Sports Bar - Fail

I'm out in Irvine this week, I come out here a lot and usually I do the same things while here. This time I decided I would do different things because a. why not and b. im tired and want to me more low key.

So.. Monday I went to Starbucks in the morning and found that the wine bar next door closed and is now a sports bar. One thing I used to really like doing out here was going to the Fox Sports Club and watching East Coast Baseball games during happy hour. So, I figured I'd go to the sports bar Monday night and watch the Mets. I decided to walk there since it's only a few blocks from hotel, when I got there I found out they don't have the baseball package.. How do you call yourself a sports bar and not pay for the MLB Extra Innings package? On top of that how can you call yourself a sports bar and put a baseball on your logo without the MLB Extra Innings package? When I went in there were a few businessmen hanging at the bar with a very pretty bartender. I was upset about no game but figured I would at least get a drink and some food since I was there, got a Old World Heffe which was good. While I was eating some young guys came in and kicked on the juke box, to say it was loud would be an understatement. Finished my food and left, walked over to the river and walked for a long time before going back to the hotel.

Tuesday I decide to try again with a different bar.. This time I did research online and found a cool looking bar called Players over in Laguna, I've never been in Laguna so I figured I'd go to the bar, watch some of the Mets game and then wander around Laguna. On the way to the bar I turned on the pre-game show to find out the game had been rained out! Fail take two... The food was good and the bar was quiet, watched a few innings of the Cubs game and then wandered around. The area was not very exciting but I will certainly be back to the bar another time.

Tonight I'm going to my friend Frank's house for dinner.

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In other news, it's been a while since I blogged. I sent back my ticket from Sturbridge asking for a trial, no date yet. I apparently skipped my entire trip to Seattle, meant to write a blog but work has been real stupid with blocking websites lately. They finally unblocked this one today, hence why I'm here.. :)

Anyway, Seattle. I went to Seattle to teach at Microsoft, the facility is very nice but the cafeteria only takes cash!? No biggie since they have an ATM in the cafeteria, but.. The ATM decided to take money out of my account without actually giving me any money.. /sigh.. Had to have Putnam Bank fight with them to get my money back, very happy with the speed in which Put Bank did that too. Not much else exciting happened in Seattle..

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Back home.. I did end up getting an apartment and just recently moved some stuff over there from Putnam. The apartment is small but nice, I met a few of the neighbors now and they seem nice too which is good. It's very quiet, walking distance to a few good restaurants and easy to get to work from. It's annoying realizing all the stuff that I need for the apartment like pots, pans, plates, etc.. Wondering what to get me for my birthday? I recommend BBB gift certificates.. I suppose I have lots more to say on the apartment topic but I'm not going to at this time, maybe soon..

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I'm on vacation next week, Tuesday I'm going to my first Mets game of the year and Thurs-Sunday is Anime Boston. Should be a fun week.

Irvine Week 8/1 - 8/5

Are you tired of reading blogs today? I am breaking them up to make the download quicker, you may have reached the end of a part but not the end of the complete blog, please check your library for the next part of this blog... :) If you get that semi-quote you get points..

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Anyway, so now to Irvine... I think I hate the time difference between home and CA.. It's nice going but it sucks coming back.. But more on that later..

I got to Irvine Sunday night I honestly don't remember what I did after arriving.. Did I eat anything that night, other than on planes or in airports? Hmm... My flight was almost bumped, I got to the airport and of course they were overbooked so they offered to fly me to LAX instead of Santa Ana but in first class. I agreed but they ended up not needing me so I went off on my normal schedule to Atlanta and then to Santa Ana. I know I ate in Atlanta but I'm not sure if I ate in Irvine.. I'm going to say no, I think I got in pretty late so I just hung out in the hotel once I checked in.

Monday I ended up chatting with a girl on OKCupid during the day and made plans to hang out on Tuesday. I decided to go up to Downtown Disney after work and watch some of the Mets game at the ESPN Zone during happy hour and then hit Brennans for dinner. Well, apparently the ESPN Zone does not have a happy hour!? Or at least they don't offer any drink deals, they do offer food deals but I didn't want to eat there. While I was at the ESPN Zone Sarah (the girl from OKCupid) ended up texting me to see if we could meet up now instead of Tuesday. I left Disney, met her and went to Wahoo's Fish Taco for dinner. It was very good and very cheap.. SoCal Mexican is certainly a unique flavor, it's very fresh and alive if that makes sense. It was so nice after dinner, we decided to go to the beach and grab some wine, unfortunately the search for wine was harder than we thought and he sun was going down too quickly.. So, switch to plan B. Go to the hotel and have wine and chocolate in the room. :) She is a very cool person and I'm looking forward to hanging out with her again next time I'm in town..

Tuesday I went to Newport Beach and ended up eating at a brewery near the beach. I had a cobb sammich which was a great idea! It was turkey, bacon, avocado and cheese on a sweet bread. The beer was really good too, they had a blonde on happy hour special so that's what I had and it was right up there (if not better than) with Red Hooks old Blonde Ale. Watched the sun set over the beach and went back to the hotel and hot tub for the night cap.. Oh, and I also went to the short man's store on Tuesday before dinner and got two new shirts. One of my shirts had apparently ripped so I was in dire need of a replacement and what better town to be in need of a shirt.. Before we leave the topic of Tuesday, I went to the former site of Diedrich Coffee and had a moment of silence for that company as I enjoyed my Starbucks iced coffee...

Wednesday I decided to hit the Irvine Spectrum to get sushi at the cool place I have a frequent buyer card for... Things do change over the years let me tell you.. Plan - go the Fox Sports club and have a beer during happy hour while watching the Mets game, then go get sushi.. Fox Sports Club, gone! Sushi place, gone! Well smeg... How about plan b - go to the Yard House for a beer and then the new sushi place for dinner... The new sushi place was banging, I got what they called deluxe sushi combo which was mackerel, toro, abalone, and a few others with a toro tuna roll! As if toro was not tender enough they chopped it up for the roll... Sooo good, it was like butter in your mouth! After dinner I ended up hanging out in the courtyard at the hotel chatting with some of the people who were there for the swim competition..

Years ago Irvine high school built a massive pool facility with many Olympic sized pools. It was a massive burden on the tax payers but I guess it's paid off because they hold competitions there many times a year where people come in from all over the world.

Thursday I basically puttered around after work.. I went to Panera and ended up sitting outside at the seating area for hours while I played with my phone and enjoyed the sun. I also grabbed a screen protector and then went to the beach once again for a bit before finally heading to the airport for my LATE flight.. I really, really hate the red eye! But these are the things I do for Laire... I got a 9:40 flight (CA time) and landed in Atlanta after VERY little sleep around 4am. Hung out in Atlanta for 2 hours pacing the airport terminals and then flew to Hartford. I did sleep on that flight, I actually fell asleep before we took off and woke up on landing... WIN! Still was not nearly enough sleep.. Came home, did laundry and headed to Laire...