en Route to Italy

Christmas day. I never thought i would ever travel on Christmas day. I left the 60 degree raining weather in San Francisco and arrived in Frankfurt Germany - 10 hours later - in which the Pilot sarcastically described the weather during our landing as "A Tropical -9 Degrees Celcius." A three hour stop over isn't too bad with the first hour occupied by transferring gates. As I sat on a small round table looking out the panaramic window facing the snow covered tarmac, enjoying a free espresso is as relaxing as it can get at the airport.
The flight over wasn't too bad. A bit turbulent, but the free vodkas I had made all things better.

Pre Packing

It's Christmas Eve and I can't believe how fast this year went by. To End the year, I'll be in Naples, Italy. As I'm currently preparing my bags, I had the urge to pop this song in.

Wine Tasting

I went to Castello di Amorosa in the Napa Valley today for a private Members Only Event. I invited Phil, his wife - Kana, and their Dotson - Haru. We had a blast drinking several different types of wine. The winery was making fresh bread from their outdoor Wood Fire Brick Oven, which was really good. The bread was topped with salt, pepper, rosemary and other herbs as the inside of the bread had chunks of olives. It was SUPER GOOD! I ended up purchasing 7 bottles of vino and an additional 2 for Phil & Kana.

Not So Silent Night 2010

I went to the Not So Silent Night Concert on Friday and was very excited to see the Smashing Pumpkins. Other bands that played were My Chemical Romance, Phoenix, Black Keys, and Broken Bells. Of the 5 bands that played, my top two were Phoenix and The Smashing Pumpkins. The Smashing Pumpkins is one of my favorite all time bands. They played "Drown" which is one of my all time favorite tracks by them. I was quite surprised when they played it because I've I never heard it played to the masses. The track is one their very first songs and was released on Soundtrack entitled "Singles" in 1992. I remember hearing it for the first time when one of my sisters friends played it for me back while I was in High School. I don't remember her name, but when she found out that I listened to Alternative music, she went to her car, grabbed the cd, and let me listen to the album. I copied that specific song to a cassette tape.

The other songs the Pumpkins played were Landslide, Today, Bullet with Butterfly Wings(their opener), and closed with Tonight.

Black Friday: First Session

Some people like to stay home on Black Friday and do nothing. Others enjoy the shopping and gripe about the long lines. Myself, on Black Friday, I enjoy the lines at a Ski Resort. It’s been a few years since I’ve gone snowboarding on Thanksgiving weekend – due to insufficient snow. This year was different and awesome. I ended my snowboarding season last year at Montana’s Big Sky Resort on their last day and I began this year’s snowboarding season at Alpine Meadow on their opening day - November 26. They had awesome snow. On the first run, I knocked the cobwebs out of my system by trying to grab some air from a small kicker and crashed into a friend of mine by taking his legs out. Not major though.

After the morning session, I was hungry and thirsty by noon – 12:08 to be exact. Typical style of what I like to do, I ended up kicking back with a few shots and beers till 3pm. I enjoyed two more runs before I called it a day.

NYE Destination: Italy Bound

A couple months ago I was pondering on my next vacation. Well, here we are 2 months later and it’s going to happen. I’m headed to Italy on the last week of December. I leave Christmas Day and return on the 3rd. New Years Eve in Napoli.

http://wackymango.blogspot.com/2010/09/italy-and-spain-in-my-mind.html

Baseball Stuff

They say a Picture is worth a thousand words. I was in Vegas when Brian Wilson struck out Ryan Howard resulting in the Giants winning the 2010 MLB National League Pennant, and eventually winning the World Series. This match up is every kids dream - one of the best hitters vs. an elite closer. The scenario that one says to him/her self, “full count, game tied, bottom of the ninth….”

In this case: The tying run on Second Base and the winning run on First., Full count, 2 outs.