Here and There Blog

12 days into Escrow for the house sale. The buyers are first time and super cautious.  The house is getting inspection after inspection and quotes for repairs. The good part is that I'll sell guilt free after all this work and I'm learning a lot of what to do and look for when I buy my next place. It seems like it's taking forever even though it's been a short time. I don't miss the house but I do miss the easy access to the beach. I hope everyone is having a great weekend so far!

The current Carlsbad Art Wall is a colorful one! Created by Sarah Spinks of Vista, this is one that really catches your attention as you walk by. The art wall has become something that people anticipate what's next as much as it's hard to see favorites go.  New this year is a Go Fund Me for the Carlsbad Art Wall . Check it out and

Last one in the batch of hometown tourist.  I grew up in Poway and as the way things go, ignored this park forever. I went to Midland Elementary down the road, I even lived walking distance for a while. As the way things go, the park really wasn't much at the time but it's become a proper little park with the Poway Midland Railroad as a main attaction. I arrived too late to look inside the building and chose to wander around and walk the tracks instead. I wouldn't make a special trip here but if you happen to be in Poway (especially if you have children who need something to do) this is an option on weekends. Times/days of week limited.

This was back in mid-February on an almost snowy day. Had an unexpected trip to Utah and had a few hours to spare to walk around Temple Square. Most of the time I ignore this area since it's always crowded. This day though, the place was nearly empty and it was easy to wander about.   The Salt Lake City Tabernacle has been around for 150 years. I had to look this up, it has 11.623 pipes.  Looking at the temple.

In the last of the catch-up posts, I went for the first time to the Hollywood Museum to see the Batman exihibit from the television series. This is one of those places that I've always ignored and thought it was for tourists only. I was pleasantly surprised that the Batman retrospective was well done and had lots of detail touches to make it interesting. The upside is now this place is on my radar for future specials that they might have.  Here's a few of my favorites.

A few times a month, the San Diego Zoo offers a Surprise Sunrise Stroll . It's $29 and does not include admission to the zoo afterwards so you have to buy two tickets.  You get to go behind the scenes and meet with the keepers. It's a surprise because you won't know what you get until that morning when you're assembled inside and the reveal is done. This was the first time I'd ever done this and it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I thought 90 minute stroll would be 90 minutes of mostly walking and exercise but it was mostly standing around and a short walk between the encounters. Based on this day, very light activity. Stop one was behind the scenes of the reptile house. We had a good show and tell with a keeper and this was informative and interesting.  After that we headed over to penguins but the sun was out and the flamingos were looking good so we stopped for a photo op We were taken in small groups behind the scenes of the penguins at the ne...

One of the free fun things to do each year in Los Angeles is to go to FIDM to see the costume exhibit. If you're a science fiction fan, the good news that each year the main display has more and more to offer. This year has a batch from the casino scene of Last Jedi plus a short video that shows how that scene was filmed.  Thor had a call-out this year  As did Wonder Woman.  Beauty and the Beast  And Jumanji.  There were plenty others from all types of movies. The exhibit runs until April 7.  Parking is even free on Saturday even though the garage has a price, the gates have been open each year.  Sometimes it's crowded and hard to look so get there when it opens at 10:00 and you'll be fine.

Time to explain the blogging gap. On February 18th, I essentially mopped myself out of the house and locked the door. After having the movers put items I wanted in storage, friends take away items for charity, and 800-Got Junk remove the rest, I was living on an air mattress and not much else was left. All that remained to be done was to move my personal stuff to OB's house and pack up what was needed for back to back work trips. From there it has been non-stop hotel hopping and I still haven't spent a night where my stuff is and I'm supposed to be living. Instead, it will be at Homer's house later this week to cat sit, then back to hotels for a couple more nights. The house officially went on the market today.  The backyard was redone, the interior painted, and based on realtor preview, the price dropped slightly to match the market. Now it's a wait and see. In the meantime I'm mentally planning to do some airbnb stays in different neighborhoods to see what...

I'm on the retainer and it is so good to be free of the attachment routine.  I have to wear the retainer all the time for 8 weeks, then go to nights for the rest of my life. The kit came with 4 retainers which is pretty good since I'm sure that eventually with a lot of use they will get damaged.  It's been a full month now and I the retainer is a tight fit. I had trouble getting it off and on for the first week and even now it is hard to pull it off my teeth. The snap on easily though. I'm going to have the dentist check my teeth when I go back in April. I feel like there's a lot of scraping going on when I remove the retainer. The end result must have turned out okay because my friends that followed along in person and see the final teeth think they look good. I'm still adjusting to the new bite.  You really do eat your food differently and it's not something you'd normally ever think about. I think this Yertle picture sums it up perfectly, I'm ju...