Drove the rest of the way to Seattle for the Mariners game. While I was driving, looking for parking, Phil did a radio interview via phone for one of the local sports stations in Seattle. We eventually did find parking at a local restaurant parking lot (Dinna's / Mac's) where they had turned their lot into gameday parking. This spot turned out to be our home for the next two nights, as the owner was very accomodating. The game itself was the most fun baseball game we'd been to where we didn't know anybody going in. Maybe it had to do with the various pubs we hit (like Sluggers) before the game. Or maybe it was because the M's were in first place. Or maybe it was the cool standing-room-only party section in right field, where the fans were having such an infectious good time that we spent only one inning in our comped seats (thank you anyway, Mariners!) Whatver it was, we loved it, and took our good mood with us to Bells Town, a hoppin' area for nighttime activity in Seattle. Very fun town these day, and if it weren't for the constant drizzle in the non-summer months, it would be a great place to live.
I guess bad luck does come in threes. This morning we were woken up by our RV park neighbor to tell us that he backed his 4x4 into our parked Porsche. Doh!!! The good news is that he could have gotten away with not telling us, but he did, and his insurance company (Allstate) inspected the vehicle and cut us a check that day! The real activity of the day was the Oakland A's game. Unlike the Giants, the A's suck, so the game was not nearly as popular with our friends. Which was good, because we got to spend some quality time with Pauline, Don, Eric and Stephanie. Rather than brave the Bay Area bridges during rush hour, we all took the BART train across the bay to the stadium and back. After the game, we went to the Embarcadero Hyatt for a night cap. Needing gas we stopped the Porsched in the Castro (SF's gay Mecca), and while Phil was pumping, two bare-chested drunk boys started hitting on him big-time. "Ooooh, will you take me home?! Please just touch my pee-pee!" Playing it up, Phil rejoined very fayly, "Sorry boys, my friend gets very jealous. Rafie, tell these boys that I'm taken." Unperturbed, Phil's suitors stumbled on down the road, and we hit the freeway.
Phil likes to say that I'm obsessed with organizing/cleaning the RV, but the reality (and you can ask anyone who knows us) is that Phil is able to completely block out all grim and personal mess indefinitely. So, once every two or three months, whether it needs it or not, I insist we do a little bit of cleaning. We went to Safeway to pick up a steam cleaner, and I ran over the rug four times thoroughly, each time emptying the reservoir with pitch black water. Gross does not even begin to describe the situation. Oddly, the carpet didn't look *that* dirty. Well, because of the cleaning and our desire to get to Pac Bell Park for the Giants game, we were in a bit of a hurry. We needed gas in the RV and the exit was fairly tight, requiring a hard right turn. The problem with hard right turns in an RV is that the back swings left around the axis of the back wheel. And if you are getting gas, you are on trajectory to whack into the gas pump. But gas stations learned long ago about this peril and installed protective, concrete-reinforced steel bollards. I'm sure you can guess what happened next: I am driving, Phil is outside spotting (i.e. giving me warning about potential accidents), and I hear a loud crunching sound followed by screams from Phil that made it sound like I ran over him(!). I jumped out of the RV to find the back bumper ripped half off, the ladder to the roof split in half, but Phil uninjured. What a bonehead I felt like. After we determined that the damage was not too extensive, we spent a good 15 minutes extricating ourselves from the wedged situation and duct-taping the bumper back on. No use crying over spilt milk, we had a game to get to.
Parked at the stadium, we told everyone to meet us at the RV for some tailgating. NBC-11 showed up with a film crew and interviewed us for about an hour, while everyone showed up. Glad that several million people could witness the destruction I had caused: Phil spilled the beans to the film crew the very first chance he got. It was great to see many of our friends, and we even made some new friends, Barbara and her son, Justin, who had sent us email after reading about us during the Super Bowl. Barbara's husband had died of prostate cancer the year before and she was appreciative of our efforts to battle the disease. We were very glad they could join us at the game. Also in attendance were our good friends, Ray, Jill, Layne, Jay, Becky, Alex (Rafe's sister), Randi, Sean, Eden, Lanette, Stephanie, Lennie, Theresa, Allen, Richard, Maya, Chamayne, Wayne, Antonio, and Tony. Plus Pauline showed up for the tailgater even though she wasn't going to the game! During the game, the NBC crew did some candid filming from afar, and the Giants put a big welcome message to USA on the Jumbotron. Talk about feeling like rock stars! After the game, a surprising number of us made it to MoMo's for some cocktails.
Having noticed a problem with the way the Porsche was driving lately, we discovered a screw lodged in the front left tire, and set out to have it fixed before the holiday drove all the mechanics home. We luckily found a place that was not only open but would fix it for us on the spot. Total cost: $10(!) They admitted that if I'd lied and told them that they installed the tires it would have been free! This must have been the cheapest repair ever done on a Porsche. After hooking them up with some USA schwag, I picked up Phil and we headed to Edison field where we met up with our buddy, John Moran, AVP player, and all-around good guy. John brought a first date, Annette, and we tried really hard to either lock him for getting laid, or steal her away depending on how much vibe she was giving him :-) Following the game, we went back to the RV for a quick change, and they drove us down to Newport Beach where we had to bribe several doormen to even get a chance of getting in. It was really packed for the holiday weekend. Couldn't generate any vibe ourselves, and when the bars started on last call at 1pm (jeez!), we decided to leave John and Annette and take a taxi back to the RV.
Apparently Home Depot doesn't have a policy though of letting RVs stay in their lot (like Wal*Mart does), since the security guard woke us up at 7am to ask us to leave. The only place we could think to go was the Santa Monica Pier, where there's a big pay lot. It's also my home beach, where I learned to play beach volleyball, so we were psyched to get some games in. After volleyball, we pack up and headed for Dodger stadium where we have tickets for 40(!) friends and family members. My sister, Lisa, and brother-in-law, Jon, are making a movie about their friend, Brian, called My Date with Drew, and they unveil the trailer at our tailgate party. [It's a totally cool project that has generated quite a buzz in Hollywood, about Brian's quest to get a date with his long-time childhood crush, Drew Barrymore. The twist is that Brian is out of work, out of money, doesn't have a clue of how to meet Drew. Check out the trailer and go sign the petition to help Brian get his date with Drew at MyDateWithDrew.com.] Surprisingly *everyone* showed up for the game, and we had a fantastic time. Personally, I watched about three plays in the game, spending most of my time socializing and catching up with everyone. Big thanks to everyone: Karen, Lisa, Jon, Charlie, Hazel, Mankin, Rebekah, Rebecca, Sky, Christine, Kerry, John, Ana, Daniel, Mike, Ahab, Aaron, Dorian, Nicole, Reagan, Sara, Jay T, Jay S, Syma, Scott, and everyone else who came out for a fun evening! After the game, we drove the RV to Sherman Oaks and parked on the street, and I took Jon and Lisa out for a night cap for Jon's birthday.
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