Once a quarter, my team gets budget to do a fun team-building event, and today we went to GoKart Racer in Burlingame, the same place that Randy had his birthday a couple years back. It's a 70K-square-foot indoor facility with three European-designed race courses, where speeds reach about 35mph and racers have to wear suits and helmets, so it's legit. The longest course is considered the best in the country.
We raced on the 305-meter Monza track, with average lap times around 31-32 seconds. The package included 10 minutes of practice time, followed by a short break, then a 5-minute qualifying run to determine starting positions for the 15-minute final race.
The Monza track
We had somewhat of a ringer in the group, Andrea, who has been taking professional racing classes for over a year, but go-karting is obviously pretty different from real racing, so the field was wide open. I was only third-fastest in practice, behind Tomas and Dave, but I placed second in qualifying behind Dave, so I was well-positioned for the final race. It's a tight course, so passing isn't easy, but on lap 14 of 28, I beat Dave on the inside of turn 8, and it was smooth sailing from there. I was able to create a huge gap and went on to win by 9 seconds! Andrea passed both Tomas and Dave to finish second, and Tomas managed to pass Dave for third. Poor Dave lost three spots from the pole. Mike and Leslie rounded out the group. [Race Results]
The podium finishers
Tomas, Andrea, Dave, and I are also on the list of top lap times this week! I was #2, but I guess all the fast guys come out at the end of the week. Hopefully I'm still on the list when you click the link.
It was a great time, and I'd definitely love to do it again, so let's get a group together! It's a high quality place, and I still have a lot of pent up driving aggression to get out of my system. I kept wanting to gun my car on the way home tonight!
It's been a while since we've changed anything on our site, so we've added some new stuff to spice things up.
The Weekly List
This is our place to share what has us excited in the world of pop culture, including movies, television, music, books, and games. As the name indicates, we'll update our lists weekly, and this week Gina's excited about watching Grey's Anatomy, listening to Clay Aiken's new album, and playing her new game Cooking Mama on the Nintendo DS. Considering the limits on her free time, I'm not sure how much her list will change. With surgery exam coming up on Friday, her list this week should probably consist entirely of surgery text books.
I was psyched for the Heroes series premiere (underwhelmed, but it's early) and the second episode of Studio 60 (Sorkin rules). I also just finished season 2 of Lost on DVD, which plays a lot better without commercials and interminable waits for the next episode. On the reading front, I'm breezing through Will in the World, about how Shakespeare became Shakespeare. Lots of other interesting books in the queue. Like what, you ask? Check the list. :)
Featured Links
This is a collection of fun sites that were created by us and our friends, or sites that we just feel like sharing. So far, we have:
The homepages for a couple of games I created: Markinson Cup (site by Andrew) and SHHNHB
A couple of user-driven sites that Andrew created: Fantasy Sports Booth, a fantasy sports information site, and Blogems, a place to archive the random types of things we'd normally IM or forward to each other
My IMDB movie ratings (almost 800 movies rated!).
Have a site you'd like to share? Just let us know, and we'll put it up.
Blogger Ring
This isn't new, but it's been reorganized based on frequency of updates (while ensuring that Jeremy and Andrew remain adjacent to each other). Think of it as Jerry's girlfriend's speed dial, but for blogs.
Now all that's left is figuring out how to eliminate the quirky differences between how this blog displays in Firefox vs. IE. Any users out there still on IE? Any web geniuses who can help me reclaim my sanity?
The founder of Ms. magazine, and the actress whose political activism earned her the label Hanoi Jane
Tuesday was the inaugural installment of the Women@Google speaker series, and who better to kick that off than Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda? (Dang, I even managed to answer in the form of a question. I'm good.) The two have a long history of activism, particularly with women's rights, and they came to Google to share those experiences, discuss the woman-focused talk radio network that they recently founded, and share their thoughts on the future of feminism.
Formidable figures, both, though Ms. Steinem was especially impressive. Ms. Fonda brought her dog, which was strange, and she also seemed a bit out of sorts at times, but she still has a lot of presence, and it was interesting to hear about her life of activism. I wanted to ask her what it was like working with JLo, but everyone's questions were so serious (not to mention fawning), so I refrained.
There were some other influential women in attendance as well, including feminist Robin Morgan, the author of Fighting Words: A Toolkit for Combating the Religious Right, who did a lot of her research for the book using Google and likened her visit to a trip to the Royal Library of Alexandria. I'm looking forward to reading it.
Guest Speakers, $800
The recold holder for wins on the game show Jeopardy
On Wednesday, a totally different kind of speaker graced our campus as part of our long running Authors@Google series.
His Google host, Fritz Holznagel, was a five-time champion himself, back in the pre-Ken days when that was the maximum allowed. Fritz also won the Tournament of Champions, which pitted all of the five-timers against each other. My buddy Steve was also in attendance, a Jeopardy four-timer himself (Abominable Snowmen to you Dufresne Premier Leaguers). Lots of trivia brainpower in that room.
It was entertaining to hear about Ken's experiences surrounding his epic run. For instance:
Jeopardy episodes are taped over four months in advance of airing, so his first episode didn't air until very deep into his run, which meant he had to hide his constant trips to LA from his work and family. They had no idea how long his run lasted until they saw it for themselves on TV.
When his episodes started to air, his sister and her family would come over to watch each one, full of excitement, but less than two weeks into his run, she was calling him to say she would just watch from home. Amazing how quickly even the most extraordinary things normalize.
In response to a question I asked, he described his preparation process, which involved spending three weeks with his wife memorizing everything about the presidents, world capitals, and other common topics. But as Jeopardy fans know, Potent Potables is a staple category, and as a devout Mormon, he knew nothing about alcohol, so he went into cram mode to memorize the ingredients for every mixed drink in existence.
Before his episodes began to air, fellow contestants would become crestfallen when it was announced how many episodes he had won in a row. After his episodes started to air, contestants would become crestfallen just at the sight of him. "You're still here?" He was a buzzsaw. And a buzzkill.
65 of his 74 wins were clinched before Final Jeopardy. He averaged about $34K per win and owns the one-day record at $75K. He correctly answered questioned more than 2,700 answers during his run.
When asked about his loss, he said that he got a little cocky, and it cost him. While everyone focuses on the Final Jeopardy question he missed, it shouldn't have even mattered that day. He over-bet on two Daily Doubles, which went against his normal gamplan, and those misses opened the door for his competition in Final Jeopardy. Before his run ended, he contemplated when he would throw one, and he decided he would quit after 100, but he never got there.
As a big Colbert fan, I loved when he talked about his appearance on The Report (he's a big fan, too), and the advice he was given by the producers before filming. Don't try to be funny; just let Colbert use you as a prop. Don't break character, or it ruins the show's facade. Good stuff.
For one of the most celebrated nerds out there, he was a surprisingly engaging speaker, and I really enjoyed the stories he shared. I can't wait to read his book, which goes further into his experience on Jeopardy and spends time exploring the world of trivia buffs. Sounds like a fun, light read, in contrast to everything else in my queue.
Drew drove up this weekend to join me, Hubert, and Andrew for the long-awaited and much hyped grand opening of the new stadium, and the experience exceeded all expectations but one.
Let's start with the stadium itself. The place is beautiful, a football palace. The landscaping was still settling in, but that’s understandable given the tight schedule. The concessions and concourses were much improved. It’s actually a pleasure to walk around the stadium and enjoy the sights. Nothing like fighting through the narrow mineshafts of the Ol’ Lady.
Drew heads into one of the many tunnels leading to the lower concourse
The view from the lower East concourse
The view from the upper South concourse
The arches in the upper North concourse
Looking out from the upper North concourse
The festivities were nice, though lacking in Stanford spirit. Felt like a Navy home game. No band due to suspension, those vandalous knuckleheads, which really detracted from the atmosphere. Not to mention the students weren't in school yet. And note to marketing staff: card stunts aren’t that great when there are empty seats. The Navy Leapfroggers were awesome though, and the jet flyover was thrilling, albeit brief.
The Navy Leapfroggers spin towards the stadium
A Navy Leapfrogger aims for the stadium and comes in for his landing
Another Leapfrogger brings in the Stanford flag
The Navy jet flyover during the national anthem
The patriotic halftime show with the Navy band playing God Bless America
I love my seats. I can’t speak for the other rows, because it looked like people were a little cramped, but we were able to stretch out our legs completely and prop them up on the rail, and when people in our row needed to get to their seats, we didn’t even have to stand up to let them pass. It’s like getting an exit row for every flight you ever take!
The sightlines are excellent. Close to the action, high enough to see the plays develop, completely unobstructed view of the field, and a great view of the parents’ section directly below us. There’s no way I’m moving to section 231 until row A is available.
The view from my seat
All smiles...the game must not have started yet
Andrew and Hubert enjoying some garlic fries and hotdogs...and look at that legroom!
Looking down on the parents' section below (Okwo's girlfriend is hot)
So what failed to exceed expectations? The most important part of the stadium, unfortunately, and that’s the team playing in it. Prognostications had us 2-1 at this point, but we are 0-3, and there’s no relief in sight. Our best players are injured, the rest of our guys are inexperienced or inept, or both, and our coach is a complete moron. Where art thou, Dr. Chow? (damn I’m poetic)
It was so bad that the highlight of the game was when someone in the adjacent section made a paper airplane out of a poster of Stanford players, and it flew all the way into the North endzone! It elicited a loud cheer, and deservedly so, because as I remarked at that moment, it was the first time our players had reached the endzone all night.
The only Cardinal touchdown of the night, by Anthony Kimble (if you don't count the paper airplane, of course)
Drew and Andrew look on in disgust after another stupid Walt Harris decision. Hubert with his signature "It's so bad I can't help but laugh" laugh
So in sum, best football venue in the Bay Area, worst football team. Bob Bowlsby, the challenge is before you. Let’s see what you got.
The one upside? Section 231, row A might open up sooner than expected.
This Thursday I got out to Maples with Andrew and Rob to take in the Stanford vs. Santa Clara volleyball match. Last year, with our setter and top outside hitter out with injuries, we lost to Santa Clara in the sixteens, and they went on to make the Final Four. A bitter loss that required avenging. This year we started the season ranked #2 in the nation, but a flukey loss to BYU dropped us to #8, behind the Broncos at #4. Big match.
The match prior was between Georgetown and UC Irvine, and I wanted to catch it to see a former player of mine from my year of coaching at Castilleja, Kate Fisher, who sets for the Hoyas (and whose little sister Alex plays outside hitter for Stanford). Back then, she was the best player on the eighth grade team, despite being a sixth grader, so we knew then that she'd be scholarship material someday.
Kate Fisher, #2, setting up the backslide
After Goergetown lost a heartbreaker in five, we settled in for the featured match of the night, and who did I find sitting directly to my left? The inimitable Li Moore, former 3-time Castañan and current Googler, who was there with his girlfriend to check out his first volleyball match ever. With Li there, we had four consecutive Stanford classes represented, with Rob '99, me '00, Li '01, and Andrew '02, with a combined TEN years out of our 16 spent in Castaño! Ridiculous.
A thrilling game one opened the match, with Stanford riding Kristin Richards and Cynthia Barboza to a nailbiting 30-28 victory. Richards struggled early, getting blocked on three straight hits and sending another one long, but when she got rolling, the team came roaring back with her.
Richards gets one through the block on the left side, and the board shows her strike on the right to finish off a tight first game
The first-game loss deflated the Broncos, and we rolled to victory in games two and three, with the second one being especially lopsided, 30-14. The highlight of that game was Richards' spike off of her would-be blocker's head, with the ball ricocheting all the way to the top of the Maples rafters! I've never seen anything like it. I didn't think a ball could reach that high, and I seriously wasn't sure if the defender was going to be getting up after taking a shot like that in the noggin. It had to be seen to be believed.
As well as the offense was clicking, it was the block up front that led the way. We all know Foluke Akinradewo is a force at net, and Bryn Kehoe provides some nice help from the setter position, but when did Franci Girard become such a stud? She was a wall throughout and led the team with 11 blocks. As Li might say, "Dang Franci! You look good!"
Akinradewo and Kehoe with the block
Girard gets the solo roof, though Nji Nnamani is right there with her, just in case
The scoreboard tells the story
Revenge was ours, but more importantly we proved that the BYU loss was a fluke by decisively beating the #4 team in the country. Nebraska is looking formidable, but we are loaded with stars at all positions and should make a strong run for the national title. Until then, plenty of big matches to attend with my fellow groupie Andrew, including UDub and SC. And tomorrow is opening night of the new stadium!!!
My television appointments for the upcoming season.
Monday
Heroes NBC 9pm Premiere: September 25
The trailer is intriguing, and I love stories about regular people who discover weird powers, so I have high hopes for this one. And Ali Larter is hot.
Trailer:
Studio 60 NBC 10pm Premiere: Septemeber 18
A Few Good Men. The American President. Sports Night. West Wing. We all know Aaron Sorkin's perfect track record. I'm confident that this show will extend his streak of creative brilliance. Matt Perry, Amanda Peet, and Brad Whitford all think so, too. None of them had plans to do television this year, but they changed their minds for the opportunity to work with Sorkin. His writing is that good. Don't miss it.
Trailer (poor video quality, but really good preview of the show):
Wednesday
Lost ABC 9pm Premiere: October 4
Considering the genius of season one, last season was a disappointment. It had its moments, but there were too many irrelevant backstories and slow-developing plotlines. Another problem was the on-again off-again schedule, which killed the flow of the story until it finally gained momentum at the end. I'm hoping it plays better on DVD, when I can watch the episodes one after another.
With that in mind, the producers of the show are going to run this season in two chunks. The first six episodes will run over six straight weeks starting in October. Then the show will go on a 13-week hiatus(!!!) before running the final 16 episodes over 16 straight weeks. Should help with the continuity issues.
Thursday
Grey's Anatomy ABC 9pm Premiere: September 21
I used to watch this show just because Gina did, but what can I say, I'm hooked. Call it my guilty pleasure. I'm just happy it's no longer scheduled to run opposite Studio 60.
Everyday
The Daily Show and The Colbert Report Comedy Central 11pm, 11:30pm
I warned you that I'd use any excuse to post clips of these shows. So without further ado...
Jon Stewart, doing what he does best, mocking the cable news channels:
Owing to his Daily Show roots, Colbert doing what he does best, conducting interviews that make his subjects look ridiculous:
So what are you watching? What am I missing out on?
Labor Day offered a rare chance for me to visit Gina amidst her endless rounds (currently surgery). She starts her days well before I do, even though I'm three time zones ahead, and she does it six times a week, so needless to say, she's very busy, and it's not easy to find a decent window of time for a visit. Lucky for me, the government invented a holiday to mark the end of white clothing until spring, so Gina had the long weekend off, which meant Hawaii for me!
Labor Day is also a popular wedding weekend. Last year Eddy and Steph (happy anniversary, guys!), this year David and Roz, and in Maui! Good excuse for us to head out there for the first time in 6 years.
The wedding was a small ceremony at the incomparable Grand Wailea, and it had me thinking Maui would be a great place to get married in '08. :)
The chapel for the ceremony
The hotel grounds
The bride and groom
Yolanda, Roz, and G
The next day, G and I took a kayaking/snorkeling tour off the South shore of Maui. G's usually not so good with the snorkeling because of her fear of fish (ichthyophobia, I had to look it up), but the water was fairly deep, so the fish were off in the distance. No problem...aside from the time our guide threw granola in the water to cause the fish to swarm around her. Considering all the spider jokes played on me through the years, I'm sympathetic to her lack of amusement. But we were mostly in the area of the giant turtles, and she has no problem with those guys, so even she enjoyed it.
Rafting, kayaking...I love this water paddling stuff! And I didn't even have to worry about Ziplocs, because our guide took pictures for us (still waiting for 'em though). Next time I visit, we're going to try it out on the East shore of Oahu.
Preparing for departure
After kayaking in the morning, we had time to check out the famous Iao Needle before heading back to Oahu. In addition to looking cool, it was also the historic location where King Kamehameha's forces defeated the Maui Warriors (before they relocated to Golden State and continued their losing ways).
Back on Oahu, my last day was perfect: lounging on the beach and getting some good eats.
Even at the beach, she's gotta study her surgery
My view was more enjoyable: blue skies and Jon Stewart essays
Mmm, Curry House and Waiola's shave ice with azuki bean and vanilla ice cream
Now that I'm back on the mainland, I'm already craving Curry House and Waiola's, the best shave ice on the planet. And the weather was brilliant! Oh, and I miss Gina, too. :)
I'm finally recovered from my Monday night redeye, which I'm going to avoid at all costs in the future. Next trip to Hawaii will hopefully be in October, when Gina switches from surgery to internal medicine. Until then, I guess I'll have to settle for J&J's katsu curry and phone calls with Gina. Rafting, anyone? Andrew has his new water shoes!
All pictures are in the photo gallery. Hopefully those kayaking photos arrive soon!
