Cali Trip, Part 1: Belly of the Beast

Weasel Team! Left to right, Skip Martin (Team Captain), Keith Hollar, Wooden Cigar Store Indian (looking for whoever stole his shirt), David Jones, and Amar (owner of Maxamar)

Saturday

It’s late September, and as quite a few of you may already know, that’s my time to get back to Southern California for a few days. So some background first…I grew up in Orange County and began my graphic design career there in the late ‘90s. One of the jobs I began then was layout on a catalog for an annual watercolor painting exhibit. The catalog needs to be as close to the original paintings as possible and the only way to accomplish that is to see the paintings in person…so I started doing so. Then I moved back to Tennessee, where I was born; I wasn’t sure if I would continue this job, but the board was so happy with my work that they increased the fee to help pay for me to travel and continue to work on the project. Five-plus years later, I’m still flying out to California once a year, basically so I can spend a few hours with the paintings and compare them to how they are printing out. Of course, I can’t just pop in for a few hours, then fly back home…that would be a waste! So I fly out a couple days before and fly home a couple days after, leaving me plenty of time to spend with family and friends while in-state.

I left Saturday morning about 1:30 from my house, to drive to Chattanooga and pick up the shuttle to the Atlanta airport. Short flight to Chicago, short layover, longer flight to California, and I was wheels-down in Ontario by 11:05 a.m. I got my rental (a Jeep Patriot this time around…decent, but I’m not recommending it to anyone looking for a new car/CUV/SUV) and headed to the O.C. Stopped at my in-laws house to drop off my bags and say, “Hi!”…then it was off to Maxamar Cigars in Orange.

Stopped at In-n-Out on the way to pick up one of their inimitable burgers. Sorry, 5 Guys Aficionados…I’ve had both and I’ll take In-n-Out most days. Especially this day…4×4 (that’s 4 patties, 4 pieces of cheese), skip the onions, fries and a Diet Coke (because you have to watch your caloric intake somewhere!). The burger was exquisite, the fries less so…not sure what they did, but some were like rocks, even though they didn’t appear burnt.

Met up with Keith and Vern at Maxamar where we stayed Saturday evening for the first RoMa Craft event in California to feature the one and only (thank God for that) Skip Martin. I kid…Skip gifted (is that the right word?) both Keith and myself with “Weasel Team” t-shirts…appropriate, I guess since we’ve both proven ourselves worthy of the name “cigar blogger” which should be synonymous with “cigar weasel.” I’ll wear my shirt proudly.

“I Want You…To Smoke RoMa Craft!”

Skip’s lines have been carried for a while at Maxamar, but he re-introduced them to everyone present, trying to hook up people with the proper cigars in what has quickly become pretty much a “full-line” operation. I picked up several sticks that were either new, rare, or event exclusives and plan to work some of them into the mix of reviews and cigar extras over the next few months.

Bedtime came early for me on Saturday as I had been up for the majority of the preceding 40 hours.

Sunday

Lunch at Morningside

Despite being dog-tired, I still can’t say I “slept in” since I was up and around by 7:30…well, that is Pacific Time, which is more like 10:30 for me, so maybe I did sleep in. Breakfast and some Starbucks got me awake and going.

I stopped by the Brea Mall to check out the line for the Apple Store for “iPhone 6, Day 3.” With an hour and a half before opening, the line already had 50 or 60 people. I went to the front door and asked how long the line would take to go through. Once they opened it would be about an hour, but a lot of people were leaving because there were only AT&T phones left. I remarked that I had seen Verizon phones listed online available for pickup in their store that day. “If you want a phone with a contract, that’s true.” So most of the people lining up at this particular Apple Store were willing to pay full-price for a phone without contract…amazing. He told me what to do, so I did…I went back to my car and ordered the new iPhone I wanted. Then went back to my in-laws place to have lunch with my father-in-law.

Lunch was very nice and he showed me around their new retirement community. I have to admit to being a little skeptical of the whole “retirement community” concept, but this place is really a nice place to live. The food services are excellent. The facilities are pristine. It would be nice to live in a place like this when I get ready…maybe another 35 or 40 years…

I got my notification, so after lunch I headed back the mall and spent a grand total of about 2 minutes in line before being called in to get my new iPhone 6 (Space Gray, 128 GB…because I know you were curious). It’s…well, it’s bigger…but still fits comfortably in my pocket. The design is beautiful and it feels great in my hand (yeah, I know…#TWSS). Touch ID is totally awesome. It hasn’t failed yet to recognize my thumbprint. I can appreciate those who feel they “have to have” the larger iPhone 6 Plus, but I don’t know that I will ever feel that way. Sometimes bigger isn’t better (lots of #TWSS moments here today).

Vernon at Islands

Then I headed to Islands Cigar Lounge in Brea to hang out with Vernon, watch some football, and complete the setup of my new phone. I found a few sticks there that I hadn’t seen previously, including the CAO Earthquake, which I’m sure I’ll feature in a review of some sort eventually, and the Sencillo Black LE 2013.

The Apple Store was out of iPhone 6 cases so I ordered one on Amazon, a new Speck Candy Shell Grip, the same as I had for my iPhone 5, but a different color scheme. It will be waiting for me at home when I get there. Realized today that I was one of the “early adopters” this time around…one of the 10 million or so that bought a new iPhone on opening weekend (compared to about 10 million in 20 or so days for the last Samsung Galaxy S release…I know hard numbers like that really just stick in the craw of the Droid Boiz out there who can’t believe so many people want a phone that “just works” instead of one you have to be a tech-head to operate well). For my two previous iPhones, I waited a month or more after initial release.

It’s hot in California, but it has cooled by 15 or 20 degrees from just a week ago, so for that I’m thankful. I write this entry on Monday afternoon, after I completed the work I came out here for, but before I (possibly) head back to Islands for Monday Night Football and more cigars with Vern. That (and more) will be covered in Part 2…later this week if all goes well.

Take care, my fellow leaf enthusiasts!