I got home on Thanksgiving only to determine that my laptop power adapter had died somehow. The brick wasn’t even getting warm when plugged in, so who knows what happened - too much traveling, I suppose.
In any case, this resulted in me having to head to Staple’s and pick up a universal adapter for about $80. I wouldn’t have had to do this, but I won’t be back in the office for at least two weeks. Oh well!

Had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday at my Aunt and Uncle’s place. Saw lots of family I haven’t seen in a very long time and ate tons of turkey, of course. Hope everybody else had a good holiday!

Just thought I’d say hello. Got back from Cali, had a nice relaxing weekend with S, and then headed down to OH. Can’t wait to get back home again and maybe, maybe…get a couch. I need a pool table as well. I’ve already sunk about $5 in the one at the Hampton I’m staying in this week. So much to buy…so little time.

Alas, back to testing Active Directory Disaster Recovery methods.

I went to one of the most wonderful restaurents tonight. There is a place called Crustacean in Beverly Hills that we went to for dinner tonight. It was absolutely phenomenal!

Appetizers consited of a sampler that contained some sort of crispy crab thing, marinated beef, fried shrimp, and chicken dumplings. These were all very tasty, but on to the main course. One of us had Maine Lobster, the other, cracked crab, and myself, Royal Tiger Prawns. There was also a lobster salad. The lobster was the best I’ve ever had this side of Maine. It nearly melted in your mouth. Of course, how could I forget the garlic noodles? These are tough to describe, but they are wonderful. The aftertaste they leave in your mouth is like garlic bread.

Desert. Oh desert. Chocolate Lava Cake. A brownie topped with ice cream and whipped cream. Again - melt in your mouth great! And to top it all off, I had a taste of Cognac for the first time. Not sure if I’ll try that again, but it was interesting nonetheless.

So the next time you are in Beverly Hills with an expense account, Crustacean is a must!

Took a little trip down to Tijuana, Mexico today! It was quite the experience - all kinds of street vendors all over the place selling all kinds of little trinkets and whatnot. Most of them were the same, but it was just amazing to see them perk up when you stopped at one. They would lean over and ask you what you wanted and if you touched one, they would tell you how much it was. Usually, you can get it for about half of what they tell you and it’s pretty fun to haggle them down. It was pretty much my first experience doing the bargaining thing, but it was fun.

The trip to get back into the USA was rather interesting. Obviously, you get into a line to wait to go through customs. There is also a bus line and a bike line. You can pay $15 and they will bus you up to the front of the line. You can also rent a bike for about $7-10 and go through the bike line, which is supposed to be quicker. It ended up being about the same though. I didn’t have any trouble getting back in, due my white un-tanned self.

So I’ve gone north into Canada, south into Mexico, now I just need to get overseas more!

I’ve had the luck in being in San Diego for the past week for work. It has been beautiful out here. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my camera, so I will have no memories.

The first day I was here, I spent driving around San Diego just checking things out. I went up to pima loma and checked out the view, which was beautiful.

The second day, while arriving at the client, I saw the USS Nimitz docking, which was also an awesome sight to see.

There have been tons of good places to eat - Filipe’s, for example, is a wonderful Italian place. The Indigo Grill also has an interesting variety of food and some great flauta’s.

I also get to spend the weekend here, but I’m not quite sure what to do. I may hit up Tijuana, but we’ll see. I’ve never been to Mexico, so it will be an experience at the very least.

My cousin Sam was passing through town the other day, and I was able to meet up with him (and his girlfriend) for the first time in a few years and catch up on old times. (What am I, fourty?) In any case, I gave him a brief walking tour of Chicago and then hit up Gino’s East for the best Chicago-style deep dish around. Then it was a quick cab ride back to Union Station so he could settle down for a 12-hour train ride.

Also went to Shedd Aquarium with S today to see the Wild Reef exhibit. The sharks weren’t as big as I was hoping, but it was still pretty cool.

Little bit late, but Happy Halloween! I went to a party here in chi-town. My costume…a Dell Poweredge Server! What can I say…I had a moment of inspiration.

Yes, there are pictures, and yes, I will be posting them.