Tuesday saw us touring some of the sites of Modesto. First stop was the (relatively) new Gallo Arts Centre. Gallo being the mega rich wine dynasty who sponsored the building of this facility and Arts Centre being what it is. A multipurpose venue for theatre, music, presentations etc. They are about to host a touring production of cats that many locals are excited about seeing. They have something like 180 'curtains' planned for 2008, which compares pretty favourably I think. Even better, the people of Modesto are really supporting the venue, and most shows are selling really well. It was an interesting tour.
Glen particularly enjoyed the tour, because I was late. Normally he is last anywhere and I give him grief, but this time it was Chris and Jenny and I dragging the chain. We got caught for about 15 minutes at a level crossing while the longest train in history went past. I hearby pledge not to hold Glen up again! It just isn't worth the trouble... I don't pledge not to hassle him next time he is late though! I figure it is likely to be tomorrow, so I'll get plenty of chances!
Gallo Arts Centre tour
After completing the tour of the Arts Centre, we walked up the street to have a look around the Modesto Bee. The Bee is the local newspaper, and is also the proud employer of District 5220 GSE team member Lisa Millegan. Our tour guide did a great job of giving us a broad overview of operations. We saw the actual printing presses and actual advertising inserts. We also the advertising staff and journalists in action and were able to sit in on a news meeting that was planning the front page for the following day's paper. It was interesting. (And I'm terribly sorry, I've left it too long between the event and the blog, and I've misplaced our guide's name... :-( Her picture is below though).
The business end of the Modesto Bee
Lisa Millegan returned form her GSE trip to Australia more theatrical if nothing else!
Another short wander through the streets of Modesto took us to our lunchtime Rotary meeting with the downtown (aka 'old man') Modesto club. It was a blast from the past for us because it was held at the very same Double Tree hotel where we stayed our first night in the US. I can remember sitting outside the meeting room that Rotary uses about 11pm that first night. I was chatting to Michelle over VoIP while the Hispanic Lip Sync contest raged in the background. Seems like only yesterday in some ways, but in other ways it has been a long long time! We've met a brigade of great people since then, and seen so much of the district. It's been great. And, even better, I can still call home at 11pm, and the conversations are still great! The debriefs and encouragement in those phone calls have made my trip so much more enjoyable. Lucky me. OK, tangent complete. Let's get back to the story.
We shared the Rotary meeting with 30 interact students who were all introduced, the drawing of a major raffle with twenty odd prize and the introduction of a giant deep fried asparagus dressed up like Mr Potato Head! I was very concerned that we were going to have to cut our program short on the fly.
Terri in full flight at Modesto Rotary Club
I was worrying about this because I'm last, so I'd be the one dropping material. i was trying to decide whether to drop my talk about the Taste and the Hobart Summer Festival, my jokes about bacon, or the story of the Tassie Devil. I had decided to leave the Devil in. Fortunately, that was all academic and we didn't have to cut it at all in the end. Nice group again, fun meeting. I met David, who I would be meeting for a vocational excursion later in the week, and a couple f charming students from the local Catholic high school. As a side note, their fees are about four times those of St Mary's! The government should really pitch in over here...
Our presentation at Modesto Rotary
In the evening, we travelled into San Francisco to attend a baseball game. It was the SF Giants against the Colorado Rockies at AT&T Park. Great venue, if a little cold. The Currie girls warned me that it would be cold, but I didn't believe them. Luckily for me they badgered me until i took my Wallabies Jersey and a jacket. Lucky they did! The wind off the bay was icy!
Our guides at the baseball were Sarah's host Alan, my host the Currie family and their friend Jim and his son Rick. We were barracking (aka rooting) for the local team of course! It's great to have some local knowledge at a time like this. They explained that young up and coming pitcher Tim Lincecum was going to be the star of the show. He pretty much was. Robust catcher Bengie Molina was also a highlight. Great catcher, good hitter, fantastic leader. Best we don't mention his running ability... it was comical!
So, now we come to the part of the story where you figure out what the subject line actually means! Some background, as succinctly as I can manage it. In baseball, runners on base are forever trying to 'steal a base' by running when the batter doesn't even hit the ball. At the very least, they want to sneak off the base a bit to get a head start in running to the next base if the batter does hit it. Well, instead of pitching, the pitcher is allowed to throw the ball over to the baseman to try and run out a runner who has sneakily moved away form his base. This is quite legal. A 'baulk' occurs if the pitcher has begun his pitching motion (his 'wind up') and then stops, either to try for a run out, or to just trick the batter. If the umpire calls a 'baulk' then the batter on base gets to walk a base.
Got that so far? Good. Well, it happened in this game, and a runner got to walk from third to home, scoring a run that won the game for the visitors, three to two. The weird thing was that the umpire motioned to call time out while the pitcher was in his wind up. SO the pitcher stopped his wind up, and was called for a baulk. This is a muck up somewhere. The ump shouldn't call time during the wind up anyway. So if he did, why call the baulk? If he didn't, why did he lift his arms up and make it look like he did? It was either a bad call to signal of time out, or a ad baulk call, or both...
Anyway, after the call the Giants manager and catcher both argues with the referee until the manager was thrown out of the game. Didn't help though. The visitors won...
Giants at the stadium on the bay
The only things left for the night were a few photo opportunities and the trip home. I'm very grateful to Jim for driving us home. I was shattered and really struggled to stay awake and keep talking on the trip. Many others didn't manage to stay awake at all! I'm glad I wasn't driving. Thanks for getting us home safely Jim!
San Francisco at night. Taken from the inland end of the bay bridge.
Currie Family in San Francisco in the bl**dy cold
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