Life...

So I figure it is probably a good time for an update, but it is 10 pm and I need to study for my exam. So this will be brief. Cass and I are still very much engaged and loving it (minus the long distance part). The boys are really growing up quickly. Finn decided to say "where is it" today which sounds more like "wereizit." Arie is pretty excited about Christmas and sleeping under the Christmas tree. Too bad Santa Claus gets most of the credit for his gifts =/. Tate is still very much a lion with an ever growing mane. Cassie is loving life and is excited to spend Christmas in Utah with me (of course!). I work a ton and I am even happier when I get to leave work at 5 on Saturday (or 7 on a weekday). Being busy isn't too bad especially with a crummy economy.

Cass and I have decided to make one blog (well, we have had it for a while but it is now officially ours to keep and for you to read). So make sure to read up on our happenings at cpbroadbent.blogspot.com.

I am not sure if I am going to ditch this (pmbroadbent.blogspot.com) blog yet, so make sure to check in every once in a while (or just add it to your Google reader).

Mini vacation

This past Thursday, Cassie and her oldest son Arie (age: 4 years 11 months--this was also his b-day present)came out to visit for the weekend. We had a lot of fun doing lots of activities (probably crammed too much into the tiny weekend). I took Friday off (my first PTO day) so we would have a longer weekend. (The purpose of the trip was for Cassie to meet my dad since she has already met my mom).

On Friday, we went with my brother, his wife, and their three girls boating at a lake not too far away (oh yeah, the weather was really nice on Friday and Saturday). Everyone wanted to swim in the lake, but the water was a little too cold for some (me included). We all took turns on the tube, rekindling a little competition between my brother and I. We both made it through the other's driving abilities without drinking too much of the lake water! After the tubing, my brother took a turn on the wakeboard and I had to drive. Driving for a tuber is way easier than a wakeboarder--you have to keep the throttle just right since a decrease in speed could make the boarder fall. It was great to take the boat out in the middle of October.

Saturday, Cassie, Arie, and I had an adventure in San Francisco. We rode BART up to the City since the train only runs every hour. Like usual, there were delays on the BART line and tons of people on the subway car. We headed out of the station in SF without too much thought of where we were going. I thought I knew the city better than I did, so I didn't really look at the map as closely as I should. Cassie got a walking half hour tour of the financial district I hadn't really planned. We found our way, thanks to a lady who followed us down the wrong street to tell us we had missed the turn. We crammed ourselves in an historic 'F' line car (there was another set of delays on this line) to see more of the city. After smelling the aroma of the city (and the people on the street car), we finally made it to Pier 39. We watched the sea lions bark and bask in the sun. There is always lots to eat on the Pier: grabbed some chocolate and some mini doughnuts. We quickly headed over to Ghiradelli Square for some photos. I had arranged with my mom to pick us so we all could see the Golden Gate Bridge (I have been across the bridge before, but I have never really gone to the tourists'--well foreigners'--lookout). Thanks Mom--that helped us see the bridge and avoid any more public transportation mishaps.

Sunday we attended my parent's ward so my "grandmas" could meet Cassie (why settle for real grandmas when there is a host of other people's grandmas who can spoil you?). Cassie certainly got more attention than I ever could have drummed up. I guess that means that they approve of her =D. I always knew they would.

We had a really fun weekend with some great weather. Thanks to my parents, my brother and his family for making the weekend a lot of fun. (And a special thanks to Cassie's sister, Lacey, and her mom for helping us out, again). Now, it is back to work 'til Friday.

Life gets better

So in the last post (posted only moments before), I stated that life couldn't get any better. But it is so much better:






Cassie and I are engaged!! We are pretty excited about all of this! More details later . . .

California

After traveling the globe (well just the US), I made it back to California. It is weird to be back in California during the fall (haven't seen the fall since high school, which was only a few years ago =P). The weather has become colder, which is not very cold compared to Utah. Currently, it is 63 degrees outside and I am wearing a sweatshirt. I guess I have already become acclimated to California weather! After five years in Utah, I have fallen so far.

I started working back in September and I am liking work so far. I have been doing odd jobs like counting pages, photocopying binders, and delivering tax returns, just to name a few. It is sure nice to get paid in this economy so I can't complain too much (and especially since I didn't work for four months after graduation).

I think the best part of working is that I feel like a real adult. Before, I was just pretending. Now, I pay for my own health/dental/vision insurance. Yes, I still see the same doctors I saw when I was kid and I live in the same house (with my parents), but now I hand the receptionist the insurance card with my name on the front. It feels really good to be a real adult. And I have my own business card with a reputable company on the card. Wow--life couldn't get any better, or so I thought . . .

Cassie and Paul

Alright, here is a photo of Cassie and I. Cassie and I met back in May and now that we are officially dating I thought I would post of picture of the two of us. More photos and posts to come...

Since graduation...

So my last post was about the four years since I returned from South Africa. This post is dedicated to the two and half months since my graduation (all of which I have lived completely out of one suitcase). Some of the stuff I have already reported about so this is the newer stuff.

I have paid the change-ticket fee four times for my Delta flights (one of which was an international fee) not to mention forfeiting two other flights that were not Delta flights. If I could do things over, I would have tried to avoid those fees since I could have flown a couple of times between California and Utah with that money or bought a new jacket or a new computer...But avoiding an arranged marriage in South Africa is priceless.

I have visited four different wards: Huffman Ward (Anchorage), Brockett Ward (Decatur), Quailbluff Ward (Logan), and Canyon Road Ward (Salt Lake City). Unfortunately, none of these wards are my designated ward. My BYU ward still thinks that I attend that ward--I receive weekly emails and texts about FHE and other activities. Maybe I will move my records--probably I will do that once I unpack my suitcase.

In Alaska, I have gone to the shooting range (shot a .40 and .45 glock and a M4 fully automatic), gone kayaking at 9:00 pm in sunlight, washed kayaks, washed cars, gone fishing (with no success), visited Build-a-Bear (the lady helping us reminded me of the girl from Napoleon Dynamite), visited Color Me Mine (to paint the cheapest thing there), watched the fourth of July parade in Anchorage, gone to the Imaginarium, visited the Forest Fair in Girdwood (more like an Art and Wine festival with plenty of hippies), driven to Seward three times and visited the Alaska Sealife center, driven to Whittier and had fresh Halibut for the first time, went camping twice, attended girl's camp as a leader/transporter/gear hauler, saw the sunshine on the longest day of the year (June 20th at 12:00 am), painted walls inside the house, changed poop and pee filled diapers, loaded the dishwasher, watched Whale Wars, watched the Proposal and Land of Lost in the theaters, and watched Wow Wow Wubbzy more times than I will admit.

I have liked all of these activities a lot, but each one is made that much better since I drive a F150 Super Crew Lariat Truck. That truck is a beast and hauls ass. I feel like I am large and in charge when I drive that truck around town. I think that I have converted to being a truck fan...

Four years

On July 9th, I celebrated four years of being in America (after my mission in South Africa). Since I am an accountant, here are the numbers from the last four years.

Visited five new states: Alaska, Georgia, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Connecticut
Had four zip codes in Utah Valley: 84606, 84601, 84058, 84604
Rented four rooms: Condo row nastiness, University Ave, Katie & Jake's, Timp Gateway
Had six wards: BYU 39th, BYU 179th, Serra Park, BYU 164th, Stanford 1st, BYU 241st
Had five girlfriends (one is current): none of which shall be named
Had 12 roommates: Brad, Jake, Kevin, Jason, Asher, Nathan, Dustin, Isac, Bryan, Katie & Jake, Sean, Eric
Used eight email accounts: three BYUs, three Gmails, one Yahoo!, one MSN
Took 120+ hours of classes: rather not name them all
Worked only one BYU job: teacher's assistant
Worked for one tax accounting company twice: WTAS LLC, formally known as Wealth and Tax Advisory Services, Inc.
Attended five weddings: Katie, Curt, Bart, friend's sister (Kellie), roommate's sister (Lindsey)
Attended one funeral: Great Aunt Betty
Attended three baby blessings: Julie Lynn, Amani Jo, Emory Reese
Attended four temples: Provo, Salt Lake City, Logan, Palmyra
Received two degrees: Bachelor's and Master's
Spent more than $20,000 on tuition for those degrees
Received one title: First place at National Tax Case Study Competition
Owned six credit cards (not all at once): Citi, Citi, Wells Fargo, Gap, Macy's, Banana Republic
Owned three checking accounts: HSBC, Wells Fargo, Zion's
Owned six savings accounts: HSBC, Wells Fargo, Zion's (including three CD's)
Owned three cell phones: Motorola, LG, Motorola
Owned one car: Mazda

So that is quick sum of my activities for the last four years. I will update this list as I think of more stuff...

Midtown ATL & Emory University

Here is what we have been doing since I arrived a while ago (this is over the course of three trips to midtown and a trip to the University):

Walking around Olympic Park (from the 1996 games)

My sister and niece in the CNN building (the atrium inside is larger than the atrium at school)

In front of the Coke store. Gotta love Coca-Cola.

Owen and Greta in the World of Coca-Cola (showing a moment of lovingness)

Greta has a shirt that a couple of us bought from the Nike store in town. This is a custom shirt from the Nike store. You can pick out the size, color, and the graphic. This particular graphic is a limited edition graphic of a Georgia peach with the wording of "Atlanta" to the side. Pretty sweet, huh?



Here is a sign for David out in Vietnam

Greta and the Coke Polar Bear

Henry, Greta, and Owen standing in front of the different coke bottles

(the one with the beads is from South Africa).

Emmi with the shirt that describes her life

Katie and I tried to be classy and go to the museum at Emory University.

Too bad the blooming place is not open on Mondays.

I had to force a frown since I really did not want to go to the museum.

BMW DRIVING SCHOOL!!

As a way to celebrate my graduation, my brother-in-law and I went to the BMW Performance Driving School in South Carolina. IT WAS AWESOME!! Jake and I drove out to Greenville area for an entire day of driving 135i and 335i's. We drove the cars like we stole them. I don't think that I have ever driven a BMW (cough--just kidding Dad) nor have I driven a car as hard as we did.  

The day started off at 8:30 am with some classroom time. The instructors went through the basics and reassured us that this entire event was extremely safe (don't worry Mom). After that we jumped into the cars: 3 brand new 135i's and 3 brand new 335i's. Jake and I were paired up in one car (we switched back and forth between the 135i and 335i all day). Each car was equipped with a walkie-talkie so the instructors could tell us what we are supposed to be doing at all times. Man, they had more trust in us than we did!!

We started the day on the slalom. Having Jake in the car really got me fired up since he kept pushing me to drive faster and to turn quicker. The instructors reminded us to keep our eyes up and to be looking ahead as we repeated the exercise. After the slalom was the braking exercise and learned that it takes four times as long to stop when the speed is only doubled. Our exercise involved stopping on a slick surface while turning (ABS makes that all possible). I don't think that I have ever really stomped on my brakes as hard as we did. We had to get the car up to 55 mph and then slam on the brakes. That was really fun! My heart was really pounding. 

They set up short race obstacle course (should take someone 25 to 28 seconds to drive). The course involved slalom, a tight corner, an s curve, acceleration through a curve, and a slight incline. We practiced running through this course in the morning and then competed for time in the afternoon. 

Another thing that we worked on involved a skid pad. This skid pad was made of polished concrete and the sprinklers kept the surface nice and slick (check out the video on the links below). The instructor would sit in the passenger seat and pull the E-brake to invoke a slide and it was up to us to correct the slide through steering the car! That was really hard work! After we could keep the car from spinning out (although letting the car do a 360 was pretty fun), the instructor turned on the stability control. That made a huge difference since the car's computer could keep the car from sliding out without much input from the driver. 

We also worked on an abrupt lane change. Our lane on the track ended abruptely with a line of cones to block our path and there was a small opening to the left in the next lane. After switching lanes, we had to slam on our brakes. INTENSE! The instructors had us go through the exercise at 30 mph, 35 mph, 40 mph, and 45 mph. As the speed increased, the exercise became harder to perform since the lane change had to be quicker but smoother otherwise we would nick the edge of the cone on either side of the small opening. 

Jake and I had a really good time at this school (so much so that we are making plans to go back when he graduates!). Well worth the money and the time spent! Not to make this any more of a commercial, but check out these websites for pictures and videos: http://www.bmwtransact.com/microsite/performancecenter/index.html or http://www.bmwusa.com/standard/content/experience/events/pds/default.aspx

Hotlanta!

After loafing in Utah for a couple of days (more like a couple of weeks--thanks Jay and Kathi!) I drove home to California to unpack my car and boxes. I had decided that I should ship a lot of my junk instead of carefully overpacking my little car. My plan somewhat worked minus the fact that my little car was still overpacked. But I made it safety to California with 11 Fedex'd boxes and 1 carload. 

I unpacked everything and then repacked my duffle bag to catch a plane ride out to Atlanta, GA. I had four days in California to "go through" my things which turned out to be a rearranging activity =D. After catching the plane ride and enjoying 4.5 hours of watching some movies on my iPod, I made it to Hotlanta. I didn't realize that sweating all day long was a normal thing. My sister told me that it was raining out here so I brought jeans and sweatshirts. I wore jeans the first day and sandals are frequently the shoe of choice. I had to make a stop to buy some shorts to show the world my Utah-white legs. I guess I didn't realize that there is difference between Utah rain and Georgia rain. 

GRADUATION!!

Before I get to graduation, I have to post some pictures of the testing center line on Wednesday April 22nd at 4:00 pm. the last day to take finals at the testing center. I was taking some exams to the testing center to be graded and I found this line. I have passed through five years of BYU without standing in a long line at the testing center. Luckily I had my camera handy--this is better than taking pictures of campus.

Here is the line along side of the JSB
The line extends passed the BNSN and ESC

Here are the pictures from graduation. I had a fun time listening to Dr. Albrecht as I sat on the front room. The whole ceremony took three hours--way too long to graduate from school. I think that it has mostly to do with the MBA's networking right up until the time of the ceremony began.

Here I am with my good friends Roy S. and Kevin B. after the 3 hours of ceremony

Roy's wife Brenna. I'll miss watching Law and Order and the Biggest Loser!

My good friend Andrew under the "graduation tree"

My dad and I on the fourth floor atrium in the Tanner Building

My dad, sister, niece, and mom

The proud parents! They contributed a lot to my academic success. Thanks!!

Update...

2009!!

I am one year older this new year. I am 2 5. Quarter of a century. I decided to buy myself a watch so I can at least feel like I look my age. I bought the watch up in San Francisco with my brother, his wife, and his sister-in-law. I did get some "grown-up" clothing for Christmas, i.e., anything with a collar since I tend to only wear t-shirts and hoodies.

While at home, I visited the Heimuli/Wolfgramm family--one of my all-time favorite families. I was sad to hear that they will be moving from Sunnyvale. I think they planned to leave town as soon as I came back!! Although I don't have any pictures from Christmas, I found some photos I took with them a couple of years ago.

Kaivai and me (the oldest brother of the family)

Ana and me (the mom of the family and my old sunday school teacher)

My good friend since nursery, David, moved to Vietnam on December 28. He came over with his parent's to my brother's open house. I am happy that he moved out of Utah (!!) but it's too bad that he is so far away.


Per mom's request, I have posted pictures from the competition.

The only picture we have of the group in Disneyland. We probably should have taken more pictures. Wouldn't mind being in Florida right about now since the temperature is 10 degrees.

Here is the picture of our group holding our "check." Kelsie, Dr. Worsham, Jon, Michael and me.

Deloitte Competition

On the 20th of November, my team (Kelsie, Micheal, Jon, and I) went to Nationals for the Deloitte Case Study Competition down in Orlando, FL. We placed first in the graduate division --> Deloitte Site & WSJ

While down in Orlando, we went to Disney's World Hollywood Studios (pretty fun place, especially the Rock N' Roller Coaster). The lines were pretty short (some of us rode the Rock N' Roller Coaster 3 times) so we ran out of things to do pretty quickly. On Friday night, we had a casino night. Our team focused our attention on the Blackjack table since it is pretty easy to count to 21. Instead of cash, they had raffle tickets. At the end of the night Jon had own an iPod, a iTunes gift card, an umbrella, a laptop case, and a travel kit. We practiced redistribution of wealth--I took home the umbrella, laptop case, and travel kit.

Saturday was the day of the competition (and the BYU football game). Our team was slightly nervous to do the competition. We had five hours to complete a long tax case (a person's scenario with various tax related questions). After we finished the case, everyone felt a little nauseous. We spent the afternoon soaking in the Florida sunshine as we played a round of pitch and putt and used the extensive pool facilities. We watched the game at the hotel in a restaurant (our Deloitte host had found a place that had DirectTV). I'm not much of a football fan, but that was a terrible game!

Sunday we went to church at a ward in Orlando. We spent more time in the taxi than actually at church (whoops!). We arrived back at the hotel just in time for pictures and the award ceremony. At that time, no body knew where we stood--we could have bombed it or we could have done really well. They announced the second place winners first from each divsion--BYU name wasn't called. All of us seemed to be pretty nervous at that point. They announced the first place winners--BYU and W&M. We were very excited that we had won the competition!! It would have been really nice if the BYU undergraduate team had placed.

Tag

My friend Roy tagged me.

8 TV Shows I Watch:

1) House
2) Law & Order
3) Without a Trace
4) The Office
5) The Soup
6) SNL
7) More House
8) More Law & Order

I really only watch number one and number two (hence the reason for seven and eight).

8 Favorite Restaurants:

1) Wendy's (tastes better on Tuesday's at 11:00 am)
2) In & Out (good food)
3) Evvia (Greek)
4) Patxi's (Chicago Pizza)
5) Cucina Toscana (Italian)
6) Il Fornaio (Italian)
7) Cafe Rio
8) California Pizza Kitchen (BBQ Chicken is v. good)

8 Things that happened yesterday:

1) I woke up Orlando
2) I competed in a tax case study
3) I felt nauseous most of the day
4) I played a round of Pitch n' Putt
5) I ran between the hot tub and the pool
6) I ate a really good prime rib (while watching a boring football game)
7) I watched multiple episodes of The Office
8) I watched one really good episode of Law & Order

8 Things I’m looking forward to:

1) Thanksgiving
2) A great Cougar bball season
3) Passing my tax classes =D
4) Finishing my blasted PFP ("Perpetual Financial Plan" which is different than "Personal Financial Plan")
5) Graduating from BYU
6) Starting with Deloitte
7) Going on a vacation (see wish list)
8) Buying a "new" old computer (who really needs a new PC?)

8 Things on my wish list:

1) A new iPod touch
2) A new reading book
3) Time to read a normal book
4) Jazz tickets
5) Continuous low gas prices
6) All-expense-paid trip to Hawaii
7) A nephew
8) A strong economy with plenty of work (and no crazy tax law)

Since I loved being tagged so much, I tag:

Heather, Katie, Andrew, Eric

Verdict

I have completed my decision on my job offers--I will be working with Deloitte Tax LLP. I fedex'd the signed offer letter this morning and declined the other offers.

Something that help sway my decision was the mug slinging of one company. I have had repeated phone calls from one firm in the past 48 hours of how I would be, in effect, selling myself short if I went with the competition. Some of the comments included: "you will only do compliance work at [the competition]," "we can offer a wide array of work, much more than [the competition] can offer you," "[the competition] is sending all of the tax work overseas," and "many of the associates that I recruited when I worked at [the competition] didn't have any work to do." I should say thanks for the many phones calls--it was flattering to know that you wanted me to work for your company (or you didn't want me to go to [the competition]) but that made my decision that much easier.

I will say that the recruiter at one firm was rather nice (even though s/he was disappointed) to me even though I decline their offer. I had failed to draw her attention to the aforementioned phrases since I didn't want to come across as unprofessional.

It was quite a relief to send the offer letter to Deloitte this morning. Recruiting season is finally over after an exhausting two months of blissful courtship with the three firms--dinner, lunch, airplane trips, hotels, gifts, meetings, interviews, etc.

Tomorrow morning I will be catching a flight to Orlando for the Deloitte Tax Case Competition. We are all very excited for the competition (and DisneyWorld). We hopefully will bring much honor to BYU...

Where am I now?

I'm back in Utah for the moment, but here are my coming and goings:

Trip one: Salt Lake City -- my team competed in the Deloitte Challenge and we are going to Nationals in three weeks!!
Trip two: Rochester, NY -- my brother got married in the Palmyra Temple (very pretty area this time of the year). Went out to Niagara Falls and rode the Maid of the Mist Ferry into the Horseshoe Falls (pretty sweet waterfalls).
Trip three: San Jose, CA -- had an in-house interview with PwC and received a full-time offer.
Trip four: San Jose, CA -- had an in-house interview with EY and received a full-time offer.
Trip five: San Jose, CA -- will have an office visit with Deloitte.

All of the flying has meant that I have never really unpacked, I haven't been to the grocery store for a big shopping trip in weeks, I am never sure what time zone I am in, and I know how much time I need to make it to the airport with mere minutes to spare!!

The last few weeks have been super eventful, especially with my sister having her baby girl in the midst of the craziness (Congrats Katie and Jake--she's a pretty baby). It has been a successful past few weeks (I didn't fail my midterms!!) with 3 job offers, 1 new sister-in-law, 1 new niece (for a total of 4), and 1 upcoming National competition.

In other news, two of my co-workers were fired from WTAS (wootass) this past week. I was sad to hear that they were fired, but happy to hear that they were able to jump ship with 5 weeks of severance pay. Good riddens on that blasted LLC!! I'm glad that I woke up and I smelled the strange coffee that was brewing in that joint before school started.

Call backs

Today, I heard back from three of the firms that I interviewed with. I received three phone calls, starting off with EY at 12:05 pm, 5 minutes past the hush period. That was followed by Deloitte's phone call at 12:45 pm (PwC had sent an email at that same time). Lastly, PwC called at 1:20 pm.

Results: one job offer (and an office visit) and two sets of office visits (for second round of interviews)!!

W00t!! This is going to be a busy October!

Minnesota!

For my vacation this year, I went to Minnesota (surprise!). I cut my internship short by a week (which turned out to be a great thing) and headed off to MN for a solid week.

I went to Gull Lake near St. Cloud for one day and one night--such pretty lake. I dove off the pier and hit the bottom of the lake. I only had a couple of scrapes on my nose and forehead. My mom reminded me that I could have broken my neck.

Henry and I after dinner. Notice the scrap on the nose and forehead.

While we were there, I rode a jet ski. It has been years since I have been on one of those things. I almost wanted to buy one...

Owen and Al tieing the boat to the dock.
Little G waiting to take a picture (and to tell me what to do =)

Henry sporting a BYU shirt, waiting to go tubing.

I went to Lake of The Woods for my first fishing trip. The drive was another four hours from Gull Lake, which is three hours from St. Paul. Henry was a little bit bored in the car.

We spent three nights and two days up there --> Lake of the Woods.

Owen (and my relatives) just barely got out of bed for the 8 am trip

We caught lots of Walleye:

My first Walleye.
Holding my Walleye, trying not to drop the fish.
Henry and I with my fish

Henry's catch of the day.
Owen and his friend, Al, at the shore lunch

Henry rode in the first mate's chair on the way back to the resort. He stayed really dry while I was soaked from head to toe.

Part of the surf (this picture does no justice--the waves were 6-8 feet high)

Captain Greg kept the boat from rocking back and forth. Not bad for a first timer!

Day two on the Lake was a lot colder. Owen is trying to get some teenager shut eye while keeping the cold out.
You know it is cold when the fisherman is wearing a jacket.
Henry's catch of the day.

Owen with his fish (Notice: Al and Rick decided to be in the picture).

Driving to the MN state Fair!

Most of the time when I am in MN, we go to the state fair and the Mall of America. It's fun to have a little bit of Holly/Broadbent tradition.

The giant slide.

Thanks Holly's for the fun vacation!! Next year??

John Mayer At Shoreline

Seeing John Mayer last weekend was a lot of fun! He is a really great performer and musician. In between songs he was telling jokes and having a good time. I think that Kelley has all of the photos from that concert...but here is just a few from my phone We couldn't see the stage very well (just to the right of the lady on the left), but we could see the projection screen (left side of the picture) really well.
The view of the projection screen. Technology is great!

Opera at the Park

Last night, a couple of us went to see the Opera Lucia di Lammermoor at AT&T Park in San Francisco.I am generally not the opera-faring type, but on this occasion, I was all for it! We took the train from Cal Ave (as known as California Avenue station) to Fourth & King up in the city. Yesterday was so hot (even up in the City) so we decided to bring a few water bottles:
Those few water bottles seemed to turn into about 15 bottles! We didn't realize the large quantities of water we had carried to the park. The most exciting thing about the Opera was sitting on the grass of the park. We had our picnic on the grass as we watched a rather slow moving Opera.
This is Mikey (my co-worker) and her sister, trying to act like they are excited to see the Opera:

Chris and Mikey had the game faces ready for the action:

There were a ton of people at the park to see for the show:

We cut out at the intermission (we couldn't handle any more Opera at that point) to catch the 10:30 train back to Palo Alto. On the way, I tried for ten minutes to get a picture of this man's tattoo. You can't see from the picture, but his tattoo says "FAMILY."