San Francisco Pride Weekend 2017

source: sfpride.org

San Francisco's Pride Weekend took place this weekend. The first festival took place in 1970 with approximately 54,000 attendees.

This year's festival (47th) estimates 2.3 million attendees.

Pride. In the name of love. Take it away, Bono.

USBC Bowling Academy

source: Bowl.com

Summer season began on my Monday night league last month. Wednesday night, 2 weeks ago.

Welcome.

As it is with the beginning of the season, there are bowlers completely new to the sport and there are bowlers that are returning after an extended absence.

If after those few weeks you find your game isn't where you want it to be, a great resource is the USBC Bowling Academy page on YouTube.

For a more extensive library, go directly to the USBCBowlingAcademy.com website.

In my April 23, 2017 entry, I talked about relaxed grip pressure and loose arm swing. USBC has 2 videos that discuss those very subjects.

On relaxed grip pressure:


On loose arm swing:

Transportation in Italy, France and Spain

traffic in Rome

Pictured on the left is a typical traffic day in Rome. No surprises here. Nothing's orderly and lots of horn honking.

When we got back from Italy, I couldn't help notice that New York traffic seemed tame compared to Rome.

Cars in Western Europe are much smaller than what most drive in the United States.
Parking spaces are few, if any, in the central part of the city are small and difficult to get into. Most trucks, SUV's and mini-vans are used for commercial or business purposes.

Personally, this was nice to see. I have never been a big car person and I haven't owned an automatic transmission since 1988. I'd estimate 75%-85% of the cars I saw were manual stick shifts, including the minivans.

motor scooter parking

If you don't drive or take public transit, many get around by scooter. I saw a few older ones with some rust, but most were newer and in good condition.

Most of the United States is very car dependent so it isn't likely we'd ever see anything like the photo.

As much as I love having a car, I'd be willing to drive less if we had public transit systems that are much more reliable.

Western Mediterranean Vacation - Norwegian Cruise Lines

source: Norweigan Cruise Lines

It's been hectic since I returned from vacation almost a week ago.

After a day at the office, it was back on the road with suitcase and laptop in tow to head to the greater Sacramento area (Auburn) to train for my new position at work.

When I returned from Auburn, it was the San Francisco USBC Championships yesterday and today. Considering I hadn't bowled in 3 weeks, my 9-game tournament average was still above my season (book) average.

I fully intended to write about the logistics of the vacation (the flight, hotel room, cruise ship room, food on ship, shore excursions at port, etc.), but I'm fried. Details to come in future posts.

For those of you that saw my vacation photos on Facebook and are interested in taking a similar vacation, I've included a screenshot of our cruise package.