2011 Chargers vs Ravens
The last home game of the season was a blast. Definitely ended on a good one as our tailgate was on a good one. Nothing like spending the last tailgate with good friends and good food.
Pizzeria Bianco – Phoenix, AZ
So my last stop before my flight home, I scoured google for places you have to eat in Phoenix and came across this place. People were raving how good this pizza is and ranting on how long the wait is (1-3 hour during dinner) so I thought it was a must-go.
I was wrong. I sat in a little after lunch so it was empty and I had a corner table to myself. Really cool atmosphere and buildings since it was located in the historical Heritage Square. However I didn’t think the pizza was up to par with the hype. I actually find Dominoes better pizza than this. The cheese would often slide off too easily and all I’m left with was a really thin, plain piece of dough.
Don’t get me wrong, pizza is pizza, so of course I demolished it.
Website: www.pizzeriabianco.com
Yelp: www.yelp.com/biz/pizzeria-bianco-phoenix
Snapped by my: Fuji X10
Carmel Mountain Ranch Country Club
A couple of weeks ago Geoff and I hit up the CMRCC for a little post-hangover golf relaxation. Nothing beats a cheap twilight, empty golf course.
Chargers vs Jets @ Metlife Stadium
Spent last weekend in NY for the Chargers/Jets game. Very disappointed in my team but as a fan, you live and die with the team you root for. The hard part about dedicating your time and money for away games is the risk of losing. It may be early in the season still but there is a question on if this team is ready to be a championship team. As of last week, no. Just like every tough loss, you forget and move on to the next week…
Chargers vs Dolphins
This may be a few weeks old but better late than never. Saw a few good friends at the tailgate and I was slang’n my new tank top shirts out of the trunk of the car. Didn’t take too many photos but here are the handful I took…
-
- Brian Rillo, dropping by to say whats up and serve some shots
-
- He comes equipped with gummy bear shots
-
- *** Fresh To Death ***
-
- Caught up with Ron and checked out his sick Enduro Bike. I guess its a upgrade from our CRF50's.
-
- Jon Jon's secret recipe for his "Charger Chicken"!!!!
-
- Fry'm Up!!!
-
- BT and Ron showing some camera love
-
- Eye spy Jon Jon, literally.
How To Make My Football Jersey
Over a couple of weeks ago, I invested in some cool new, as I would say it “toys”. I bought a Vinyl Cutter/Plotter and a heat press to make custom shirts, stickers, etc. One thing I always hated when I needed a new jersey for football is getting it done somewhere by the sports arena and knowing I could do it myself. Any name, any number, any team name, basically any anything whenever I wanted to make a shirt/jersey.
Last night I had some fun and made my new football shirt for my sunday night league and I just wanted to show you how it’s all done…
-
- 1) It begins with the original mockup. Finding the correct font, editing/customizing the font. Seeing how the final product looks before even putting any manual labor into it.
-
- 2) Organize the design and get it ready for print. Since I'm putting it on a heat transfer vinyl, I need to mirror the image.
-
- 3) I transferred my Illustrator file via Dropbox to my HP notebook in the other room and open it in the sign making software only made for PC's. (<- I HATE THAT) I then adjust the exact dimensions of each element of the design
-
- 4) Set the project to print and layout the virtual cut outs how the plotter will cut it. I lay it out carefully saving as much vinyl as I can.
-
- 5) Let the vinyl cutter work its magic
-
- 6) I take the cut piece and start "weeding" out the unused areas and peel the inside of the letters
-
- 7) I then have the final design ready to press.
-
- 8) I cut the pieces and lay out accordingly being careful not to touch the top of the press as its at 320 degrees
-
- 9) I heat press the vinyl (front and back) at 320 degrees for 20 seconds at 2 reps
-
- 10) TADAAAAA! My finished product.
Chargers vs Broncos @ Sports Authority Field
Game day morning started on a good note by not having any traffic to the stadium 3 hours before the stadium. Not only that, a bunch of lots were empty!! In SD by 11am, its a sold out parking lot and beers are everywhere.
On the Chargers.com forums, there was a thread for people going to Denver and there was this guy that said would bring the food, we just had to pitch in. Little did we know, this guy was from Chula Vista and good some pretty damn good carne/pork tacos that fed a whole lotta Charger fans! It was pretty cool to meet people that were all there for the same reason half way across the country.
So I tweeted Sharon from the U-T who does a weekly Out & About video for every Charger game home/away. I told her “come to Lot M, 100+ Charger fans!” and within 30 min she showed up with her one-(wo)man filming crew.
I guess we kinda jinxed the Chargers by chanting “3rd STRING JERSEY” to fans wearing Tebow jerseys before the game. Oh how that almost kicked us in the butt. And the rest was history…
-
- For a "Most Valuable Tailgate" award, it was pretty lame.
-
- A random Charger fan started handing us MINT Charger football cards! So awesome!
-
- ROLLING DEEP.
-
- They had a cool scoreboard but how in the world are we supposed to read anything in the top section!? IMPOSSIBLE.
-
- So at Denver (and Seattle) football games, you can rent out this little game gear resembling thing that you can watch replays from the game or even look at box scores from other games. Oh how we need a new stadium badly.
-
- C'mon now, they even have a cellphone holder to go along with the cup holder!!!
-
- Looks like die-hard Charger fans from New Mexico made the trip.
Sports Authority Field Tour
We took our ritual stadium tour of Sports Authority Field, home of the Denver Broncos. Lets just say this stadium tops all the stadiums I’ve been to so far…
The stadium was built with some awesome architecture
On this clear day, the Denver skyline looked awesome
We hung out in the Colorado Hall of Fame.
The United Airlines suite has a their own bartender
The United Airlines Suites on the home side 50 yard line.
The perfect seats in the stadium
We got to go in the CBS room where they commentate the game from
Rock 105.3 represent!!!
Just in case you ever sit near the press level
Press level for all the reporters/writers
Aerial view of their club level
Their club seat hang out area. Umm, hello San Diego stadium committee.
Tour guide read to show us the locker room, etc...
House for 200+ kegs. There are 8 of these rooms in the stadium
Chargers visitor locker room
Strap up Philip!
One thing is where you stare down at the floor, you get really dizzy. Home field advantage.
The tape up room where the players get their ankles, wrists taped.
Right outside the locker room. Some teams cover the "above sea level" verbiage so player don't see it.
Happened to get a shot of the Broncos locker room. Apparently the Broncos don't let any visitors in their locker room.
SDSU vs Washington St. & KGB Skyshow
Went to my first SDSU Aztecs football game in a while. I remember back in 2000 when I was a senior in high school when our team would roll to the games together when every game was a sell out regardless of sky show or no sky show. Also a good reason to go back in the days was to watch MCHS alumni Ricky Sharpe out there at CB and remember JR Tolver from Mira Mesa, he was a beast.
Aztecs RB Ronnie Hillman is a beast also. He’s the type of running back that doesn’t give up once he gets hit. He manages to put an arm down, pretty much doing a 1 handed bear crawl and catch his balance to run another 30 yards for a TD. AMAZING.
The skyshow was amazing! Probably the best firework show I have ever seen. When the fireworks go off like dominoes around the rim of Qualcomm stadium, it sure feels like Super Bowl firework atmosphere.
Chargers vs Vikings – Home Opener
Nothing is like the 1st regular season football game. All the stupid pre-season training and lockout bull crap is finally over. It was good to see so many Charger friends back in D4 tailgating and all around the area. Nothing is like representing the blue and yellow. Definitely a great 9/11 pre game with the parachuters, bald eagle flying and the biggest US flag I’ve ever seen. Plus going into our 8th year, we finally ditched out sun tanning plaza 49 seats for the plaza 22 in the shade with LCD tv seats.
Cheers to a great 2011 Chargers. #BOLTUP
Reunion Part Duex
Since everyone was still in town we planned another night out to party plus a perfect night to celebrate Laurel’s birthday as well. A few of us had dinner at Nobu downtown and afterwards got together with everyone else. We had a date with the IVY rooftop with bottles. Multiple bottles. We rolled in 20 people deep and it was just a great night from start to finish. Ill let the photos do the talking. Afterwards we headed back to TK’s condo at the Sé Hotel for another night of pizza and after partying. Who knows when the next time we will be all in the same room together but we definitely made this a weekend to remember.
MCHS Class of 2001 – a Sundevil forever.
Post Reunion Brunch
After our reunion, a handful of us who had a hotel in downtown met us for brunch at Cafe Chloe. Besides their delicious bacon and wheat pancakes, our conversations about what the hell happened the night before were hilarious. It was like putting a big drunken puzzle piece together. As a matter of fact, it was exactly like the movie Hangover, take you pick, 1 or 2 since they both had the damn same plot, but no monkey or baby in this story. The best story telling came out this morning and it was definitely awesome to share sobering laughs with old friends.
10 Year Reunion
We, the MCHS Sundevils Class of 2001 had our reunion at the Se Hotel in downtown San Diego party planned by Tk and Taylor. With a graduating class of 700+ we had 150+ people attend which is a large amount for a reunion.
I had friends fly in from Chicago, Dallas, San Fran and talking to about 5 people that flew from NY. It was crazy but most definitely good hearing about classmates successes across the board. Plus a few of the most favored teachers came also. Profe Michel said he always gets reunion invites but this was the 1st one he actually went to because his invite had TK’s name on it.
After the reunion, TK made an announcement that we were having an after party bottle service at the IVY. So most of us moseyed a couple blocks and got the party started. It was like a high school dance but without any damn chaperones, oh and the lights weren’t on.
Who knows maybe we might have yearly reunions? Definitely a night to remember but this was only the start of the weekend…
NEX-5 Test at Miramar Lake
I finally found a point-n-shoot camera i like. These are the first shots with my new Sony NEX-5 camera and I love how they came out.
