Baseball and other stuff

A few weekends ago we attended our first baseball game. It was the UCI Anteaters versus the UCLA Bruins. It was UCI Staff Assembly day so we got cheap tickets to the game, plus a free pennant each. I had taken my kindle as I thought 3 or so hours of a sport I don't know a huge amount about might get a bit boring, but it was strangely absorbing, I ended up watching every pitch!

I was amazed by how close the catcher stood to the batter, and also how close the umpire was to the catcher. UCI ended up losing the match, but weren't helped by the fact that their starting pitcher was out injured. Will and I are keen to watch another college game at some stage, and also want to try and catch a pro game. The LA Angels play at Anaheim which is quite close to us, although the team is pretty rubbish. The LA Dodgers are a much better team, but Dodger Stadium is in north LA.

Our apartment company puts on free events every now and then, and last Thursday was their Mexican Fiesta night. We had a choice of tacos, a burrito or quesadilla for dinner, followed by churros for dessert. The food was good and well worth the long queue!

On Friday nights there is 'happy hour' at the on-campus UCI Staff Club. It actually runs from 4:30pm until late. There is always a super-cheap 'cocktail of the day', cheap bar snacks, plus unlimited free popcorn. Will and I have been a couple of times now, it's nice that we now actually know a few other people to meet up with there!

 

I'm continuing to enjoy taking my bike on adventures. On Sunday I had my first badminton hit over here. I didn't bring over any of my gear as when I looked into it from New Zealand it looked like all the badminton would be finished by the time I was here. As it happens, the Irvine Badminton Club has added a few extra weeks to their season. I bought a pair of indoor shoes and was able to rent a racquet for a couple of bucks from the club. I cycled 30 minutes to the venue, played for a solid 2 and a half hours, then cycled home, so I slept well that night! It was a pretty good standard, although I mostly played with the men. The woman who runs the club was very disappointed I hadn't turned up a few months earlier as she runs a womens' team who play in a local league and she said she'd have loved me to have played for them. It was pretty warm, I'm not used to playing in those sorts of conditions. I ended up drinking about 4 bottles of water throughout the session!

Speaking of the heat, we are enjoying having back to back summers... We are in the middle of our second consecutive sweetcorn season (4 for 99 cents!) and I am loving being able to, literally, have a second bite of the cherry!

I was pretty sore on Monday after the badminton, so decided to go for a reasonably long, but reasonably gentle bike ride for recovery. I ended up cycling to Fashion Island which is a huge open-air upmarket shopping centre. It has close to 200 shops and dining options, including 4 big department stores (Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom). The grounds are beautifully landscaped, with the koi pond being especially impressive.

On Tuesday I turned up at Mason park at 9am for a free 2 hour bird-spotting walk I had heard about through the Orange County Parks website. It was led by a husband and wife team who were rangers, and they were very knowledgeable. We saw loads of different birds, including two different types of hawk, and also identified some that we couldn't see by their calls. I really like the Western Bluebird, below. Will and I have seen them quite a bit as we walk around the park, but I didn't know what they were. They are nesting at the moment in boxes hanging from trees throughout the park. We also saw a beautiful yellow and red tanager that was migrating from Mexico. The rangers were pretty excited about that one! Apparently they only stick around for a few days, so can be difficult to sight. I really enjoyed the morning. The rangers had a big scope which they'd set up on birds that would stay still for long enough, so it wasn't a problem that I didn't have any binoculars. There was about 16 or 17 people who turned up for the walk, but I was the youngest there by a good 20-25 years!

I really love the hummingbirds that are common over here. They are just so tiny, and the way they can beat their wings so fast to just hover in one place is incredible. They are unbelievably quick and super flighty, so hard to take pics of. I managed to get a few photos, but want to try and take some better ones during my time here.

After the walk I wandered round the park for a bit longer by myself. I had to go visit the turtles, as well as catch up with my other 'friends'. This teeny tiny baby turtle was super cute...

Here's a few more pics

On Wednesday Will was giving a presentation at UCI, so I decided to go along to support him. There was a very good turnout and the talk went well. I found it interesting, even if a lot of it went over my head! Afterwards Jeff, who is the professor Will is visiting over here, took us and a couple of others in the department out for a nice lunch.

That's all for this post. Tomorrow afternoon we are picking up a hire car and heading to Palm Springs for the weekend. We are going to spend Saturday at the Joshua Tree National Park which I'm excited about. The desert fascinates me as it is so different from any landscape we have in New Zealand.