Hooray for Hodad's!!!

It's my destiny to own a local, home town fixture sort of restaurant. Many of you have probably heard me wax romantically of the notion. Ok... restaurant may be a bit of a misnomer. I'm talking the hole in the wall chili dog place, lunch cart, burger joint or taco shack. I love to look for these places when I travel for work and I found one of the great ones a couple of weeks ago in Ocean Beach, California . Behold Hodad's...



A sample of the fine ambience... the gal outside in the black T-shirt is a waitress. Why make customers crane their neck and turn around on their stools when you can go out on the sidewalk to take an order. Now that's service!



You can learn a lot from license plates. Who knew that North Dakota is the peace garden state? I know how to spell most anything in phonetic license-plate-ese.



On to the food. I think these were the best onion rings I've ever had. I passed on the ranch dressing. Ranch isn't my thing for rings, but I think they have to give it to you with everything in California. Just like avocado.



This burger was deeeeeelicious. You ever notice that anything wrapped in wax paper tastes really good?



All generations and walks of life come here to enjoy the food and rock Dio on the sound system cranked to 11. These folks didn't look like they wanted a picture taken... but shooting from the hip can do wonders sometimes. Very sly...



The fine people at Hodad's even gave me one of these swell stickers like the one you see here stuck to the bar. I'm getting it as a tattoo.

Ocean Beach, CA

November 14,2008

Random San Diego

November 13, 2008

The Frontline

In college, there was always an ad in the school paper to work as a canvasser for Greenpeace. If you think there is a war on to save the environment, Greenpiecers canvassing street corners are street fighting armed with clipboards. Some of these new recruits graduate to “actions”. Stuff like protesting at the offices mega-polluters, having sit-ins, blocking logging roads and, for the more adventurous Navy seal type of Greenpeacer, dodging large ships in the open ocean with tiny zodiac boats. You know the boats you see on the old Jacques Cousteau shows.

This is Travis. We had a nice chat about the corporate enemy Kimberly Clark and their refusal to use post consumer recycled content, preferring to destroy old growth forests to make a few tissues. He believes that by mobilizing the masses under the banner of Greenpeace, there can be a better world. Good for Travis.

Coast to Coast

Leaving Boston...


... and waking up in San Diego.