Leg 3: San Diego

I love San Diego, but, I'll be honest, I was not looking forward to this trip as much as I would have been had it not come right between Rexburg and Tokyo, and had it not cut into time I was planning on spending in Salt Lake with Mel's family.

Here's a little background on why this trip occurred: A few months ago, I was awarded a fellowship by the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy with money given to them by SAMHSA. It was a very generous amount of money, and one of the stipulations of receiving it was that I would use part of it to attend three conferences this year: AAMFT, one I got to pick myself, and a third one all 20 of the fellows had to attend. After voting, the majority picked this conference in San Diego. I explained to our director that I would have to leave early to get to Tokyo, and he seemed to think that was okay. So, that's how I added Leg 3 to my trip.

I snuck out on Monday afternoon while Sammie was napping, and got into San Diego around 8:30 that night. We stayed at a hotel in Little Italy that was right in the heart of downtown San Diego. As soon as I arrived at the hotel, I realized that I had left the bag with my computer in the taxi I had taken from the airport! Besides the expense of replacing a laptop, I had a moment of sheer terror at the amount of my life that I keep on that thing. Fortunately, I called the cabbie, who still had it in his backseat, and he dropped it off to me about an hour later. I also met up with our director, Adisa, who informed me that I had to attend a pre-conference breakfast with the fellows at 6:00 the next morning! He assured me that this was not his idea, and I later discovered that he did not have to be there himself, and probably went back to sleep after we got on the bus the next morning.

Here's a shot of my hotel room, which the Association booked for me, which is why it was so nice.


Highlights from the conference:

• I now know more than I ever want to know about the production and distribution of meth and marijuana in the state of California. Also, I think I could recognize a meth lab if I ever came upon one, and I now have a sneaking suspicion that I may have tracted into one or two on my mission.
• I reviewed both the water and the UCSD bookstore during my stay. Thus far, I would say that Rexburg has the best water and the worst bookstore. Austin's water was better than San Diego's, and the UT bookstore blew the others away as far as apparel went. As far as actual books, UCSD was AMAZING! Some might protest that, having never seen the part of the UT bookstore where books are sold, I should reserve judgment, but I have learned you don't have to be impartial on your own blog.
• I met 19 (some of them I already knew) other PhD students from around the country working with minorities and facing some of the same struggles I face. In addition, some of them face struggles I never face, but that seems a little more deep than I tend to want to go on this blog.

We had two really fabulous meals while I was there. The first was at a place called George's in La Jolla Cove, where, as our cabbie pointed out, the people are "sick with money." After looking at their houses, we decided it was a disease we wouldn't mind catching. Check out the view:

The shrimp tacos were pretty good, too.


This is me with Maria and Afshana, who I met for the first time earlier that day.

The second was actually in the restaurant in our hotel. The menu item the majority of us ordered was called waygu beef. These are the cows that produce the famed Kobe beef, the same beef that Kobe Bryant is named after. I hope to never mention Kobe Bryant on this blog again. I would guess that the only difference between what I ate and actual Kobe beef is the fact that this beef was not, technically, raised in Kobe, Japan. But it was an amazing steak, and I think it has ruined me for all other meat for the rest of my life.

Erica and Luciana post waygu beef experience.

Me and Avigail at the restaurant.

Mel and George picked me up from the airport, and I had about a 12-hour rest before I had to go back to the airport for Leg 4: Tokyo.