Do You Know The Way To San Jose?

As a matter of fact, yes, I do, thank you very little. Having spent the previous weekend in Seattle (and yes, I know I haven't finished writing up the details of that journey), I then drove to San Jose and back this past weekend. Unlike my recent Los Angeles trips, however, yes, I stayed over in San Jose. Actually, I stayed 2 nights, because it is a long drive (about 540 miles one way), and I'd never been there before, so I thought I'd check it out a bit.

The drive is one I have done before, but never in this direction. Since you can't get there from here, you have to actually travel a little south from Las Vegas first in order to get to San Jose, which is actually quite a bit north. Welcome to America.

It's a lot of desert from here to Barstow, with not a hell of a lot of interesting landscape to look at along the way, outside of some nice hills and mountains that you climb thru almost immediately upon entering California. Once you get to the other side of Barstow, you now have to leave I-15, the main freeway (the same road you take from Las Vegas nearly all the way to Los Angeles), and go to CA 58, which initially resembles I-15 quite a lot, but eventually morphs into something quite different. By the time you're leaving CA 58, you've driven thru lush, green, rolling hillsides that seem as though someone severely misplaced parts of the Scottish Highlands. It's a beautiful section of country, made even more so by the fact that it comes as such a juxtaposition to the countless thousands of acres of desert that surround it.

In the vicinity of the town of Tehachapi (yes, that's spelled right), is the Tehachapi Pass Wind Farm, a collection of giant fans/windmills used to harness the power of naturally flowing winds and convert them into energy used to power parts of Southern California. It also makes for a uniquely stunning visual sight, seeing row upon row of spinning propellers perched high upon mountaintops. Not the sort of thing you see on a daily basis...unless, of course, you happen to live in Tehachapi.

The day I drove to San Jose (Friday the 11th of March) was a beautiful sunny day, so I was a little surprised to see a sign warning of heavy dense fog ahead. There were clouds around, especially one seemingly low-lying patch that looked as if it ended not much after it began, but they were outnumbered by the vast blue sky. Once I'd driven thru that, I forgot about it, and continued the ascent up CA 58. Upon beginning the descent, however, is when I realized the warning that had been posted earlier had been accurate.

The bright sunny day very rapidly disappeared as I, and the other drivers in my vicinity, went into a near solid wall of fog. Whereas we'd all been travelling close to 80MPH for the duration of the trip, with plenty of gaps between us, everyone now became bunched up in an effort to find the road at about half the velocity. Since visibility had been reduced to nil, it forced us to bunch together, as everyone was relying on the vehicle in front of them to help find the road. Cars were no more than 2 or 3 lengths apart, and even then the brake lights and a hazy outline were barely visible. This was made all the more interesting by being a downhill, twisty section of mountain road. Great fun! Which, for me, is the truth. I enjoy driving in those kind of situations where you're forced to sit up and REALLY pay attention. Something about that is really enjoyable to me.

Finally emerging from the cloud a while later, it was smooth, fogless sailing the rest of the jaunt to San Jose. CA 58 runs into I-5, which is then pretty much a straight shot northwest up to the Silicon Valley area, so named for the vast number of high-tech corporations which are based there. Getting to my hotel in the mid-afternoon, I checked the iPhone and paperwork provided by the hotel for nearby restaurants, of which there were an immense number within walking distance. Settling on a safe bet of an Italian restaurant, I sat down to a terrific meal of chicken parmigiana and vegetables coated with garlic butter at a nice place called Bella Mia. Gilroy, a town about 30 miles to the south, is apparently built around the garlic industry. The vegetables were fantastic, an excellent compliment to the chicken, which had a good amount of cheese and a nice marinara sauce on it.

Saturday morning I spent wandering around the downtown area, just exploring and admiring the monuments to computer technology that had been constructed. Many of the bigger technology firms in the world have their large corporate headquarters located within a few blocks of each other, along with quite a number of large financial institutions...and each with a uniquely designed building. I'm a fan of interesting architecture, and there was definitely some of that on display in downtown San Jose. Made for an interesting morning's stroll and picture taking.

I then headed over to the San Jose Museum Of Art in the early afternoon, which was located pretty much around the block from my hotel. While it was a nice place, and had some interesting displays (a display of Robert Mapplethorpe celebrity portraits, recent photographic pieces from other artists, and my personal favorite, a display of recent paintings by artists from India), having grown up in New York City, this museum paled in comparison. It's kinda tough to go visit museums in other places, unless they are MAJOR cities, when you've grown up with The Metropolitan Museum Of Art as your local museum. Again, I don't mean to knock the San Jose one; I liked what they had, but even taking my time, I wasn't there for much more than an hour. At The Met, an hour would get you thru maybe 2 rooms, leaving about 150 more to go. Still, I enjoyed what was in the San Jose Museum, and I'm glad I did it.

This was all a preamble though, as the main reason for my trip was Saturday night's National Hockey League game with the San Jose Sharks hosting the visiting New York Rangers. When I looked at the schedule many months earlier and saw that this was the week after the comic convention in Seattle, I figured taking a week off for the 2 events would be a great idea. Again, my hotel was within walking distance of the Shark Tank, which is what the locals have dubbed the arena with the ever-changing corporate branding that the Sharks play in. Seems that everything there is right on top of everything else, which is good if your visiting. There doesn't seem to be much living space right in downtown, as it's mostly corporate castles, upscale hotels, eateries, shopping, and spaces for the arts (theater, comedy clubs, etc.). Yet there were literally hundreds of people walking right along with me to the game, and I was going early, because I wanted to take in warm-ups, as well as have some extra time to explore and soak in a new-to-me hockey arena. It's possible many of them had taken either buses or trains that run with amazing frequency thru the downtown area that would have left them in the vicinity of my hotel, which was about a 15 or 20 minute walk away.

I don't like to let these entries get too long, so I'm shutting this one down here, with obviously more to come...


Blog Post Soundtrack; Björk (live), Tom Paxton, Tricky, Unida, TV On The Radio, Monster Magnet, The Chemical Brothers, Faith No More, Soundgarden, John Lee Hooker, Corrosion Of Conformity, Fu Manchu (live), Hermano, Tomoyasu Hotei, Misfits, The Lively Ones, Les Claypool, Ozzy Osbourne, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, John Frusciante, Galactic, The Doors (live, covering Van Morrison)

Florida Trip, Part III...Or, Reasons To Go See A Hockey Game In Tampa

Picking up right where I left off from the last blog entry about the Florida trip,
since I had pre-paid for parking, we were in the garage right next to the St. Pete Times Forum for Tuesday evening's game between the host Tampa Bay Lightning and the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets. I have no vested interest in either team (I'm a New York Ranger fan), I just enjoy going to see live NHL games. I'll watch games on TV, especially the Rangers, but there is an extra element of electricity added when you're right there in the arena.

Both of these teams have their share of talented players, especially Rick Nash for the Jackets, and Steven Stamkos for the Lightning. While there are many other excellent, skilled men on both teams, these would be the 2 standouts. In particular, Stamkos is in very rarefied air. Still shy of his 21st birthday (he
doesn't turn legal drinking age until Feburary 7), this is his 3rd full season in the NHL, the premier professional hockey league in the world. He has thus far been blessed with remaining injury-free in this extremely violent game, so he has already surpassed the 200 games played mark for his career. His shot, and his goal-scoring ability, are both amazing. As of this writing, which is during the 2011 NHL All-Star Weekend, he has played 212 games, and has 114 goals. What's even more remarkable about those totals is that he has 89 of those goals in just his last 133 games, and 68 in his last 91. That means he scores, on average, more than 1 goal for every 2 games in his entire career, 2 goals every 3 games for the 133 game span, and an amazing 3 goals every 4 games for the most recent 91 game stretch. In today's defensive minded NHL, those are incredible numbers. He is an immensely talented player, and has the potential to rack up some incredible career numbers if he can remain healthy, continue to be surrounded by quality teammates, and keep something close to this pace going for a number of years. He will also be on a Stanley Cup winning team sooner or later...it's just bound to happen.

After milling around outside for a few minutes, enjoying the nice warm Florida evening air (it had been in the low 70's during the day, and the sun was just setting as we actually made our way into the arena), we headed in to wander around the inside of The Forum. It's always nice to see what the different venues have set-up for fans to spend their money on. Gotta cover those overpaid athletes salaries somehow. After getting a bucket of popcorn and a couple drinks, we headed to the
team store so I could buy myself a Lightning puck. The souvenier I get myself from each sports venue I visit is either a team puck or baseball, obviously depending on the sport...duh...So I got myself an official game puck in a case for my mantle, and a non-official puck with a more colorful logo on it for my uncle. He said the last time he'd been to a live NHL game was back in the late 1970's to see the New York Islanders, who at that time had a powerhouse team, and were on the verge of the dynasty they had when they won 4 straight Stanley Cups from 1980-1983. By the way, the black & white illustration in the left of the photo of the man holding the gun is a drawing of The Punisher by Mike Zeck, who will be the main topic of Part IV of the blog of the Florida trip...

Now that we had our drinks, popcorn, and pucks, it was time to head down to the ice to watch the teams warm-up. Since I don't get to live games too often, I like to
arrive early so I can watch this. About a half-hour before game time, both teams come out at their respective ends of the ice and go thru set routines designed to loosen everybody up, and start to get even more mentally and physically ready for that evening's contest. The nice thing about that is, because it's still early, 80% of the crowd has yet to arrive, so you can pretty much just walk down to the glass and watch the players extremely close-up. It's a great way to see them demonstrate skills from close proximity, and it's a terrific opportunity to take pictures.

I'm very careful about not getting too caught up in being behind the lens. Not just at sporting events, but anytime I'm taking photos. It's very possible to get so wrapped up in taking pictures that you forget to just actually enjoy the experience
of being wherever you are, whether it be at an arena watching hockey players warm-up, walking the streets of New York City, or hiking thru the forests of the Canadian Rockies (another of my previous trips that I need to someday write about here on this blog). So while I do enjoy taking pictures, I also put the camera down between shots and just stand there and actually watch the proceedings, and just enjoy the moment. I hardly ever see my uncle, so it was nice to just share this with him, and we stood right up against the glass in a corner at the Blue Jackets end of the ice (as evidenced by this picture I got of goaltender Steve Mason). We situated ourselves at the Jackets end for warm-ups, due to where our seats for the game were going to be.

When warm-ups ended, we made our way back up to the main concourse level to walk around to our section. We were at the polar opposite from where we'd stood for warm-ups, so we toured the entire concourse before coming across our entryway. As we made our way in, lo and behold, there were 4 of the Lightning Girls standing right at the top of the stairs. Whoo-hoo! Many teams around the NHL now have cheerleaders, or in some cases Ice Girls to clean the playing surface during commercial breaks. In the case of Tampa, they serve strictly as cheerleaders...which meant they would be in the stands throughout the game. As we were passing them, another fan asked if they would be in our section all game, to which they unfortunately replied no. To which I said, "You need to be!" After making it down to our seats, and getting
settled in, maybe a minute later I turned to Ray (my uncle), and said "...I'll be right back...", and headed back up the stairs to the Lightning Girls we'd just passed. I asked the nearest one (who also happened to be the prettiest of all the pretty girls) if I could get a picture, which they were more than happy to do. It's part of what they get paid for, but you'd never know it was a job for them. They really seemed very happy to do it. Another fan asked if I wanted to be in the shot, but I said no...why ruin the picture?

Returning to my uncle, I now was able to soak in just how good the seats I'd gotten were. We were 4th row from the ice, right next to the walkway the Lightning use to get to their bench. We're actually visible all night in the TV coverage of the game, as I have on a bright orange shirt, just at the left edge of the Lightning bench. We were able to watch the organized chaos of shift changes and
in-game coaching from a spot practically situated on the bench itself...I was 1 person away from being able to tap Dan Ellis, the Lightning back-up goaltender, on the shoulder. We were afforded an excellent ice-level view of the game, and Ray commented several times on the steely-eyed glare of head coach Guy Boucher, because we were that close that we were really able to see it well. Boucher is a first-year head coach at the NHL level, and is also the youngest coach in the NHL. He's actually a couple months younger than me, and Dwayne Roloson, the Lightning goaltender that night, is actually 2 years older than him.

The proximity made an already fun experience even that much more entertaining, and it was really interesting to be able to see and hear assistant coach Dan Lacroix offer suggestions and advice, and encouragement, in particular to 2nd year defensemen Victor Hedman, a large young man from Sweden (he's 6'6", and just turned 20 years old a month earlier). Hedman is still learning the game at the NHL level, but he is another talented individual, and defense is a tough position with a lot of
responsibility. It was nice to watch the learning process in action, and Hedman had an excellent game that evening, being named 3rd star of the game due to solid defensive play, and assisting on one of Stamkos' 2 goals that evening. But just to be that close to the action, and to have an unobstruted view of some of the ice (due to the opening in the glass at the back of the bench for the players and staff to get to and from the bench and the dressing room), was a great treat.

The game turned out to be an exciting affair, which went completely down to the wire, as it was deadlocked at 2 after both regulation and overtime, requiring a shootout that went 3 scoreless rounds before Ryan Malone put home the winner for the Lightning. But the game was almost secondary to the event that they hype the game up to be, as Ray pointed out a couple times during the evening. The loud music blasted during every stoppage in play, the cheerleaders, and just the overall spectacle of being there is all amped up to the nth degree in an effort to get the crowd more hyped (and hopefully to spend more money, of course...). It makes for a very entertaining evening. And those Lightning Girls were right in our section at the beginning of the contest, and thankfully, the most stunningly beautiful one of them all was only a few feet away when the festivities started in earnest, affording me another opportunity for a photograph. So while most eyes where on the ice surface, mine were on this beauty...




Blog Post Soundtrack; AC/DC (most of their 1976 Australian release Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, most of their 1975 Australian release High Voltage, most of their 1977 Australian release Let There Be Rock, and most of their 1975 Australian release T.N.T.), Motörhead (most of their 1979 album Overkill, most of their 1987 album Rock 'n' Roll)

The Travel Journal Continues With Our Florida Story (Part II)

I had a very old friend tell me recently that he lives vicariously thru the travel journal that my blog has become. There will eventually be a full blog detailing this friend, and the true level of importance that he played in my life, but for now, I'll leave it at the fact that this is someone I've know since grammar school (3rd grade, matter of fact...), and even though we're the same age (he's got me beat by about 4 months), he's the older brother I never had. He was the one who opened my ears to all sorts of new and interesting music, amongst many other things. So having said that, I believe I'll delve into Florida Trip Part II...


When last I was detailing my sojurn to The Sunshine State, I hadn't even made it to my uncle's house yet. He and his wife were kind enough to allow me to stay with them for most of my week there, which, for various reasons, was greatly appreciated. So before I go any further, big thanks to Ray & Monica, along with Lenny & Grace (their 2 cats, who never really were quite sure what to make of me the whole time I was there...even so, they were more social than my parent's cat, who never came out from under the couch the entire time I was around back in October).

And, in case you're wondering about my photographic memory for all these details and things in this and other blog entries, it's actually all the photographs I take that stir the memories. I upload all of the literally hundreds of pictures I take each vacation to my computer, and by having them arranged in the order I took them, I can piece together everything I saw and did. Seeing the pictures helps to stimulate the memory, and I can fill in all the gaps after having had the brain kickstarted by a few images. So not only do I enjoy taking photographs as a hobby/art form, but it also serves as a tremendous memory aid, without which I'd be losing many valuable details of my trips. And now that I have a terrific pocket-sized digital camera to go along with my full-sized SLR, plus the camera on the iPhone, I can literally visually document my entire vacations, and enjoy many more details than I would have been able to remember unaided for the rest of my life...or however long my hard drive holds out.


My uncle lives in a very nice house in the middle of The Villages. His back yard spills out onto the fairway of a hole on a golf course. Picture perfect location for relaxing. I was provided with the cat's room for sleeping...which is actually better than it sounds. It's a guest bedroom that the cats have just appropriated for themselves, and they were less than thrilled about, and a little confused as to why, they were being chased out of it. I promise you I tried to make friends with them over the course of the week, but they weren't interested in doing much more than staring at me from a very safe distance. Oh well...

Waking up on Monday morning was VERY nice (how often does an average working person get to say that?!?). I hadn't slept straight thru, but every time I woke up, I'd sooner or later pass out again...and when I woke up for good, I still stayed in bed for another hour or 2. It must have been pushing noon by the time I stumbled out of the room and into the world, so I had breakfast while my uncle had lunch. We then took a brief tour of some of The Villages, which does seem like a very nice community, and caters nicely to your average working man/woman who has earned a retirement. We then wound up back home, where I believe I indulged in a nap (yes, there was to be lots of sleeping this trip...aaaahhhhh...). Then Monica, who is of Italian descent, made a wonderful Italian dinner, which is something always greatly appreciated by me. Even though my mother has no Italian ancestry, Italian cooking was something of a specialty of hers, and I grew up on her fantastic meals. I still have vivid memories of playing outside my house as a young child on Sunday afternoons, having fun while playing, but also slightly salivating as the aroma of slow-cooked marinara sauce wafted from the kitchen towards where I was. So it was a nice treat to have an authentic home-cooked Italian meal. Needless to say, after filling up on meat and pasta, there was more sleep headed my way...


Tuesday was actually going to be a fairly big day. I initially just picked this particular week becasue the way my schedule fell, I only had to use 3 days of vacation time to get 8 days off. Then, I figured, why not actually go somewhere and see a little more of the world. After settling on Florida, I took a look at the NHL schedules, and lo and behold, both Florida based teams had home games that week. Too good an opportunity to pass up. So after hanging around the house for a while in the morning and early afternoon, and taking many pictures of the beautiful property on the beautiful day, my uncle and I hopped in my rented Mustang and made the hour-and-change drive southwest down to Tampa Bay. We were there to catch a game at the St. Pete Times Forum between the host Lightning and the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets.

I enjoy watching hockey live, and in Las Vegas we have a minor league team (Wranglers) that a few of us from work will occasionally go see. To get to an NHL game requires a drive of a few hours in any one direction, or a flight. In the last calendar year I've seen games in Phoenix, Vancouver, New York (Long Island to be specific), and Los Angeles, and now would be adding Tampa and Sunrise (home of the Florida Panthers). I use it as an excuse to go to places, or, if I'm already heading to a place, I see if I can squeeze one in. So this was serendipity.

Obviously more to come...



Blog Post Soundtrack; John Frusciante, Booker T. & The MG's, The White Stripes (live), Madhouse, Pearl Jam (live, covering The Who), Vivaldi, Björk, The Doors (live), Metallica, John Connelly Theory, Judas Priest (live), The Misfits, Santana, KoRn, Audioslave (live, covering The White Stripes), Mondo Generator, Queens Of The Stone Age (live, covering Subhumans), Monster Magnet, P J Harvey, King Missile, Led Zeppelin, Bill Hicks, Fear Factory, Richard Jeni

Florida...An Actual Vacation...

So after my recent hectic trip to New York City last fall (which I still haven't finished telling the story of...), then followed by the Christmas season (busiest time of the year for a mailman), plus a couple quick there-and-back trips to Los Angeles (each for different reasons, but both pretty cool), I was pretty much in need of an actual vacation. One in which the emphasis on the word "vacate" would be very heavy. I was aware even before any of the aforementioned events that I would be wanting to have a week filled with pretty much nothing, and had begun planning this trip back in September. I managed to make it fit in nicely with my work schedule, found very reasonable flights, set-up the rental car, places to stay, and was good to go.

By the time the trip actually rolled around, I was pretty much ready for a nice break. As much as I enjoy my job, and running around doing things all over the place, the time had come to not do a hell of a lot for a bit. I was leaving on a very early Sunday morning flight, and amazingly, a friend offered to take me to the airport. I was perfectly happy just driving and parking the car at the McCarran lot; I told friends even before they asked that there was no way they were taking me. Not many people would want to pick someone up at 4AM on a Sunday to bring them to an airport...thanks, Rob!

Even though I was forced to switch planes in Atlanta (a direct flight was just not possible), I still had a very nice ride there. Got out, trammed my way to my next
flight's terminal, got on, and we were airborne within 10 minutes. All things in life should go so smoothly. Once I arrived in Fort Lauderdale, I went to my rental car counter. Having already paid for the rental car months ago, it wasn't much to get me to upgrade a little. For a very small additional fee, I wound up renting a black 2011 Ford Mustang for the week. The son of a co-worker friend has a 2008 model, and I do kind of like the new Mustangs, so I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to see just how much I might actually enjoy driving it. Over 1,000 very comfortable and smooth miles later, and I can see me buying one of those in the future.

Roughly the first quarter of those 1,000 miles on the Mustang were put on while driving away from the airport towards my main stay of the week. I have an uncle that lives in The Villages, a 50-years-of-age-plus community in Central Florida, about halfway between Orlando and Gainseville. It has over 70,000 residents, making it the largest 50+ community in the United States. It's about 260 miles from the airport in Fort Lauderdale, but I planned it that way. I got a better deal flying into there, and I really enjoy driving...and I was on vacation with little to no timetable to stick to. Just the way I wanted it.

Somewhere along the way up north I found me a Cracker Barrel restaurant (using the AroundMe app on my iPhone...if you travel at all, a rather invaluable tool to have), which I'd been looking forward to going to for some time. I was first introduced to Cracker Barrel by artist Charles Vess back in late November of 1997, when I stayed at his studio for a few days conducting an interview that was intended to be published in The Comics Journal. Vess has been in the field of comic books and illustration for probably close to 40 years now. One of his best known projects is probably Stardust, which he did in collaboration with author Neil Gaiman. He was, in fact, working on Stardust at the time I stayed at his studio. The book was eventually adapted into a movie starring Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, Ben Barnes, and a host of others. For a variety of reasons, the interview remains unpublished to this day, but I think it was a great in-depth piece, and someday I'll get around to fully transcribing it, and maybe it will eventually get published somewhere. And the trip itself will make for a nice blog entry someday, too.

Cracker Barrel's are not to be found in the Northeast, and definitely not in New York, where I grew up. But once Vess introduced me to them, I've been hooked. It's a Southern chain, with good Southern cooking and hospitality. Vess' studio was in Abingdon, Virginia, within spittin' distance of the Tennessee border. The closest ones to me here in Las Vegas are in St. George, Utah, and Kingman, Arizona. I always hit the Kingman one on the way to and from Phoenix, and whenever I travel to other areas of the country that have them, I include them in the on-the-go itinerary. Using the AroundMe app, I located one in Stuart, FL, and loaded up on a good meal there. They were also kind enough to seat me near a wall outlet so I could charge my dying iPhone...the Mustang I rented did NOT have an iPod dock, which I found rather odd, so it was in desperate need of recharging, as was I.

I see that this entry is starting to take on a life of its own, and due to being a little jet-lagged, and having gotten in very late (didn't get to bed until after 2AM, and was awake a little after 6AM), it's obviously not going to be finished today, so I'll just post what I've got, and come back for more later...


Blog Post Soundtrack; Soulfly, Queen (live), Hater, KoRn, Rage Against The Machine, Yawning Man

We Interrupt Our Continuing Story Of The NYC Trip...

...to bring you our coverage of the LA trip...

I switched my schedule around so that I could have Saturday December 4 off from work so that I could go to LA with some friends and see the Los Angeles Kings take on the Detroit Red Wings. Another friend at work is a partial season ticket holder, so he's able to get first crack at single game seats before they go on sale to the general public. When he the asked other hockey fans in the office if we would be interested in going to a game, a few of us agreed on a date, and wound up getting some tickets.

I've never been to LA proper before. I've been to Anaheim a couple times, but had never been to the heart of LA. It's not something that overly appealed to me. Having grown up in NY, I'm kinda wary of dealing with the crowds, congestion, and traffic of another big city. If I'm going to go to someplace new, I'd rather go visit nature, wide open spaces, and real canyons, as opposed to the concrete variety. But the chance to see an excellent hockey team such as the Detroit Red Wings, in a venue I've never been to before, was too much to pass up. And with the game being a Saturday night, we figured we'd just make a nice long day trip out of it.

I worked on Friday until about 5:30PM, and made a stop at Target after work to get myself a new digital camera. I have a nice Nikon SLR, but it's a big item with large detachable lenses. I didn't wanna deal with carrying much stuff, and many venues don't even allow you to take in something like that, for fear of infringing on their trademarked images (it's just another way controlling corporate America's money-grubbing society demands that you pay for everything...I'm really trying to stay off the soapbox in my blog lately, so I won't go there, but you get the idea...). I bought myself a nice compact Sony digital with a 10X zoom, and due to having a Sony credit card with lots of points built up over the years, I'll be getting the entire retail purchase price refunded to me anyway, so it wasn't a big deal. It's small enough to easily fit in a pocket of my leather jacket, yet still has a nice enough zoom lens to get some really good pics.

Leaving my house around 9:45AM Saturday morning, I made my way over to the first friend's house to get him and his wife, and we talked and just hung out for nearly an hour. We then proceeded to get the remaining buddy on our way to a convenience store to pick up a few road trip supplies. Knowing this was going to be a LONG day, I made sure to have some Exederin and Mountain Dew with me. Since I normally ingest ZERO caffeine, a small amount will allow me to keep going for quite a bit. So at probably around 11AM we were officially on our way.

The drive to LA is kinda nice. Although I've never gone to LA before, I've done many trips to other areas of Southern California for various reasons, so most of the journey there was going to be a familiar trek. My most recent trip in this direction was to Anaheim in April 2010 to a comic book convention where I got to meet a favorite writer of mine (and fellow blogspot blogger) J.M. DeMatteis, along with other artists whose work I've enjoyed and admired over the years, including Bernie Wrightson, Glenn Fabry, Simon Bisley, and Tim Bradstreet. I always enjoy talking with creative types whose work has interested me and given me some happiness.

We encountered a little bit of traffic due to some construction, but basically had a pain free trip to our slightly-out-of-the-way first stop, Portillo's Hot Dogs in Buena Park, CA. It's right next to Knott's Berry Farm (a place where Steve Martin used to work as a youngster, first honing his magician and performing skills that would serve him so well later in life), and is a branch location of a Chicago chain of restaurants. One of our group is a Chicago boy, so he planned this as a side trip on the way to the game. Located about a half hour Southeast of the Staples Center (home arena of the LA Kings), their Italian Beef sandwich made for a nice tasty, filling meal, the perfect break on our way to the game. The Chicago boy then loaded up at their catering section on pre-packaged frozen Italian Beef, gravy, and bread, loading them into coolers with ice packs we'd brought along. These were coming back with us for him, and some other native Chicagoans in the office who he had informed of his Portillo's pilgrimage.

As we begin to leave Portillo's, it's around 5PM, and beginning to get dark. Seeing as how we were now about to do the uncharted territory (for me) part of our journey, this wasn't the best of conditions, but I didn't really care. The game wasn't until 7:30, we weren't that far away from the arena, and it was a Saturday night. Which apparently means nothing to famed LA traffic, as we almost immediately came across a bumper-to-bumper 15 MPH logjam on I-5. It might be rush hour, but isn't that Monday to Friday? No, apparently LA citizens take their traffic jamming duties very seriously, and consider it a 24/7 obligation. Suddenly the idea of getting there early, having some time to walk around for a bit, and maybe get a couple of drinks at the ESPN Zone across from the arena started to go out the window.

And I am now truly no longer a virgin to LA traffic, as at one point while riding along, we all got jolted by the impact of hitting something. I leaned forward in disbelief, thinking "No way! I couldn't have hit this guy in front of me, unless he's got some invisible trailer that...wait, did somebody hit ME?!?" Which is exactly what happened. Somebody changing lanes behind me completely misjudged where I was, or just wasn't paying attention, or whatever, and banged into me from behind. In a flash I ran thru a number of scenarios in my head, did a quick mental assessment of damage based on severity (or lack thereof) of impact, made sure everyone in my car was OK...and just kept on driving. There wasn't any point in stopping, getting out, taking insurance info, delaying our trip even more, making an already unpleasant driving experience even MORE unpleasant for thousands of perpetually frustrated LA motorists...all for essentially absolutely nothing. Funny thing is, it was actually BECAUSE of the slow-moving LA traffic that there was no actual damage done. Due to the fact that we were going as slow as we were, the way I figured, no harm, no foul. We all noticed, much to our amusement, that although traffic remained bumper-to-bumper for quite some time after our little incident, there seemed to be quite a number of car lengths between me and the guy who hit me, now MUCH farther behind...

I should mention at this point that my ever-present iPhone was quite a wonderful thing to have on this trip. It made wandering thru a strange locale with destinations known but unpinpointed a sheer breeze. Being able to go to the internet and get an address for your destination, then type in that address and have it show on the map, and show you the route to take you from your current location to be able to GET to that spot on the map, makes this kinda travel much easier. Lewis & Clark woulda had a HELLUVA easier time if they'd just brought along their iPhones...

We finally got to a parking lot within a 5 minute walk of the arena, and, after checking to make sure there was no damage whatsoever to the rear bumper (amazingly, not even a scratch, let alone a dent), we made it to the Staples Center plaza at around 6:20PM...so the last roughly 30 miles took us about an hour and 15 minutes...reminding me of how much I enjoy NOT living in NYC anymore.


It was a pleasant evening weather-wise, so the walk was quite nice, especially after being cooped up in the car for many hours already. The ESPN Zone turned out to be insanely crowded, so we went to a bowling alley around the corner that had a bar at it, and my friends got some drinks (I don't imbibe, I just hang around and talk). We went to a spot outside overlooking the plaza, and after a few minutes of people-watching, noticed that 2 of the people walking by below us looked familiar...and there went Gene Simmons & Shannon Tweed (he of the band Kiss, she of erotic film lore, both of reality show Gene Simmons Family Jewels). Made for a nice LA celebrity sighting. Not that I'm overly impressed with either of them, but still, a sighting.

After finally making our way into the arena at just after 7PM, we managed to catch most of the pre-game warm-ups from our fantastic seats. Since our season-ticket-holding friend has first shot at single game seats, he was able to get us nice ones in the vicinity of his season seats, so we were at ice level, only 15 rows from the glass. We were off in a corner, exactly in line with the goal line at the end the Kings shoot at twice during the game. A terrific vantage point from which to watch the evening's festivities. Having never been there before, I really liked the arena, although the seats were a little cramped, with my knees feeling like they were in my chest all night. Other than that, a nice place to see a game.


I managed to fire off a few shots with my new camera of the Red Wings in action while warming up, and after they left the ice, I used the break before opening puck drop to nip off to the team store and get a couple things. I grabbed a Kings hat for my father as a X-mas present (don't worry, he won't read this, so I'm not spoiling any surprise), and a Kings puck for myself. I always grab myself a team puck from whatever arena I go visit for a game, and the pucks (along with team baseballs from stadiums I've seen games at) line the mantle in my living room, having recently moved from the top of the refrigerator in the kitchen, because I've been to too many places.

Returning to my seat just in time for the drop of the puck, we actually managed to catch a really good game. Neither team was dominant, although the Red Wings seemed to have an edge in play in the first period, as well as leading 1-0 on the scoreboard. It remained a tight, hard-fought game throughout, with neither team really able to gain an advantage. The Kings scored very early in the 2nd, followed almost instantly by the Wings moving ahead by one again, only to be tied a few minutes later...which is how it remained for the remainder of regulation time. There was plenty of end-to-end action, there was a nice flow to the game, and even though not a lot of scoring, it was still an entertaining game, and fun to watch from the sightline we had.



Before we get to the end of the game, something else that was fun to watch is what you miss out on by just watching games on TV. During commercial breaks, a crew comes out on the ice to shovel off much of the snow that has accumulated due to the razor sharp skate blades cutting and slicing thru the ice at harsh angles thru gameplay. The crew skates around in a very rehearsed pattern, each going up and down the ice in their designated section (and they rotate sections each time) in a very efficient ballet of ice janitorial duties. What the NHL figured out, in the last couple of years or so, is why just have a bunch of slobs in sweatsuits out there doing this? The predominantly male audience can now enjoy seeing the equivalent of cheerleaders in form-fitting, revealing outfits, skating around rapidly enough to make their long, flowing hair fly in the breeze they themselves are generating. Very nice...and yes, there were several girls on the ice, all very pretty, this one just happened to be my favorite. Of course it's superficial, but when in Rome...or in this case, LA...


This was the first live NHL game for the married couple that accompanied me, so they were getting their money's worth with a good game, now followed by an overtime period. The 5 minute sudden death period looked like it might end deadlocked which would have then resulted in a shootout to determine a victor...until the Kings managed to stop pausing and searching for a perfect shot and just get a rush up the ice, fire a shot...game over with 56 seconds remaining in overtime. All game they had been reluctant to take shots, choosing instead to keep passing it around when they had it in the Red Wings zone, searching for the elusive, perfect shot...and seemingly passing up many opportunities to get it towards the net. They finally abandoned this tactic as time was waning and just raced up the ice, made one pass and fired, and it paid off in the game-winning goal.

All in all, a very entertaining game, even though I would have preferred a Red Wings victory. They are a very popular team, and at least one third of the Staples Center was decked in Red Wings shirts, sweaters, or hats, myself included. I have a small collection of NHL sweaters, and my Wings sweater was the first one I ever got...on a trip to Phoenix back in 1996, of all places. All my jerseys have my last name on them, along with the number 25.

We hung around outside the arena for a few minutes after the game, just soaking in the atmosphere and determining our next move. Realizing we still had a long hike back home, we just decided to go. So off we went, and by the time we were driving out of the parking lot, it must have been after 10:30PM. Needing only to stop once for fuel on the way back, my companions and I kept a lively conversation going, laughing and joking most of the way home. We are a fun group, capable of lots of laughs. Good thing to have on a long drive such as this. I was the only one awake for a while though around 1:30, but I had my music to entertain me...obviously couldn't blast it, but still...

So after dropping off the friends in reverse order of picking them up, I finally was able to wend my way home at about 3:15AM, nearly 24 hours after waking up. Even when I turn my alarms off, I still wake up at 4AM...I don't GET up, but I'm awake. Managed to get into bed sometime after 3:30, and completely against my will, found myself awake at 6:30AM. I probably flipped the bird to the clock and rolled over, only to awaken again, with no real hope of going back to sleep...at 7:30AM. *sigh*

Now that I think I've come to the end of this tale of having fun and trying to recapture being young & stupid, I might just take a nap...except today's New York Rangers game starts in 20 minutes...

We now return you to our regularly scheduled story of the New York City trip, already in progress...


Blog Post Soundtrack; John Connelly Theory, Glenn Miller Orchestra, Unida (live), Deep Purple, Nirvana, AC/DC, Peaches, Louis Prima w/Keely Smith (live), Rage Against The Machine, Black Sabbath, The Les Claypool Frog Brigade, Apocalyptica, Discharge, Mike Patton, The Chemical Brothers, Iron Maiden, The Dandy Warhols, Clutch (live), Red Hot Chili Peppers (live), The Misfits, Foo Fighters (live), Deftones, System Of A Down, Pearl Jam (live), Tom Lehrer (live), Voivod, Monster Magnet, The White Stripes, The Beastie Boys, The Prodigy, Limp Bizkit (live, covering a Ministry song), Bjork, Neil Young (live), Metallica (live), Motorhead, MD.45, The Roots (live), Anthrax (live), Zeke, Queens Of The Stone Age (live), Stevie Ray Vaughan, Simon & Garfunkel, Yawning Man, Faith No More, The Smiths, David Buskin, A Perfect Circle, Blondie