John Mayer

This past Sunday, I went to see John Mayer and I would like to think of it as a preview of what it may or may not be like in Beijing. There were SO MANY people, and my group of outstanding citizens happened to be in pretty much the very back. However, the music was amazing and Mr. Mayer really held it down. That's all I really have to say about that, but it was a good first day in the city of Angels. Good people, good music, good weather=great times... I'll post pictures at some point

did you know... that John Mayer is from Connecticut...

Pretending to be a UCLA athlete

So today, I was an unoffical UCLA student- athlete. I began the day bright and early watching some older people run on the UCLA track, then hit the UCLA weight room early morning, then clearly had to hit up the UCLA locker rooms for a shower. After that I made it up to the UCLA football office where I hung out with the Director of Football Operations, afterwards I went out and grabbed a bite to eat. I then came back to the Athletics office, where I hung out some more, I then went for a photo op where I posed as a UCLA student on campus. Look for me on the UCLA athletics website! And now I am currently typing this blog on a computer in the UCLA athletics computer area.

So yes, my day as a UCLA student athlete is complete from pretending to do work, to hanging out in various offices, to showering in their locker room. However, I would like to point to some thoughts that I had.

1. While the facilities as a whole are no doubt nicer, they are pretty much the same as Yale's...

2. I miss locker room time

3. I miss locker room time with Donald F Smith especially

4. I miss getting after it in the weight room and watching track practices

5. I miss hanging out with athletes, especially with serious meatheads on a daily basis

6. I miss my old self

7. I don't miss having to go to class between practices...

8. Did I mention that I miss locker room time with Don?

9. Special shout out to everyone else that I have showered with, no offense it's just that Don's antics were special

Did you know... That UCLA has 103 NCAA national championships

a little Shakey Shakey...

So I'm in Lala Land and the ground just moved underneath me. I was getting dressed and I felt a rumble come on. I'm sure that most people were nervous, however the ground shaking was quite exciting. This is the 4th or 5th earthquake I've been in, but this was the first one that I felt. According to the recent earthquake website I believe it was about a 5.8, which is the second strongest earthquake I've been in. The nearly 7.0 earthquake I was in I didn't even feel. And there was no damage that I noticed in my friends apartment, just a couple of things fell over. Now out of the near possible disasters I've been in, this falls lower on the list. I would have to say that tornado warnings are much scarier, when the whole sky goes black, it's kinda scary... Also not quite as annoying as a blizzard, but the fact that there is no warning and it comes out of nowhere is slightly unsettling, but my great ability to quickly assess the potential for damage helped it go from scary to exhilarating in a matter of nano seconds...

Now what do you do in an earthquake. Luckily, I remembered my earthquake training from throughout elementary school. Now did I follow it, not exactly, my first thought was go outside, then I thought that was stupid, you're supposed to go underneath a desk or in a doorway. So I walked into my friend's living room, where I just kind of stood around to see how much of the shake i could feel. After the shakes are over, I remembered that you're supposed to scream and yell in excitement because it's the first of 4 or 5 earthquakes that you've been in that you felt...

Funny, I don't think that the people in LA remembered the final part of the earthquake training because here in the greater Los Angeles area NOTHING stopped, pick up what fell over and kept on pushing... which I'm disappointed in because there was no victory dance...

San Fran.... (a little tardy on this post, think of it as a Retrospective piece )

First of all if you noticed there are some changes to the blog colors... One person commented that they were having trouble reading the blog, and since this is a blog for all and I try to accommodate everybody even the particularly special, I willingly changed the color scheme to make it legible for all.

But there are also some changes in my location. I was in the bay now i'm in LA

I had been in San Fran with some great people. Special shout out to Dan and Linda for allowing me to stay in their place. Their spot was beautiful as well as the food and the views and everything else that goes along with it. Also for introducing me to V, (and no, not Will Cornwell) all i have to say about that is... WOW! Specialness. But yeah, the bay is wonderful, I traveled around on Bart and loved almost every minute of it. Even made a special trip out to San Ramon where I got to see some good friends who treated me to breakfast and rekindled my love for a good home cooked breakfast. Can't beat potatoes, nice PORK BACON, eggs, biscuits, fruit, orange juice, tea and jelly on a Saturday morning. I clearly could go on writing about the Bay for a while, I think that showing pictures of the bay would be much better...

Planned Surprises... and travel delays

Now I hope you see the irony, I myself cannot plan a surprise for myself, because if I know something is coming then that eliminates the surprise aspect, unless i am unaware of some aspect of the surprise, like when it will occur, but then it wasn't completely planned by the one who the surprise is for... If you can think of a way to plan your own surprise please let me know...

So I am currently in the YAY area (greater San Francisco area).... I had a bit of a travel slip up, but nothing too major. All the flights out of the East Coast were delayed Wednesday night, which would have left me no time to make my connections in other cities to arrive here in the bay. So after a little bit of internal deliberations, I decided that it would be best for me to just spend the night in St. Louis and leave for the bay in the morning rather than spend the night in either LA or Salt Lake cities airport... I think I made the right decision...

Ok, so I have a slightly probably unhealthy love of public transportation. And the YAY has in my opinion some of the best w/ the BART being the highlight, however I wanted to take another form which I had not frequented... Caltrain. The opportunity to take Caltrain was a surprise one, my friend Erica (the Olympian not the one i posted about earlier) told me that she was going to be in the YAY for a couple of days, I figured that going to see her as well as some other friends was the perfect excuse for an excursion on Caltrain. And it was what public transportation should be... easy to use, swift and relatively on time. Seeing her was the "planned surprise" because while she lives there I didn't think she was going to be there because she told me she was going straight from Europe to Beijing, however the YAY pulled her back as it so often does.

Eventually... I made it to see the old roomies Dan and Linda in the Presidio, and enjoyed a wonderful dinner cooked by the wonderful Linda Geballe. And while I enjoyed the fact that I had a wonderfully made bed, don't worry, I clearly passed out on the couch and promptly woke up at 430am. So for now... that's all


Did you know... That the first American Anti-Drug Law passed in the United States was passed by San Francisco in 1875

That of which I cannot speak...

When I left off, I was in New York where I was attending the celebration of man succumbing to the woman... aka a bachelor party. Now I'm torn, man law strictly prohibits revealing exactly what occurs during bachelor parties. Luckily, I have broken the bonds of such laws... So I will share what occurred. The day began with makeovers, followed by mannys and peddys, then we went out to dinner at Dorsias then had a HUGE sleepover where we watched various movies about love until we fell asleep.

While the bachelor party was the focus of my first stop, I had other highlights. Even though I was on the opposite end of the country... Seattle was THICK. I got a chance to hang out w/ Tay from FP, Naomi and Maxi at the Nike USA basketball exhibit, Lindsey everywhere I went and Bouie in Brick City. Other highlights included being tricked into going to a skating rink with my lil cousin in the Bricks and learning how to play "dice" with the old roomies Bobby and Tom. As a whole it was a great weekend, where I clearly spent way too much money.



Oh and if you can check out the next VideoStar Magazine... my boy Bouie is goin to be featured... Also much of the photography in the magazine is his. Also Check out his website www.six21pix.com

Did you know... That the first alarm clock was thought to be invented in 1559

Erica...

Now those of you who know me probably think I'm giving this initial shout out to my good friend Erica McLain who made the US Olympic team and hooked my friends and I up with tickets to the games and is an all around great gal... however NO! this is not the Erica I'm speaking of. I am speaking of Erica Alexis, aka Alexis Global, aka E the random traveler aka Miss Alexis... One of the main inspirations to do this blog comes from her emails about her own extensive travels, which spanned pretty much across the entire eastern hemisphere. I think it is no coincidence that my travels begin in NY, very near where she is currently at, will then move back to St. Louis, where i met her at, then go to the Bay, where she came up at, then down to LA, where she resides on a more full timish basis. So yeah, shout out to E the random traveler!

Ok, now that I'm done cakin, i'll give a recap of my travels thus far. I began in Nashville, where I sat around and did nothing, I then went to Seattle, where I ran a little bit, went back to Nashville where I went to a couple of weddings, went to St. Louis where I ate food... And today I arrived in NYC where I am already spending way too much money. For now that's all...


Did you know... Leonardo Da Vinci was dyslexic and often wrote backwards