What’s Going On?

Today marked a really sobering day for the sport of baseball as baseball all-star Jeff Kent retires from the sport with the Dodgers and with him goes a truly awesome player. I will never forget all the great moments I’ve gotten to see as he played for the Giants. Today as I turned on the television, I watched a press conference that he was holding in Los Angeles and I asked myself if this was truly happening and the realization hit me that it actually was happening when i flipped the channel to see it on another sports network. I ended up watching the whole press conference and as I was watching I felt very emotional as I saw probably one of the best players leave the game. In all my experience of watching the sport of baseball I truly believe him to be one of the most genuine and real true players of the game. In my eyes, he is like fictional character (Billy Chapel) played by Kevin Costner in the movie For the Love of the Game (1999) because he loves the sport so much that he gives it his all.

As I watched the press conference, I started taking notes to try and remember this momentous occasion. As I was watching, the hesitation in Kent’s voice was one of great emotion. He spoke with lots of heart and passion for what he truly loved. Kent stated that he was not tired of the game itself, but that he was tired of living out of a suitcase, tired of traveling, and tired of baggage (whether it be bad or the good that comes out from it). He also stated numerous times that he had the utmost respect for the game; He even said that he wanted to lead this game right and with integrity. The motto that he picked up from his father who was a police officer was, “If you do a job, do it right.” Kent never cheated the game and always did what he thought was right.

Kent played for the Giants from 1997-2002, six seasons with the ball club. He hit 1518 Career RBIs, a slugging percentage of 0.500, and 377 career home runs. Out of the 377 homers, 351 of them were homers while playing second base. Kent has 74 more homers than Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg and now leads major league baseball with having the most home runs as a second baseman. Kent has played for many teams starting with the Blue Jays in 1992, the Mets from 1992-96, the Indians in 1996,  the Giants from 1997-2002, the Astros from 2003-04, and finishing off with the Dodgers from 2005-2008. In all of his 17 years of baseball he said that the greatest highlight of his career was to be playing for the Giants in the 2002 World Series despite losing in Game 7. All in all, Jeff Kent will always be a Giant to me and he will be among the greatest players that have ever played the game.

Today marked a momentous occasion for the United States of America. Senator Barack Obama has become the very first president in US history to be of color. He took his oath on the steps of Capitol Hill today and became the 44th President of the United States. Despite there being some delays of the ceremony at 12pm Eastern Standard Time, Obama became President automatically with or without being sworn in.

As the shift of office had come into effect, former President George W. Bush was seen off and flown away by Marine One helicopter where he was transported to Andrews AFB. He then got on board a plane headed back to Midland, TX where he was warmly welcomed by people of his hometown.

President Barack Obama has now his presidency to prove to America “change”. He will now be put to the test and see if He can make a difference to our nation. If he accomplishes great things for our nation than praise God, but if he does not promise “change” then we will see what the reaction of millions of people will be when that day comes. Nevertheless, I hope President Obama lives up to his words and will give what people have wanted for many years. May he not lose sight of his original intentions. May God bless him and our nation.

So currently, the topic of the day on CNN is all about US Airways flight 1549. Flight 1549 was piloted by Chesley Sullenberg, which took off from LaGuardia Airport. On board were 155 passengers bound for Charlotte, N.C. on Thursday around 3pm. With the investigation still pending, it was reported that a flock of geese happened to enter both turbine engines of the plane. The engines then burst into flames and the once powered airplane has become a now powerless glider. Rather than heading back to LaGuardia, Sullenberg decided to make a last ditch effort at saving the lives on board rather than risk the lives of the passengers and others on the ground by placing the plane into the Hudson River on the west banks of Manhattan.

His efforts along with the support of his crew, Sullenberg had successfully landed the plane. As the plane was now floating on the river’s surface, the 155 passengers hurried out onto the plane’s wings and some into the frigid water. Within minutes NY/NJ ferries and fire and rescue crews rushed to the scene and the passengers were helped off the plane and back onto dry land. Eventually, pending further investigation of the incident New York’s Mayor Bloomberg will present the key to the city to Captain Chesley Sullenberg.

Wow what can I say, today was a beautiful warm day. It was pretty warm to stay in doors all day, so I decided to take a journey around the city. I ended up coming to a coastal point in Daly City and took in the grandeur of it all. Just looking at our beautiful coast just makes me so thankful for just being able to live in such a great place.

Oftentimes, when at school, after a long day of work or just whenever I want to spend some alone time, I like to come to the coast for just a little peace and relaxation. Today has proven itself to be one of those days. So today I just decided to sit down and eat a little bit. Not thinking about it at the time, the sun was about to set and in about 20 minutes I was about to see an amazing sunset during winter. Who would have guessed that I would be sitting on the cliffs without a jacket and staring off into the sunset? Well, I had no idea, but in the end I was glad where I was and when.

Last night a group of my friends decided to go crabbing. It was a cold night, but it was a very beauitful night. The moon was full and shining bright.

To begin our adventure we had to bait some nets and snare traps. We used some squid, shrimp, and fish heads for bait. We  then had to put the traps in the water. Some traps were casted in by fishing rods and some traps were lowered in by hand at the side of the dock. No sooner than when we set the traps, the sealions came. They circled the waters like sharks eager and looking for prey. However, in our case the prey had already been killed and all they had to do was just break into the traps and grab the bait out. We were successful in keeping some bait free from being eaten, but in total we had two fish head casualties.

Throughout the night as we waited for the biggest catch, we all gathered around an old Coleman camping stove cooking up hot dogs and cheddar dogs. In addition to the hot dogs, we had some blueberries, grapes, cheese and crackers. As we were eating we checked the nets and fishing lines every 10mins or so. We managed to capture many small crabs, but they were too small to keep.

Overall, the night was long and cold, but in the end we were able to keep one crab. I think the true reward from all of this was not the one crab being caught, but it was the friendship and bonds that we had built up that night. This crab adventure will hopefully not end here, but will continue for years to come.

Well, today I’ve been up for a long time. I’ve been trying to make my blog and website up to where it should be, but it’s moving a little slow. Been getting some help from a couple of friends and I hope to see this fully up and running. Couple more things that I need to do, which are to be able to design a spalsh page and a few other pages. I hope to get the gallery up soon too, but am not too sure when that will be. Stay tuned for the latest.

Wow! It’s been many years, but I finally started the process of having my own webspace. I don’t know how many times I’ve been wanting to get started, but I finally jumped in and I think it’s one adventure that will have its ups and downs.

What can I say about what I want to do? I feel that I want to be able to share several things with you and those things would be my passions. I have a passion for food, travel, and photography. I hope that through these times, I’d be able to share some experiences with you and perhaps to share some experiences with you in the future as well.