Another Tennis Milestone (or two)

I sometimes kid my tennis partners that an extremely low probability event during a tennis match is blog worthy.  But in practice, I've blogged on such improbable events only once.

Two recent events, however, are truly blog worthy and should be given their due before details fade in my memory:

The first event - an embarrassing one - happened a couple of weeks ago as I played against my most skillful tennis partner,  Mario.  I lost a set 2-6, which considering how well Mario had been playing as of late, was triumphant for me.  As is the case whenever a set concludes quickly, we played a few tiebreakers.  On this night, we played 3 tiebreakers to 7 points, the first of which I was ahead 6-0.  To win a tiebreaker without your opponent obtaining a single point, especially when he is more skilled than you are, is an unimaginable feat; one worthy of going down in history books.  I was so assured of a seemingly obvious, and at this point, effortless win that I told Mario I would quit tennis if he won this tiebreaker.  We both laughed and he proceeded to put a consecutive string of 8 points together and win the tiebreaker 8-6.  That's 8 points in a row after my 7 points in a row, or in other words, an almost impossible event followed by one that is even less likely.  Immediately following his win, I decided I would not quit tennis, which brings us to another event less likely than all of the above, a week and a half later (today):

12-28-2019:  A typical Saturday morning set against Andrew, a former Penn State college tennis player, at 6:45 a.m. with temperatures in the low 40s.  This temperature was borderline unbearable for both of us.  But such distractions as extreme temperatures, noise and wind affect Andrew's game more than mine.  On this particular morning, I beat Andrew 6-2, and we played three tiebreakers, the first two to 10 points.  When I was up in the first tiebreak 7-0, I told Andrew history was about to unfold.  He immediately begged to differ, and looked more focused and intent on avoiding an unprecedented 0-10 loss.  I won the next 3 points with relative ease just like the other 7, and restored much needed dignity I had lost the night I played Mario (see above).  I no longer walk around with my head down.  A picture of Andrew to the left packing up after aiding me in achieving momentary stardom.

Day trip to L.A. - Broad Museum, Grand Central Market & The Last Bookstore

Saturday, 10-5-2019:

We reserved our free tickets to The Broad museum (the 'r o a d' in 'broad' is pronounced the same as 'road') in downtown Los Angeles a week in advance, and set out to visit the museum at 9:15 a.m. for our 10:30 appointment.  I didn't know anything about the museum, other than it was contemporary art and a good place to visit with the kids, along with lunch at the Grand Central Market, and The Last Bookstore, both nearby.  Excerpts from Wikipedia, where I'm an annual donor - sorta gives me quasi-rights to publish its content without permission:

Cy Twombly's magnificent artwork

The Broad (/broʊd/) is a contemporary art museum on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles. The museum is named for philanthropist Eli Broad, who financed the $140 million building which houses the Broad art collections.  The museum offers free general admission to its permanent collection galleries.  The museum was opened by Broad and his wife on September 20, 2015.  Celebrities in attendance included Bill Clinton, Reese Witherspoon, Matthew Perry, Heidi Klum, and Larry King, among others

We got there a few minutes early, parked in the government owned structure connected to the museum for $15 flat fee (ain't nothing in life free), and went in.  The main attraction there, for which we had to line up to get ourselves in queue was the Infinity Mirrored Room – The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away, designed by Yayoi Kusama, with a face only a mother would love (Google her).

We went to the 3rd floor, which is where most of the exhibits are, and indulged ourselves in what can best be described as mostly ho hum viewing of the paintings, sculptures, and one significantly juvenile and exceedingly pointless collection by Cy Twombly that any talentless child can muster - see above for incontrovertible proof.  Genius!  My most favorite artwork was the giant dining set, and as I marveled at its size, I pictured giants dining there - I spooked myself a little at the thought.

View up from the museum elevator

The elevator was interesting, as it was made of glass, and you could see through its ceiling all the way up.

Then there was the main attraction, the Infinity Mirror, which we finally got a text notice that it was our turn to hurry up and wait.  Now that was an experience, which I spent most of our 45-second allotted time filming.  It felt like inside of Professor X's Danger Room but without his Cerebro (X-Men reference).  We did our tour of this room and left for an In N Out lunch truck outside at Elin's insistence. Actually, there were a bunch of lunch trucks, but all were for a private party event and not open to the public which explained why none had menus.  We initiated plan B - eat at the Grand Central Market.  We got in our car and drove to another $15-fee parking lot next to the market, went in, surveilled all eateries and settled on a vendor with grass-fed hamburgers.  The hamburgers, as Elin voted later, was the highlight of the trip for her.  This place was packed with the smell of food everywhere as Hanna noted.  We ate, we left and walked to our final destination, the iconic Last Bookstore, and a highly unique one at that.  "Every inch of the place is designed to make book lovers fall in love with it, and it succeeds."  The store is 22,000 squar feet built in a former bank with books on two levels, including a former vault.  There's even a 2016 award winning documentary on the book store called ""Welcome to the Last Book Store."

I'd promised the girls they could each buy a book there, but neither showed interest in books.  They found items they liked - a scarf for Elin's favorite stuffed animal import from Puerto Rico, and a yarn for Hanna.  The store clerk took an eternity to run the items through her computer system, and ended up giving us Elin's $10 scarf for free because she couldn't find it in her system - and THAT was the highlight of my trip. 

At the Grand Central Market and after devouring a delicious
grass-fed hamburger with some fries

Lo and behold, the book to the left of Hanna's head is the one
that I just finished reading!

I bought a $4 book titled,
"The Empire of Time",
published in the 1970s

Veni, vidi, vici

On my Sunday birthday morning, we were driving to Marina Del Ray when I asked the girls if they wanted to visit Universal Studios.  They'd been there once, but never left the "Harry Potter" section.  So, technically, they hadn't seen much of Universal Studios.

Fresh off of our road trip up the coast of California, I thought why not?  Another trip for a day in L.A. at Universal Studios should be a memorable experience.  It turned out the experience would be heartfelt by my wallet first and foremost.  When I checked out discounted ticket prices through my work the following week, the cheapest were $150 per person, and when you add to that $20 parking and food etc., you're pushing $500+.  GTFOH!  And the kids were happy to oblige.  They opted for Knott's Berry Farm instead, which at $46 per person was way more digestible.

So the following Sunday, we set out for Knott's.  As soon as we got there, I asked the kids to rate their happiness on a scale of 1 to 10.  Both said 9.  When we left a few hours later, one was up a quarter of a point, and the other half; 9.25 and 9.5.  This was a Sunday, August 25th outing.  Needless to say, after lunch the weather became almost unbearable, so I opted to follow the kids to the ride of their choice, sit in the shade and wait for them.  By the time we left, they'd been on 10 rides, and me on 3.  For lunch, we'd stuffed our faces with Johnny Rockets, and even hours later at 6:20 p.m.
I'm still laid out on the couch with a big fat stomach full of JR fries and shakes; I had mine and finished the kids' too.  What an idiot!  I need to shape up quickly for my 8 p.m. tennis match.

8-26-2019 update:  I drank a cup of coffee before my 8 p.m. Sunday night tennis match.  I needed it because I was sleepy and physically exhausted.  I'm happy to say I performed a miracle:  I won my tennis set 6-0 against Eugene, who at this point has improved to the point of splitting our matches.  This is nothing short of a miracle, because even at my best I don't come close to a shut out (or bagel in tennis lingo).  After the match I drove home and sh*t my brains out courtesy of Johnny Rockets.  Win win!

Our first road trip up the coast of Cali to San Francisco

This trip had a number of complexities not typical of most.  For starters, we - my two daughters ages 9 and 11 and I - had multiple cities and towns to visit in a relatively short period of 7 days.  Each destination included multiple sites visits, some of which we would stay overnight and some we'd pass through.  Needless to say, just the pre-trip research to coordinate all of these stops, stays and hotel selections was a daunting task that took me many hours to plan and notate in what we called our "Bible".  With the exception of Santa Cruz, the hotels - or motels, rather - were all between 4 and 5 stars rated by travelers and between $150 - $200 a night.  Many served a simple breakfast which saved us $30 - $40.

The other hurdle was spending 24-7 with two kids who don't exactly fancy long walks or drives, and at this age bicker and argue a majority of their time together.  One, the 9 year old, is extremely picky about food, so restaurant selection was surely to be a challenge as well.

Day 1 (Lompoc), August 3rd, 2019 (Sat.):

La Purisima Mission in Lompoc

I showed this bull in the La Purisima Mission
in Lompoc who's boss by tapping his
horns twice over the fence. 

We packed up and left Irvine on Saturday morning, August 3rd, 2019, for our first road trip.  Mistake #1:  We took PCH from Laguna Beach.  Afterall, this is a road trip and when there is opportunity for a scenic route we should oblige.  Wrong!  When we hit Long Beach, PCH turned into an ordinary street through a not-so-scenic part of the city.  I quickly made a couple of phone calls and decided to abandon "scenic routes" to ensure we stayed on schedule.  We took the 405 North to 101 North and stopped by my empty house in Thousand Oaks - soon to be rented out - picked up some dishes of mine left by the previous tenants and continued towards our first destination, Santa Barbara.  This  was to become my 2nd mistake of the trip.  I had booked our first motel in Lompoc, which is a town with the slogan "city of arts and flowers" and per capita income of $21K in 2016, an hour drive north of Santa Barbara.  Naturally, we would have to stop in Santa Barbara first to visit our planned sites and then drive to Lompoc to stay the night.  This nuance had eluded me, and we drove straight to Lompoc before we realized we missed our first stop in Santa Barbara.  After a 4.5 hour drive, no one was in the mood to drive back to Santa Barbara, so with much regret Santa Barbara was out!  What the pluck?!  We missed one of our major destinations on day one esse!

In and around Lompoc, our car radio picked up two stations only;  one Mexican, one Christian.  After a quick vote we opted for the latter.  For half of the trip I was oblivious to the fact that the pre-programmed stations were specific to Orange County and L.A.  In many areas where I thought there was no reception - or only Mexican/Christian stations - I could've scanned for non-programmed stations.  This wasn't a costly mistake since for most part, the kids listened to their audio books on the cell phones, and I, to podcasts on mine.

Day 2 - Aug. 4, 2019:  Solvang
Founded in 1911, this is a beautiful town with Danish-style architecture everyone raved about.  For lunch Han
na insisted on Subway.  Who goes to Solvang and eats at Subway?!  Lo and behold, Subway was one of the most popular eateries in Solvang, and there was barely a table open when we walked in.  Before lunch, we rented a 4-wheel surrey bike at Elin's insistence, and toured the downtown 'safe zone' streets.  I challenged a few surrey riders to a race, and beat all of them handily.  The surrey ride was fun on flat and downhill rides.  Uphill was a ton of work, and I sweat profusely, swearing to avoid uphill routes and eventually any kind of route.  Don't be fooled by the smiling faces in the picture to the left.  Elin (to the left) was pooped.  Hanna just sat there and enjoyed the ride.  Pedals are on either side of this 3-seater.

Elin and I ate lunch at the Red Viking restaurant which was supposed to be THE place to keep with the Solvang Danish Viking tradition.  I wouldn't recommend this place - food tasted average at best.  These pancake puffs called "Aebelskivers", however, were a different story.  Perfect for giving your LDL cholesterol a gigantic boost.

After Solvang, we drove to San Luis Obispo, checked into our motel and went site-seeing.  This little street is called Bubblegum Alley - never seen or heard of anything like it prior.  I stood at the edge of the street while the kids inspected the fine details of thousands of bubblegums on the wall.  I had traces of gum under my shoes before we left - wouldn't recommend taking a stroll down this alley.

Day 3 - Aug. 5th, 2019:  San Luis Obispo continuation
The next morning, we drove to Madonna Inn, where the kids had insisted
to stay overnight.  I fended off their valeant attempt because the specific room they wanted was $300+ a night.  As a compromise, we agreed to visit and dine there.  Modonna Inn has no connection to Madonna the singer.  This motel/landmark was created by Alex Madonna and his wife in 1958, and is quite funky with its fairy-tale-cottage-style exterior and whimsically themed interior.  We dined, we saw, we left to Pismo beach for dune buggy rides, only to discover to our horror that a 4 seater costs $300 for one lousy hour.  How is it that a full-on functioning vehicle costs under $50 to rent for 24 hours, whereas these minimalist cave era Flinstone vehicles cost over 6 times that for a fraction of the time??  Bye bye Pismo, and hello Madonna Inn for horseback rides, except we failed at that endeavor too because of timing.

Off to Cambria, near San Simeon with a population of 6K per the 2010 census.  Cambria is a sea-side village that has greatly benefited from its vicinity to the Hearst Castle.

Day 4 - Aug. 6th, 2019:  Cambria and a monstrosity called the Hearst Castle

We visited Hearst the following day, and were in awe for most of the 'Grand Room' tour.  This is the depth of gaudiness and extravagance.  The Hearst Castle, now a national historic landmark, took almost 20 years to build starting in 1920.  George Bernard Shaw's quote aptly describes this architecture:  "What God would have built if he had the money."  My less eloquent description can best be summed up as, "Get outta here!!!"  William Randolph Hearst held court with the prominent Hollywood actors and politicians of the era - many were regulars:  Charlie Chaplin, Cary Grant and the Marx Brothers, Greta Garbo, Buster Keaton, Mary Pickford, Jean Harlow and Clark Gable all visited, some on multiple occasions. Political luminaries encompassed Calvin Coolidge and Winston Churchill while other notables included Charles Lindbergh, P. G. Wodehouse and George Bernard Shaw.

Day 5 - Aug. 7th, 2019:  From hero to zero:
From Hearst Castle high society to the more primitive:  The Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery, the world's only elephant seal rookery that is free, easily accessible and open the the public every day for viewing of mass barbaric activity and stench.  These gigantic seals lay next to each other seemingly all day, and when one moves ever slightly, it's like someone's ancestors were insulted.  What ensues is a highly irrational show of machismo - the affected seals raise there heads, open their mouths wide and let out deep, high decibel belch sounding growels and occasionally bite each other, only to tire and flop down for a nap.  Have a look:

Next stop Pigeon Point Lighthouse, built in 1871, one of the most picturesque lighthouses in the U.S. and at 116 ft., the tallest on the West Coast.  In the picture to the left, my height covers the entire lighthouse vertical wall if lined up side by side - and that's not an optical illusion...  There are a few rooms for rent there, in groups of 8 with a hot tub overlooking the ocean at $8 per person per half hour.  The towels are for rent as well.  I guess that's partly why they're called hostels.  The rooms are called dorms, and sleep 6 males or females separately.  Each room rented for $34 in September, 2019.


Big Sur:  I had included 5 stops in The Bible, whittled down to 3 on the day of:  McWay Falls, Bixby Bridge, and lunch at Nepenthe.  Because there was no cell reception, we were flying blind and completely missed McWay Falls.  Bixby bridge wasn't worth stopping as it was just an ordinary bridge.  Nepenthe, however, was a whole different story.  Named after a potion used by the ancient gods to induce forgetfulness from pain and sorrow, this Greek/California food restaurant is perched high up on cliffside offering great food - best steak we've had - with, breathtaking panoramic views of forests, hills and the ocean.  There was a ping pong table, where Hanna summarily hit the ball over the cliff with a wild swing of the paddle typical of her care-free and uncoordinated style of play in all sports.  LOVED NEPENTHE.  There is a feint cell signal at the terrace on the opposite end of the restaurant to the entrance

Monterey Crepe Co.

After a mild bout with diarrhea cha cha cha - lingered from a couple of days prior and not from the food we ate there - we set out for the Monterey Bay aquarium which turned out to be a bit of a dud.  Prior to the trip, Elin had asked the spend the entire day there.  Naturally, our expectations were high that the aquarium had enough attractions to last a day.  After less than 2 hours of watching penguins feed, a 15 minute shark educational theater presentation, viewing of two large aquariums with sharks etc. - a majority of which was ho hum - we left and drove to downtown to eat crepes at the Monterey Crepe Company, spent a half hour walking up and down a cordoned off street with farmers market, food and merchandise booths set up every Tuesday there, and then drove to Santa Cruz for our overnight stay.

Day 6 - Aug. 8th, 2019:  Santa Cruz  - we didn't get the memo

Unanimously our most undesirable stop.  I'm not sure why no one warned us of Santa Cruz, but many of the streets and even the famous boardwalk with amusement park rides were dirty, old - and I'm not referring to sightly architecturally old - and seemingly unsafe.  We couldn't wait to get outta dodge, and that's just what we did after we ate our breakfast at a 4.5 out of 5 star yelp reviewed restaurant called Harbor Cafe the following morning.  According to Elin, Lompoc was paradise as compared to Santa Cruz.

While there, Elin got hungry late at night, so we drove to a McDonald's near our motel, and en route, I saw my first " Resource Center for Non-Violence".  I assumed violence referred to the domestic variety, but after some research I realized this organization's mission is to promote non-violent social change, a la Martin Luther King Jr.'s resistance philosophy.

Amelia to the left

On our way to San Francisco - our last stop before heading back
- we visited Mavericks beach.  I had watched surfing documentary videos about Mavericks, the site of annual big wave surfing competition between November and March.  What I didn't know until now that I'm writing this sentence is that the surf area is a quarter mile off shore which explains why I didn't see any waves, giant or not.  The kids had to be dragged there, and negotiated stopping halfway to the beach and waiting for me.  When I got back, a friendly little girl named Amelia, one of 7 siblings, invited us to climb a steep dirt hill to a tree rope swing, which we were happy to oblige.  This is the scariest swing I've come across, and at first was hesitant to let my kids swing on.  The land beneath was very steep, which meant you'd pick up crazy speed and height with minimal effort - see video:

Day 7 - Aug. 9th, 2019:  San Francisco and no Alcatraz

Lombard St. SF

While in San Francisco, we visited downtown, parked our car near Chinatown and walked through Chinatown to Union Square (bla - good for shopping only), went to Starbucks for a pitstop, visited Old Navy to buy pants for the kids since they hadn't packed enough - many days were cold and cloudy - ate at a street hot dog stand with the worst tasting buns at $7 per dog (where is Costco when you need one?), walked back to the car for 30 minutes up the steep San Francisco hills - on the walk back, Elin asked to avoid Chinatown because she had seen dead whole chickens complete with eyes and beaks - Lombard street (first walked down, then drove down), Ghirardelli Square for boring shakes (Ruby's are way better) - then my mom called and said we should visit Sausalito, and that was easy since we were planning on driving over the Golden Gate Bridge anyway, and Sausalito is a short drive on the other side.  While in Sausalito, the kids climbed every tree near the Golden Gate Bridge ferry.  We missed Alcatraz because I attempted to reserve tickets late, and a half day trip for the 3 of us would've cost $200 at a 3rd party site with a $10 ticket delivery fee when it was all done electronically, plus a buncha other bullship tack on fees.  I declined to pay on the principle of it.  Somewhere during San Francisco, I decided to work Santa Barbara into our return trip.  I had booked a one night stay in Paso Robles for the drive back.  I cancelled that, added Lompoc overnight, and to Santa Barbara the following morning.  I was proud of improvising, and correcting a costly mistake earlier in the trip.

The Gilroy dude w/ a handlebar mustache - nice guy

Before Lompoc, we stopped at Gilroy (Garlic City) for lunch at a Yelp highly rated restaurant.  Before setting course, we realized there had been a public shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival 10 days prior with 4 deaths including the gunman and 13 injuries.  This happened amidst a string of other shootings around the country.  There was a banner downtown near our restaurant that read, "#GilroyStrong".  We sat outside, ate our lunch and struck up a conversation with a local who sported a handlebar mustache - something I could never accomplish.  On our way out of town, we stopped by Foster's Freeze and had ice cream/Sundays.

Day 8 - Aug. 10th, 2019:  Santa Barbara, finally!

I'm holding the rocks for Leo's grave

God bless Santa Barbara's cheap public parking fairs - free for the first 75 minutes, $1.50 for every hour thereafter.  That's what I call a tourist-friendly city.  Santa Barbara is one of the most beautiful cities we visited during our trip - all buildings downtown looked new, clean, scenic.  The superior courthouse offers a high panoramic view of the city, hills and the ocean.

En route SB, we got word that Leo, the kids' pet hamster, had passed away that morning.  Leo was old, and his passing was around the corner, but the kids were hoping it wouldn't happen during this trip.  Both girls shed tears, but felt better when Helena suggested we pick a few rocks from the Santa Barbara beach for Leo's grave in the back yard.

Before we visited the beautiful Superior Court downtown, we parked nearby, and I need to go, so I
found a spot near the parking lot and went.  Later, a woman took our picture outside the courthouse, and asked me if I knew of any public restrooms.  I pointed her to the spot I had done my deed, and when we parted ways, I didn't see her walking in that direction.  Whatevs....

At one point in a motel I can't remember which (Santa Cruz?), Elin told me my face was so ugly, when One Direction saw it, they walked in a different direction.

After the courthouse, we parked near the pier, picked up rocks for the late Leo, walked on the pier briefly and begrudgingly - the kids needed convincing - walked back to a Finney's Crafthouse to eat lunch (great restaurant), kids ate ice cream at McConell's Fine Ice Creams and headed back home.  En route, I stopped by my house in Thousand Oaks again and picked up more dishes, stopped at a friend and former colleague's house - an attorney I worked with at Amgen - and headed home in shitty L.A. traffic.

In the car on the way to Gilroy the following exchange took place:

Elin:  Johanna, I hate to inform you, your phone takes horrible pictures, and so do you.
Me:  I  liked the picture she took of my back as I entered the Mission church in Lompoc.
Elin:  That's because you can't see your face.

Costco Conundrum.

The day I needed a new picture for my Costco membership card, I had Elin with me - she couldn't have been older than 1.  When the Costco rep asked me to pose for the picture, I didn't have anywhere to put her, so I asked if I could hold her, and she said yes.

Fast forward 10 years, and since I'm divorced and no longer need a 1-year supply of toilet paper, I cancelled my membership but didn't want to lose this memorable picture.....