where is my certificate

here's a pic of the approach we did to the indian springs area this weekend in tahoe. it wasn't too steep, but there wasnt much a trail, just a lot of walking on bark and through branches.

apparently these approaches are getting to easy for me as i did the approach on saturday in my chacos through the snow. and sunday i did the approach with a beer (a coors no less) in my hand

i'll take my dirtbag climber certificate right about now. thanks.

i know i picked a good area to move to...

... cos apparently baseball fans here also hate aj pierzynski and love michael barret.

the chronicle ran this story yesterday. apparently my very own michael barret, who plays for the division-rival padres, is an unoffical folk hero to giants fans who still harbor a grudge about the trade that sent francisco liriano and joe nathan to mn. in return they got aj pierzynski. and boy did he suck when he was with the giants, and boy did the fans hate him for it. no wonder the white sox got him so cheap when he went free agent the following year.

when asked about his local cult-hero status, barrett played it cool and nice. he used the opportunity to compliment the giants on their history, and tried to convince the reporter that the infamous punch was an abberation.

you dont have to pretend with me, barrett! aj may not have deserved the punch for knocking you to the ground and slapping the plate, but we all know he deserved it on a karmatic level for being an all-around dickhead. im glad i was there at the game to be witness.

who says the cubs can't hit?

one for the highlight reel

if games are won by defense alone, reed johnson's amazing diving catch of a felipe lopez fly ball to the farthest part of center field in the bottom of the 5th inning tonight would would clinch it. the game should be over right then and there.

johnson dove headfirst when he was already on the warning track to catch the ball about a foot from the fence. i thought for sure he was going to dislocate a shoulder or knock his head for a concussion. but he was fine, and even tossed the ball from his glove to his hand casually as he walked off the field as the inning was over. his face was in the dirt, so he couldnt see demps mouthing "oh my god" as he watched the play. he could see, however, mark derosa, playing left field and backing him up on the play, stand dumbfounded in awe as johnson trotted past him. de-ro just stood there and stared at the place where johnson had landed in disbelief.

johnson said after the game that he was upset that he hadn't made any impressive plays like that up to this point in the season. boy did he make up for it. and as far i am concerned, he can replace felix pie in center field on a permanent basis. lets trade pie to get a rookie who can maybe need some time in the minors, but will actually will be able to hit major league pitching. just a thought.

cubs 3, nationals 5

white sox were rained out. no game-winning walkoff hits for crede tonight. booo

again?!

yet again, joe crede won the game for the white sox with his mad baseball skillz. this time it was a single in the 9th that allowed carlos quintin to score the winning run in a walkoff. this also prevented the sox from getting swept by the much hated-new york yankees.

crede deserves every bit of adulation he's gotten this season. 2 grand slams in 6 days, a bunch of reel-worthy defensive plays, and now he wins the game for the team. you gotta love it.

there is no way in HELL im going to go to the giants game next month without sporting my new crede jersey. now i just need to get one.

in other news, the cubs lost for the first time in 7 games. they played hard, but eventually you do have to give up some games. its unnatural (especially for los cubs) to win that many in a row. just dont make it a habit.

cubs 2, rockies, 4
yankees 6, white sox 7

real tv! and gangsta style

since i was home this past weekend, i was able to catch the pirates cubs game on a real (hideously oversized) tv at my parents house. pretty crazy stuff. even though mlb.tv has tv-quality streaming this year for live games, games just look so much better on a real tv. however, when i thought about how much money i would have to spend in order to be able to get all the chicago baseball games, i decided the mlb subscription would suffice just fine!

not much to say about the game, it was a blowout and i left to run errands during the 5th when the score was 7-1 cubs. apparently they were only done scoring 53% of their runs at that point. final score that day was pirates 1, cubs 13. guys, can we save some runs for when we really need them? 2 or 3 insurance runs would have been just fine.

in other news, i drove dadoo's new lexus ES 350 this weekend. pretty P-I-M-P. (according to dad, "a pimp is the boss of the whores") the interior is all gray leather and cherry wood. i felt like blaring rap music and doing a drive by. all the car is missing are some spinners.

you're welcome

i was 1/4 th of the way to hewitt this morning when the radio confirmed that there really had been a n earthquake this morning at around 4:30 am.

so weird. i woke up, and felt the earth shaking. i recall thinking "hey, an earthquake. no wait, im in chicago, there are no earthquakes here" and promptly fell back asleep. im actually fairly accustomed to the concept of being woken up by an earthquake these days.

figures there isn't an earthquake in IL the entire time i grow up there, but there is one the day after i come back for a visit. and apparently i have the power to transport natural disasters from the west coast to the midwest. who woulda thunk it?

so to all the people in the chicagoland area who felt an earthquake for the 1st time, you're welcome for my gift!

cardinals vs giants

last minute, I decided to try to see the cardinals-giants game tonight at At&T Park. no one was really going to climb, and it just so happened that kyle lohse (a personal favorite) was pitching for the cards. lucky for me, i have my new baseball buddy (i have yet to think of a witty pseudonym for him) who's totally willing to go to games whenever he's free.

it was GORGEOUS out. it had been blazing hot (relatively speaking) during the day and it stayed warm through the night. ive never been so warm in At&T park (even in the dead of summer). i wore flip flops, jeans, and a long sleeved t-shirt. i had come prepared with socks, shoes, an extra fleece, and my windproof soft shell, but i didnt need them. the game was good, as lohse pitched well, and so did zito. and albert puhols hit a 3 run homer.

its easy to go to games even when its teams you dont care about that much are playing. at&t park is just a fun place to be. if only they served old style and that bright fluorescent green relish they have in chicago.

here are some pics i took at the game with my new purple camera


lohse on the jumbo-screen

lohse on the mound

cardinals 8, giants 2

unbelievable

in the 5th inning, fukodome (playing out of position in CF) dropped a ball after he caught it. he was trying to avoid alfonso so-over-paid in center field, and a run scored. Z seems to take it in stride and struck out the next batter for the 3rd out. during that last at bat of the inning, one of the philly announcers was talking about how mean Z gets when the players don't support him, citing the fight with michael barrett last year and barrett's subsequent trade. he praised Z's maturity in this situation. yes, Z should totally get praised for not blowing up at a teammate for making a play he could not. give me a fucking break. the words spoiled brat come to mind. we should not give a grown man props for not acting like a petulant child.

cubs 3, phillies 5

my favorite song ever

seeing eddie vedder live was incredible. he's the same humble, witty, shy, enormously talented musician he has been for years. he still shines without the band, and knows that its because of the band he's able to do solo shows like the one i attended.

i joked last year that i had waited my whole life to see pearl jam at lollapalooza. i wasn't cool enough to go to rock shows when i was in high school, and pearl jam was too big to play in champaign-urbana in the late 90s. seeing them last year was a dream. watching eddie vedder listen to over 160,000 people sing betterman to him ranks as one of the best concert experiences ever (matched only by seeing prince perform purple rain live).

the solo act was remarkable. vedder talked to the audience like they were friends and thanked us numerous times for supporting him and the band over the years. and he was free to reveal a softer, more adult, activist side of him, rock star and all.

he played by himself and had an army of guitars to support him. he played the ukulele and a banjo. he ended his 1st set with a 2 microphones that created vocal loops he would add to. no words, just emotion in sound.

during his the final encore of the night, he again thanked the crowd for supporting the band over the years, and thanked the band for supporting him. he mentioned items on stage that were given to him or "borrowed" from his fellow pearl jam members: a rug from matt cameron, vedder's favorite acoustic guitar that actually belongs to stone gossard. he indicated that he didn't have anything from mike mccready and had to get something fed-ex'd to him earlier that day. that item was mccready himself, who was procured on a dolly. together they sat down to play my favorite song of all time, yellow ledbetter. i recognized it 2 notes in. here's the picture i managed to get (can you tell my hands were shaking)?



the show ended with a classic cover of "all along the watchtower." the show was 3 hours long and vedder had barely taken any time between encores. (he joked that after tonight, it was back to 90 min shows with the band.) and while he had been sedate, relaxed, and quietly witty during most of the night, he couldn't keep the rock star inside him bottled up, and performed as the front man of pearl jam , if only for 7 minutes.

im amazed that in spite of everything he has experienced; all the money, fame, and notoriety; eddie vedder, despite being in his 40s with a young child, still is the idealistic grunge rock star musician who changed music. and he still seems uncomfortable with that role. humble, and amazing.

9 days into the season...

... and i already have baseball withdrawal.

both the cubs and white sox have off days today. why is that? after a home opener (at pittsburgh and at home, respectively) there is always an off day. curious.

there is nothing for me to watch. good thing i have a concert in 2 hours (eddie vedder!!!!) otherwise i might have had to resort to doing my taxes or folding laundry or something else constructive. whew!

UGLY, and beautiful

UGLY is the only word to describe the cubs win today. sloppy pitching, sloppy fielding. they cubs deserved to lose today with all their struggles. 12 innings of back and forth vs the pirates was almost too much to bear. next time cleaner guys, ok? please?

however, on a bright note, joe crede hit a grand slam today in the sox home opener vs the twins. gorgeous! and he even took a curtain call, the first one ive seen him take. keep it up joe! play better so SF will be willing to pay a premium for you and you can show off you skills in the bay area. i'll come watch every week! even if its for a team that lost their 4th in a row today and are now 1-6 on the season. wow, thats bad.


cubs 10, pirates 8
twins 4, white sox 7

bizarro day

these are not good signs. i think the apocalypse is rapidly approaching:

• ryan dempster gets his first W as the cubs defeat the brew crew 6-3
• kerry wood gets his first major league save
  
• john danks got run support in his first start. this is the same guy who went 0-5 at the beginning of last season despite pitching pretty decent. of course, the universe still hates him, as he didnt get the win. that went to dotel, who pitched a single out. not fair.
  
• new kids on the block, now into their last 30s/early 40s, are reuniting.
  

im scared. what's this alternate reality i'm living in?

brewers 3, cubs 6
white sox 2, indians 1

swamp feet

i blew off work today to go snowboarding today. it was hey you's idea. she's on spring break this week, and wanted to get in one last day. we drove up last night, stayed at rustling wood, went to heavenly (the nevada side) and drove home.

it was a good day. the slopes were slushy, but still good. and i feel so much better about myself when im out there. hey you made me do not 1 but 2 blue runs. i made it ok. im still improving. and she was very patient and continued to give me pointers and waited for me.

we stopped at the oliver garden in vacaville for dinner. i had a craving. we had eaten breakfast before we left, and only had some minor snacks in the car until dinner. the restaurant was interesting, to say the least. a vibrant cross section of america. lets leave it at that before i get petty.

walking to the car after dinner, the air in vacaville was nasty, it smelled like manure. apparently vacaville is a cow town. not the most pleasant smell to walk into. EVEN NASTIER, however, was the smell in my car when we got in. i immediately noticed the rankness and thought that maybe we had left monday's chinese food or some cheese out of the cooler. when asked, hey you had an answer right away -- it was her nasty swampy snowboarding boots. how such a gross smell from such little boots permeated my entire car is unbelievable. and completely disgusting. seriously, drop those boots on the insurgents in iraq and call it a day. all the troops can just come home.