The Cove

April and I decided to take a trip to The Cove which is located downtown. The night we attended The Cove, the Primetime Orchestra was performing from 8pm to 10pm. The Cove has a very “homey” atmosphere to it. Even though it has a bar, it also has a playground outside so that the kids can come along and have a place to play while their parents take time to relax and listen to live music.

The Cove also serves as an art gallery. There was a young man there who had some of his paintings outside for people to look at and buy. He also had some of his drawings inside on sale. There was a variety of paintings that covered the walls from top to bottom. It was an all around very relaxing atmosphere that made me feel so comfortable to be there.

There is a variety of people that attend The Cove, from small children, to elderly couples who want to spend time together listening to a great live orchestra in a very comfortable atmosphere. The sitting in The Cove contributed to the very comfortable atmosphere, because there are just three long rows of tables, which makes everyone close to each other no matter where they decide to sit.

The Primetime Orchestra that was playing that night was a very great orchestra that kept me both, interested in their music and very relaxed the entire two hours that we listened to them play. The orchestra consisted of various instruments that included; saxophones, trumpets, a piano, a harp, a bass, and a few other instruments that I did not get to see.

The members of the orchestra were definitely into the music that they were playing. As a musician myself, it is easy to tell if someone is into their music or not. The Primetime Orchestra was definitely into their music because they were swaying back and forth in their chairs as they played the music. They weren’t just playing the notes off the page either, because they were even playing with their eyes closed!

I had a wonderful experience at The Cove and would love to make another trip over there sometime. I have learned very much about Jazz during this section of the course. Jazz is a genera that I never really listened to because I was never properly introduced to. Now that I have been, and now that I know how jazz is played and seen it played live, I will begin to listen to it more often!

San Antonio Rampage

In the spring of 2002 the Spurs announced that they had purchased an American Hockey League (AHL) franchise. The AHL is a minor league. The original name of the franchise that the Spurs had purchased was Stampede. The Spurs had to reconsider the name and change it to Rampage because of the fact that there was an adult football team here in San Antonio that was already named Stampede. The NBA Spurs signed a five year contract with the National Hockey League (NHL) Florida Panthers to operate the Rampage because they were a minor league. The Panthers owned 51% of the Rampage that consisted of the Roster and the money, while the Spurs owned the remaining 49% which dealt with the business.

The Rampage had a very successful first season for a minor league. They had forty home games and an average of five-thousand fans the entire first year. The Rampage even made it to the AHL Calder Cup Playoffs but was swept by the Norfolk Admirals in the first round.

In the spring of 2005, the third year for the Rampage, the Spurs and the Panthers got into a disagreement because the Panthers decided to loan out some of the best players to other teams that were going into the playoffs when the Rampage themselves, although the odds were against them, still had a slight chance to make it to the playoffs. Because their best players were now playing for other teams, the Rampage completely lost their chance at making it to the playoffs. The Spurs did not like this decision that the Panthers made so both the Spurs and the Panthers decided to call off the contract that they had and the Spurs bought the half of the Rampage that the Panthers owned and now owned 100% of the Rampage. This could not last long because in order to run an AHL franchise, the owners MUST be partnered with an NHL franchise since all players and coaching staff in the minor league are under a contract with certain NHL teams.

In the summer of 2005, during the Rampage’s fourth year, the Spurs announced that they had signed a two year contract with NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes.
When this happened, they became a whole new team because they changed their players and even their staff because it was now the Coyotes organization.

During the Rampage’s first and second year with the Coyotes, which was actually the fourth and fifth year for them being a team, while being lead by the head coach Pat Conecer, the Rampage had the worst two seasons ever with no playoffs.

In the summer of 2007, the Spurs announced that they had signed another two year contract with the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes. The Coyotes decided to fire the head coach, Pat Conecer, and hire a new head coach, Greg Ireland.


I interviewed a Rampage fan, Erik Esparza, who says he attends 10 to 15 home games a season. I asked him what he thought about the new head coach and here is what he had to say about it:
“Greg Ireland, the new head coach, has been the best thing that has happened to the Rampage. He has turned the Rampage around from being the laughing stock of the AHL to a force to deal with in their division.”

During the 2007 and 2008 season, the Rampage recorded that they had the best season ever and made it to the 2008 AHL Calder Cap Playoffs. This was their second time in the Playoffs in franchise history while they were playing against the Toronto Marlies. However, the Marlies eliminated the Rampage in the seventh game of the first round series.

There are three levels that make up hockey here in the United States. To start off, the NHL is the highest of the levels. In the NHL there are big stars just like there are in the NBA. For example, what Tim Duncan is to the Spurs in the NBA, Mike Modano is to the Dallas Stars in the NHL.

Any level below the NHL is considered a minor league. The next level down from the NHL is the AHL. This is the league that the Rampage is in. Every AHL team and its players and coaching staff are affiliated with a certain NHL team. For example, even though the Rampage’s name is owned by the Spurs, the Rampage players and coaching staff is on the Phoenix Coyotes pay roll, so the Rampage work for the Phoenix Coyotes. The Coyotes are able to call up any of the Rampage players at any time. So a player could be playing here in San Antonio one night for the Rampage, then the next night could be called up and be playing for the Coyotes in the NHL in their next game. The AHL is called the “triple A” Hockey.

The next level down from the triple A hockey is the double A hockey. In double A hockey, there are three different leagues. These leagues include: the West Coast Hockey League (WCHL), the Central Hockey League (CHL), and the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL).

Each team in all three double A leagues are affiliated with an AHL team. For example, the Arizona Sun Dogs of the CHL are affiliated with the San Antonio Rampage. So the Rampage is able to call up and Sun Dog player to play for them.
So put all together; the Phoenix Coyotes is the NHL team, their AHL team is the San Antonio Rampage, and their double A team is in the CHL, the Arizona Sun Dogs.

Throughout the regular season, the Rampage holds various promotional nights. Some of these nights would include; Spurs night, Salute the Badges night, Faith night, Military Appreciation night, and Pucks and Paws night.

On Spurs night, the Rampage wears special Spurs jerseys so that it looks like the Spurs playing as a hockey team. After the game the jerseys are auctioned off and the money goes towards the Spurs and Rampage organization.

On Salute the Badges night, the Rampage wears special jerseys that have fire men and policemen hats. During the second intermission there is a brief moment of silence to honor all the men and women who have fallen in the line of duty. The money goes toward a memorial wall being built downtown with those men and women’s names that have fallen in the line of duty. I attended this promotional night and interviewed Gloria Spencer who is a season ticket holder and is also a police here in San Antonio. I asked her what she thought of this promotional night and she said; “It’s good to see the Rampage give back to the community and to honor the men and women in uniform for all their hard work.”

On faith night, there are no special jerseys worn by the Rampage, but this is a game where many churches from around the area attend for a concert from a Christian afterwards.

On military appreciation night, the Rampage wears a special camouflage jersey. During both the first and second intermissions, there is a moment of silence held in honor of the men and women who have fallen in the line of duty overseas.

Pucks and Paws night is the newest addition to the promotional nights. On these nights, fans are allowed to bring their dogs, no matter what size they are, to come and enjoy the game with them. There is no special jersey for this night. I attended Pucks and Paws night and couldn’t wait to see all the cute little dogs!

I interviewed an older man by the name of Jim Smithson. Jim is a very big fan of the Rampage, but wasn’t too thrilled when he found out about the new promotional night. The thought of sitting next to a big dog trying to lick your face and barking in your ear the entire night didn’t please him, but nevertheless, he still supported the Rampage and took his chance to attend that game and was pleased to see that the dog owners and their pets had their own section away from the fans who chose not to bring their pets along with them. Even better, he was amazed about how silent the dogs stayed the whole time that night.

The World's Largest Strawberry

The world's largest strawberry is located just thirty miles South of San Antonio in the Strawberry Capital of Texas, Poteet! This strawberry serves as the water tower for this small city. The entire water tower stands about 130 feet, and the strawberry itself takes up 7 feet of that.

When I drive into Poteet, and see this huge strawberry standing tall through the trees, it reminds me of the annual Strawberry Festival that comes in the beginning or middle of April. It is actually comming up next weekend! The festival has been coming every year for 61 years.

The Strawberry water tower is amazing to look. I try to imagine how they made it and how they painted it. The artist of the strawberry even added detail by putting yellow seeds and even a stem on the top. The strawberry is very symetrical and well baanced. The color is a very vibrant red so it is easy to see when you drive into the city.

Information from:
roadsideamerica.com

Pictures from:
roadsideamerica.com

AGUA

Elyzabeth Earnley, Technical Research Director from Aquifer Guardians in Urban Areas gave our class a presentation about AGUA and the Edwards Aquifer. She showed us how harmful it is to the environment to build over the recharge zone and everything that she had to do at work to try and keep people from building over it.

She gave us a little taste of what she has to do when she goes into work. She broke us into groups and gave us each a real case about people wanting to build things where it may be harmful to the environment. We then had to read the case and decide whether or not the person's buildings would be harmful to the Aquifer. We had to look on a map where they wanted their buildings and see if it was appropriate.

I will admit that the assignment that we were given was a little confusing and took a lot of thought and effort into it. After it all I was glad that I got the experience and knowledge of how to depict a good place for building.

Overall I enjoyed Elyzabeth's presentation and learning all about the recharge zone and our aquifer. I learned things that I never had even thought about and found it all very useful and interesting!

Mitchell Lake

Mitchell Lake is located on Pleasanton Road, on the South side of San Antonio. In the 1930's up until 1987, the lake would take in discharge and waste that would come from the Rolling Road Waste Water Treatment Plant that was located uphill from Mitchell Lake.
In 1987 SAWS began supplement natural flow into Mitchell Lake from the Leon Creek Water Recycling Center. By doing this the water level is easily maintained and the water is less hazardous to the wildlife.
When we got to Mitchell Lake we were a little disappointed by what we saw. The website for Mitchell Lake has all these great photos of the land with all the different kinds of birds. When we got there it did not look anything like the pictures. Everything looked so dead and there were dead trees and branches and weeds that were covering the land and even the water.


The people at the information desk located in the front when you drive up were extremely nice and willing to get us anything we needed. They even provided us with binoculars to use on our adventure.
We were given a map and a page long list of all the birds that were out there and that we would see. They gave us the choice of either driving on the paved roads and being able to park along the way and walk around freely and enjoy the scenery, or leave our car in the parking lot and start off walking. Being the girly girls that we are, we decided to take the car!
We got to the end of the paved road, which was not very far from where we started and were confused because there still seemed to be a lot on the map that we needed to explore. So we ended up taking the car back to the parking lot and take the walking trails wherever they took us.
The actual trail that we were on was well maintained and not hard to follow. But, we would not dare step a foot off of the trail because there was mush that easily went up past our ankles and there was no telling what could be laying underneath all those tree limbs and weeds. That was a real turn off to us because it seemed like they weren't taking good enough care of the land.

Since it is a bird habitat, we were expecting to see many different kinds of birds and trying to figure out which they were. Sadly we only saw 3 birds the whole time we were there. They were too far away so we could not even get a good photo of them. We were amazed because while we were walking down the trail we heard some noises that sounded like gun shots! Was there someone out there actually hunting in this bird habitat? It sounded like it was just on the other half of the land. We decided to not go back that far.
On the way back down the trail, we decided to stop onto this bridge that was to the side and take a look at the water beneath us. We ended up seeing three snakes. One was in the grass on the side, one was swimming in the water, and the biggest one was resting on a log. There were about fifteen frogs that were all lined up along the side of the lake just starring into the water, they almost looked fake!

Mitchell Lake has come a long way from where it originally started off as, it did not smell like a sewer or anything! But, it still has a ways to go if they want to really make it a safe haven for the wildlife.

My Neighborhood

I live in Pleasanton, Texas which is located about thirty miles south of San Antonio in Atascosa County. To get to Pleasanton from Palo Alto College all you have to do is head south on Highway 16 and in about thirty minutes you will end up in Poteet, you then go all the way through Poteet (which does not take very long) and in about ten minutes you will be in Pleasanton. Pleasanton is just slightly larger than Poteet so I consider the entire city to be my neighborhood!

When you leave Poteet from the four-way intersection by the school, you are on school Dr. which eventualy turns into Poteet-Pleasanton Road. When you finally hit Pleasanton there will be a three-way stop with traffic lights and you will turn to the right. You will pass the Pleasanton High School and many houses and a cemetery. When you come to the third stop light you will make a right turn onto Goodwin, you then go down about two blocks and turn to the right onto Vickers. When you turn on to Vickers and automatically notice that the first street is a dead end street, Anna. You will then turn right on Anna and my house is the third house on the right with the red door.

Along my road, or which you would consider being my neighborhood, there are many children that are always running around and playing outside, but yet it still seems to be pretty quiet, which is always nice!

On the left hand side of my house there is a new family that just moved in about two months ago. I have not had a conversation with them yet so I do not know anything about them but they are not loud or disruptive people and seem very nice because they always smile and wave when we pass each other. They have a couple of teenage boys that are probably still in high school.

To the right of my house, there is a man who is probably in his middle to late forty's. He has his own DJ Company and studio. He lives with his girlfriend. I have met and talked with these neighbors and they too are very friendly. I live with my brother and sister-in-law and whenever my brother needs help doing something then the neighbor is always there lending a helping hand, and vise versa.

There is an old lady that lives diagonally from my house who is always walking up and down the street looking at each house. Sometimes it is kind of creepy because you will be inside and walk by the front door and see this old women standing on the side walk in front of your house just looking! But when we first moved in the past owners were showing us around and they told us about that lady and how she stays home all the time and keeps a look out for all the houses and will watch you house for you when you are away.

All the houses on my street are modest but yet very well maintained, with the exception on one house in particular. This house is actually the first house on the right. I have never seen the people who live there but I know they have to live there because they have vechiles and things out in their yards.

Where I live I am surrounded by other houses. The next street up is the "main drag" and where all the main businesses are located like Wal-Mart, H-E-B, many banks and fast food restaurants. We are about to get a Walgreens across the street from Wal-Mart. They are also putting up a new traffic light right there when you pull out of the Wal-Mart parking lot. These things will benefit the community because there were many automobile accidents that involved people coming out of Wal-Mart and oncoming traffic.

I enjoy living here in Pleasanton for now because it is quiet and much safer to live than San Antonio but yet we still have grocery stores near by to go to if we need something. It takes me about 45 minutes to get from my house to Palo Alto, and about two minutes to get from my house to Bill Miller, where I work.

The Alamo

For this assignment I chose to watch the version of the Alamo that was made in 1960 with John Wayne starring as Davy Crockett. This film was focused on the three main heroes Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and William Barrett Travis. This film left out some details that are important. For example it didn’t show San Jacinto Battle, the Tejanos that helped out on the Anglo side.

Then again this film was a little less than three hours long so it covered much detail that I hear other versions of it leave out. I guess you can’t have everything in a film so you need to choose what is more important to you and your viewers to decide what to include in the production. This movie contained a lot of humor and made it seem like they were real laid back and relaxed. Whether or not it was really like that or that was just added to make it more interesting it did keep me interested and listening.

It was accurate in showing that the women and children that were around were given a chance to leave before the battle and stay away from harm. Even though they were given that chance, Susanne Dickinson did not want to leave the Alamo because she wanted to stay there with her husband, and then later felt that she may have become more of a burden on her husband because he had to also worry about her and their child staying safe. When Susanne and her children were found by Santa Anna, she was given a donkey so that she could get away to safety and away from the horrible scene of the war.

I would really like to view the newer version of the Alamo that was remade in 2004 that starred Billy Bob Thorton so that I can see the differences between them and what each one leaves out and what they focus on. I think that any one who is studding the Alamo should view both of them so that they do not get just one view of the battle. I did not get the time to do that in time but hopefully in the future I will be able to.