Last Sunday was the A’s final home game this season, so despite the super-duper hot California weather, we braved the weather to go out to support our boys. They didn’t end in style, but at least my day wasn’t a total loss: I was able to score Gio Gonzalez’s autograph to add to my collection!
Gio is known to be a crowd-pleaser. He’ll go through great lengths to meet the fans in the stands. In fact, before the game, he went to the first row & gave hundreds of autographs for anyone who wanted them. Super nice guy, too.
As usual, I prepare my Sketches app on my iPhone, then put the phone in front of him when my turn came up. As usual, he looks at it with confusion.
Me: You don’t need a pen; just use your finger to sign.
Gio: Ohh, sign the phone.
[He proceeds to sign the phone.]
Gio: Sorry, it could have been neater, but I think this was the best I could do.
At least I didn’t have to lose an iPhone case this time.
Lifestyle
Our T-Bone is all grown up. He’s blessed to have a beautiful wife & with a beautiful ceremony up in the hills of Berkeley on an early Sunday morning. The fog on the hillside & the gorgeous location made for an extremely scenic wedding, California style.
You also gotta give them credit—their wedding happened to land on Talk Like a Pirate Day, so they made sure to play the part.
Of course, as his friends, we did our part to help him out. Not only did I volunteer to photograph his wedding, he even asked Alex to officiate the wedding, in which he did a superb job. To top it off, he even performed a musical number during brunch. An honest-to-goodness one man show.
Welcome to the club, T-Bone & Molly! Here’s to a wonderful & prosperous future with your new family.
Bay Area, photography, wedding
Yeah, it’s not exactly your traditional bachelor’s party, but at least our day didn’t involve getting clocked by Mike Tyson.
T-Bone is getting married in a few weeks. In part two of his bachelor weekend, we wanted to do something that would put hair on our manly chests. T-Bone, coming from the Midwest, has yet to handle a firearm since moving out here to California. We wanted to shoot things, so with the help of Yelp, Coyote Valley Sporting Clays was at the top of our list.
Good, ol’ fashioned fun, it was. We shared one shotgun, carried around a big box of ammo, & shot from 18 different stations (sporting clays is often described as “golf with a shotgun”). Just like riding on ATVs—which is what my friends took me to ride on my bachelor’s party—it’s a bit strenuous & you can’t do it for too long. Expect a big, gnarly bruise on your shoulder where the shotgun butt sits. Ouch.
With the exception of the violent blasting of shotguns, sporting clays is a pretty relaxing & fun sport (again, just like golf). It can be a bit on the pricey side, but I guess we looked at the cashier the right way, because she gave us a huge discount for two hours of fun. We probably shouldn’t expect that type of deal the second time around, & yes, I’ll be coming back there again hopefully soon!
Bay Area, Lifestyle, photography
Remember our friend T-Bone? Cindy & I met him when we studied abroad in Japan. Now we’re all the best of friends. T-Bone moved to Berkeley to get his Masters, where he met Molly, a fine young lass originally from New York. On September 19th, they’re going to tie the knot.
They’ve been busy with wedding planning, but they made it a point to hang out with the gang one last official time as single people. We reserved the day before Labor Day to be filled with food: a German lunch, followed home-cooked dinner at Alex’s.
We’re all good friends, so we know each other’s deepest desires. One of T-Bone’s wishes was fulfilled when he opened our gift before dinner:
Coincidentally, the flak jacket we bought was called the MOLLE.
Bay Area, Lifestyle, Photo of the day, photography
There’s no better combination for a celebration: a birthday party at a baseball game. Sure, it’s not an A’s game (in fact, I have yet to go to an A’s game these past few weeks & have already been to two Giants games), but baseball is baseball! Even went through all the usual motions for a day reserved for the ol’ American pastime: arriving a few hours early for batting practice, eat unhealthy food, & jeering at the outfielders until I lose my voice. I love the sport.
The game was great, but our company was even better. Mel even got to celebrate her birthday in a wild fashion. Our favorite food vendor—selling hot chocolate that night—’creamed’ her at our request.
Happy 26th birthday, Mel! May we celebrate many more, hopefully at a ballpark.
Lifestyle
