The Harbor Drive Pedestrian Bridge in San Diego

Posted on by georgefattell
The Harbor Drive Pedestrian Bridge (HDPB) at night. This impressive bridge opened to the public on March 18th, after nearly three years of construction. The span connects San Diego’s downtown Ball Park/East Village section to the waterfront.
The bridge cost 27 million dollars, which was well beyond original cost estimates. I usually find publicly funded projects that go over budget disturbing, but this beautiful bridge is an exception.
This bridge is an architectural gem in my opinion and provides a much needed overpass near the new bayside Hilton Hotel and the Convention Center. The bridge is one of the longest self-anchored pedestrian suspension bridges in the world and was designed to last at least 100 years. If it lasts that long, surviving earthquakes, storms and whatever else get thrown at it in the coming decades it will have been well worth it’s cost.
Bridge Spec’s:
550′ long
16′ wide
Pylon is 131′ tall
34 individual suspenders are attached to the main cable. All cables are stainless steel.

My gallery of the HDPB

The NCAA’s – The Elite Eight

Posted on by georgefattell

Wow, the tournament this year really has lived up to name “March Madness”.  I can’t believe all the highly seeded teams that gone down so far. I received an update from the guy who runs the pool I’m in and I was shocked to find out my brackets are ranked #2 and #5, out of 42. Although I’m finished if the last #1 seed, Kansas, actually wins, because 12 people in my picked KU to win. OTOH, no one in our pool picked Butler, Kentucky, Arizona, UConn, VCU or FL to win it all. I picked Kansas to make it to the Finals in one bracket, but not win. I hope that happens.

My actually hoping Butler pulls the shock of all time and wins it.

Here are my Elite Eight game picks:

Butler defeats Florida

UConn defeats Arizona

Kansas defeats VCU

Kentucky defeats UNC

UFC 128 Jon Jones: Superstar

Posted on by georgefattell

Wow, what was I thinking picking picking against “Bones” Jones??? Actually, I thought that Rua might be one of the few fighters who would have a chance against Jones because of his mutli-faceted MMA skill set and his superior experience in MMA. I thought that might enable Rua to prevail over the of relatively inexperienced challenger. Wrong.

Jones was in control in entire fight. Jones’ large 6’4″ frame combined with fast reflexes and outstanding wrestling ability give him a huge advantage over everyone in the UFC Light Heavyweight division.

I hope Jon Jones has a long run as champion. He is an admirable young man in many ways. He is smart, articulate and polite. He is also a committed Christian. The tattoo on his upper right chest is Philippians 4:13.

Which is:

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

UFC 128 Newark – Shogun Rua vs Jon Jones

Posted on by georgefattell

UFC 128 will be held at Prudential Center in Newark, NJ tonight. The overall card for the fight looks pretty good, but I’m interested in the main event far more than all the other fights. The main events pits the Light Heavyweight Champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs Jon “Bones” Jones for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.

This could be an epic battle. Jones seems to have superhuman athleticism, but he has never faced anyone as tough as Rua, nor anyone as hard hitting. I’ve gone back and forth on this fight, but I think Shogun wins. Rua has seen it all and won’t be intimidated by Jones. I’m little surprised I’m making this prediction because I’ve gone back and forth on this a lot and only a few days ago I was leaning toward Jones. Both fighters are very capable of ending this fight early and Jones is indeed the favorite in this fight in Vegas at around 2-1, but I think Shogun will win by TKO/KO.

College Basketball – The NCAA’s

Posted on by georgefattell

The NCAA Basketball tourney is my favorite annual sports event. I love the drama, intense competition and inevitable upsets.

I am participating in a pool again this year. This pool is run my a former co-worker of mine and he does an excellent job of administering it and keeping all players updated on our standings after each round is completed. I always have a lot of fun playing and consider it a real challenge to finish in the upper end of the standings because the other participants are pretty knowledgable college hoops fans. I picked Duke to win last year in one of my two brackets and ended up taking 1st place. The key to victory there was that only one other bracket in that pool, which had about 30 brackets entered, that had Duke winning it all.

This year our pool bracket count is 42.

Ohio State 14
Kansas 12
Duke 6
San Diego State 3
Pittsburgh 2
UCLA 2
Florida 1
North Carolina 1
Syracuse 1

I entered two brackets this year. I ended up picking Ohio St. in one of my brackets and Duke to win in the other. OSU was an obvious favorite because they have been a powerhouse all year and I could not ignore their impressive record of 32-2 going into the tourney. They stand out in year that reflected great parity in college basketball. I figured a lot of other people would be picking OSU in the pool so I also picked a team team that would have to be considered an unlikely opponent in the championship game and that team is Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish were very good this year and could go deep in the tourney if their outside shooting is on.

Although Duke is a number one seed they are still considered a little bit of an underdog when compared to Ohio State and Kansas, but I think Duke has a good shot to win it all again because they have an all-time great coach in Mike Krzyzewski and very talented, tournament tested team. They won the tough ACC again and seem to peaking at the right time.

On a side note I hope MWC teams, San Diego State and BYU, go far in the tourney. I like SDSU because they are my local team here in San Diego and they have captured the imagination of San Diego. BYU is intriguing because of their superstar guard, Jimmer Fredette. I don’t think either one will make it into final four, but good for them if either one can pull it off.

The Saint Patrick’s Day Parade in San Diego

Posted on by georgefattell

I attended the 31st annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade in San Diego this past Saturday. I thought it was a very cool event and it seems to grow bigger every year. I have attended  this event a few times in recent years, but never brought my camera along. This time I made sure I brought my camera and my iPhone for pictures and video.

The parade and accompanying celebration in Balboa Park is a lot of fun for anyone who is Irish, part Irish (that would include me, I’m  1/4 Irish)  or Irish for a day. This year 30,000 people turned out along the parade route.

Here is link to more pictures I took in Balboa Park and along the parade route , which guided the marchers down 6th Avenue and then turned around at Juniper Street and sent them up 5th Avenue in the Bankers Hill neighborhood, on the west side of  the park.

http://george718.zenfolio.com/p216742120

UFC 127 Sydney

Posted on by georgefattell

Some pretty good fights on tap tonight for UFC 127 in Sydney, Australia. Here are my picks:

Welterweight: BJ Penn vs JonFitch. I got to take Fitch here against MMA legend end BJ Penn.Fitch has a size and reach advantage, as well as outstanding wrestling skills that prove too much for Penn to overcome imo. Penn always has the ability to KO an opponent with his fists or feet, but I think Fitch will be careful to avoid the KO blow.

Middleweight: Michael Bisping vs Jorge Rivera. I think Bisping wins by TKO

Lightweight: George Sotiropoulos vs Dennis Siver: Australian native Sotiropoulos should win at home. George S by decision.

Welterweight: Chris Lytle vs Brian Ebersole. Lytle should win by submission, the way he usually does.