Bringing the Drama

i’ve done a lot of cool things the past few months, but today i did one of those things that i hadn’t really thought i’d ever get to do. i got to see Pete Sampras play a tennis match. i was a huge Sampras fan, more than Agassi, but i liked them both. i grew up watching Sampras win all those majors and film that commercial with Agassi in NYC. i had never gone to see him play though, and then he retired, and i figured the time was gone.

he came to Baton Rouge in 2006 to play an exhibition match, but i couldn’t go. this year was his 2nd BR match, and this time against James Blake so i planned on going. even if it’s an exhibition, it still counts, just like going to see Skynyrd even though there are only two original members left. i tried to ask around and didn’t find anyone who wanted to go, and had no takers. if it came down to it, i would go by myself. my dad called me last night and told me he’d go….cool.

we went up to BR and ate lunch, then went over to the arena for the match. it was weird to see a basketball arena with a tennis court set up inside. i don’t know how many people were there, but we roughly estimated about 4000. the players got introduced like boxing contenders. the MC read off their accomplishments, then the arena went dark and a spotlight shown on the tunnel as the player ran out. Blake had some hip hop song, while Sampras walked into the Star Wars theme. kind of hokey, but okay.

the match was amazing. i have tried to play tennis, and i even have my own racket. i can’t hardly keep the ball in play or in the court. those courts with the high fences make me feel a little better. the court today had an 8 foot net at either end, but that was it. i would have been spraying balls everywhere and hitting people. these guys today though were hitting with precision, and it was awesome to see in person. literally, they would hit diagonal to a ball girl across the court and it would go right to them. they can put some ridiculous spin on the ball, something i seem to only be able to do on the Wii.

i told my dad that they probably had talked before the match to see if they could set each other up for some big overhead shots or something. those happened, along with some giant serves by both players. Sampras won in 3 sets (they played best of 3). i figure Blake could have won if he really wanted to, and if they had played best 3 out of 5 or something. an exhibition match where the crowd was pretty pro-Sampras was probably not the time to really push it.

it was a lot of fun, and i had fun joking with my dad about heckling Sampras about never winning the French Open. (i didn’t, but i bet it does bother him, and i wonder if at this point he can laugh about it himself) also, we saw a very strange sponsor listed. they had the sponsors displayed around the court like usual, but one in particular caught our eye. see below on the right:

who are the two concerned citizens? what if someone else wants to join? do they admit them but keep the name? do they change the name? it was very curious.

i check my blog’s stats a lot, just to see what people click on and mostly how they find my blog. people find my blog via google for all kinds of stuff. remember that post i did about my beard and mentioned Jeremiah Johnson? people search for JJ a lot for some reason, and i usually get at least one hit a day just from that alone. yesterday afternoon i checked my blog’s stats when i came across someone searching for ‘original roomba’. they found it because i had posted a picture of my first Roomba in happier times. (btw, i got a new one, and it’s awesome and loyal). i was taken aback when i saw the source:

i googled the hostname just to make sure my suspicions were true and OMG! Oprah found my blog! i have a feeling a certain robotic cleaning appliance may be a ‘favorite thing’ this year. it’ll certainly be more useful than a sweater cape.

all the crazy things of yesterday including Oprah finding my blog are now subjected to SNOW DAY! i woke up this AM to drive to work and it was snowing. i was going to wait it out, because since when does snow in Louisiana last longer than an hour? it has been snowing since. it’s melted on the sidewalks, but not on the grass. i went outside and took pictures with my camera, and could legitimately use the ‘snow’ mode.

also, about work, my manager sent me a text not to come because they have been closing bridges. i called her to talk and she said i should stay because if i come in i may not make it home. SNOW DAY!

in 2006, i saw Family Force 5 three different times. all three shows were awesome. they’re kind of a love/hate band i think for some people. you either think they’re awesome and love everything, or you think they’re dumb. i love them. i got my sister hooked by lending her a copy of the first cd and taking her to see them that summer. i hadn’t seen them since October 2006 until Sunday. they did come through to NOLA one night in April, but i was in Charleston. if you hate FF5 or something, then you might want to skip to the last paragraph.

i saw they were going to be playing with TobyMac and Relient K in nearby Mobile on Sunday, and it worked out my sister and i could go. the plan was to show up right before showtime and buy tickets off a desperate youth leader, but that backfired when we showed up 15 minutes late. i figured since there was some rapper guy also on the bill, he’d be going first. unfortunately, we heard FF5 playing as we walked in. we walked into the arena part and i yelled “THIS IS SO AWESOME!” as they were playing D-I-E-4-Y-O-U. we walked over to some seats and watched the rest of the show. unfortunately the way the show was set up, they didn’t get very long to play.

apparently Nadaddy is playing a new instrument called the Family Force 5000! what a great name! it was like window panes that he punched and as he hit each ‘pane’, they lit up. (this picture i took you can see it pretty good) it’s a drum machine laid out like that. it was amazing! i got the low down on what the instrument is from a music insider i know. Soul Glow had the hulk fists and everything! he started using those after the last time i saw them, so it was the first time i saw them live. i so wanted a hulk fist bump! i was jealous of the people down front, i’d have been pushing kids aside for one!

when they left the stage, both me and my sister were bummed that we each paid $30 for an abbreviated short set. however, it had been so long since we had seen FF5, and the show was fun anyway. i did want to stay and see Relient K though, so waited around for them to play. we walked around before they came on stage and took pictures in front of the banner FF5 would sit under when they did their meet and greets.

i don’t even know what that thing is on the banner, maybe it’s a dance monster. i’m not sure if my parents would want to use this picture for a Christmas card though.

i thought Relient K was good. i only have one of their albums, but i know they’ve been around a long time, and i thought they got cheated only playing about 35 minutes. i get that the show is going to be mostly kids and youth groups, and maybe the show should end early so they can all get home, but people are showing up to see a show, not snippets. after Relient K finished, my sister said she didn’t want to wait around for Toby Mac. i don’t know any of his stuff, so it didn’t really matter to me, i had seen the two bands i wanted to see.

on the way home we stopped off for dinner at a truck stop Subway. (the building with the black roof) i came to the road that i thought would take us to the side of the building so i could park. there were no signs, so i turned down the road. apparently it was the 18 wheeler exit road, so we’re traveling the wrong way up a one way street. just as i realized this, a truck started to make his way to the road. thankfully he saw us and let us go before he turned, or i’d have been having to hop a curb or something.

this adventure brought my weekend to a close.

from the files of “this stuff REALLY happens!”

i went to the department Christmas party on Saturday, mostly because it was only a few minutes away and i was a victim of peer pressure. i really had no excuse since the party was not down in NOLA, and i figured since i didn’t go last year, i’d just go this year. it’s the same vibe at every work party. nobody knows really what to talk about except work, because everyone is mainly engineers. there’s alcohol of course, which loosens people up to talk to each other about work. there’s also a dance floor, but it mainly gets use for the slow dances.

i showed up about 8:20 and met up with some friends. it was very loud in there, but i made my way to a seat being saved for me by Chad’s wife (i was her ‘date’ because Chad was the photog). the guy sitting across from me recognized me right away. he had seen me in the parking lot one time and commented on my Clemson sticker because at the time his daughter was going there. i found out Saturday that she is now at LSU because she didn’t like Clemson (and she wasn’t doing very well). anyway, the food was alright, but there was not enough of it. the drinks the bartenders making were strong, which was fine because we had prepaid $38 each. it was held in a golf course clubhouse, which seemed really small, so it made it feel really crowded. we left about 10:40 or so. little did we know what would happen at the end of the night (after the party ended around 11).

when i got there, i saw Kind of Creepy Old Guy (KCOG) sitting at one of the first tables as i walked in and he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt. the party was semiformal, and it was December, but he shows up like he just got back from a cruise. i want to say he also had a wooden necklace, but i can’t remember. anyway, i saw him there, and he was by himself and quiet. apparently as the night wore on, he started hitting on a lady who was dressed as Mrs Claus. my friend Jim dressed as Santa and handed out gifts to the managers, so he had helpers. anyway, KCOG is making comments to the lady throughout the night, and she was just ignoring them. she was married and her husband was there, but she knew KCOG was basically harmless, and drunk. later however, he said something to the effect of “why don’t you dump that ‘zero’ (term replaced) and come back to my hotel room?” she told her husband, who doesn’t speak much English, but enough to know when KCOG had gone too far. as they were leaving, the husband punched KCOG in the face! in front of people! he apparently hit the ground pretty hard and doesn’t remember what happened.

upon hearing this story this morning, almost everyone’s reaction was “i wish i’d have seen that!” “how did no one get that on video???” seeing that happen would have made it worth $38. KCOG isn’t exactly the easiest guy to work with, and he got punched in the face at the Christmas party. these are all adults mind you, at a work party. most people have hot chocolate, good conversation, and presents, but we had awkwardness, alcohol, and a melee.

it’s no secret that i love Abita beer. they are not only local, but awesome. last week at work one of my friends advised a group of us that there was going to be an official pub crawl in the Warehouse district of NOLA, $1 beers at each stop. usually their pub crawls are in the Quarter, and spread out, so i’ve never gone. Friday’s crawl involved two bars i like, and it was in the Warehouse district. it was double bonus because it’d be easier to get free parking AND the bars were close together. i’d never done a pub crawl of any kind in college (apparently other people in my group had done plenty), so this was a first for me.

we met up at my friend Jim’s apartment and headed downtown. we got our wristbands and shirts (FREE!) at the first stop then went to one of the future stops to get something to eat. we had to sit outside to eat, which wasn’t the best because it was cold. despite the portable heaters, it was still cold, and we made a good effort to finish eating and head off. we went back to the first stop and got our first beers. the beer of choice was the Pecan Harvest, which i like. the other people i was with hated it when they learned what it was. too bad for them. i drank Jim’s since he took one sip and hated it. obviously i was not rolling with people used to drinking something other than PBR. (not that there’s anything wrong with that)

the 2nd stop was Lucy’s, which i have visited many times. the pub crawl was directed to the 2nd floor, which was nice, because it was inside AND warm. the beer was flowing out of two taps, Amber and Jockamo (an IPA that i don’t like). i made sure not to be getting the Jockamo, but the bartender assured me “it doesn’t matter, they’re both Pecan”. my friends seemed to enjoy the beer at the 2nd location, even though it was the SAME BEER. it was kind of like one of those social experiment where someone’s given a placebo, and they think they’re getting something great, but they’re really not.

the third stop was called Vic’s, and was somehow related to Australia. they had a Koala bear surfing on a wire above the bar. anyway, they were serving the beer in smaller non Abita cups than the previous stops, so the $1 was not worth as much there. cheap way to participate i thought, and we only stayed there for one drink.

the last two stops were right across the street from each other, and we returned to the standard Abita cups. both bars had ample room inside, so we were able to finally sit down in the final stop and enjoy warmth and conversation. it was kind of cool, because we were able to walk around, see a bunch of people, even go to the Miracle on Fulton Street. what was also great was to talk to people who i’d only see in meetings, and we even saw one of our managers out there. it was an excellent evening, even if it included me living a real life episode of HIMYM, but that’s for another time.

so that whole presentation i made up for White Shoes for his meeting that was supposed to be a couple of weeks ago, finally were presented today. i had to talk them. i’ve never talked anything in a meeting before, at least not something like analysis. i was really nervous, not because i’d have to talk, but of the questions that i thought would follow. could i answer them correctly? could i represent my team well? one of the guys from Denver sent me an email with questions before the meeting that i answered. it’s weird, all these engineers you would think have a sense of when to ask questions and when to trust someone’s judgment, or maybe at least think before they ask a question. i know i may not have the expert judgment yet, but i do have common sense for what i’m doing. the guy’s email questions were asked from a position of him not doing what i do, so they were kind of outsider questions. i answered them before the meeting, and didn’t get a response. in the meeting, i did get some real questions, but my managers were able to back me up if i couldn’t answer right away. they also helped me explain things a little better, because i guess there are some terms i was not familiar with. i was proud for having to explain the slides, and finally got some exposure in one of those meetings.

on my way home i stopped at the gym to run. i hate running on treadmills now, but it’s been really cold here the past couple of days, so running in 40 something degree weather wouldn’t be the smartest thing. in front of the treadmills (and other cardio stuff) there are 5 big tvs. i was able to get one of them changed to ESPN2 so i was able to watch the beginning of the Clemson game. i was able to watch the rest after i got home. watching the last few minutes i got hoarse from yelling. it was such an exciting finish. Illinois had the ball down 2 and were going to shoot the final shot. i’ve seen that finish happen before, and the other team usually hits a 3 to win or at least ties the game then wins in OT. i was completely expecting the heartbreak and disappointment. tonight though, Illinois didn’t get a shot off. Clemson won by 2! then i was able to catch up with a couple of old college friends, and be excited about the game, and also about Dabo. it was a great night.

this year’s Clemson football season has had some MAJOR ups and downs. it started off with such a high degree of anticipation, and then came crashing down almost immediately after the first half against Alabama. i still haven’t really talked about that game very much, because it was so disappointing. let’s just say i now have a hatred for some Alabama fans, and that i knowingly let a Clemson fan walk past me on the way out to go fight an Alabama fan in the walkway. nothing really happened, just some missed punches and hollering.

anyway, when Tommy Bowden got let go, i didn’t really like it very much. i didn’t like the timing, and i didn’t like our QB and his dad basically throwing him under the bus. i thought after such high expectations, and then it becoming obvious that we were not even going to win the division much less the conference, maybe it would be time for a change, but at the END of the season.

the first thing the new interim coach Dabo Swinney did was fire the offensive coordinator, which was awesome. i thought the playcalling (on both sides of the ball) was a lot of the reason for the Alabama fiasco, and other games, and i thought if they were getting rid of the head coach, might as well get rid of the OC too. the first game Dabo coached was the GT game, and we lost. i didn’t like that, because we definitely had our chances to win, but our arrogant QB couldn’t get the job done. the last 5 weeks of the season though were fantastic (except for the FSU game where again our QB made a STUPID play to totally shift momentum).

on Saturday the entire season came down to the game against our archenemies from south carolina. i know we only play them once a year in football, and we usually beat them, but i still detest the thought of them winning anything. the whole coaching change would come to a head and Dabo would either get the job or he wouldn’t, and i think the entire decision was based on the last game. my friend Scott called me Saturday morning to talk football, and i told him i’d be okay with Dabo getting the job IF they won. they did, and they won in dominating fashion. it was awesome. i still wanted them to score when they were up by 17 with 2 minutes to play. James Davis ran for 3 TDs, even our stupid QB made a couple of good throws, and Dabo was carried off the field. the game for me was so great to watch, because it was such a culmination of the sacrifice the team had gone through, and now even if they were not going to win the conference, they were going to a bowl game.

today Dabo was officially given the job, and i’m totally in support of the decision. the emotion he shows on the field and in his press conferences is amazing. i’m stoked for the bowl game, but what i’ve really wanted to see is Dabo working with a different QB. the season opener for next season can’t come fast enough! and you know what’s funny? Dabo is a former Alabama player, but i can forgive him for that.