The weather guessers had it mostly right yesterday. The rain moved into San Diego County as a storm system closed in. It wasn’t as heavy as predicted, but the county’s coastal areas recorded an inch of rain, with two inches reported inland and three inches on Palomar Mountain. The area needs the rain. Southern California has been suffering from drought conditions and water restrictions are in place.

I don’t play in the rain. Donna and I spent most of the day indoors – she at her laptop, me reading on the sofa. Donna did manage to get out for a quick walk in-between showers.

It’s not sunny everyday

We picked up some wild Alaskan cod from Trader Joe’s on Monday. Donna prepared it a la Meuniere (with a lemon, butter and parsley sauce) for dinner. She served it with steamed broccoli.

Wild Alaskan cod

I paired the dinner with a glass of Ballast Point Sculpin IPA. This is one of the premium IPAs brewed in San Diego County. Ballast Point says it’s the result of years of experimentation and they add hops to the brew at five different stages. They describe it as having hints of apricot, peach, mango and lemon flavors. It definitely has citrus-y hop flavor, but it’s smooth and not over the top. It’s 7% alcohol by volume (ABV) and 70 international bitterness units (IBU). It usually sells at a higher price than most IPAs. I found it on sale and wanted to try it. It’s good, but I don’t see why it should command a few extra bucks over most craft IPAs.

Ballast Point Sculpin IPA

By the way, the name Sculpin comes from a fish. There are many varieties of Sculpin living in both fresh water and sea water. There is a variety that’s common along the southern California coast. They are usually incidental catches by fisherman fishing the bottom along kelp beds. They don’t have scales, but they do have sharp spines along their fins that can sting and leave a toxin. Getting stung by a Sculpin is no fun – the toxin causes swelling and redness. I know first hand. About the only thing you can do if you get your hand stung is to soak the affected area in hot water to neutralize the toxin.

Sculpin – watch out for those spines

The rain continued this morning. I had a follow-up visit with my primary care physician at 10am. The forecast called for more rain, heavy at times throughout the day. I didn’t want to ride the scooter to Point Loma in these conditions. I downloaded the Uber app and thought I’d give it a try. Uber is a non-traditional cab company. Uber drivers utilize their own personal car. They log in for duty and their location is tracked via GPS. If a customer logs in to request a ride, the nearest Uber driver is sent to the customer’s location. The Uber app shows the drivers in your area when you place the request. Then it shows which driver is coming with an estimated time of arrival. You can follow the driver’s progress on the app. My driver was here six minutes after I requested a ride.

With Uber, no cash changes hands during the ride. They take you to your destination and the bill is sent through your Uber account. I have mine set up to automatically bill my credit card. My ride to Point Loma was free due to a promotion for registering with Uber. When I completed my appointment, I requested a Uber ride back. The car arrived in two minutes and I was driven back to the RV park for $13.95. Warm and dry all the way.

For a limited time, Uber’s giving new riders a free Uber ride (worth up to $20). Use my code – michaelk2803 – to sign up now and I’ll get a free ride too. I signed up with Donna’s code and she now has a free ride coming.

I’m expecting a UPS delivery from Amazon today. With Christmas approaching, Amazon ramps up their operation. They employ a temporary workforce at their distribution centers through a company called Camperforce. Many of these temporary workers are full-time RVers. Clarke and Elaine Hockwald are working at Amazon for the second time. Clarke describes the job on his blog.

Amazon has an affiliate program. If you follow the link to Amazon from my blog page, I earn a small referral fee on any items you buy. It doesn’t affect your cost at all. Nina Fussing wrote about it in detail on her blog today. If you’re considering an order with Amazon, I’d appreciate it if you reach their site from my page. It’ll add a few pennies to my beer fund.