Strange Day in San Jose

Hey, that rhymes! I totally didn't plan that.

Yesterday Nicole and I drove to San Jose, CA to see Coldplay perform in the HP Pavilion. The drive there wasn't bad. Traffic was pretty low and the roads were pretty clear from Fresno to San Jose. We got there pretty early and decided to kill some time in the San Jose downtown area (and I totally forgot to bring my camera this time, so no pictures of downtown San Jose).

We decided to peek into the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library part of the SJSU campus. I took a nap and Nicole spent some quality time with her iPod. When we decided we were hungry, we got up and back to my car and started to take off towards the venue. While driving I noticed there was a paper under my windshield wiper. I was really hoping it was just an advertisement of some sort, but of course when we finally stop I grabbed it and found out it was a parking ticket from our library metered park. I now owe the city of San Jose $28 for a parking job that no police person in Fresno would have given a second glance (and quite frankly was better than most parking jobs in Fresno). The ticket said I was 35% too far forward for my alloted parking spot, and because I had left before I realized I have received a ticket, I couldn't give myself a second opinion (not that I would contest it anyway...).

So I parked in the arena parking area (for $10, still cheaper than parking in front of that library...) and Nicole and I walk to get a late lunch/early dinner (once again forgetting my camera...). We were attacked by a Greenpeace street team and I really support their work, but because I knew I was going to have to pay a ticket, I didn't feel like handing out money at that time (I felt like an ass). We got some food then headed back to the car to get ready for some Coldplay! During our walk we ended up next to a guy who asked where the HP Pavilion was and we asked him if he was here to see Coldplay. He told us that he saw them the night before in LA and it was just a coincidence that they were both in San Jose the next day! The best part was, he didn't see them at an official tour stop, a friend of his won a contest and Coldplay played their songs in her backyard! Über jealous!

But I had incorrectly planned my need for fecal facilities and found myself really needing to pee with no facilities near. I walked a block (because I wasn't quite ready to head into the HP Pavilion) to find absolutely no restrooms in sight. So I ran back to the car, each step a painful jab to my bladder, and used a Starbucks cup from earlier that day. I was clean and tidy about it and even used some hand sanitizer afterward that I had remembered to bring.

Nicole and I made our way to the HP Pavilion and ran into Todd and Chris who were also in San Jose from Fresno to see some Coldplay. The concert was awesome. The band was in top notch condition and tore through a balanced choice of songs from their four studio LPs. A majority of their set did come from their latest "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends" but that's a given since this tour is in support of that album. Chris Martin occasionally forgot lyrics during songs and quickly apologized at the end of each song that it had occurred. Instead of screens behind the band, hanging globes in the center of the arena had images cast upon them, creating a fisheye effect to the video displayed.

After the concert Nicole and I drove home safely arriving back in Fresno about 2 in the morning.







Completely separate note:

I just watched Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. I think it's awesome.

It can be streamed here:
http://www.drhorrible.com/
for a limited time, or purchased on iTunes. I think it will be released on DVD too.

It's a three act musical surrounding the super villain Dr. Horrible and it's hilarious.

Watch it!