DavidWestbayBlog

Yes and Asia at Bass Performance Hall, Fort Worth TX, July 15, 2009

2009-07-19T14:06:00.002-05:00

Back in February, the latest band line-up to use the name "Yes" had scheduled a show at the House of Blues in Dallas. I had bought my ticket and was excited at the thought of seeing them at that venue. I had seen Asia there a few months before and enjoyed that show, despite having to stand in the "general admission" area on the floor for the whole evening. Unfortunately, Chris Squire became ill, and the Dallas show, along with the Houston show the night before and the rest of the tour dates to follow, were all canceled. I had to hope that they would reschedule a stop here at a future date.

Fortunately, they did. This time, the tour would include Asia as the opening act and Yes as the headliner. Steve Howe would be the guitarist for both bands, so he was set up for quite a workout. Jon Anderson was still not ready for an extended Yes tour, so Benoit David would be back as lead singer. I was curious to hear how he would do, as I had heard varying reviews of his performances on the fall 2008 tour. I was especially excited that this concert would be at Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, home of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and a beautiful venue with marvelous acoustics.

I was not disappointed. Asia did a fine job in their shortened set, playing songs from their first two albums (on which Steve Howe played originally) plus one from their latest CD, as well as tunes from bands that the members had been in: The Buggles (Video Killed the Radio Star), King Crimson (In the Court of the Crimson King), and Emerson, Lake and Palmer (Fanfare for the Common Man). Everyone played well, and Carl Palmer was the hit of the evening with his usual energetic drum solo.

The Yes set was very good too, although I do have a few quibbles which I will get to shortly. The positives:

*Benoit David carried things off quite well. He may not have the distinctive voice or presence of Jon Anderson, but his voice is well suited for the songs and his enthusiasm was high. As an "understudy" for the job, I thought he turned out to be an excellent choice.
*Steve Howe had no trouble handling the double duty that he signed up for. His playing was spot on, and he too seemed to be having a good time. Chris Squire also was in fine form and voice.
*They played several songs from their catalog that had been neglected by previous versions of the band, and all three of them came off very well. "Astral Traveller" (from the album "Time and a Word") is a song that I have wanted to see performed live for a long time, and it turned out as well as I thought it would. "Tempus Fugit" and "Machine Messiah," both from "Drama," were also welcome treats.

Now, for the negatives:

*The bass was turned up too loud in the mix and often drowned out the rest of the instruments and the vocals. I have read the same comment in reviews of other shows on this tour, so it appears to be a choice of the sound operator and not a mistake or technical problem.
*Alan White did not play with the energy and commitment that I am used to seeing from him. I also read this in at least one other review from this tour, and it puzzles me. Alan has always seemed to me like the member of Yes who was most dedicated to the band and to putting on a great show, but that isn't what I perceived last Wednesday night. I hope that he gets the fire back soon.
*Oliver Wakeman seemed even less interested in the show. For example, he failed to play the short synth solo that comes at the beginning of "And You and I" just before the vocals start. The rest of the band looked at him as he stood there with his arms at his sides, until eventually Benoit looked at Chris as if to say, "I guess he isn't going to play it so I will go ahead and start," and he did. Throughout the show, Oliver looked stiff and detached. His playing was competent, but a bit more stage presence would help him a lot and make for a better show.

Despite these mild complaints, I still enjoyed the show and am glad that I went. I got to meet up with some fellow Yes fans that I hadn't seen in a while, and I believe that I may have witnessed a new fan conversion; a young person who had never seen Yes or Asia before and came to the show at the last minute with a friend of mine who had an extra ticket. It's always nice to see the younger generation appreciating the same music that we old fogeys have liked for all these years.

There are rumors that Jon has been in contact with Chris about possibly rejoining Yes sometime next year. That will be great if it happens. If it doesn't, I will still support the current version of the band if it continues. The show I saw wasn't perfect, but it was still a good performance that indicates that the guys still have what it takes to entertain their fans.

2008 Westbay Family Newsletter

2008-12-25T08:15:00.002-06:00

Another year is almost over, so it must be time to post a recap of what has happened in our small corner of the world. I did not sit down and put this together in time to print out and send a family newsletter with our Christmas cards, which may be just fine with many people. But for those interested, here are the highlights of our past year.

2008 started like most years, with everyone returning to work and school after the 2007 holidays. It was life as usual for the winter and spring. Our first big adventure of the year came in June, when all three of us traveled to Scotland. Ben's high school band was invited by the Grapevine Convention and Visitor's Bureau to send a group of students to Scotland as part of a delegation which was going there to establish a sister city relationship with the West Lothian district in Scotland, just outside of Edinburgh. A total of 37 band students (including Ben) went on the trip, and Pat and I went along as chaperones. We all had a very enjoyable time, meeting local residents and band students, participating in the Marches celebration in the town of Linlithgow, visiting and playing at some local schools, seeing interesting sights such as Edinburgh Castle, and playing a concert for the sister city, or "twinning" as the Scots call it, document signing ceremony. You can find a few videos that I took while we were there at my YouTube page. Some photos from the Marches (not taken by me) can be found here.

As soon as we got back from Scotland, I started rehearsals for a play at the Runway Theatre here in Grapevine. The play was "Laughing Stock" by Charles Morey, a very funny show about a New England theater company producing their summer season and their trials and triumphs in trying to mount the productions. I played the artistic director of the company, something of a straight man part to the funny characters around me. The production was one of the most fun that I have worked on, with a great group of people. We had full houses several nights, and everyone who came to see it seemed to enjoy it. That's what it's all about, right?

Soon, August was upon us, which meant marching band camp for Ben, and eventually the start of school and football season. Marching band took just about all of our attention during the fall, with football games and/or band competitions every weekend in September and October. The highlight of marching band season was the trip to Indianapolis in November for the Bands of America Grand Nationals meet. It was the first time the Colleyville Heritage High School Panther Band had ever participated in the Grand Nationals, and everyone was excited about it. Pat and I flew up so we could see the band compete, and I pitched in as a Pit Dad, helping to load and move the band equipment as I have done every year of Ben's high school career. The band performed very well, probably the best they did all year, but they missed going on to the semi-finals by just three places in the ranking. Although they were disappointed about that, the kids all had a good time on the trip, as did we parents who were there.

Besides the Scotland and Indianapolis trips, we have visited Pat's and my familes, and I recently went to Las Vegas to play poker with some of my blogger friends (trip report on that, and more poker blogging from me, here). Ben has applied to several colleges, and has been accepted at the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas at Arlington. He won't know if he has been accepted by his first choice, Texas A&M, for a few more months. Pat and I still find it hard to believe that Ben is a senior and will be graduating from high school in June.

All of us have been in good health, we are happy to say. Pat and I are still employed by Verizon and EDS, an HP company, respectively. Ben is having his struggles in school but overall is doing well. We are thankful for our good fortune, and for our friends and family. We wish everyone out there a new year filled with peace, joy, and harmony. If you want to reach us, you can e-mail us at texas DOT westbay AT verizon DOT net.

Best wishes to all!

The Big Honkin' Las Vegas Star Trek Convention 2007

2007-08-26T17:29:00.000-05:00

I finally did it; I went to my first Las Vegas Star Trek convention, the big one put on by Creation every year for the past several years. I had heard about these cons and often thought about going, but never made the trip until this year. The thing that made the decision easiest for me was when I heard that my friend Wil Wheaton, whom I had met on Cruise Trek 2002 and with whom I have kept in touch since then, would be appearing at the convention and selling his new book, The Happiest Days of Our Lives. I knew that Wil would be entertaining in his appearance, since he always does very funny and touching readings from his books, plus there was an impressive line-up of other Trek guests and activities that looked like they could be interesting to see and hear.

I arrived early on the morning of Thursday August 9, the day the convention officially began. I got to the Las Vegas Hilton in time to see another Cruise Trek guest whom I had met previously, Suzie Plakson, in her appearance with Patti Yasutake. They talked a bit about what they have been doing lately, and took questions from the audience. This would be the pattern for just about all of the guests who appeared on the "main stage" of the convention: talk about themselves for a few minutes, then answer audience questions, then go to the back corner of the room to sign autographs for those who had bought tickets for that. I'm not an avid autograph collector, so I didn't buy any autograph tickets, as I didn't see much point in spending money to stand in a long line to wait to spend a minute or two having the guest sign something for me that would likely get stashed away and forgotten. Same thing for the photo opportunities; the prices were too high and the lines too long for me to deal with them. After hearing some horror stories (scroll through the comments at the link to see the various entries) about how disappointing the photo ops were for some fans, I'm glad I didn't consider doing any.

I alternated my time between the main auditorium, the dealers' room, and the secondary auditorium on all three days that I attended the con. Although some people seemed to hang on every word from the celebrities giving their talks, I grew restless listening to some of them and would get up and leave. No slight meant to the actors who were on stage; I guess my son's ADHD was inherited from me. But I must admit that I don't get too much out of sitting in an enormous convention hall listening to people talk about the last acting job they had or the project they have coming up. As I type this, it occurs to me that the size of the room that they had the main panels in was much too large for my taste, and detracted from the experience. I would much rather have been in a smaller room, where it might have felt a bit less impersonal. Also, the room was very dark, with spotlights on the speakers on the stage, and the audience probably pretty much invisible to the performers. I would guess that the lights were kept low to help with seeing the two video screens on the sides of the stage, which were showing the speakers as they talked (when the camera operators could keep them in sight). I don't know if there is a good solution to this dilemma, but I hope Creation finds one.

I spent a good deal of time in the dealers' room, mostly browsing the vendors' booths but not buying much of anything. I didn't have an unlimited budget, and I wanted to make sure that I spent my money on something that I truly wanted and would enjoy. There were a couple of things that I had planned on buying before I even left home: Wil's new book, and the chapbook that he put together which is a collection of some of his reviews of Next Generation episodes for TV Squad. I realized after I got there that the dealers' room might be the perfect place to find Walter Koenig's out-of-print autobiography, Warped Factors, and I was right; I found one for less than original cover price. Score! I got gifts for my wife and son: I bought a T-shirt for Ben from the movie Serenity, with a quote from the show on it which Ben and I both found hilarious when we saw the movie ("Dear Buddha, please bring me a pony and a plastic rocket"; bonus points if you know the reference). For Pat, I got a Star Trek mug with a drawing of the original Enterprise transporter room on it, whose crew members disappear when you fill the mug with hot coffee or other liquid. They were both pleased with their souvenirs when I got them home.

As it turned out, I was the first customer for Wil's books; he mentions it in his blog entry about his experiences at the con. Being the good sport that he is, Wil also posed with me for a fun photo opportunity, which was actually his idea in the first place. By the way, be sure and pick up Wil's new book, The Happiest Days of Our Lives, which should be available for ordering soon, and his other two books, Dancing Barefoot and Just a Geek. They are all excellent reads.

Last two things about Wil:

1. He read selections from the new book and the chapbook at his appearance at the con. He was scheduled to appear late on the first day, after all the other speakers were finished (less competition, good) but at the same time as one of the celebrity dinner parties (some competition, not so good). The secondary hall where his performance was held was much smaller than the huge cavern, and IMO that helped a lot. Wil and the audience were better able to see and connect with each other. The reading went over like gangbusters, and Wil got a well-deserved standing ovation at the end from the packed room.
2. Wil hosted a poker game in the Hilton poker room Friday evening. Having played poker many times with Wil on line and a couple of times in person, I knew I couldn't miss this game. We had a full table and played a mixed variety of games, including Hold 'Em, Omaha Hi/Lo, one round of Razz, and even some Crazy Pineapple. I played fairly well, but didn't get much in the way of starting cards, so I wasn't able to get in on the action too much. I finished the night down a bit, but it was well worth the fun I had playing with Wil, some of his friends, and some fans from the convention. I'll have more to say about that night on my poker blog.

Other highlights from the trip: I got to spend a good deal of time with visual effects expert Ron B. Moore, his wife Barbara, and their friend Glenda during the weekend. I had met Ron and Barb on two previous Cruise Treks, and consider myself fortunate to call them friends. They are wonderful people and were kind enough to invite me to join them for a few meals while we were all there. I also watched Ron's presentations at the con, which are always interesting and fun. I got to chat (much too) briefly with Vaughn Armstrong, another Cruise Trek comrade and great guy. I talked with Charlie and Aaron from Cruise Trek, who had a booth in the dealers' room to promote the cruises for this year and next. There were a lot of very elaborate and outrageous fan costumes, which are always fun to look at and wonder, "How did they sew/build/create that?"

A few not-so-pleasant items: The air conditioning in the Hilton, both the hotel and the convention center, was drier and colder than I would have preferred. I had to go outside into the 100+ degree Nevada heat to warm up periodically. The food in the convention center snack bar, and everywhere at the Hilton, was vastly overpriced. I never made time in my schedule to actually go through Star Trek: The Experience, although I kept telling myself that I needed to do it.

But those minor quibbles did not prevent me from enjoying my first Las Vegas Trek convention. I might even go back again in future years if there is someone or something in particular that I want to see, and all other factors are in alignment. One thing is for sure: if I have an early flight home, I will double-check my alarm so I don't oversleep and miss my flight like I did this time.

Our 25th Anniversary Cruise

2007-08-26T15:28:00.000-05:00

No, we haven't been on 25 cruises (yet); the title of this post refers to the fact that the cruise we took this year was in celebration of 25 years of marriage for Pat and me. We went back to Alaska, in great part because the three of us (including our son Ben) liked it so much when we went there for our 20th anniversary in 2002. We sailed on the ms Amsterdam of the Holland America Line, and it was just as nice a ship as the Volendam that we sailed on the first time.

This trip, we wanted to see at least a few different ports from the previous one, but the best we could come up with given our finances and scheduling was another Inside Passage trip that visited two ports which we didn't see last time: Sitka, AK and Victoria, BC. We did not stop in Skagway, AK this year, and the trip started and ended in Seattle, WA instead of Vancouver, BC. Our repeat ports were Juneau and Ketchikan, AK, and we saw Glacier Bay again. All of the places we visited offered us interesting and scenic things to see and do.

We left Seattle on Friday afternoon, June 29. The first port stop, after a day at sea, was Juneau. We wanted to have a better chance to see some humpback whales this time, because we barely got to see any at all five years ago. To accomplish this, we booked a whale-watching excursion out of Juneau through the cruise line. The excursion company has a money-back guarantee: if you don't see any whales or some other wildlife when they take you out on their boat, you get a refund of your ticket price. No worries for them; we saw plenty of humpbacks, along with orcas and a sea lion or two as a bonus. It was pretty exciting when someone on the boat would shout, "Three o'clock!" to tell everyone which direction to look to find one of the magnificent creatures swimming nearby. The whale-watching excursion was probably the highlight of the cruise for me.

We went to Glacier Bay the next day. It is just as spectacular now as it was in 2002, although some things have changed, of course. Mother Nature doesn't stand still, especially in glacier country. The majesty of this part of the world cannot be done justice in photos; it has to be seen in person. (That's a hint: if you ever get a chance to go up to Alaska, do it.)

Tuesday, we visited Sitka, a former Russian settlement with a lot of history and a very nice historical park on the edge of town, where there are several totem poles to see and hiking trails through a small patch of rainforest. We saw lots of bald eagles in the park, fairly close up. What gorgeous birds they are.

Wednesday, July 4, the Amsterdam docked in Ketchikan. We booked an excursion through Holland America for this stop: the Ketchikan Duck Tour. This little jaunt took us on an amphibious vehicle through some of the interesting parts of the town, and then out into the harbor to get a look at the city from the water. We had our rainiest weather of the trip in Ketchikan but we came prepared with ponchos and an umbrella, and the "liquid sunshine" as the natives call it did not hamper our enjoyment of walking around the historic, if shop-infested, downtown area after the Duck ride. The city had a parade in honor of Independence Day, but we had to watch it from the ship as we sailed away around 2:00 PM.

After we left Ketchikan, we had our Renewal of Vows ceremony on the ship. The ship's captain, Dirk van den Berg, presided over the ceremony for us and another couple, Vicki and Rick, who were also celebrating their 25th. Also in attendance were the Hotel Manager, Stan Kuppens; our son, Ben; and a couple of the cruise staff. We had champagne, cake, and photos, plus some time to just sit and chat with the captain and other guests, and it was a nice little celebration.

Our final port stop was Victoria BC; we arrived there about 6:00 PM on Thursday. We had made arrangements ahead of time to meet our Cruise Trek friend Gordon, who lives in Victoria and offered to drive us on a mini-tour of the city and out to Butchart Gardens. The Gardens are an incredibly beautiful place, with thousands, if not millions, of different species and varieties of flowers, plants, and trees, all gorgeously landscaped in what was once a rock quarry. It was well worth the drive there and the admission price.

Friday morning, we docked in Seattle. We picked up our rental car, drove to Seattle Center to walk around and go up in the Space Needle, and later met our Seattle-resident friends Sue and Phil for dinner. The next morning, we boarded our flight home to Texas.

But wait, you say. You must have spent some time on the ship; tell us about that.

The ship was quite nice, and our stateroom was very comfortable for its size. When we sailed in 2002, we booked through Cruise Trek, and I spent a lot of my ship time attending the Trek activities with the group. This year, we went on our own, so we enjoyed the shipboard activities offered by the cruise line. We went to a couple of the showroom performances, which included two very funny comedians. Ben and I participated in some of the "athletic" things such as ping-pong and basketball, and Ben went to a few of the Club Hal teen activities, although he said they were poorly organized and in some cases were never held. Pat attended several cooking demonstrations in the Culinary Arts Center (being the Food Network junkie that she is). The meals in the main dining room, the Lido buffet, and the upscale Pinnacle Grill (where we had our "anniversary" dinner) were all very good. The staff were always friendly and helpful. Overall, our shipboard experience was extremely pleasant.

We are trying now to decide where to go for our vacation next year. A Mediterranean cruise is at the top of our list, if we can find one that fits our budget and schedule. We also might try a cruise of the Hawaiian islands, or a land vacation in British Columbia. But I think Pat had a great idea for future vacations while we were on this year's cruise. She said, "Maybe we should come back to Alaska for every fifth wedding anniversary." You know, I like that idea a whole lot.

Cruise Trek 2006 - The French Connection

2006-07-09T19:47:00.001-05:00

We have been back from this year's Cruise Trek for almost a week, and I am just now getting around to writing about it. Yes, it has been a bit hectic since our return, with going back to work and catching up on that, plus settling back into our normal routines. I suppose I could have posted something sooner, but better late than never.

One reason we chose to go on this cruise is that we had never been to most of the places (northeastern Canada and Maine) on the itinerary, and yet it finished in one of our favorite cities that we have visited before (Boston). We enjoyed all of the stops on the cruise, as well as the Trek activities that we participated in, and had a great time overall. Some highlights:

Friday-Saturday, June 23-24, Montreal, Quebec: We flew into Montreal Friday afternoon, with no problems and the only slowdown being the line at the airport to go through the Customs checkpoint. After a quick cab ride into town, we checked into the McGill University New Residence Hall, our lodging for the night. It seemed much more like a hotel than a university dorm, which presumably is its function during the school year. It was a bit of a walk from there into the main section of downtown, but we don't mind walking as it tends to be our major form of exercise on our trips. The city is very similar to most large cities in the northeast US except for all the signs being in French instead of English. Most people there speak both languages, although we had a little trouble with the taxi driver who took us to the cruise terminal on Saturday. Otherwise, the language was not a barrier for us. We explored Old Montreal on Saturday morning before boarding the ship, and found it to be a pleasant area although it didn't have nearly the feeling of history that the cities we visited on the Baltic cruise last year had. I'm sure there was a lot more that we could have seen in Montreal if we had had more time.

The ship left port at 5:00 PM Saturday, bound for Quebec City. That evening, we met up with our fellow Cruise Trekkers at the Welcome Aboard party, and renewed old acquaintances while starting up new ones. Earlier, I had a chance to sit down with Wil Wheaton, whom I had met on Cruise Trek 2002, so we could discuss the poker tournament that he and I were organizing for the Cruise Trekkers to play in later in the cruise. Wil and his wife Anne are great people, and I enjoyed spending some time with them on this cruise. The other Trek guests on the cruise this year were Vaughn Armstrong, Denise Crosby, Suzie Plakson, Ron B. Moore, Lolita Fatjo, and Richard Arnold. I had met Denise, Ron, and Richard on previous cruises and they were as friendly as ever; Vaughn, Suzie and Lolita were equally nice and I enjoyed making their acquaintances.

Sunday June 25, Quebec City, Quebec: This city has a lot of cool places to see and we saw many of the historic sites as well as tourist-y shopping streets. The Citadelle, a fortress on a hilltop overlooking the St. Lawrence River, was quite interesting, at least from the outside since we decided not to take the paid tour. But the view over the city from up on the outer rim of the complex was very impressive. We wandered through the city and looked at the beautiful old churches and other buildings, and eventually made our way back to the ship before it cast off for our trip up the river. Sunday evening included the first Trek-themed activities of the cruise, and I participated in Trek Pictionary, which was great fun.

Monday June 26, "at sea" (at river?): There was no port stop on Monday, so we were on the ship the entire day and, as a result, a lot of Trek activities were scheduled. I didn't take part in all of them, but I did sit in on Wil's "poker lesson" talk that he gave to prepare those who planned to play in the tournament, and I joined in on Lolita's improv workshop where the Cruise Trekkers who wanted to do so could get up and act out scenes from various Trek episodes, making up the dialog as we went based on Lolita's description of what the original scene was about. That was a lot of fun for me as an actor. I also played "Wheel of Trek" and won the round that I played, even though I bankrupted at one point and could have cost myself the game by being greedy and going for more points after I had figured out the puzzle.

Tuesday June 27, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island: This is a lovely little city, with lots of history and interesting places to see. The day started off a bit rainy but it let up shortly after we went back on the ship to retrieve our umbrellas. I acted as "tour guide" for the small group of us who had decided to walk around together, using a map that we picked up at the visitor center near the port. After checking out some of the older section of town, we found the Cows ice cream store, famous in the area for their delicious flavors and amusing merchandise items of cow-themed parodies of famous stuff, such as Desperate Housecows and Pirates of the Cowibbean. The ice cream was, in fact, very good.

Tuesday evening featured the Trek actors panel, where the stars took questions from the audience about almost anything, and answered them quite candidly and entertainingly. Later, the first session of the poker tournament was held. We got off to a bit of a late start due to last minute preparations, but once the game got under way, everyone seemed to have a good time. I was the most knowledgeable player at my table, so I helped keep things moving along, reminding the players when it was their turn to act, how much the bet amounts were, etc. Wil was seated at another table and did the same there. We started wth five tables, and it took us about 3 1/2 hours to get down to ten players, who would go on to the final table of the tournament the next night. I managed to survive and make it to the final table. I will have more to say about the tournament on my poker blog.

Wednesday June 28, Sydney, Nova Scotia: Sydney had the distinction of being the least interesting of the towns we visited on the cruise. It has a few old buildings worth seeing and a nice park or two, but on the whole was somewhat ordinary. It was pleasant enough for a stroll around in the nice weather, though.

After a very funny game of Trek Match Game, in which the celebrities gave some hilarious answers, the Trek pajama party was the big event of the evening. The final table of the poker tournament was held during the PJ party and drew most of the attention, although there were other things going on for those not watching the game, such as fingernail painting and playing other games. I finished sixth in the tournament and won an autographed book, "The Professor, The Banker, and the Suicide King," by Michael Craig. I had heard of the book but not read it, so I was glad to have won it.

Thursday June 29, Halifax, Nova Scotia: We really liked Halifax, which had a lot going for it in things to do and places to see. We visited the Maritime Museum, where they have an extensive exhibit on the Titanic since Halifax was the nearest large port to where the Titanic sank and was where the people recovered from the ship, alive or not, were brought. We also took the Harbour Hopper tour, which was on an amphibious vehicle that drove us around the city and out into the harbor. After picking up a few souvenirs at the Cool as a Moose store, we headed back to the ship. The finale of the Amazing Trek Race, which had been going on all week, was held Thursday evening, and that was fun to watch.

Friday June 30, Bar Harbor, Maine: We were worried that this would turn out to be our one bad weather day of the trip, as it was very rainy and foggy when the day started. But, we went ashore with our umbrellas and hoped for the best. As it turned out, the rain was minimal and the sun peeked through several times during the day, although the view from the top of Cadillac Mountain was mostly obscured by the fog. We took a guided trolley tour of the town and Acadia National Park, which surrounds Bar Harbor. It was an informative tour and gave us a chance to see a lot that we would have missed if we had only gone on foot.

Friday evening featured the Trek actors' entertainment hour, where the guests did some kind of performance as their farewell to the Trekkers. Lolita read a poem that she wrote during the cruise; Suzie sang a couple of beautiful songs, and she has a lovely voice; Vaughn played ukelele and harmonica and sang a few songs from the Enterprise Blues Band CD that he and several others recorded, including Ron Moore who accompanied Vaughn on electric guitar; Denise did some magic tricks and had us all in stitches by the end of the "cork out of the wine bottle" trick; and Wil read two of his stories from his book, "Just a Geek." It was a wonderful finale to the Trek activities of this cruise.

Saturday, July 1, Boston, Massachusetts: We disembarked Saturday morning and got a cab to our hotel. We had made plans to stay in Boston until Monday, to take advantage of the opportunity to visit a city that we have loved since we first went there some years ago. We met up with some other Cruise Trekkers who were of a like mind, and made arrangements to meet on Sunday to take a Boston Duck Tour, on another amphibious trek around the city and waterways. For the rest of Saturday, we just walked around the historic area of downtown, following the Freedom Trail for a good part of its path, from Boston Common up to Paul Revere's house. By the time we got there, we decided that it was getting a bit late to try to finish the trail, so we stopped for dinner at an Italian "fast food" place called Express - not a chain, but a sandwich and pasta cafe where the service is fast, the food good and the prices very reasonable.

Sunday July 2, Boston: We met with our friends in the morning and made our way to the Duck tour ticket booth, where we found that the only tour that had seats for all of us was at 4:30 PM. We bought our tickets, ate some breakfast, and went our separate ways, some of us heading back to the Freedom Trail where we started back at the Boston Common end since it was closest to where we were. We made it as far as the USS Constitution tall ship, but Pat and Ben and I decided not to try to get to Bunker Hill for fear we wouldn't make it back in time for the Duck tour. We took the subway back to where the tour would depart from, and met back up with our group. The Duck tour was a blast, thanks in large part to our driver and guide, who was dressed as, and acted like, a cheerleader (and in her other life is a sixth grade teacher). She made the whole tour a lot of fun with her enthusiasm and funny commentary, and some of us even got to drive the duck while we were in the river, including me. Afterwards, most of us went to the Hard Rock Cafe just a few blocks away for dinner. Before long, it was time for Pat and Ben and me to head back to the hotel so we could pack for the trip home on Monday.

This was a fabulous trip, and while the port stops can't rival the ones on the Baltic trip last year, the experience was wonderful and I would do it again tomorrow if I could. My thanks go out to everyone who was on the cruise, especially Charlie Datin, who organizes Cruise Trek and does an amazing job in making everything work so smoothly and ensuring that all of us have the best time possible. If you ever get a chance to take a Cruise Trek, don't hesitate. You will have the time of your life.

And then the second door closes....

2006-03-22T11:19:00.000-06:00

Update: I didn't get cast by Lone Star Murder Mysteries. They e-mailed me to say they weren't going to use me but want to keep me on file for future auditions. We'll see if anything comes of that.

I'm sure there will be more shows that I will want to audition for in the future. I'm not committing myself to anything for a while due to upcoming conflicts, but I always have my eyes open for acting opportunities. Something will come along eventually. Thank goodness I only do it for fun and not for a living.

Speaking of working for a living, my manager called me this morning and said that he had submitted me for a substantial raise, and it was approved! That is the best news I have had in quite a while, and more than makes up for not getting the murder mystery job. Now I can start thinking about what to do with the extra money I will be making. That ought to keep me busy for a bit. :-)

One door closes, another opens

2006-03-19T21:07:00.000-06:00

Back in December, I heard about a new murder-mystery group that was starting up and needed actors. A friend recommended me to the organizers of the group, so I went to a meeting/audition/reading. They were pleased with my reading and asked me to be in the show. I was glad to say "Yes" because I have done several murder-mystery shows in the past and always had fun with them. Plus, I knew a couple of the others in the cast, and it looked like a nice group of people.

We rehearsed several times in January and had our first performance on January 28. It went over very well and I enjoyed myself quite a bit. I got along well with everyone in the company and was looking forward to the next time I could do the show.

Unfortunately, I had to miss the next show to leave town to visit my sick mother-in-law. I was assured that my role would be waiting for me when I got back. However, it never worked out for me to rejoin the production. There wasn't enough rehearsal time to work me back in; there was another cast replacement who would have had to "adjust" to having me back in the role instead of the person who took my place; or whatever. I can only assume that they really did want me back but circumstances prevented them from using me again. I hope that is the case, and that there wasn't something about me that made them decide to cut me from the group.

In the meanwhile, I read about auditions for a different company, Lone Star Murder Mysteries, which performs every weekend at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Hotel right here in Grapevine. I sent them a headshot and resume, and they contacted me to come to their audition in Fort Worth on March 4. Step 1 achieved: they called me in. The audition went very well. I used my experience from the previous murder-mysteries I had done and played everything big and broad, over the top, just as they were directing the other actors at the audition. Some of them seemed to have trouble doing that, while others were quite comfortable with that style. I also brought with me all of the scenes that they had e-mailed to the auditioners, which made it easier to volunteer to read the other roles when the other actors needed someone to read with. At the end of the audition, one of the producers told me I had done a good job and they wanted me to come to callbacks in two weeks. Step 2 achieved: I impressed them enough to get a callback.

The callbacks were yesterday. Once again, things went well. I can't say that I felt like I absolutely nailed everything they asked me to read, but I don't think I fell on my face either. I made them laugh once or twice, and I thought that was a good sign. The producers talked to all of us about the company, the various types of shows they do, their history, their production schedule, etc. It was presented as if those of us who were there were under strong consideration for being cast, if not in fact already in. They said that by this coming Wednesday they would contact everyone who came to the callbacks to let us know if they were going to use us or not; they don't do the "If you don't hear from us, you haven't been cast" bit, which I am glad of. I am hopeful that the call I get will be a positive one. I got a good feeling from the people at the auditions, both the producers and the other actors, and I think I would enjoy working with this group. Also, it is close to home, and they pay their actors $75 per show for the murder-mysteries, which would be nice to get for doing something that I love. This week I should find out if Step 3 is achieved: getting the job.

I feel good about my chances to land this gig, and if I do, I will put my best effort into it so I can get the most out of it. Lately I have felt like I could use something in my life to perk me up; give me an extra reason to look forward to getting up each day. Maybe this serve that purpose.

The Reeve family suffers another loss

2006-03-07T17:25:00.000-06:00

On my way home from work today, I heard on the radio that Dana Reeve has died. I don't remember if I had heard previously that she had lung cancer; apparently she was diagnosed with it last summer. In reading a few news stories, it looks like she had been receiving treatment and felt good about her progress in beating the disease, but she lost the battle.

I have no personal connection to the Reeve family. I became a fan of Christopher Reeve, like millions of others, from the Superman films he did. He embodied the characters of Superman and Clark Kent so well, especially in the first movie, that I will always feel like he should have been nominated for an Oscar for his performance in the first film. I always hoped that I would have the opportunity to tell him that personally, but I never did.

When Mr. Reeve had the accident that paralyzed him, I felt great sympathy for him and his family. I saw how he fought to keep going, even when he wondered if it was worth it to do so, and marveled at everything he accomplished after becoming confined to his wheelchair. His untiring efforts to promote research into spinal injuries and help other people who had conditions similar to his were an example to all of us. When he died, I felt that the world had lost one of its heroes.

His wife carried on in his commitment to further the cause of helping people with disabilities, even as she became a victim of a different disabler, lung cancer. I just watched on line an interview with Dana Reeve that Diane Sawyer did in November. In it, Mrs. Reeve said something that sticks with me. Diane Sawyer asked her about all the charitable work she had done, and her reply was, "It's the rent we pay for living on this earth." Now she is gone too, and we are all the poorer for it. I hope that their son, who has lost his parents much, much too soon, will grow up to be as strong and brave and generous as the two fine people who brought him into this world and nurtured him.

I think I will go out and pay some rent very soon, in her memory.

Sobering thoughts

2006-02-09T20:34:00.000-06:00

Right now Pat (my wife) is in Los Angeles, visiting her parents. We found out about ten days ago that Pat's Mom has cancer in her neck. According to the doctors, there is no effective treatment for the type she has. We are all rather in shock over this, as Mom has not been one to be sick very often. She is home from the hospital now, but she has 24 hour hospice care to help her with her breathing and other medical needs. She has a tracheotomy, i.e. an opening in her neck to allow her to breathe since the tumor has constricted her airway. That has to be cleaned out regularly, which is one of the things the hospice care people help her with. She can't eat solid food either, and is on a liquid diet from what I understand.

Pat tells me that Mom is doing OK, is up and around the house, helped with dinner last night. But I can tell from the tone of Pat's voice on the phone that things aren't exactly rosy there. Pat's Dad is legally blind due to macular degeneration, and Mom has been his eyes for a couple of years now. His hearing has deteriorated too, but otherwise he is in good health. Still, he isn't in the best of shape to deal with Mom's illness. Pat has been helping with errands and stuff in the couple of days she has been there this week. Pat comes home this Saturday; next weekend, she and I and our son Ben will fly back to L.A. so we can all visit them for a couple of days. Then we will probably try to go again in March when Ben has spring break from school.

I have not been especially close to my in-laws, although I like them a lot. We have lived in Texas for 15 years while they have been in California, so I haven't bonded with them as well as I might have if we had lived closer all this time. So it is not nearly as hard on me as it must be on Pat to deal with this sudden slap in the face by Mortality. I want to be as sensitive and supportive as I can be during this time, and I will do my utmost to be there for Pat, her parents, her brother, Ben, and everyone else affected by this. If you are reading this and have any prayers, thoughts, healing vibes, positive energy, or anything like that to send to us, we would be most appreciative. Thanks.

New Year, a time for progress

2006-01-01T21:09:00.000-06:00

I just decided that I need to make a few resolutions for the coming year, and if I don't write them down, they won't mean as much. If I write them in a public place, maybe they will stick better; we'll see.

I need to get back to more regular physical activity. I've held myself back because of some minor ailments, but I should be able to get back on track now, so I resolve to attend martial arts classes more than just once a week, if at all possible, and exercise at home more often as well. This includes the exercises that I have been doing to strengthen my shoulder that has been bothering me. I also need to build up my stamina if I hope to test for my first degree black belt in February, as I hope to do.

I also need to spend less time playing poker on line that I could be spending with my family. I don't want a game to take time away from my relationship with wife and son.

Those are the two major things on my mind that I wanted to record before I lost the initiative to do so. There may be more to come, and I might as well use this space for them.

Giving thanks

2005-11-24T08:10:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all, whoever and wherever you may be.

I am thankful for many things, too many to list all of them here. A few highlights:

My wife and son, who are wonderful people
The good health that my wife and son and I have enjoyed over the past year
Friends and family
Financial prosperity - we aren't millionaires, but we don't lack for anything we need

I am truly blessed, and I hope I will always remember that when things aren't going as perfectly as I would like.

My wish for anyone who reads this is that you may be half as blessed as I am, because you would be doing mighty fine.

New poker blog

2005-11-19T15:44:00.000-06:00

I have started a separate blog for my poker entries, because I want to save this one for non-poker ramblings. For now, the poker blog may get more posts, but I hope to keep things going once in a while over here too. I invite any poker fans who may have ended up here through an old link, or anyone who is just curious, to stop by the other blog and check it out.

Blogger Poker Tournament "live" blog

2005-10-24T18:07:00.000-05:00

I didn't think I could keep a running blog of yesterday's tournament and still concentrate on playing properly, so I am posting this the day after. I did take a few notes while I was playing, which form the basis for this entry, but I have added in some from memory, and from the transcript I requested from PokerStars (what a handy feature).

3:00 PM (all times Central): The tournament starts. I am on table 75, and only four of us are live; the others are sitting out. I have the button for the first hand, and I get A2o. I raise and get one caller. The flop comes Q-5-5. I bet, the caller folds. I've won my first hand; an ominous sign, no doubt.

3:09 PM I haven't had much in the way of starting hands. I just stole the blinds with A9o. Everyone is playing pretty tight, including me. A fifth live player has joined us.

3:33 PM After a few marginal hands that get me nowhere, I finally get a hand worth playing: AKo. I'm UTG, and I bet 100 (twice the BB). I get reraised 200 by one player, and I call. Flop comes 8d 3c Kd. Top pair, top kicker; I bet 250. My opponent folds. The warm and fuzzy feeling this hand gives me unfortunately won't last.

3:49 PM I've been back to getting crappy cards, and the blinds keep going up.

4:00 PM After being blinded down below 1000 in chips, I go all in with KQo. My one caller shows KTo. A ten comes on the flop, and I don't improve. Busted out in 1,081st place.

After the tournament, I observed a couple of tables. I watched Wil Wheaton for a little while, and peeked in on the table where Card Squad blogger Joanne was playing. Eventually I got into a small stakes NLHE ring game and won one whole dollar (which I lost back later in the evening).

I enjoyed playing in the tournament, and I feel like I made the correct decisions most of the time. I probably should have made a play at the pot a couple of times, but a lot of my cards weren't even worth a semi-bluff or blind defense.

I look forward to my next tournament, whenever that turns out to be. Hopefully my luck will be a bit better.

Turning it around

2005-10-23T09:32:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was an up and down day for me at the virtual poker tables. After I played in the Katrina Relief tournament a few weeks ago, I have been playing in some small stakes games with the money that was left over in my PokerStars account. I played in a couple of $5+0.50 Sit-N-Go (SNG for short) tournaments - cashed in one, busted early in the other. Mostly I have played in ring games at $0.05-0.10 or $0.02-0.04. Although I have quit while ahead a few times in the ring games, mostly I have lost. I have probably played lots of hands that I shouldn't have, and not paid enough attention to how my opponents have played so I could get reads on them and play accordingly. One thing that has surprised me is how often people have folded in these microstakes games. I expected a lot looser play for such small amounts, but that hasn't seemed to be the case, at least in the games I've been in.

Anyhow, back to what happened yesterday. I played in a 0.02-0.04 game for a while in the afternoon. I jumped ahead early by taking advantage of some good hands and some poor play by a couple of loose opponents. Maybe I got over-confident because by the time I quit, I had lost back my winnings and more. The amount that I lost wasn't enough to buy a Snickers bar, but it was the fact that I didn't play better that disappointed me. After my family and I went out to dinner, I decided to try another SNG to see if I could have more success. Keeping my risk low, I got into a five-table tourney for a $1+0.20 buy-in. I got a few marginal hands at the beginning, but didn't get past the flop much. I did manage to win a few pots here and there but my chip stack wasn't building to speak of. My tight play kept me in the game while some of the more aggressive players started duking it out and eventually busting each other out of the game. I was patient, and let the others make their mistakes. It worked for me, because eventaully I made it to the final table. I was one of the shorter stacks when I got there (as is usual for me), but I still exercised patience because sixth place and up cashed, and I didn't want to bust out on the bubble if someone else decided to take a stand first. That tactic paid off again (literally) as more people went all-in and were eliminated while I waited for the right time to make my moves. The chip lead changed hands more than a few times on that final table, and I got some good hands to double up on several occasions. By the time I got heads up, my opponent "msdoodle" and I were pretty much even in chips. The best hand I got near the end: msdoodle had about a 3 to 1 chip lead on me. I was dealt pocket aces and went all in; msdoodle quickly called with QJo. The board came all rags and my bullets took the pot. The funniest hand was the second to last when msdoodle was down to his/her last 266 chips and went all in with Kc 2s against my Kd Qc. Nothing paired on the flop or turn and it looked like I'd won it, but the board ended up all hearts and we split the pot. On the next and final hand, msdoodle was all-in in the blinds but had K6o vs. my 96o. The board came 3-J-2 rainbow, then A-9, and my pair of nines won the game. I now have $14 more in my account than I did before I started the tournament, and that's a very nice feeling. (OK, $12.80 when you subtract the entry fees.)

I don't know yet why I tend to do better in tournaments than ring games, and I plan to keep working on my skills for the latter, but I'll also keep playing tournaments and trying to improve in those. Gotta go with your strengths, right?

That reminds me, I'm playing in today's PokerStars Inaugural Blogger Tournament. See below for more info. Wish me luck!

It's OK, I'm with the band...

2005-10-18T21:45:00.000-05:00

....my son's high school marching band, that is. Ben is a freshman, and plays trumpet in the Colleyville-Heritage High School band. He opted for junior varsity at the beginning of the school year, so he doesn't march on the field during football game halftimes or at competitions; but he does play with the band in the stands during the games, and he takes band classes during the school day. He has been playing trumpet since the fifth grade, and has done pretty well at it: he was first chair for most of his middle school years, although he has started back at the bottom now that he is in high school.

The parents of band students are encouraged to volunteer to help the band program, and there are plenty of opportunities. They need chaperones for away games, concession stand workers at the home games, and lots of other assistants. To get more involved in Ben's activities, I decided to volunteer to be a "pit dad" this year. Pit dads help load and unload the large instruments and other band equipment at the football games and band competitions. They are called "pit dads" because a large portion of the equipment to be handled are the "pit" instruments, i.e. the stationary ones that aren't carried around the field during the shows such as the marimbas, xylophones, tympani, and such. Those are (typically) set up at the front of the stands at the stadium, while the field is left open for the marching players. Loading and unloading those things can be a chore, but fortunately we have had a good turnout of dads each week so far and we haven't had any trouble getting them where they need to go. The pit dads in our group are a nice bunch of guys, and I have enjoyed the games and competitions that I have gone to so far this season. I don't actually interact with Ben much while we are at the venues for the performances, but I am glad to be there and help his school's band program. The arts don't get enough support in our school systems, IMO, and I am happy to do any small thing that I can to pitch in. It also gets me in to watch the football games and competitions for free, and that's a nice bonus.

The CHHS band is highly respected in our area. We have done well in two competitions so far this year; two years ago (before Ben was there) the band was selected to march in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. I am very impressed by the show they have put together this year, which uses music specifically composed for them by a noted school band composer whose name, I believe, is Key Poulan. This year's music is based on Pachelbel's Canon in D, and the composition and arrangement is quite well done, in my opinion, as is the marching routine that the band directors have created to go with it. I always enjoy watching and hearing the show at each performance. Ben has already said that he wants to move up to varsity the first chance he gets, so I expect that he will be out there on the field with the band next year.

I haven't been all that involved in Ben's school activities in the past. I think I've tended to be too busy (or thought I was) with my own personal interests. I am sorry that I didn't do something like this sooner; I'm enjoying it, and I think Ben is glad that I'm participating. I know I am.

Blogger Championship poker tournament registration

2005-10-02T22:02:00.000-05:00

I have registered to play in the
Online Poker Blogger Championship!

This event is powered by PokerStars.

Registration code: 5038784

Survival of the tightest

2005-10-02T20:18:00.000-05:00

I have been meaning to update my blog for some time now, but of course lots of things get in the way. I don't consider myself a particularly skilled writer; I also don't feel like I have a great facility for putting my thoughts into typed words and sentences. Writing takes effort for me, at least if I want what I write to be worth reading. I know, I know: I won't get better at it or find it less difficult to do if I don't sit down and do it regularly. I don't have my Mom here to nag me to practice, like she might have if I had had piano lessons when I was a kid. I have to motivate myself to get cracking. Or I have to have some outside incentive that gives me a reason to overcome my reluctance. It seems that a motivation like that has come along.

On October 23, PokerStars will be hosting a special tournament for bloggers. You don't have to write a poker blog; you just have to have a "regularly updated blog" that is at least two months old. The good news is, I started my blog in February of this year. The not-so-good news is, I've only posted here seven times since then, which is barely an average of once a month. Does that qualify as "regularly updated" in the eyes of the PokerStars staff? I guess I will find out when I try to register for the tournament. If you have a blog (or don't) and are interested in more info about the tournament, you can find it here:

http://www.pokerstars.com/blog_tournament/index.html

I'm looking forward to playing in the tournament, if they let me.

While I'm here, I might as well talk about my poker adventures of recent times. I have been playing on line pretty often, and I play every Tuesday in a live (and free) Amateur Poker League tournament at Willhoites's, a local bar/restaurant. I tend to do better in tournaments than in "ring games," i.e. games that are continuous and have players that come and go at any time. In a cash tournament, all the players pay an entry fee which gets them a set number of chips and a seat at a tournament table with other players. The entry fees make up the prize pool, less some amount that is kept by the host of the tournament to cover their costs and make them a profit. Once the tournament starts, play continues (with occasional breaks) until one player remains with all of the chips. As the tournament goes on, the blinds (forced bets that rotate around the table) go up in amount, to keep the tournament from lasting forever and to make the action more exciting. This is a simplified explanation but I hope you get the idea.

At the APL tourneys, there are no entry fees and no cash prizes. However, the players who finish 16th or higher earn "points" that determine their rank in relation to each other over the course of a season. I have finished "in the points" most of the weeks that I have played over the past few months. My highest finish so far has been second, once. I am not among the top points leaders in my region, but I generally get an invitation to the monthly championship tourney at Willhoite's. The APL events are fun and give me a chance to practice the principles that I have learned from the various books that I have been reading on how to play the game, without putting up any money. There is a group of regular players at Willhoite's each week, and they are overall a friendly bunch that I enjoy playing with.

But, my biggest tournament yet was one I played in on line on September 14 at PokerStars. It was a fund-raiser for Hurricane Katrina relief, with virtually all of the entry fees donated to the American Red Cross and matched, dollar for dollar, by PokerStars. There were a total of four tournaments hosted by PokerStars that week, and in total they raised over $100,000 for the Red Cross.

I originally entered two of those tournaments, one with a $5 fee and one with a $20 fee. The $50 and $100 events were a bit too expensive for my blood. I couldn't play in the $5 tournament on Sept. 12 because my Internet connection was down that night. At least my $5 still went to the charity. By Wednesday our connection was back up and I was able to play. As it turned out, there were a lot of people who didn't show up for the tournament that night, although I doubt that they all had technical problems like mine. Many undoubtedly just wanted to donate and didn't plan to play anyway; that made for a lot of players who were "sitting out" at the tables. It took some time to win the chips from those absent players, but eventually there were just live people left in the game. I played conservatively, got some good cards and made some fairly decent moves early on, and built my chip stack enough to get me through the dry spells when the crappy cards fell my way. After nearly four hours of playing my way through countless hands and moving between tables, I had the honor of making it to the final table of the tournament. When I got there, I had the fewest chips of anyone at the table, but I didn't mind. I was just thrilled to have lasted that far into the tourney. Shortly after I got to the final table, I busted out, finishing ninth in the tournament. I felt really pleased with how I played that night, and with my finishing place. After all, ninth out of 738 entrants is a pretty high percentile. It's my proudest moment so far in my very short poker "career."

All of the players who made it to a final table in these tournaments are to get prizes donated by various celebrities associated with PokerStars. I believe that I will be getting an autographed copy of a book by Wil Wheaton, who hosted the tournaments; if there are other prizes forthcoming, I don't know what they might be. But my experience with this tournament has been all positive, with the most important part of that being the fact that the Red Cross has benefited greatly by the generosity of PokerStars and its players.

I'm also unashamedly pleased that Wil reported the results of the tournament that I played in on his blog, and he mentions me (by my PokerStars screen name, yestbay1) in the entry. You can read that entry here:

http://www.wilwheaton.net/mt/archives/2005/09/

You will need to scroll down to the September 15 entry. Go ahead and read the rest of his September archives while you are there. Wil's blog is always a good read, IMO. (His archives look rather funky at the moment because he is doing a redesign on his site.)

I hope I get to play in the Bloggers Tournament on the 23rd. I don't have high expectations of making the final table again, but it happened once; who knows, with good play and some luck I might get there again. And this time the prizes are more substantial, such as a trip to (and buy-in for) the 2006 PokerStars Carribean Adventure, flat-panel TVs, X-box game systems, and more. I'll just be glad to play and have fun. Bonus: there is no entry fee! Like I always say, free is good.

Wish me luck!

The Baltic Blast - Cruise Trek 2005

2005-07-17T16:41:00.000-05:00

My wife, son and I just went on one of our most memorable vacations, a cruise of the Baltic Sea. Although I could probably write a book about the experience, I'll try to capture some of the highlights here without overwhelming the readers (however many or few of you there may be).

I should mention up front that we booked our trip through Cruise Trek, a company that invites Star Trek fans and people who have worked on the various Trek TV shows and films. It's like a mini-convention at sea for those of us in the Cruise Trek group. The Trek activities are only a small part of the cruise, but they added quite a bit of enjoyment for those of us involved.

The cruise left Copenhagen, Denmark on Thursday June 30 and returned there on Sunday July 10. We spent the day before departure in Copenhagen, which is a lovely city. Wednesday afternoon, we met a group of Danish Star Trek fans at a local eatery to get acquainted with them and learn more about Copenhagen. Pat, Ben and I ended up going to dinner with several of the Danish Trekkies, and later walking with them to visit Tivoli Gardens, a small amusement park right in the city. Legend has it that Walt Disney was inspired by this park for some of his ideas for Disneyland in California, and I can see why. It has beautiful grounds and a very nice ambience.

Thursday afternoon our cruise ship, the ms Westerdam of the Holland America Line, departed Copenhagen. After an evening of settling in and (re-)introductions to our fellow Cruise Trekkers, we had a day at sea on Friday. The Trek activites are only held when the ship is not in port, so several of them were crammed into this day. The actors' Q & A panel was held, where guests Garrett Wang (Harry Kim from Voyager), John De Lancie (Q), and Bob Picardo (the Doctor from Voyager) answered questions from the audience quite graciously. Bob P., in particular, is quite a gregarious guy, and kept us all entertained during this panel and every time he got in front of the group. There were Trek-related games and presentations throughout the cruise, and all of them that I attended were lots of fun. I placed second in a couple of the games but I don't know enough Trek trivia to beat out the more dedicated fans in those contests.

Saturday we spent in Tallinn, Estonia. I knew virtually nothing about the city or country before this trip, and while I can't say I am an expert on it now, I did find it to be a neat place to walk around. We spent all of our time in the Old Town, with its ancient streets and buildings including a couple of beautiful churches. We ate lunch at the Olde Hansa, a medieval restaurant housed in a very old building which apparently was used as a dining hall hundreds of years ago. The menu there includes game such as bear, elk, and wild boar, all cooked over open flame (no electricity!). We wussed out and settled for chicken. It was quite good, and the medieval side dishes were surprisingly tasty.

Sunday and Monday we were docked in St. Petersburg, Russia. We were glad to have two days here because there is so much to see. However, because the Russian visa process is so cumbersome and expensive, we booked our trips ashore through the cruise line because we didn't have to have our own visas that way. It worked out very well, and the excursions were well organized and informative. On Sunday morning we visited Catherine's Palace in Pushkin just outside the city, and in the afternoon we went to the Hermitage Museum downtown. Both are enormous places with gorgeous works of art and elaborate decor. Our tour guide said it would take years to look at each piece that the Hermitage has on display, and I believe it. Sunday evening we went to a Folkloric Spectacular performance, featuring energetic and colorful Russian music, songs and dances. A wonderful show which I missed a few bits of here and there from nodding off due to jet lag. After spending the night back on the ship, we took another tour bus Monday, this time to Peterhof Palace in the morning and more sights in downtown St. Petersburg in the afternoon. Peterhof is another grandiose complex of buildings with similar furnishings to Catherine's Palace, but the exterior grounds at Peterhof are its most impressive feature to me. There are acres of gardens, with lots of fountains, sculptures, etc. to enjoy. The main attraction of the afternoon tour was the Church on the Spilled Blood, an amazing Russian Orthodox cathedral whose interior is almost completely covered with astoundingly beautiful mosaics that have been painstakingly restored after damage suffered during World War II. Most of the palaces and major buildings in St. Petersburg have undergone extensive restoration, which is a testament to the pride that the Russian people have taken in their history and culture.

Tuesday's stop was Helsinki, Finland. While Helsinki doesn't have the ancient feel of the other cities we had visited thus far, it was still a cool place. My favorite sight there was the "rock" church. No, they don't play the Rolling Stones there at services; the name comes from the fact that the church was built by blasting the top out of a rocky hill and building a domed roof over the hole. It's one of the most unusual structures I have ever seen.

Wednesday: Stockholm, Sweden was our port destination. If I were to pick a city from this trip to visit again, Stockholm would be it. It is a cool city, with a fascinating old town section as well as a modern newer part with all the amenities of a major metropolis. The setting for the city is especially beautiful since it is built on 14 islands which we sailed among on our way out of port that evening. It reminds me of the San Juan Islands in Washington state. Lots more historic and interesting stuff to see here, much of which we didn't have time for. As the governator might say, "We'll be back."

Thursday we stopped at the Swedish island of Gotland and walked around the small but thriving town of Visby. We saw many ruins of old churches dating back as far in the 1200s, and (most of) a stone wall surrounding the city that is at least that old. The feeling of ancient history was strongest for me here of all the places we saw on this trip.

Friday we made port in Warnemunde, Germany, a seaside resort town. We didn't spend any time in Warnemunde, though; we took the first train in the morning to Berlin, a 3-hour ride away. We joined a small group of Cruise Trekkers who were riding the same train, and met with a local who is a friend of Richard Arnold, Trek historian and guest on the cruise who was our de facto leader on our "tour" of Berlin. Because we had another 3-hour train ride back to the cruise port, our time in Berlin was limited. Still, we saw the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, the "Hollow Tooth" church, and a warp speed tour of the Pergamon Museum. Berlin is another place I would love to go back to when we have more time to see all it has to offer.

The last full day of the cruise was spent in Arhus, Denmark. (There should be a little circle over the A in Arhus but I don't know how to make that in this blog. The same goes for the two dots over the u in Warnemunde.) Arhus isn't a particularly remarkable city, but we saw some interesting places and had a nice walk through the downtown area.

The cruise ended on Sunday morning July 10 when we returned to Copenhagen. We were sorry to see it end, but were ready to head home. There is more to tell but I think that I have written enough for this entry. I hope you have enjoyed reading it a tiny fraction as much as I enjoyed experiencing it.

Milestones

2005-06-07T23:59:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, June 6, 2005, was my 50th birthday. No, I'm not fishing for birthday greetings - if I had wanted to do that, I would have mentioned it before the actual date, and would have done so where more people would have got the hint. It just reminds me that time is not standing still, for me or anyone else. I have had a wonderful life so far, and I hope I continue to have the good fortune that I have been blessed with up to now, for a long time to come. But I have coasted for a good part of the journey, and not put in as much effort as I could have to make it even better. Coasting is a hard habit to break. I'm telling you, I've really liked having it as easy as I have, and knowing that it will take some hard work to get over some of the obstacles that have cropped up is a bitch to deal with. I guess I'm hoping that writing this down, somewhere that it might be read by someone other than me, will prod me into getting off the dime and applying myself where I need to. I know that I can do it; motivating myself is the trick. Will this work? Time will tell. Maybe I should print this out and tape it to my bathroom mirror or something. In any case, getting it off my chest gives me a small sense of satisfaction. I'll see if I can build on that.

Loops and bonds

2005-05-06T23:28:00.000-05:00

My son and I recently took a quick trip to California to go to Six Flags Magic Mountain. My wife was on a business trip and Ben had a day off from school on a Friday, so I took a vacation day that day so he and I could spend it together.

I have flight benefits from my job. We have season passes to Six Flags Over Texas, which are good at any Six Flags park. I decided to put those two perks together so Ben and I could check out the rides at Magic Mountain. When I lived in southern California, I would go to Magic Mountain about once a year, and when Pat and I started dating, we went there together several times. It's much more of a thrill ride park than Disneyland, and they have lots more roller coasters now (14 in all!) than they did in 1990 when I was there last. Ben, being a 13 year old boy, is a big thrill ride fan and was understandably excited when I told him of my plan for us to go. Pat was happy that we would be going, but also a little jealous that she would miss out. She isn't nearly the ride fan that Ben and I are, but she enjoys coasters occasionally, especially if she hasn't tried them yet. We'll have to make another trip there when all three of us can go.

This was the first time that Ben and I had traveled without Pat. He and I get along quite well, at least these days; who knows if I will be able to say that a year from now, when he is 14. We share a lot of likes and interests, and going to amusement parks is definitely one of those, so I was glad to have the opportunity to take him to this one while we had some father-son time. We rode nearly every big ride they have there. The park was practically empty, the lines were short to non-existent, and the weather was postcard perfect. We enjoyed every minute of our adventure there, although by the end of the day my stomach had endured just about all the twisting and turning that it could. Of course, Ben was still raring to go try Deja Vu, the one coaster we hadn't been on. I told him that would give us something to come back for.

We drove back towards L.A. through Friday evening rush hour traffic, but I didn't really mind it that much. We didn't have to be anywhere in a hurry. We did stop in Westwood Village, where Pat and I went nearly every weekend for dinner and a movie when we lived in the area. Ben and I had In-N-Out Burgers for dinner, and then bought some Diddy Reese cookies (cheap but absolutely delicious) to bring home for Pat (and ourselves). We got to the Rodeway Inn near the airport in time to hit the sack early because we had to get up before dawn to try to catch the first flight home in the morning.

My flight benefits expire at the end of June this year. That is another reason I wanted to make this trip, and I'm very happy that I did. I can't say for sure whether Ben and I bonded any more than before in just that one day, but it certainly didn't hurt, and we both had a lot of fun. Maybe it will be a day that will be a fond memory for both of us in the years to come. I'm fairly sure that it will be for me.

Catching cards to chase the blues

2005-03-08T23:49:00.000-06:00

I didn't have the most pleasant day today. Work was a bit sluggish; it felt like I was treading water most of the day, trying to get various things done but not making much progress on any of them. After work, I taught the children's tae kwon do class that I teach every Tuesday, and stumbled around in that. I called out the wrong techniques a couple of times, and counted off the moves incorrectly in a form that I was trying to teach - which most of the kids in the class reminded me of quite loudly. When I left that class, I felt like I had lost a bit of the respect of many of the students. I was in a funk when I finally got home.

Nothing of interest in the TV Guide. A chapter or two of the novel I am in the middle of didn't do much to keep me enthralled. I decided to play some Internet poker to kill time until lights out.

I have been playing poker on line for several months now. I started last year when some friends talked about it on a message board that I visit from time to time. I played poker in my college dorm back in my youth, rather poorly. I remember running to the local supermarket once to cash a check so I could have a few more bucks to play with after losing in a game that night. Fortunately that check was only for about $7.00. After that, I only played sporadically until last year. When I found out that there are Internet poker sites where one can play the game with fake money against real people, I thought, "What a cool idea. I can practice my skills and learn more about how to play, especially this weird game called Texas Hold 'Em." Hold 'Em is the most popular form of poker today, at least among casinos and professional players and the online poker community. I won't go into the specifics of it here; there are plenty of sites where you can find out how to play it, what the rules are, etc. There are also dozens if not hundreds of books about Hold 'Em and poker in general on the market. I own and have read a number of them, and they can be quite informative and often entertaining to boot. I know they have helped me improve my play.

Anyway, I signed on to Pokerroom.com tonight to play in a single table tournament. I thought I would take a gamble and get into a higher stakes game than I usually enter. Maybe I was trying to goose myself out of my dark mood by going a little further out on the limb than normal for me. Of course, I'm still only playing with cyberbucks, so it's not as if I'm risking anything that matters, but it's the thought that counts. I "bought" into a $500 + 50 (the amount of money you have to pay to enter) table; I typically play in $100 + 10 games. I have played in single table tournaments many times, although I'm sure there are players who are much more dedicated (addicted?) than I am and play much more often. Still, I know some of the patterns of play at these tourneys, and I can usually last until the most of the starting players have been busted out. Tonight I was playing pretty well, and also getting some good cards. To make a long story short, I won the table, enriching my play money account by $2,500. I felt almost as good when I finished in first place at that table as I would have if I had won 2,500 real dollars. Now, I'm not going to go empty my savings account and catch the next flight to Vegas to hit the poker rooms. But it's a nice little morale booster to have that small success at the end of what was otherwise a downer of a day.

So who out there wants to play some online poker sometime? Let me know and we'll get a game together.

Choices, choices

2005-02-12T10:44:00.000-06:00

It's a Saturday morning and I am sitting at my computer as usual, before my wife and son get up. I log on weekend mornings for a few reasons. A good friend and I often IM at this time, if we are both on line (we are chatting as I type this). I'll use the quiet time to catch up on e-mails and reading things on line, like friends' blogs or news about my various interests. I'll pay bills if I have any coming due - on line banking is a great convenience, let me tell you.

So now that I have started this blog, I may do some of my blogging at this time too. But the problem is, how do I decide what to write about? Sometimes I can't think of anything that I think would be worth posting. Other times I have a million ideas in my head competing for their space here. What to choose, what to choose? Today, I choose to write about the fact that I find it hard to choose what to write about.

I have lots of interests. I study martial arts. I act in community theater. I'm a big fan of the band Yes, and other progressive rock artists. I love science fiction in all media: books, movies, TV, etc. I love Monty Python and that style of humor. I like baseball. I love to travel. I could write about any or all of those things. I could write about my everyday life, or my philosophies, or I could make something up that has no basis in reality. I think I will eventually write about all of those things, assuming that I don't get sick of this blogging thing, and that everyone who comes by here doesn't tell me to please shut up.

For the moment, I think I will just sign off. I have things to do that require my attention. But I'll be back. Now that I have posted the list of things I might write about, I can refer back to it to remind me, and find some inspiration when I need it. On the other hand, I just might come up with something that isn't on the list. I will try not to be too predictable.

Yeah, this was a boring post. But get used to it; there may well be more.

Read this (other) blog

2005-02-08T20:47:00.000-06:00

One reason I decided to go ahead and start my own blog is my enjoyment of reading Wil Wheaton's blog. In case the name isn't instantly familiar, Wil played "Wesley Crusher" on the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation, and "Gordie" in the film Stand By Me, among many other roles. Wil has had a blog going for several years now, and I have become hooked on his writing. He has a very readable style, quite literate, laced with plenty of humor, but most importantly, brimming with honesty and candor. He has gone through a lot in his life and career, and has shared a great deal of his struggles and triumphs with the readers of his website. The popularity of his blog helped lead him to publish two books, which are collections of his writings on the blog. The two books, Dancing Barefoot and Just a Geek, are fantastic reads IMO. They are published by O'Reilly and are available wherever fine books are sold, as well as at the usual spots. Get them, now.

Anyhow, Wil's blog entry dated February 7, 2005 is one of my favorite ever. I won't tell you about it; you need to read it for yourself. Go here:

http://www.wilwheaton.net/mt/archives/001787.php

After you have read that one, scroll through some of his other recent entries, or take a browse through his archives. I'm betting you will enjoy the read.

Testing, testing..... is this thing on?

2005-02-07T21:52:00.000-06:00

OK. I started a blog. I did it because I wanted to post a comment in a friend's blog. Now I have one of my own. I suppose maybe someday I will post something interesting in here, but don't hold your breath too long.

I've thought before about starting a blog of my own, but never took the time to do it. Maybe I'll make some use of this thing; many's the time when I've said to myself that I should write down some of my thoughts, whether anyone else ever reads them or not. At the least, it could be a place to practice stringing words together to see if they make sense.

I guess I'd better go post that comment, if I can remember what I was going to say.