Like all middle-aged folk, I only half expected flying cars to arrive by now, but I fully expected electric cars to be available by now. In 2016 our household had to purchase new cars (plural because working from home permanently wasn’t a thing yet) and at that time the only all-electric (now called BEV) option […]
Family Visit 2022
I don’t blog much anymore. Partially because of self-induced covid precautions drastically narrowing the field of potential topics and partially because in today’s internet-of-things landscape blogging feels like throwing a stone into an ocean on another planet. The current consumption mode seems to be doomscrolling through three second copy and paste clips on Tiktok while […]
Parents Visit 2022
In the Before Times, a visit from my parents would begin a minor adventure. However, during a despite-what-Swanson-heirs-say ongoing pandemic, one must find enthusiasm for outdoor eats and indoor treats. In April the Biden administration had extended the mask mandate beyond the timeline of the trip, so I had fewer worries about a plane full […]
What a trip
On Saturday we were up earlier than normal in order to make our 10am flight at LAX. This was our first flight since the start of the pandemic and we were nervous about covid and the experience in general. Other than keeping watch on who was and wasn’t wearing their mask properly not much had […]
Thundering Waves
After our disastrous 4 hour drive down to La Jolla two weeks ago we did a little google maps research and discovered that Sundays seemed much better than Saturdays. Everyone is traveling to the beach on Saturday, but Sunday appears reserved for locals. So we set out on Sunday, this time half an hour earlier, […]
First Shark Run of 21
And maybe the last? In all the previous years of our snorkeling adventures, we’d done day trips to Shaw’s Cove (Orange County) and two-day overnights to La Jolla (San Diego County). Last year, however, an unexpected benefit of the pandemic was less traffic. We were able to do same day trips to La Jolla multiple […]
An Unfortunate Event
During the pandemic, Sam and I chose to be more cautious than many others due to underlying health issues we both have. We only had food prepared outside the home twice, and both times it was “hot” food untouched (in theory) by human hands on its way from the oven to us – and we […]
Big Bear Valentine
Feeling restless from COVID quarantining (we only leave home to go hiking and grocery shopping) we decided to do “something” for Valentine’s Day. Eventually, with diminished options, we settled on driving up to Big Bear Lake for a hike and picnic. We woke up late because the pandemic has made time irrelevant, but traffic was […]
Extra Final (?) Shark Hunt with Huge Cameo!
I didn’t mention it before, but on our last trip, Sam didn’t get to see any of the leopard sharks. On the trip before that (September) I saw some very late in the day after Sam had already gotten out of the water for good. As such, Sam suggested we try a Saturday drive because […]
3rd time’s the charm shark hunting
On Friday we made what might be our last migration of the season to La Jolla. The traffic slowed down a few times on the way down but still seemed quicker than any other year. The beach was an echo of the crowd from a month ago, no problem social distancing this time. I don’t […]