Pirates 2011 - 3rd home stand

Houston Game Friday May 6th.
Harry, Mike, and Ari.  Upgraded to section 316 row B.  Nice seats for the first 3 innings but it started raining so we sat in the back of the section for most of the game.

Dodgers Wed May 11th:
- Mike, Nathaniel, Mark (Mike's Friend), Harry and Sam.  We upgraded the tickets to section 316.  Game was pretty good except it was May and the Pirates are just not scoring...

Pirates Second Home Stand Apr 22-28

So between moving Mom's furniture to Baltimore, orchestra practice, and traveling to Boston the only game I was going to be able to see was the first game against the Nationals.  I did a few errands like getting boxes from the liquor store and shopping at whole foods and then I try to find the game on the radio as I head down town.  I can't find it!!!  After talking with Sam, I find that the game is postponed to Monday night.  I try to head back in time for a haircut and the game but can't leave early enough.  So I end up call Mike H. and he drives the Fit down, we have a peasahdic greek salad and are one of 1000 people watching the game.  We do win!!!   I missed the Giants though:(:(.  

Pirates 2011 First Home Stand

Apr 7 - Mike and I went to home opener.  Not much defense led to a loss
Apr 8 - I went to the game myself, used both tickets to get 2 t-shirts and posters.  Stayed until the 12:20 to see the Pirates win in the bottom of the 14th.
Apr 9 - Mike took kids, friends and wife for a total of 6 tickets.
Turned back 4 tickets to close out the series.

I have to travel to Southern LA for work and end up going to the Dodgers Saturday Apr 16.  I end up on the Top Deck with beautiful views of LA from the parking lot and great views of the hills and mountains from the stands.  I do enjoy the score boards as they are small and the additional information is put on the outfield walls in a very undistracting manner.

March 2011

So what kept me so busy until April 7?

- Edgewood Symphony Orchestra concert.  Viennese night at the concert and the reception at our house afterwards.
- 2 Weeks in Southern CA
  - Dinner with Dan at Ki's (http://www.kisrestaurant.com/) in Cardiff on the Sea.  Good entertainment by Ben's jazz teacher.
  - High School Jazz Competition at Irvine with Poway High School Orchestra.
  - ???
- Lots of fun...

Long Weekend in San Diego

So, Lisa and I stayed at Dan's.  We got a lot covered over the weekend.

• Friday I picked up Lisa at the airport and we walked Harbor Island.  The cool thing was that it was the first day of the 44 footer sailboat races.   Pretty cool near misses as they tacked up the wind. Had a late lunch at Tom Hams and tried a bottle of Ballast Points Yellowtail Pale Ale.  We then headed up to Poway. For dinner, we headed over to Stone Brewery for beer and dinner.  I had some Stone Old Guardian Belgo-Barley Wine 2011 which was actually easy to drink even though it had 11% or more alcohol.  Enjoyed the orange ginger hummus, a nice salad, and the noodles.
• Saturday Lisa and I headed to Oceanside Pier.  We had a quick Thai lunch and then headed over the Oceanside Art Museum.  Cool photographs by Emogene Cunningham of closeups of flowers and plants.   There was also a cool juried exihibit on quilting.  The flowers below is really a 20 x 10 quilt!!!  We then headed down to Carlsbad and took a walk on the beach.  My favorite place to eat in Carlsbad is the Pizza Port.  The store was jammed packed with bicycle riders after a hard days ride.  The restaurant was jammed pack with little league players after their first game of the season.  The Pirate coaches had a tough time understanding my comment that their team was probably better than mine!!!  The plan was to make it to the beach for sunset but because of the crowd we just made it to the very end of the sunset.

• Sunday was a car trip on Dan's motorcycle roads to the Temecula Valley.  We stopped off as he suggested at Julian.  It really is a tourist destination with Apple Pies as the main draw.  Lisa and I had a turkey sandwich and apple/boysenberry pie at Apple Alley Bakery.  We also bought some pumpkin butter at Julian Cider Mill.  Turns out that they have a few orchards but most of the apples come from Washington State.  After a pit stop at the Stagecoach Inn, we found the wineries.
• Robert Renzoni was our first one.  Being the first winery, it sure tasted good and at the end of the day we sure would go back but it wasn't our favorite.  We did get to say hi to the owner as he and his family walked in as we were tasting our last wine.  We got their spaghetti sauce and a bottle of Zinfandel for Dan.  We also liked the Temparnillo grape from Spain.
•  Leonesse was our favorite.  The wine was great and the building, the blues band featuring guitarist Jim King, and the wine trail through the vineyards was fun.  The wine was about the same price as Renzoni but noticably more enjoyable.  We got a brochure for Dan and suggest that he joins the wine club for us as they won't let Pennsylvanians join.  We liked all of it, the Meritage, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon.
•  Weins was a place that Dan suggested.  We got there and it wasn't too crowed.  Our pourer was from McMurray but she wouldn't leave CA for anything now.  Since we liked the big reds, she passed us on to someone to taste in their brand new private tasting room.  It was fun, as they gave us tastes of the Cab and Franc which they are selling for $100 a bottle.  The Wein brothers walked through as we were tasting and said hi to us.  We went back out and found another pourer that was very generous with the champagne and Dulca Maria.  She also let us taste Crowded which we really liked and bought a bottle for us to take home.
•  Calloway was our next one as I was trying to find Faulkner but couldn't.  The wine was OK but after the first 3, it just wasn't holding up.
•  Hart was a place that the pourer at Calloway suggested.  I wanted to stop there but Lisa was plain old tuckered out.  I left her in the car and started tasting.  The wine seemed almost as good as the first 3 but 30% less in price.  It might have been the alchohol but I ended up buying their Driveway which was a meritage of grapes grown along the driveway up to the tasting room.  There was also a guy selling furniture all made out of barrels.

We ended the day at The Gambling Cowboy (old Penfolds) and had their last two prime rib Sunday specials and a glass of Leonesse Cab.  Lisa didn't want to walk around as it was too cold!!!

Week of Feb 28 - Mar 4

Worked the week at LAX at the GSAW conference.  Evening activities included:
- Monday walking around Manhattan Beach via the Ocean Express.  Cool restaurant was Mr. Cecils.  Loved the wings and want to go back for the barbecue.
- Wednesday I had a nice night with someone from Germany/Denmark
- Thursday I took the MITRE guys to the Yard House at Long Beach.  They made us sit outside in the cold but it was fun.

Fall and Winter 2010-2011

So I haven't posted for a while.


I hiked the AT with Larry around the museum Oct 30-31.  Had a nice time since we didn't backpack.  Stayed the night in Carlisle, hit the Market Cross Pub for dinner.  

Other activities was a family thanksgiving in Warren, a few trips to the laurel mountains for some cross country skiing.  I got new shoes and skis.   Need to have more snow to try them out better.