Baja California Sur

Nikki and I will post a slideshow once we've stopped arguing about which of the photos we're not going to post. Meanwhile, here's 5 we can agree on.

Los Paisos taqueria, in Cabo San Lucas. I think we had 2 beers and 4 tacos each and left the place stuffed and half drunk. Total bill was about 10 US dollars.

Kiwi is a restaurant practically on the beach in La Paz. Great margaritas and a lovely view of the sun going down over the harbor.

We took this boat to Espiritu Santo island, where we basically had the beach to ourselves and indulged in a bit of sea kayaking...

...which will wear you out.

Beautiful La Paz cathedral dates to 1861.

Thanksgiving

Nikki and I headed to Baja California for the weekend. Pictures and more info will follow. Thanksgiving dinner was a bunch of tacos from Los Paisos taqueria in Cabo San Lucas. The pastor pork ones were carved from a big kebab sort of thing that was right on the street. They were, without a doubt, the greatest tacos I've ever had. Best Thanksgiving dinner ever.

San Francisco in 1.3 Megapixels

Forgot the sodding camera. Argh!

Here's the Bay Bridge at night. I would like to be showing you a picture of the far more famous Golden Gate bridge here, but I didn't see it.The Moscone center displays 6 flags that may or may not represent the colours of the rainbow. I couldn't figure it out, 'cos, shouldn't there be 7?
It seemed like Oracle rebranded the whole city for their conference.
There were loads of people there. It was a good conference. Had fun. I'm tired though and still really annoyed about forgetting the camera.

A True Patriot

I was driving to work behind this truck the other day. Something kind of bothered me about it. It took me a while to figure out what it was...9 rows of 6 stars. Yep, this dude loves the United States of America, all 54 states.

Scum and Villainy

Nikki and I went to the Houston Dynamo vs. FC Dallas MLS play off game last night. This was the second leg of the first round of the play-offs and the last game of the 5 game mini season ticket we bought this year.

There have been two previous eras of football spectating in my life. The live football of my youth was the Lewis amateur league, played in the summer. Nice warm evenings, fun games, plenty of trophies for the good guys. In my late teens and early twenties live football meant Aberdeen in the SPL, August to May. Cold winter afternoons, bitter evenings and a period of football that if not the worst in the club's history, is certainly a contender for the crown.

The Houston games we attended brought back memories of my younger days, which is maybe why I felt less passion at them than I used to watching Aberdeen go down 1-0 to St. Johnstone on a cold February Saturday. I enjoyed the games, but I wouldn't get too upset by a defeat. Last night, something changed. Houston were trailing 1-0 from the first leg and despite dominating the first half, Dallas scored with their only shot to send Houston in 2-0 down on aggregate at half time. Where I had found their diving, fouling, time-wasting and play-acting disgusting before they went in front, their despicable behavior then rose to levels that would have their city's most famous son, J.R. Ewing, blush.

If Houston had gone out in that fashion, to those scum, I would have been upset. I would have been angry. I would have got very, very drunk. Karma prevailed. Dallas had a man sent off in the second half, for kneeing a Houston player in the groin for no reason, then Houston scored two to push the game to extra time. (There's no away goals rule). Houston added another two in extra time, Dallas added another sending-off to go with their 7 yellow cards and the good, honorable men of Houston emerged victorious from a bruising encounter with the despicable morons the city to the North has chosen to represent them.

I believe I may be a fan.

Fighting For Fun

I was in Chicago earlier this week, where the World Boxing Championships are being held. On Tuesday night we went along to check out the action. It was a load of fun. This competition is the first opportunity for the world's best amateur boxers to qualify for the Beijing Olympics next year. Said Rachidi of Morrocco was rather happy about making it after beating Bosko Draskovic of Montenegro on points. There was a large and rowdy Eastern European contingent in the crowd who felt their man was robbed.

Fights are 4 two-minute rounds. In pro boxing, you win a round, usually 10-9, but in amateur boxing, every punch can count and a fight can turn quickly. Still, once a fighter gets too far behind, his only hope is to go for a knockout. Between rounds trainers often wave wet towels in the face of their fighters to cool them down, probably a more productive use of the minute of rest than offering sage advice such as "hit him" and "stop letting him hit you"

The fights are intense, only the small white part of the glove scores a point, a judge who thinks a punch landed pushes a button and if all 5 ringside judges agree the score goes up. Stephen Simmons of Scotland led for his entire fight against Milorad Gajovic of Montenegro before a spirited fightback in the last round and a couple of hard blows that didn't meet much resistance led the referee to stop the fight with 14 seconds left and award it to Gajovic. I thought Simmons could have held on as he still had a 3 point lead, but I suppose the refs should err on the side of caution. Two fights later Ihab Al Matbouli of Jordan went down hard after taking a few heavy blows in his fight and was stretchered out of the ring. He spent a night in hospital, but was back with his team the next day.

A very enjoyable evening all in all. Well worth checking out if you get the chance.