During the 2004 college football season, we went to Stanford to see USC play the Cardinal. We had decided a few weeks before the game that we wanted to see a USC football game. Our big problem was, at the time, a ticket to the Coliseum was next to impossible to obtain...so we set our sights on Palo Alto. A few reasons for this, 1.) my in-laws live in near by Milpitas, CA, which gave my wife an excuse to see and hang out with her parents, 2.) because the in-laws lived so close we would not have to pay for a hotel (and some food), 3.) Stanford was horrible (so the tickets would be reasonable).
A week or so before the game we decided to check to see if the Dodgers happen to be playing in San Francisco that same weekend. To our shock and surprise the Dodgers just happened to be playing a 3 game series with the Giants in San Fran. This was also the time that Barry Bonds was playing for the Giants, so these tickets were very hard to come by as well. Fortunately, we have a friend whose brother owned (at the time) like 50 pairs of tickets. So, we were able to secure tickets for a reasonable price.
So, this is how the weekend setup...we left here in Thursday night and drove to Milpitas. On the way, we made a quick stop at
Harris Ranch...an unbelievable ranch in the middle of nowhere on the 5 FWY. We had a spectacular dinner.
Friday - Pier 39, Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard St, and Dodgers v. Giants that night.
Saturday - Dodgers v. Giants at 12pm, SC v. Stanford at 5pm
Sunday - Dodgers v. Giants 1pm
This weekend set a grand tradition of going away for the weekend to see multiple sporting events...tons and tons of fun!!!!
Anyway...on Friday as we are making our way around the Wharf and the Pier (a place I am very familiar with because the only places my family went on vacation as I was growing up were
Sequoia National Forest and San Francisco - and by extension
Hearst Castle) we walked up to the window for
Alcatraz. It had been years since I had been to Alcatraz, so we decided that we would try to make it over there on Friday. Unfortunately, if you don't book 10 days in advance, you are not going. As we walked away, my buddy Mike looks across the bay to Alcatraz and says, "I bet I could swim there".
This conversation is all that I can think about as I begin to prepare for my next challenge. My goal for 2011 is to compete in the
Escape from Alcatraz triathlon. It's a bit tricky because it is expensive for a triathlon ($400) and there are a lot of people wanting to do the tri.
So, my first jukebox of 2011 is in honor of this goal...
You Remind Me ~ Mary J. BligeDaniel is my oldest friend, so he is going to appear here a lot. I remember borrowing his Mary J. Blige CD and how crazy he was until I returned it to him.
What's the 411? was an amazing CD. It was one of my first CDs (The soundtrack to
Boomerang was my first - I had to have
End of the Road by Boyz II Men), and it still is one of my favorites.
Key's in the Conch Shell ~ Kenny ChesneyAlmost Famous - EminemI am crazy about the new Eminem CD
Recovery. Literally, I listened to it for 8 weeks solid, and my favorite song changed every other day.
Run this Town - Jay-Z feat Rhianna & Kanye West"We got a bankhead full of broads, they got a table full of fellas, and they ain't spending no cake, they should throw they hand in, 'Cause they ain't got no spades...my whole team got dough, so my bankhead is lookin' like millionaire's 'fro"
I'll Make Love to You - Boyz II MenLet Her Cry - Darius RuckerWhen I was in college a few things were going on, 1.) I was an idiot and 2.) Hootie and the Blowfish was wildly popular. One day my buddy, Mauricio, and I decide to write "He's Hootie and I'm the Blowfish" on a one dollar bill along with our names. This is around 1995. Fast forward 12 years and my buddy gives me a call, we had grown apart and not kept in touch at all. My mom got the bill as change and gave it to him in church. This story comes flooding back into my head every time
Let Her Cry comes on my iPhone. It is on Darius Rucker's (he actually is Hootie) new CD.
Somewhere With You - Kenny ChesneyKenny's new single...I don't think I can say anymore about Kenny. Two quick thoughts, 1.) he is going to have a stadium tour this summer and is selling at least 7,000 tickets to each venue for under $25 so his fans can still afford to see him play (pretty awesome,) and 2.) according to Forbes magazine he made $60 million dollars last year (and it was a year he took 'off').
Back to December - Taylor SwiftKeep the Girl - Jason AldeanI really like Jason's new CD. This is not a cut from that disc, but it is pretty awesome. I was doing the dishes the other night and Mac grabbed one of the headphones out of my ear to "hear what I was listening to". A new Jason Aldean song was coming on, so before he started singing, I asked who's song this was, and in a loud voice she proclaimed "Jason Aldean". Pretty cute!
Venus - Frankie AvalonWTP - EminemWant To - SugarlandThey have a lot of love songs. My favorite...love this line!!!
"We could keep things just the same, leave here the way we came, with nothing to lose, but I don't want to, if you don't want to"
