Monitoring the level of coupon inventories in the hands of coupon issuers (7USC2016)

Someday, the television shows Extreme Couponing and Hoarders will combine forces to feature a person who stocks up on Groupons, and despite appearances, I’m desperately trying to NOT be that person. I’m not making my case very well, because before I had even arrived in Tijuana, I already had bought five deals in San Diego. To be fair, three of them were weekend activities, which TJ had tasked me with cultivating; I tell myself that I was just planning in advance, but even this is a bit much for my brand of obsessive-compulsive organization (to my knowledge, there is no show highlighting this disorder -- yet). But I can find solace in the fact that, although I've only been in town for less than three months, we've already managed to redeem those three activity Groupons (the other two, for meals, are pending because of San Diego Restaurant Week).

TJ had told me that he wanted to try to deep-sea fishing, so when I saw a Groupon for a five-hour tour, I snatched it up. Our trip left from Dana Point, north of Camp Pendleton, where you can also catch a ferry to Catalina Island. The deal from Dana Wharf seemed especially good because it included lunch and a free clinic on deep-sea fishing (but we did have to pay for our own fishing licenses, $14 each, and rod rentals, $12 each). However, we missed out on most of the clinic because we were intimidated by the number of children surrounding the crew.

In the end, we didn't really need the clinic. Contrary to my visions of desperately pulling on rod to reel in a marlin, we were angling for reef and bottom feeders, which requires a technique much like lake or pond fishing: You attach a sinker and some bait (anchovies instead of worms), feed out the line to the right depth, and reel it in slowly to create motion to attract a fish. About the only difference to me was the lack of a bobber to show you when you got a bite; instead, you just felt for a pull on the line or watched for a bend in the pole.

Between the two of us, we caught about a dozen fish, mostly mackerel, throughout the day. But we threw them all back, partly because they weren't long enough to be legal catches but mainly because the amount of meat wasn't worth the cost or effort of cleaning. TJ did hook one fish, a barracuda, that might've made good eatin', but it got tied up in the anchor of the boat, so the crew had to cut it loose.
If you did manage to land a big one, like the guy perched (get it, perched?!?) next to us who got a pretty large sand bass, the crew will clean your fish while you wait during the ride back to port. For the rest of us, it was just a fun show, and for the birds, it was a full smorgasbord, as the roly-poly fish heads and guts were tossed overboard. It goes without saying that the best seats for the show are in front of the cleaner.
Our next Groupon activity was entering a CityScape Adventure. In these "urban races," according to the sponsor, participants untangle a "web of 12 puzzles and challenges in a citywide race to the finish line." I was hoping for something like the Washington Post Hunt crossed with The Amazing Race, but instead, we basically paid for the privilege of taking weirdly posed photos of ourselves in downtown San Diego. For example, unless you didn't know the meaning of "planking" or "vintage clothing," it wasn't too hard to figure out the puzzle for these two photos.

Some photos were more "challenging" because you had to get someone to take the picture, like this one of us leapfrogging in front of the Midway, or get other people to be in your picture, like this one of us in front of the jukebox at Tivoli Bar & Grill. Incidentally, the use of smartphones is encouraged, and we did have to log into San Diego's free wifi with our iPad Touch to find a jukebox nearby. It was only luck that this bar, the oldest in the Gaslamp District, had all-day happy-hour specials, even on Saturday.

We did manage to find out a little more about San Diego as we strolled around. At Kansas City Barbeque, we snapped a picture of the piano that was used in the "Great Balls of Fire" scene in Top Gun (although TJ is supposed to be acting like he is singing and playing "Ebony and Ivory"). And we learned about the singularly-named artist Wyland, who has painted murals of marine life around the world, including this "Whaling Wall" (get it, whaling wall?!?) on the side of the San Diego National Bank.

We also found out a little more about ourselves. After this event, I have to admit that I'm not cut out for The Amazing Race. There was only one true "challenge," the classic horseshoe puzzle, and I started to feel frustrated after only a few minutes. But the biggest challenge for us was our discomfort with bugging people. We didn't even bother (get it, bother?!?) to finish one of the clues, which required us to get three strangers to act out "See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil." Instead, we threw in the towel after about three hours (for the record, the winning team, who clearly ran, finished in 57 minutes) and headed back to Tivoli's, in an attempt to assuage our guilt for all these outsiders rudely horning in on what is clearly a neighborhood hangout. Oh yeah, we also went back for poutine, deep-fried pickles and other unhealthy food from Montreal's, which maintains an independent kitchen within the bar.

Our last weekend deal was a 1-½-hour kayak tour of Mission Bay with Hike Bike Kayak Sports San Diego. Owner David guided us through the channels, showing us marine birds, sea lions, starfish, and garibaldi, California's official saltwater fish (not to be confused with the state's official freshwater fish, the golden trout). An Ironman triathlete (at least according to the tattoo on his calf), he also gave us some tips on where to run and bike in the area and what to see up the coast. We got some lunch across from Belmont Park in Mission Beach before following his suggestion to drive up the coast through Pacific Beach to La Jolla.
I have no weirdly posed photos of us while kayaking, because I didn't take my camera, fearing that it would fall in the water when TJ and I inevitably miscommunicated in our tandem kayak and flipped over. As it turned out, we made a pretty good team, and we vowed to explore the area further in a rented kayak. We were a pretty good team with fishing, too, with me getting fish on the hook and TJ getting them off (he still has fish-blood on his shirt), so we'll do that again as well. But as for the CityScape Adventure, well, let's just say I'd rather pay to fly back to DC next summer.