OC Living

The past few weeks have been great - I'm surfing after work pretty much every day. I see dolphins about every other day when I'm out in the water. I'm not catching the big waves yet, but I am getting better. The water is cold enough that I had to buy neoprene boots to keep them warm, but I'm still enjoying it.

I have a friend from high school named Anna that moved to Orange County after we graduated. Every time I've come through LA over the past year I've tried to stop and have dinner with her and Eric (her once boyfriend, fiance and now husband). I got a text on Sunday afternoon from her asking me if I was interested in some Lakers tickets. I was just sitting around on the couch, so I was in.

I dropped everything and drove 15 minutes over to Anna's house. Eric and I left almost immediately and drove to Staples Center. One of Eric's friends had a vendor that had a connection to Lakers owner Jerry Buss' assistant.  Our tickets got us seats at a table in the restaurant on the mid-level baseline.  We had a waitress and didn't have to get up at all.  The Lakers were down for the whole game until Kobe pulled through in the clutch in the last minute for a 4 point win.

After the game our tickets also got us access to a bar underneath Staples Center.  When you see cameras following players through the concrete block lined passageways - that's where we were.  The guy that got us the tickets said that the bar was right in between the locker room and player exit, so if we stood outside we would see them all walk by.  He had also seen players and Khloe Kardashian (Lamar Odom's wife).  We decided to go inside and hang out as well as thank Buss' assistant for the tickets instead of standing around with cameras like groupies.  We did see Buss' ex-wife and an assistant coach, but that was it.

It was a very unplanned event, but lots of fun - especially because the tickets were free!