The Rest of My All-Star Week
I went to the All-Star Game Tuesday...sort of. After getting out of
training around 4:30 yesterday, a colleague and an aquaintance from
the training decided to head to AT&T Park and try to get into the
All-Star Game.
As we arrived in the area about the time of player introductions,
market makers were asking $200-$300 per ticket - while nothing
compared to a rumored $25k some were asking, too steep for us to be
really interested, so our next move was to head around back and check
out the scene from McCovey Cove.
Kayaks are the most famous vessal out there, but we did see a couple
surf boards and a guy with a stool fastened to 2 water skis, and a
floating trampoline.
MLB and the Giants kept their tradition of allowing fans to stand at
the right field fence and watch a couple innings and the crowd was
thick even behind the baricaded pline. Just before game time, a few
Giants employees arrived to hand out a few free tickets...targeting
groups with one adult and several kids. Nice gesture.
I talked to a Dodger fan who had arrived around 4 with a full bottle
of rum. He expected to get in around the 3rd inning with an empty
bottle. Not a bad return on his time investment.
From our vantage point, we could get just a hint of what was going on.
From Willie Mays walking the gauntlet to driving around in the
Cadillac to Ken Griffey taking his spot in right field.
After the first inning we called it a night and headed off somewhere
else to watch the game and have dinner, but I still saw more of the
2007 All Star Game in San Francisco than the 2006 game in Pittsburgh.
Later that night we joined a crowd in the lobby of the Westin staking
out players. We caught glimpses of C.C. Sabathia and Justin Morneau
and Brian Roberts but all I got was a grainy photo of Mets GM Omar
Minaya.
It's like I was there, only not really.
How Many Flavors Are There At Baskin Robbins?
If you said 31, you're wrong.
The Baskin Robbins at El Camino Real had 50 flavors in the case.
The employees at the chain that some even call "31 Flavors" didn't
even know what the 31 that appears between the Baskin and the Robbins
was supposed to stand for. They said it was their number...like the
Golden Arches of McDonalds.
For some reason, I had never bothered to think about the actual number
of seats...even though common sense would tell you that they would
have an even number (unless they doubled up on a few).
In another sign that we're all slowly being turned into hypnotized
monkeys incapable of doing anything without staring at a screen I
watched "NBC @ the pump" while filling my rental car with $3.28 gas.
X in 16 E
Kicking off my 2nd half of 07 flying (1st half stats 108,000 miles
flown, 73 segments), I bumped into somebody wraping up his 1st half.
Last to board, seated 2 rows in front of me in 16E in a black San
Antonio Spurs t-shirt and backwards black baseball cap was Pirate RF
Xavier Nady carrying 50 RBI into the All Star break.
As astonishing as the fact that he was riding middle seat in coach on
an Airbus A320 was the fact that he made the flight at all. I left my
house at Chapel Harbor just after the last out of the Pirates 6-2 win
over the Cubs at about 5 after 4. Nady, who drove in a run in the
win, had to hustle to get showered and out to plane on time.
Nady's become a favorite in our house after the Pirates Kids Club
autograph session. There's a great photo of him and Damaso Marte with
my son on our photo share.
This in some small way made up for me being in 18E between a husband
and wife that did not want to switch but did not hesitate to
cross-talk.
Just like it was...only better
This photo above is in the queue for the "Behind the Falls Adventure" in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
This year, I've noticed a disturbing trend. In the past 3 weeks I've been asked to pose in front of a green screen San Francisco, CA and Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada so the camera can capture my acted excitement and wonder and impose it on the background that captures that perfect moment before I've even experienced
it. My experience on a, drizzly overcast 4th of July is pictured here. I'm not sure how different it would be on a sunny day.
Like a local weatherman or action hero, we're acting out the excitement we are about to experience to manufacture an abstract replica of what will be an actual memory in order to have it sold back to us in it's Photo Shopped perfection -- for like $10.
This is of course something that you can do in your own with your home computer without leaving the house for almost no cost, and of course there's taking your own photo, which also costs almost nothing.
Labels: Niagara Falls, Travel
