AT&T Park / San Francisco Giants, San Francisco, CA

Even as a lifelong Cubs fan, when one is invited to a suite for an evening of baseball, one attends. I could not say no to a night at AT&T Park, to see the Giants take on the Reds.

It's a very nice ballpark. I now wish I'd seen more of it. We were kind of whisked up into the suite-level area from the street entrance, and didn't really wander much further during the game. If I were to go back to this park (Cubs stand in July!), I'd like to see much more of the concourse level and outfield areas.

 Can't beat the views.

I very much liked this lit-up concourse outside the stadium.

Mission Ranch & City Beach, Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

After a visit to the Monterey Aquarium (HIGHLY recommended), I found myself needed some sights, drinks, and food. Luckily, local helpers got me back to this place below. I also very much recommend Mission Ranch for views, their patio, their service, and even an overnight (they have modest rooms/cabins available). I'm already planning to head back here for riding and an overnight, soon.

Dinner starts at 5pm, but you can get a cocktail starting at 4pm...

They have sheep out there!!!

Wow, stuffed pork chop, with bacon and chorizo. Wow.

The greenery here is some of the nicest and most lush I've seen in all of NorCal so far. Walking the grounds before or after dinner is a nice way to see much of it up close.

After hitting the Ranch, you're close enough to the public beach in Carmel-by-the-Sea, so why not hit this too?! It's a no-brainer.

Man, if you're even close to this area, visit.

One more - The Food!!! Milan, Italy

I was reminded recently that I didn't ever post about all the amazing food from the trip to Italy this past March/April. I wanted to show off two kinds of eats -
1. Food served in our corporate office, provided by a local caterer for our meetings
2. Food from local restaurants

I'll show section one, then section two below. To be clear, both types were very very good. I ate as much as I could, if not clean-plate-club every meal.

At our office:

 Home-made Lasagna, molto bene!

 Chilled Beef Roast with Tonnato Cream

Home-made - "Little Cannons" with perfectly/extra dark caramelized sugar on top

From local restaurants:

 More than OK in my book.

 Pork "Milanese"

 We had so many courses this not... I'm not complaining though...

 Must have - Limoncello

I mean, if it's good enough for Julia Roberts... and look at that oven!!! Mama mia!!! Gleaming.

Win Tunnel, Morgan Hill, CA

The title of this post is a play on words - it's a low-speed wind tunnel at our office, but we have come to call it a "win tunnel" as riders from around the globe, in many disciplines of cycling, use it to get faster on their bikes and literally win races.

It was an impressive look at a pretty high-tech piece of machinery. Have a look yourself...

The "screen" you see above is actually hexagon-shaped filter that smooths and straightens the airflow as it enters into the wind tunnel. Think of this as the rear screen of a big box fan you'd use in the summer. It's better for measurements if the airflow is clean and steady as it comes in.

This mannequin is a literal mold of another co-worker. It is used as a "test dummy" for bikes, clothing, helmets, etc.

This is just one of the ~12' fans that are located at the rear of the wind tunnel. The fans work in unison to pull the air from the front to the back of the tunnel.

The carbon fiber shrouds of around all six fans smooth that airflow and were entirely built/molded in-house.

We were allowed to stand in the tunnel while in operation, up to about 60MPH. It's not so easy to stand there, that's for sure.

Coyote Valley Sporting Clays, Morgan Hill, CA

What do you do as a group activity when a co-worker is leaving a pretty close-knit department? Well, clay shooting of course.

I kid, because it was such an interesting afternoon, and at such a well-run place to have this outing. It pretty much felt like being in a combination of an old Clint Eastwood western and an 18-hole golf course. Complete with picturesque rolling hills, live oaks, golf carts (we walked), and plenty of shotgun shells.

They have 19 "holes", each with different clay set-ups for diversity and interest, including some with "bunnies" that "run" along the ground. It was pretty interesting to step-up to each new "hole" and scope it all out, see how the clays were flying and then have a go at shooting them down. You had a electronic "key-card" for a machine at each hole and it keeps track of all your used clays, which you pay for at the end.

I would recommend this place for anyone in the area, looking to add a a little bang to their day...