winchou: 2010

Monday, November 29, 2010

New Shoes

The old wheels on the TT, SSR Comps, cracked - that's what I get for buying the lightest wheels I could find. Plus they're no longer made. Dang. So time for new shoes: Enkei RPF1 18x8. They're about two pounds heavier (18 pounds vs 16 pounds), but I wanted to keep the graphic, 6-spoke appearance. The center caps are late, and better pics will be posted after the weather warms up and I can wash the car.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Expensive Baseball, Also Good Baseball

The Big Chou Family Reunion was last weekend, and we splurged a bit and got a luxury box for the Red Sox at the Giants. This, after reporting on my adventures trying to find "cheap baseball". The big advantage to having a private suite (there are many) is, not only the privacy and the easy accommodation of older and younger family members, but the ability to actually gather and talk which a row of seats simply does not afford. To be honest, the seats, view-wise, were only mediocre, but the service and the company were first class for sure.

It was a gorgeous Sunday afternoon, and AT&T Park was jammed for the big pitching duel: Lester vs. Lincecum. Like our family, the crowd seemed to be split about 50-50 between the Red Sox and Giants. The Suites staff provided us with souvenir hats that included both team logos - a nice touch.

Lincecum seemed to start well, getting a fly out from Scutaro, and a strike-out of young Daniel Nava. Then Big Papi sent a hanger into the Cove. I saw the swing on the TV as I was getting my parents settled, and it stayed in the air long enough for me to run to the seats and join in the cheering. I did not actually see the ball as it left the Park, I mostly saw the right-field crowd watch as the ball sailed over their heads, but I guess I can say I witnessed my first "splash hit".

It's a bit disconcerting to see a whole section of the crowd turn and watch the action outside the ballpark. There was a big splash-fight between the a guy on an inflatable dragon and a guy in a blue kayak. Stranger still that the whole crowd seemed to react to the replay of the paddle-race for the home run ball, shown on TV minutes later, during the next at-bat. The loud cheers coming at this random time must to have thrown off Youk, who struck out swinging.

Not trying to make excuses, I'm just saying: tell me that's not distracting.

In the bottom of the first, the Giants got a dribbler, infield hit from Andres Torres. He quickly stole second and then third, and scored on a fielder's choice. There are two ways to score runs, and they both count the same - game tied.

In the second it became clear that Lincecum did not have his good stuff. V-Mart walked, Bill Hall doubled. The Giants then intentionally walked Darnell McDonald to load the bases and get to Lester. Lester then put up a pretty good at bat, working the count to 3-1 til he got one he could drive - about 400 feet to the triples alley in right center. Sac fly, and Red Sox were back in front 2-1 (turned out to be the game-winning RBI). A Scutaro single added another run in that frame.

Red Sox fans cheer!

In the bottom of the second, Martinez took a foul ball off his foot, and hopped around the infield for quite a while in obvious discomfort. Collectively wincing, I think everyone could feel his pain. He later came out of the game; another Red Sox June injury - but it turned out he had a broken thumb, and as it swelled, he could not get his hand back into his mitt. I hope he's a faster healer; he sure is a gamer.

The Sox tallied another in the third on a single by Youkilis, walk by Drew, and a single by Hall. Lincecum came out of the game after that: 3 IPs, 5 Hs, 4 ERs, 3 BBs and 4 Ks - not a stellar outing.

Two other highlights: in the sixth, Lester worked a walk, fouling off pitches like he was a real hitter. In the ninth, Beltre tagged a solo shot to left. Lester went the distance for a 5-1 win. He was awesome: 9-5-1-1-9, 103 total pitches.

Giants fans have their say.

Boy did we have a great time. Good food, and a good Red Sox win. Apologies to the Giants fans in the family and sorry that the rally caps did not work - but they made for great photo album fodder. And the kids got to run the bases after the game. The luxury box cost several pretty pennies (damn dynamic pricing!), but it was worth it.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Cheap Baseball, Good Baseball

We went to the Oakland Coliseum with the promise of a two-dollar ticket. This, for a transplanted Red Sox fan (used to paying $20 for a bleacher seat), sounded implausible in the extreme. But it was Tigers at A's. Justin Verlander versus Dallas Braden in first home game since his perfect game a week and a half ago. How can you pass that up?

When I moved to Berkeley from Boston, my brother Tony gave me an Oakland A's cap, and I wore it for the first time last night. It felt very strange to have folks walk by me, glance at my cap, and imagine they thought I was an A's fan; some strange anxiety moved through me as if they could tell I was a fraud. And if someone struck up a conversation and started some chatter about Rollie Fingers or the Bash Brothers, I knew I'd be found out.

So I went with my friend Rex, a Tigers fan from childhood. When we got there at about 6:20 (for a 7:05 start), we found out that the two-dollar tickets had sold out. Dang. So we asked for the next best, but cheap deal. This is what we got: $12 for a seat in the way upper deck, but with a $6 food credit and a free t-shirt - still ridiculously cheap. And we had a great time.

First, the free shirt commemorated Braden's Mothers' Day perfecto, and is pretty sharp. Next, two dogs and a water (at Fenway might have been about $10) were included in my ticket with change left over. Then the seats themselves, in the vertigo section behind home plate, gave us a good, if fairly distant view of the game. Still, the Coliseum was fairly empty, and despite the misty weather, I was disappointed that more folks had not turned out.

We got the pitchers' duel that was expected. Braden threw very well, but Verlander was awesome - with a one-hitter into the 5th, he had faced the minimum to that point because of some double-play defense behind him. The game was scoreless into the 7th, when, in the top of the frame, Brandon Inge lead off. The scoreboard flashed that today, May 19th, was his birthday, and Rex began serenading him with "happy birthdays". He immediately hit a rope over the left field wall. The next batter was the catcher, Gerald Laird, who hit a bunt down the first baseline which Braden could not field.

The A's held a team meeting on the mound. We could not figure out what was happening. I suggested that Braden had to be injured, or they would not be permitted to meet like that - but the bunt did not seem to cause him any obvious strain. Later we found out he had "flu-like symptoms". In came the A's relief corps, and the Tigers jumped, plating three more runs to give Verlander a 4-0 cushion. The Tigers would add an insurance run in the top of the 8th, and the A's would prevent the shut-out in the bottom with a run.

Verlander (9-4-1-1-5, 116 / 80 strikes) was throwing 97-98 all night, faced 30-A's, and got the complete game win. His final pitch was 96-mph heater that Ryan Sweeney cut on and missed. The Red Sox beat the Twins, so the Tigers pulled within a game of first.

Not bad for $12.

Sunday, April 04, 2010

iPad - Day 2 (Easter Sunday)

Got this image from Gizmodo. Day 2 and I'm still high on iPad. Been reading with the iTunes running, checking e-mail between chapters, and doing look-ups in Wikipanion as I go. The reading experience is great. Ojectively, the iPad is about the same weight as a large hard cover (heavier than Summer of '49, but much lighter than The Essential Piaget); very comfortable to hold and read.

Am reading Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, so every time he mentions some obscure aspect of Vatican lore, I can look it up. I can also check the maps to see where the characters are. This is fun. The other thing that makes the iPad way better than an iPod is the speed; it feels like I'm using a computer, not a smartphone.

One thing I did find - I cannot get my Comcast Digital Voicemail in the Safari browser. It requests that I download the QuickTime plugin. D-oh.

Spent the evening listening to the ball game on the MLB app. The videos did not work until I did a hard reset, but otherwise, it was great to hear the game and track the at-bats. Red Sox beat the Yankess 9-7. A great weekend.

Saturday, April 03, 2010

iPad - Day One

more pictures (link)

It's Saturday, April 3rd. I've been tracking my packages all week. I've been reading the news and the blogs to figure out just exactly what is going on iPad-wise. Walt Mossberg and David Carr were on Charlie Rose last might chatting about iPad. It's really just too much - and I can't get enough:

Location Date Local Time DescriptionWhat's This?
SAN PABLO, CA, US 04/03/2010 8:22 A.M. DESTINATION SCAN
OAKLAND, CA, US 04/03/2010 6:43 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN
LOUISVILLE, KY, US 04/03/2010 4:55 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN
04/03/2010 12:28 A.M. IMPORT SCAN
GUANGZHOU, CN 04/02/2010 4:10 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN
GUANGZHOU, CN 03/31/2010 3:02 P.M. ORIGIN SCAN
03/31/2010 3:00 P.M. ORIGIN SCAN
SHENZHEN, CN 03/30/2010 3:52 A.M. ORIGIN SCAN
CN 04/02/2010 11:12 P.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

It's so close now.

It's Good Friday. Final Four weekend. Major League Baseball opens this weekend, too (go Red Sox). US new jobs numbers turned positive with new reports released yesterday. The Large Hadron Collider is smashing atomic particles with forces of 7 TeV. And I'm waiting for a big brown van. This from CNN: "I don't know what it is -- I just think it's going to be something that's really cool," said Mark Bowling outside an Apple store at Lenox Square mall in Atlanta, Georgia. "I can't figure out how to use it if I don't have one."

Of course, I realize this is a manufactured national event - but it is fun to be part of it. And there's still a part of me that still finds it amazing: that Apple can repeatedly re-create a Christmas-like shop-and-wait experience. There are a lot of wicked fun products out there, but no one can package a product launch as a "happening" like Apple.

Dang. Where's that van?

Almost lunch time. Still no iPad. What does "DESTINATION SCAN" mean anyway?

Destination Scan
The shipment has arrived at the local UPS facility responsible for final delivery.

Oh. Why did the package go from Oakland to San Pablo - it went right past me!

Ate a sandwich; had some tea. No change for my packages at UPS. Reading reviews and blogs, and came across this image on SFGate:

If you ever had any doubt that the touch interface was completely intuitive - well? The kid is just poking at the box, and the iPad is upside down, but the kid knows what to do.

Arrival - it's here (1:40pm). The UPS lady asked me if I was sure I wanted my boxes - I said she must be having quite a day. She looked pretty tired. It's just taking a long time to sync. A few of my iPhone apps got updated to with iPad versions, and I'm loading those along with a few movies, TV shows, music, and photos. It's taking a while.

Trying to sync about 25GB of stuff - it's taken about two hours now, and it's still not done. I fired up my other iPad and did not sync anything - so I got to try out the iBookstore and Maps, etc. Wow, the selection in the iBookstore is very thin. I had a few books I thought I might try at launch to test the reading; was especially disappointed not to see the new Michael Lewis book. But I'll get something to try (aside from the free Winnie the Pooh book). Maybe I'll download the Kindle app and see if the situation is any better in Amazon-land.

The last book I read on a computer screen was Jurassic Park on a PowerBook 170 (grey screen). It came on a floppy. Despite the fancy "active matrix" technology, I hated reading on that screen.

Okay, I've made the switch to the iPad, typing on it now. Trying very hard to type as fast as I can and this seems to work very well. Got the iPod going , but when it downloaded a few of the free news apps, the audio feed does not play in the background - no multi-tasking. I'm sitting by the window, on the couch in my office, and the screen looks great. I've got that new product high.

Read another's experience waiting for an iPad.

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Chez Aenoch

Gad - I've really neglected my poor little blog. Sorry for the long delay in posting. I've been busy, but not that busy, which means I've been lazy. But our good friends Fred and Julie came by and we had a nice "almost birthday" dinner for Fred (happy almost birthday!). Julie has just started a blog (which I've linked here and below), and I thought I ought to get back to doing my own. It's been quite the gastronomical weekend, including tonight's meal: vegetable fritatta, chicken sausage, and home made corn bread - and chocolate mousse cake. The weekend started with a very fun brunch yesterday at Rick and Ann's with our good friend Gary, who came across the Bay to see our new house. But the weekend's true highlight was yesterday's dinner, with guest chef Aenoch. It was quite the production, making full use of our ovens, the six-burner cooktop, and all our counter space. Here are some action shots: