Dominic DiMaggio (...and Joe too)

I've been catching up on my reading list over the last couple weeks.  ...one of the many many MANY things that makes sabbatical so sabbaticooool.  OK, now that that's out of my system...

I just finished The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship.  It is, first and foremost, a story about the relationships between Ted Williams and other Red Sox greats Bobby Doerr, Johnny Pesky, and Dom DiMaggio.

This book was one piece of a larger christmas gift from Ali's parents that contained various different Red Sox memorabilia.  If anyone's struggling to find me a gift, this is a good lead to follow!

I was pleasantly surprised as I read about the roots that some of these guys had in the old Pacific Coast League.  As it turns out, Dom grew up less than a mile away from our current home!  I couldn't wait to get home and run over to the place where Dom (OK - Joe too) grew up: 2047 Taylor Street.

If you look at the map, you'll see a playground that was named after Dom's brother (Yankee and debatably the best baseball player ever), Joe.  Despite an excellent career, often against all odds, Dom never really got the credit he deserved.

Here I am in front of the house.  The entrance on the right leads to 2047.  It's difficult for me to say how much the house has changed over the 90 years since they lived there.

Truthfully, it's a bit underwhelming.  I was expecting, at least, a placard.  In lieu of any identifying mark, I couldn't help but wonder if the addresses have changed over the years.  Perhaps I'm at the wrong house!?  ...wouldn't be the first time.

Back to Boston

There’s no place I’ve been that’s quite like Fenway Park.  Each visit brings an intoxicating mixture of moments frozen in time, a century’s old lore, zealots united, traditions honored, and the promise of October baseball.

We were excited to be back in Boston for a couple days and even happier to have tickets for (likely) the last home series against the Yankees this season.  This is the second time that we’ve had seats atop the Green Monster and we’re fortunate to share the experience with Ali’s parents in celebration of their 40^th wedding anniversary(!).

One of this seasons little treasures is right to announce our disapproval of Alex Rodriquez with even more vitriol than usual.  By the way, he went 0 for 3.  The Boston faithful are somewhat of a spectacle to be observed.  I tried to record some of the fun but the audio didn’t do it justice.  I did, however, capture both the Boston accent and it's spirit in all it's glory.  This “offer” came from the gentleman behind us and was directed towards Red Sox left fielder Johnny Gomes (out of frame).

The Red Sox won and moved one step closer to clinching the top spot in the American League.  I wouldn’t be entirely honest if I didn't admit to the haunting memories of September 2011.  Fortunately, most of that team is long gone!  'Love That Dirty Water' is a little bit sweeter after the Sox beat the Yankees. 

Sabbatical: Take Two

Remember the feeling of the last day of school?  How's about the first day of summer?  I've been so fortunate as to reconnect with those childlike emotions not once but twice during the last nine years.  That's right folks, Sabbatical Part Deux has started!

Last time around I got married: I love you, Wifey!  

This time, however, relaxing takes center-stage.  We've got trips planned to Connecticut, Boston, and Tahoe.  In between those trips, I've made lots of time for downtime and re-energizing.  The possibilities are exciting: golf, tennis, boxing, a new language, build a piece of furniture, reading, writing, exercise, and so on.  ...not to mention that the Red Sox are headed for the playoffs and the English Premier, National Football, and Champions Leagues are all getting underway.  Woo to the hoo.

Red Sox in SF

The Red Sox rarely come through San Francisco.  Since they're coming through SF this year, Ali and I jumped at the opportunity to get tickets to the Monday night game.

The trick about AT&T Park is the effect the bay has on wind and temperatures as the sun sets.  We sat high (really high) in the third deck at AT&T and we thought we were going to be exposed to the worst of the temps and bay breeze.  Fortunately, all of the worry was for naught.  We were conveniently blocked from the elements by the safety wall and small overhang above the third tier.  Take that, wind!

We were pretty far away from the field but we loved our seats.  We had a great view of every play and every square inch of the field.  The ballpark is a nice walk from our Apt.  In fact, running along the Embarcadero and around the ballpark is one of my favorite runs.  If you have a good zoom camera, another cool thing about AT&T Park is that you can look into the A's stadium on the other side of the bay.

In the wake of the Boston Marathon tragedy, the Red Sox have been receiving tributes at away games. Ali and I used to live just a few blocks away from it all.  Even though it's been 10 months since we moved, the events were still frightening to us.  We thought the tribute was a very nice gesture.  They even played Sweet Caroline between the 7th and 8th innings!  (So) Good times for the many Red Sox fans that were in attendance.

Red Sox win: 7-0!

Magic Gadgets: Chromecast

Ali is truly one of best gift givers I’ve ever known.  It’s one of the things I love most about her.  Google announced the release of Chromecast on Wednesday (July 24).  The gadget quickly sold out on all shopping sites. 

 To my surprise, there was a package from Amazon waiting for me when I got back from my run today.  Sure enough, I am the proud new owner of the hottest gadget on the market today!  I have no idea how she did it, but I love the surprise.

Now we can stream our favorite new show (House of Cards) onto the TV with MUCH LESS headache.   Also worth streaming to large format HD: Moses vs Santa Claus.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Over the last several months we’ve seen two commercials and two movies filmed right outside our Apt.   Now that we’re parking the car in a garage (and not worrying about street parking), the filming days are really a lot of fun.  In the past 24 hours we’ve watched our section of California Street go from thoroughfare to armed patrol area, in which, the curfew laws are strictly enforced. 

They’re filming for The Dawn of the Planet of the Apes today.  We’re already counting down to it’s release next year!

After all of this setup, coordination, and filming…I can’t imagine that they’ve captured any more than 30 seconds worth of final-cut footage.   Although it’s exciting for us, it must be mind numbing for the crew.  We watched as they filmed this sequence at least ten times over.

Maui in a Minute

Volcano – How many people get to say that they biked down a volcano with their mom?  I do!  The group jumped on bikes shortly after sunrise at the top of Haleakala and down we went.  A couple of hours later we were in the little town of Paia enjoying a breakfast at Moana Café.

Waterfalls – The main attraction of the Road to Hanna are the waterfalls.  We saw no fewer than six waterfalls and loved each one of them.  The Maui waterfalls are one of those things that don’t photograph well.  Experiencing them in person does far more justice.

Beaches – At times it felt like there were more beaches than Banyan trees.  My favorite, Kalama Beach Park, was just a couple miles away from the condo and along the path that I would run.

Luau – Luaus are a Hawai’i must.  Ours was buffet style.  The pork and chicken was excellent.  I tried just about everything poi, lomi salmon, and all four deserts.

Sunrise – We were picked-up at 2AM for this little experience.  We drove for better than two hours to the top of Haleakala where we dawned winter gear to help protect us from the elements.  At 10k feet, the temps were in the 30’s and manageable by my standards.  The wind, however, had some bite.  It made me wish I had my ski goggles and an extra layer.

Shaved Ice – I wanted to have a shaved ice before I left the island.  When I did, I got it from Ululani’s Shaved Ice: mango, passion fruit, and coconut were my flavors.  They sell three different sizes: mini, small, regular.  I had to laugh because even the mini was too big for a normal human being.  Anyhow, I repeated this love affair for the next three days.

Vistas – Everywhere I looked was another unforgettable view.  It’s tough to go wrong with beaches, sun, volcano’s, and palm trees.  I have an odd compulsion that to name inanimate objects (like trees).  I named the palm tree off of our balcony “Georgina.”

Noteworthy – I had a difficult time getting out of SFO.  The Asiana plane crash happened while I was on my way to the airport.  My flight was delayed, delayed, delayed, and then finally cancelled.  I was fortunate to get out of San Francisco the following day.  During takeoff, I was on the east-facing side of the airplane and had a clear view of the wreckage.  …not exactly the thoughts I wanted going through my mind during takeoff!