LA Weekend

Writing from the Terminal 3 at LAX while I wait for my red-eye back to JFK. I was in LA this weekend for my cousin's graduation from LMU (college graduate number 4 of 5 for my grandma). It was amazing to be in a place with zero percent chance of rain for three days straight. I managed to only see Sportscenter about twice through on my way out here which means I slept for about four of the six hours in the air - quite an accomplishment for me. It also meant that I could watch it twice more once in the hotel, so I saw Curtis Granderson's home run robbery a total of four times that night.

Backtracking a bit, we had a group of about ninety eighth graders in our office for four hours on Friday as part of a Junior Achievement deal. We worked with them to develop a business plan to open a chocolate shop somewhere in New York City. It was pretty fun working with them, but I think I decided that, while I do have somewhat of an urge to teach, I could only teach juniors in high school and older.

Anyway, back to Los Angeles. Stop number one when my plane landed was In-n-Out for my number 2 with no onions and ketchup instead of sauce. It lived up to what I'd been craving the week leading up to the trip. We went to the hotel and crashed since it was already after midnight by that point and we had to be up at 6am in order to get to LMU before the sun did for graduation. The ceremony was really nice, I managed to only get something around a 2nd degree sunburn on a few spots that I missed with the sunscreen (clearly I'm out of practice). It's hard to believe that it was less than a year ago that I was watching Space Jam with my housemates at 4am before our graduation. After graduation we got brunch at a huge buffet style restaurant where there had to be at least ten grad parties going on. The newest inductee to the poor-planning-hall-of-fame was the funeral reception having brunch at the same restaurant as champagne toast after champagne toast to the new graduates.

(In case you can't tell, I'm bored at the airport with no wi-fi, so this is going to be a detailed update to keep me occupied)

After brunch, the whole family went back to the hotel to catch up on sleep. Scott and I watched the NCAA volleyball championship between Irvine and USC. It was a great match, especially now that they've cracked down on letting 30 year-old international players compete in the NCAA. Oddly enough, the highlight of the match came during the post-game interview with the MVP from Irvine. When asked how winning the championship felt, he struggled for words and then finally found them in saying "Fucking awesome" live ESPN2 (followed by "Oh, wait, I can't say that on tv, can I?"). Who would've though the NCAA men's volleyball championship would need to be on a 5-second delay?

After the match, Scott and I wandered down the not-so-happening Lincoln Blvd in Marina del Rey to a sports bar to catch the end of the Pens/Caps game and the Canucks/Blackhawks games. It was a total dive sports bar (PBR on tap and every bar game you could want), but it did the trick. Apparently the captain of Law & Order SVU was one of the ten people at the bar with us. I've yet to see a celebrity in seven months in NYC, go to a dive bar at 5pm on a Saturday in Marina del Rey, and there one is.
We were staying right near where my friends Danny and Casey live, so we met up with them and had a few drinks before calling it a night. It was great meeting up with old (well, not that old) friends and they promised (sort of) to visit soon (now it's in writing, make it happen) which would be great.

We slept in Sunday and headed out to Dodger Stadium to watch the Giants play the Dodgers that afternoon. Sadly the stadium was pretty empty, apparently the combination of Manny-gate, the economy, and nobody-really-liking-the-Dodgers-anyway is really taking a toll on attendance. The Dodgers fans that did show up for the third through seventh innings were treated to a decent game. Despite an average outing from Lincecum, Juan Pierre remembering how to hit a baseball, and an 0-for-6 from Pablo Sandoval, the Giants managed to eek out a 7-5 victory in thirteen innings. They took 2-of-3 from the Dodgers in LA this weekend - hopefully a sign of good things to come this season.

Since the game went long, we headed straight to the airport for our respective flights. I'm extremely jealous of those who aren't getting on a red-eye right now. It's officially 11:30pm NYC time as I write this, so I'll hopefully be hitting my bed in about 18.5 hours after work tomorrow evening. I'm thinking about 3.5 hours of sleep at best on the plane, cab to my apartment after landing at 6am, quick shower, little breakfast, and off to the Monday morning commute.