24 hours in Sacarmento-
In SAC at 11:30, a power-nap in the site parking lot under a tree,
in the rental car with the AC running full blast to keep the temp
a cool 75 degrees for an hour... Trying to catch up on just a little sleep.
Our WTT match was at 7:30 local time- I did some prep work to make breakdown go a little better, then we just killed time until the start of the match.
I spent a good amount of time price-comparing digital cameras, since I had lost mine at some point between 5 and 11 AM... It was either in my room in Newport, in the rental car in Newport, or at the TSA checkpoint in the OC airport.
I was resigned to getting a new one, and kicking myself in the ass for losing my favorite camera.
The match went off without a hitch- (good thing too...I was in no mood for shenanigans.)
No webcam this time...no time for stuff like that...
The match ended just after 10:00pm- I started breaking down at 10:30, as soon as I could get enough room on the court to move the scoreboards and start pulling cables.
I wrapped the scoring table and packed it to be shipped, then Rick Farmer (the site manager) and I removed the wheels from the scoreboards and got them in the crates, padded for transport and I was off the site by 1:30AM...
I got pulled over by the Rancho Cordova police on the way to the hotel for suspicion of DUI...
I was on the wrong side of road on the way into the hotel- but it was because the lanes were poorly marked, and definitely not because of inebriation...after 45 minutes of discussion and debate I got a written warning and finally checked in to the hotel and got some blissful sleep.
I was out at 6:00AM and heading back to the Airport- I had to stop by the site and do one last check before departing, and I needed to agument my wardrobe- during breakdown the night before I had torn the only pair of cargo shorts I brought to Sacramento... I stopped at Target and set a new in-and-out record for a purchase- in at 8:01, back in the car with a new pair of shorts at 8:04.
When I refueled my rental car on the way to the airport I changed into the shorts in the bathroom at the gas station... I kinda missed the cool airflow the hole in the seat was providing, but since modesty and good taste are high on my personal priorities list, I decided to opt for propriety and discretion. Besides, I didn't want to scare anyone unnecessarily.
No delays this time, and although I didn't get a bulkhead/aisle seat, I did get a good seat about 12 rows back, and the woman in the window seat was a joy to chat with... A grandmother who was heading to OC to join up with her kids and grand kids for a flight to Cancun... She was a lot of fun and made the time pass quickly.
When I got off the flight, my cell phone jumped to life- Problems at the site... Hurry up and get to Palisades and get things fixed...
I got to the site by 2:00 and recitified the problems by 3:00 (urgency in resolution mandated by the 100+ degree temperature), then headed for the hotel for a power nap in the delightful Air Conditioning.
Back on site at 5:00- the 7:00pm match was played without issues and we were off-site by 11:00.
Here's the July Miracle: I had a day off.
That's right- no matches on Friday. No other city needing to be setup or broken down, just 24 hours of nothing.
I stuck the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door and slept until 12:00, watched a couple DVDs. I went to Frys later in the afternoon and drooled on the esoteric hardware, and had a tasty dinner at Agora (link ), a Churrascaria near the hotel.
Tasty stuff at Agora, although it beats me why you name a Brazilian restaurant the Greek word for "market" (heh- "agora" in Portuguese means "now")... the food was phenomenal- especially the picana and the sirloin... The bacon-wrapped chicken was really moist and flavorful too...and the lamb.
If you're in the O.C.- check out Agora. Now. At the corner of Main and McArthur.
And good news! After many phone calls and pointed conversations and accusations with administrative officials at Avis, the TSA and the Crown Plaza Hotel, I have my camera back! The world is once again spinning in greased grooves.
It's a double header today... We have one match at 3:00pm, and another at 7:00pm. And the finals are tomorrow at 1:00pm. In the heat of the day...
(Weather.com says 79 degrees at 2:00pm, like they know anything about the weather.)
We'll be breaking down by 5:00 or so.
Stay tuned for more WTT Fun.
Famous, out-
Hmm...45 minutes is quite a long "discussion" with the coppers, me boy-o. Did this "discussion" require you to stand on one leg and count, by any chance? I think I'd be standing back - no one wants to get crushed by a teetering redwood, after all.
ReplyDeleteYes- as a matter of fact it did.
ReplyDeleteHeel-to-toe stepping, followed by alphebetic recitation, and eventually ending with me tap-dancing in a vat of oatmeal while reciting Beowulf in the original Old English and trying to accurately urinate into a Snapple bottle from 10 paces.
The longest part was the discussion of the point-of-view comparison from the turning lane and the inadequate lane markings.
No specific threats were made, and no overt disparaging of the police officer in question. At least not in English. (Sure glad he didn't know when I said "fei fei de pi yan" it implied he was a baboon's asscrack.
Heh.