Shades of Mediocrity

I went camping in Idaho this weekend. I went fishing with a friend and it was great. The fishing wasn't that great but it was a very enjoyable time.

I slept in a van down by the river. This picture is not of me, but it has a van almost identical to the one I slept in. I think the Westfalia van is the way to camp. It's a lot of fun.

I also listened to Freakonomics on the drive which was good. The whole time I wanted to read the actual papers rather than get the watered down version. A good weekend.

I skipped a day, sorry about that. I'm sure the 4 readers of the blog were anxiously awaiting my day 5 post.


When planning the trip my mom asked if I would like to go see Wicked. I told her I would so that I could have more ammunition to make fun of it. I have been making fun of Wicked for a while now. It seems to be something like Mecca for Mormon women. They love to go with their friends/sisters to some far off place and then rave about how wonderful the play was. I always just said they liked it because it made them feel justified for being witchy (the main character is the Wicked Witch of the West who is just "misunderstood").

I went with my family not expecting much more than a big estrogen party. I was pleasantly surprised. I thought it was a great show with an engaging story and great music. I recommend it to anyone. This is hard for me to do but I can swallow my pride and say it was a good play.

Two thoughts on the play:

1. I was surprised at the references to the Bush administration. I looked up when the play debuted when I got home and sure enough, it was debuted in 20o4. My rule with political references in movies/plays/whatever is that if I get them the refereces were not subtle enough.

*SPOILER ALERT* Dont' read if you don't want to know the ending of the play

2. Elphaba should've died. I thought her going through the trap door and tricking everyone into thinking she died really weakened the power of the story. It was too Disney, too cute. I was prety mad that she was alive, not because I didn't like her but because it weakened the play. Feel free to voice your opinion, maybe there is some greater reason that she should've lived that I'm missing.

This is a bit of a conglomeration of several of the days and activities but I don't feel they warranted individual blog posts. I visited UCSD's campus briefly. That is a fantastic campus and I would love to go to school there. It's unlikely, but I can always hope I guess.

I love the zoo. Apparently this is weird for people my age, oh well. The San Diego zoo is phenomenal. I highly recommend it.

The Beach is awesome. Every time I go it makes me wish I lived closer to one. I went boogie boarding which was a lot of fun. I'm not particularly good, and the waves were terrible but it didn't matter for someone like me who doesn't know any better.

I also went snorkeling. I love fish and watching them so I'm a big fan. While I was looking down at the fish some guy tapped me on the back. When I stuck my head up I saw a sea lion about 2o-30 feet away from me. Then I heard some lady yell "Sir, you are in violation of the California Marine Mammal Act, get away from the sea lion". I was unaware of the California Marine Mammal Act and its provisions but I was glad someone told me about the sea lion because I was swimming towards it unawares. I quickly changed course and became compliant with California Marine Mammal statues. It was a great trip to the beach.

The next few days will discuss my trip to San Diego with my family.

A little Background:
I've never been a huge fan of baseball. Before the MLB's strike in the 90s I used to follow baseball a lot more closely. For the last couple of years I haven't watched lived baseball but have enjoyed following it through highlight shows like Baseball Tonight. When my family was discussing our trip to San Diego I suggested we watch a Padres game--I had never been to a Major League Baseball game before and I've always wanted the experience

We watched the Padres play the Cubs. It was a pretty uneventful game through 8 innings. The Cubs led 1-0 and I was just enjoying spending the time with some of my cousins that I don't often see. In the 9th inning there was 2 outs and a full count with a runner on first. I was consigned to the fact that the Padres would lose the game and was happy with experience despite the loss. With this full count the batter hit a long fly ball into the left field gap. I thought the outfielders were going to get to the ball and the game was going to be over.

The ball dropped and the crowd went wild. I was screaming "it dropped, it dropped". The runner on first scored and the game was now tied 1-1. My dad, a usually reserved man, was cheering and shouted to my sisters on the row in front of us, "We're staying for extras!". Two batters later, the batter hit a homerun and ended the game. The Padres won 4-1.

It was a fantastic experience. First there was the tie with a full count with 2 outs, and then a walk off home run. This game probably will spoil me for future games because it was so exciting. That said, I plan on going to more baseball games if I end up at a grad school by a big league team.

After the REAL game, I went to Rich's house to say goodbye before he left Utah for good. I always enjoy going to Rich's house. There is always good food and good company. Most importantly, there is Kicky McStevens.

Here is how the game is played:

I don't know the exact origins of the game but what you do is play on a wallyball court (see picture). The goal is to get the ball over the net before it bounces twice. The catch is that you can't use your hands, hence the "kicky". Each team gets 5 kicks to get it over the net (or 4 kicks and one bounce on the ground). Scoring is the same as in normal volleyball.

This game is fantastic. I always love playing and usually get very intense as I play. I actually have been known to knock over a teammate while I'm going for the ball (in hindsight, that was a poor decision). I recommend that everyone find a place to play this game and give it a try. You won't disappoint.

I have wanted to go to a REAL Salt Lake game for some time now and finally got the chance last week Saturday. I quite enjoyed myself and thought I would summarize the things that I was surprised by.

1. It was well attended. The stadium was problem 3/4 full which was more than I was expecting (especially because of the price of a ticket, higher than I expected).

2. The grass was really well kept.

3. The announcements were made in Spanish and English.

4. The players were good and it was quite enjoyable to watch. I'm not a fan of watching soccer on TV but even though the game ended in a 0-0 tie it was still enjoyable.

One thing I was not surprised by:

1. Like true Utahns, the fans blamed the refs for the tie. I've never been to a Utah sporting event where the refs were not at fault in the eyes of the fans.

So in summary, I recommend going to a REAL Salt Lake game. A very enjoyable experience.

I have been away from a computer for a while and have a lot of topics I'd like to blog about. I will try my best to update this blog daily until I catch you up on my recent activities and thoughts.