billpalmer.net

Maybe I'll get the "iPod in the rental car" thing right this time in San Diego

So I'm heading cross-country to San Diego in the morning, an unexpected but welcome destination in my increasingly surreal travels. This won't be the first time that iProng has done a booth at an event, but it's certainly our first event at an extreme sports event taking place at a horse racing track. I think I'm getting a little smarter about this travel thing. For instance, last time out I assumed my rental car wouldn't have a cassette deck, but failed to consider the possibility that it might not even have a working power source. Thus my plan to use a combination FM transmitter and charger was foiled and I spent the week listening to radio and CD-R's instead of my iPod. Blech. This time I've wisened up and I'm simply taking a standalone FM transmitter with me. So unless the car doesn't even have a radio, I'm in business. The trick, of course, is to use one of the few standalone FM transmitters that don't at least sort of suck. If you read my reviews then you probably know what I'm taking with me.

What'll be more interesting is the fact that I've never been to San Diego before, and with the exception of a bit of online research, I don't know all that much about the place. I'll have an entire day for sightseeing, so to speak, and I've been weighing my options on how to spend it. Although my hotel will be rather near the border, I've decided to save any jaunts down to Mexico for some other time. And I'm going to pass on any museums, historical landmarks, or anything else of that nature. This may be the only chance I get to visit this particular city for some time, so I'm more interested in what the city is now, not what it used to be. I'm thinking maybe Balboa Park in the morning, a trolly ride in the afternoon, and a nightcap in Pacific Beach. If any San Diegans want to guide me elsewhere, feel free to holler at me.

I'm trying to figure out how to eliminate the "twenty-one hour day" that seemingly always ensues on any day you're traveling to the west coast. You get up really early to catch an early flight, three hours get injected into the middle of your day due to the time zone change, and after a layover in some-odd city you arrive on the west coast in the afternoon local time, which is really early evening your time. By the time you get out of the airport, get the car, get to the hotel, get settled, go out for dinner, catch up on email, and get to bed, you've managed to let twenty or more hours go by without sleep. You're exhausted, and the kicker is that other than traveling across the entire United States, you really haven't accomplished anything all day. Oh well, we'll see how I fare tomorrow. This cross-country traveling thing should become more natural the more I do it.

Anyway, if you live in Southern California, feel free to come and see us in Del Mar on Saturday. We'll be operating from 2 to 6 pm in the infield, and as you might expect, we're showing off all the latest and greatest stuff in the iPod universe.