SJ Sharks vs. Colorado Avalanche - 12/30/05

I brought Dan to this game for his birthday. Yeah, it's been almost 3 months since his birthday, but he's an Avalanche fan and this was the first time they played this season in San Jose.

The Sharks have been struggling after winning their first 6 games with Joe Thornton in the lineup, so I was leary as to which team would show up for this game. It didn't start well as Jim Fahey was called for hooking 2 minutes into the game and Joe Sakic scored on the ensuing power play to put the Avs up 1-0. Although the Sharks had some good chances, the score stayed the same for most of the first period. With 1 minute left, the Avs were called for a penalty and Joe Thornton converted on the power play with 6 seconds left to tie the game.

The Sharks kept the pressure on to start the second period as Joe Thornton scored again 3 minutes in to put the Sharks up 2-1. Alex Tanguay answered back a few minutes later for the Avs to tie the game at 2. However, the Sharks dominated the period by outshooting the Avs 12-5 and Scott Thornton got into the action by scoring an unassisted goal with 6 minutes remaining in the second to put the Sharks up 3-2.

The third period was more of the same as the Avs looked very sluggish and the Sharks took advantage of the opportunity. Patrick Marleau scored a power play goal 2 minutes into the period and Jonathan Cheechoo scored a few minutes later to put the Sharks up 5-2. The Avs best shot was to the face of Joe Thornton who lost 3 teeth, but didn't miss a shift (there was no penalty called despite Joe's protest with blood running down his mouth). It didn't matter as the Sharks cruised through the third period, outshooting the Avs 14-5 and winning the game 5-2. Let's hope these Sharks show up more often.

Of note: Nils Ekman had 4 assists, tying a Sharks record. Joe Thornton tied the Sharks record for points in a month with 21 (5 goals, 16 assists).

Score: W 5-2
1st Period
Avs - Joe Sakic(PP) (Brett Clark, Milan Hejduk)
SJ - Joe Thornton(PP) (Nils Ekman, Christian Ehrhoff)
2nd Period
SJ - Joe Thornton (Nils Ekman, Kyle McLaren)
Avs - Alex Tanguay (Ian Laperriere, Brett McLean)
SJ - Scott Thornton (unassisted)
3rd Period
SJ - Patrick Marleau(PP) (Nils Ekman, Jonathan Cheechoo)
SJ - Jonathan Cheechoo (Nils Ekman, Joe Thornton)

SJ SOG: 43
Avs SOG: 22
Winning Goalie: Vesa Toskala
Losing Goalie: David Aebischer

Tickets: Section 220 Row 4

SJ Sharks vs. Phoenix Coyotes - 11/19/05

I went to the game with Shawnna, Dan and one of Dan's friends. We bought the "family 4 pack" which meant each ticket came with a hot dog, soft pretzel and soda. All that after eating dinner at Chevy's - buuurrrrp!

The Sharks started off in what seems to be their usual fashion this season: inept, unskilled, bumbling, awkward, ungraceful, amateurish, klutzy, stiff, tired, weak... you get the idea. Phoenix scored 3 minutes into the game and struck again less than 1 minute later. With the Sharks down 2-0, I figured this would be like their typical recent games where they get down early and come back to make it interesting late in the game - it doesn't take a genius to pick out the pattern.

After being severely outplayed in the first period, the Sharks came out ready to work in the second. Patrick Marleau scored on the power play 3 minutes into the period and the Sharks looked energized. The energy was dampened a bit when Phoenix struck back 3 minutes later with their own power play goal. Despite being down 3-1, the Sharks actually were starting to look good and outshot Phoenix 13-7 in the period.

The third period was all Sharks. In typical fashion, they turned up the intensity and completely dominated the third period. Wayne Primeau scored less than 5 minutes in and Tom Preissing tapped in a rebound 4 minutes later to tie the game 3-3. The Sharks had many chances to get the go-ahead goal, but Cujo stood on his head to bring the game to overtime as the Sharks outshot Phoenix 16-3 in the period.

The overtime session was more of the same with the Sharks outshooting Phoenix 4-0, while Cujo was perfect in net. The shootout was evenly matched as both Nabokov and Joseph gave up 1 goal each bringing the game to a sudden death shootout. Geoff Sanderson was up first for Phoenix and faked Nabby before finding the back of the net. Nils Ekman was next for the Sharks, but his wrister fell short and the Coyotes were victorious.

Witnessing how dominating the Sharks were in the third period and overtime, it's frustrating to know they are much better than their record and they would have many more points if they played with that kind of intensity from the start of the game instead of bring it on after giving up a couple of goals.

Of note: This was Mike Ricci's first time playing back in San Jose after having signed with Phoenix prior to the lockout. A video tribute was played on the scoreboard and he receive a long and loud standing ovation.

Score: L 4-3 shootout
1st Period
Pho - Mike Comrie (Derek Morris, Oleg Saprykin)
Pho - Ladislav Nagy (Denis Gauthier, Jamie Lundmark)
2nd Period
SJ - Patrick Marleau(PP) (Niko Dimitrakos, Milan Michalek)
Pho - Dave Scatchard(PP) (Shane Doan, Keith Ballard)
3rd Period
SJ - Wayne Primeau(PP) (unassisted)
SJ - Tom Preissing (Niko Dimitrakos)
OT
None

SJ SOG: 47
Cal SOG: 25
Winning Goalie: Curtis Joseph
Losing Goalie: Evgeni Nabokov

Tickets: Section 208 Row 11

SJ Sharks vs. Calgary Flames - 10/29/05

I went to the game with Shawnna and Dan. The tickets were from work, so we sat in the first deck, 15 rows back at center ice - very nice!

The Sharks started off looking very tired after having beat the Kings on the previous night. The only players that looked fresh and seemed to play hard in the first two periods were Jonathan Cheechoo, Kyle McLaren and Nolan Schaefer. If it wasn't for Nolan Schaefer playing an unbelievable game in net, the Sharks would have been down 4-0 in the first period. He made some great saves and has been a surprisingly solid performer in place of the injured Nabokov and Toskala.

The Flames scored 5 minutes into the game and the crowd seemed to be just as lethargic as the players. It was quiet relative to the first two home games where the Tank was rockin' - maybe it was just my perspective sitting in the lower bowl instead of the upper bowl with the "real" fans. Anyway, the Sharks had a couple of good chances in the first period, but Kiprusoff was up to the challenge and shut them down.

The second period was even worse for the Sharks. Part of the problem was that they spent about half of the period on the penalty kill and ended up with only 3 shots on goal. Fortunately, Schaefer stood on his head and shut down the Flames in the period.

The third period started with much of the same. The Sharks had a couple of penalties and the Flames had several scoring chances culminating with Jerome Iginla's strike 12 minutes into the period. Down 2-0, the Sharks seemed to finally come alive. With 5 minutes to go in the game, Calgary was called for a penalty and Jonathan Cheechoo scored on the ensuing power play to cut the deficit to 2-1. Smelling blood, the Sharks continued to circle and the crowd started to come alive sensing that something was going to happen. With a minute to play, the Sharks pulled their goalie for an extra attacker and it paid off when Brad Stuart poked in a rebound with 22 seconds left to tie the game 2-2. As Stuart sat on the bench smiling from ear to ear, the crowd stood on their feet and cheered with pent up enthusiasm.

The overtime was all Sharks as they had 3 shots to 0 for the Flames. However, Kiprusoff turned them aside to force a shootout. Jerome Iginla scored for the Flames in the shootout and was matched by Marco Sturm in the third segment which meant it was time for a sudden death shootout. Chuck Kobasew was up first for Calgary and failed to score. Nils Ekman was next for the Sharks and skated straight toward Kiprusoff, hesitated and fired a shot past his right shoulder and into the net to win the game for the Sharks. The crowd went nuts and it was an amazing ending to a mediocre (at best) game for the Sharks.

Score: W 3-2 shootout
1st Period
Cal - Steve Montador (Marcus Nilson)
2nd Period
None
3rd Period
Cal - Jarome Iginla(PP) (Dion Phaneuf, Daymond Langkow)
SJ - Jonathan Cheechoo(PP) (Patrick Marleau, Milan Michalek)
SJ - Brad Stuart (Jonathan Cheechoo, Patrick Marleau)
OT
None

SJ SOG: 21
Cal SOG: 25
Winning Goalie: Nolan Schaefer
Losing Goalie: Miikka Kiprusoff

Tickets: Section 115 Row 15

Disneyland Trip - Oct. 20-24, 2005

Two long working days after our Carmel trip, Shawnna and I headed down to our next destination - Disneyland! We wanted to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of Disneyland. We left home at about 10:00am on Thursday and were at the hotel by 2:30pm; yes, it only took 4.5 hours in one stretch without stopping. We stayed at the Park Inn Anaheim which is directly across the street from Disneyland. After checking in, we walked around Downtown Disney before driving to Medieval Times for dinner and some entertainment.


We were sitting in the Blue Knight section. That meant we cheered for the blue knight throughout the evening of horseback jousting and various games/battles. By the end of the night, our knight stood victorious, so we went back to the hotel with our heads held high.


Friday morning, we got up and were at Disneyland when it opened. The first ride we rode was Space Mountain, followed by Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters and Indiana Jones Adventure. I must say that I was disappointed by the "new" Space Mountain which had recently been opened after having been renovated for the past 2 years. The only changes I could recognize were that the track was a bit smoother and the corridor leading to the ride was cleaner and newer. The rest of the ride seemed to be the same which makes me wonder what they worked on for 2 years. Anyway, I did enjoy the Astro Blasters which is a new ride where you shoot at targets while riding in Haunted Mansion type cars. Indiana Jones, as usual, is still a great ride.

Next, we headed over to California Adventure when it opened to experience The Twighlight Zone Tower of Terror. All I have to say is WOW! This is another Disney classic. The attention to detail is second to none, the special effects are cool and the different drop sequences keeps the ride exciting because you never know how far you'll drop. Even more surprising was that Shawnna loved it as well.

The rest of the day was spent walking back and forth between the two parks to go on more fun rides: California Screemin', Soarin' Over California, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion, which was a big surprise. The Haunted Mansion was like a whole new ride because it was completely redecorated in the theme of "A Nightmare Before Christmas." Even the elevator with the "stretching" walls was redecorated with Nightmare paintings and the hanging man at the top was replaced with a giant Jack Skellington head wearing a Santa hat. It was fun to see this during the Halloween time.

Saturday was our early entry day which meant we got in the park 1 hour before the general public. In that first hour, we were able to ride the Matterhorn twice, Astro Blasters twice, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Snow White's Scary Adventures, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan's Flight and Pinocchio's Daring Journey. After another day of riding more rides, we got a good spot to watch the "Remember... Dreams Come True" fireworks spectacular. This was one of the longest fireworks shows I have ever seen and it was set to classic Disney soundbytes from rides throughout the park. In a couple instances, fireworks were not only being shot in front of you, but all around you and Tinker Bell flew all around instead of just a straight line like normal. Worth checking out.

Sunday was our last day in the park, so we went on all of our favorite rides one more time (Tower of Terror - rode it 6 times, Astro Blasters - 6 times, Indiana Jones - 5 times, California Screemin' - 3 times, Haunted Mansion - 3 times), watched the Aladdin musical in California Adventure (the Genie was still funny and he had new material since the last time we saw it) and saw Billy Hill and the Hillbillies (hilarious as always). We had a nice dinner at the Blue Bayou and rode our last ride (Star Tours) before leaving the park just before it closed.

On Monday (Shawnna's birthday), we did some shopping at the Disney Store in Downtown Disney as well as the Grand Californian gift shop before checking out of the hotel and heading home. We stopped for lunch at Harris Ranch and made it home in 5.5 hours (including lunch). After unpacking and getting some things done, we had dinner with Leanna and Jeff at the Olive Garden.

Overall, it was a very nice trip. The weather cooperated - low 70s with no rain. The crowds weren't bad - Fast Passes made the lines even shorter. The rides were all operational - the new Tower of Terror made up for the "new" Space Mountain. And, our Disney brick was still in good condition...

Monterey & Carmel Trip - Oct. 16-17, 2005

On Sunday morning, Shawnna and I drove to Monterey / Carmel for a couple days of relaxation and rejuvenation. The weather was perfect (high 60s) and our first stop was the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It had been a few years since we were there, so we wanted to check it out. They were housing 19 penguins that were moved from New Orleans, so the exhibit had over 30 penguins; a little crowded, but they all seemed to be having a good time.




We also saw lots of fish, sharks, jellyfish (including a jellyfish art exhibit), sea otters and plenty of other sea creatures. For lunch, we are at the Portola Restaurant in the aquarium where we had a ocean view, window seat. I ate the fish & chips made with halibut and Shawnna had the coriander dusted sea bass.

Next, we drove to Carmel and checked into the Hyatt Highlands Inn. Before we were able to look at our room, we sat through a 90 minute presentation since they were trying to sell the rooms as a timeshare. After that was finished, we went to our room and were completely blown away. The first thing we noticed was the view. We had a balcony with an unobstructed view of the ocean and Point Lobos (Bird Rock in particular).



The room itself had 4 different sections; A full kitchen complete with dishes and a dishwasher, a living room with a wood-burning fireplace, a bedroom with a king bed, and a big bathroom complete with a Jacuzzi tub.




After checking out the room and view, it was time for dinner. We made reservations at Pacific's Edge Restaurant which is the award winning, fine dining restaurant on the property. This place was absolutely amazing. Every detail was thought of; from the host greeting us with our name, to the impeccably dressed and knowledgeable wait staff, to the awesome view (we had an ocean view table next to the glass) which was made even better since we got there just before sunset.

Then it was time for the food; we opted for the 3 course meal. Not your typical 3 course meal since each course was an entree dish in an appetizer size. I ordered the seared beef tenderloin, honey glazed duck, and lobster. Shawnna ordered the beef carpaccio, quail with vanilla port wine glaze and lamb with gorgonzola bread pudding. Of course, the names on the menu were fancier than that and they each came with gourmet garnish. The presentation of each plate was something out of a magazine and I didn't want to mess it up, but the visual appeal was only trumped by the taste. After eating at fancy restaurants, I'm usually still hungry and feel uncomfortable being there, but Pacific's Edge was great, comfortable and left me feeling very full. Of course, we also had dessert. I ordered the Chocolate Strawberry Bombe which was like chocolate mousse with a shell of more dense chocolate and Shawnna ordered Chocolate Heaven which was 4 different chocolate desserts (bite sized). After all of that, we rolled out of there and back to the room.

The next morning, we got up and watched the full moon go down into the ocean. We ate breakfast at the other restaurant on site; California Market. I had the Sticky Bun French Toast and Shawnna had scrambled eggs, ham, fingerlings (potatoes) and toast. It was very good, but nothing could compare to the dinner the previous night.

We checked out of the room and drove to Carmel where we walked around some of the shops before walking along Carmel Beach to Pebble Beach and back. The weather was very warm and dogs were out in full force playing in the surf. It was a great end to the perfect weekend. We headed back home reinvigorated and ready to work 2 days until our next vacation :-) Up next, Disneyland...

SJ Sharks vs. Chicago Blackhawks - 10/15/05

For this game, Shawnna and I went with Dan and his friend, Ryan. We ate dinner at the Spaghetti Factory in San Pedro Square prior to the game, then walked to The Tank for some fun with 17,492 other people.

The Sharks came out ready to go and it looked like a continuation of the home opener. Less than 3 minutes into the game, the Sharks scored and 8 minutes after that, they scored again. However, the shutout wouldn't last long as the Blackhawks scored 17 minutes into the 1st period.

The second period was more of the same with the Sharks and Blackhawks each scoring twice. The third period went scoreless. So, just like the home opener, the Sharks scored twice in each of the first two periods and didn't score in the third. However, unlike the home opener, the Sharks actually looked good in the third and fired off 15 of their 44 shots in that period.

Overall, the Sharks looked good pretty much from start to finish and played even better than they did during the home opener. The reason that this score was closer is that the Blackhawks are a better team than the Blue Jackets and Craig Anderson had a great game in net (stopping 40 of 44 shots). If it wasn't for Anderson, the score would have been a lot more lopsided. If they keep it up, this could be a very good year for the Sharks.

Score: W 4-3
1st Period
SJ - Marco Sturm (Milan Michalek, Patrick Marleau)
SJ - Jonathan Cheechoo (Wayne Primeau, Mark Smith)
Chi - Jason Morgan (Mark Bell, Mikael Holmqvist)
2nd Period
Chi - Matthew Barnaby (Jim Dowd, Matt Ellison)
SJ - Patrick Marleau(PP) (Marco Sturm, Brad Stuart)
SJ - Patrick Marleau(PP) (Niko Dimitrakos, Brad Stuart)
Chi - Matt Ellison (Jim Dowd, Jassen Cullimore)
3rd Period
None

SJ SOG: 44
Chi SOG: 27
Winning Goalie: Evgeni Nabokov
Losing Goalie: Craig Anderson

Tickets: Section 222 Row 6

SJ Sharks vs. Columbus Blue Jackets - 10/12/05

Hockey is back in San Jose!

It's been a long year without hockey, so I was very excited to be attending the Sharks home opener and bear witness to the greatest sport on Earth. Prior to the game, the Sharks held a street rally with live music, games, face painting, etc. We walked around for a while before heading into the Tank. On the way in, we were given a mini banner commemorating the fact that the Sharks were the Pacific Division champs in 2003-04. After that, we headed to our seats and watched the Sharks practice before they dropped the puck.

A few minutes before game time, the lights went down, the music went up and they started projecting images of the players on the ice surface - the entire ice surface. That was new for this year and it was a very impressive way to introduce all of the players - it's not everyday that you get to see a 200 ft tall Patrick Marleau. When the Sharks took to the ice, the crowd went crazy - as loud as a playoff game. I think the players got the message that we didn't hold a grudge; we were just glad hockey was back.

When the puck was dropped, the Sharks came out very aggressively and looked energized. A little more than 6 minutes into the game, the Sharks scored their first goal followed by another just over a minute later. The Sharks speed is a perfect match for the new rules and it was on full display. The second period was more of the same with the Sharks scoring about 11 minutes into the period and again 1 minute later. After that, the Sharks went into coasting mode and didn't do a whole lot for the rest of the game. The Blue Jackets scored in the third period to ruin the shutout attempt, but they never threatened to keep the game close.

Overall, there were lots of shots, penalties, long passes, speed and energy on display. The Sharks really dug deep, crashed the net and had several great opportunities to score on big rebounds (Marc Denis wasn't on his game). It's good to be back!

Score: W 4-1
1st Period
SJ - Marco Sturm (Patrick Marleau, Milan Michalek)
SJ - Wayne Primeau (Jonathan Cheechoo, Mark Smith)
2nd Period
SJ - Scott Thornton (Nils Ekman, Alyn McCauley)
SJ - Wayne Primeau (Jonathan Cheechoo, Rob Davison)
3rd Period
CBJ - Radoslav Suchy (Manny Malhotra, Adam Foote)

SJ SOG: 36
CBJ SOG: 27
Winning Goalie: Evgeni Nabokov
Losing Goalie: Marc Denis

Tickets: Section 227 Row 5

Big Purchase

After years of wanting one, I finally made my wish of a big screen TV come true. I've been talking about it long enough, so I decided this was the weekend. I did some research on the internet and went to a couple of stores in town to compare prices and features. I narrowed it down to the 50" Sony WEGA and the 50" Samsung.

Why not bigger? I had to make sure it fit in the spot I have to put it in, so 50" was as big as I could go. After learning the the Sony didn't have a picture-in-picture option, I opted for the Samsung. I bought it at Best Buy because they had some sales going on and I had gift cards to spend (thanks to all who gave me gift cards for my birthday; I know they were supposed to go toward an iPod, but since I have the iPod Shuffle, a big screen was higher on my list =)

So, here I am in my family room watching the 49ers lose on my big screen. Not exactly what I would like to see, but if you're going to lose, might as well lose big. Anyway, I can't wait to watch hockey. Go Sharks! Digital cable should be hooked up shortly. Up next...high definition? We'll see, but so far, so good.

SWEET...

Happy Birthday, Bro - Oct. 1, 2005

Today was Dan's 32nd birthday, so we naturally had to do something fun. Dan, Andrew, mom and I started the day by going to breakfast at Hobees. After fueling up with some good food (and the best coffee cake in the world), we headed off to Santa Cruz. The weather was pretty good for an October day at the beach; foggy, yet a relatively warm 65° with no wind. First, we played on the beach; threw around theFrisbeee (Dan needs more practice =) and football, knocked around the beach ball, dug in the sand and buried sticks and Andrew's feet. Next, we walked down the Boardwalk, played a few games and Andrew won a plastic spider (Héctor) and lizard (Lupé). Andrew was starting to get tired, so we drove back to Dan's house and put Andrew down for a nap.

During Andrew's nap, we ate lunch (Wienerschnitzel), played video game hockey and Dan opened his presents (Sharks tickets and Gulper Eel from me - money and a spiral notebook from mom). When Andrew woke from his nap, Liz and Shawnna arrived at the house after shopping. We all hung out a little bit longer, played with Andrew and then went to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen before heading home. It was a long, tiring but fun day.

Tracy Dry Bean Festival - Sept. 10, 2005

Shawnna and I went to the Tracy Dry Bean Festival on September 10th. There aren't many dry beans at the festival anymore, but there were a good number of arts & crafts vendors and food vendors. It wasn't anything to write home about, but at least the weather was nice (low 70's at 6pm). The real reason we went was because I wanted to see one of the bands that was playing - Hollywood Allstarz.

Hollywood Allstarz is a band made up of former members of other high profile 80's bands. Here's the lineup:

Chas West - Vocals - Bonham / Lynch Mob
Carlos Cavazo - Guitar - Quiet Riot
Jeff Pilson - Bass - Dokken / Dio
Vinny Appice - Drums - Dio / Black Sabbath
Krigger - Drums - Giuffria / Tina Turner



Notice that there are 2 drummers and they both played on stage at the same time which made it interesting. They are basically a cover band that plays songs from the bands they used to be a part of as well as other classics. Some of the songs they covered were:

War Pigs - Black Sabbath
Bang Your Head - Quiet Riot
Cum on Feel the Noise - Quiet Riot
Holy Diver - Dio
Man on the Silver Mountain - Dio
You've Got Another Thing Coming - Judas Priest
Heartbreaker - Led Zeppelin
Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin
Still of the Night - Whitesnake

Overall, the band was just a bunch of aging rockers and I was disappointed with the quality of the show, although the singer had a good range and the guitarist showed some nice skills. There were a couple of drunk women who were dancing near the front of the stage and the singer tried to get them to show their goods, but fortunately I think they were too drunk to understand (especially since there were kids present). Having 2 drummers on stage was completely pointless especially since they just had very basic drum kits and didn't even have a drumming battle. I guess you get what you pay for...

A Visitor In Our Backyard

This morning at 9am, I was sitting on the couch watching TV when I kept hearing a little bird chirping its head off in the backyard. I finally got up to see what all the ruckus was about and realized there was a barn owl sitting on our fence.


I'm not sure, but I'm guessing the little bird was the mama who had a nest in a tree nearby since we heard baby birds chirping earlier in the morning. When I went upstairs and opened the blinds to take a picture, the owl immediately looked up at me. After I snapped the shot, it spread its wings and flew away. Pretty amazing and not something you see everyday; especially in your backyard.

OZZFEST - August 13, 2005

On August 13, Mike and I went to Ozzfest 2005 at Shoreline Amphitheatre. This is an all day heavy metal music festival and consists of two stages: the second stage (which was set up in the parking lot) had bands playing from 9:30am - 4:30pm and the main stage (which was in the amphitheatre) ran from 4:30pm - 10:45pm. The lineups were:

Second Stage

• Arch Enemy
• Trivium
• The Black Dahlia Murder
• It Dies Today
• The Haunted
• Wicked Wisdom
• Bury Your Dead
• Gizmachi
• Soil Work
• A Dozen Furies
• Mastodon
• As I Lay Dying
• Killswitch Engage
• Rob Zombie

Main Stage

• In Flames
• Black Label Society
• Shadows Fall
• Mudvayne
• Iron Maiden
• Black Sabbath

We arrived at the venue before the music started and went straight to the front of the second stage. For the next 5 hours, we watched the bands while a huge mosh pit circled behind us and people crowd-surfed above us. Some of the highlights of these early bands were Trivium and It Dies Today which I thought had good music, great stage presence and really got the crowd into it. It was also pretty cool when the bassist and lead singer of A Dozen Furies jumped in the crowd and crowd surfed on top of us (I thumbed the bass).

A couple of strange moments were when the lead singer of The Haunted tore off his clothes and sang the last song wearing only a thong (not pretty) and when a guy who looked like a computer geek doing the sound check turned out to be the lead singer of The Black Dahlia Murder who proceeded to go crazy and rock on stage.

The lowlight was definitely Wicked Wisdom which is a newly formed band whose lead singer is Jada Pinkett Smith; you know, the actress whose husband is Will Smith. It was obvious that they were only there because of Will's connections because they really sucked. The only cool part was that Will Smith was there and walked up and greeted the people who were in the front. We were standing right in front of him and Mike shook his hand (he probably still hasn't washed it =)

Before the last two bands on the second stage played, we moved back from the stage because we were getting tired of people launching themselves out of the mosh pit and onto our heads. I stood behind the mosh pit for Killswitch Engage and Rob Zombie which were both very good and drew a huge response from the crowd as expected, especially when Rob played his hits from White Zombie (More Human than Human, Thunder Kiss '65 and Dragula). After that, it was time to head to the amphitheatre and watch the bands on the main stage.

I don't know if I was just tired from standing for 7 hours straight or disappointed from being so far from the stage (we had seats right in front of the lawn) after having been in front for all of the earlier bands, but I couldn't get into the first few bands on the main stage; although the dreadlocks that went down to the ankles of the lead singer for Shadows Fall were impressive. Mudvayne ramped the crowd up for the bands I really was looking forward to seeing.

In my opinion, Iron Maiden put on the best show of the night. They had the best stage set-up with two elevated platforms on either side of the stage where Bruce Dickinson (lead singer) was able to run back and forth and pump up the crowd. They also had a huge (probably 12 feet tall) Eddie (their scary mascot) walk across the stage and mess with the guitarists. The only disappointment was that they didn't play longer. They only had 60 minutes and played mostly music from their first few albums including 4 songs from their very first record. I guess when you have 13 studio releases, you can't play everything, but not even "Fear of the Dark".... bummer.

Finally, it was Black Sabbath's turn. They played all of their greatest hits that have influenced all of the bands that played during the day. The strange thing was that, after having listened to all of the speed metal bands earlier, Black Sabbath sounded really slow and it was weird to imagine how they were cutting edge and "heavy" in their day. Ozzy has seen better days as he hobbled around the stage and screamed into the microphone while recovering from laryngitis. While this might be one of the last (if not the last) tours for Black Sabbath, I'm glad I saw them before they call it quits.

Cisco Opens NASDAQ - We Were There!

On August 10, 2005, the first ever virtual opening of NASDAQ occurred at Cisco Systems in San Jose and Shawnna and I were there. We arrived at 5:00am to register, pick up our commemorative red polo shirts and eat the breakfast that was provided. After making it through all of that, we headed to the balcony on the 2nd floor (just below John Chambers) to hang out until the ceremony. We were able to be on the 2nd floor balcony during the ceremony because we knew the person who set up the event and she put us on the list (yes, there was actually a list and a "bouncer" checking it).

At about 6:00am, most people who were going to show up, were there. In all, there were over 2,000 Cisco employees who showed up for this ceremony. It was amazing to see that many people there at 6am when there usually isn't that many people there at 8am. As it got closer to 6:30am, they started filming to build up to the opening bell. The crowd was very excited and were waving at the camera and cheering; especially when John Chambers addressed the crowd and thanked everyone for coming.

Finally, it was time for the opening bell. We counted down the seconds, Chambers rang the bell and it was all over. People left immediately and got in line for the give-aways. The first 500 people to register received iPod Shuffles (512 MB) and the next 1000 people to register received Bluetooth wireless headsets. Shawnna and I both received the iPods (score!) and then we went back to work.

When I was back at my desk, I watched the webcast of the opening bell and saw that the first thing they show is a zoom in from the crowd to Shawnna and I. As they pan across, I can be seen flashing the devil signs (mom would be proud =). You can watch the webcast and get a lot more information at the NewsAtCisco website.

Waiting for the ceremony to occur. We were on the balcony in the center of this picture.

I took this picture to show our view of the crowd.

John Chambers rings the bell to open trading on NASDAQ

3rd Wedding Anniversary - July 12, 2005

Note from Dave: This was written by Shawnna, hence the focus on food ;-)

Today we celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary! We started our day by sleeping in (6:30am is sleeping in!). When we got up, it was a beautiful day so we decided to go kayaking before it got too hot. We headed out to Hidden Lake (a man-made lake in Tracy). Although it was already 70 degrees by the time we got on the water at 7:40am, it was nonetheless a perfect outing. We spent about 40 minutes paddling the lake, and then headed home to clean up for the remainder of the day.

From there, we ran errands. Our errands consisted of going to the mall, checking with the car dealership on an ordered part for our Trailblazer, and picking up an air filter for the house. We also decided to scout out some places to eat for lunch. There’s a new Italian restaurant in Tracy that just opened up and I grabbed their menu to take a peek. String’s Italian Restaurant looked fantastic, so we decided to try it out.

Fantastic it was! Their weekday lunch specials looked so wonderful, they were difficult to pick between, but we made our decisions to try out the Chicken Parmesan (Dave) and Tortellini Alla Panna (veal) (Shawnna).With the meal came delicious bread and a huge salad. This salad must be one of the largest pre-meal salads I have ever had put before me. It consisted of romaine and iceberg lettuce, with raisins, tomatoes, red onions, croutons and sunflower seeds. You had your choice of dressing and we had ranch and creamy cucumber. Yummmmy! Once finishing the bread and salad, you almost don’t have any room for the entrée. But, when the meal reaches your table, you have no choice but to dig in to the heavenly platter of cuisine before you. As always, we tested each others meal. Exquisite! The tortellini had the most perfect sauce, creamy (neither runny nor clumpy) with just the right amount of oregano, cream and Marsala wine. The Chicken Parmesan was perfectly breaded and cooked and was smothered in a marinara to die for.

We skipped dessert at String’s because we were so stuffed from the lunch. However, we did take a look at their dessert menu and it looks like we may have to go back for a dessert-only trip! (I must also add that the service was excellent.)

After lunch we went home so Shawnna could put in her honest afternoon of work. While Shawnna was working, Dave continued a project to download all of our CD’s onto our computer storage drive. In between e-mails, Shawnna baked and frosted a cake to try out in advance of making it for a dinner party this weekend. Of course, who would say no to be the guinea pig taste tester for a chocolate cake?

After our lunch had worn off from the afternoon of working, we headed out for our anniversary dinner to where we consider is the most upscale restaurant in Tracy; Magellan’s. Magellan’s is where we also ate our 2nd anniversary dinner, and was so delightful we decided to make this kind of our “anniversary dining place”.

Another great meal was eaten today, this time from a menu compiled by Tomas Magellan, proprietor and executive chef of Magellan’s. With a salad and Clam Chowder ahead of the meal, we started to realize that we were already comparing our dinner with the lunch we had had. Dinner was (Dave) a rigatoni with an Alfredo sauce, smoked salmon and capers, and (Shawnna) a pork chop with a peach bourbon sauce, vegetables and potatoes. Both meals were pleasing, including the most perfectly grilled pork chop I’ve ever eaten. Nevertheless, I feel that our better meal of the day was at String’s.

Again, too full from dinner to eat dessert, we headed home. After our food settled for a bit, we grabbed a very small piece of the freshly baked chocolate cake. Can you say ‘Got Milk?’! One of the best chocolate cakes I’ve ever tasted.
Fat and full, it’s time for bed. G’nite!

Wakeboarding on Father's Day - June 19, 2005

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Today, we all met at Leanna & Jeff's house to have breakfast and then the guys (me, Rusty, Mike, Uncle Dan, Marcus, Jeff and Art - Jeff's Dad) went to the Delta for some male bonding while the women (Shawnna, Leanna, Madonna, Aunt Gayle, Heidi and Vicki - Jeff's sister) stayed home to do what they do best, cook and clean (oh, I could get my A$$ kicked for that comment :-).

Wakeboarding at the Delta was a ton of fun - for the most part. I got on the board and felt very comfortable.

After several runs, I jumped off the wake and when I landed, I didn't keep the front of the board up high enough and it clipped the water and dug in. The result was a faceplant that made my entire face go numb instantly. After feeling my face to make sure my nose was still intact, I got back in the boat to a sympathetic hero's welcome.

Mike had a big milestone. After trying and failing to stand up today and over the last few years

He finally stood up and was able to ride the wake for a little bit. Good job Mike!

While it was Jeff's turn, he became parched and didn't want to come back to the boat, so he decided to partake in a refreshing libation on his board.

Next was the backflip contest off the boat between Jeff and Marcus.

While Marcus looked like he had done this before, Jeff did a semi-backflip with a twist which didn't look pretty. After viewing the peaks one last time we headed back to the house.

We ate dinner - tri-tip, chicken, twice baked potatoes, potato salad, spice cake, ice cream... and opened presents.

All in all, it was a great day that left quite an impression on me. So, when do we do it again?

Oakland A's vs. Philadelphia Phillies - June 18, 2005

Today was my birthday and I decided I wanted to go to the Oakland A's game vs. the Philadelphia Phillies. The people that went were me, Shawnna, Leanna, Jeff, Mike, Uncle Dan, Aunt Gayle and Marcus. We got there fairly early so we could tailgate in the parking lot prior to the game. We BBQ'd hamburgers and corn on the cob and also ate potato salad, chips, birthday cake, etc and just hung out until game time (12:15pm).

The game didn't start the way the A's would have liked. The first pitch to Jimmy Rollins (below - the ball is circled in yellow) was smacked over the right field wall for a home run.

Click for larger size

That ended up as the only run that the Phillies scored as the A's went on to win 2-1 with RBIs from Scott Hatteberg and Dan Johnson. It ended up being a great day for a game and was nice to hang out.

Shawnna and I went to Chevy's for dinner and while I was washing my hands, she told the waiter it was my birthday, so of course I got the song and sombrero. It was the perfect end to a fun day.

Def Leppard / Bryan Adams Concert - 6/3/05

I went to the Def Leppard / Bryan Adams concert on June 3rd at Municipal Stadium in San Jose with Shawnna, Dan and Liz. This is the stadium where the San Jose Giants play, so it's not that big of a venue. The stage was relatively small, so there weren't any elaborate set designs - just enough room to rock. The weather was perfect (sunny, but not too hot) and there were about 8,000 people there.

Since the show was general admission, I was able to get fairly close to the front. During Def Leppard, I was about 10 people from the stage. Def Leppard looked just like what they are - aging rock stars from the '80s, but they still sounded great. Since they were promoting a new greatest hits album (Rock of Ages: The definitive Collection), they played all of their classic songs - Pour Some Sugar On Me, Rocket, Hysteria, Love Bites, Photograph, Foolin', Too Late for Love, Women, Rock of Ages, Armageddon It, Have You Even Needed Someone So Bad, Bringin' on the Heartbreak, etc. They seemed to be having a good time and the crowd was fairly responsive. Rick Allen was great on drums as usual - who says you need two arms to play drums? Joe Elliott sounded good, but not great. He kept putting his hand up to his ear to find his pitch during some of the "high" songs. They played for about 1 hr 15 minutes total, including 1 encore.

When Def Leppard finished, a bunch of people in the crowd left (probably to go pee) so I was able to move up to about 5 people from the stage for Bryan Adams. Bryan Adams played his straight up rock 'n roll music for about the same amount of time as Def Leppard and the crowd seemed to respond even more than for Def Leppard. It could have been because he was closing the show and people tend to get a little less inhibited (and more drunk) as the night goes on, but the crowd really belted out all of the classics he sang - Summer of '69, Heaven, Straight from the Heart, Run to You, The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You, 18 'Til I Die, (Everything I Do) I Do It For You, Can't Stop This Thing We Started, etc. He sounded great and put on a good show, but I thought it was a little strange that all the members of the band looked the same - 5 white guys, short haircuts, tight black shirts, dark blue jeans. Anyway, when they left the stage prior to the encore, the drummer (Michael Curry) threw one of his sticks into the audience and I got it :-)

Overall, I had a blast and was very glad I went. Although the stage was small and the sound could have been better, I thought it was a great show. Of course, being close to the stage makes the experience that much better.

Monterey Trip - May 14-15, 2005

Check out pictures from the trip here.

Shawnna and I decided to go to Monterey for the weekend to kayak, hang out and unwind. We stayed at the Cypress Gardens Inn on Munras Ave. (across from the Del Monte Shopping Center). The weather was typical - sometimes clear, sometimes foggy and the temperature hovered around 68°.

We arrived in the afternoon and the first thing we did was walk up and down Cannery Row to stretch our legs after the drive. Then we drove to Pacific Grove along the coast and ate dinner at a European style restaurant called Fandango. I had the asparagus soup and salmon fettuccine and Shawnna had a mixed green salad and cannelloni nicoise. The food was very good but the service left a little to be desired. We were served by a stereotypical Frenchman - he seemed almost pissed off to be there serving a couple of Americans. It probably didn't help that we were the only people in the restaurant not dressed up - we didn't want to go back and change. After dinner, we completed the drive around the coast of Pacific Grove and made a pit stop at Marie Callender's for dessert (I had the triple chocolate cheesecake and Shawnna had the white chocolate raspberry cheesecake) before heading back to the hotel.

On Sunday, we got up and went kayaking in the morning - we hit the water at about 9:00am. There was no wind, the water was still and it was very foggy. We started from Monterey State Beach and paddled all the way past the Monterey Bay Aquarium and back. We saw a ton of sea lions on the rocks and buoys and even a couple of otters. They seem to be used to people as we were able to get very close. The water was so clear, we could see to the bottom of the kelp beds and the rocks below. On the paddle back, the fog lifted and it was clear and sunny. The wildlife, serene environment and unique perspective of Monterey combined to make this my favorite kayaking experience so far. The total paddle was about 90 minutes.

After going back to the room and taking a shower, we drove to Carmel and walked around Carmel By-The-Sea. For lunch, we ate at an Italian restaurant called Tutto Mondo Trattoria. I had the lasagne della casa and Shawnna had the salmone affumicato panini. The food, service and ambiance were all great - highly recommended. Next, we drove 17 Mile Drive, ate the rest of our cheesecake from the night before on the beach and stopped at Pebble Beach to walk around. Finally, it was time to go home, but not before stopping at Black Angus for a filet mignon dinner to top off the weekend.

Check out pictures from the trip here.