Mr Al Young Dot Com

Does anyone remember the Frontier Village in San Jose many years ago?  It was a frontier theme amusement park.  I remember going when I was young but don’t remember much about it except for the trout farm they had.  You rented fishing poles and fished out of a stocked pond of trout.  Almost guaranteed to catch something since the fish are not fed.  It was my first fishing experience and very exciting since I got to actually catch fish.  We could have caught fish all day but my Dad cut us off at a limit since you had to pay for each fish you caught.  I have been fishing many times since that first time, sometimes successfully sometimes not but I always remembered my first fishing experience at Frontier Village and how excited I was to catch a fish.  Fast forward 30 plus years later.  Last weekend I took my kids to a trout farm near Arnold.  Like Frontier Village it was a stocked trout pond.  More like a cement pond in someone’s back yard, but guaranteed fish just the same.  Here are some pictures of our catch.  Like my Dad I imposed a limit of 2 each before this fishing trip drained all my cash.  I don’t like fish that much.  I prefer sea bass or salmon but it was still fun.

With the start of spring comes baseball team for our local teams and little league for those with young boys.  This year we do not have major league team names.  We have minor league team names.  We are the Bees.  I’m not sure if its the Bumble Bees or Killer Bees.  Most of the time its the bumbling Bees.  Most of last year’s T Ball team returns.  I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.  A year later most of the kids are now at least in Kindergarten.  Hopefully with more maturity and longer attention span, but that may be wishful thinking.  We are still one of the younger teams in the league with mainly kindergarten and first graders. Other teams have older kids of mostly first and second graders and it shows in terms of skills and maturity.   So it will be a challenge coaching these kids, but Marcus has fun and just wants to play baseball even though his teammates don’t always want to play ball.  Still in the Spring every team has a chance.

My buddy Norm has always been on the forefront of technology.  He was an early user of the Internet and the first person I knew with a personal web page.  Today Norm does not have a blog, facebook account, or Twitter.  Norm has not denounced technology and turned Amish on us.  Quite the contrary.  Norm is employed by software giant Oracle.  So he is still heavily involved with cutting edge technology and he still scours the Internet looking for electronic and travel bargains.  However you won’t find him wasting hours away on social networking sites updating everyone on what he is doing around the clock.  I’m not sure why he has not joined the social networking craze but he is certainly making better use of his time.  And without kids he should have plenty of time to waste on Facebook……until now.  Yes Norm and Sandra are expecting their first child in October.  Congrats to the both of them.  Since Norm will have even less time soon don’t expect any Facebook updates from him.  Unless he wants to update us on his 2:00 a.m feedings.

Its too early for them to know if they will have a boy or a girl.  I don’t even know if they would want to know.  Either way it will be sure to be a blessing.  Different type of blessings but great joy nevertheless.  Since I have a boy and a girl I want to offer Norm some insights into the special benefits of having a boy and a girl so he can have an idea of what to expect.  While I am no expert on parenting I feel qualified to offer advice and insights because a) I have two young kids b) I watch a lot of Jon and Kate Plus 8 and c) I have a blog which makes me an expert on everything.

Top 3 Benefits of Having a Boy

1. Boys can sit through sporting events.  You always have someone to go to football, baseball, and basketball games with and it counts as father/son bonding time.
2. You can spend hours just throwing a baseball, football or shooting baskets with your son.  It also counts as father/son bonding time and its free.  If you are lucky they may become very skilled at a sport and be able to support you in your retirement.
3. You have another guy in the house who understands why jokes about body functions make all boys/men giggle.

Top 3 Benefits Of Having a Girl

1. Girls can sit quietly and play, draw or read by themselves.  So you can take them to the coffee shop and be able finish reading your newspaper or magazine.  And it counts as father/daughter bonding time.
2. Girls like to give hugs and kisses and say ” I love you” a lot.  Helps you get in touch with your feminine side.
3. Girls smell good.  Boys don’t.

There are probably more than just 3 benefits to having a boy or a girl, but after spending all day with these guys finding three was a challenge.  I don’t have time to list the top “issues” of having a boy and a girl.  I don’t want to scare Norm and Sandra and they will find out soon enough.  So I’ll just focus on the “joys” of having kids.  Congratulations to Norm and Sandra as they enter another big stage in their lives.

If you drive or walk around a major city you will notice a lot of billboard advertising.  There is so much advertisement that after awhile we kind of tune it out and don’t pay much attention.  That is bad news for the advertisers who paid big money to get their message out there only to have that message get lost in an over saturated market of billboards and signs.  So the advertisers have to do more to make their message stand out from the crowd.  That means more shocking, edgier ads.  Here are some examples:

The first one is my favorite.  It is an advertisement for a gym.  I don’t think this would motivate me to join a gym, just to find another chair to sit in.  The second one invokes strong emotion to donate food to helpf third world countires.  The last one also sends a powerful message.  I’m sure it will cause parents to watch their kids a little closer at the pool although it does kind of put a downer on a nice day at the pool.  Here are some more interesting ads.

Happy National Napping Day.  Today is National Napping Day which is always held the first Monday after daylight savings time.  Take a nap today and try to get back the hour we lost yesterday.  It seems losing an hour really throws people’s system off and they are aways unprepared for it.  Attendance at church was very low yesterday due to daylight savings time.  I’m not sure why it affects people so much.  Its only an hour and you have ample time to prepare for it but it always seems to catch people by surprise.

Nevertheless National Napping Day is a chance to get your system back on track if you take nap today.  I’m a big fan of taking naps.  Unfortunately sometimes the short naps turn to deep sleep.  Maybe if I took regular short naps I would not fall into deep slumber during the day.  The health benefits of taking short naps include less stress and a more rested body.  It seems that naps are favored mostly by the very young and old which I am quickly becoming.  Use National Napping Day to try incorporating naps into your daily routine and see if it does not improve you level of alertness and health.

In a few weeks March Madness will be upon us with the start of the NCAA basketball tournament.  For many years I have participated in a small tournament pool.  It is only about 5-6 people and the stakes are small.  Its just for fun and bragging rights.  It also makes watching the games a lot more fun.  At other times I have participated in fantasy football pool which are also fun but can become very time consuming and addictive.  I know other guys who do fantasy baseball but I have never gotten into that. It is all in fun and games and a good diversion but not a big money maker.

Well it turns out that to make big money in fantasy sports, I have been involved the wrong sport.  The big money is not in March madness basketball pools or fantasy football.  The big money is in fantasy fishing.  Yes fishing.  If you ever up late at night or up early you may have seen fishing tournaments on ESPN.  I watch everything on ESPN even fishing.  You may not be interested in watching guys you do not know fishing in some lake in Alabama, but you might if it meant you could make money at it.

Fishing may seem boring and watching someone fish beyond boring but fishing is a big deal in some parts of the country.  The fishing tournaments have stadium seating which means you are sitting in a bench seats watching guys fish.  Actually you can’t see people fish since your seats are on the dock.  You just sit around until the the fisherman comes back into the dock.  Than the stadium erupts in cheering on their favorite fisherman as they weigh their catch.  That’s right you are sitting in the cold for hours only to cheer on someone weighing fish.  I don’t get it either but the same people are probably watching NASCAR which I also do not get.

If fishing is on ESPN and people are watching can fantasy fishing be far behind?  Yes, not only can you play fantasy fishing, you can make big bucks from it.  There is even an article in Time magazine on fantasy fishing.  In this fantasy fishing league you try to pick the winner of each tournaments and gain points.  Each tournament is like a game in a football season.  There are over 10 million dollars in prizes and the winner will receive a million dollars.  All for predicting guessing who will catch more fish.

Fantasy sports are a fun diversion and makes the games more interesting.  However if you find yourself reading fishing reports at work and trying to follow the results of a fishing tournament in Minnesota on the Internet you may have a problem.

One of my favorite hobbies is reading.  I have always loved reading, but now I don’t have the time to read many books.  So my reading now is mostly limited to newspapers and magazines.  I am always looking for new magazines at the supermarket or the coffee shop.  We even subscribe to a few sports and celebrity gossip magazines.  Great for traveling and of course bathroom reading.  Stan has pointed out some free magazines you can get here. You can’t beat free but almost free is the next best thing.

At Mag A Day there is one magazine deal a day.  The good thing about Mag A Day is that all the magazines are popular ones such as US magazine, People, or Forbes.  They are not free but it is a very good deal.  The discount varies but it usually costs about the price of 1 or 2 issues at the newsstand for an entire year.  For example the deal for US magazine is $28.94 for an entire year.  It costs $3.99 at the newsstand and it comes every week.  Most monthly magazines are around $5 for the year.  So if you need more bathroom reading material or want to take a break from reality TV check out Mag A Day. There is sure to be a magazine in there suited for your interests.

Last weekend my brother in law Mike got married.  It was a beautiful day and a spectacular wedding.  Everyone had a great time as we welcomed Kay into our family.   It seems like anyone can become a semi pro wedding photographer these days.  Just buy a camera from Costco and Photoshop and you are set to go.  Wedding photographers are like the real estate agents from a few years ago.  Everyone was selling real estate or doing loans on the weekend.  Now its wedding photography.  With the advancement of technology wedding pictures look much better than when I got married 8 years ago.  Of course it helps to have good looking subjects such as Mike and Kay.

I sometimes think anyone with a decent camera and proper software can take pretty good pictures.  Than you see some amazing pictures that “wow” you and you can see the difference between a true professional and your office mate part time photographer.  The photographer for Mike and Kay’s wedding was Jasmine Wang. I actually introduced Mike and Kay to Jasmine.  I met Jasmine last year when she assisted a photographer at another wedding I attended.  Jasmine sat next to me at dinner and we were talking about her experiences.  She is a long time photo journalist who has travled the world working for the Wall Street Journal among major publications.  She has now settled in San Francisco doing weddings and portraits.  I put her in touch with Mike and Kay and they ended up choosing them as their photographer.   Her pictures certainly has the extra “wow” factor in them.  If I was getting married I would certainly consider Jasmine.  She may even be able to make me look good.  Here are some pictures from Jasmine’s website of Mike and Kay’s engagement session and wedding.  Congrats to Mike and Kay.

Engagement Session

Wedding

Even though I was rooting for the underdog Arizona Cardinals, it was a a great Super Bowl finish.  Very exciting and entertaining.  For many people the Super Bowl ads is a big highlight and highly anticipated.  This year’s commercials had its share of funny moments, but I thought it was not as creative or original as prior year.  It also seemed to me that the commercials were a bit on the violent side or after a cheap laugh rather than something original.  Here is one example the Doritos crystal ball commercial.  On a Simpson’s episode Homer remarked “a football to the groin video is always funny”  So is a crystal ball video.  It did get a laugh out of me and was memorable, but not particularly creative.

Doritos Crystal Ball

At a recent meeting of young families at church a survey was taken.  Each couple was asked “What would your dream date be?”  An open ended question with thousands of possibilities.  Sadly the overwhelming number one answer was “Anywhere without the kids”.  It is a sad commentary of how low our expectations are of a dream date once we have kids, but those with kids understand the sentiment.  We are lucky that we get more than our fair share of time away from the kids thanks to our generous and willing babysitters, the Grandparents.

One event that we always look forward to each year with 3 to 4 other couples is Dine About Town. Dine about town happens every January in which participating restaurants offer fixed priced 3 course meals.  Dinner this year cost $34.95 up a few dollars, but still a bargain compared to the regular price at some of the best restaurants in the City.  It is a chance to try out new restaurants at a very cheap price.  More importantly it is a time to enjoy adult conversation and a good meal.  Of course without kids.

This year we chose Forbes Island Restaurant.  The unique thing about Forbes Island is that it is actually on an island in the San Francisco bay across from Pier 39.  It has its own boat service.  You just call them from pier 39 and they pick you up.  On a clear day the views must be spectacular.  Unfortunately, on the day of our dinner was not a clear day.  It was raining all day so we were not anxious to venture into the bay in such stormy weather.  So we decided to make a last minute change of plans and phoned around trying to secure a dinner reservation from the Dine About Town choices.  We got a reservation a little later at the Grand Cafe in the theater district.   I ate there a few years ago but did not remember much about it.  I was still a little disappointed in not being able to go to Forbes Island, but Grand Cafe was a very pleasant surprise and the quality of food did not disappoint.

We arrived with another couple about an hour before our reservation which was fine because the other couple was running late anyways.  So we had an hour of appetizers and drinks.  The appetizers of clams and bread was excellent.  It bought back good memories of a trip to France and Belgium many years ago before kids where we had clams almost every day.  The appetizers almost filled us up too much….almost.

Moving on to the Dine About menu, it was one of the better selections among the Dine About Town restaurants.  Most Dine About menus have a choice of 1 or 2 entrees, but this one had 4 and we were able to pick any dessert off the regular menu.  Here is the regular menu.  As you can see the Dine About meal is an excellent value.  I forgot to take pictures of our entrees which was excellent because I was too busy enjoying the food and the company, but here are some pictures of the appetizers and dessert.

Flammenküche:wood oven crispy flatbread, tri-pepper gastrique, Fuyu persimmon, walnuts, goat cheese cream.  This was a big winner.

Tarte Tatin aux Pommes

Baked upside down Granny Smith apple tart, honey vanilla ice cream

Tarte de Meringue de Citron Meyer lemon meringue pie

Friandises
Assortment of small cookies & treats (easily boxed “to go for the show”)

A very fun and relaxing evening and we look forward to next year’s dinner….also without kids.