Friday Five

The Excuse

Three whole weeks in a row! W00t!

The Week

Well, as I’m sure you’ve all heard by now, the week did not start off as well as I had hoped. Bill Parcells once famously said “We’re too stupid” in response to the question of why his team didn’t win. That’s about the best way to sum up the Chargers day. Between idiotic penalties (Shaun Phillips with a headbutt to extend a drive), dropped passes, and two missed field goals (I’m not holding the 57 yarder against Kaeding), we simply didn’t do enough to win the game. And I find myself back in a very familiar place – dealing with the disappointment from yet another early exit from the playoffs for the Chargers.

My travels this week took me to Baltimore, MD. Or more specifically Linthicum, MD. While for the most part I just tried to focus on getting work done during the week (as is usual), Thursday night did see me actually leaving my hotel room at night. Abram (Juicebox) took the train up from DC and we ventured into Baltimore for some dinner and a little entertainment.

The Exercise

As I mentioned last week, I am training for the Warrior Dash, as well as trying to lose weight (of course). I started off my exercise with three days of running this week. Once around Fiesta Island with Jumbo, and then once more during the week around the campus I was in. My last run was replaced by 20 minutes running up and down stairs as it was 35 degrees out and I only had shorts and a t-shirt to run in. Bit by bit…

The Restaurant

Over on the corner of University and Park is a little restaurant called Cafe on Park. It’s a breakfast/lunch only joint, and they’re serving up some of the meanest breakfasts in San Diego. They have a tremendous collection of hashes and scrambles, large (but not insane) portions. Great food, friendly atmosphere, and packed on any weekend morning. The best compliment I can pay to the place is that it looks like it should be featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.

The Travel Note

I don’t normally complain about the TSA or TSA agents. As I’ve mentioned before, I realize they have a very difficult and thankless job. But Monday morning had me breaking my rules when it comes to complaining.

I’m going to assume he was new^[1], but the agent working the xray machine in Lindberg Field had to be the absolute slowest agent I’ve ever witnessed in my entire life. It took him no less than 20 minutes to work through the 8 or so people in front of me, calling for no less than three manual bag checks and sending countless items back through the xray machine. I understand everyone has to start somewhere, but 6a, when there’s a line literally out the door, is probably not the best time.

The Five

Didn’t intend to do it this way, but here’s 5 skills I have or don’t have.

1. One of my greatest skills is the ability to sleep almost anywhere.^[2] Being able to sleep on a plane comes in handy.
2. While I’m a very good technical trainer (or at least I like to think I am), I don’t have the ability to teach “apps” classes – products like Office. There’s a certain skill there. I don’t know what it is, I just know I don’t have it.
3. To go off something Jumbo mentioned today, juggling is a great skill to have. I need to learn some day how to juggle pins, as I’ve learned that juggling produce while shopping with one’s wife generally only serves to unnerve her.
4. I can make farting noises with my hands. It’s still a skill even if it’s completely useless and childish, right?
5. For lack of a better number five, I guess I’ll toss my cooking skill down here.

^[1] Either that, or I just happened to be behind the longest string of people ever with suspicious bags.
^[2] Assuming I’m not battling insomnia.