I AM SO ANGRY!

(That title is for Kiet.)

I'm not really angry. I am actually quite happy. Actually, I might be a little angry that I don't have anything to be genuinely angry about. I was in San Diego last week doing more recon for my little tri-store endeavor. It was pleasant, fun, enlightening really, really, REALLY hard work that left me physically and mentally exhausted. It was, in fact, like working in a salt mine and doing the New York Times crossword all day.

 

(Not really, but what am I supposed to tell my wife? Again, she's going to Haiti. I have to make it appear that I have a cross to bear.)

Even all my flights and airline employee interactions were pleasant and helpful. It was kind of surreal, but I'll take it.

Again, I won't bore you with the businessy stuff or the stores I visited. I'd rather write about the fun stuff the left my hands blistered and my head aching.

Thursday, I stopped by Hi-Tech Cycles and met Beth. She was helping with a beginner triathlete seminar, so we only really got to say, "Hi," to each other and didn't really get to talk. I have to say that I had an incredibly cool conversation with the owner, Hank, this guy really knew every detail about all the bikes on his floor. I think he was a little irritated that I was there doing recon and I sincerely apologize for that. He is an incredible wealth of knowledge. (If anyone knows Hank, please send my deepest apologies if I offended him - it certainly wasn't my intent to waste his time or "steal" any secrets or ideas.) 

I played FB tag with Noreen Howard and in the end didn't get a chance to meet. Next time. (Because there will be a next time.) Charisa and I played Twitter tag and then she mentioned that she was going to go for a swim over lunch. I was excited because I thought it would be an ocean swim, but alas it was masters in the local pool. Not at all disappointed when I got there - it was outdoor, 25 meter and salty. I don't think I mentioned, it was 85 - 90 degrees there. And BEAUTIFUL! horrible and miserable.

I find the pool and am signing away my life and paying my $6 and there is this cute chick standing next to me. The receptionist asks what city I live in and when I say "Edina" the cute chick says, "TODD!?" (Who the fuck are you? Am I that famous/notorious?) "I'm Marit!"

So super fun! I got to unexpectedly meet another FB/Twitter/Blog friend. Marit is from St. Paul so we talked a little about Minnes-OH-ta. We also talked about her Afghanistan based helicopter flying hubby who is now done flying and will be home for the holidays! Yeah, baby!

I then hopped in the pool and proceeded to swim 4,000 meters when I haven't swam in about a week and the last time I swam 4K was probably four months ago. I did a surprisingly good job keeping up.

Later I went to dinner with Charisa, her husband Steven, Ian, Marit, their buddies Kevin and Brian. We had awesome Mexican food. (When I told my wife we had Mexican, she said, "I thought you didn't like Mexican," "I don't like bad, Minnesotan Mexican," Truth is, we're too lazy to find a good Mexican place in town.)

The night was about to get fun. First, five adults packed into Charisa's Mini Cooper. It was a like a clown car. I got to sit next to Charisa (she smells nice. At least I think it was her - it definitely wasn't me.) We were a little early for the reservation and stood talking on the sidewalk waiting for Marit to arrive. Ian was telling some story and we were all laughing and some guy walks up, sticks his face in the group and says, "witty, heh heh heh." We all look at him like, what the fuck!? Then he looks at Ian and says "Air Force." Ian looks at him and announces, "MARINES!" The guy mutters something, steps through the group, between two parked cars and proceeds to skip across four lanes of busy traffic. It was surreal and hilarious. Ian's response was priceless.

Dinner was fantastic. There was much laughing and discussion/descriptions of various Marine airborne gun platforms. We learned a lot about Ian's dad Vietnam experience, Marit's husband's helicopter and Steven's budding competitive eating career.

After dinner we went back to Charisa and Steven's place and sat around while Ian told hilarious stories. Actually, the stories may not have been so hilarious, but Ian's way of telling them sure was. I've always been a fan of Ian's but after a few hours with him I requested that the next time he's over just sitting around shooting the shit, I need to be called and put on speaker so I could listen in and laugh my ass off.

This concludes my store recon and my travel for the year. I am still amazed and incredibly grateful to everyone who has been so helpful and supportive. As I move forward I'll continue to provide updates. I'll also try to be less angry in future posts. There really hasn't been much to be angry about, let's see if the momentum continues.