Who-Dey!!!

He's back and I can't wait. In other news the Wife and I are building an ark in the back yard in case the rain keeps up. Unfortunately, there is just room for the three of us, like we wouldn't take the monster. Stay out of any dry creek beds in case of flash flooding.

I saw in the news where a cyclist coming back from South Bend was forced off of the South Shore Line and had to take a $150 cab ride and all I could think of, "I didn't know one of the BR's went home the other day."

Finally, listen to Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me for me laughing in the background. Thanks to El (Future teammate in fall league on the "Public News Team"). I was kind of excited to go, having never seen a radio show tape, the Wife was "eh" about the whole thing. It ended up being one of the funniest things either one of us has ever seen. Let's just say there is a great deal of lines that never make the air. In fact a whole running joke ended up involving a fictional place the Ha Ha Hole. You get the idea.

Smoke On The Water

I am putting it out there, I can say unequivocally, if Guitar Hero had existed in college my whole frisbee team would have flunked out of school. The other night I went over to the Real World Irving Park (R.W.I.P, from now on). For those intrepid readers who don't know about R.W.I.P. it is an five bedroom apartment filled by five guys ranging from 24-32 who play ultimate. The apartment is pretty sweet and with five guys you know when you go over there you can always find one person least who wants to do something.

For the unschooled Guitar Hero is a Playstation 2 game that rather than using a standard controller it uses a small plastic guitar with five buttons in the fret board, a strummer doohickey and a whammy bar. When playing you have to hit the strummer doohickey while hitting the right buttons on the fret board as shown on the screen as your electronic avatar plays with the band. Extra points can be had by using the whammy bar at certain points. (AY throws off is well documented fastidiousness to hammer at the whammy bar, comedy ensues). Even more bonus points can be garnered by pointing the guitar up in the air at certain points a la a real guitar hero.

Here is the part that would have really gotten us in trouble you can have two guitars and duel. We would have had put in a continuing order on the guitars at Best Buy. You can imagine losing and breaking guitars over knees, winning and trashing guitars like Nirvana or Rev being Rev. (A well documented story, Rev once pulled a toilet out of the ground and threw it against the door after being locked in a bathroom because he had already trashed some stuff in the house. Odder there was an extra fixture around and he installed the new one. Better for us, he is no longer in the Navy and a nuclear engineer on a sub).

Anyhow, there is nothing weird about a bunch of guys sitting around playing video games at our age. Well nothing I would admit to.

A Walk In The Woods

Long time no post. This is what happens when you take a week in the woods of Northern Michigan in a cottage with no internet. I can not think of the last time I was somewhere where WiFi was not readily available. I have to say I kind of liked it. Now don't get me wrong I am not going to go to a pond and suck the marrow out of life or take my wooden shoes and throw them into the gears of a machine, but it is nice to take a week off the grid.

Leading up to the week in Michigan we spent a weekend in Tarrytown, New York for a wedding. Again, a lovely wedding in a great location, but of course we had travel problems thanks to our leaving on the Thursday of the terrorist scare and a cab driver who didn't know where the hell he was going. I am going to leave that story for the Wife because she is still angry about it. (At one point I was yelling "Everyone stop talking" and I think it was the first time the doorman at the hotel saw a NY cabbie not get paid). Outside of the travel issues we had a great time. The weekend included a trip out to Connecticut to a BBQ at one the Wife's grad school friend's house and seeing babies. I fell asleep with one the babies thanks to a mobile that also played a background of waves crashing against a beach at the same time. I am thinking about getting an adult sized one to battle my occasional bouts of insomnia.

Michigan was a great time. Marla learned to use her hind legs while swimming. We had to steer her back to shore a couple of times otherwise she would have ended up in the boat traffic. She also got to run through the woods and up and down hills which she loves. Her coat is the perfect woodlands camouflage.

The Wife also had possibly her last waterski run. Don't get me wrong she is fantastic up on one ski slaloming across wake, the whole thing. Of course, she couldn't walk the next day and may need PT for her back. The only drawback was a trip to the driving range by myself. (Nice range, real grass off a raised tee box, but I really need some lessons).

Expect the Wife to post more later, I'm off to the Real World Irving Park tonight for dinner with BK and EA.

Lost Bags

To start with big shout out to EA for watching Marla this weekend. She loves her nanny.
The Wife and I returned from New England last night and our bag got here this morning at 5:30. Sweet, I know. Traveling was less then pleasant. We had a layover in Detroit on our way to New Hampshire (An effort to save money, never again) Almost as soon as getting on the plane we had to et off because the main strut of the landing gear was leaking hydraulic fluid. I am not an expert, but I know enough about the family biz to know this is bad.
Sidenote, my dad is an aeronautical engineer who designs jet engines creating an unnatural fear of flight. Not for the usual reasons of being mystified by the technology, but instead my paranoia is created by an all too intimate knowledge of the science of fluid dynamics that comes from learning Bernoulli's equation when eight years old. ((Also, talk about the irony ("Irony" in the Alanis Morrisette way, not the Shakespearean way) of RERIII dying in fiery crash caused by a design flaw in one of RERII's engine.))
The end result being what was suppose to be an hour layover turned into a four hour delay. Turning a scenic drive through the White Mountains during the waning light of the afternoon. Turned into a white knuckle torture with a rental car whose brakes were not working very well. You're starting to get the idea. The flight back was uneventful, until we got back to Midway and our suitcase wasn't there. Lending itself to my yelling at a customer service rep at 2am. Good times.
I think there were some other travel badness. I am sure most of us have experienced the early morning hungover drive when your co-pilot passes out and you are left driving while punching your leg to stay awake. I mention all of this not to disparage the long travel, but to say that even these events couldn't take away how good of a time we had at the wedding.
The wedding occurred in Paris Hill, Maine we stayed nearby in Bethel, Maine at the cutest little B&B run by a couple, the husband who was English had a delightful accent. Saturday saw Sarah and I on bikes riding through New England. The bike riding stopped a little short because the bikes the B&B provided did not include brakes for me. (A disturbing trend). Anyhow, after a morning bike ride we walked around the quaint village looking in shops having a light lunch. All very idyllic.
The wedding itself was held in a church that probably was around during the Revolutionary war. The after the ceremony all the guests got on the steps for a group picture with the bride and groom. Then we all walked over to the reception following a bagpiper (I love bagpipes, to the point I will listen to bagpipes at 8am driving to tourneys) to the brides home. There was a tent, a gorgeous view and a beer boat. (The beer boat is an old row boat filled with ice and beer, and possibly the greatest invention ever).
All in all the reception was gorgeous with amazing views and good times. Got to seem some of Sarah's college friends. The usual circle of men occurred where an over/under was set on when the first person would fall down the hill. (The home sits on top of a very steep hill so even ground came at a premium, to the point the dance floor had a 20 degree incline, didn't stop the Wife and I from droppin' it like it's hot). The under paid off. There were alot of high points, including the soon to be Chief of Pediatrics at a certain university hospital doing the running man or rodger rabbit, not sure which! Dancing with the Wife. Good cake. You get the idea. Hopefully, the Wife will post photos later.

Don't Call It A Comeback....

...we been here for years! Can you say win streak. Kablooie won two games in a row. Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta. Of course the wins come at a great time right before the tournament. Granted, I am missing the tournament to go to a wedding in NY.

Before I get started I would like to shout out to miss casual and BK for providing rides this summer.

So the haps of late. Friday saw myself and the Wife over at the Fortress of Solitude. Although, the Fortress is a bit of a misnomer now that EA is getting married in May and Tracy is moving in after the wedding. After this was settled, shocking changes have taken place. EA got rid of the brick/plywood shelving unit, there is paint on the walls and now the old eMac computer is no longer in the kitchen. Tracy might have even said something about all the DVD's in the guest bedroom.(EA refers to the guest bedroom as the data center, you are starting to get the idea, right.) A part of me feels like Obi Wan when Alderan got Deathstarred, you know a weakening in the force, but mostly I am really happy for EA. Sidenote, the plan was to go up to the sundeck (this eventually happened, but not until late because of the heat) so EA told people to bring cans. I have never seen so many Miller Light fridge packs in my life. (I was thinking about the fridge pack this Sunday when putting the diet coke in the fridge. The question is not does it make sense, but why did it take so long to come up with. Sort of like the square watermelon in Japan).

Saturday brought plumbers to the house to do some work. No more brown bath water. Yeah!

Sunday, the Wife and I went and saw Pirates. Good flick, except for falling in to the middle movie in a trilogy always lets you down trap. (This should be called the Empire Strikes Back rule, the exception that proves the rule.) ((Second Star Wars reference, all I can say is it was a good thing I was always a big guy and a wrestler to boot or I definitely would have gotten my ass kicked in middle school.)) Just trying to do too much to set up the next film while making an independent story.

Plans for the week include keeping the dog from dying of a heat stroke.