Monday, July 31, 2006

Baseball Iniquities...

Why is it that I can see the Sox or the Yankees pretty much any time I want, but the Mets only when they're here or playing the Braves? Injustice abounds!!

Also, if this heat is the result of global warming, I'm never driving ever again. Good lord.

Sunday, July 30, 2006

July... the play-by-play

The month's not quite over, it's been a total whirlwind causing me to fall into total blogging slackdom. I just finished watching Baseball Tonight, so here's the recap of my fabulous July, posted in the hopes that I'll be a better, more insightful and consistent blogger in August.

July 1-4: 4 days, 3 nights in FABULOUS Lex Vegas!! Our month begins with a holiday weekend trip to Lexington, Virginia - home of Washington and Lee University, Virginia Military Institute, the Palms, Hull's, Lee-Hi, and close enough to Goshen Pass to be darn near heaven. Had a wonderful time with the guy, which was somewhat surprising as four days straight with someone really ought to induce boredom, but it didn't. Lex is largely the same as it was back in my day (AGES ago...) though no one seems to know what happened to the Willson-Walker House. In its absence, we spent lots of time at the Southern Inn and regretfully, one evening at the Sheridan-Livery. Don't go there. For reals.

July 5-9: Moped. A lot. Boys can make you think crazy thoughts, you know?

July 8: Jen's lingerie shower at Poste. Yummy brunch, sexy underthings, and custom M&Ms. And I embarassed her with a Kama Sutra book and weekend love potion kit... Lovely...

July 10: Mental half-day, had a nice long chat with the guy, returned to reality, and felt a hell of a lot better about it.

July 11-12: There was surely some sort of drinking and prepping for Chicago and avoiding softball games in 100 degree weather.

July 13: Cheryl and HYP hit town... Science Club and Ozio where I introduced my DC conservative lawyer friends to my liberal New York media friends. Good times! And, the best waiter ever at Ozio. We got there at about five to eight, eight being that crucial point in the evening when happy hour specials end, and homey brought us two rounds at the happy hour prices. Nice dude.

July 14-16: Chicago to visit Zach and finally see my Amazin's live and in person. Stanky hot the whole damn time. Wrigley was very cool (in the purely figurative sense), even though the Mets lost, and deep dish pizza is rather tasty, though I still prefer the NY foldable stuff. And can anyone explain to me why Chicagoans like meat so much? Not too many specialities there that don't involve several varieties of sausage. Also, the key lesson of the weekend... when taking public transportation to the airport DOUBLE the time you think you need lest you wind up hungover on two hours of sleep running through the terminal to the last gate without having had any coffee. Not a good experience.

July 17: Start of a three-day monitoring surveys after-hours marathon, plus dinner at Mr. K's. First time I ever had Shark-Fin Soup (the Chinese say it's an aphrodisiac) and Peking Duck and I must say both were awfully tasty. Also a little trip to the Childe Harold, where I had one of my first DC celebrity sightings: Joe Scarborough. Gross.

July 18: More monitoring, in LA, which means it didn't start until 8 p.m. Tragic. Also W&L board meeting, yes folks, the gala is a go! Hurrah!!

July 19: More monitoring, ran very late, but still made it home in time for a marathon of the first two episodes of Project Runway. HATE the neck dude, but I love, love, love Robert, mainly because he worked for Isaac and his first dress was BANGIN.

July 20: Not such a good evening. Happy hour at Science Club (door guy remembered me, aw...), rolled on over to Cloud where there were deceptively strong G&Ts, saw Darren for about 37 seconds, then rolled out to Virginia where the G&Ts finally hit me. As R.L. Burnside said, "it's bad, you know?"

July 21: Ouch. Ouch ouch ouch. Hungover as all get out, had to pack for NY, get to work at a reasonable time, and get a lot done in order to get out early. Mission accomplished, and I made it to the PMHS Class of 1996 Ice Breaker with Dee at an ideally fashionably late hour. Good to see everybody but damn it was weird. I think the reunion deserves its own post, so more on this later...

July 22: Steamed lobster in Port Jeff, Smithaven Mall (happy memories!!), and the actual 10 year reunion. Oy.

July 23: Lunch with Grandma featuring the you-don't-call-enough special bombshell: Grandma had a mole removed which turned out to be malignant, but her doctor believes she got it all, so we're ok for now, but it was a nice way to scare the hell out of me before we even got to the restuarant. Also, my Aunt Virginia is moving to Minnesota to be closer to her son, and apparently thinks this lunch was the last time we'd ever see each other. Made for a nice optimistic drive home. Geez. I did get to go to sleep early, which was SO very cool...

July 24: Went to see The Lost City, Andy Garcia's film about the Cuban Revolution. I admire his dedication to this one, but it really could've been done better. E for effort?

July 25: Dinner at the City Tavern Club with some of the W&L students in town interning through the Shepherd Poverty Program. Good times. And still got to bed at a relatively normal time.

July 26: W&L monthly happy hour at Bourbon, sober driving (hurrah!), more good times.

July 27: Softball on the mall, and I have the mosquito bites to prove it! Also, mark this day in your calendars, it's the day of my very first softball hit! All-star game here I come!

July 28: Absolutely nothing. Yesssssssssssss....

July 29: A little shoe shopping (way better deal than in this link), a little apartment straightening, and a little girls night out at Blue Gin. Don't try to wear flip flops there. They won't let you in. But, if you're a cute girl with other cute girls, you'll be able to roll in cover free. Boo-yeah. Best of all: Five Guys at 2:30 a.m. LOVE IT!

July 30: Brunch with Els at Mr. Smith's. Did all this typing. Watching the Red Sox and am quite proud of the Fenway fans for booing Ben Affleck. Props yo. The Angels just hit two homers off Schilling. I luv Pedro!!

One day left... see you in August!!