Spring Training 2018: Day 2

It’s our last day on the west side of the valley. We got up early this morning and after having breakfast downstairs, we packed up and checked out of our Goodyear hotel. Then we drove over to the Cleveland Indians’ Player Development Complex to watch the morning warm-ups and batting practice.

As in year’s past, Rick Danburg was there to talk to the crowd, give the day’s schedule, and explain the general goings-on (which are always “STC” (subject-to-change)). After watching the players warm up on the field, we headed to the parking lot/outfield to shag fly balls during batting practice. I came up empty this year, but my sister did get one. Then it was time to head over to Goodyear Ballpark for the final game of spring training and final spring battle of Ohio against the Cincinnati Reds.

Since it was the last day, everything dated in the team shop was 50% off so we had to do a little shopping before heading to our seats. It was a little difficult getting into Section 111 as the volunteer usher wanted to check everyone’s tickets (c’mon man, it’s the last game of the season!). After the national anthem, 2018 Hall of Fame inductee Jim Thome was on-hand to throw out the first pitch! The game was incredibly crowded … in fact, it turned out to be a record sellout (for an Indians/Reds game) of 10,311! Once again, our Indians were victorious, beating the Reds 6-4.

After the game, we drove across the valley to Tempe and checked into our next hotel. We cleaned up, got dressed, and then headed to our annual spring training steak dinner at Rustler’s Rooste. Despite having call-ahead seating, we had to wait for an hour to get a table, which was a little disappointing, but (as usual) the view and food made up for the wait. For the first time, my sister and I tried the rattlesnake (and prickly pear cactus fries). The snake actually wasn’t bad but I didn’t care for the fries. With full stomachs, we headed back to the hotel and turned in for the evening. Tomorrow, we hike Camelback.

Spring Training 2018: Day 1

We all slept in this morning to recover from yesterday’s travelling and time zone change (for some of us, anyway). Once we were all cleaned up and ready to go, we stopped for a late breakfast at the Wildflower Bread Company (we were going to go to the Black Bear Diner but the Saturday morning crowd was too big). Then we drove up to Surprise (insert puns here) to see our Cleveland Indians take on the Texas Rangers.

This is the first time we’ve come out to spring training on the very last weekend. It was cool to see a lot of the starters in the lineup. The weather was also a little cooler than we’re used to (but still very pleasant). The fourth inning got a little crazy as Roberto Pérez lost his bat and it flew into the screen a few rows in front of us. Then on the next pitch the bat splintered and flew into the outfield, almost hitting the Rangers’ third baseman (who still managed to catch the ball and throw Pérez out at first). A few pitches later, Erik Gonzalez hit a foul ball into the Rangers’ dugout that hit Howard Johnson in the face. Ouch! Play was stopped for about 10-15 minutes as medical staff treated Johnson and eventually wheeled him out of the stadium on a cart.

Our new favorite Indians player is Rob Refsnyder (#33), whose name we would mispronounce as Griffindor. We kept hoping he would score some runs (“2 points for Griffindor!”) 😀 With 8,900 people in attendance, the Indians blew out the Rangers 10-3. Good game!

On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at Dillon’s KC BBQ at the Wildlife World Zoo. We sat outside on the patio near the flamingos and snacked on some appetizers and also checked out the large shark tank inside.

After cleaning up at the hotel we still had the whole evening ahead of us. So we decided to head over to the Westgate Entertainment District in Glendale where we saw “Black Panther.” This was the second time my daughter had seen it, but the first time for my sister and me. It was good, but I didn’t think it was amazing (sorry!). I didn’t even recognize Andy Serkis! After the movie, we popped into Dave & Buster’s to play some video games and air hockey. On our way back to the car, we grabbed a gelato pop at the Popbar for dessert.

Spring Training 2018: Flying Out

Due to scheduling conflicts, I’m heading out to Arizona for my annual Spring Training trip a little later than usual … actually the last weekend of the season! My brother wasn’t able to make it so it’s just me, my sister, and my daughter (who hasn’t been out to see Cactus League baseball with me since 2012). My travel tech hasn’t changed much from last year: iPhone 7 Plus, Canon PowerShot SX710, and FitBit Charge 2. The new addition is my Surface Laptop (just in case work calls while I’m away).

Today was quite the busy day. We started early driving over to Orlando for my daughter’s saber solo at the FBA State Solo & Ensemble contest at Lake Nona High School. After she received her superior rating, we started back west towards Tampa but made a quick stop for lunch at the Flower & Garden Festival at Epcot. After lunch we drove back the Tampa International Airport and my wife dropped us off for our flight to Phoenix.

The five hour flight to Sky Harbor was uneventful and our luggage arrived relatively quickly. The line for the rental car shuttle, however, was really long (not too surprising for a Friday night around spring break time though, I guess). After getting our car (free upgrade from mid-size to SUV!) we drove to Goodyear and checked into our hotel. By now it was 8:00pm Arizona time (11:00pm for us!) and we were hungry. Pulling a recommendation from a past trip, my daughter and I went to Bella Luna in Litchfield Park for dinner and then Yogurtini next door for dessert.

After dinner, I dropped my daughter back at the hotel and then drove back to Sky Harbor to pick up my sister. By the time we were all back at the hotel it was about 11:30pm (2:30am for us east coast travellers) so we crashed for the evening. Baseball starts tomorrow!

Rachio sprinkler controller

Rachio Gen2 Earlier this month while visiting my in-laws I helped my father-in-law connect his Rainbird ESP-Me sprinkler controller to his wireless network and then showed him how to use the mobile app on his Android phone.

After doing this I realized: I’m the techie/networking/home automation/IoT guy in the family … why haven’t I installed an internet-enabled sprinkler controller yet? After doing the requisite internet research and checking compatibility, I decided to try the Rachio Smart Sprinkler Controller Generation 2.

Continue reading ‘Rachio sprinkler controller’ »

2018 NHL All-Star Weekend

2018 NHL All-Star logoThe NHL 2018 All-Star game was here in Tampa this weekend (the last time was back in 1999, before I lived in Florida) so I had to take this opportunity to experience All-Star weekend first-hand! I got tickets to both days: the Skills Competition on Saturday, and the All-Star Game on Sunday. This weekend was also the Gasparilla pirate festival so the Bay area was quite the happening place. If you also count that the NFL Pro Bowl was over in Orlando, Florida was quite the epicenter of professional sports on Sunday.

Continue reading ‘2018 NHL All-Star Weekend’ »

Happy New Year! (from Busch Gardens)

We rang in 2018 at Busch Gardens this year … watching the fireworks display through the skeleton of Gwazi …

2018 fireworks through Gwazi

The park was crowded, but nothing like we’ve seen when we’ve gone to the Disney parks for NYE. There were a lot of ride closures, but with Quick Queue we were able to ride all of the coasters.

Earlier in the day, my Cleveland Browns completed their perfect season, going 0-16 for the first time in franchise history (and marking the 2nd time in NFL history a team has gone 0-16, the 2008 Detroit Lions doing it before … and my Tampa Bay Buccaneers went 0-14 back in 1976 (before they were “my” Bucs). Let’s hope 2018 can’t get any worse for football in Cleveland.

Hydra: TiVo’s next-generation user interface

Last weekend, TiVo officially released their next-generation user interface, code-named Hydra so I used the Early Access Request link posted by TiVo_Ted on the TiVo Community Forums to upgrade my Roamio Pro so I could check it out:

Hydra early access page

Hydra early access DVR selection

A few hours later, my box had upgraded to 21.7.2.RC7 and the next-generation UI:

Hydra UI

The new navigation structure and screen layouts are going to take some time to get used to. I have a lot of TiVo-related muscle memory that no longer works (like using Left to go back a screen, or pressing “1” on TiVo Central to jump to OnePasses, etc.). Think carefully before upgrading your own box(es) to Hydra … if you want to go back to the “classic” UI it will involve a complete reset of your box, which means you’ll lose all recordings, settings, etc. Ouch.

Mainly the reason I upgraded one of my boxes was so that I could start updating my Alexa skill for the new UI navigation. I’ll post more opinions once I have more time to play around with Hydra.

Advancing to the Artful Aardvark

The Indians were knocked out of the ALDS by the Yankees. The Bucs are 2-4 and the Browns are 0-7. The Cavaliers are 2-1. The Lightning are 7-1. It’s October, which means a confluence of the major league sports, and a new Ubuntu release!

17.10 wraps back around to the beginning of the alphabet with Artful Aardvark (release notes).

Continue reading ‘Advancing to the Artful Aardvark’ »

Indians lose Game 5 of the ALDS

sigh

After Brett Gardner’s line single to right field scored two runs to put away Game 5 of the American League Division Series for the New York Yankees, hundreds of crestfallen realists in the Progressive Field stands succumbed to the inevitable. They lugged their disappointment and dashed dreams up the stairs into the night, fully cognizant that the Cleveland Indians’ streak of world championship-free seasons will turn 70 in 2018.

I guess they peaked a little too early with that record-setting win streak in September … or they choked. This about sums it up:

Indians elimination game woes

🙁