The Best Places In San Diego!

CBS has selected eight schools to compete for the Pontiac Game Changing Performance in this year’s NCAA College Basketball Tournament.  Pontiac will award $100,000 to the winning school’s scholarship fund.

The University of San Diego’s (USD) amazing upset of perennial power and #4 seed Connecticut in the first round of this year’s tournament has been selected as one of the finalists.  USD’s De’Jon Jackson hit a game winning shot in overtime with 1.2 seconds remaining to lift San Diego over Connecticut 70 - 69.

Help USD win $100,000 for their scholarship fund.  Let’s show our community spirit and support!  Vote today!

No registration is required unless you want to sign up after you vote to win an $8,000 scholarship for yourself.  Voting ends on Monday, April 7th, the day of the NCAA Basketball Tournament Final.  GO SAN DIEGO!

Do you ever watch the news, read the paper, or talk with a friend and find out that your favorite author was in town for a book signing, or a band you have wanted to see finally came to San Diego, or a museum event you would have wanted to attend took place over the weekend? However, you only found out after-the-fact.

We’ve all been there but how many of us figured out a way to become all-knowing about these great activities and events before they happened?

Fortunately for us, there is one San Diegan who did take some time to figure out how to solve this problem. His name is Brian Dear and appropriately enough, his blog is called Brianstorms.

His brainstorm on this challenge has resulted in Eventful.com. Eventful.com is the world’s leading repository of events with over 4 million listings to date. To give you an example for the San Diego listing, there are 123 upcoming events for animal and pet lovers, 421 for Art, Antiques, and Crafts, 120 festivals, fairs, and parades, and 1,947 for music and concerts.

Eventful.com, based in University City, allows you to search and sort through this data in a variety of ways including proximity to your zip code, type of activity, date, and venue. You can keep up-to-date on what is happening at your local Barnes & Noble, what festivals are being held at Balboa Park, who is campaigning in town, or who is performing at your favorite music venue.

Once you have found an event of interest, you can ask to be alerted of any updates, signify to your friends on social networks that you are planning to attend, and download it to your calendar.

Thanks go out to Brian Dear for eliminating one of those pesky annoyances in life. We’ll never again have to say, “Darn, I wish I knew about that”.

Eventful.com - Local Events, Concerts, Sports, Festivals & More

I like to keep tabs on what others are saying about San Diego. It is easy for us to take the great life we have in San Diego for granted as time passes. Hearing what others have to say when they come for a visit reminds me to stop complaining about the little things and spend time enjoying our wonderful city.

I have found no shortage of Canadians who love to write about San Diego. Earlier this month, The Kingston Whig-Standard in Kingston, Ontario, Canada published a travel article titled: ‘San Diego’s got it goin’ on. The city bordered by the Pacific Ocean, Anza-Borrego Desert, Laguna Mountains and Mexico is southern California perfection.’ I wish you could read the full article but it no longer appears to be available on their web site.

This past week, a Fashion Writer from Toronto provided her blog readers a daily update on her 9 day trip to San Diego. She is definitely the type of traveler that our Visitors Bureau loves. Here are a few quotes from her blog:

“I still can’t believe those of you who live here (more…)

Congratulations to the Argentine fans, who celebrate a 4 - 1 victory over Mexico. Here are the video highlights for Argentina’s victory in San Diego.

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It’s official! The #1 soccer team in the world, Argentina, is coming to San Diego. The American Soccer world has been abuzz in recent weeks as rumors spread on the possibility of Argentina coming to play games in the United States. They will arrive this summer before they begin their qualifying rounds for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The Argentines will play against the U.S. on June 8th in Giants Stadium. However, prior to that game, the world’s best soccer team will be in San Diego on June 4th at Qualcomm Stadium to take on Mexico. This is a great opportunity for soccer fans, soccer parents and their kids to watch the best in the world play in our backyard.

UPDATE (May 24) - Here is the roster for Mexico as reported by the International Herald Tribune and the roster for Argentina as reported by SportsYa.com. Game tickets from Ticketmaster are sold out at the moment but you are then referred to their partner, TicketsNow.com. They have tickets for Argentina vs. Mexico starting at $59 as of this update. Also, be aware the Qualcomm Stadium ticket office will make any potential leftover tickets available on June 2nd. Enjoy the game!

By the way, I checked both Fox Soccer and ESPN Soccer and have not found a TV listing for the game. If anyone finds the game will be on TV, please share it with the rest of us.

Update (May 30) - Thanks to Tunja (see comment below). She notes the game will be on XHAS and Telemundo. She provides a link to more info.

Food / Drink - If you need a place to eat and drink before the game, here are a few recommendations. They all have big screen TV’s and are geared towards the sports fan. I’ll list them from the most family friendly to the most bar oriented. Also note the San Diego Trolley Green Line accesses Qualcomm Stadium and each of the restaurants noted below. For more detailed map locations of the trolley stops, pick the station you want and select “Local Area” beneath the heading “Station Information”.

Trophy’s - Directions from Google Maps to 7510 Hazard Center Drive 92108. Family style sports restaurant that includes a bar and memorabilia. It’s at the west end of the Hazard Center shopping center and best accessed from Frazee Road. It is a hundred yards north of the Hazard Center trolley stop.

Seau’s - Directions from Google Maps to 1640 Camino del Rio South 92108. Two story restaurant with a large bar named after NFL Star, Junior Seau. It is at the northeast end of the Westfield Shopping Center (near Camino de la Reina and Camino del Este) and is a couple hundred yards southeast of the Mission Valley Center trolley stop. You will also see a Bennigan’s Grill & Tavern across the parking lot from Seau’s

McGregor’s Grill and Ale House - Directions from Google Maps to 10475 San Diego Mission Road 92108. McGregor’s is the closest to the stadium, offers pool tables, darts, and shuffleboard. It is just over a quarter mile walk north of the Mission San Diego trolley stop.

San Diego ranks 7th in the country for concentration of brainpower in comparison to the 53 largest cities in the country. The analysis performed by bizjournals.com on US Census Data notes San Diego has a high percentage of college graduates and a small number of high school dropouts that contributes to its high ranking.

San Diego ranked ahead of cities such as Washington, D.C., Boston, and San Jose. Yes, that’s right, we ranked ahead of San Jose, the heart of Silicon Valley. The bizjournals.com article makes a note that points out San Diego has more college graduates and fewer high-school drop outs than San Jose.

Thirteen percent of San Diegans have a graduate degree. An additional 22% have a bachelor’s degree while 17% are high school dropouts. View the full list of rankings at the bizjournals.com article: The Brainpower of Americas Largest Cities.

Whether you have played a guitar or mimicked playing out your fantasy of being a famous guitarist, you have probably heard of Taylor Guitars. Taylor Guitars of El Cajon is regarded as the most prestigious maker of acoustical guitars.

Their status as the maker of the best acoustical guitars is evidenced by their long list of famous customers. None of the musicians or other notable stars are paid to endorse Taylor Guitars, nor are they provided free guitars to help build exposure. Taylor Guitars is also the recipient of the ‘Best Acoustic Guitar 2008‘ as selected by representatives of over 100 music magazines from around the world.

Co-founder Bob Taylor built his first guitar in-between servicing customers as gas station attendant. (more…)

The two most popular and technologically advanced unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in the world are built in San Diego. When the Pentagon voiced its need for unmanned aircraft, two San Diego companies answered the call. I spoke about Northrop Grumman’s Global Hawk in a post earlier this month. In that post, I focused on the non-military uses of the Global Hawk, including its use in firefighting and environmental research. Today, I will talk about General Atomics’ Predator.

Like the Global Hawk, the Predator was also used to help battle San Diego’s October 2008 wildfires. In the adjacent photo, you will see imagery provided by the Predator of the Harris Fire near Palomar Mountain. The Predator used by NASA for the firefighting effort is outfitted with an Autonomous Modular Sensor developed by scientists at NASA’s Ames Research Center. This sensor is able to peer through thick smoke to record hot spots for up to 20 hours at a time. During the Harris Fire, this data was (more…)

He’s Back!  For the first time in 17 years, George Michael is going on Tour, starting right here in San Diego on June 17th.  General tickets go on sale April 6th.  However, you can get tickets starting on March 25th by purchasing a fan package being assembled by iTunes and Ticketmaster.

George Michael has sold over 85 million records globally, won two Grammy’s, and has had seven #1 hits in the U.S.  In this tour, he will be performing pieces from throughout his career, including his days with Wham!

San Diego may not have the star power of NY or LA but it is certainly a place performers like to get their start, away from the paparazzi and the bright lights of those cities.  Whether its Broadway Shows or Comeback Tours, many get their start in San Diego.

Official George Michael Website

George Michael information from Wikipedia. There is some interesting stuff here.  Did you know his real name is Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou?

Do you use Wikipedia.org? If not, try an internet search on any historical event, person, location, economic theory or political party and chances are one of the top search results will be an article from Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

Here is the story of how Wikipedia was started in San Diego. In his memoir, Larry Sanger notes the idea for Wikipedia was born at a Mexican eatery in Pacific Beach on January 2, 2001. Just two weeks later on January 15th, Larry Sanger and Jimmy Wales launched Wikipedia.com. At the time, Jimmy Wales was the president of a Pacific Beach internet company called Bomis where Larry Sanger served as a staff member.

Wikipedia quickly took off. Within 5 months, over 3900 entries had been entered on the site. In the following year, Wikipedia.com was changed to the current Wikipedia.org as Jimmy Wales’ goal was to run an online encyclopedia with no advertisements.

Wikipedia has now become the largest encyclopedia in history with over 2 million entries. It is now managed by a small staff overseen by the Wikimedia Foundation, which is supported through user contributions. Since it’s start in San Diego, the management moved oversight of Wikipedia to St. Petersburg, FL and subsequently to its current home in San Francisco. However, its neat to know that Wikipedia got its start in San Diego!

San Diego is #1 for Dogs! Dog Fancy magazine searched for cities with superb environments, great natural resources, innovative activities, supreme veterinary care, and model shelter rates. After complete their analysis, “San Diego ran away with the top honors this year”.

What makes San Diego such a great place for dogs? For starters, nearly $25 million is donated to the six local animal shelters in the area each year. This shows that San Diegans love animals. Just like humans, the most important thing dogs need is love.

It is not just pet owners that love their dogs, but businesses as well. San Diego is home to 60-plus dog-friendly hotels, more than 50 dog-friendly restaurants, and numerous dog trainers and behaviorists. The San Diego Padres host an annual Dog Days of Summer event at Petco Park where owners can participate in a pre-game dog parade and then enjoy the game with their pets.

I think the best reason why San Diego is such a great place for dogs is the number of dog beaches where we can take them for fun in the sun. When my wife goes to the beach or park, I become an afterthought as she spends all of her time checking out the cute dogs. So, where are your favorite places to take your dog in San Diego?

To see a list of dog beaches, open leash parks, and pet friendly businesses in San Diego, check out dogfriendly.com