Godzilla!!!

After an amazing dinner last night, the job of my guest today at the Grand Velas was Relaxation in the resorts amazing spa.  Throw in a some water volleyball, a ton of alcohol and the best French Restaurant I have ever been too and you have an amazing day in paradise.

My job was to make sure everyone got to their spa treatments and tear myself away from the pool and the fabulous breakfast and lunch to get some work done.  I did get in one game of water volleyball with the gang, we won of course....after a bunch of "do-overs" and suspect refereeing.

I took some fun photos of the team playing, check out my photo site at http://www.actionsportsshots.com/CorporateEventsandShots/ARC-Mexico/ .  I cannot take credit for all the photos.  Our new friend Scott Lewis, who is our guest on the trip, has his DSLR and a couple of Lens with him, so he is taking most of the great shots, although the first set of Sunsets are mine.  Scott proved how much fun dinner table stalking and natural light can be with the right camera.  His blue Iguana is amazing.

My photo for the day is a 2 and a half foot green Iguana that I happen to run into on my way back to the room.  When I showed a couple of the employees they said "oh si' Godzilla".  But that does add another Dragon to the Photoblog!!!  I think that is like 9(from 3 Countries), but he is the first Mexican Dragon.

Swim Forever

Today the team from ARC and I arrived at the Grand Velas Resort in Mexico.  While I often complain about travel this trip is probably going to be a bit different.  The first part is there are a lot of friends on this trip.  Second the Grand Velas Resort is the most amazing place I have ever been. Plus third this is a reward trip, my main job on this trip is to make sure people enjoy themselves.

The only thing that would make it better is if Jamie was here.

We arrived around 4pm and was immediately greeted by the amazing Staff at the hotel that among other things, gave short neck and shoulder massages while the group checked in.  Then it was off to the pool and the pool bar....did I mention this place was all inclusive?  The photo for today is the view of the infinity pool from the balcony of my suite.  Just enough clouds to make the picture cool.

I must warn you all I took on this trip was my G11 so the pictures won't be as amazing as the place actually looks.

Depth Perception

For those following the blog regularly you know we have an amazing dog, an almost 2 year old Pit Bull.  He is the sweetest dog, although a bit of a momma's boy.  But he has an unbelievable amount of energy.  When you get him going he plays until he drops.  Tonight was no different, tonight's source of energy was his bowling pin.

The only problem I have with him is that I believe he has a depth perception issue and he tends to head butt me.  Tonight's Photo with a bit of Lightroom help was the charge towards tonight's blow to the head.  I used to think the pucks to the head when I played Ice Hockey were damaging.....

Dragon Poop

Today was another Soccer day, and another win and another shutout.  On the way out the door there were like 4 lizards, affectionately known on this blog as dragons.  We have had several of them on this blog.  We have had a House Dragon, a Golf Dragon, an Easter Dragon, even a Flying Dragon.

Today will clearly be Toni's favorite a Dragon Poop.

Fire Season

Today we were back to the soccer grind.  Today was a game in San Diego, the hot and windy weather was a stronger opponent for our girls today as they are on fire right now.  The offense is beginning to click and the defense is as lock down as ever, Toni just continues to play mistake free and adds up the shutouts. 

Of course our girls are not the only thing on fire today.  I did say Santa Ana winds were blowing yesterday and today right?  So when you add heat and wind to a dry desert you get fire.

Today was no different, from the field we could see a fire beginning during the game.  Of course I shot it, but instead I am posting the one that Jamie shot out the car window driving up the coast.  The sky was so filled with soot and debris blocking out the  sun that it turned the photo yellow.

Santa Ana Winds

It is officially Summer in Southern California. How can that be? The calendar says October. Well October is when the Santa Ana winds begin to blow.

The wonderful thing about living in Southern California is the Pacific Ocean, while not only beautiful it is cool, so when the winds blow in from the West, we get a nice cooling affect. Well that is from the West, but if Sister Bridget Mary's Geography lessons were correct in the 6th grade, East of Southern California are Hot Deserts!

Guess what happens when the wind comes in from the Desert...HEAT!!

Plus these winds blow a lot harder then usually from the Ocean. Today was about 100 degrees in our little town, plus everything was blowing around with clocked winds up to 40 mph.

Plus what is the Wild West without Tumbleweeds??

Mr. October

Today was supposed to be a catch up day, I was finally back in the office.  I had a doctors appointment to take care of but that was it.   I was hoping to get caught up on everything.  Next week is going to be crazy as I am taking a group of customers on a reward trip to Mexico and I had about 20 things to get completed before we leave.

Unfortunately, I really did not have time for a picture today, but with less than 90 days left in this blog, I am not going to blow it now.  Fortunately for me living in the Los Angeles area, there is a valid topic for a lame photo tonight.

Tonight is the first night of The Dodgers Playoffs run, unfortunately for the Braves.  But will we have a Mr. October this year, or should I say Señor Octubre?

#YasielPuig

Top Gun... I think

Today was my final day in San Diego.  I am clearly smarter today than I was on Monday before training started.  These days are brutal, but the team did a great job training us.  Sharon our trainer was so smart she planned a barbecue lunch outside for the group. 

While the company was enjoyable the food left a little to the imagination.  It looked great, the brisket was ok but I am not a Mesquite BBQ flavor guy.  Give me the subtle flavor of Kraft original and I am ok.  We all shared a Rice Krispie treat, we shared because I now know how good my friends are.  I took a bite into this and the rice Krispies were stale....but in true friendship when I told everyone at the table, and asked them to try it, they all did.

But the line of the day as Kimberly's.  I got some of the Mac and Cheese it looked awesome!!! But it lacked taste, I wasn't going to say anything then Kimberly said...."ya know what flavor this mac and cheese is ? ......Yellow".  I laughed.

Because we were so close to the Marine Air Base at Miramar where they filmed Top Gun, if you are young you might not get it...but it was a movie that Tom Cruise Starred in before he became weird.  It is about fighter pilots.  Miramar is not far from our office, all throughout lunch we heard the jets above.  These suckers move!!!  You hear them above and by the time you look up they are gone!!!

See Below.

Last Light

How many hours is too many hours for a training class?  Well I was mentally done after 6 hours, unfortunately the training went 9 hours....before dinner at Orfilia Vineyards and Winery in Escondido.  One of the other drawbacks of Nine hours worth of training is Zero minutes to take a picture for the blog.

The best thing I could find at the end of the day was the last bit of light over the Vineyard.  Thank god there was a table to put the Canon G11 on and open the shutter for 8 seconds.

Not a great shot but at least the blog continues.