Showing posts with label Staples Center. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Staples Center. Show all posts

Monday, January 28, 2008

What a weekend



Greetings welcome to bog 1.011. So what did you do this weekend? I bet it wasn't as exciting as mine (unless you went to all 5 of Garth's concerts in LA)!




Friday - Nothing special, it was the calm before the storm!!!! I did watch the CBS 1 hr broadcast of GB's concert (live on the East Coast). Two things here, 1) why only an hour CBS? You could have bumped the other show and shown all 2 hours of the concert. and 2) Why is everything always "Live on the East Coast". It seems that nothing is ever live on the west coast.




Saturday - What a day!!!!!! First I went to go see the Aztecs basketball team take on UNLV. UNLV ended up wining the game by a final of 72-69. Fine job Rebels, but even you have to admit the officials were horrible in the game against BOTH teams.




After the game, I headed up the 5 to Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. Normally, I avoid downtown LA like the plague, because everything in LA (please notice I'm differentiating between LA & Orange County) sucks!!!!!! Except for Staples Center! Staples is the second largest arena I have been in (behind Pepsi Center in Denver). I have been there three times now for three different types of events (Clippers BBall, Avengers, and now a concert (the first concert outside of San Diego County)). The drive wasn't that bad, as I went through some wonderful points of interest like Camp Pendelton (Thanks guys for what you do, but can't you spruce up the view alittle???), San Clemente, Sa-na-ta-a-na (Jeff Dunham reference), the 91 freeway, and downtown LA.




Then come the moment I've been waiting for since my mom gave me the tickets for Christmas, GARTH BROOKS!!!!!!!!!! I saw him in concert in June of 1996 as a HS graduation gift for myself. Once I saw that he was coming to LA, I was trying to figure out how I could get tickets. I figured I would just have to wait, as it ended up, mom got them for me. I have also made a vow, if Garth comes within 6 hours of San Diego, I will find a way to go!!! That man can entertain the shit out of a crowd. I will even forgive him for starting 30 minutes late. NO WORRIES GB!!! The only thing that disappointed me was the fact that he didn't sing my favorite song, Learning to Live Again. It was a minor hit, so I can't exactly blame him.

After the concert, what could have been the worst ride of my life. I meant to take the 110 to the 405 all the way home. What actually happened was I hopped onto the 10. I took the 10 to the 5 south, great idea, two freeways and your done, WRONG! I get on the 5 and then I find out that all lanes are closed at Trigg street. Well, thankfully, 1/2 mile before Trigg is the 710, so I take the 710 and I'm thinking ok, either the 91 or the 405. Well, I hear that the 405 had a bunch of accidents, so I am planning on taking the 91, well before I get to the 91 the 710 comes to a complete stop. All lanes, I'm thinking, well hell I might as well have stayed on the 5. After about 25 minutes traffic starts to move again. What had happened was 3 cars got into an incident, and two of the cars were blocking lanes. After they were cleared, traffic started moving again. So I got to the 91, got back on the 5, and made my way thru the traffic and rain and wind. Finally getting home around 3:30 Sunday morning.

Sunday - Well after getting about 4 1/2 hours of sleep, it was back out we go. This time to meet up with Matty at his house so that my dad & I could get to the Buick Invitational to see how bad Tiger Woods could kill the field. He ended up winning by 8 shots. So we went to Torrey Pines site of the US Open this year to watch the tourney. I was about 5-10 feet away from Stuart Appelby after he hit his drive on the 7th hole into the left rough. I had taken a great shot of Tiger Woods latter on the 16th tee, but the same idiots (SDPD) that pulled me over for my headlights a couple of weks ago, told me I'd have to erase the picture or I would have to wait until 3 hours after the tournament to get my cell phone back. So even thou, I didn't want to, I erased the picture, and turned off my cell phone, only to turn it back on about 5 minutes later. I ended up being about 5 feet away from Tiger when he went into the media tent for his post-tourney comments. And then again when he came back out and before he was taken away, he signed a program book for a kid that is 7 yrs old, that is cool Tiger!!!!
Anyways, so that was the weekend from heaven, and now I start back to regular spring semester over at "Harvard on the Hill". BTW, with all of the rain that was falling here in So Cal this past weekend, was anyone building an arc? Oh and one final comment from the Garth Brooks concert. I had a bunch of people laughing when as I was leaving Staples Center, I was saying "Aw, can someone please turn off the sprinklers, the ground is wet enough already!" They thought it was funny!!!

Friday, December 28, 2007

Sorry

Yes, its been awile since we last got together. Welcome to bog 1.006, the first in about a week. That is mainly because of my recent trip to Las Wages (offically Las Vegas).

For those who know gamble talk I came home down 2 bills (for those who don't understand that, -$200). Also, I don't believe that I mentioned this in bog 1.005 that this was my second trip to the Riviera. I believe that if you have a bad experience, you should go back and see if that bad experience, is just a one time thing or if it is the norm. I very rarely tell people where they should stay, but of you have a choice between, the Riviera and another another Hotel Casino (HC) in Las Vegas, choose the other HC. Both times that I have stayed at the Riviera have been very bad experiences. For example, on this trip, (I don't know about the folks who read this bog, but I'm not a big fan of being called a liar!) Christmas Eve, at around 5:00 in the early evening. I go down with my parents to get the car out of valet, and once the valet brings the vehicle around, & I get in without giving him a tip, he says to me "Do you need change?" I say no, and then he grabs the door and prevents me from closing it, he says "We have been keeping track and you haven't tiped us, since you got here." Two things bothered me about this. 1) Since when is it mandatory to TIP? and 2) I had been tipping everytime I got the car out of valet (up to that point, it had totaled $9 in less than two days).

As far as the issue of tipping, here is my theory on it, if the person that I'm tipping has done a good job, or gone above & beyond the call of duty, they get a tip, if niether of these happens, then no tip. It's plain and simple. BUT WHEN YOU START CALLING ME A LIAR, OR TELLING ME THAT TIPPING IS EXPECTED, NOT A GOOD IDEA. I didn't give a single tip thereafter.

As for my family, namely my sister. I love my sister, but what happened to originality? My sister works for Terrible's HC in the corporate area. What was her gift to me for Christmas???? A six-pack cooler with the Terrible's logo on it (Keeping in mind, that anyone that signs up for thier players club can get the same item!!!).

My Christmas had a major turn in it once we got back home, as my Mom & Dad out of no where gave me a ticket and parking pass to one of the Garth Brooks concerts in LA next month. For those who don't know me, I FREAKING LOVE GARTH!!!! I went to one of the 1996 concerts at the SDSA (Sound there SUCKS) and had a great time, now that I'm going to be listening and seeing him at Staples, holy crap it is going to be AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So long for now, as this is the end of bog 1.006. I start school in less than a week and in my next bog, I shall go over my New Year's resolutions. Til then, See Ya!