really anything to do or anywhere to sit in the shade. There was a nice, small community garden. The East River isn’t much to look at either. No sightings of mobsters dumping bodies, so I’m still alive.

There was another park, next to the Queensboro Bridge, aptly named the Queensbridge Park. There was a crew, which looked like they might be a film crew. Maybe they were going to film a scene for a movie or just a commercial. I saw no cameras nor anyone that looked “film-able” so I didn’t hang around.

Both parks overlooked Roosevelt Island and Manhattan. I could spot the Chrysler Building, but didn’t recognize anything else, since I’m not an expert. I took a few photos, and then returned at night, to get the same, just for comparison. I saw no way to walk to Roosevelt Island. There may be walk lanes on the bridge, but the end was a bit far from the river, and the bridge is high above the island.

I did find a free museum, just roaming around. It was the MOMA PS1. I presume it was connected with the other MOMA, the Museum Of Modern Art. The art inside was “modern” in that it was mostly shit, but there were a few good and interesting pieces. It was originally a public school (a PS), that was converted into the museum after the school closed.

The hostel had a rooftop deck, so I went up, but nothing really to see from only 30-ish feet higher than the road.

I really shouldn’t crap all over the city, after all, I only saw a small section, and to their credit, I did not see any homeless. Hell, I can’t go through Ocala without that.

I did see 3 young colored boys pushing a cart with several huge bags of cans, obviously on their way to recycle them, except it was the middle of Monday, a school day. Eh, I’m not their dad, why should I care.

Also I saw an Asian man, several times as my wandering wasn’t straight. He had a bunch of plastic bottles, again for recycling. If you look at the label, most bottles will have a notice about a 5¢ deposit in several states, including NY.  Dang, I should have been saving them and bringing them with me.

With all the trash thrown out, there is no reason anyone should not be able to make enough money to eat.

 

I checked in with her, that night, about her progress. She stated it may take a week to get done, so I decided to return home the next morning.

Staying in a room for a few days was cheaper than the fuel, but not staying an entire week.

I woke up and got ready to leave and checked in with her again, just in case she needed me for anything. I got a “no”, so I headed out.

I have discovered, mapping programs are okay for relatively short trips, but once you hit some length, their estimates are crap. I believe this has to do with conditions at the time you check the route. Whereas 11am is not rush hour, but your if trip goes that long, then it will be. They do not account for that, I think. My 17 hour estimate became an 20 hour drive, and I didn’t even see any heavy traffic.

An entire audiobook completed and then half of another was done on the way home.

After a couple days, I needed to check back in, on Friday,

I had a pickup on Wednesday and I had to leave before Monday morning, to get back in time.

Fortunately, she had just finished her paperwork and I could go up and get her.

I left at about 2:30 am, Saturday morning and would arrive around 8pm. That was the estimate I was given all the way up.

I stopped in MD for a toilet break and the estimate moved about 15 minutes. I had not stopped that long, but maybe with the slowing down and getting back up to speed.

By the time I had to stop near Philadelphia, the estimate had jumped almost an hour. By Trenton, NJ, it was another 20 minutes.

My plan was to arrive at 8pm, park and crash out for 2-3 hours, before picking her up at 11. Now I was arriving at 10, plus I realized, it was Saturday night, everyone would be home, so there would not be anywhere to park.

I was right, not a single space was to be seen. So when she texted to find out what time I would arrive, I just went ahead and picked her up.

Up to this point, I had a short “tiredness” around 4am, but nothing since daylight. I was able to keep on driving until around 2:30am, when I decided to pull off into a rest stop. I got into the passenger seat and tried to get rest, but it was poor, only 20-30 minutes at a time. So after 4 hours, I decided it was time to continue.

Shortly after, since it was morning, we stopped at a Waffle House, which had thick outer windows and pass through slots, as it was closed for dining on weekends. What? Isn’t that when they get the most business? What kind of dangerous area are we in?

The drive was mostly uneventful, fortunately, other than seeing a large inflated turtle on the shoulder of the interstate, probably a pool toy.

After entering Florida, I got a text from one of my local amigos, needing to go to the bank. Since I would not be home for hours, I pushed him off until the next day.

Passing Stark (speed trap capital of the world) I got a phone call from another amigo. he needed a ride to Ocala the next day. Will no one let me rest???  He did buy lunch, so I can’t complain, well I can, but shouldn’t.

I got home at 12:30 am, only 46 hours after leaving and 5,000+ miles for the week. I put down some food for the cats and dropped into bed.

Comic-Con, Sunday

SDSpivey

Sunday is a bit light. Not only is there not a lot of good panels, but I’m am just so worn out.

I don’t sleep well at home, in my own bed. I certainly can’t sleep well on the top of a bunk bed, with roommates going in and out all the time.

The first I saw was author David Gerrold, who wrote Trek’s “The Trouble With Tribbles” as well as other episodes of various Trek series. He also wrote “Jumping Off the Planet”, which I enjoyed reading back in High School, but also recently re-read.

He also wrote the book “The Martian Child”, which was mostly based on his experiences trying to adopt a child, while being a single, gay man.

He asked the producers who was playing him in the film adaptation, and was pleased that it was someone as good looking and nice as John Cusack. Although his major gripe with the film is that the main character is a writer, but there are almost no books seen in his house. Gerrold stated he had to have a room just for his books, and another for all the books he had read. Writers are usually voracious readers, stealing borrowing ideas from others.

I went to the “35 Years of Sailor Moon” panel, but it was really about a newer series, not even mentioning anything about the previous shows. There were 4 voice actresses from the English dub.

I had an aisle seat and a mom and daughter asked if they could sit in the seats next to me. They weren’t mine so sure. I did hear the girl ask if boys were allowed to like Sailor Moon. My parents never told me not to watch, so I suppose it was allowed.

While listening to the speakers answer audience questions, one had mentioned Linda Carter (Wonder Woman) as a powerful female influence on her as a child. I sudden had the realization, the transformation of Diana Prince into Wonder Woman, may have inspired by the Sailor Moon transformations. Although a quick search gave me no confirmation.

Prior to that, I caught the last few minutes of the “Air Bud Returns” panel. They had one of the dogs that played Bud in the movie. The dog looked so much like Duke from the Bush’s Baked Beans commercials. I got to see Duke at Fan Fair one year.

Hungry and nothing else going on I left, in search of food. I found a Persian restaurant and sat at the bar. I ordered a chicken and beef kabob with saffron rice and a fire roasted tomato. The meat was delicious and so tender, the tomato was harder. It was great, but $30 is a lot to spend on lunch.

The restroom layout was interesting. They had several individual rooms with toilets, but then there was a large sink to wash up in the hall.

For the last panel, as it was the last of the day, I went to what I thought was going to be about a new or recent musical based on Buffy, the vampire Slayer. Instead it was a showing of an episode that i had missed, as I believe I was working exclusively evenings at that point and my VCR had broken.

The entire episode was a musical, caused by a demon, of course.

No panel, but I did get to see the late Michelle Trachtenberg again.

The exhibit Hall was closing by the time I got out, so i went back to pack up. It was snug, but I got everything into my carry-on. As I am someone who prefers to spend money on experiences rather than things, I only had 2 books bought, but I had a bit of free stuff.

I had plenty of time and space to carefully fold and pack my clothes to go there, but trying to do the same, on the floor, with a bunch of waded up dirty clothes, isn’t quite as easy.

One of my roommates was having a bit harder time. He bought a lot of stuff, duplicates in some cases, and was not going to get everything into his suitcase, 2 backpacks, and a box.

He was from Brazil, so he had ordered a box of games that was delivered to the hostel. This was to avoid large delivery fees as well as huge import tariffs. (I have several times picked up Brazilians at the airport that had empty bags, just so the could go shopping for shirts or jeans, that they can’t afford at home.)

I did suggest that he go to stores or restaurants to get boxes that he could use as check luggage, but he did not listen. Instead he removed packaging and flattened it out, trying to remove as much volume as possible. If he is opening up packages and folding them, then just throw them away. Right?

He even took some of the games and flattened the inserts, even going to the length of folding a divider the opposite way.

It is his stuff and his problem of transport, so i don’t care.

I asked at the front desk if they knew what time the buses start in the morning, but they did not. So I had to set my alarm for 4 am and head out to find the stop.

I already knew that the bus to the airport was $2.50, and luckily I had exact change, as they do not give any back.

I had to walk a few blocks to get to the stop. Pausing to look at the map, I then went around a corner and saw the bus, good I was not going to have to get an expensive Uber (~$30) or walk, but then the bus pulls off. No big deal, there will be another soon.

Ubers are hard to get sometimes, early in the morning (Or was this late at night?). If I couldn’t get a bus or Uber, then I was going to have to walk back, so I had to have enough time. Fortunately, it would be much cooler than the trip from the airport.

When the bus arrived at the first terminal, an automated recording stated the airline at that terminal. It did not specify the one I needed, which I see on a sign as soon as we depart. I went to terminal 2 and they have a shuttle that goes back and forth.

I had to wait a full 5 minutes before getting through security. Dang these long lines. Considering the number of people leaving today, I am surprised at the small number there.

Somehow, my gate is always at the far end of the terminal, walking passed dozens of other gates that my plane could have been.

There were many flights leaving. The same message came from each gate crew, the plane is full, so if you are in a later boarding party, you will not have overhead space and will have to check your bags.

After the 10th flight, and since I’m in group 7, I looked at the site and saw it was only $30 to get Priority Seating. WTH, I did it and I have never seen a plane so empty. I was fifth, after another couple and the handicapped. I could literally put my bag anywhere I wanted. Such luxury.

On the first flight, I sat next to a couple with a sleeping tot. This flight I sat next to a couple who were expecting soon. I must be a family magnet.

Some message stated they were diverting because of a storm over Florida. Using my offline map, there was no on board displays, I saw that we almost reached Savannah, GA before going down the coast. We took off going over the Pacific, and now we are over the Atlantic, true coast to coast.

After paying $98 for parking, I went home.

 

Comic-Con, Saturday

SDSpivey

I spotted a panel with the name of “Hello Darkness, My Old Friend” and of course had to check it out.

There was nothing about Simon and Garfunkel talked about, instead it was a horror anthology comic called “Hello Darkness”. Interesting enough, though.

There ware back to back Futurama and Simpson panels, but Bob’s Burgers was before that, which I detest, so I went to the fore-mentioned panel instead. By the time I exited that, the line for the others was already capped.

I got a text wishing me a happy birthday. I had reply back that I had been so busy, that I barely knew what day of the week it was.

Since there was nothing going on, I decide to get lunch and was actually able to find a seat at a table. I noticed a kid across from me that had a button stating it was his birthday. I mentioned to him the co-incidence, but he was either too shy or he didn’t believe me, he just kept eating his food and staring down.

I roamed around a bit, before heading over to a new location, there were a couple of panels I wanted to check out at another nearby hotel.

After waiting in a long line, I managed to get into the room just at the end of the previous panel. Once over, very few people were leaving, showing that they didn’t care about that one.

Nathan Fillion’s “The Rookie” was going into the 9th season. They talked about relationships (both real and on-screen), behind the screens details (most “driving” shots are done by a car on a trailer, this show has a guy in a seat on the roof doing the actual driving), and pregnancies (2 women had kids while on the show, but hidden. Another had her pregnancy written into the show.).

The moderator grilled them with questions, which everyone had to write on a small dry erase board before revealing all at once. Nathan Fillion was voted “most like his character”, “nicest”, and “most likely to mess up his lines”. Although, to be fair, as the lead, he would have more lines to say.

Afterwards, there was a reunion of Mad TV, 10 years after ending. They are still just as funny as they were.

I ran quickly to a panel on Reacher, catching the last half. Great book series, but the show is skipping a lot of them. That is my only complaint against the show.

Apparently, they are going to spin off Neagley into her own series, and an companion novel, perhaps more.

Somehow on Tuesday, when I was looking through the schedule, I managed to overlook 2 interesting panels. Danny Trejo and Cyanide & Happiness.

Everyone’s favorite bad-ass,Danny Trejo was there to promote a new comic based on a Mexican mythos. The main character (basically Trejo) opens a portal to hell. From the discussion, I’m not certain he actually had anything to do with creating the comic, other than posing for illustrations, but I’m sure it is still good.

The sick and twisted Cyanide & Happiness is a webtoon featuring very basic “stick figure” characters doing dangerous and perverted things, but funnily. The artists were doing live drawings based off the audiences random words, which they would give away at their booth.

At least half of the people there were waiting for a House of the Dragon, Season 3 sneak peek. I didn’t want to be spoiled, plus I didn’t want to sit there for over an hour, waiting. I’m going to see all the season anyway, so why see anything now. I suppose it is like the idiots who pay for a movie, just so they can see the trailer for a film or show, that they are excited to see anyway. Then many of the leave after the trailer, not watching what they actually paid for.

Don’t they know the same trailer will be on TV the next day, anyhow?

Comic Con, Friday

SDSpivey

As I walked down the road, on my way to the convention, I notice a guy next to me that I recognize. It took me a second to process through my muddy brain.

It was Doc Farrow, who plays coach Wayne Wilkins, on “Young Sheldon” and “Georgie and Mandy”.

I chatted for a couple minutes and took a photo. He gave me a button that promoted a short film he made, co-starring Lance Barber, who plays George Cooper on those same shows.

I headed into a room for a panel labeled “Kristin Kreuk: Black Star”.

What? The star of “Smallville” isn’t black, as far as I know.

“Black Star” is a new comic series that she, and a couple friends, spent the last couple years developing.

The story is centered in Winnipeg, where co-writer Peter Mooney is originally from, and takes place over multiple timelines. The title comes from a huge black star in the middle of the Winnipeg Muninciple building.

Their boxes just arrived the day before, so none of them had a chance to even go through them yet.

They were available at a booth in the main hall, but when I immediately went down afterwards, the lady at the booth stated they had sold out already.

I didn’t really want to buy it, but I would have liked to at least see the artwork in person.

I walked a little bit down the aisle and found myself next to someone else that I thought I knew. It was Brian Pulido, the creator of “Lady Death” comic series, among others.

My friend Russel is a big fan and we had met Pulido in Orlando or Tampa at another convention, again many, many years ago. My memory really is weirder than even I can fathom.

I found a panel on Star Trek and astronomy, with Rekha Sharma, who has played a scientist or alien in many shows and films. There was also a NASA engineer (wearing a blue jacket, which is what an engineering officer on ST is supposed to wear) and a xenobiologist (from JPL, I think they said).

Not much “astronomy” talk, mostly what they thought about “first contact” with alien life could entail.

I jumped around, from panel to panel to the main hall and back, ending the night at a viewing of “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”, followed by karaoke of audience members singing the songs of the show.

It stars Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Castle, and the Rookie), Neil Patrick Harris (Lemony Snicket, Doogie Howser, How I met your mother), and Felicia Day (The Guild).

It was created by Joss Whedon, which explains why it is so good.

I had not watched it since it came out, way back in 2008, so I had forgotten how funny and how good the singing actually is.

If you have never seen it (or even if you have) go watch it now. You will not be disappointed.

Comic-Con, Thursday

SDSpivey

I mentioned the noisy hinge to the front desk and they had taken care of it before I was ready to go out.

I walked down the road a little ways, to an Albertson’s, looking for something to eat for breakfast, on the run.

It was too early, so a clerk was removing all the old pastries from the shelves. New stuff was still in the oven.

I bought a small bottle of OJ and a couple small snack pies, apple and pecan. I was hoping to find a small fruit bowl, but couldn’t afford them.

I had gone too far in that direction, so I ended up having to come back to get to the convention center, taking a long flight of stairs, instead of crossing a half dozen train tracks. This lead directly to the convention center, but the only entrance open in the morning was on the other end.

Seriously, these people do not know how to organize a large group. There are maybe a dozen doors along the front, but they funnel 10,000 through only 1. They do utilize more later, but then the flow is significantly more spread out anyway.

There is an escalator that takes you down from the second floor, and then it is blocked off at the bottom, so that you must scan to go out, then you may re-scan in the next door to come back in. Why??? I have already scanned to get in the first place, so why do I have to go out?

There is another elsewhere, going up, where they have a long (60-70 ft) barricade at the top before you can choose which way to go, even if you then walk directly along the side of that escalator.

Nothing started until 10, the main doors opened at 9, so that people could line up (out of the sun) for whatever event they wanted. I headed upstairs and was one of a handful that was at the panel that I wanted, so I got a seat, right up front.

I just bounced from panel to panel, surprisingly not having to stand in line to get into any of them.

One was in the Grand Ballroom, well, it was actually called Ballroom 20, but I think my name would have been better. It could easily hold a few hundred dancers, without crowding. Also, it is the only room, that I know of, that was called a “ballroom” and not a “hall”.

There was a vampire discussion, with Ashley Greene and Peter Facinelli, who both played “Cullens” in Twilight, and the director, Catherine Hardwick.

They also had a K-pop boy band, N-Hyphen, who just released a vampire video, with many vampire themed songs. Although, from the preview, it looks very homo-erotic. I’m not sure if that was they were going for.

By 2pm, there were no more interesting panels, for a while, so I browsed around the main hall for a bit.

I came up to one booth, and looking at the artwork on the book cover, it looked very familiar. The artist asked me if I knew his work, and I replied it looked like a “zombie fetus” book I bought in Orlando 20-something years ago. He was very surprised, because he had only gone to that convention once. I loaned out the book I had to someone, and of course, never seen it again. So I bought the 25th anniversary edition and a sequel, $40. He autographed both, for free, which he normally charges for, just because of the previous purchase. I think he may have just been more impressed that I remembered it from that long ago.

“Artist Alley” has at least 100 artists in their booths, most of which had some awesome artwork displayed. But I have a limited bank account and really don’t want to carry anything at all.

Hunger was striking, and the food at the con was limited in variety, and very expensive. I headed back over to the “Gaslight” district, and found a Irish bar that had a reasonable priced menu posted out front.

I order a shepherd’s pie, only $16, but was disappointed in how small it was. It did fill me a bit, so I guess I should not complain for that. I sat about 10 minutes after I finished, waiting for my check, before someone came over to take my dishes, who was not my waitress, then waited another 8 for it to actually come.

The total was over $18, because of added sales tax, but also a “hospitality” fee. I presume that was the tip, so I left exact change on the clipboard and left. I don’t know who would have been tipped anyway, as the person who sat me, the person who took my order, the one bringing my order, and the one who brought the check, were all different people.

They were not that busy to have that poor of service.

I came back to the room, just to drop off some of the stuff I was carrying, including some swag I got from panels. Then I headed back over to the main hall, for a while.

The next panel I wanted wasn’t until 7, and it was just after 5, but I was hurting again, so I just went up to just sit.

There is a “food court” with a seating area, but every seat is taken up by people just sitting there, not eating, even though there are plenty of rooms with panels that they could sit in, and maybe be entertained.

One panel was really just a trivia contest, for Andy’s mint chocolates. Many of the questions and answers I did not have any clue about. Other questions, I was just way too slow for my brain to process.

One question was about a character that liked lollipops, no one was answering, so I joking called out “Kojak”. The host thought it was funny enough, so I got a chocolate.

San Diego, day 1

SDSpivey

Ok, I got up at 4am and got ready and went off to the airport.

Once I arrived at the terminal, I see the sign stating 3-5 minutes delay for security. Oh God, I’m way too early. I sat at the gate for over an hour and a half.

It was only a 4 and half hour flight, so they only served a small bag of pretzels, a bag with a couple Oreos, and a small cup of a drink. Not nearly enough fuel for my day.

I managed to nod off for 20 minutes or so, but didn’t really get any rest. The couple sitting next to me had a 3-ish little girl, who managed to sleep almost the whole way, so no crying, hurray!

The plane was a 737, which I didn’t know anyone still used. There was no entertainment or information displays, so I had to guess on location and ETA, based on time used so far.

I was thinking about using Uber or even the bus, but last year, the Uber to the hotel, about half a mile, was over $40. This year, the hostel is 3.5 miles, so I really didn’t want to even look at the price. Everything in CA is outrageous. The bus was only $2.50, but I had 4 hours before I was supposed to check in, so no hurry, so I decided to walk.

About 20 minutes later, I regretted that decision immensely. At home the temperature yesterday was about 98F. Here was only 77, but felt so much worse. There are almost no clouds or trees, so the sun just beats down.

I was smart enough to refill my water bottle before leaving the airport, but I almost drank the entire liter by the time I arrived. Also, my ipad lost 20% of the battery, just from the heat, so it wasn’t just me being too damn old.

I did figure out a solution, not that it would help today. I should have fond a big name hotel neat the hostel, then used the airport shuttle to go there, then it would be closer to walk, but hindsight…

Fortunately, the clerk let me check in early, so I dumped my stuff and sat in the common room for a bit, recharging my ipad up, and cooling me down, before heading out to find food.

I found a Yemeni restaurant, but they won’t be open for another month. I can’t wait that long. So I hit a bar that a couple people said had good food. I had a burrito, not bad, but didn’t have any salsa.

I came back to my room, to dig out my Comic Con badge and went down to the con center to get my goodie bag. really only the schedule is want I was wanting. I returned and marked up the programs I wanted to see.

3.5 miles from the airport to the hostel, plus maybe the same for roaming around downtown. My hips are sore, something I haven’t had to experience, so far, even last year.

I hung around the common room awhile, talking with whomever came in. One guy was from Crystal River, wherever that is.

An employee said they were going to have a “movie night”, but never actually played the movie, but did have nachos and popcorn in some bowls.

I did not want to go to bed too early, I would just end up waking too early and have nothing to do. I hung out until I realized I had basically been up for 21 hours, then went to bed.

I was stuck on the top bunk, and the woman below kept coughing and getting up to go to the toilet or whatever, shaking the bed, squeaking the very loud hinge, and closing the tight door. Meanwhile, I had placed some of my things at the foot of the bed, so I was worried that I was going to kick something off and make a huge noise or mess.

I finally got out of bed around 8, peed for the second time since arriving (man am I dehydrated), and walked a few blocks to a market.

It was basically the same as a Sav-alot, just a bunch of cheap, no-name brands, but I got a few items and headed back to eat.

Wednesday has nothing really going on, so I though about going back down to TJ. Halfway to the market, my hips were arguing with me again, so there is no way I am going to walk aimlessly around. I am probably stay in, only going out to eat, today. Wasteful, I know, but better than wasting a day or more not being able to use the tickets I paid so much for.

I am sure I will get bored and go out anyway.

Tsunami

SDSpivey

Tuesday evening, an earthquake occurred off the coast of the Kamchatka region of Russia. It caused tsunami floods in that region, as well as Japan and Hawaii.

The waves hitting Russia were up to 12 feet high. Many Russian ships and nuclear powered submarines were damaged, in a nearby port.

Warnings were spread across the US west coast on Wednesday morning, but fortunately, the wave hit southern California at a low tide, so damage was minimal.

There are hundreds of boats in the San Diego marinas, I’m sure the owners were crapping their pants when they heard.

Strange that if I had stayed a couple days later, I could have been affected.

Last day of Comic-Con

SDSpivey

For my second ticket, I wanted to go and hit as many panels as I could. I browsed over the schedule, but there wasn’t a lot of good panels on Sunday. All the really good ones were on Friday and Saturday, the 2 days I was not able to go. 🙁

I headed out rather early, at the bus stop before 8, when the convention doors wouldn’t open until 9:30. I just wanted to get a good spot in line.

Surprisingly, they had the doors open early, there were long lines inside for many of the panels. I don’t know which, all the 10:00 panels sounded boring, but I don’t know all the different artists, so maybe there was some really good comic or manga person I never heard of.

I headed straight to room 7A, which had no line, because the first panel was “Pop Culture and the Christian Church”. No, I hadn’t converted, I was there for the second panel, which was going to be about the plans for Star Trek in the next couple years. I just wanted to make sure I had a good seat.

I was actually the 4th person in the room, including the sound tech.

I chose a seat and started playing solitaire on my tablet, just to kill time. I didn’t even finish the game when a couple in the row behind me asked if I wanted to play Uno. Well, why not, it’s better than draining my battery.

They were local, but the lady had attended UCF and had some family in Tampa area.

We played Uno Flip, which I had not played before, but I did manage to pick up the variant rules and got a couple wins.

It was hard playing on the rows of chairs, I was kneeling on mine, while having to reach over the seatback to get or place cards.

After a few minutes, a group of young ladies sat in the following row and joined us. The time flew by, it didn’t seem like an hour.

The panel really wasn’t that bad. Each artist talked about there own recent project and how it came to be, with just a bit of preachiness. The last man didn’t even have a book to push, he talked about the latest Superman movie and how it was comparable to real life. I haven’t watched it yet, but wasn’t spoiled by anything he said either.

One man was named Robert Fuller, which is the same as an actor that was on “Wagontrain” which dad watches a lot, so it made me laugh when I realized that.

Apparently, halfway through, the AC kicked into high gear, it got cold, fast. I was thinking of going out to the hallway, but then I would loose my seat.

I enjoyed the Star Trek panel, but was shivering throughout, so I ended up going out near the end. The exit door was right next to a balcony. I figured the best way to warm up is to get into the sun.

The balcony was on the backside of the center, facing the bay, so there was a cool breeze blowing. Not what I wanted.

Wednesday I had walked back there and knew there were a bunch of television promotion events, Abbot Elementary, King of the Hill, and Adult Swim. I don’t care about the first, and the second had a 2 hour line, so I went to the Adult Swim promo. I haven’t watched Cartoon Network in several years, but I recognized most of the activities.

Unfortunately, several of the items had broken in the previous days, so there was only a giant inflated slide. It wasn’t too long of a wait and it was fun, but I had hoped for more. I didn’t even know what show it was supposed to be from.

Down around the corner, there was an Alien: Earth promo, but it also had a long wait. It is a show in the Alien movie universe.

Since it wasn’t any warmer down there, I went back up, heading to room 9. They had an all day panel, swapping out local film makers occasionally. It was called a “children’s film festival,” so I thought it was going to be a screening of kids movies, nope, it did have a few shorts shown, but it was mostly about talking with university students who make films for kids (as a school project).

I did get to quickly meet the star of one of the shorts, prior to coming in. It was called “Super Human Anxiety” and was about a girl who has super strength that gets stuck in an elevator and has a panic attack. Pretty much a PSA for mental health advocacy.

The actress was Alexis Jacquelyn Smith, who actually is in the IMDB, with a few roles in shorts, but also shows and movies.

I left after that, roaming around checking out the costumes.

By 1, my stomach was making noise, so I bit the bullet and decided to get an $17 burrito. As I approached the counter, I see Tim Russ, who played Vulcan Tuvok on ST: Voyager. I offered to let him cut in, but he just waved me off and said no. The talent doesn’t stand in line.

There were tables in a large area, but you couldn’t sit to eat as too many people were “resting” there, holding seats with there bags. I found a spot without anyone there, but also no chair, so I knelt down and ate.

Looking at the schedule again, I didn’t see anything worthwhile, so I went down to the exhibit hall. I had already seen nearly everything, but why not check it out more.

I spent a few hours until nearly closing, then went out towards the buses. On the way, I see the sign for the Marriott. They have events going on there also, so might as well go.

They didn’t have any signs or maps to know where to go, and I ended up in the game room. There was about a hundred people at consoles playing some game I didn’t recognize. I’m not even sure if they were all playing together or not.

Among the more interesting costumes I saw, the flower maiden from Midsommer, a seven year old Wednesday Adams, Galinda and Elphaba from Wicked, and the shrunken head man from Beetlejuice.

Walking count: Today, not much, maybe only 3 miles, but I am about to go to Denny’s, so that will double. Total: well over 30.

Pacific and pacified

SDSpivey

Even though I have flown over the Pacific Ocean several times, I’ve never actually seen it. (I prefer aisle seats, so can’t see out the window.)

The coast is only 3 miles away, but I have already walked way more than anyone should ever do, so I Ubered over to the edge of a park.

There were cliffs here, maybe 60 feet high. Certainly higher than you’d want to fall. Luckily, there was a set of stairs leading down to the “beach”.

At the bottom, there was a small area of sand, but mostly rock shelves and just stones about head size. You could walk around, but it was precarious. I was convinced I would end up either with soggy shoes, busted head, or salt-ruined phone. You will have to read to the end to find out which…

It is called the “pacific” but it is no calmer than what I have seen on the Atlantic or Gulf, so bad name?

My free tourist map had stated there were caves. Nope, they are just deeper indentations into the cliff wall. If I can touch the back with one hand and the other is still outside, it isn’t a cave, IMO.

The rock shelves had small pools in them, small crabs and sea anemones flourished within. But it did mean you’d have to constantly watch where you step.

After checking everything out, it wasn’t a large area, I headed back up the stairs and walked southward along the ridge, looking for another way to get down to another beach area.

I mentioned before how San Diego feels so foreign, this was no different. The top of the cliff area felt like a desert, dry and dusty, with brown prickly grasses and bushes.

I did see an actual sandy beach area, with a couple of women and their dogs, but I saw absolutely no possible route down. Well, actually going down would be easy, but you’d not like the landing nor would you ever get back out.

I never rains in southern Cali, but when it does, man it pours.

There were many washout areas, causing even more chances to slip and end up at the bottom. I managed to find a spot where people had carved out a few stepping holes, so I didn’t fall and die. I know, you are so relieved.

Once at the bottom, I would walk along exploring the area, trying to dodge the waves from washing over my shoes as I slipped around an outcropping.

A couple of men with 2 young girls were down on the same beach. One was digging in one of the “caves” and was trying to uncover something partially buried. I had climbed up shortly after them and noticed they had all left their shoes at the top of the cliff, I should have thought of that.

I went down the coast for a bit longer, but I was looking at a map on a information sign and realized I was basically at the end of the park. So I headed inland, hiking through the desert, climbing higher and higher. I zigzagged through the bushes, finding dead ends and loops back, not going forward.

Eventually, I did find a path to a parking lot and was able to get to where I could get a ride back to the hotel.

Climbing that far left me quite sweaty. I should have gone to the room and rested or cooled down, but I still wanted to go to the Chinese History Museum, so I was dropped off at the bus stop and rode to the convention center.

I had thought the museum would be local history, but it was more general Chinese history. It was good and not much admission.

Without anything else planed, I just went back over to the crowd to costume watch.

There were 4 ladies in “princess” outfits standing together. A little girl walked up and was awed, she had princess-overload.

I have seen quite a few Fantastic 4 outfits, but I just realized that many of the t-shirts are just the ones given out by the blood bank for donations.

I went to eat then went back to the room for a nap, nearly 3 hours.

Tomorrow will be another busy day, so I should rest up.

Walking count: Hard to measure a zig zag path, but probably about 3 miles on the cliffs and 3 downtown, so total to date is 25 miles.

Ok, I will tell you now, a wave did wash over my shoe once, but it is leather so my feet stayed dry. Although, time will tell if salt spray will ruin my phone or not.

 

TJ

SDSpivey

Since I had nothing better planned, I headed off to Tijuana, Mexico, this morning.

OK, it was closer to noon before I actually got out of bed, but it was technically still morning.

There is a train that goes right to the border. I cheated a bit as I took the convention shuttle downtown first. The ticket was only $2.50, each way. I didn’t know what time I would return, so I just got a one-way.

When I had renewed my passport, I decided to spend a bit extra to get the passport card. It is only good for land crossings of Mexico and Canada, no cruise or flights. I don’t know why I did, at the time, I had no plans to drive over 1200 miles to the border. I did think that if I had lost my passport, the card would be useful in proving who I was to the consulate to get a new passport. At least now I can say I actually used it, even if I still had my passport in my bag.

There are over a dozen stops on the way, almost all are literally just a platform with ticket machines, sitting out in the middle of nowhere.

The ride took about 45 minutes, dropping us within 100 feet of the border control, which was surprisingly simple, just about 2 minutes to pass through, including getting a visa and bag scan.

We had to then walk down a pathway, with fences on both sides, maybe 200-250 feet long, then pass through a one-way carousel, before being in Mexico proper. There is no way to re-enter, so I wonder how there are so many vendors inside the pathway.

There were a hundred or so taxis lined up, ready to take your money, but jokes on them, I don’t have any. 😛

I had no real destination, just wandered down street after street.

There was nothing note worthy that I passed, except a couple of pit bulls that were “knotted”. If you don’t know what that means, I’m not going to tell you.

I saw a few statues on concrete pedestals, in the medians of the roadway, but I saw no signs stating who they were supposed to be, maybe generic Mexicans and Aztecs.

I spotted a restaurant, it didn’t look great, but it smelled wonderful.

My original plan was to just use my card. I know, I know, I was going to do the same exact thing I avoided yesterday. But this was different, yesterday I had US cash in a US town. Today, I had no pesos and didn’t want to have to exchange more than I needed.

Unfortunately, they did not appear like the place that had “technology”. I went to an exchanger next door and swapped $40 for 721 pesos. Over kill, I was certain.

I went in and just pointed to the menu on the counter, for a 4-piece meal, 159 pesos or about $8.50. After a minute, the guy gives me this reasonably large bag of food. WTF did I order?

The tables were occupied, so I decided I would walk a bit more, looking for a park or a shady bench. No such luck, they don’t believe in benches.

I did find a small window ledge on a building, with shade, so I sat and took a look at what I had.

The first container was a ~10 oz polystyrene cup w/lid, filled with frijoles marrones (brown beans), they were awesome. I shouldn’t be eating them, because farts, but I downed the whole container, including the broth.

The second was a pinkish rice. It tasted good, but had been squished into the cup too much and was hard to scoop, and a bit cooled off.

The next was a vegetable soup, pass.

I then decided I better eat the chicken before I got full. Fuck, this was the best chicken I have ever had. Seriously, it was magnificent. Slightly salty, smokey, and spicy, in just the right amounts. Also tender as heck.

This place was called “Rey de Pollo” (King of chicken). I think it might have been a chain restaurant, but they certainly are the kings.

The only downsides were that the 2 legs were a bit skinny, compared to American drumsticks, but I’ll take a scrawny delicious one over a fat, tasteless one. The other pieces were, i think, a back and a thigh.

Also included were a bag of chips and small baggie of salsa(?), or maybe it was just smashed up tomato. What am I supposed to do with a bag of sauce? It had some small soft tortillas, but I didn’t know what they were for, there wasn’t anything to put in them, unless I was supposed to pick the meat off and have small tacos.

Before I got on the train, I had to pee, but there was nowhere at the train station. The wasn’t any toilet on the train either, it was only 4 cars long. And as I stated above, the other stations were just open platforms, so I couldn’t even jump off to do my business, and catch the next train.

Sitting there eating, certainly didn’t help the situation.

I finished up and started walking in the same direction I had been beforehand. I went up an inclined road, going over the Rio Tijuana.

Sears is still alive in Mexico, apparently.

If you remember the movie Grease, there is a scene of a car race in the LA river. River being a loose term for a completely concrete ditch, with a trickle running down the center. In times of great rain, it will fill substantially, but normally, just a trickle.

This river was very similar.

On the other side, I spot a small shopping center, an open air mall. I head in and am rewarded with a sign for the “sanitarios“. I know the term baño, for toilet or bathroom, but I guess in a poor place like Tijuana, you might want to specify that it is clean, or at least it flushes.

I wandered around, never really passing anything worth while, for a few hours. Lots of construction, but even more destruction, neglect, graffiti, and trash.

Not much to see, plus I didn’t really want to use my iPad to show off my iWealth™.

Everywhere I went had huge amounts of traffic and dust. I doesn’t rain often, so the dust doesn’t get washed away.

Eventually I got too tired of walking, and I was getting a little redder each day, so I started to find my way back.

It did seem to take longer to get back than the entire time I had already been there, but I am sure that was just my skewed perception.

Entrance to Mexico

I pass a long double lane of stopped cars, they are going to go through the border crossing. Glad I ain’t one of them.

Under an bridge, a man is selling drinks and fruit. Well he had them for sale, he wasn’t really doing much “selling” himself. I see on his menu an orange drink I had seen before, a type of fizzy orange soda, with juice, much like Orangina. It is a bit tart, not very sweet, just like most Mexican oranges.

He looked in his cooler, but didn’t have one, so he zipped down to another vendor to get one. They didn’t have any either, must be popular, but he went further up the road to a second vendor to check. It was 40 pesos, and I dug out that amount in coins while he was gone.

While standing in the shade was better than walking in the sun, I didn’t want to wait around, so I started walking back up the road, meeting him on the way. He was successful, and I paid him.

I then find out why 2 lanes were stopped for so long, while the third was moving, the right lane was for local traffic, that exited left, while the left 2 were held up for the border. Police had barricades to prevent blockage. It seems to me, that it would have been better to have the 2 right lanes be border lanes, and the let all flow naturally, but I seem to make sense whereas the police don’t.

Finally, I get back to the area I had come through the carousel, but didn’t know how to go back in. I was also being accosted by even more taxi drivers.

Following the map directions, I go along, passing a line line of people. After the convention, I didn’t even notice the line, too used to it already.

This line was long enough, that I had to notice at some point. It was over a half mile long, no joke. This was the line of people trying to cross into the US, and that’s the line I was going to have to get into. Crap!

I checked the border control website for more info, maybe I could go into another line as a citizen. Nope, nothing about that, just that there was 2½ times the normal Friday foot traffic. Perhaps they were also going to Comic-Con, either as guests or just to spectate.

I am walking back down the sidewalk, checking the slow Mexican internet for possible faster routes, when a man asks me if I want to take the bus across. Well, no I don’t, but I also don’t want to stand in line for hours.

He says the price is $10 or 200 pesos. I still have 500, so I go that option.

He takes my passport card and enters it into his machine and issues me a ticket. I board and a few minutes later we drive off.

We don’t drive very far, maybe 150-200 feet before everyone exits the bus to go through the checkpoint. Inside there is even a special “bus passenger only” lane.

Just the usual, take your photo, look at your passport, ask the question of “Are you carrying anything illegal?”, and we’re through.

I exit right next to the train, just on the other side as when arriving, also closer.

I go to the machine to get my ticket, but they only take credit. It is only $2.50, WTF?  Same machines as when I got on, but no cash option.

Since no one had ever checked my ticket on the way down, I decided to chance it. I didn’t buy a ticket. I just got on with the intention of saying, “I thought I had selected the round trip, oh I’m so sorry.” But never needed to. Take that San Diego Transit!

I exit near the convention center, not where I originally got on, as I wanted to go to the Chinese History Museum.

On the walk there, I found a street that was closed off to traffic, because it was filled with gobs of conventioneers, many in costumes posing for photos. So I hung for a bit.

But I didn’t know the hours of the museum, so I high tailed it over there. When I arrive, I see closing time on Fridays is 4, and it is shortly before that, but it is already completely closed. I notice another sign specifying that they are temporarily closed on every Friday. Dangit. Maybe I can swing by tomorrow.

I go back to the party street, spotting Deadpool driving a sports car. That has to be illegal, but I’m not going to tell someone that can’t be killed, that he can’t do that.

Walking count: At least another 5 miles (mostly in Tijuana), total so far 19.