Day 3 stats

Ah the Tigers tale

Used to go there a lot in the late 80’s and early 90’s. The large bar on the right, the restaurant eating area on the left, and the rows of tables for two jammed around the bar. I can see it now, but only in my head, since I was sitting in a “neighborhood bar (west coast-ese for “dive”) in San Jose instead

The east coast attendees at this fine establishment included Myself and Andy Millot with Tony Giacobbe along to ensure Mission Success, but failing at this as he was mostly was interested in getting something to eat.

The night started out, oddly enough, at the fine Residence Inn in Sunnyvale. There are two of them in Sunnyvale, and one is called “Silicon Valley I” and the other is “Silicon Valley II”. I never know which is which, but this one was behind the Faultline (a good brewpub with ridiculously expensive food) on a “lake” (a small man made pond that sobers you up nice as you stumble into it back from the Faultline – but I digress). So why does this tale start at the Residence Inn? Well, they have a happy hour at 5:00, with free beer (OK, Coors) and wine and munchies. It’s a nice setup and the price is right. They even had Monday night football on some ancient big screen projection TV with the colors out of whack so everyone looked green. It got no better despite several of the aforementioned free beers, so we left to find the main event.

Linda’s Light Rail Lounge is a hole in the wall place on 1st street in lovely San Jose. Conveniently located near the County Court and several reputable bondsman – you had a feeling of safety just driving past it as fast as your could go. Our first clue that the WC folks work differently from us was that we managed to park right in front if the bar, where there are only 2 spaces. We walked into the establishment to find a bar on the left, circular booths on the right, pool tables in the back, and beat up red carpeting everywhere. But, this being Silicon Valley, over the bar was a 50-inch plasma screen TV with the game on and I finally figured out it was the Rams and the Bears because the uniforms were not green anymore. There were only 8 or 9 people in the bar, all of whom were 10+ years younger than this old codger and none of whom I knew, and yet all of whom except a couple in a booth transacting some shady deal, were members of the WC TDDoC. Having expected thrice that number from the prior days attendance list, and been informed by Linden Willis Kilgroe that there would be a rendition of the 12-days drinking song, I was a bit disappointed. Chez and Bill were nowhere to be found (Bill went to the Sharks game), the often heard but never seen Dan Peterman absent (something about a snowman in Denver) and while the place had fine potential, Tony was dismayed to find that the food was not up to specification requirements, and immediately began asking to go elsewhere. Andy had the keys, so Tony was forced to sit and have a beer with us. Andy got me a “Flat tire” (actually a Fat tire) and I forget what Tony had – only it was not food, and so he drank the beer and asked when were we leaving to go eat while Andy and I attempted to have a conversation with the local TDDoCers. Unfortunately, none of them knew Chez (or more likely denied it because they thought we were bondsmen), and they were 49er fans, which meant nothing to this Eagles fan – so no discourse was really possible.

Hopefully they remember us in their stats, because by this time Tony was threatening to hold a Presidents review on the lack of suitable eating, so we left and headed downtown. Wound up at AP Stumps. AP Stumps is a steakhouse located a couple of blocks from the San Jose Arena (the Shark tank to locals), and we had a light meal of steak and more steak. Due to the steroids in the beef, Tony and I got into a fight over the relative merits of the San Jose Arena and the Wachovia Center, with Tony insisting that a 5+block walk up Broad Street to find a restaurant and parking was the same or better than the setup in San Jose, where there are a dozen restaurants and bars within an easy walk to the tanks. I finally agreed that Philly might be as safe and better, but only if you had a vowel at the end of you name. After settling the matter like men by calling each other names across the table, we called it a night at 9:30.

So, all in all, a poor TDDoC night for this one due to it being a Monday, the WC TDDoCers coming out late, jet lag, and unrealistic expectations. However, Andy and I hereby humbly claim our points.

I’ll be on a flight home this afternoon. Let me know where the festivities are tonight, and, if the airline gods are kind, I may get back early enough to drop in. Otherwise, see you all Thursday.