San Diego, California

Dear Friends:

This week, I visited sunny San Diego, California!

I was out there on business, to meet with a company that had recently changed ownership.  This meant a lot of new opportunities, and we wanted to get answers to a lot of questions about the way they planned to move forward.  More on that later...

While my arrival in San Diego was horrible, the actual day that I spent there was fantastic.  It was a truly happy day.  Let me explain.  First, the weather in San Diego is usually quite nice.  This time of year found the temperatures around 72-74 degrees.  Quite pleasant, actually.  When I went to rent a car, the company had upgraded me to a "muscle car" - and a convertible at that.  This made driving in the lovely weather a real treat:

I spent the morning at a company called "Vuforia".  They created technology that is used in "augmented reality".  Basically, when you point the camera (in a smartphone or tablet) at an object, the software will recognize the object and display graphics over the top of the view.  For example, Crayola used this technology to create an app that lets kids point the camera at special coloring books.  The characters in the book come to life in 3D, using the colors that the kids used to color them with.  Let me show you a quick example video:

They also used this technology to create a new "Viewmaster" device.  For those of us who are a little older, we remember Viewmaster toys that allowed us to see 3D pictures.  This does the same thing, but uses a smartphone to attach to the device.  Not only can you see 3D images, but 360-degree views of scenes:

There are a lot of industrial applications for this technology, as well.  Imagine being a mechanic on a jet engine, and having special goggles that could show you every single part of the engine inside, and exactly how to repair it.  It was fun to talk with them about the possibilities.

After several hours, the meetings were over.  We had answered all our questions and found the company easy to work with.  Another great part of the day.

With some extra time to myself, I decided to drive my convertible north to see the San Diego LDS Temple.  It's a gorgeous structure - it looks like some sort of pure-white castle.  The grounds were decorated for Christmas, so I took some wonderful photos:

Just to prove I was there...

The sun was starting to set, so I went to the opposite side of the building, to see the bright glow from the sun permeate the walls of glass on each side.

It was such a peaceful and serene experience.  Even though the actual temple was closed, I really want to go back again and actually go inside next time!

Just a few minutes down the road is San Diego's Old Town.  It's a historic part of the city.  There, our church has an exhibit to commemorate the arrival of the "Mormon Battalion" in 1847.  Almost 500 Mormons were part of the U.S. Army march across the southwest, as part of the Mexican-American War.  They helped to settle San Diego when they arrived, after walking almost 2,000 miles across the desert.

The tour was fun, as you moved through several rooms and a multimedia production helped tie the whole story together.  Families could also pan for gold in an outdoor courtyard area.  Throughout, you had a chance to understand the sacrifice and faith of these early Mormon pioneers.  I loved it.

Heading back to work, I was traveling down the uncrowded freeway...with the top down...and Christmas music blasting on the car stereo.  It was a really happy moment.  I tried to capture about 8 seconds of it:

What a wonderful day!!  I'm glad that I have the chance to experience these kinds of things.  It makes me appreciate what the world has to offer.  Now, I couldn't wait to return to my family the next day.  That flight couldn't come any faster ; )

Thanks for reading!