San Diego

Double-humped Camel

Adorable Panda

Beautiful Flamingo

Cool blue bill!

Zebra in the back, Giraffe in the front

Last week, my mom and I went to San Diego. I had to go down for a Data Governance conference and thought it would be a great thing to take my mom with me. Wow, did we ever have some fun! We met up with Aunt Cathy and Uncle Jim and they showed us around town. Then, when the conference began, they took my mom back up to their new house in Riverside. Mom reports that it is "perfection". I learned a lot about data and how to govern it at the conference. One rather slow afternoon, my colleagues and I explored the San Diego Zoo. I've included some pictures here for your enjoyment. This is a wonderful zoo! I saw animals that I didn't even know existed... like, one that appears to be half Zebra in the back with a giraffe head. Wild! Looked like something out of "Lord of the Rings". We saw Pandas, Tigers, Reptiles, and more.

San Diego was wonderful, but I am glad to be back home with my boys.

Have a wonderful Easter!!

Chris

American Idol

Tonight was "Lennon / McCartney night" on AI. Mostly disappointing with some exceptions. I am so sorry to say that my front-runner to win it all had a terrible performance. Mr. Archuleta sang "We Can Work It Out" and stumbled, OK, actually forgot some of the lyrics. Shocking! I hope this doesn't cost him too dearly. Brook White & Chikeze had the best performances, IMO.

This is a fun distraction from the business... :-)

Majors Jamboree

Photos by: Christina Johnson
The Dodgers had their Jamboree against Bonney Lake over the weekend.  It was two days packed with baseball.  We went 4-0-1, which means we won 4, lost none and tied one.  Nick had 4 hits, with 6 RBIs and 6 at-bats.  He hit a triple, double, and two singles.  He also pitched two innings and gave up no earned runs.  He struck out 2 batters in 2 innings.  Nick also plays Centerfield and has a wicked throw to home.  Ward did a great job coaching the team to victory.  The boys did really well and had lots of fun. 

 I headed up the concessions stand and sold over $1,500 in sugary junk and pop!  The Tofu dogs sold really well ;-) Actually, we sold BBQ hot dogs and polish dogs.  One of the moms grilled a whole bunch of onions and it smelled just like the fair!  yum! 

It is definitely "All Baseball All The Time" at our house!!  

Papa would be sooooo proud! 

General Update

Hi everyone who happens to read this blog:

American Idol:
Last night was AI Boys and so my mom and I got together again, watched and voted. IMO, the best performances were David Archuleta and David Cook. The guys getting voted off are: Luke & Danny. But I hear that Danny has the "vote for the worst" vote, so he will probably stay. In that case, Jason (the guy with the dreads) will go. I also think that David Hernandez should go because of his unsavory behavior recently publicized in the news. But his performance was pretty durn good. Tonight its the girls turn.

Nick:
Last Thursday, Nick broke his finger in basketball practice. Not too terribly bad, just a hairline fracture along the tip of his left pointer. He also sprained it pretty good too. We spent a good couple of hours in the Covington Urgent Care clinic, which I must say, is a very decent facility, with kind and helpful people. Many stayed after closing time (9:00 pm) to help us. I was impressed and thankful. It's hard to see your kid in pain, and he was hurting and wimpering. He has a plastic finger splint that has to be taped up every day. It's only slowed him down a little bit. He is still playing basketball & baseball. whew!

Auburn Little League:
We have a jamboree up at Sunset both days this weekend and I have been busily making preparations for the concessions stand. This includes inventorying last year's items, making sure the facility is clean (I have to clean up a moldy fridge today after work. Nice!), and then go shopping at Sams club for a ton of stuff, like a case of polish dogs, boxes and boxes of candy bars, chips, etc. Mom is going to help me haul them up to Sunset. THANKS!!

That's it for now...
Chris

Girls Turn

It was the girls turn last night on American Idol. Mom and I watched it together and objectively scrutinized each performance. The 10 girls started out with 5 dynamite performances and then it started to go downhill quickly, with surprisingly, Amanda Overmyer AKA "The Rocker Chick". She chose poorly with "Carry On My Wayward Son" by Kansas. The song definitely did not suit her voice and style. Really disappointing. But, I think that America remembers her good performances and will overlook this. I was very surprised by Brook and her "You're So Vain" performance. She nailed it.

Right now, I think the best female vocalist is Ramiele Malubay. However, she is not as good as David Archuleta, who is going to win.

My predictions for who gets voted off:
Alaina "what the heck was she thinking" Whitaker
Kady "I am too snotty" Malloy

G'uhbye Gurlz!