There's a drive, an approach, and a putt

This week was a good week! When Molly and I moved to Alameda in October there were many times when we would be driving down Central Ave. past Washington Park only to see a bunch of people playing softball under the lights. After some research I found out just recently that the summer league was about to get underway and I was fortunate enough to contact the woman in charge just in time to register for a team. So Boom Goes the Dynamite took the field for the second time after the week 1 loss on Thursday night and we won in a 7th inning thriller 9-7. Down 6-5 in the 6th inning with time running out and only one inning left to play we rallied back in the top of the 7th and scored 4 runs and then were able to hold off Otaez for the win. It was a lot of fun and deserved a thumbs up from Mike, Joel, and I.


So on Saturday Molly and I decided to go out and enjoy the beautiful weather at Golden Gate Park. Joel was working on a story about Disc Golf for his communications program at SFSU and he brought out the camera to finish his story. We got there right in time to meet the big cheeses of bay area disc golf and were able to buy a few discs of our own from them. Although we were probably the only ones out there who weren't high or drunk it was a good experience to participate in San Francisco's Disc Golf culture. We'll be heading out soon to check out some of the other courses they have in Berkeley and Lake Chabot. Here is a clip of Molly's drive on the 11th hole. It was one of the hardest holes on the course. Enjoy...and if you're a fan of challenging sports you might want to give disc golf a try.

4 Quarters and 18 Innings of Nachos

This was a nice shot of Stephen "Captain Jack" Jackson that we got at the pre-game shoot around. Molly and I got to the stadium at 6pm so that we could sit courtside and watch the guys warm up...it was cool getting that close and made me appreciate how good Jack's seats are at the Lakers games....jealous! Then these were our seats on the Friday night game when the A's beat up on the Royals. Way to go Diablo Magazine. We'll be hitting you up for some more tickets later in the season...when the Mariners come back in town.

This last week/weekend was very eventful. Molly and I pretty much became the greatest bay area sports fanatics of all time. Since I just started my second quarter I haven't hit the rough patch where I have a test every day so we decided to take advantage of the situation. On Wednesday night we went to the last home game in Oracle arena to watch the Warriors take on the soon to be...but hopefully not... Oklahoma City Supersonics. Kevin Durant had an amazing game and spoiled the season ender at home for the Warriors. The next night on Thursday we had tickets to the Mariners and A's game. I got there early enough to watch the tail end of the Mariners batting practice and got Ryan Rowland-Smith to toss me a ball. It's cause I was decked out in Mariners gear. So as people came to sit in the general admission section in right field I tried to gather all the Mariners fans and it was awesome because there were more of us out in the right field than there was A's fans. It was also awesome because the M's stomped all over the A's 8-1. So then earlier that day Molly had picked up some tickets for the game the following night on Friday from the seats that her design firm has but this time they were pretty much behind home plate=AWESOME. I had to pretend like I was cheering for the A's to avoid feeling the rath of hardcore Oakland fans (we all know how that turns out when you get into it with an Oakland fan.) It's safe to say that I got my fill of sports over the weekend and it's pretty hard for me to feel like I've got my fill.

For some reason I thought this was hilarious. Maybe it was funnier watching him actually do this in person but the video clip is of the Warriors mascot in a big blow up suit trying to make free throws by bouncing the ball off his head. After he got sick of trying this, Thunder just ran around headbutting anyone in sight. It was great!

Customer is ALWAYS right, right?

I don't know about you but when I was growing up my parents were always working in the realm of customer service. When I was 4 they would take me and my sisters to play in our restaurant, called Eddingtons while they painted the walls or picked out carpet colors. Then when my Dad worked for Denny's we would taste sampler plates and critique customer service. Even now when carpet cleaning customers call to complain or ask for better service I answer with a positive, sure we will do whatever you need to make you happy- sort of approach. But in the past 4 months I have been victim to a streak of terrible customer service-and I have just about had it! First to show up at a medical appointment with severe strep throat and find all of the doctors had gone home- then met by heavy attitude from the secretaries. But today I tried to go get a massage and relax from a week of work, using gift certificates I received from my mother in law for Christmas. But thought I didn't deserve a massage until I had found a job and been working for a while. So I show up to my appointment and put on the robe, and I am met by the massage therapist telling me, "what would you like we to focus on since we will only be able to give you half of the massage you were paying for?" I was like you have got to be kidding me. I run into some of the worst service. Somehow they had scheduled my massage into the computer 30 minutes earlier than I had asked for and were telling me that I was late and it was my fault. She continued to try to get me to lay down and take a short massage. But I wasn't having it I couldn't get a massage and relax while I was disturbed and agitated by their terrible customer service. What ever happened to The Customer is Always Right theory? The world today is ridiculous. All I wanted was a massage.

Recipes

Lime and Honey Glazed Salmon with Black Bean and Corn Salad

• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (divided use)

• 1 medium red onion, chopped

• 2 large garlic cloves, chopped

• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

• 1 teaspoon ground cumin (1/3 palmful)

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

• Juice of 2 limes

• 3 tablespoons honey (3 gobs)

• 1 teaspoon chili powder (1/3 palmful)

• 4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets

• 1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and chopped

• 1 (10-ounce) box frozen corn kernels, defrosted

• 1/2 cup chicken stock or broth

• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained

• 2 to 3 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

• 6 cups baby spinach

1. Preheat a medium skillet over medium heat with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil (twice around the pan). Add the onions, garlic, red pepper flakes, cumin, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes.

2. While the onions are cooking, preheat a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

3. In a shallow dish, combine the juice of 1 lime, honey, chili powder, and salt and pepper to taste. Add the salmon fillets to the lime-honey mixture and toss to coat thoroughly. Add the seasoned salmon to the hot skillet and cook until just cooked through, about 3 to 4 minutes on each side.

4. To the cooked onions, add the bell pepper and corn kernels and cook for 1 minute.

5. Add the chicken stock and continue to cook for another 2 minutes.

6. Add the black beans and cook until the beans are just heated through.

7. Remove the skillet from the heat and add the juice of the second lime, the cilantro and the spinach. Toss to wilt the spinach and then taste and adjust the seasoning.

8. Serve the lime-and-honey-glazed salmon on top of the warm black bean and corn salad.

I made it from the Racheal Ray 365 No Repeats book. I didn't have some of the little ingredients but still tasted amazing.

Happy Birthday KCface

Happy Birthday Kc. He enjoyed his gifts (the mariners shirt, and baseball glove) so much he wouldn't take them off for dinner. Baseball+Dr. Pepper+Salmon=Amazing birthday for Kc.

(happy birthday to my cousin Claire Brown, and friend Ashly Lark too! April 8th is a good day.)

One long party.

It has been a while since I have added anything new. Mostly because we have had awesome visitors and I didn't have time. But to recap my twin sister Martha came to town a few days before our birthday. She got to see our apartment and Alameda, and hangout with our sister Anne and all of their visitors for Easter. It was a lot of fun to blow out candles with her again this year. Even though she blew them all out before I did and all the smoke went in my mouth. It was still worth it. Kc's parents also came to town to entertain him while he was on his week break after finishing his first quarter of chiropractic school. Thanks to everyone who flew into town and made the past week and a half amazing.
These pictures were from the Saturday I got to hangout with Kc aand his parents in the city. We went to Mama's and Alcatraz and walked around downtown, it was delicious.

Visitors Paradise

Thanks for coming to town to celebrate Martha face. Happy birthday.