Did I mention that the Oakland A's scored a grand slam and everyone in the stadium was rewarded with a single topping personal pizza courtesy of Round Table Pizza? Since we had 5 tickets, we could get 5 pizza just by showing our tickets. Of course, one was Marta's. So last night, the four of us headed out to Crow Canyon for a pizza dinner after a long round of tennis with Nic's friend, Anand.

So much has happened this week. We went to Central Park on July 4 for fireworks. There was a very festive mood with lots of families having picnics and bbq's, kids and their dads throwing balls, a rock concert going on with a crowd dancing in front of the stage, ... and naturally, the entrepreneurial ones at food stands selling cotton candy, drinks and some quick snacks.

Next day, I went to work. Then on Friday, we headed out North for our first college tour. To UC Davis. Man, it was boiling hot and after walking over an hour to find lunch, another one and a half hour under the blazing sun listening to a student guide tell us all the good things about the college was pretty taxing. He was a good guide and his enthusiasm for the school showed. But still I was relieved when the tour finally ended. UC Davis seems to have a lot going for it. Singaporeans probably would not naturally list it as one of their top choices but it is very strong in certain engineering disciplines, especially in agricultural and animal sciences. The school also looks "safe" - environment is pleasant and you don't get the sense that kids there party more than they study. Lots of cycling cos they are discouraged from driving seeing as the town itself is just at the edge of the campus. In terms of acreage, certainly the largest of the UC campuses. There are even very popular wine and beer making and research classes. What would you expect from being so close to Napa?

After the tour, as it was on the way back, we stopped at Vacaville for a spot of outlet shopping. So naturally, visits to Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Levi's, Banana Republic were on the agenda. The one spoiler was a whining half man who is not a good shopper. He could not wait to head back home.

We had dinner at Applebees and then drove home, dead tired.

Today, Sunday, we are about to head out the door to Stanford. Sending Doris to her conference for the next four days. And our second college tour of the season.

So here the boy and I are, at home rather tired after hours on the road and walking around Stanford. Luckily, the weather today is beautiful unlike at Davis. Perfect day to visit a charming campus with more of the easy going California atmosphere than at Davis. The tour was shorter, only 45 mins and the guide as usual rather euphoric about all the good qualities of the school from teaching assistants to professors to all the outstanding credentials of the different faculties. Well you can hardly fault him, it is one of the world's best.

Bought the half man a Stanford hoodie from the student coop that I know will get a lot of use. We were able to get up Hoover Tower this time unlike in winter. Very nice 360 degree views of the campus and much of the Bay Area as far as the foothills to the west and Fremont to the east.

We sent Doris off to her Advanced Placement in English conference and had to stay to get her settled in. There was a mixed up over her room. Then picked up a fish at the Szechuan restaurant for dinner, lots of sunflower seeds at Ranch 99 and back home for Nicole's tennis game with her friends.

I am tired...

Baseball Bash

The Oakland A's won last night. It was fun, going to a baseball game to soak up Americana, especially on the eve of Independence Day. Cannot get more of homeland culture than in a town not suburbia like San Ramon. So we ate oily garlic fries and fish and chips and the kids had some cotton candy and very expensive dibbs. And we watched the A's thrash the Blue Jays and did the wave several times and added our share to raising the decibel levels when the signboards told us to make noise. We had picked Marta, Nic's best friend, up and the 5 of us sat in quite a good area so we had a good view except of course for the constant traffic of people selling stuffs and folks going up and down to get yet more food or beer. Ryan's first baseball game and Nic summed it up towards the end with "you so have to bring us to more games" or something like that.

The game ended with everyone standing up to watch the last moments of victory and then the crowd on the upper levels started streaming down, crowding the aisles. Then on to the field after the officials had set up barricades to protect the play area. When everyone had settled down on their picnic blankets which took quite a while, the fireworks started and it was an extravaganza, a symphony of fire to patriotic American songs over the sound system.

Getting out of the stadium was a traffic challenge but what would you expect? Thank you GuGu for Garmin Nuvi! She has become an indispensable companion on trips to the unknown and a real life saver. All in all, a totally good experience. Too bad the Man was not around to share it with us. Today, I checked my cell and it seems he called at about 9:30pm. We would not have heard the phone over the cacophony in the stadium, especially as it was about the end of the game when the A's were about to end with a 3 to 1 home run victory over the poor Canadians.

To my bitter dismay, none of the two cameras I successfully bidded on eBay showed up so I have no pictures to share. One of the sellers actually live in San Leandro and if I had known, I could have picked up the camera myself days ago. And he obviously did not bother to check that I live in a place he visits regularly and he could also have dropped the camera off at our home. Because I paid by check, he had to wait for it to clear, otherwise it would have taken only 2 days to get the camera, blah blah blah... A strange confluence of events cascading one on another that ended up with his offering to cancel the sale and refund the money to which I heartily agreed. And the other camera has just only been shipped yesterday. So I will still be unable to take any pictures of today's fireworks at Central Park. Bummer!

The good news is the half man has taken lots of pics and some videos with the camera from YY and will be posting them on his own blog. So watch out for them.

And this morning, had to drag myself and Nic out of bed at 6 to send her to Central Park where she was a volunteer at the San Ramon 10K run. Over a thousand people turned up for the run and Nik's son, Calvin, came in third for his age group. As for me, I went home after dropping her off to resume my sleep. It was like death, I was so tired. And since I brought her home at 10, that girl has been in dreamland, making up for lost sleep.

And Lay Keow came over half an hour ago to drop off a bag of plums from her garden and share a story about an impending marriage in her family. That's a story I cannot share.

More later about our adventures of the rest of our first Independence Day...

Funtime

I am so looking forward to the next few days. I've bought 5 tickets to see the Oakland A's against the Toronto Blue Jays at the Oakland McAfee Stadium on Jul 3. Marta and Doris are joining the 3 of us. This will be our first baseball game since landing here and I am certain it won't be the last. It will be fun because it is eve of Independence Day and there will be fireworks after the game. I am told by my colleagues that it will be awesome. We will probably come back very late. Oh, I hope my new cameras arrive soon. I want to take pictures, lots of pictures, maybe a video of the fireworks.

Then the very next day, there is a run at Central Park next to the Community Center in the afternoon followed by, you guessed it, FIREWORKS again. Nic and I went to Costco and Target today hoping to find a picnic blanket but there was none to be had so we had to settle for a tarp. Planning to bring a picnic basket so we can all sprawl on the field and just enjoy the atmosphere.

Then we may make a day trip to Yosemite. Doris has never been there and I may bring along a colleague from Singapore who is all here by herself and has also never been to Yosemite. The boy will be the only rose among a lot of thorns.

Who knows maybe a shopping spree could be in the agenda. There are so many ads on July 4 sales. Too tempting not to go see what the fuss is about. Gilroy? Vacaville? Maybe the latter. Planning to visit UC Davis on my Friday off this week as part of Nic's college visits and Vacaville is on the way but time may be too short. Davis is about 2 hours' drive. Still the daylight hours are long.

Doris just came back from Salt Lake City. We are going out for dinner - too lazy to cook. So stay tune. I am keeping my fingers crossed about the cameras. Would hate to lose the photo opportunities.