Tag Archives: San Diego

Say It Ain’t So Mike!


Long ShotIt’s been about a week now since I finished the book. If you read any of my tweets while I plowed through it, you know already that I am deeply conflicted. First of all, I should be fair and link to the Amazon Kindle purchase page just in case you want to experience this for yourself. Long Shot If you don’t follow me on twitter or missed any of my blurbs, here are my 140 character reactionary bursts:

Piazza Tweets

I read some of the review on Amazon and it is interesting to see that about 1/2 the folks there who wrote one came away with the same taste in their mouths.

Mike Piazza, the person writes with a voice that is deeply insecure, defensive and quick to assume that anyone who EVER does ANYTHING he doesn’t agree with is somehow out to get him. For a guy who is writing this book with the intention of PROVING that he earned every accolade he receives on his own merits vs on the backs of his dad and his familial connection to the Dodgers organization – he utterly blows it.

In my humble opinion, every time he tried to clarify some detail from his past that he thought had been improperly sourced by the media, he simply dug himself into the mess deeper. It became a case of “I think he doth protest too much” on so many topics.

That’s not true of everything he tries to debunk. For instance, I do still believe that he never injected himself with any PED’s. I also think he is not gay. Both those rumors seemed easy enough for him to debunk and they came across as much more straight forward topics in his way of addressing them. At any rate – he didn’t seem to be WHINING about them as much!

When he whines is when he talks about nearly every personal and professional relationship he has while in the MLB. At some point he ends up disappointed in, or hurt by, or just plain angry at everyone. Along the way he ADMITS he has a chip on his shoulder and that he knows it sounds like he is making tons of excuses for himself but he just continues barreling down that path every time.

His interpretation of Vin Scully interviewing him while he was in his contract negotiation with the Dodgers – when he describes it as Vin “throwing him under the bus” is just absurd. Whether you read the transcript he puts in the book, or just go find the interview video online and watch it – I cannot see ANY evidence to support that claim! Especially given that Scully is otherwise never mentioned – clearly has NO vendetta or reason to spin anything against Mike – and clearly never DID.

I see that as encapsulating the entire problem I have with the book – everyone is out to get Mike and gosh darnit he’s going to show just how everyone did at every twist and turn in his career and if you don’t believe him then you are in on it too!

SIGH………………………

Poor embittered Mike.

On the other hand, there are also some really really enjoyable portions of the book for anyone who is simply a fan of the game. For all the whining and me me me presented – I do think Mike ADORES the game. Baseball was his obsession from the time he was very young. A pretty healthy set of OCD rituals made him enough of a standout that even when he was clearly taking advantage of opportunities presented to him thanks to his father’s connections, it was still up to him to make people take notice. The story of Ted Williams doing just that is darn awesome. Piazza’s own awe at that event is very well expressed. In fact, his overall writing style is pretty well done. Obviously the negatives came through loud & clear!  Since Mike is just a few years younger than me, his childhood baseball memories parallel mine and it was fun to relive those years through his eyes.

And I was very very pleasantly surprised to read the chapter on his time in San Diego. It seems to have been the one season that he focused on just being happy and enjoyed playing the game. How could he not when he got to play in the best city ever and have fans like these:

Padres Photo Day April 2006

Padres Photo Day April 2006

I will cheer just as loudly WHEN he gets into the Hall of Fame (and he should) as I would had I not read the book and discovered the less charming sides of his personality. He does a mighty fine job of tooting his own horn, but I do think he worked hard to get to that point. I am just sad to see that he still thinks he needs to prove some things – and I cannot help but wonder if it is more about proving things to HIMSELF vs to the rest of us.

3 Mules at Torrey Pines


This is the tweet/facebook status I posted at 8am today:

“Driving in to work, I passed a man walking along the side of Torrey Pines Rd-leading 3 pack mules! Yes, mules!! What the??”

And this is the link that someone posted as a response:

Three Mules in LA Oct 5 as posted in Root Simple

Three Mules in Los Angeles

Last weekend, Kelly and I were treated to one of the most surreal scenes I’ve ever witnessed in Los Angeles: three pack mules being lead down busy Sunset Boulevard. On the side of one of the packs was a hand painted sign reading, “3mules.com“. As is fitting for a man leading three mules across the US, 3mules.com is just one page, managed by someone else. On that page is the following poetic statement,

3 MULES     To answer the most asked questions:  Who are we?  Where are we from? And where are we going?  We are mules. We are from the outside. We live outside all day , every day. Where are we going? Nowhere, we’re here- the outside, the web of life- the beautiful earth, a place like no other.    We have come to this place-a place of golden sparkling light, a place for anybody and everybody.  Give your faith, hope and  energy to this place at which time you connect to it and receive the magic and endless possibility of infinity.   As you walk in this place with these mules you spread the awareness that this beautiful earth like no other can only be protected by the way we live one day at a time.

I couldn’t stop to take a picture because I was driving up the hill in the opposite direction on my way in to work. There was no safe place to turn around. I was also going by too fast to take note of the website on the side of the suitcase that you can see in the picture above. What I find really fun in all this is the comment section on the Root Simple posting. People have been posting in there essentially tracking the 3 mules as the moved south from LA to Orange County and then in to San Diego. It seems as if he has been wandering through the county here for a little over a month.Looks like he started out in the eastern areas and then turned to the coast within the last week and is now making his way back north.

People who have run into him up close and chatted with him report nothing but positive reactions and conversations. The mules look healthy – the man said he’s had one of them for 27 years. Clearly he has all he needs with him to care for himself and the animals. Yeah, he seems a bit nuts yet is harmless and is bringing people a lot of joy as he passes through their neighborhoods.

During this typically hectic time of the year for many, if the site of the 3 mules makes you take a breath and relax and just look on in wonder as they mosey on by then it is ALL good!

A glorious long weekend in San Diego


Yes, I know, I live here so the headline could seem as if it is hinting that I traveled somewhere new. Which I did. Sort of.

Friday night started it off out in east county for the first varsity football game of the season (horrible…penalties, turnovers…lost 22-7…16 still on the sideline though he should be suiting up around Game 3….) We are still in the throes of this summer humidity laces heat wave that wont end so it was REALLY warm out there, but fun as always and just as the night descended…the Blue Moon started to rise:

Saturday had been set aside to visit with my high school buddy Lisa who drove down from LA to take her own end of summer vacation away from it all (her medical practice + TV show which keep her insanely busy so seeing her…or exchanging more than two line text messages or emails – is very rare)

 

We enjoyed a 2+ hour lunch at Barbarella in La Jolla just up the street from the Beach & Tennis club where she was staying, then we wandered back to her room and prepared to sit out on the beach:

I told her I was teasing my running buddies with this photo and she said “Tell them to get out here with us!” and the next thing you knew Renee, Eve, Lisa and I spent the rest of Saturday sitting on the beach and then wandering right back into town for a fantastic Italian dinner. It was one of those completely relaxing summer days/nights which, on it’s own, would have made the long weekend superb.

But there was more to come!

Sunday we went for our usual longer run. We got a later start than usual so it was plenty warm by the time we started with the hill repeats but it actually wasn’t that hard. I’m starting to think I am getting decent at this running thing!

The girls then asked me if I wanted to join them out to a horse ranch/birthday party bbq and I said “Hey, why not?” Back out to the back country of San Diego for yet another change of pace:

Monday we had a full day planned, though again starting later so we could all sleep in. Chip made sure I didn’t get up before I was needed to:

The day was spent out on the downtown Embarcadero where they were celebrating the Festival of Sails – a collection of tall sailing ships were docked there and we could climb all over them and some even went out for voyages in the harbor as well as some mock cannon battles. We didn’t take a voyage but we did climb over every boat we could and we got some shots of the sailing ships:

After four solid days out in the sunshine and heat, it was finally time to end the final day with a trip to a nice, dark, cool bar:

Cheers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, I am a weather wimpy San Diegan. Proudly so.


Allow me please to whine just a little bit about the weather.

OK, let me whine a LOT!

First, here is your frame of reference. I live in San Diego. I’ve lived here full time pretty much since the early 80s. So this graphic describes me PERFECTLY:

 

The last two weeks it has been pretty much Hot to Scorching even here on the coast. I come home from work and even with windows left open all day it is still over 80 in the house.

No, I don’t have air conditioning. Because normally there is this thing called an ocean breeze. No matter how hot it might get during the day, the breezes will waft around and cool the air at sunset.

Somebody turned off our breeze and I am not happy about it.

The cats are not happy about it either. They lay about somehow even MORE pathetically than usual and eek out these little mews of discomfort throughout the day. I mean, I get it – they have those fur coats after all. I have to fill their water bowls even more often and still it looks like they are sometimes panting like dogs.

The boys do that too.

27 often details cars in the garage – this is not a very pleasant task in 90+ degree heat with NO air flow.

16 is in the throes of hell month with football. He’s easily sweating away any excess pounds he might have put on before that started.

Two days ago there were a small miracle and the onshore flow made an appearance and it was gray and cloudy and cool so I went for a one hour run and it was HEAVENLY. Best run I’ve had in weeks. Over 5 miles non stop and I would happily have gone more if I didn’t have to be somewhere else.

That was a brief respite.

Now, it has gotten a LITTLE bit better. Tonight while sitting on the sofa I did actually feel a waft of cool air come through the open windows. RELIEF! Aaaaaahhhhh. Just a small one though. It’s 9:30pm and still 80 in the house.

Sigh….

I know – and now you are saying “Oh hush up, in just a few more weeks you will be whining that it is Chilly or even Freezing!” – I know. I know. That little window of perfection is small. And the problem is that  75% of the time, that is what we have. But that 25%?  We FREAK OUT!

 

A Spectacularly Explosive Fail


Photo by benballer on Instagram

Over the San Diego bay last night, there was a bit of a..shall we say…premature ignition….of Every. Single. Firework set to explode for their 4th of July show.

Check out this post on the snafu, complete with a couple of utterly hysterical videos on Grist

I do believe this is as close you will ever get to a visual representation of the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air, don’t you think?!

May 8 – of running and deep thoughts and dinner


I did it – woke up and ran the 3.2 mile loop along the trail near my house. And oh, was it hard! I purposefully didn’t wear the heart monitor because I wanted to go slow and not even look at my time along the way. I have enough of a touch of OCD or inner competitiveness that I know if I saw how slow I was going (vs running by how I felt) I would push it too fast. Still – dang!! My feet hurt so much after only 2 miles that I doubted I would be able to make it up the final uphill mile. And yet, I did. Found things around me to focus on and take my mind off my feet (like my truly achy abs that HURT when I took deeper breaths and tortured me all day if I sneezed – dang circuit class!)

Normally I feel pretty pumped from doing a morning run but for some reason I didn’t get that today :(

Ah well – work was brightened by the news that Adam Lambert’s 2nd album which releases in the US in a week was streaming on his website. I listened to it twice and chair danced the whole time :) Oh how that voice makes me smile.

So – the deep thoughts – well first it was following the efforts today in North Carolina where a pretty odious Amendment was unfortunately voted into place to define marriage in their state constitution as the only type of legal domestic partnership the state will recognize – and of course they limited marriage to only being between one man and one woman. So they effectively did away with ANY type of non-marriage relationship having any legal definition or rights recognized. It eats away at adoption rights and even domestic abuse laws outside of a marriage. Makes me so sad. The rights of a minority should NEVER be voted on my the majority. Also? I really really loathe discrimination and labeling people as “less than” or “other”.

OTOH I was thrilled to hear that San Diego will be the first city in the nation to have a street named after Harvey Milk! That will happen sometime this month for a street in Hillcrest. You can bet I’ll head up there to take a picture when it is dedicated!

So I was going to mention that a co-worker in another department has a really cute sticker on her car that I first noticed yesterday. It’s a little girl kneeling in from of a cross and it says “God answers knee-mail” Hah! Cute huh? Knee mail. Love it.

But then….well, this gal is young and a very overtly devout Christian clearly..and she and I had a debate over evolution last year that was respectful but I remember thinking at some point that she certainly was set in her beliefs so I went pretty easy on her. No point in challenging her that much. Anyhow…she walks during lunch with another co-worker who is pretty non-religious like me. The other day she apparently wore a t-shirt that said “I started out as a fetus so I don’t believe in abortion” (or something along those lines..can’t remember the exact phrasing). Fine – but – she actualy asked my co-worker if she liked the shirt! Lord…it’s one thing to wear a potentially divisive t-shirt, it’s another to draw attention to it and challenge someone to indicate their support or disagreement! Thankfully the other co-worker is more mature and very very sweet and just managed to shrug and not answer and change the subject gracefully. However, she said later she thought of the perfect response and I have to agree it would have been perfect:

“I am pro-choice so I fully support your choice to wear that shirt”

Awesome!

I’d like to chalk this up to the gals youth. But I hope she learns someday that it isn’t necessary to challenge other people on their beliefs like that. I know a lot of Christians who feel like they can’t express their faith in the open – but – like that? The knee mail sticker? Fabulous. The t-shirt? Borderline. The question about the t-shirt? Crossed the line IMHO.

Moving on…

Walked in the door after work to a glorious smell – a roast – in the crock pot! 26 had gone shopping and also has white corn on the cob on the grill. Fabulous! Except?  He did all this at around 3pm so we have to wait until 8 to eat!!! I’m dying in here smelling this!! But – it’s always nice to come home to dinner being prepared for you :)

This day must, of course, be rainbow in honor of Equality. Which will happen in my lifetime! It must!

 

Need consumer reviews on San Diego Driving Schools


Drivers School Flyers

Drivers School Flyers

OK San Diego locals – HELP!

Even though Alex still needs to earn a proper GPA in order to get his complete license, I do want to get him signed up and ready to get his permit so he can start lessons and practicing.

However, which company should I use?

I get these three flyers in the school newspaper every month. Same three.

I’ve heard of Bakkers – that’s who we used for my older son but this was before there was an online option – he hated the classes as all teens do but I honestly don’t remember being either thrilled or angry with them. Yet the majority of online reviews I find are bad. There was ONE good one. The rest were all pretty nasty.

So, I hesitate and ask you guys – which one should I use? Is there another one that doesn’t send flyers that you recommend? I really really want personal recommendations and reviews here. If you don’t want to put anything in comments for whatever reason (which you can do anonymously though that defeats the purpose of me knowing the reviewer.) you can email me directly at christina010365@gmail.com.

Thanks so much for your help!

Advice for east coasters – seriously!


Yes, I know I  participated in the fun that we on the west coast poked at you guys yesterday. In my defense, I waited until a few after hours your earthquake and I knew full well that everyone was totally fine. Once that was cleared up, well…some ribbing had to be done! Heck, you guys were doing a fine job making fun of yourselves. It took exactly no time at all for the quintesential earthquake damage photo to circulate on every single social media page:

The funny part being that this is an old photo from some other weather event used to symbolize DISASTER!

There were also some really funny tweets mostly coming straight out of the DC media making fun of spilled lattes and such. It was all very amusing ONLY because, other than some building/property damage, everyone was perfectly OK.

Of course, Fox News distinguished itself from the media hysteria by claiming that the Washington Monument was leaning. There *are* cracks near the top of the tower, but no, it was never tipping over!

But honestly, I know it is scarier over there since buildings are absolutely not built to withstand such shaking. Although, they apparently should be as all the follow up reporting shows that there are plenty of fairly shallow and potentially active faults on the east coast.

So, you know that last year San Diego was hit with a pretty good sized shaking on Easter Sunday. I blogged the details and our household reactions here. A few things you SHOULD remember in all seriousness:

  • There WILL be aftershocks. Some of those may be as strong as the original. I was still feeling shakes several months later. It reached a point when I would anticipate them because I would realize it had been several days since a shake and I knew we were ‘due’. Usually within 24 hours we would get one. One even hit while I was in my car which was quite trippy as that has never happened. I felt it since I was at a stop light. It was light someone was shaking my car side to side but then I noticed the car in front of also visibly shaking and the light poles swaying. That was at least two full months after the original quake.
  • While it is calm, scan the buildings where you spend the most time. Your house, your office, your gym perhaps. Locate the items that are most likely to shatter/collapse/fall and then look for a clear spot AWAY from those things. My friends rode out the Easter earthquake in a grocery store and the first thing they ALL did after the first wave was run AWAY from the large glass front windows towards the lightest aisle of items – bread!
  • If you are in the habit at home of keeping your shoes off (I am), always make sure a pair are handy in case any glass does shatter so that you can slip them on and avoid walking over glass shards.
  • Know where your gas shut off valve is and how to turn it off.
  • I know it is said all the time, but really – keep bottled water on hand. That’s the first thing you need & often the first thing to be compromised if you happen to be right on top of a fault and the heaviest damage is around you.
  • If you are outside, stay there, and if you are inside, stay THERE. The worst thing you can do is panic and run around. Think about it – there is no warning for an earthquake. They last, at the most, maybe a minute with the most violent shake being right there at the start so by the time your brain registers what is happening, the worst is over. You are not going to outrun one. You can scan your surroundings and protect yourself by ducking and covering and at least getting away from any large glass items or potentially heavy falling ones, but that’s about it.

And honestly? Feel completely free to point and laugh mercilessly should even one snowflake DARE to fall in San Diego. I am totally admitting right now that my fair city (and me) would freak the fuck OUT.

Sunrise over the San Diego Bay


Yes, I said sun RISE. Rare for me! I tagged along on Sunday with some of the training team to cheer them on in a triathlon on the Silver Strand end of Coronado Island. Now I know what to expect when SB does his event in May. The forecast had originally been for some light rain, but instead it was it a really gorgeous morning and our timing was perfect as we made our way to the San Diego bay side for the start of the swim. Enjoy!

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Late Friday beauty – is there anything better than cats with kids?


 

A rare moment when someone ELSE has a cat problem

I had to capture this moment last night – Amber actually sat in someone elses lap while mine was available on the same sofa! And? They are BOTH smiling! Doesn’t get better than that does it?

After 10 days of winter break, the first work week of 2011 has been survived – barely!

Each day did get easier, but MAN it was hard to focus on work all day long.  On Monday my eyes were literally hurting from looking at the computer after just 3 hours at the desk. It doesn’t help that we go full speed ahead into a month end close being in the accounting department. Which means no gradual adjusting – Just Do It!

The weekend wont get better. There’s the 1st freshmen winter baseball game tomorrow morning – 40 minutes away of course.  Then an August dad comes in town for business so we will hang out with him for dinner.

Sunday I drive up to LAX to pick up my long absent Sweet Prince who has been in China on business. Yes, he missed NYE & my birthday. He has some making up catching up to do!

If I get back down to San Diego in time, SB & I will go for our third workout of the week. Which is good since it seems like all I’ve blogged about up until now this year was FOOD ;-)

Speaking of which, tonight I tried the slow cooker roasted chicken that I posted about a couple of weeks ago but with a twist. Bacon. Lots and LOTS of bacon. Shoved in the middle. Shoved under the skin. And then draped over the entire carcass. A whole pack of bacon.

And? My house smells divine and it tasted even more divine. Yeah, I think I better make sure I make it to that third workout!

And yes, I am a huge sports fan normally and YES, I would normally be grumbling about being away from the TV for the 1st weekend of NFL playoffs. But much like the baseball playoffs when the Padres were eliminated the last day of the regular season, my Chargers fell on their helmets this year and are done. And I am bitter. And this weekend anyway, I am FINE being too busy to watch. The rest of you who have teams still in it? Bite me!

And I mean that in the *nicest* possible way of course :-)