Superbowl 50

[Drunk Monk]

Can u believe I just got another update about security measures just now? I can hardly wait for the body cavity search...

Need to get up in 5 hours but I'm tweaking over tomorrow. Seeing so many pix of the various SB shows on fb. A few friends even got into the rolling stone party with avicii. The playboy and maxim parties were last night (but I was watching Deadpool    ). I'm now regretting not working on of the pre-shows.

[Drunk Monk]

We are forbidden to take any pix until after.

I have never been fondled by so many security checkpoints. I feel safe.

[Drunk Monk]

My world is orange and teal.

I never realized this was on my bucket list, but in a few hours I'm gonna check off 'nachos @ SB50'.

[Drunk Monk]

I am so sore.  SB50 kicked my ass.  And I didn't indulge in a single libation.  'cept for some nachos.  Mmmmm, Superbowl nachos.  

Today is Chinese New Year, a VERY busy day at the office here.  

I thought of a bunch of comments to post here on my commute this morning but I'm too tired to remember them now.  

Soon come.

[Greg]

I thought forbidden fruit would just goad you on. I was thinking your Facebook Super Bowl Photo Album would be of Dalinian Triangle proportions. But alas . . ..

[Drunk Monk]

You know, it's funny.  I was thinking I would take a ton of pix but I didn't.  However, Rock Med was forbidden to take photos until after the game.  Most of our vols did anyway and posted them after.  For some weird reason, I just wasn't into shooting.  I'm not as much of a shutterbug as you are Greg, not by any measure.  In retrospect, I think I was focused on really bringing it to the Superbowl for Rock Med - really working hard - because I feel I really wasn't supposed to be there.  I got around the 10 show minimum rule ahead of hundreds of other volunteers that applied.  In a really weird way, I felt totally unworthy to be there.  I'm not into football.  I hate Levi's.  Many veterans senior to me were denied, including our founder Dr. David Smith and the CEO of HR360, Vitka Essen.  So I felt I should bust ass so many of the other vols could take longer breaks and enjoy it all more.  

I got in.  I had a great time.  I got some good schwag.  I'm very satisfied with that.

Now for some more ibuprofen...

[Greg]

Wait! You aren't as big a shutterbug as me? Inconceivable.

Okay, who is?

[Drunk Monk]

You know I know a lot of pro photographers, right?  Remember Justin? The guy that hired me to come down to speak at Otis College back in 2008?  He's a Nat Geo photographer and has published two or three photo books.  And then there's a ton of concert photographers that I know.  One of my good friends recently got one of his concert pix into Rolling Stone.  Those guys are bigger shutterbugs than you.  

Unless you meant only within DOOM.  Then it's only Scapino.



<waits for the 'Aaaugh!' as Lucy whips another football away from Charlie Brown's kick>

---

Back to SB50.  So I got a ride from a nurse I met on facebook who has only 1 year under her belt volunteering for RM, and only a Levi's.  She had a nice new car, bought only a week ago, and was a sober driver.  What a luxury.  

We got to Levi's before sunrise and parked on the golf course surrounded by enforcement vehicles - dozens upon dozens of cop cars plus humvees at every major entry, manned by fully-armed Military Police.  We walked over for our first checkpoint - a frisk, a wand, and an ID check - then over to our RM tent behind the Fire Station.  On the way, we went past the enforcement lot which had the command vehicles for more officers than I've ever seen in one place: Police, Sheriff, CHP, FBI, Homeland Security, Coast Guard, and more.  It was a gun show - a macho flaunting of who had the biggest command vehicle.  I felt very safe.

The day before I spent sewing the new RM logo patch on my well-weathered RM M-65 jacket.  First new patch in years.  Hand sewn.  Without a thimble.  And I did a really crappy job.  It's a monastic meditation - a Buddhist monk is supposed to sew his initiate robe.  I never did.  I bought my robe.  But I've sewn all my patches on my jacket except for the initial ones cannibalized off my original RM jacket.  And of course, as expected, I was asked to drop that jacket for the official Levi's one, which I did gladly because the more I saw, the less I wanted to stick out. 

Once I got my cool SB50 GOLD nametag and my SB50 photo barcoded laminate on my cool SB50 lanyard, I had to pass another frisk, bag check (I had no bags), wand, walk-through scanner, dogs sniffing, and barcode entry which showed my photo to the guard.  Every time I left the perimeter, I had to scan out.  Soldiers with big ass guns and body armor were at every gate, every corner, everywhere.  Very safe indeed.  

I was assigned to logistics - a 4 man team.  I was L-3.  L-1 was the brother of our director, L-2 was a retired Sacto Fire chief who now oversees one of 3 national emergency resource centers in the nation, L-4 was a college kid, son of one of our best nurses, who is discovering the world of drugs and has taken me on as some sort of mentor.  L-1 and L-2 weren't very mobile - L-1 was out of shape, L-2 was old with a bad knee and none of us had great radio skills (actually, I have good radio skills but not with the required earbud - I hate earbuds because they bug the crap out of my ear and prefer pick mics).  Plus there was an initial mix up about which of the 3 RM channels we should be on, and anyone who had any of our cell numbers would call right when the radio barked.  The 1st few hours were a mess of running around getting the lay of the land and solving random problems.  Rm has 3 main medical stations in Levi's, and added 2 more in the fan lot and one more outside of the perimeter in the convention center.

[Drunk Monk]

I forgot to mention the cool SB50 lid, which I will wear proudly.  Note that the lid didn't come from the NFL.  The NFL are tight-fisted greedy bastards.  They provided minimal schwag, which was particularly annoying because there was so much schwag to be had.  It was the 49ers that sprung for the lids.  They are easily $30+ and I doubt NFL gives the niners a discount.  

BTW, I was given an SB50 gold pin several months ago.  I passed that along to Greg during my last Hollywood trip because I figured he'd appreciate it more and didn't think I was going to work SB50.  Turns out that pin was unavailable merch - it was exclusive for pre-promotion.  Everyone was looking for those because they were particularly nice. I'm glad Greg has it now.  

There was one station that was outside the perimeter, in the dungeon of the Convention center.  No one knew it was there.  Those vols were hating it.  I had to deliver some Keflex for a really bad spider bite and it took me forever to find it because no one knew where it was.  I had to make a few runs out there, and had to go through security again to get back in several times.  But that became fun later because there was no longer a crowd.

NFL only provided a crappy box lunch, but I will give them cred for having a veg quinoa wrap option.  We fed off the Firehouse, since we have a good relationship with them.  Firemen know BBQ, so it was pulled pork for lunch and tri-tip for din din.  Which didn't do a lot for vegetarian DM, but he appreciated that his fellow vols ate well because we all needed fuel.  Another cheese sammich for me.  

I did buy a pin.  I wasn't going to because I already got some souvenirs with the lid, lammy, lanyard and name tag.  I should have bought a bunch and resold them at a profit.  Before it started, I checked out the bazillion stacked-to-the-rafters merch booths.  Hoodies for $175.  Shirts $50+.  Pins weren't bad at $12+.  At the 2nd quarter, I escorted one of our senior nurses to the main shop at Levi's.  It was gutted.  Everything sold out.  Fans were dropping thousands.  Retailers were pulling stuff out of the back and selling them as they walked down the checkout line. 

I was on the move working it until the National Anthem.  I managed to catch Lady Gaga and the Blue Angels.  The roar of the crowd was deafening, and I'm quite accustomed to loudness.  Then I caught some of the 1st quarter, enjoyed an $8 bowl of very delicious nachos, and things were pretty chill until halftime.  There are monitors in our internal med stations so I saw a lot of the 1st half there and in the stadium.  Only caught a few commercials.  Still haven't seen the monkey-baby-puppy thing everyone is talking about.  

I saw the halftime show out of the corner of my eye moving some stuff from station to station.  I could heard it and catch it on the monitors that I passed but the delay on the monitors was distracting.  The show seemed great from that perspective and I didn't key in on Beyonce's BLM controversy at all until later.  Mostly, Coldplay seemed out of place, Bruno and Beyonce seemed very Bollywood, and the rainbow thing, well, I didn't see that at all from where I was.

Second half I was working more, or sitting on my ass because I was tired.  At the end, I was on the move again, pulling stuff down.  I had to swim upstream with a cot as fans were exiting. That was a bitch because it wasn't a gurney, it was a cot on wheels, heavy and hard to manage on slight uphill inclines. That, or taking a box of lunches out to Convention Center, were my hardest tasks. The rest was little stuff, like making an otoscope out of a pen light and an otoscope cone (old skool RM that).  

I didn't see any celebs.  Other vols did but I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.  I did see some NFL team owners (that's who I was told they were).  One of their shoes was worth more than I make in a month.  Such gluttony.

It was really fun.  I feel so privileged to have been there to witness it all.  The consumerism and commercialism was American capitalism at its finest.  And the reaction of people who weren't there is as polemic as the elections this year.  The mayor of Santa Clara quit right after SB50 - he had 3 years left on his term.  He cut the ribbon on Levi's and Levi's was mainly built for SB50.  It's a terrible venue, crappy sound, logistically awkward, and the sun beats down on the crowd mercilessly.  Now the next mayor will be left holding the bill.  Classy.  But I'll be back at Levi's for Beyonce.

[Greg]

I wish I could see sub-text better. I saw the half-time show and didn't think about the Black Panters at all. I just saw a bunch of pretty girls in tight leather outfits dancing. Who knew they were referencing the Black Panthers and Malcolm X?

As to the sun, it was fitting it was killing the crowd, because it was a brilliant gold color. I was thinking it might be an effect for the gold color of Super bowl 50.  I also noticed something about those card sections. If you hold up the card like you are asked to do, you can't see the show since it covers your face.

[Drunk Monk]

I couldn't see the actual performance, but I could hear it and that was more important for me in that moment. The viewer at home got a much better view. Heck, Lady Gaga's operatic crescendo was drowned out by the crowd and the Blue Angels. I wound up watching more on the monitors because most people chose to sit in their $5K seats and their ain't no good views elsewhere. You gotta keep moving in the aisles, especially if you're in uniform.

What is it with women of color and the Super Bowl? Janet and her wardrobe malfunction. My gurl MIA flipped the bird. Now Beyoncé?

[Drunk Monk]

puppymonkeybabypuppymonkeybabypuppymonkeybabypuppymonkeybaby

I confess I've been drinking kickstart and puppymonkeybaby makes complete sense to me.

I wish I saw that at the game. I would've basked in its glory.

puppymonkeybabypuppymonkeybabypuppymonkeybabypuppymonkeybaby

[Greg]

You're the one it makes sense to.

[Drunk Monk]

Drink Kickstart.  You'll get it.

[Greg]

Nope. That would cut too much into my 4 Loco consumption.