Moving across the country after college

I'm graduating in May 2010 with a degree in engineering, am finishing my second summer internship this week, and have a 3.00, which will probably go up this year. One of my friends is planning to go on to grad school in San Diego, and I've been talking to him about moving out there. He's from San Diego and still has some friends in the area. I've lived on the east coast my whole life, and want to go somewhere new. I should have ~$3,000 (in addition to some IRA money saved) at the end of my school year plus ~$30k in loans. The $3,000 should be enough for about 2 months of rent and living expenses. Would it be pointless to apply to jobs while I still live on the other side of the country? Would companies just ignore my application because I'm far away, even though I may be qualified? I could also try to find temporary work delivering pizza, busing tables, or whatever else, until I get a full time position, which would cover rent and all of the necessities, but not too much else. Any engineers in or just north of San Diego know of how the job market is for college graduates? I've been talking to my friend for a couple of weeks now, and really want to do this. If possible I'd like to have a job waiting for me when I get there; if I don't I'd be hesitant to make the move. Other options would be to live at home and work nearby, or live with friends near college and work in the area. Any advice? Is this a stupid idea or should I pursue it?

Yes, it is one of the better schools for engineering.

Yes, two summer internships that involved real work.

We wouldn't be staying right in the heart of San Diego, at least until he is done with grad school in spring 2012, at which point I may even consider buying my own place. Maybe University City, Pacific Beach, Del Mar, or inland La Jolla (also expensive.) I haven't talked to any real estate agents, but just from looking at listings online there are 2 bed places (1.5 bath should be fine) running from $1200 up. He'll also be talking to some of his friends from SD to see about renting a place with them - we could get a 4/5/6 person apartment/house which would most likely be a better deal with rent. His grandparents own some real estate so we may even be able to get a good deal for the first couple of months until we find jobs - but that's speculative. If I were to just take a job around home, would it look bad on my resume to just work for a year and quit, then head out west? I live in a really boring area and have been looking forward to getting out of here since high school.

Any tips on tracking down entry level positions? A lot of companies recruit at my college, but they are primarily businesses located in the north east. When using sites like monster and career builder I get results for all engineering levels. Not sure about other fields, but with engineering, jobs are generally listed as Mechanical Engineer, Mechanical Engineer II, Mechanical Engineer III, etc, so there's no easy way to search for ME I.