As Far As You Know

Spent much of the day exploring El Yunque, the only rain forest in the U.S. Forest system. It's less than an hour's drive from San Juan and a site with striking waterfalls and amazing biodiversity.

JetBlue was voted the best domestic airline the last three years. Having traveled round trip to Puerto Rico on JetBlue--my first time with the carrier--I can see why. It was a pleasure.

Check it: new episode of Lost, season premiere of Alias, and new episode of The West Wing, plus Drawn Together. That is one tough to beat line-up!

Tonight marks the return of MI-5 on the A&E cable channel. This British import--called Spooks on the other side of the pond--is pretty gripping stuff. And with Alias and 24 also returning to the air in the same week, it's the first time we've had spy shows on TV in months.

Steve Jobs does it again. In his annual MacWorld San Francisco appearance, he dazzled the crowd with Apple's new software offerings--including the forthcoming Tiger update to OS X and new versions of GarageBand, iPhoto, iMovie, and iDVD--and new hardware such as the Mac Mini and iPod Shuffle. For a company that supposedly has only 3% market share in the computer industry, it's amazing how Apple still generates 90% of the buzz when they unveil new offerings!

The Aussie Open starts Monday (7pm EST Sunday) to kick off the 2005 professional tennis season. It's midsummer in Melbourne and hot! I was last there in January 1998 and expect to be there again in 2007--my next sabbatical is just two years off! Oi, oi, oi.

Tuesday night, Melbourne time: Andre Agassi vs. Roger Federer. A rematch of their U.S. Open showdown, which may have been the best men's match of 2004.

Fresh from the Interet:

NORTH AMERICA DATES AND TICKETING INFORMATION

March 28th San Diego, CA - Sports Arena
April 1st Anaheim, CA - Arrowhead Pond
April 5th Los Angeles, CA - Staples Center
April 9th San Jose, CA - HP Pavilion
April 14th Phoenix, AZ - Glendale Arena
April 20th Denver, CO - Pepsi Center
April 24th Seattle, WA - Key Arena
April 28th Vancouver, BC - General Motors Place
May 7th & May 9th Chicago, IL - United Center
May 14 Philadelphia, PA - Wachovia Center
May 17 & May 18 East Rutherford, NJ - Continental Airlines Arena
May 21 New York, NY - Madison Square Garden
May 24 & May 26 Boston, MA - Fleet Center

Tickets for performances in Boston, Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia and San Diego will go on sale this Saturday, January 29th.

Tickets for performances in Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Jose go on sale this Sunday, January 30th and tickets for New York and East Rutherford go on sale next Monday, January 31st. (All additional on sale dates will be announced in the next few weeks.)

Once again, U2 will offer General Admission floor tickets giving fans the best view in the house for the lowest ticket price. Reserved seat tickets in the stands will also be available. In North America, general admission floor tickets will be $49.50 (plus applicable service fees). Additional ticket prices will vary per market. There will be an 8 ticket limit per person with a maximum purchase of 2 general admission floor tickets.

EUROPEAN DATES AND TICKETING INFORMATION

June 10th Brussels - King Baudouin Stadium
June 12th Gelsenkirchen - Schalke Stadium
June 14th Manchester - City of Manchester Stadium
June 18th London - Twickenham Stadium
June 21st Glasgow - Hampden Park
June 24th Dublin - Croke Park
June 29th Cardiff - Millenium Stadium

2nd July Vienna - Ernst Happel Stadium
5th July Katowice - Slaski Stadium
7th July Berlin - Olympic Stadium
9th July Paris - Stade de France
11th July Zurich – Letzigrund Stadium
13th July Amsterdam – Arena
19th July Milan - San Siro
23rd July Rome - Olympic Stadium
27th July Oslo - Vallehovin Stadium;
29th July Gothenburg - Ullevi Stadium
31st July Copenhagen - Parken

3rd August Munich - Olympic Stadium
5th August Nice - Parc des Sports Charles Ehrmann
7th August Barcelona – Camp Nou
9th August San Sebastian - Anoeta Stadium
11th August Madrid - Estadio Vicente Calderon
14th August Lisbon - Alvalade

Tickets for the UK shows go on sale at 9am Friday, January 28th; tickets for
Brussels go on sale Saturday, January 29th and tickets for Dublin go on sale on Friday 4th February. (All additional on sale dates will be announced in the coming weeks.)

I have pre-sale access tickets to the tour tomorrow and have to decide where to see the band (maybe the end of the leg in Boston?). I may try to score tickets to Glasgow as well!

The current season of 24 is clearly the best yet. The first six episodes have been increasingly satisfying. Tonight's was probably the best hour of the show so far. Here's hoping they can maintain the pace!

Federer rolled over Agassi in straight sets. Can anybody stop this guy this YEAR?

I am heading to the Fleet Center in Boston on May 26 with primo seats for U2!!! The last concert I saw in Boston Garden--the previous incarnation of the Fleet Center--was also U2, on The Joshua Tree tour in the fall of 1987. I am SO psyched for this. It will be the last show of this leg of their tour. (I may try to get more tickets for a New York show when they add dates, as they inevitably will after the initial round of sell-outs.)

I well remember twenty years ago--January of 1985--spending a very cold night on the streets of Worcester, Massachusetts outside the Centrum, waiting to get tickets for a show on U2's Unforgettable Fire tour later that spring. A few of us in college made an adventure out of it back then. It was a pleasant contrast to roll out of bed rather late this morning on this school holiday, sit at my computer a few minutes before 10:00 a.m., press a few buttons and have the tickets sent to me via email. I certainly stayed a lot warmer!

At bedtime last night I caught the tail end of the first women's semifinal at the Aussie Open. When I tuned in, Serena Williams was on the brink of elimination, down 3-5 in the final set against Maria Sharapova. Serena saved three match points and competed tenaciously to earn the win after too long away from the tennis limelight.

World #1 Roger Federer got knocked off by Marat Safin last night (actually later tonight, but it already happened in Australia!) in a barn-burner five-set struggle. This ought to help Andy Roddick's chances to win his second major. But first Roddick needs to get by Lleyton Hewitt. The American should be slightly favored only because he's spent literally half the time Hewitt has on court in the earlier rounds. Hard to see Safin beating either Roddick or Hewitt, but the extra day's rest could be helpful after the marathon against Federer.

It's great to see the world's four best players in the semis of a Grand Slam event! I hope the second semifinal is as good as the first one was.