Well we are shutting up the parkmodel and trying to eat the last of the food. It is time to return to the rain of Oregon.
I would have to say this season at RCB was not the best. My Number One reason for wanting to be here never happened. Pauline and I had a show ready called "Love in the Afternoon" and lost the accompanist too late to get another. We have talked with two other people now so we should be able to do a show next year. The other problem is that it is difficult to find others as committed to doing a musical show as we are.
Well back to Oregon and prepare for our next trip.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Monday, March 26, 2007
The Da Vinci Experience
Since we arrived at Indio and have said the I want to visit The Da Vinci Experience at the Palm Springs Air Museum but we have not made the trip. We today we finally made it. It has been a busy year and we don’t always take the time to get out of the park and visit the local sites.
The Da Vinci Experience has more than 60 precise and interactive replicas of devices developed by Leonardo da Vinci. It was a great exhibit with the replicas of da Vinci creations and two short videos about da Vinci and his work.
We had seen a similar exhibit in Milan but I would have to say this was better. The only thing I missed was the excellent anatomical drawings that were on display in the science museum in Milan. The models in this exhibit were larger and you were allowed to in
teract with many of the exhibits.
The Da Vinci Experience has more than 60 precise and interactive replicas of devices developed by Leonardo da Vinci. It was a great exhibit with the replicas of da Vinci creations and two short videos about da Vinci and his work.
We had seen a similar exhibit in Milan but I would have to say this was better. The only thing I missed was the excellent anatomical drawings that were on display in the science museum in Milan. The models in this exhibit were larger and you were allowed to in
teract with many of the exhibits. Saturday, March 17, 2007
Hot Tennis
Well tomorrow, Sunday, is the last day of PAC Life Tennis. We will be working for the final three matches the men’s singles and both the men’s and women’s doubles.I will go out on a limb and predict the winners of the singles and the women’s doubles complete with pictures. I got some pictures of Lisa Raymond and Samantha Strosur playing doubles on court 2 on Friday and I think they will win the women’s doubles.
As for the men’s singles, I think today’s match where Nadal beat Roddick determined the men’s champion. I was able to get some pictures of Rafael Nadal as he was warming up early in the morning. Roddick may have not been
at his best but I did see a 147 MPH serve from him. Nadal just outplayed him and deserved to win.The biggest news other than all the upsets has been the 90 degree temperature. I have not been in on any of the medical problems but there have been a few each day as people sit in
the sun for a long time and don’t drink any water. So there has been many cases of heat stroke treated.I also wanted to share the two wildlife samples that I have pictured from the tennis garden. The first is the moths. You will see many of them flying around the courts. I don’t know much about them but you can take a look for yourself. The other is the bat I saw resting during the day by the elevator. After a big night of catching all the insects around the ground I guess it was just resting. I did think I saw one when we were working one night be it is always hard to tell but al least we know they are around.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Hot Temperature and Matches
Well we have been working the hot days and it seems to be eliminating many of the
favorites. I have not worked any of the big upsets but did get to see Federer lose in the doubles match that eliminated him completely form the tournament. It was a good match and the way they score doubles now with the no ad and super third set tie break it is really anyone’s game with the level of players at these matches. It think that is evident by some of the “upsets”: you find in the doubles. The Federer match came down to the super tie break 13-11. 
I did get to see Na Li play again. She is seeded 12th but in good position to go all the way she plays Zvonareva who was seeded 15 next only Peer that was seeded 11th is above her in the draw.
Well today we work the night shift so it may be very late before we get home.
We don’t know where we will be working until we get there but chances are it will be stadium1 and the last ma
tch there does not start until at least 8:30 PM. It is the Haas Gonzalez match. It should be interesting. Gonzalez has a very vocal following from Chile so you can expect some noise.
There are many booths around the tennis park selling tennis related items, vacations, food, or hair care. I have limited myself to the food and canon camera area but Marilyn has found a car she think she needs.
favorites. I have not worked any of the big upsets but did get to see Federer lose in the doubles match that eliminated him completely form the tournament. It was a good match and the way they score doubles now with the no ad and super third set tie break it is really anyone’s game with the level of players at these matches. It think that is evident by some of the “upsets”: you find in the doubles. The Federer match came down to the super tie break 13-11. 
I did get to see Na Li play again. She is seeded 12th but in good position to go all the way she plays Zvonareva who was seeded 15 next only Peer that was seeded 11th is above her in the draw.
Well today we work the night shift so it may be very late before we get home.
We don’t know where we will be working until we get there but chances are it will be stadium1 and the last ma
tch there does not start until at least 8:30 PM. It is the Haas Gonzalez match. It should be interesting. Gonzalez has a very vocal following from Chile so you can expect some noise.There are many booths around the tennis park selling tennis related items, vacations, food, or hair care. I have limited myself to the food and canon camera area but Marilyn has found a car she think she needs.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Tennis at its Best
Well two more days at the tennis tournament. We did not see the big upset of Ro
ger Federer by Guillermo Canas but did see some of Canas getting beaten by Carlos Moya today. It was the second day at about 90 dreeses so it was HOT.
Sunday we were out on court six that is a small court but at this point in the tournament there can be good matches out there. The problem is that it is so few seats that people can’t get in to see the match. We didn’t have a BIG match but they did next door. So we got to hear the noise and have some of the traffic come by our court.
Today we were in court three so had more space but bigger matches. I was working as a floater for most of the time relieving people to go to lunch. That means not much for pictu
res but did get a few. Two quick shots of Nicole Vaidisova before Ahsha Rolle quit for medical reasons. Ok so she is just another one of those tall, blonde, girls from Easter Europe. But it is nice to get a picture. I can put that with the picture I got of myself with Maria Sharapova that I got at the Canon booth. Ok it was only a cardboard cutout of Maria but the picture is nice and she wasn’t upset when I put my arm around her for the picture.
Then we had the match of the day. Canas and Moya. I got a couple of quick pictures and then tried to run the gate the best I could. What do you do when all the seats are full and more people want in? By that time it was 2:30 PM and I got to go to lunch myself. I got back to see or at least be around and see a few shots as Moya beat Canas. But Canas had his 15 minutes of fame by beating the number one in the world. He was a lucky loser by loser in his first match, the qualifying matches, but got to continue because one o
f the other qualifiers had to drop out.
I am sitting on one bad news. That Pauline and I may not be able to do our SHOW Love in the Afternoon. The accompanist we were counting on has just been doing too much and is burned out so she can’t play for us. More on that latter but needless to say after looking forward to singing with Pauline all year I am CRUSHED to not have it work.
ger Federer by Guillermo Canas but did see some of Canas getting beaten by Carlos Moya today. It was the second day at about 90 dreeses so it was HOT.Sunday we were out on court six that is a small court but at this point in the tournament there can be good matches out there. The problem is that it is so few seats that people can’t get in to see the match. We didn’t have a BIG match but they did next door. So we got to hear the noise and have some of the traffic come by our court.
Today we were in court three so had more space but bigger matches. I was working as a floater for most of the time relieving people to go to lunch. That means not much for pictu
res but did get a few. Two quick shots of Nicole Vaidisova before Ahsha Rolle quit for medical reasons. Ok so she is just another one of those tall, blonde, girls from Easter Europe. But it is nice to get a picture. I can put that with the picture I got of myself with Maria Sharapova that I got at the Canon booth. Ok it was only a cardboard cutout of Maria but the picture is nice and she wasn’t upset when I put my arm around her for the picture.Then we had the match of the day. Canas and Moya. I got a couple of quick pictures and then tried to run the gate the best I could. What do you do when all the seats are full and more people want in? By that time it was 2:30 PM and I got to go to lunch myself. I got back to see or at least be around and see a few shots as Moya beat Canas. But Canas had his 15 minutes of fame by beating the number one in the world. He was a lucky loser by loser in his first match, the qualifying matches, but got to continue because one o
f the other qualifiers had to drop out.I am sitting on one bad news. That Pauline and I may not be able to do our SHOW Love in the Afternoon. The accompanist we were counting on has just been doing too much and is burned out so she can’t play for us. More on that latter but needless to say after looking forward to singing with Pauline all year I am CRUSHED to not have it work.
Friday, March 09, 2007
Melt Down
Two more days of working at Pacific Life and nothing has been too exciting yet. 
I would have to say the Tuesday was the most excitement. Even though the matches were short and the day ended before the day shift was over, we did get in on some excitement.
Anastasi Rodionova really had a melt down and not because of the high temperatures. She started by being upset at some line calls and not being ready when her opponent, Tatiana Poutchek was ready to serve. One time Tatiana even served. The crowd was not happy with her actions and let her know about it. I am not sure why she called for a referee after the first set and what ever it was she must have lost because she got a delay of game warning. Then after two points in the next game she called for a trainer. She had tak
en advantage of calling in her coach between sets but since it was not court one she could not challenge the line calls. The second set just got worse and she couldn’t let go of the line calls and crowd and lost that in short order. Maybe as she gets more experience she will understand that you have to play on even if you don’t like a call, don’t dwell on it.
Anyway we only had to work about two hours and we were gone. Thursday I got the upper bowl in stadium one. It is early in the week so there were no matches on interest during the day. The sets were only taking about an hour and the biggest job I had was staying awake. It was a warm day in the sun and in the upper bowl you have no crowd control and seat problems to solve. So you just set in the sun and watch dull matches. On of the women had a very fast serve, over 120 MPH but still lost. She was older and trying to make a come-back and the younger player just had better shots. So we should start seeing some of the better players when we start to work on Sunday.
I would have to say the Tuesday was the most excitement. Even though the matches were short and the day ended before the day shift was over, we did get in on some excitement.Anastasi Rodionova really had a melt down and not because of the high temperatures. She started by being upset at some line calls and not being ready when her opponent, Tatiana Poutchek was ready to serve. One time Tatiana even served. The crowd was not happy with her actions and let her know about it. I am not sure why she called for a referee after the first set and what ever it was she must have lost because she got a delay of game warning. Then after two points in the next game she called for a trainer. She had tak
en advantage of calling in her coach between sets but since it was not court one she could not challenge the line calls. The second set just got worse and she couldn’t let go of the line calls and crowd and lost that in short order. Maybe as she gets more experience she will understand that you have to play on even if you don’t like a call, don’t dwell on it.Anyway we only had to work about two hours and we were gone. Thursday I got the upper bowl in stadium one. It is early in the week so there were no matches on interest during the day. The sets were only taking about an hour and the biggest job I had was staying awake. It was a warm day in the sun and in the upper bowl you have no crowd control and seat problems to solve. So you just set in the sun and watch dull matches. On of the women had a very fast serve, over 120 MPH but still lost. She was older and trying to make a come-back and the younger player just had better shots. So we should start seeing some of the better players when we start to work on Sunday.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Pacific Life Open
Well we had our first day working as an usher at the Pacific Life Open Tennis Tournament. The first two days are for qualifiers so no big names are playing but some are starting to so up on the women’s draw. They start first while the men start arriving on Wednesday. Admission is free so you get many people and there are always a few local competitors that bring out a crowd.
It was a warm day, sunning and about 80 degrees. We were assigned to court 2 and that meant we had one of the matches that drew a lot of local interest. Coco Vandeweghe, a 15 year old local girl was playing. She fits the image of what seems to be the latest woman tennis player, About 6 foot tall and blonde. She played a good match but lost in 3 sets. We started working at the end of the first set. I was given one of the gates to the chairs on the shady side so it was busy. Most of the chairs were full so you couldn’t let people in unless someone left. Of course there were plenty of seat in the bleachers on the sunny side of the court. That match lasted three hours and seventeen minutes so we were behind most of the other courts in getting our five matches for the day.
There was talk of moving the last match scheduled for the day to another court but as always the best laid plans to not always work. Our next match lasted 57 minutes and the two courts that looked like they would be open ran longer. Anyway, it meant that we were the last court to finish for the night at about 7:30. Today we will be working the late shift again. Even though we are not see top ranked players they are very good and most of the crowds are small so the job of usher is easy. For the last match. Marilyn and the three other people working the shady side of the bleachers had from zero to 10 people most of the time.
It was a warm day, sunning and about 80 degrees. We were assigned to court 2 and that meant we had one of the matches that drew a lot of local interest. Coco Vandeweghe, a 15 year old local girl was playing. She fits the image of what seems to be the latest woman tennis player, About 6 foot tall and blonde. She played a good match but lost in 3 sets. We started working at the end of the first set. I was given one of the gates to the chairs on the shady side so it was busy. Most of the chairs were full so you couldn’t let people in unless someone left. Of course there were plenty of seat in the bleachers on the sunny side of the court. That match lasted three hours and seventeen minutes so we were behind most of the other courts in getting our five matches for the day.
There was talk of moving the last match scheduled for the day to another court but as always the best laid plans to not always work. Our next match lasted 57 minutes and the two courts that looked like they would be open ran longer. Anyway, it meant that we were the last court to finish for the night at about 7:30. Today we will be working the late shift again. Even though we are not see top ranked players they are very good and most of the crowds are small so the job of usher is easy. For the last match. Marilyn and the three other people working the shady side of the bleachers had from zero to 10 people most of the time.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Still trying to win at Tennis
Well your tennis tournament is over and we are not the big winners this year. In the men’s singles I lost 6-3 6-3 to the man that won the men’s I did win the consolation. 6-2 6-1. The mixed doubles Pauline and I lost the championship in three sets. We won the first and should have had the second but lost in a tie-breaker then went on to lose the last set 6-3. One of those matches we should have won but didn’t. Men’s doubles was nothing to talk about. Marilyn did win the consolation in the mixed doubles.
Now we are preparing for the Pacific Life Tennis that starts next week. We will be ushering and should get to see some of the world’s best play. Sometimes in the early matches when they are not playing on Court 1 you are right court-side.
Pauline and I have also selected our songs for the Love in the Afternoon show we will be doing. Now starts the work of memorizing and getting ready for the show.
Now we are preparing for the Pacific Life Tennis that starts next week. We will be ushering and should get to see some of the world’s best play. Sometimes in the early matches when they are not playing on Court 1 you are right court-side.
Pauline and I have also selected our songs for the Love in the Afternoon show we will be doing. Now starts the work of memorizing and getting ready for the show.
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