My Daily Life

iSwing app is awesome!

Very cool app! Slo-mo video, multiple-frame sequence, ability to draw lines to check swing angles!

MLB Umpire Tim McClelland is lazy!

Did anyone see the Yankees-Angles game on 10/20, and all the blown calls?  I think that 2 or 3 of those bad calls were because the umpire, Tim McClellan, was just lazy, and not in the right position to make the call.  The other one was due to poor eyesight.

Start with the poor eyesight call... Swisher out diving back to second.  Good position, just missed the call.

Next, Swisher leaving 3rd early.  Poor position by McClellan, and he is just shuffling around, not trying to move very fast to get in the right position.

Same thing with his call on Cano and Posada, bad position to see that Cano was not on the base, and not even moving around to try and get in the right position.

It's the League Championship Playoffs!  Move a little!

20 years ago, October 17, 1989...

We had season tickets to the Giants that season, 1989.  Paul, Tim, Mark, and me, I think.  The Humm Baby kids had grown up, and were a solid team.  On August 1st, I was sent to work for Apple Japan in Tokyo, so I missed the pennant drive and the playoffs, but I wasn't going to miss the World Series!

It was my first trip back to San Francisco since leaving for Japan.  I arrived for the weekend, and friends offered tickets to see the games 1 and 2 in Oakland.  I declined, having already seen the World Series in Oakland the year before... I was holding out for the games at Candlestick!

We arrived at the Stick, and we were walking up the ramp on the south side, just about ready to enter the stadium, when the earthquake hit.  I am fairly certain Paul was there, maybe others.  We were all pretty used to earthquakes, and yes, this felt like a pretty big one, but so had others we experienced.  We continued to walk into the stadium.

When we walked into the stadium, my immediate thought upon seeing that the power was out, was that "oh no, the game is going to be delayed!"  Little did I know.  Our seats were the ultimate nose-bleed, upper deck, maybe even last row!  We walked all the way up to them, not knowing anything more about what was happening, since the PA system was also out, and still thinking Game 3 was going to start.  We were sitting there, taking it all in, the players on the field, some emergency trucks, but again, no clue as to the severity of the quake.

Then someone nearby had one of those portable TVs, they were able to get a signal, and a bunch of people were grouped around this little TV.  When the news showed the Bay Bridge, with its top panel folded down, it looked like something out of a disaster movie!  Then it hit us, this was a very big earthquake!  And Game 3 might not be played tonight.

We stayed around for awhile, waiting to hear something more official, and I think they finally got out the bull horns, and made the announcment that the game was postponed, and everyone had to go home.  We filed out of the stadium with everyone else, as it was starting to get dark.  On the drive out of the area, everyone was being very courteous, waiting for each other as if all intersections were 4-way stops.  I made it back to my condo in San Carlos, and luckily, did not suffer much damage, only a couple of broken glasses.  I think power was restored shortly after I made it home, and I remember trying to watch the news on TV, but the reception was terrible, I guess the cable was out.  So I couldn't really see all of the images of that night.

The next few days were back to work, hearing the tales of computers flying off of desks at Apple in Cupertino, and waiting for more news on the World Series.  At first, they said it would be delayed by one week.  My boss understood, and I was trying to stay the extra week.  Then they said it would not be played until 10 days after the original date, and unfortunately, I was not able to stay. 

I headed back to Tokyo, with an unused rain check ticket stub from the October 17th Loma Prieta World Series game at Candlestick, but unfulfilled on my 5000 mile quest to witness a World Series game in San Francisco.

And since I was not living in the area in 2002, I missed that Series, too.  So I am still waiting...

The Presidents Cup Captain and me

Got lucky, and caught up with Freddie Couples on the Wednesday morning President's Cup practice round!  It's a long way from Jefferson Park Golf Course in Seattle!

Whitewater rafting on the American River

This is a photo from our family rafting day on the South Fork of the American River!  It was a really fun time, we camped at the rafting company's campsite on Saturday night, and rafted 21 miles on Sunday!  Lance was pretty worried prior to the trip, and the guide didn't help, by making sure everyone knew of the potential dangers! But by the second set of rapids, he kept bugging our guide, Alex, "what is the next big rapid?"  The photos are taken by pros at some of the larger rapids, and then you buy them later, which is another big part of this whole rafting business!  We ended up staying over another night in Placerville, and visited an old gold mine, and the State Capitol building in Sacramento on Monday, Labor Day.  A really fun weekend!

For more photos, see this photo album:

American River Photo Album

Tour of California

Justin and I went up the hill about 20 minutes from our house to watch Lance Armstrong race in the Tour of California! It was cold and rainy, and we couldn't identify any of the specific riders as they whizzed by, but Lance was in that peloton we saw!

Bike Ride with Barak

Went for a bike ride on Sunday with Barak.  I told him to take me on the novice trail, but in the end, we did some hills, and for me, a total of 18 miles!  Barak's Garmin GPS printout is below, doesn't quite show everything.  It was a good workout!