Well, the America's Cup got serious. As did the remodel of the St. Paul Condo. Oh, and the asbestos removal from the new Los Gatos place actually happened!
September was a lot less travel--for me. I actually did not go anywhere for the entire month upon my return from Minnesota on the 4th of September. Stephanie did make two trips to the bay area, the first for opening of the America's Cup races and then wonderful ball held the night before the New Zealanders were going to take the cup away from the Golden Gate Yacht Club and haul it to New Zealand. She returned for the last race as Team USA successfully defended the Cup in one of sports most unbelievable comebacks!
Mary R has been the topic of my blog off and on for many years. Mary and I met in 1972 or 73 when I hired her into my work group at National Semiconductor. The connection was made by her then husband who I also worked with at National. Mary has been a good friend for four decades now and in spite of all her battles with cancer, I expect we'll have many more years ahead of us. If you know Mary and want a full update, let me know. She keeps a blog on CaringBridge but you need to have an invitation to sign on and read her entries.
The America's Cup
One of the strangest and most exciting sporting events ever!
First, the very strange part. The international committee ruled in the week before the final races that Oracle Team USA was to be penalized for infractions during the 2012 competition. Let's think about that. On the evening of the defending races, they impose penalties. Let's see, how can we really hurt a team? Well, let's ban two of their key players (out of 11). That should slow them down. Oh, and let's make sure they are in a hole. So the race is a best of 17 meaning the first team to 9 victories wins the cup. Ok, let's put Team USA at minus two (-2) so that they have to win 11 races and the challenger only has to win 9. Huh?
The only thing I can imagine being similar is to declare on the eve of the Superbowl that the penalized team has to pull two starters from the offense and, they are starting with a score of 0 to minus 12.
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| Burgee (aka flag) of the Golden Gate Yacht Club |
The result is that the defending Team USA flying the burgee of the Golden Gate Yacht Club began the final best of 17 races with a significant impediment. Two team members were barred and the score was 0 to minus 2 before the boats went into the water.
So Team USA started in a hole. A very big hole, it turns out. The New Zealand Emriates team had been sharpened by competition in the July round robins and by the August semifinal races against Italy's Luna Rossa. They also were the first team to have an AC72 in the water last year and had more practice time than any other team. (The Team USA boat capsized and was severely damaged in the fall and several months went by when there was no boat to practice in. The Italians used a prior generation Kiwi boat but their practice time was limited compared to the Kiwi's.) The Kiwi's were disciplined, sharp, well practiced and fast! It was clearly not going to be an easy defense of the America's Cup.
And, while all of this was going on, I learned that I did have the best seat in San Francisco. Check out the location of my apartment building! I can see the entire course from my deck! Perfection!
We had arranged for Stephanie to fly out on the eve of the opening race to enjoy the America's Cup. On the first race day, Saturday September 7, we watched the two races from the Gold Gate Yacht Club. It is located on the Marina Green which is the same place as the red marker America's Cup Village (not the Park) on the map above. It was great being at the club, the defender of the America's Cup. It wasn't so great that New Zealand won the first two races. Score: NZ 2, USA minus 2. Gulp!
We planned to attend some races at the club and most from my apartment. I had the view and the cable TV set up. Stephanie was there to help me with the preparations and hosting the friends who came to see the races. Friends came over with various fun dishes to eat and drink. A great time was had by all!
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| From left to right: Mr. Wiley, his friend, Kristi Wiley, Jim Wiley and your's truly. Jim and Kristi and I have worked together in the semiconductor industry at several different companies over the years. It was a treat to finally meet his Dad! |
The races were unpredictable. Some days, the winds were too strong and the Coast Guard had set upper wind limits for the start of the races. As a result, we sometimes had no races, one race or two races on race days. On some make up days, we couldn't make up the prior lost time so things were postponed. It was a great exercise in learning that the wind and the seas really do control things!
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| Stephanie and your's truly in front of the America's Cup at the Golden Gate Yacht Club. |
The Club had set an America's Cup ball on the evening prior to the 9th race (by original schedule). Stephanie had stayed through that week to attend the ball (plus make decisions on the new Los Gatos place--more later). The ball was held on time, but the races were behind schedule. It didn't really matter much, we were so far behind and New Zealand was so strong, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that the Cup was going to New Zealand.
Although we all had hoped it would be a Team USA sweep, it was closer to a New Zealand sweep at the time of the ball. After all, New Zealand had six victories to our one victory so the score was 6 to minus 1. But, we put on our cheerful faces and routinely said it isn't over 'til its over. Thank you Casey Stengel.
Stephanie had to leave and return to St Paul. I managed to watch and attend races and host visitors to my place. But, face it, when one team has that strong a position in a competitive series, its pretty obvious, right?
The absolute low point was after the races on September 18. New Zealand 8, USA 1. Basically, all New Zealand had to do was win one race and they were hauling the Cup away.
The next race was also a demonstration of the strength of New Zealand and the capriciousness of the wind and the sea. New Zealand had a huge lead as they approached the leeward gate prior to the turn to the finish line. Crossing the line was their ninth win and would be victory in the 2013 America's Cup. But the wind and the sea decided it wasn't yet time. The winds were so light that day, the maximum time limit was reached before New Zealand could cross the finish line. Race nullified!
But we had all seen how dominant New Zealand was again in the very light winds. Although tomorrow was another day, it was clear it wouldn't stop the New Zealand team.
We sit with the series score being New Zealand 8, USA 1. Hey, at least we were no longer negative! We had won three races against clearly superior New Zealand team. Hold your heads up high, boys, we've made them work for it!
New Zealand 8, USA 8. Hold your breath!
We now have the 19th race in a best of 17 series (recall, Team USA was minus 2 at the beginning.) All the work, preparation, everything boils down to this one last race. Wow!
The entire city of San Francisco was on the waterfront the day of the last race. And most of the bay area, too. It was pure emotion. Now, some could say San Francisco was jaded from too much in sports. World Series Champs in Sept of 2010 and 2012. Superbowl contender in January of 2013. All the issues, the politics, the fingerpointing were all gone. Our team was playing for all the marbles on this last race day.
Yeah, we won! ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!
Stephanie had returned that week for a quick visit. Because the races ran late, she was able to attend the final race with me at the Golden Gate Yacht Club. What a treat!
I still get tingles thinking about having to win 8 in a row because you are behind 8 to 1. And the Team USA did it. Wow!
St Paul Condo
Progress was made pretty rapidly after the painting was done. The tile floor went in, the cabinets arrived, new kitchen sink, new bathroom vanity and appliances. We were still missing things like the LR flooring, carpeting in the bedrooms and, oh yes, electricity. But progress was made although we really missed the August end date.
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| This shows the tile floor but the paint colors are way off in the picture. The red is much more subdued than that and the far LR wall is pale yellow--no green at all! |
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| Cabinets are in place, new refrigerator is standing by waiting for installation. |
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| Tile floor and bathroom vanity. |
To be fair, we did change the flooring material in the living room from carpet to hardwood. As we have all experienced, we know its tough for a contractor to keep things on track.
Stephanie was the project manager as I spent the entire month in California. And, between her two trips she spent a third of her time way too. But our contractor kept plugging along and making it happen.
Los Gatos Townhouse
When Stephanie arrived for the America's Cup, we also had plans to make decorating decision for the new Los Gatos place. The days without races being held became a race for us to get to each of the vendors and make choices for the townhouse before she returned to St Paul.
Our sequence was granite countertops, cabinets materials and color, paint colors thoughout, kitchen flooring, backsplash tile and accent materials, sink, faucets, light fixtures and whatever else. The various suppliers we met with were a bit stunned because we made decisions so fast. Well, we had just made the very same decisions for the St Paul Condo so we knew what was needed and what we wanted. The St Paul Condo kitchen has strong red elements in it. Los Gatos is in the blues and greys.
And although we were 'storming the gates' making these decisions, the actual design work was hung up because Silicon Valley is in a remodel boom. Everyone is super busy and we had to wait until our architect and engineering folks could really take a look at what we wanted to do and then prepare the calculations, engineering assessment and drawings. So even though we had picked all of our key items, no progress was made on the construction itself.
Of course, rushing the engineering along didn't do much as the asbestos removal was, shall we say, not terribly quick. But it did finally get done and they did remove all the "Death Unto You" signs from the property. Whew...
Errata
I mentioned that Stephanie made a second trip in September. The purpose was to attend several plays with my season tickets. We saw Beautiful, the story of Carol King performed by the traveling Broadway group We also saw 1776 at San Francisco's ACT. Plus, Stephanie got to see the last America's Cup race at the Golden Gate Yacht Club.
In addition, my friends Ute and Jochen with Ute's father were in town on a vacation from their home in Germany. This happened the same week Stephanie was in town for the plays! We did several events with them, the highlight being attending the San Francisco-Los Angeles baseball game.
In July when Jochen was visiting San Francisco for business, he told me he was taking Ute and her father to "the game."
I asked "What game? Baseball or football?" He didn't know. But when he told me it was on a Wednesday night in late September, I knew it was baseball.
"What do you know about baseball?"
"There are a bunch of players and they run around on a circular track." was his reply.
Well, I managed to score two tickets adjacent to theirs and all five of us attended the game.
Explaining baseball is hard!
The prior week, I took BART to the Oakland stadium again and watched the Minnesota Twins play the Oakland A's. Its one of those games where I cheer for the winner and my heart breaks for the loser.
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| Seems that Oakland has some extra help on the field: Storm Troupers, Boba Fett, Darth Vader...you can't see Princess Leia in this picture, she is down the third base line taking her own photos of Darth Vader on the field. |
Ciao.
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