For those who care, I'll be at Tech-Ed 2004. Tech-Ed is being hosted in San Diego, where I've been living for the last four years. San Diego really is one amazing and beautiful city, the nicest place I've ever been. The weather is amazing, although May typically has cloudy days... although it's been sunny a lot lately. The weather is moderate, it's usually in the 60s or 70s downtown this time of year, but can get down into the 50s sometimes at night. I'm usually comfortable with jeans and a t-shirt most times, switching to a long-sleeved t-shirt or sweatshirt at night when needed. If you are used to colder weather, you might want to bring shorts, but I rarely wear shorts myself until late June or early July.
If you'll be attending Tech-Ed, you'll no doubt enjoy San Diego's vibrant downtown, which is bustling with daytime and night time activity. There's a number of sites to check out when in downtown:
And these attractions are all within walking distance of the Convention Center, where Tech-Ed is being hosted! If you are a little more adventurous, you can catch a cab and visit:
- Balboa Park - a huge park with museums, the San Diego Zoo, restaurants, golf courses, playgrounds, gardens, etc. In fact, you'll see Balboa park flying into San Diego if, looking forward, you're on the right side of the plane. (I'm getting married at the Marston House in Balboa Park in a month.) (About 3 miles from Convention Center)
- Another great park with just natural beauty - no museums or tourist attractions - is Mission Bay Park. Lots of grass and beach along Mission Bay. At one end there's Belmont Park, with games, a rollercoaster, nightclubs, and the beach, all in one spot. (About 10 miles from the Convention Center)
- Old Town - you can visit the Old Town park, tour the San Diego Mission, and drink margaritas all night long. (About 5 miles from the Convention Center)
- Pacific Beach - this is where I live. It's mostly 20 something year olds... the place to go if you want to go out drinking and get a tatoo or body piercing, or if you want to drink on the beach (About 13 miles from the Convention Center).
- Take a fairy (or cab) over to Coronado. Coronado looks like an island, but is connected to the continent further south of San Diego. There's a big bridge you can take over, as well as fairies. Coronado has many quaint shops and eateries, it very scenic, and has the highest number of retired admirals, per capita. (About 1 mile from the Convention Center)
- There's also more family-oriented spots, like SeaWorld. (About 9 miles from the Convention Center)
- If you want to visit Mexico, you can take the trolley ($4 one way down to Mexico, I believe, about a 30 minute ride) down to the border and walk over to Tijuana. Don't eat the food unless it's a very nice place or you'll be paying for it over the next 8 hours - trust me! :-) Tijuana's the only place I know of where you'll find gallon-sized drums of Viagra for sale. (About 16 miles from the Convention Center)
San Diego really in one amazing city - I hope you enjoy your stay here!
Ok, ok, enough fawning over San Diego. If you want to meet up during the weekend, let me know. I'll be at a Sams book signing on Tuesday the 25th from noon to 1:30.