What’s Going On?

The San Jose Sharks have been doing really well this season. Currently they are at the top in the Pacific Division and on Monday they had the most points National Hockey League with 81pts. Today, they are behind the Washington Capitals who have 82pts, resulting from their win last night. Am I proud that the Sharks are up there? Darn Right!!! It’s just a matter of how long can they do it for. I’m pretty confident that they will play hard for the rest of the season. Will this be the year that the Sharks take the Stanley Cup? Quite possibly. I think with the way the Sharks have been playing it could be the very year that they do it.

I took a trip down to San Jose a few weeks ago with a friend to watch a game at the HP Pavilion, also known as “The Tank”. The Sharks that weekend were playing the Edmonton Oilers. The game was pretty exciting for me since I haven’t been to a game in over 5 years.

The game started off pretty good with the Sharks scoring pretty early on in the game with a goal by Marleau. The Oilers picked up a goal tying the game. However, later in the first period Setoguchi snuck in a goal to give the Sharks a 2-1 lead.

Following the first period the Sharks were on fire and picked up another goal quick in the second period by Setoguchi making it a 3-1 game. Sharks then went to score one last goal later on in the period by Thorton making it 4-1, but the Oilers didn’t give up. They picked up one more goal in the third period to make the final score of the game San Jose Sharks 4 to Edmonton Oilers 2.

The MVP of the game was Setoguchi, which is a player that is starting to grow on me and for now has to be my favorite player in hockey. Something about saying his name makes watching the game more enjoyable. Setoguchi would also have to be one of my favorite players because he wears the number of one of my all time favorite players in Bay Area sports and that number has been worn by the late and great quarterback of the 80s; the good ol’ number 16 worn by Joe Montana.

In other news, since the Sharks performed well and picked up a victory of 4 points Round Table Pizza gave away free pizzas to all who attended the game. How sweet of a deal is that. Not only did the Sharks pick up a victory, but fans could pick up free personal sized pizzas, with any home victory 4pts and above.

If you haven’t been down to see a hockey game, it’s truly a great experience to see it live and in person. Televised games are just not the same when you can see players brawl in person. I hope to see more games in the future, so if you have time go check out a game and if you have extra tickets you can send them my way too, I won’t turn you down.

Pictures of the hockey game can be seen by clicking on the picture link above. If you enjoyed this post and it was informative and helpful, please feel free to leave me a comment or donation below. Thank you.

Today on Christmas Eve, I returned back to McDonald’s to get a complimentary meal due to my horrible experience I had made earlier today an hour after midnight. Let me first start out by telling you all that I had a deep hunger for something to eat that night because prior to my cravings I had just played through almost 5 hours straight of Settlers of Catan. Settlers is a real fun and cool game, but the night was full of surprises and which ended up being one of the most intense games I’ve ever played with loud outbursts.

So six of my friends came together at my buddy’s place for a friendly game of Settlers. Since all of us were guys, we knew that there was going to be some trash talking going on, but we didn’t know to what extent. Anyhow throughout the game words flew out of our mouth like burgers come out of drive thrus. Okay that was a bad analogy, but you catch my drift. Anyhow, one guy says hey we should all go out to get some McDonald’s after this and I thought that perhaps that wasn’t a bad idea. So once we all made up from all that yelling and arguing from the intense three games everybody went their separate ways. I, however, had the urge to go grab a meal at McDonald’s.

I drove up to a local McDonald’s, location not disclosed, and I ordered one of the newest burgers that they have created. I ordered a 1/3 lb. Angus burger with mushrooms and Swiss cheese combo meal. I asked the worker over the intercom to have fresh hot fries. He told me that they have fries coming out every several minutes and that shouldn’t be a problem. I drive up and pay for my combo and as I received the bag of food, I opened it. I tasted the fries and to my dismay it was cold and hard. I then told the lady that gave me the food that the fries were not to my liking and that they were not freshly hot how I like them. She then told me that next time I should not taste the fries first. When I was told that comment I thought to myself that this lady is crazy because how can a customer tell if the fries are up to their standards if you don’t get to try them first. I thought that was rediculous what she had said. So that incident frustrated me. Then she came back with fries that were slightly warmer and she brought them out seconds after handing me the bag in the first place. So in disgust I drove home.

When I got home I opened up the bag of fries and realized that she filled the fries container 3/4ths of the way. She sure jacked me! I then opened the burger package to look at the Swiss mushroom burger. I looked at the burger and it seemed like nothing too special. I took a look at the patty and it seemed a little dry, but you never know right? So I took a bite of the burger with the Swiss cheese slightly melted and I bit into some dried mushrooms. The type of texture you would get with dried shiitake mushrooms in a bag at your local Asian supermarket. I was totally disgusted by it and I said to myself that I went through all that trouble of wanting a good satisfying meal and it ended up being unsatisfactory. So to voice a complaint I then called and spoke to the manager to see what he could do since I did not have a receipt which the lady did not include in my bag. He then told me to come in the next day for a complimentary meal. I then said that I would take him up on his offer and I returned the next day. I don’t normally complain about outright for something too many times, but this was just an incident that stuck with me.

The next day, Christmas Eve, I talked with another shift manager whom got a message that was written down that I would be back to receive the meal and the problem was sorted with ease. While waiting for my food a customer came up to the cashier and ordered a small meal. I overheard that he wanted some food, but he asked the cashier how much damage it would cost him. She said something about a little under three dollars. He said he couldn’t afford it and so he said how about two baked apple pies and he ended up paying for that.

As I looked at myself complaining for the smallest of things, I realize that more people are suffering more than I am. Currently, I myself am not working, but am trying to establish myself in the photography field. I thought to myself how would I feel if I was stuck in a less fortunate situation and nobody helped me out. I then thought about my trip out to the Midwest that I took out in September. Many people opened their arms up to me and showed me so much hospitality and kindness when I came as a stranger. One lady on the plane even invited me to stay with her and her family if I were ever to visit Wyoming. How generous people are is beyond belief. So after hearing what the wants of the man was I walked up to him and asked him would he like a meal and he said yes. He tried to rationalize with me that he just got out of the hospital and his leg is hurt and probably mentioned that he hadn’t had a good meal and I just told him don’t worry you don’t have to explain it. So I asked him what he wanted and I helped this guy out in his dire need.

The point of my entry today is that you should be aware of your surroundings. If a loved one and/or a stranger comes up to you or you see someone in need, take the time to go out of your way and help them out. You never know what a big or small difference you can make in their life. Something so small can change something so big. I’ve learned so much this year and my Midwest trip was one of the most influential trips that I’ve taken on my on in my entire life. My encouragement to my readers would be to lend a helping hand to those that are in need.

If this post was informative and helpful, please feel free to leave me a comment or donation below. Thank you.

hoboFish and Kamikaze Theory came together back on June 5, 2009 for a night of improv and sketch comedy. These two great groups performed live at The Thick House and was presented by The Asian American Theater Company that is here in San Francisco. Selling out to a crowd of people who were eager to laugh out loud and cry from laughing were present for this one night of humor that was to die for. The title of the evening was called Comedy for the (Un)Employed. Throughout the year each group put on multiple shows to get more and more people exposed to the art of comedy by Asian Americans. Non-stop puns and inside-jokes are in store for you if you ever get a chance to see these groups perform live. Each group has their own schedule so if you would like to catch them in the act you’ll have to search them on the internet.  Currently hoboFish is the only one that has a website that is active and you can find them here. As for Kamikaze Theory there has yet to be a site, but be on the lookout for them. The next show that you will find both Kamikaze Theory and hoboFish together will be on December 18th, 2009. For more info check the hoboFish website.

Pictures of the hoboFish can be seen by clicking on the hoboFish group picture below. Pictures of Kamikaze Theory can be seen by clicking on the Kamikaze group picture below also. Please feel free to leave me a comment or donation below for the pictures and/or the posting.

The Fleet Week 2009 Air Show in San Francisco this year was perhaps a slight disappointment from the many years that I’ve been attending. Before you you think that this was a total failure continue reading and I will explain everything. The Blue Angels are by far one of my all time favorite things to see every year and although some of the maneuvers are pretty much routine they always seem to keep me in awe. They are by far one of the most skilled men and women of our Armed Forces that are chosen to be a part of the Navy’s flight demonstration team. However, this year the weather put a damper on the show for Saturday and the Blue Angels had to put an end to their show fairly quickly and ugly conditions on Sunday prevented the Blue Angels to do any maneuvers up into the clouds.

First off, Thursday was a good and sunny day down at the Marina. The Blue Angels including their Hercules C-130 and a few other propeller planes took to the skies over San Francisco. The Blue Angels were doing their typical survey flights over the city to get a general feel of location for how the show will be for Saturday and Sunday. Also present for a little practice were three propeller planes including one bi-plane. The pilots of the four planes were Sean Tucker with Team Oracle, Melissa Pemberton with Melissa Aerobatics, Tim Weber with Geico, and Michael Wiskus with Lucas Oil Pitts. Also joining in a solo practice was Julie Clark with Chevron who has clocked in over 30,000 hours of accident free flying and Airship Ventures which flew a large blimp across the skies.

The next day on Friday, the air show was in full swing for a full complete practice with great sunny skies. The day was exceptional with just beautiful weather and the show was pretty amazing. Like Thursday all of the previously mentioned pilots took part in practice in addition to a couple more demonstrations by a United Airlines 747 and Gregory Colyer who flew the T-33. The great weather allowed for some great images and I am so thankful that I came to the practice on Friday because the next two days were gloomy.

Saturday was a partly cloudy sky with most of the clouds burning off as it passed Marina Green and to the east. Yes I attended on Saturday as well. I told you I love planes and jets, who doesn’t? Saturday is the first official day of the Fleet Week Air Show and boy was it exciting. Planes all over the skies and right over your head makes for one exhilarating day. The show included all the above pilots and planes plus a United States Coast Guard HH-65 helicopter which performed a diver rescue demonstration who dove and was retrieved from the water, the Patriots jet team, and with a couple surprises that were not on the schedule like two F-16s, four T-6A Texan II planes, and a C-17C Globemaster III cargo plane. Ending off the airshow were the Blue Angels which had to cut short their performance due to the fog rolling into the Bay. According to one of the pilots I spoke with the FAA would not allow them to fly without 3 miles of visibility. When I heard that I totally understood because the Blue Angels need pinpoint accuracy when flying at high speeds and all those crazy aero acrobatics.

Later Saturday night the Blue Angels held a “Meet and Greet” for about 45 minutes at Pier 39. There fans could meet up close and personal with the pilots of the F-18s, C-130, and the rest of the crew. I had a chance to get autographs with all of them and they too were happy to answer any questions about the Blue Angels or the Navy. This was the first time I had ever met the Blue Angels first hand and I thought it was a pretty cool experience. Following the “Meet and Greet” there was a live 80s cover band that played all the greatest hits named Fast Times at Pier 39 and further down the waterfront at Pier 3 there were fireworks presented by the Hornblower Cruises and Events.

Sunday was a gloomy day much far worse than Saturday, but the good thing about Sunday was that the air show still went on without a hitch. The show went on despite overcast clouds and light fog. Even more surprising is that the Blue Angels took to the skies with a modified program which made me happy. Still great maneuvers in the sky and some awesome pictures of a high speed low pass by from one of the F-18s that created a cool water vapor bubble effect. On Sunday I had a different vantage point from the other three days, I was at Aquatic Park which is a nice place to watch, but a horrible place to take pictures because of all the obstructions of buildings and boats that are in the harbor. Other than that it was a cool place to be with many people who clapped and gave a bunch of Ohs and Ahs.

Overall, I lied. The air show was great. The weather for the first half was great, but the remaining half the weather wasn’t cooperating at all. The planes and their pilots took to the air with an amazing show. Seeing the giant Airbus A380 was a great sight to see two years ago. I just can’t wait to see what’s in store for next year.

A selection of pictures from the San Francisco Fleet Week 2009 Air Show can be seen by clicking on the picture link above. Please feel free to leave me a comment below for the pictures and/or the posting.

LovEvolution 2009 is a dance music parade and festival that happens once a year. Formerly known as Love Fest and Love Parade, LovEvolution is in it’s 6th year and larger than you can imagine. People took to the streets early Saturday morning awaiting the parade of floats, DJs, and dancers. People young and old came out to check out this yearly event and just about the only time in San Francisco that you can come dressed with next to nothing, well in some people’s cases they did just that.

LovEvolution is a week long celebration that started off the week with numerous DJs playing at different clubs throughout the city ending with the LovEvolution parade and festival. The LovEvolution parade started on 2nd and Market Streets and concluded at Civic Center Plaza where a $10 admission fee was charged for the festival. The festival lasted until 8pm where festival goers could enjoy more partying at other after parties located locally with ticket prices ranging up to around $80 per person.

The parade route was completely swamped with people dancing and grooving to the beats that the DJs were throwing out and it was an intensly populated parade that cross traffic was held up for almost a couple hours. No traffic, that I know of, was allowed to cross Market St. due to the large volume of people and as I walked the parade route I noticed people got out of their cars and walked up to the crosswalks to see what was going on. As the floats went down Market St. I was surprised to see big rigs pulling trailers filled with people and huge speakers. There were a couple nifty buses that were outfitted for a party which I thought added a little more character to the parade than the big rigs. Overall, the parade was a great hit amongst people of all ages and I can say is almost like the Bay to Breakers with people dressing up in costumes or skimpy clothing and even with some people that were bare naked.

At the festival the line to get in the Civic Center Plaza was insane. People waited over 30 minutes just to get inside. Once inside it was a mecca of dance music all around. Parade floats were somewhat evenly spaced out throughout the whole area with one fixed stage right in front of City Hall. Directly in the center of the Civic Center Plaza food and drink vendors lined the strip with a few memorabilia vendors scattered throughout. People were a little more rowdy inside as I can imagine as more alcohol and music surrounding was available. It got a little intense inside with a few getting alcohol poisoning, a few riled up enough to destroy public property, and a few having partied so much that they had to sit out for awhile.

In the end, I can only imagine how many showed up to the parade and festival and if I were to put a number on how many guests attended either the parade or the festival I would have to say that number would have to be around 200,000. LovEvolution turned out to be a huge success with a large following. The vision for LovEvoluion is for dance to promote peace, love, unity and respect.

Pictures of LovEvolution can be seen by clicking on the picture link above. Feel free to leave comments below for the pictures and the posting.

On Sunday, Radio Alice 97.3FM put on a concert open to the public for free. This is the very first time that Alice hosted a free Now and Zen Concert. The Alice Summerthing Concert earlier in the summer is normally free, but having another free concert brought to you by Alice is just simply amazing. Featured music artists were Train, Colbie Caillat, Howie Day, and Dashboard Confessional.

People in record numbers crowded Sharon Meadows with thousands of people on the field as well as hundreds of people sitting on the grassy knoll in the back. Sharon Meadows is located toward the eastern end of Golden Gate Park and just right before the Panhandle Park. Various food and merchandise booths lined the entrance way before people proceeded to the main concourse.

This year I was able to attend just the performance by Train and a performance it was. Lead singer Patrick Monahan riled up the crowd with his charm and some pretty amazing songs. He energized the crowd by singing his number one hits as well as grabbing cameras from the audience to take pictures of himself and the audience. He even came down to audience level to just sing to the crowd and to be embraced by his fans.

His song set consisted of 16 songs. They were “You Already Know”, “Meet Virginia”, “Get To Me”, “She’s On Fire”, “Ordinary”, “Ramble On”, “San Fran”, “I Got You”, “Calling All Angels”, “Cab”, “Save The Day”, “Hey, Soul Sister”, “Free”, “Drops of Jupiter”, and “Dream On”.

Alice has yet again impressed me with an amazing line up and I hope that it doesn’t stop there. I can’t wait for another year of great music, fun in the sun, and the possibility in meeting new people.

Pictures of the Now and Zen Concert can be seen by clicking on the picture link above. Feel free to leave comments below for the pictures and the posting.

Every year teams from all over come to San Francisco Bay to compete in the Dragon Boat races located at Treasure Island. This year good weather brings about good competition and lots of festival goers. At first glance, the festival seems to be a little more organized this year with organized parking lots, more seating for the entertainment stage, a larger kid’s zone, and a section for the finish line officials that is not obstructed by people because it was elevated.

Treasure Island has been the location for these races for quite some time now and it’s been great to be able to travel not so far from San Francisco to part take in some beautiful weather and with great views of San Francisco’s skyline. The festival took place on September 26th and 27th from 8-5pm. I enjoyed the festival on Sunday with beautiful sunny skies. Most of the day were races for the high school divisions, but I believe later in the day the finals for other groups took place along with an awards ceremony to follow.

This year I spent most of my time enjoying the live entertainment taking place on the large stage built near the entrance to the festival. There I was able to enjoy different various martial arts, some singing, and my favorite lion dancing.

Festival goers could take part in many activities this year on location which included Dragon Land (arts and crafts for the youth), a variety of international food vendors, shopping (gifts and other various memorabilia), a health and fitness tent, a couple informational booths, live entertainment, and of course the dragon boat races.

Sunday at the festival was Family Day and families with children were encouraged to come while mascots and other festival characters were there to greet. I personally got to see some stilt walkers around the grounds, Nickelodeon’s Kai-lan, a red and green dragon, a balloon artist, and some volunteers who helped put on temporary tattoos.

Each year the entertainment and the booths become more interesting and as the years press on I’m looking forward to a much larger audience with an ever increasing number of exciting and new vendors. If you haven’t seen dragon boat races before well mark your calenders next year as the competition is fierce for the 300m and 500m races. Parking is free and there are shuttles on and off the island. Passage to and from the island from San Francisco is free, but visitors coming from the East Bay will still have to pay a bridge toll to access the island.

Pictures of the SF International Dragon Boat Festival can be seen by clicking on the picture link above. Feel free to leave comments below for the pictures and the posting.

San Mateo was host to the 75th Annual San Mateo County Fair. This year’s theme was “The Peninsula’s Festival”. Located at the San Mateo Fairgrounds, the fair hosted a carnival, arts and crafts exhibits, livestock competitions, pig races, foods galore, stage performances and acts, and premium artists concerts.

Artists that attended this year’s fair include names such as Arrested Development, Shane Dwight, War, Tower of Power, Boyz II Men, The Guess Who, Dia de la Feria Preciosa, and a Pink Floyd Laser Show Spectacular.

I attended the fair on Wednesday and it’s been about a year since I’ve gone back to a county fair. I really enjoyed my time there because I was entertained nonstop. There were about four or so small stages throughout the fairgrounds and each stage had something going on. Most of the stages had guest music bands who performed for us all, playing anything from Country to Rock and Roll.

Several things that I got to see were the pig races, a Chinese acrobatic group, musical performances by local bands, a crazy mascot running all around the fairgrounds, a swine judging competition, amazing artwork, a hypnotist show, and the main stage performance.

Wednesday night’s feature concert on the main stage was Tower of Power. Tower of Power is a lively upbeat funk jazz group that rocks my socks. This band has been around for over 40 years and is still going on strong, yes some of the members are switched out, but who cares? They still pump out great beats and they sure do get the audience riled up.

One thing that I learned through this fair was that the swine judging contest is bittersweet. Children from various ranches tend to pigs, cattle, and other livestock. What I did not know is that these kids help raise these animals from youth till they are full grown. The thing that is bittersweet about the whole situation is that the livestock is judge 1st Place, 2nd Place, 3rd Place and so on and after the kids win their awards the livestock is then sold off at auction to meet their inevitable fate. Having known this I asked someone if it’s sad to the kids that raise them and I was told that no they are not saddened. They go into raising them knowing that they will inevitably sold off and used for consumption. For myself, I was a little held back at that, but then again we all do need to eat. For some they see this as animal cruelty, but now knowing how things are it’s just a way of life for some people.

Overall the fair was amazing and I spent hours upon hours enjoying every minute of the fair. A few things that I do regret is walking and standing pretty much the whole day. The other disappointment was that the Tower of Power Concert was filled to capacity, everyone was waiting to get in, but couldn’t. Some people left the concert to do something outside of the building, but although were given a wristband they had no use, admission was still denied. I think in the future the main stage should be built in the parking lot so that more people can attend and enjoy the concerts because that is one of the main reasons to come to the fair and why people purchase tickets. If you still get the chance the California State Fair is still going on till Labor Day so if you want to check out some cool fun take a trip on up to Sacramento.

Click on the picture link above to view pictures of the San Mateo County Fair.

The Stern Grove Festival has been held in San Francisco for 72 consecutive years. The concerts at Stern Grove are always free, but not cost free. The festival is funded by corporate sponsors as well as sponsors like you. The festival costs an estimated $2 million. Stern Grove can be found on the corner of Sloat Blvd. and 19th Ave. and concerts are on Sundays at 2pm.

This past Sunday I had the opportunity to check out the San Francisco Ballet. Of the ten performances at Stern Grove the concert of choice would have been the San Francisco Symphony. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the Symphony, but I am glad to have attended the ballet. It was something different and something out of my comfort zone that I was able to enjoy. Although ballet is not on my top ten things to see I’m glad that I experienced a little taste of it. If you ask me to give it another try, I think I would. It might be something

The ballet was divided into three parts with two intermissions. The first selection was On a Theme of Paganini. The second piece was Swan Lake, Act II. The third piece was Stravinsky Violin Concerto. Martin West conducted all pieces.

The last performance in the festival will be this coming Sunday. The San Francisco Opera will be performing and will begin promptly at 2pm. I advise that you get there really early if you wish to see the performance. Seating is limited in the grove, but there is additional seating behind the pavilion. If you wish to see the performance and get there late bring a towel or blanket to sit on as you will have to sit on the dirt on the hill. Visibility is limited in the hills due to the tree branches. Most importantly, bring something to drink and a hat and sun screen is optional, but advisable. Have fun and enjoy.

Martin West conducts the orchestra

On a Theme of Paganini

Swan Lake, Act II

Stravinsky Violin Concerto

Conductor Martin West and Violinist Franklyn D'Antonio

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On Friday night CAAM (Center for Asian American Media) and the Japantown Merchants Association hosted a free screening of Kamikaze Girls a film by Tetsuya Nakashima in Japantown’s Peace Plaza to welcome the store New People to San Francisco. The film was to kick off the beginning of the 2009 J-Pop Summit Festival.

The free screening was set up outdoors with limited white folding chair seating. Overflow guests were still allowed to come, but they would have to stand and/or sit on the floor or other permanent fixtures in the plaza.

Prior to the screening there were five contestants who dressed up in Lolita styled clothing. Basically Lolita fashion is a Japanese styled wardrobe focused around the Rococo and Victorian era. More information on Lolita fashion can be found here.

Kamikaze Girls is a comedy surrounding two girls who come from different backgrounds, one who loved buying fancy Lolita styled clothing and the other a wannabe biker chick who rides a scooter. Throughout the movie their bond proves to show that friendship knows no bounds and they become the best of friends. In the movie, the main character Momoko Ryugasaki even gets the opportunity to embroider a Lolita dress.

The night was cold and the fingers numb, but a subtitled Asian film in the middle of Japantown’s Peace Plaza outdoors was priceless.

Five Contestants Compete for Best Dressed

People bundle up on a cold night to watch Kamikaze Girls

The film is featured in Japantown's Peace Plaza underneath the Peace Plaza Pagoda.