My last few days in San Diego, I really felt the love. Tuesday night, before my last day at work, Hyun-chul (visiting researcher and desk-neighbor), Fragkiskos, Alberto (summer interns from Cyprus and Italy, respectively), and I went out to downtown San Diego for the first time together. We had a good time together, laughing about all the little idiosyncrasies of working at CAIDA. I'm sad that we waited that long to hang out like that, but even so, it was good while it lasted.

Wednesday, Colleen (my supervisor) bought some pizza to throw a little going away lunch for me. Everybody gathered around in the "elf bin" (the nickname of the large room in which I and ~9 others work). It was really nice. I had picked some red bayberries off the bush Josh found on campus, and (after washing them!) made 2 fresh fruit pies out of them, which I shared with all the elves (i.e. CAIDA people). They had a strange texture because the bayberries are bumpy, but it was tasty nonetheless.

Thursday, after catching "Ratatouille" at the matinee, I spent the day cleaning and packing. In the evening, my roommates and I went out to eat. They asked me what I'd like to eat, and I said I'd like Indian food, which I hadn't had all summer. We found "Ashoka" in downtown La Jolla, and it was really tasty. Not quite as good as Sushant's cooking from last summer, but surprisingly close! I had my favorite dish: bhindi (i.e. okra) masala. Conversation was good, too: they told me I'd been a really good roommate and that they were said I had to leave.

Friday was a very full day. Matt and Eric picked me up around 1pm to go surfing one last time. What a great way to say goodbye to San Diego! The conditions were great (except for some nasty, dense bits of seaweed polluting one area of the surf). I managed to get up once for about 15 seconds. Booyah, I am officially a surfer! :-) Next, we grabbed some food (In 'n Out, yay!) and got cleaned up to go to the horse track, where Cake (yes, the Cake!) was playing that evening. After that, we went to Matt's, then Eric's, drinking some beers and playing cards. Fragkiskos and Alberto joined us, as well. It was quite a good farewell party. Matt, with his typical sarcasm, dubbed it a "good riddance" party. :-)

The weekend before last, I was busy working on the INFOCOM paper. Thus, by the end of the day last Thursday, I had already accumulated over 40 hours, not including vacation time from the Independence Day holiday. Thus, I opted to take Friday (the 6th) off. :-)

Matt (my buddy from college) and Eric take alternate Fridays off, and that Friday was their day off. So, we all went surfing--yay! :-D They work for the Navy (computer/IT work), which means they rented me a surfboard for $10. That's quite the steal. I had only been one other time, going to Del Mar with them when I was here over spring break. This time, we went to La Jolla shores, which is the closest beach to where I live, about a 45 minute walk away. Also, this time I didn't need a wet suit.
( waves own me )
All in all, it was a fantastic weekend!

The workshop was over Wednesday afternoon. Matt, my friend from U of A who now works in San Diego, picked me up from the hotel. I dropped my stuff off at his place, then we went out to eat at Islands restaurant, where I had a very tasty burger. We went from there to downtown San Diego, called the Gaslamp district, to meet up with Teemu, Wolfgang, Alessio, and Daniel. It was a pain to hear from them (I couldn't call Teemu since his number is international, so he had to call me), and it was a pain to find parking downtown, but eventually we met them at the cramped bar of a Brazilian restaurant.

Downtown San Diego is pretty cool. There are bars and restaurants everywhere, stretching for many blocks in all directions. We had a really great time hanging out one last time before everybody went their separate ways. I realized I'd actually miss those guys, even though I had only met them a couple days earlier. Crazy. I think Matt had a great time meeting and hanging out with them, too.

Thursday, Matt worked, but he was kind enough to lend me the keys to his Jeep Wrangler. I drove it up to La Jolla (~20 minutes up I-5), because Alessio told me I had left a binder in my room. On the way back, I stopped at Crown Books and found some dirt-cheap ($5!) hardcover books. I bought 2 copies each of "Ilium" and "Olympos" by Dan Simmons--one for me, and one to thank Matt for letting me crash at his place. I still can't believe I found them that cheap!

Thursday night, Matt took me to Lefty's, a hole-in-the-wall Chicago-style pizzeria. It was delicious, just like he said it would be. After being stuffed by just 2 slices, we walked down the street to the Bluefoot Bar. They had the NCAA basketball tournament on, and I got to catch a few minutes of UNC's first-round win vs. Eastern Kentucky. Go Tarheels!

Friday, Matt and his good buddy Eric were off work. They work 9 hour days so that they can take alternate Fridays off. We had some tasty breakfast at Maria's Diner. That place was straight out of the 50's.

Friday afternoon was the highlight of my trip. I got to go surfing! We rented a board and wetsuit for only $10 from the naval base (where Matt and Eric work), and then drove up to Del Mar. The waves weren't too big, but they were mostly big enough that I could have ridden them--if I was any good! Paddling out there and then paddling forward to catch a wave plumb wore out my puny shoulders! I did manage to ride one wave on my knees for a few seconds, but then the front of the board caught under the water and I was kicked forward to let the wave have its way with me. But dude! I surfed! I wish I had pictures to share with you, but I don't.

Friday night, we were famished from surfing. Matt and Eric took me to Baja Betty's for Mexican food. It was in the Hillcrest district, which is apparently the gay district of San Diego. Hillcrest ain't got nothing on San Francisco's Castro district, though! While at Baja Betty's, we saw a group of 4 sequinned girls walk in. They soon started doing some serious Irish dancing. It was impressive! They were hitting like 32nd beats in there--all synchronized! And their tightly curled hair was really bouncy.

Eric was tired and went home after that, but Matt and I stayed up and watched Jackass: Number 2 at his place. Saturday morning, I woke up, we went to the airport, and I came home. (Well, the trip home wasn't nearly that simple, but that deserves its own blog post...)