San Diego: Day 4 - Back to Coronado Island

I had a pretty lazy day today. That's what holidays are for, right? Hilary went to the conference this morning and came back with glowing reports of the sessions she attended. Some really interesting work was reported, but , like all conferences, some presentations are more 'special' than others. In the meantime, I took part of the morning to get caught up on my correspondence. Hilary joined me at noon bringing box lunches from the conference with her. We then went out to the pool and had a very leisurely lunch in the sun. The afternoon? I did some reading, then a great session in the state of the art, air-conditioned gym that is here at the Hyatt. It's really the only way to get some exercise here in sunny California without risk of heat exhaustion.

Hotel lobby of the Grand Hyatt-->

The afternoon was really lovely from a sight-seeing perspective. We joined Hilary's colleagues, Paula and Benjamin, for dinner, returning to Coronado Island and the Italian restaurant that Hilary and I went to a couple of nights ago. It was well worth returning - the service, food and beautiful view of San Diego harbour were very enjoyable.

<--Hilary, me, Paula and Benjamin on the ferry to Coronado Island





Along the way from the ferry dock on Coronado Island to the restaurant, we passed by a number of interesting shops in a village designed for tourist visitors.

Hilary at the dock on Coronado Island-->

Once you get over the fact that, yes, we really are tourists, it was really quite fun to explore. I refused to take home anything from the Rubber Ducky shop, though!

A brilliant sunset on the Island-->

We returned via a little ferry from Coronado Island, passing through the now dark harbour and past the aircraft carrier Midway, now lit with red white and blue lights, which I had visited yesterday.

The Midway at night-->

It was a great day. Tomorrow is our last full day in San Diego before we return to Vancouver. The week is going by so quickly!

San Diego: Day 3 - exploring the Midway

With Hilary attending her conference all day, this was my first chance to explore San Diego. So what did I do. First priorty - hit the pool, and finish, at long last, my book "The Winter Vault" by Anne Michaels. In the process, I managed to get a beautiful sunburn - the book was so good that I just had to read it instead of returning to the hotel room to get that suntan lotion I neglected to bring.

<-- tourist 'village' just outside of the hotel - lots of restaraunts and gift shops here

After lunch, it was time to get out and do some sight seeing. I picked the perfect place to go - one that I knew would not be on the "A-list" of Hilary's sights to see while in San Diego: the Midway. I guess it's sort of a 'guy' thing to do.

The size of this aircraft carrier is so imposing that it basically takes over part of the harbour skyline from the Hyatt hotel, where we were staying. When it was commissioned in 1945, the ship was the largest in the world, and kept that record for ten years. The size of the ship was breathtaking.
- the ship, which is 972 feet in length and 136 feet wide, carried over 4,500 men and could launch over 100 aircraft from its decks.
- the anchors alone weigh 20 tons.
- over 100,000 gallons of fuel was consumed daily, at a rate of about 260 gallons per mile.
- My brother Mark would love this - it was a steamship! Steam boilers, fueled by diesel fuel, powered this massive vessel. The ship could have been powered by throwing wood chips into the furnace, if you could get enough of them. These days, modern carriers are powered by nuclear energy.

I could go on and on. Having never been on-board such a ship, everything was impressive.

Though the Midway was never used during WWII (it was commissioned a week after Japan surrendered), it saw action in the Vietnam War through the 1960's and 70's, and in the battle of Kuwait (aka "Desert Storm") in 1991. When I walked through its decks, there were scores of volunteer ex-servicemen to tell me about details of the ship.

<-- an ex fighter pilot, telling what it was like to land on the carrier. Watching him speak basically redefined my concept of "Type A" personality. Pretty impressive guy.


One of them, on the deck, was a fighter pilot who had successfully landed 260 times on the deck of the ship, over a dozen of them at night - the scariest form of landing you can have on a carrier. He called them 'catches', for that's basically what they are.

When a jet fighter jet lands, it has to hit the runway within a space about the size of two tennis courts at a perfect angle in order to catch one of three cables that literally grab the plane, bringing it from 160 mph to zero in just over three hundred feet. The entire landing process consists of about ten to twelve seconds of lightning quick, white-knuckle decisions on a deck that is pitching up and down on open ocean.

When landing the jet, the pilot told us how he would ease back on the throttle to decrease airspeed in order to make the landing strip and follow a visual cue called a "ball" that was lit on the side of the deck as if his life depended on it - which in fact, is correct. For without this visual cue, it is impossible to know if the approach is correct. If it's wrong, he could hit the ship or fall off into the ocean.

Lights used to guide jets in on the landing-->

Then, just as soon as the wheels touch the deck, the engines must roar back to full throttle.

The reason? If the hooks failed to catch the plane, the jet must become airborne again or it will fall off the deck and into the ocean. The engines have to be running at full throttle to do this. The pilot just has to trust that the hooks and cable are strong enough to stop the plane's engine running at full speed, hitting the flight deck. You can imagine what that felt like, as you were strapped into one of those planes and the cable grabbed the plane. Once stopped, fast action is still necessary. The pilot has just 45 seconds to get his plane out of the way before another jet comes in for a landing behind him.




 For the record, I think I'll stick to riding a bicycle for my thrills.

<--F-14 Tomcat, the type of plane used in the movie "Top Gun"

Pots for making soup for 4,500 service men-->

To feed what was basically an army of Navy servicemen, 10 tons of food were consumed - 13,500 meals - each day. To do this, 1000 loaves of bread had to be baked, and 3,000 potatoes peeled. You can imagine the work involved!

<-- The admiral's "war room" - the central command for the Midway, serving as the flagship for battle operations

Entering the 'war room', where the rear Admiral Dan March directed the Navy's attack during the Battle of Kuwait in 1991 felt like you were really there. All of the original maps and equipment were there, together with a volunteer who described what it was like to be in the room at that time.

View of our hotel, the Hyatt, from the deck of the Midway-->

On deck, and inside the massive hanger, there were 25 restored navy planes and helicopters on display. The exhibit was excellent - well worth seeing, even if you are just a peace-loving Canadian like me.

I made it back to the hotel just in time to meet Hilary and go to the conference's evening event, a "Zoofari" - dinner at the San Diego Zoo. We didn't know quite what to expect - do they pass out beers on an open bus while we check out the zebras? Actually, it was pretty nice. By the time we arrived, the sun was just setting, and the air was cool. A lovely time to walk about to visit the flamingos and koala bears.

Dinner was outdoors and surprisingly relaxed, given there were over a thousand convention attendees here. We found (somehow, out of the crowd) some of Hilary's colleagues and sat down to enjoy a dinner of prime rib, grilled chicken and some great Margaritas. This time, we did avoid most technical chatter. Despite the fact that I can't pretend to keep up with Hilary on this, I actually do find learning about extremely rare auto recessive genetic disorders rather interesting. Just don't test me on the details afterward!

Koala bear, having a snooze. Koalas sleep 18-20 hours per day-->

<--- "Ah, darn, you woke me up!"

tropical tree flowers in the "Hawaiian Garden" at the San Diego Zoo-->

Tomorrow is another full day for Hilary at the conference, although she's going to try to escape for a get-away at lunch. So far, it's been a most enjoyable holiday.

San Diego: Day 2 - a visit to Balboa Park

It's Hilary's first day (actually, a half-day) at the ICIEM conference she's attending, so I took part of it to start writing this blog. She managed to get away early, so we returned to the restaurant where we had lunch yesterday and enjoyed their signature Caribbean Cajun chicken green salad with mangos, papya, oranges, and strawberries - a wonderfully cool combination in this warm weather - and then set off for Balboa Park.

Balboa Park

Balboa Park was created in 1868, and later became the site of the Panama Exposition in 1915, commemorating the opening of the Panama Canal. The result was the construction of some beautiful classically Spanish buildings and terraces that now houses over a dozen world-class museums and art galleries. The first we went to, at the entrance of the park, was the Museum of Man. At first, Hilary and I thought it has been set inside a church. The architectural irony of this was not lost, as it was clearly a tribute to the evolution of man (with some remarkable exhibits of early fossils, skeletons and ancient mummys). In fact, however, the building and the majestic California Tower was built as part of the exposition in 1915.

The museum itself was opened in 1933.

<-- Busker moving on to his next engagement in Balboa Park

A great way to beat the heat in Balboa Park-->

<-- cooling off in a local cafe

The heat in the afternoon was just barely tolerable. Even the local hotel workers, who have to go home to hot apartments after their shift, are complaining. Approaching the high nineties, San Diego is usually at least ten degrees cooler this time of the year.

We didn't stay long, therefore, in the park, but rather took the metro bus (an experience in itself) back downtown, then walked back to the hotel in time to do a quick workout in a nice air-conditioned gym before dinner.

The convention is now in full swing, so the main reception, which took place tonight pool-side at the Hyatt with a 'Surfin in the USA' theme, gave me an opportunity to meet some of Hilary's colleagues, some of whom I've known for years.

Hilary valiantly tried tried to keep the topics 'non-work' related. However, inevitably, I began to learn far more about rare mitochondrial disorders and the latest in molecular biochemistry techniques than I'll ever need to know. It was very interesting, though. It seems only yesterday that sequencing the entire human genome was reported in the popular press as a landmark achievement. I learned tonight that there are clinical labs in the US that are now sequencing the complete genome of a patient for diagnostic reasons. Incredible! The challenge? It's not so much the time and effort of sequencing, which has been cut dramatically in recent years through major advances in gene-sequencing technology. It's the fact that there are at least 20,000 protein-coding genes in the human genome that could potentially be clinically significant for a given individual. Doing the detailed analysis to find out which one is really causing a particular disorder that is being observed at the time - and why - is still a huge task. That it is being done at all this way, by sequencing the entire genome, consisting of just over 3 billion DNA base pairs, for a single patient, is truly amazing.

Another very interesting conversation had to do with clinically relevant research that is being carried on in Saskatchewan with remote rural and First Nations communities with respect to methadone treatment protocols for patients with drug addiction, and, in separate studies, biochemical mechanisms related to fetal alcohol syndrome. So much care must be made to fully understand and describe potential linkages between clinical observation and genetic variations within families that may, if done right, be of tremendous value in defining the underlying pharmaceutics that can lead to improving treatment for these patients.

Tomorrow is the first full day that Hilary is attending the conference. I am, therefore, free to wander aimlessly around San Diego. Its should be fun!

San Diego: Day 1 - a ferry trip to Coronado Island

Hilary and I rose just before dawn to finish packing our bags, and after a hurried 'goodbye' to sleepy kids (who will be going to their aunts and grandparents later in the day), set off for the airport to San Diego.

The flight was amazingly short. San Diego is remarkably accessible as a holiday destination for Vancouverites! Before we knew it we were having lunch just off the promanade overlooking pleasure boats in the harbour outside the grand Hyatt hotel, where Hilary's conference will begin tomorrow. It was a perfectly splendid afternoon.

Later in the afternoon, we made it to the gym - nice, after sitting in an airplane all morning - and, after taking the little ferry to Coronado Island, where we had a wonderful Italian dinner at Il Fornaio.

That evening, we opened up the curtains of our apartment to view fireworks over the harbour that seemed to come from the USS Midway, a historic US aircraft carrier that played a crucial role in naval warfare through three wars, from the time it was commissioned one week after the surrender of Japan to the battle of Kuwait in 1991.  I will just have to check it out later this week, while Hilary is busy listening to her fascinating lectures. I'm glad I didn't take my bike to San Diego - the humid heat here just about knocks your socks off when you step outside. Any attempt at serious cycling during the day a pretty grueling exercise. Evenings are great, though. As the sun goes down, the town seems to come alive. Last night, while walking home, Hilary and I were surprised to find police cars with flashing lights appear on the street, leading literally THOUSANDS of cyclists down the road. You guessed it... it's the last Friday of the month, and, like Vancouver, Critical Mass staged a cool evening late night ride here in San Diego. It was an incredible sight.

There's lots of things to do here... I won't be bored while Hilary is away at the conference!

Our Summer of 2009

It's been a busy summer for the Shaws .

Hilary and the girls embarked on a European adventure in June, spending three weeks in various places - London, Paris, Versailles Finland and eventually a family get-together in Manchester.






About the same time, Stan did his epic bike ride from Vancouver to Banff, featured in the GearUp4CF blog he maintained during the trip, featured here.

Last weekend, we returned from a seven-day holiday beginning in Parksville, where our family joined Ruth, Jerome and their son Sam on the beach for five days, together with Ruth and Hilary's parents, Muriel and Maelor.

On the weekend, the Stan and Hilary's family joined Stan's brother Mark and his family for an unusually sunny two days on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

There, Mark and his family hosted a beautiful BBQ on one of the loveliest private beaches in Tofino, at the Wickaninish Inn, with Stan and Mark's father, Terry and his wife Grace who came from Port Alberni for the event.








The next day, Terry and Grace treated the family to breakfast in Ucluelet at a restaurant where Stan's neice Kaitlyn works. Mark's family and ours spent the afternoon on Wickaninish Beach, where Rebecca and Naomi joined their cousins body surfing in the sun.

So now, our holidays are nearly at an end . The kids return to school after Labour Day on September 7th, and we'll all become busy once again with scheduled filled with work, school, after-school programs and Naomi's preparations for her Bat Mitzvah, coming in January.

But before the craziness of fall work and school activities hit us once again, Hilary and Stan managed to get away to San Diego, while Rebecca and Naomi are spending time with grandparents and family in Vancouver.

It's too bad we didn't include a short blog with all of the wonderful holiday happenings for our family during the summer, but perhaps the kids and Hilary can add their own impressions here sometime. In the meantime, Stan thought it would be nice to at least include a bit of their holiday in San Diego on these pages, at least so the the kids can see what their parents are up to. So, enjoy!