So part three of my U.S. tour takes me to San Diego, which of course in German means “a whales vagina.” Sorry, Matt said I’m obligated to use Anchor Man jokes while I’m out here.

I had a great time in San Bernardino visiting one of our customer account teams. They were a great bunch of people, and their stores are very nice. I got to visit 3 different retailers in the area and see how different things are out here. MUCH nicer than anything we have in Jacksonville, unless you go to a Native Sun or Fresh Market. Even Publix doesn’t come close to these stores.

On my way to San Diego, I stopped in Murrieta (just 11 miles from Temecula) and picked up some real estate guides. No, we aren’t moving just yet, but Matt and I are entertaining the idea of living here some day. Murrieta would be about the mid-way point between where both of us would probably work, assuming we both stayed with our current employers (which would certainly be preferred). Murrieta is a nice area and I stumbled upon a fabulous sushi place called Woomi Sushi. Honestly, I’ve been heartbroken since Botan closed down, but this place is BETTER than Botan!!! There are two things that made me a Botan addict: cuccumber salad and garlic salmon. Woomi had the same cuccumber salad but with shrimp (yummy). They didn’t have garlic salmon on the menu, but I ordered red snapper sushi and noticed a light sauce on it. When I tasted it, I perked up… it was my long lost love, garlic sauce! I asked if that’s what it was and the sushi chef confirmed it. Ah!!!! Garlic sauce! It’s the greatest thing to happen to sushi! Anyway, the sushi place alone is enough to make me want to live there, but being minutes away from Temecula is convincing, too. Of course, we could just live in Temecula and be minutes from Woomi. Either way, it can’t be wrong!

Here are some pics of dinner (yes, I took photos of it just so I can share it with you):

Cuccumber and Shrimp Salad

Red Snapper Sushi (left) and Salmon Sashimi (right)

Talk about some huge pieces of fish!!!

After being reunited with my beloved garlic sauce, I had to get a second order of Red Snapper. This time, he added a special little piece of salmon for me!

I was literally dancing in my chair as I ate the sushi. Oh, I guess I should add that I also had sushi for lunch! I went out with some people from the office and had sushi. They were happy that I was an “adventurous eater.” I guess they don’t have many people in the office who like sushi. Unfortunately, I think it’s the same way in my office. I can only think of 3 of us who eat it. I could eat it every day!

After my stop in Murrieta, I continued on to San Diego. I arrived at my hotel somewhere around 8:30pm. There are a million hotels right here. After all, it’s on Hotel Circle. I’m just down the street from Old Town, which is great. I need to stop by there before I leave. Maybe I can grab breakfast down there on Friday.

So I head to my hotel room and open the door and almost flip out. This place is like a timeshare. It’s huge! Much more room than I need. My last hotel was really cozy, so hopefully this will be as well. Class starts at 8am, so I am going to head to bed soon. The great thing about coming out to the west coast for work is that I get up really early because I haven’t adjusted to the time difference, so I’m not running late every morning. I wish I could get up at 6am with no problem back home! I’m looking forward to my class. Coming out here has definitely increased my enthusiasm (and knowledge) of what my company does. I’m hoping to be able to visit another account later this month if I head to Seattle with Matt. We’ll see. I think it really helps to see how different teams approach the work that we do, including their processes and efficiencies.

Here are a few pics from my hotel room at the Residence Inn San Diego – Mission Valley:

This is where I’m headed right now!