Saturday, February 5, 2011

FINALLY!!!!!

So I finally cracked down and decided to post again. It's been quite a while since I have posted anything of substance on this blog, so I figured I'd give you updates on what's been going on in my life, and what better way to do this than by PICTURES!!!

N.B. Captions are UNDER the pictures

As volunteers, you can imagine free stuff is something that is cherished (moreso than a free t-shirt in college, if that's possible), and even better than free stuff is GOOD free stuff. So WAAAYYY back on September 25 of the year 2010 (yes, it has been that long since I've posted anything more than broken promises), several members of Casa Thea Bowman traveled across The Bay for "Opera at the Ballpark" at AT&T Park. This was a free event where anyone could show up and sit on the field or in the stands and they simulcast-ed a live performance of Aida onto the Jumbotron. This satisfied two of my pleasures: I love free stuff and the baseball fan in me got to roam about the field (of course I didn't realize the horrors that would occur on this field in the near future, ever bruising my memory of the Phillies while I am a JV).

I went right from work to the Opera to hold a spot for us. The woman with the mic is the weather lady for some news station and did the weather right next to me. She's holding garlic fries, which I have heard are really good, and recently read from some anonymous person on a blog that they're better than Crab Fries...I'll have to taste them to believe it.

Speaking of steroids...




Lots of people attended!

MCCOVEY COVE!!


Bad picture of this women singing the National Anthem, but the reason I took it is because I'm the one on the far left of the screen with the red sweatshirt on (my Phillies WFC sweatshirt).



Next on my picture journal is an A's game I went to on September 27. With the free theme, it was a bobblehead giveaway celebrating Dallas Braden's perfect game. They played the Rangers who won easily.
Free stuff during this upcoming season includes a Ricky Henderson bobblehead and (you probably should sit down before reading this) a MC Hammer bobblehead (mind-blowing, I know)



More baseball history...right across the bay!



Continuing on our journey through my blog-less months: another expedition into San Francisco with other JV's who came up from LA (because we are so freakin' cool!).


Ain't the sea lions...err...cute?!

Happy 20th Anniversary (one sea lion celebrated by throwing up; apparently his/her way of getting more room for him/herself--I should try that sometime on BART)


mmm...delicious (FREE!!!!!) Ghiradelli chocolate.


Sourdough bread at Bodin Bakery along the Bay. We went on the day of the first game of the NLCS, Phillies vs. Giants. I wore some Phillies gear, and got gently ribbed throughout the day, and went to watch the game at a hotel sports bar with one guy from the LA house. My luck, he is actually a pretty intense Giants fan (he said he was rooting for the Giants, but I knew/thought his full allegiance was to the Orioles) who ended up being the most vocal Giants supporter in the bar and almost got kicked out for arguing quite loudly with another Phillies fan. We watched at a place called Knuckles, so I guess that's what you get. I sent a picture text of the bread to my brother and Dad saying something along the lines of, "Roy is going to eat the Giants up;" karma's a b****.

Document your lunch (I really hope that line's not copyrighted). 10 JVC points to those who get this reference.

Silly people taking pictures of Lombard Street--clearly they're tourists

I live in the Bay area, so I'm NOT a tourist

Just one more of the Golden Gate, aptly named on this typical foggy day.


A few of Casa T-Bow had a little hike in Tilden Park. Not many pictures taken, but the hills of Berkeley and Oakland add many scenic views.


Deer on the trail, kind of too close for comfort

A new species...some large bull/cow-like creature, and large is an understatement: it was so far away and so BIG; this is 15x zoom on my camera.




Being so near Cal Berkeley, I/we had to take advantage of their athletics. Conveniently, they played #1 Oregon at home, and, conveniently, they have a hill (Tightwad Hill) where you can watch the game, mostly unobstructed, for FREE (see a theme?). Cal lost (obviously), but it was a really close game, a game Cal theoretically could/should have won.


It's a fun climb to the viewing spot...
...but the view of the game and the Bay is worth it. It was really cool being around the game-day experience of a real football school; but I'll take my basketball experiences at Georgetown quite happily.






Time for a little community talk (quickly, I promise): we had a great idea of doing one-on-ones with each housemate. Well, we partially got through one round, and then stopped. But before stopping, me and my one-on-one biked to Emeryville, to see the Pixar gate and parking lot (can't do any more, since there are no tours), but it was still kind of cool.


That's it for now, I hope you all enjoy. Another picture update comes when I have enough motivation to upload other pictures. I promise it will be soon, and I really hope to continue updating more often for the rest of the year (we had our re-orientation at the end of January, and this was a promise I made to myself...follow-through)

Stay tuned for redwoods, wine country and Christmas around the Bay!