Nerd Olympics

Will it float?

R and I drove down to San Diego today to watch M and J participate in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Pacific Southwest Symposium (PSWS). 

Engineering students from ASCE chapters throughout the region gather to showcase their technical skills and compete against other schools in events like Concrete Canoe and Steel Bridge. There are also non-technical events such as basketball. Guess who's participating in that one?! 

M is one of the project leads for UCLA Concrete Canoe. And since they haven't held an in-person conference for the past two years due to the pandemic, we wanted to see him paddle in his final year. 

Because we didn't need to be there at any particular time, we took the scenic route through Malibu Canyon to PCH, stopping at the Santa Monica Mountains NRA visitor center at King Gillette Ranch along the way. Even though I have already gotten the passport stamps from here before, I needed ones dated this year to boost my totals for the National Park Travelers Club's Annual Master Traveler Award. 

We had lunch at The Local Place (King's Hawaiian Bakery) just off the 405 in Gardena. Fried saimin for R and loco moco for me. It's okay for this side of the Pacific, but it definitely pales in comparison to what we ate in Hawaiʻi in December.

It was mid-afternoon by the time we got to UC San Diego, just as the basketball competition was scheduled to start. We figured out where J was on campus using "Find My iPhone" and found someplace to park close by. (I'm always a little freaked out about parking in the right places on college campuses - scarred for life by U of I Campus Parking!) So fun to watch J play hoops again!

Afterwards, we picked up M from his technical presentation for Concrete Canoe, which went well from what we heard. Then we all met my brother and sister-in-law for dinner at Regents Pizzeria in La Jolla. Pretty good Chicago-style deep dish!

Just missing C from the pic!

After dinner, the boys went back to the Comfort Inn on Hotel Circle where all of the UCLA students were staying. R and I checked into the Fairfield Inn near Mission Bay, which we picked because it was very close to De Anza Cove and tomorrow's Concrete Canoe event. We were even able to redeem a free night award *and* get a suite upgrade - SCORE!