Mark L. Van Name's Blog, page 288

On the road again: San Francisco, day 2

I spent almost the entire day doing work I can't discuss, so this entry will be rather short. Dinner was at The Slanted Door, and it was delicious. We chose it at the last minute but didn't have to wait too long despite the huge Monday-night crowd. This is my second meal there in the last five or six years, and I'll definitely go back.

I also proofed the pages for the new material in Jump Gate Twist. I think you'll like it. In any case, I sure hope you do.

Now, back to work, and then a lit...

On the road again: San Francisco, day 1

It was the best of flights and the worst of flights.

On the initial leg, I was upgraded to first class and enjoyed a reasonably tasty calzone and a row-mate who was so convinced of his superiority to the rest of humanity that he would never directly address anyone. Perfect. I finished a lot of work and read when I couldn't use my computer.

On the next leg, I was in a row with two other guys, each of whom had broader shoulders than mine. We looked like sixty pounds of sausage in a thirty-poun...

UFC 112: How we did

Okay, let's get right to the big news: Frankie Edgar beat BJ Penn. Holy shit. More below, but, wow.

Now, to our regularly scheduled program. First, the undercard.

Jon Madsen vs. Mostapha Al Turk

We didn't get to see this fight, but Madsen won by decision, as we both expected. Go, us!

Paul Kelly vs. Matt Veach

Another fight we didn't see. We both chose Veach to win, and we were both wrong. Kelly submitted him. Bummer for us.

DaMarques Johnson vs. Brad Blackburn

And another fight we didn't se...

UFC 112: Our picks for the slugfest in Abu Dhabi

As I wrote yesterday, I wasn't going to make these picks, but then I found Kyle's in my email inbox and couldn't resist joining in the fun. Sorry mine are so short, but I have now been up a very long time and wanted to write these before crashing. Because Kyle went first, his name appears first.

So, without further ado, let's start with the undercard.

Jon Madsen vs. Mostapha Al Turk

Kyle: Madsen should be able to hold Al Turk down and grind on him long enough to win a decision.

Mark: If Al Tu...

On the road again: Spain, day 8

Note to self: Always carry a reliable alarm clock, maybe two, to international locations. Why? Because our room lacked a single visible clock. Thus, I had to rely on the hotel for an early morning wake-up call. Never mind that the hotel had been completely reliable in all previous such calls; I'm too paranoid to trust anything I don't control the night before a plane. Take that fact, add too much late-night caffeine, and mix with a full measure of my usual nighttime demons, and you have...

On the road again: Spain, day 7

We slept, as usual, a great deal in our lovely chilled and dark bedroom, then awoke to greet a gray, also chilled day. We wandered the now roaring Mercat Boqueria, which is a great market indeed. We ultimately lunched at a small restaurant there, a place with chairs that let us get out of the crowd but still observe it. People watching in a big city is always fun, but it's particularly interesting in large outdoor markets like this one, where the expectations of the visitors seem to vary a...

On the road again: Spain, day 6

This morning began far earlier than normal for this trip, because we wanted to try the supposedly awesome hotel buffet. Try it we did, and it was indeed awesome. Nothing starts your day better than scrambled eggs with truffles, Iberian sausages, Jamon Iberico, fresh fruit, fresh bread, a wide selection of local cheeses, and so on.

We hit the aquarium today, and it was a fun time. I've always disliked snakes, and that dislike transfers without my conscious thought to eels, but at the same ...

On the road again: Spain, day 5

Today was Gaudi day, with many worthwhile hours spent wandering La Sagrada Familia and Park Guell. The best part of being on this trip is getting to spend so much time with Scott. The second best part has been seeing so much of Gaudi's work.

From the pictures I had seen before, I was tempted to think of some of the work as too much, or too emotional, or too something. To some degree, that's still a temptation, because his work is so over the top so often--and yet, having seen it in person...

On the road again: Spain, day 4

After another intense and lengthy sleep, we headed uptown to see Gaudi's famous La Sagrada Familia. The majestic cathedral was more amazing than all the pictures and descriptions I've seen of it. We're going to spend more time at it tomorrow.

We walked the city a great deal, ate a very odd late lunch of pasta with ham, cheese, and hot dog--yes, hot dog--and generally had a very good day.

At my insistence, we walked down to the water and put our hands in the Mediterranean. I know it's sil...

On the road again: Spain, day 3

Traveling with a teenager who's exhausted from too many late nights filled with homework and way too much jet lag is perfect for me, because I'm always exhausted, too. I'm not going to say exactly how many hours we stayed in our beds, but I will note that we hit double digits. It was great.

A magnificent storm filled half the sky as we headed over to the carnival for a quick snack of sausage and soda. It passed over us as our food came, so we enjoyed the rain from the protection of the vend...