I'm in San Diego for vacation. My girlfriend is giving a poster session at the American Meteorlogical Society convention.

I expected San Diego to be sunny and warm. It has been chilly and rainy. It is now Wednesday, the first day the sun has come out since I got here on Saturday. Gives you an idea of how well the vacation is going. I guess they have their January just like everyone else.

We went to the aquarium. Thumbs up.

The wild animal park. We saw a lot of animals, some up close. They brought out a couple of birds and a Serval on a leash. A very pretty 25 pound cat. It was energetic as could be, it never stopped moving. I want a Serval now. :(

La Jolla -- had a lot of small art galleries though we didn't go in any. Nice enough.

Rustic Breads Cafe -- 3.5 out of 5 stars. Had an Italian panini on rosemary bread. Pretty good for a corner shop. Bread was fresh and soft.

Mexican place in La Jolla -- 3 stars. Pork fajitas. Not bad, but not any better than the Mexican food I can find in Virginia. They had only 3 people serving the whole restaurant, including the bartender.

Royal Thai (gaslamp quarter) -- 4 stars. Red chicken curry, my favorite Thai dish. Portions were a tad small. I asked for triple spicy and it wasn't. Still, pretty good, right up there with Thai Pilin and Thai Luang in Virginia. Again, not too many people serving, they actually turned away a few customers because they didn't have the staff to feed them. What is up with these places?

Fred's Mexican (gaslamp) -- 3.5 stars. Steak enchiladas. Good. They have darker, smokier sauce in California than they do in Virginia. Comparing it to what I've had at Adrian's house, I guess it's more authentically Mexican. Gotta say I like the Virginia version better, more tomato like and livelier.

Cheese Shop (gaslamp) -- 3.25 stars. Torpedo (ham, salami, swiss, provolone, italian dressing) on sourdough. Good but Jill's BLT was more like a mediore B and lots of L. Minus 1/4 point for that.

I don't know if it's because of the off season or what, but everywhere we go seems... dead. Everything seemed pretty empty, it was eerie in the wild animal park walking along the paths and not seeing anyone.