I finally got a bunch of rolls of film developed. Here’s a whole album of the trip Brent and I took to Pittsburgh.
I’ve also added pictures from the Orioles Photo Day to my Orioles album, a few of Colin (and some extra cats) to the Colin album, and a few of Long Beach and DC to the scenery album.
Look what that evil tire did to my baby. At least the insurance people are being really nice.
Ouch.
Because I know you all care about my fantasy baseball team, here’s an update. I managed to pull off a tie last week and am back in third place after a brief sojourn in fourth. Woo! But what really amused me was the latest note on Brian:
Views: Roberts and his futuristic contact lens should be in your lineup all the time.
Hee. Although I would like to point out, again, that the contact lenses are only good in day games.
I’ve spent some time lately being entertained by McSweeney’s. Two I’ve found particularly amusing are The Seduction of the World’s Wildest Beasts: A How-To and Baseball Knowledge Will Not Help You Pick Up Girls (although with me it sure wouldn’t hurt; I’m particularly fond of “I would trade Albert Pujols and Vladimir Guerrero for a date with you. Why are you laughing? That’s a combined 70 home runs a year!”).
For non-Internet reading, you should check out Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell. She explores the first three presidential assassinations (Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley) by going to various sites associated with them and their deaths. It’s all terribly amusing. No, seriously.
Current song in my head:
“Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Elvis Presley
I should’ve just listened to my body this morning. I woke up and felt icky. Not anything specific; just a lot of coughing and my throat felt weird. Plus, my legs hurt (and that’s what I get for actually exercising yesterday). But instead of staying in bed, what did I do? I got up to go tutoring. And that was my mistake.
I’m driving up 270 and there’s a tire in the road. It obviously is coming from the left shoulder and is making its way across the four lanes–right toward me. I hope it’ll miss me, but it seems very determined. It gets close; I swerve. And…it slams into the side of my car. Then bounces away. But it left its mark. Literally. There are, essentially, tire tracks on the side of my car. Right on the big dent. I am, needlessly to say, not pleased. I should be grateful. The car still works, it didn’t hurt my back tire at all (it hit right in front of the rear tire), it didn’t cause me to lose control or anything. I’m not hurt. But…man. My poor, poor car. I don’t know how that tire was going down the road, but I’m sure annoyed about it.
But, on a Saturday afternoon, there was little to do about it. So after tutoring I came home and lay on the couch, as I still physically felt ucky. The coughing? Continued. I watched my boys make a brilliant comeback in the top of the 9th inning (which they totally need, as they apparently have no confidence on the field at the moment), only to see them lose on a walk-off home run. Steve’s party was fun (yay, pigs in a blanket!) and then I watched a bunch of Arrested Development.
Now it’s 2 a.m. and I should be in bed. I still feel crappy and my throat is really bothering me, but I’m not really tired. And am bothered by the fact that my hair seems very flat. I’m going to blame that on having it pulled back most of the evening.
Current song in my head:
“Where Does the Good Go?” by Tegan and Sara
So I was flipping through the channels the other night and come across the climax of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I pause, partially because I just like the movie, and partially because young Tom Riddle–Lord Voldemort himself–is featured heavily at that part. And as I watched, I realized that Christian Coulson reminds me a lot of Jeff Bateman, this guy I liked in high school. I think it’s the hair, really. I must point out, however, that Jeff was not at all evil. He was a very nice boy who made an adorable sheep in a play we were in together.
Here’s a picture of Christian Coulson as Tom Riddle:
Here are a couple of Jeff from my yearbook (and man, seeing pictures of myself from then…I’m impressed that any boys even talked to me):
Ah, high school. Good times. … Kind of. Anyway, Jeff was nice. My big move with Jeff was when he graduated (he was a senior, I was a junior) and after the ceremony, I hugged him. Yeah, I was wild in those days. Hey, it made me happy. I hope he’s doing well.
In what I believe is a first in professional sports history, two video gamers will play the first two innings of a baseball game for the teams. And it will count. The first two innings of the July 16 game between the Kansas City T-Bones and the Schaumburg Flyers will be played on X-Box. It will be shown on the JumboTron and the stadium announcers will provide play-by-play. To make it more intriguing, apparently the T-Bones and the Flyers are rivals; the Flyers came from behind to beat the T-Bones in the playoffs last year. This must be pretty frustrating for the players. But wow, technology has come so far from the days of basic Nintendo.
The trip to Pittsburgh was good. Pittsburgh managed to exceed Brent’s and my expectations (which, admittedly, were not terribly high to begin with). It helped that we stayed in a fabulous hotel, paying something like a third of the actual rate. Sure, they constantly pointed out that we booked through Hotwire, but if it annoyed them, then, well, maybe they should stop taking bookings through there.
We rode the Monongahela Incline, meandered around Station Square, then relaxed at the hotel a bit before heading over to PNC Park for the Nationals-Pirates game. The park was great and we had fantastic seats. I got Ryan Church and Brad Wilkerson to sign the game ball Dave and I got at the game we went to. The Nats won, 7-4, and Jose Guillen helped out my fantasy team with two home runs (side note: the fantasy team is not doing so well; I’m now in 4th in my league).
After the game, Brent and I decided that we wanted some dinner, so we asked at the front desk of the hotel and the girl there sent us to the Strip District. Well, theoretically. In practice, Brent and I wound up wandering around a very deserted area next to the river. There were scary loading bays and hoodlums and highway overpasses and we walked and walked and walked and definitely did not find any sort of restaurants, shops, or bars. So we hoofed it back to the hotel, thankfully unmolested, and wound up eating at the hotel. It was crazy expensive, but we were thankful to not be wandering the mean streets of Pittsburgh.
Yesterday we went down to the point where the three rivers meet, the site of the original Fort Pitt. It was closed. (Typical.) But it was pretty. And there were nice dogs.
Anyway, it was a lovely trip. The city was very walkable and it worked out fantastically. Except for the walking the mean streets of Pittsburgh (we passed the Greyhound station, people). But other than that little blip…
Current song in my head:
“Saving All My Love For You” by Whitney Houston
This op-ed piece, written by a former Repbulican Senator from Missouri, does a really good job articulating how I feel about faith and politics. Basically, just because conservative Christians say they represent Christians doesn’t mean that they do.
By contrast, moderate Christians see ourselves, literally, as moderators. Far from claiming to possess God’s truth, we claim only to be imperfect seekers of the truth. We reject the notion that religion should present a series of wedge issues useful at election time for energizing a political base. We believe it is God’s work to practice humility, to wear tolerance on our sleeves, to reach out to those with whom we disagree, and to overcome the meanness we see in today’s politics.
Grover is currently participating in a chat on washingtonpost.com. He’s talking about eating better. He is the BEST. I love Grover.
Note: This post may not make much sense. I’m hopped up on sugar from the Munchkins that my boss brought in for me and I’m less than 10 minutes from fleeing the office for the weekend. The 4-day weekend. Hurrah!
Note 2: Grover responded to me! Yay!
Silver Spring, Md.: Grover, I just want to say thank you for all the cuteness you have brought to the world. I’m 26, and you’ve always been my favorite. I am slightly resentful of Elmo–who was not around when I was a child–because he seems to be overshadowing you a bit. But I’ll always love you! -From one cute kid to another
Grover: Thank you for recognizing my cuteness! I will now recongnize your cuteness! Oh there it is! hello, cuteness! Now let us all take a moment to recognize Elmo’s cuteness! he is so cute and red and fuzzy! he really is very cute!
He thinks I’m cute! Awww. Except for the acknowledgment of Elmo, who is still vastly inferior to Grover.