Mike Bennett flies in for the weekend..

Yay, we finally had our first visitor in San Diego. Mike Bennett (MBA 2005) , my friend and fellow study group mate (so you know, we have been through thick and thin) popped over for a long weekend in San Diego.. not just to see me, which would have been truly wonderful if it were the case, but one of his oldest friends was getting married in La Jolla.

So we got the opportunity to head into La Jolla on a Friday night for drinks... the first time I have done so as Friday drinks is not something that is transatlantic. We headed to a dive bar called Jack's which was really cool. My SA driver's licence (aka my ID) did raise a few eyebrows but I was allowed in..

What I do enjoy about San Diego, is that in most places you are given free tortilla chips and salsa.. We got to meet Mike's brother (fraternal twin), Jimmy and two of his San Diegan friends, Sandy and Jeff, who have just returned from the Netherlands. The first photo is of the wedding venue at Estancia, La Jolla. It was a Jewish -Hindu wedding of New York friends.. We met Mike and Co here for lunch pre the wedding.

Below are some photos of Mike with his brother and John and the last one of Mike, John and myself. For those who have not heard, Mike has moved back to London, after being in Paris and the Netherlands..















Let's hope we get more visitors our way. Our 2nd bedroom is now kitted out, so please feel free to pop over.

You know you're in the US when...

When you have T-shirts that say "Welcome to the Gun Show".. just imagine how this will go down in South

Africa or the UK..

(photo taken by yours truly at a drilling site in Las Vegas)

San Diego Fire: Pics from the day before

John and I often start our Sunday morning at the gym, and this Sunday was no different, especially after spending part of Saturday celebrating the Boks win. I also purchased a car that weekend, and it needed a clean so post the gym session (our gym will remind you of the Point in Cape Town, Old Ed's in JNB and LA Fitness in High Street Ken in London- you know the one where you have to pay GBP50 extra a month to have less grubby change rooms, and prettier (so obviously foreign) service staff, we went to get our cars washed and this was the first we realised that the fires had started. The first photo was taken around 1pm.

The second photo was taken around 3pm. You also get to see a photo of the apartment complex we live in. Lots of palm trees. It was strange because in this type of weather, there were also many people ballooning (yes, ballooning is a big thing in Del Mar)

Around 5pm, John and I decided to take a drive, I needed to get some sports stuff and we were planning on seeing a movie later. Photo No. 3 was taken on Del Mar Heights Road - by now visibility was not great and there was plenty of smoke in the air. Photo No 4 was taken around 6.30pm. One of the best sunsets seen in San Diego and now you can understand why..

The last photo was actually taken in full colour on the Wednesday morning post the fires. The sky no doubt grey from all the smoke.. This photo was taken from the parking lot near Torrey Pines beach on my way to work.. Kind of eery but serene in an odd sort of way..

A little bite of the Big Apple

I got to spend three days in New York City this past week and I have to say, it was fantastic to be in a large city again.. maybe I am a city girl at heart.. I was there for a conference held by my company and some of us were invited to hear the likes of Leon Black (founder of Apollo, not Blackstone - as his introducer referred to him as the latter!) and Arthur J Levitt speak.

More importantly, I finally got to bond with some of my colleagues on a semi-professional level. First up was a dinner at a restaurant called Tabla. If you are in the mood for Indian food, this is not the place to go. IT does not even have a Tabla (indian word for drum - musical instrument) playing... Dont get me wrong the food is good, but its pseudo Indian and thats putting it mildly.. Sadly we were advised that it was this great Indian restaurant and after living in San Diego for the last month, I was quite looking forward to enjoying a meal that would stimulate all of ones senses. With suckling pig on the menu, it would be sacrilege to call this place an Indian restaurant..

We then proceeded to the oldest irish pub in New York.. McSorley's -one of the oldest bars in this fair city opened its doors in 1857--but women weren't allowed in until the 1970s. Today, this East Village institution still has sawdust on the floor, almost 150 years of history on the walls and only two kinds of beer--McSorley's Light and McSorley's Dark.

We then proceeded to Mamoun's for falafel, the Middle Eastern with all its trans-fat, and hot sauce. This place was really good and considered to the best 4am place to hang out at. We there at 11pm (getting old). It kind of reminded of the type of establishment you would find in Edgware Road, complete with Seesha pipe (you have to ask for it though). For $2.50, it definitely trumped the Tabla experience.
We were contemplating buying the sauce but all questioned how we would transport back to SD, given that we all had carry-ons. So maybe for next time..

As the conference was held in Battery Park, I was fortunate to have a room facing the Statue of Liberty. Maybe one day, I will finally take a ferry over to actually see it close up.
How can one even contemplate going to NYC and not getting to see the legend himself.... Puneet and I got to meet the next evening and headed to Tamarind, a really good Indian restaurant on the west side. Good thing it was a Tuesday, as we did not have a reservation but were kindly seated. I think that the waitress had the hots for Puneet as she was ever so nice.. I would definitley recommend this place to friends. Puneet, just so that you know, I gave up going to a Lenny Kravitz concert to hang out with you.. Hopefully next time round, Aikta will join us..
It was great seeing some familiar signage in NYC, like the Pret Manger store on the 5th Avenue and the numerous H&M's and ZARA's abound.

Pretty soon it was time to say goodbye, but I have been told that work will take me to NYC pretty often.. so more interesting places to follow. What I realised I missed the most, was being able to walk to places in a citylike NYC or London.... our movements in California are dictated by getting into a car.. and that even implies going to the gym.. I truly wonder what my carbon emmission count is living in the State that dictates the CleanTech revolution and working for a fund that invests in reducing carbon emissions.