I’ll be in Las Vegas, for the first time in quite a few years. Whether or not I am drunk at this very moment is yet to be determined.
Tag: travel
I don’t know why I’m at work, so I’ll muse about 2011
I’m pretty sure I can count on one hand just how many people are in this office today. Granted, I’m not complaining at the fact that I’m getting paid to sit here and do absolutely no work, but man, I certainly wouldn’t have minded sleeping in this morning. But instead, I trudged out of bed at 6:30 a.m. to go run around the ‘hood in 36 degree weather, and here I sit, waiting for a few hours to pass, since I made it all the way out here already. So with that in mind, and since I’ve pretty much seen the entire work-safe internet now, I suppose it’s not a bad time to sit back and catch up on some writing. And with the end of the year literally right around the corner, why not use that as a topic?
Since I’m at the office, and don’t ever visit my own sites on the network for paranoid fear that they’ll one day find my online identity, I’m musing most of this based on what I can remember off the top of my head. But the good news is that, as a whole, I don’t think that the encapsulated 2011 year was a very bad year at all. Compared to 2010, it was a much improved year. At first blush I want to say that it wasn’t anything magnificently spectacular, but the more I think about it, I guess I can say that 2011 was a pretty decent year overall.
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A relic of ancient times
I’m currently at my parents’ house in Virginia, and I was rooting through some old things in the basement. I stumbled upon this magnificent jewel of the past. My mom got this for me back in like 1989 on a cold Saturday morning after Korean school. It was purchased from a Kiddie City Toys. The original set of four AA batteries lasted all of three days as I, my sister and one of my cousins sought 100 lines in Tetris.
I can’t believe I remember all these little details. It’s also hard to believe that the handheld division of Nintendo started with this brick, which actually doesn’t feel so much like a brick any more. Granted, compared to an SP, it’s monstrous, but in my hands again, it didn’t feel like I was holding a hoagie or anything. What an amazing journey it’s been for Nintendo in this regard; what started out as the puke green brick, ended up being the only thing keeping the entire company afloat when Pokemon games continued to sell in the midst of the CD-based console wars, and now Nintendo is among the triple crown of game companies all over again. And now it’s called The 3DS.
But there would be no 3DS if not for this Game Boy. Funny how things work out.
Real Men Don’t Wear Small update: The Arizona Fall League
‘Tis an odd time of the year for me to be making an update to this ongoing project, but the Arizona Fall League doesn’t operate on the same timeline as the rest of Major League Baseball.
Having never been to the state of Arizona in my entire life previously, the Arizona Fall League was a perfect excuse to go out there for a visit for the first time. A glorified exhibition league of minor league all-stars, championing the notion of “tomorrow’s superstars,” the AFL is a mini league consisting of six teams spread out throughout the remote Phoenix area. In my first ever visit out to Arizona, I managed to find time to visit five of the six parks, and subsequently write entries into my ongoing project of the pursuit of visiting ballparks across America.
As far as pure baseball trip experiences go, as I’m sure I’ve said it before, I’m pretty much ruined. The cost-effectiveness, quality of baseball and relaxing nature are second to absolutely nothing else, and it’s going to be something, when I’m forking over fifty bucks to sit way far from the field at some Major League ballpark in future years.
Bryce Harper’s Monster Truck
In short, the Arizona Fall League has more or less ruined me as far as live baseball experiences are concerned. Parking is free at all these small, intimate ballparks. There are only general admission tickets that are $7 a pop, and allow you to sit anywhere you want, including right behind home plate. And unlike in Spring Training where there are veterans loafing it and not taking the games seriously, the Arizona Fall League is nothing but 19-25 year olds playing their hearts out, because every ounce of effort could possible get noticed and get them called up to the Majors sooner rather than later. Baseball at it’s most pure and innocent, and frankly, most beautiful.
I also shagged five baseballs because hardly anyone is at these games, and got into one game free, because a stadium worker just didn’t really care and let us in, but it’s instances like getting to go right up to Bryce Harper’s douchy monster truck and take my picture next to it that is really awesome.
I look forward to going to Arizona again in the future, even if it’s boring as fuck outside of baseball. At least the food is really good.
Oink Oink Arizona: Sacred Hogan’s Navajo Taco
I’m not going to lie – the main reason why I went to this place in the first place was because it was called “Sacred Hogan.” I know in redcorn-speak a hogan is something of a wooden cabin structure where ceremonies are held if it’s a “male hogan,” and food is made if it’s a “female hogan,” but let’s be real here. Hogan is synonymous for one thing, and really just one thing. Which is obviously the god damn Immortal Hulk Hogan. And Sacred Hogan sounds just fitting as a shrine to the Sacred Hulkster himself.
But really, I’ve never really had redcorn food in my entire life, so this was as good as time as any to try some. From the Hulkster’s sacred shrine. In all honesty, this Navajo Taco wasn’t the greatest thing in the world, but it was far from the worst. To give benefit of the doubt, I’m guessing my tastebuds are all sorts of fucked up and ruined by all the processed and unhealthy crap food I eat on a regular basis, so something so fresh, natural and redcorny like this Navajo taco go a little under appreciated and is construed as a little bland. Adding some salsa helped a little bit, but overall, the flavor was a little light. But not to say it was bad at all, because I ate it all, and I really wouldn’t do that for something I didn’t enjoy.
So in all, Hulkamania would approve of the Sacred Hogan. Brother.
Oink Oink Arizona: The Del Ray from Torta de la Reyes
Let’s see, cheddar, lettuce, tomato, egg, chorizo, ham, sausage, and pork. The Del Ray.
Getting to Torta de la Reyes involves driving down a sketchy stretch of a redcorn road called Indian School Road, where you have to pass like 20 redcorn businesses, several sketchy strip joints, chop shops, and imigracion offices, but this sandwich made it worth it. The entire place was entirely Mexican, but nobody seemed to notice white boy and chino wandering in to sample some of their foods. Our waitress even addressed us in Spanish, before I had to bust out “no habla Espanol” before she switched to English.
The ironic thing is that this restaurant’s other location had the sandwich that was twice the price, and probably twice the size of this monstrosity that I initially scoffed at not being able to get. The best analogy for this beast of a sandwich and how it dominated both Huzzard and myself is that we both thought we could take Shredder, but instead this Krang of a sandwich kept beating our ass, and we never even got to lay eyes on Shredder when the day was over.
It was a truly delicious sandwich, but I couldn’t finish it. Granted, we had only eaten three hours prior, but even on a hungry, empty stomach, I don’t know if I would have been able to tackle this entirely. Not to mention the absurd side of fries.