Merry Gardener

 Dom learned about this vegetable called cucamelon when looking at plant seeds on Amazon.    The cucamelon is a small veggie that looks like a small cucumber but tastes like a lime.  Apparently they are the latest hot superfood.    They are said to be chock full of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber.   Plus they are low in calories and can help lower the risk of heart attack and stroke.

That all sounds good.   So of course we bought some seeds from Amazon.   We had a late start planting them sometime mid-June.   We had them in little tiny paper planters and then Dom transferred the survivors to a larger pot.    The plants themselves get quite vine-y but we're about a month away from the first frost so wondered if we'd get to enjoy an actual cucamelon.    Two weeks back we started noticing the little yellow flowers.  And to our joy Dom took a look at them after coming home from work today and to his surprise he saw two young cucamelons popping up.   He called them our little babies...*LOL*.    Hopefully they can grow up in the next month in time for us to enjoy the unique taste.   We definitely plan on getting more seeds next year and starting a lot earlier.

San Diego Rebound

 With my work life finally on track, I decided it's about time I take a vacation.  Well actually Dom and I had a few mini-vacations here and there over the years.   But I mean my first real travel on a plane type vacation.   The title of the blog says it all.   I'm planning a trip to San Diego for my annual birthday trip (which hasn't happened in a few years).   It'll be my first time on a plane since my trip to San Francisco in September 2018.    While in San Francisco, I chatted on my "favorite" social media hookup site (LOL...sarcasm) with a cool gentleman that was visiting San Francisco for a conference.    I was there for my final work project with a previous employer.    David and I had a great connection and planned to meet up for a nightcap.   Unfortunately we couldn't get our schedules to mesh due to our work obligations.    But we wound up having something better.   We developed a great email friendship that has carried on for almost four years.

David is a married college professor that's based in, you guessed it, San Diego.    He and his wife have a great marriage minus the sex.   So we share that in common.   They also have an adopted nephew with special needs that they take care of.   He shared with me how they helped him get in a program that helps him with developing skills to be productive.   David himself has a side gig as a magazine merchandizer at various stores.  It helps keep him fit.

I shared with him my life stories of working at Amazon, the loss of my parents, Cybersecurity bootcamps, Salesforce trainings, and job hunting.   He was always there with encouragement to keep going no matter what.   So when I was thinking about where to travel, I knew I had to go to his hometown to finally meet David in person.

My last time in San Diego was in 2012 (a little over ten years ago) hanging out with a former acquaintance I nicknamed Magic Mike.   I stayed in the La Jolla neighborhood at that time.    This time though I plan to mostly reside at the Sycuan Casino Resort in the East County neighborhood though hopefully I can take some side excursions while there.   The plan is for David to meet me one evening at the Steakhouse at Sycuan.    He's also hoping we can hang out for a bit during one of my other days in town.   We may even have that nightcap.   We will see how that goes.

Overall I'm looking forward to enjoying some time traveling even if it does hurt my wallet short-term.   Who knows though?  Maybe I'll finally win a huge jackpot to pay for it all.   One can dream, right?