I went to PetCoPark this evening.
Like PacBellPark, it’s the lynchpin of a big redevelopment area. It’s adjecent to the Gaslamp District and near the Convention Center where there’s a lot of neat places to eat and what not.
PetCo and PacBell are also compared because the stadiums are very similar. But PetCo seats 1000 more.
They also have a park area for US$5.00, you can picnic and stand in the standing room area to watch the game. That’s pretty cool.
Other quirks:
They have a dancing groundskeeping crew.
Fun.
Their mascots include a Padre (for the team) and a dog and cat (for the park).
Kinda tacky (the park mascots) since the team is supposed to be the star attraction here.
They serve Hebrew National Hot Dogs (cool) and the food is affordable.
Excellent!
I got a free t-shirt.
Always cool. That means they like their fans. Dun take them for granted.
Despite all these things, I like PacBellPark better. The Giants play there. Barry hits home runs into McCovey Cove. And even though you have to take out loans for it, the food is better. Even if food for four is equal to the price of a new motorcycle!
Car service
One of the excuses, I mean reasons why I drove down to Southern California this week was to get my car fixed.
I had some struts installed in my car 8 years ago by a shop down here. The struts have a lifetime warranty. In order to use the warranty, you need to swap them out at the original shop you went to.
So today was the day that I had the work done. It took longer than I thought it would (partially because I got out of the house at 1000). Brought the car in at 1030, got it back at 1500.
Forgot about the wheel alignment though. So I had that done. By that time, it was after 1800 and the day was done. So in short, it took all day.
Bummer. No Mexico today…
Another Road Trip
I said last month that I would never do another road trip.
Oh well.
Except there are good reasons, yes!
First off, it costs over US$200 r/t to fly to SAN from SFO with a six week advance!
That’s a lot of moolah.
Also, I need to get my struts replaced and the shop that did it is down in Costa Mesa.
So I decided to drive down, get my car fixed, go to San Diego for a conference and pick up some frens in LA on the way home on Sunday.
Painful.
Dictionary
If you have friends in Singapore and you ever hang out with them and listen to their spoken english…
and wonder, “WTF did they say???”
And your British and HK and Ozzie and American friends also have the same confused look on their faces…
You may be hearing Singlish! And here’s a dictionary. It’s pretty good, can?
Here’s a site that uses a lot of Singlish so you can read it in action.
Good luck.
Housekeeping
Well, I decided that the previous design of the blog had too many bright colors.
It’s painful to the eyes. Unlike the words hidden in the bright colors.
So I’ve changed the style sheet and added some more links. Eventually, I will figure out how to sort by category and have that linked as well.
And no, I’ve not been anywhere recently. Bummer!
Dictionary
Many of us imbibe from time to time.
More often than not for others. When the conversation (in any bar or watering hole across the english speaking nations in the world) goes like this:
“What’s your nationality?”
“I’m a drunkard.”
“That makes Rick a citizen of the world.”
And as an aspiring world citizen, you’ve got to know the lingo.
So learn before you drink tonight!
The Terminal
So I finally got around to seeing “The Terminal” tonight.
As I suspected, it was sappy, sentimental, well made and romantic.
Note to the Rat Pack members who may read this site from time to time. The Terminal is a good date flick.
But here are some nits I have to pick. This movie is science fiction! Why? Well…
Hugo Boss suits at an airport store for US$199?
If that’s true, I’ll fly into JFK and buy several!
Quarter refund for SmarteCarts?
I thought they cut that out because bums were living in the airports harassing folks for their carts.
Asshole Gov’t Employees?
Well, that’s probably true for some of them.
Catherine Zeta Jones as a sweetheart UA flight attendant who’s 39 and unattached with issues and stillittos?
Hmmm. Can’t see it. Nope. And the issues part of that is the only thing that keeps this movie in the “Science Fiction” category and not in “Fantasy”.
But the way she deals with her issues, that part of the movie belongs to Jerry Springer…
So gist of the story is “good guy stays true to self, doesn’t get girl”. Kinda bittersweet, dont’cha think?
Bad day for Customer Service
I returned from LA tonight.
It was not without mishap though. Follow.
First, got to LAX an hour before my flight was to leave. That’s what you’re supposed to do, right?
There was no one in the terminal except for the people who were on my flight. They filled up 1/3 of the plane when we finally got boarded.
This fact is important because it was a VERY unbusy day at LAX today. And despite that, my flight was STILL delayed.
Yes, the idiots who run UA have found another way to be late, even if there’s no reason to be.
“they’re bringing the plane from the hangar”.
That’s it. I mean, it’s not busy, it’s not crowded and the plane is not broken. Gotta love Union workers! They friggin’ suck. This is why UA is going down the toilet. That and the overpaid executive board. And since they’re “union owned”, this explains why they suck so badly.
Then, there’s more!
We finally get into SFO and to the Airport BART station (another Union racket, errr operation). We wait for 15 minutes for the train and get on board. Then we wait while the train’s doors open and close.
And open
and close
and open
and close.
This kept on for at least 5 minutes. Then the announcement that all San Francisco transit victims dread:
“This train is going out of service”.
Once we disembark, the muffled PA (who sounds like she’s making the announcement with a Midas muffler in her mouth) creaks that the replacement train is on the third track. So everyone who’s been waiting to get on the train hauls ass up and down the stairs to get to the train who makes the announcements SEVEN times that he’s closing the doors.
And then does it five more times.
Finally get to South City and my car. Hungry. Go to In n Out.
At In n Out, I’m rendered invisible as the girl who is supposed to be taking orders uses her laservision to look through me to acknowledge one of her “peeps” and takes my order only after I use the LAPD “growl of death” to inquire if she is taking orders for food.
Sheesh. A bad day for customer service…
Question of the day
Why is it that I can make an excellent Filet Mignon dinner for two (last Saturday) but yet botch making frozen pizza (last night)?
4th of July Weekend
So I’m off to Los Angeles again for the 4th of July weekend.
Why? Friend’s 30th birthday (he’s not happy about it, I’ll tell ya now!) and an excuse to go somewhere for the long weekend.
It’s also a good reason to go to Little Tokyo and have a lot of ramen and curry.
Mmmmm. Curry!
I got my gas bill from the road trip I took during Memorial Day. I have concluded that factoring the time spent on the road combined with the exorbitant price of gas, flying becomes more cost-effective.
So I’m flying down. Yea!