June is gone already?!

Man, I feel like we've been so busy with day-to-day stuff lately that I haven't had time to scratch myself. In fact, I think I have even forgotten where the itch was. Just kidding, I haven't had an itch. Except for that bite or whatever it is on the back of my heel. That's been itchy.

So, what's been happening? Lots of day-to-day stuff. It's been warm - a lot of days pushing 90+F (32+C) with a touch of humidity. Last night was really nice, the temperature dropped to the point that it was nice to eat outside. The next few days are supposed to be sunny but not too warm - a good lead up to July 4th long weekend! Not sure what's happening for that yet though... hopefully the warmer weather might lend itself to some night photo taking in the near future.

We've been going for hikes and stuff, but with the temperature the way it has been they have been more like strolls on the shadiest trails we can find. Despite the warmth it's good to be out of the house.

While in the house I've tried to squeeze in World Cup watching when I can. Being in the US has been helpful for watching or keeping track of games; the first games are generally on at around 10AM, and the later games kick-off at 2:30PM.

We've watched a couple of movies in recent weeks thanks to a free trial subscription to Netflix. Netflix is a DVD-in-the-mail type service, but they also have streaming content as well. We've watched Where the Wild Things Are, which was a bit weird, and Funny People, which had it's moments and was alright. I watched Daybreakers (without Liz), and I enjoyed it. I enjoy the vampire genre, and this was a different twist on that. Plus, it had people's heads blowing up and gore. That's why Liz didn't watch. I didn't realize before I watched it that it had such as strong Australian element to it.

I'm also being introduced to the TV series Freaks and Geeks. I'll be honest, at first I wasn't into it, but as more episodes get watched I'm starting to get more into it. Seeing younger Jason Segel and Seth Rogan is kind of funny.

Lastly, I hate HP printer software. It is so damn frickin annoying.

Softball Wrap - Game 7

It was not a good outing on Thursday for softball... we were on the wrong end of the run rule for the first time since I started playing - we were beaten 14 - 1.

I got to bat once and was caught in the outfield... I played an inning or so at short stop (which is in the infield), which was cool.

The other team were having a good day, and a fair amount of luck went their way too... they weren't a humble team - they took great delight in trashing us...

Day of Fun

Today may not have been too fun - watching the Socceroos lose heavily to Germany wasn't the greatest 2 hours of my weekend...

Yesterday, however, was a great day. Someone Liz works with jokingly said to her "I order you to have fun this weekend. You're young - young people have fun all the time!", so we looked into doing something. The decision was made to go to New York for the day and hang out. Liz looked at what was going on in the city yesterday and we made some plans.

We woke up to find the sky slightly darker than it was forecast to be, but decided to plow on. Arriving in the city at our first destination we found the air full of smoke. But not the bad type of smoke - this was the smoke of the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party!

(click on photos to see larger size)

Madison Square Park and it's surrounding streets had been transformed into a massive block party, with around 15 awesome barbecue stands being set up along the closed off roads. There were "pit bosses" there from all around the country. Reasonably long lines greeted you whenever you wanted food, but it was worth the wait. After finding a venue map we thought about the foods we wanted to try, getting more and more hungry by the second. Our first stop was Ubon's Barbecue of the Yazoo for some pulled pork and coleslaw. While in line we saw a guy with some good-looking ribs, so I asked him where they were from - our next stop was decided. The pulled pork was good, and the coleslaw was awesome.

Next up was Baker's Ribs. The guy who runs Baker's Ribs opened his first restaurant in 1979 - so we figured he had to know something about ribs. While in line we saw this guy carving brisket:

The line at Baker's moved the fastest of the 3 lines we waited in, and we moved straight past the guys who were cooking the ribs.

The ribs from Baker's, which came with Jalapeno Coleslaw, were the best thing we ate at the Block Party. The coleslaw wasn't as good as Ubon's, but the ribs were awesome.

After those ribs we wanted to try a dish that had baked beans with it, and given how good the ribs we had just eaten were we headed for the 17th Street Bar & Grill stand for Baby Back Ribs and Beans. Waiting in line I saw a barbecue sauce fountain, a guy unpacking ribs and a guy saucing and cutting ribs with a weird looking lady behind him.

The Baby Backs weren't as good as the ribs from Baker's, but all the food was starting to hit the spot, so we left the Block Party and walked out of the park, which is adjacent to the Flatiron Building. Looking around the skyline I spotted this. It's part of an art exhibit, and there are a few of them on top of buildings around the park. On the opening day the police apparently got calls about jumpers on rooftops.

Next stop was a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge. Neither Liz nor I had ever been to Brooklyn before yesterday, so we jumped on the subway and headed down there. The train out there was cool - it was one of the older trains which you don't see in Manhattan. Coming up from the subway we were both struck by how quiet Brooklyn is compared to Manhattan. There was a park nearby that only had a handful of people in it, so we stopped for a while before heading for the bridge.

The bridge was cool - it didn't take long to walk the entire length. We saw the Statue of Liberty etc, and once we were over we started heading towards the area where we were going to get dinner. After dinner we decided to grab some dessert and started walking. That's when we saw something disturbing. From behind us we heard people yelling and cheering, and the sound of bike bells. A huge group of people, probably over 100, rode past us on bikes. All naked or near naked. It was bad.

Eating dessert while walking uptown we found ourselves in the wrong place at the wrong time again. This time we were walking towards the naked bike riders. All we could do was avert our eyes.

Our last stop on our day of fun was an improv comedy show. Tickets were $5 each, so we figured even if it was terrible it wasn't that much for entertainment in the city. The show was at the Magnet Theater, and was done by a group called 4Track. They had their moments, but one of their members just wasn't funny.

A great day in the city, apart from the naked bike riders. I don't know why we don't do it more often - we live so close and there is always something different going on down there. It's not like there are naked bike riders every day...

Softball Wrap - Game 6

Hi Sports Fans,

Unfortunately there is no wrap for the game this week as the game didn't happen...

We had rain on Wednesday evening/night, but then a nice day Thursday. It was somewhat warm (75F/24C) and there was a lot of sun, so the ground was dry, but, alas, the city of Stamford decided that the weather was "inclement" enough to cancel the game.

Hopefully we play this coming week - by then it will have been 3 weeks since our last game, and before that it had been 2 weeks. I really hope this season doesn't turn into a repeat of last year when it seemed like every second game was washed out and not made up at the end of the season.

The bus: it's a strange 'place'

"I'm riding on the bus" - Monty Burns

Liz had to go somewhere for work today, so I bussed it to work and am currently bussing it home.

Sometimes, and I'm being completely serious here, I don't mind the bus. It is such an interesting place - the people are sometimes (often) crazy (I name them of course) and you hear and see some weird stuff. Laziness is also rampant - you don't need to catch the bus one block you lazy jerk!

What has really struck me today is the smell. This morning the bus smelled like the stuff that an exterminator/pest controller sprays. This afternoon it smells like a Bounty/Mounds chocolate bar (is Mounds right? Remembers slogan - Almond Joy has nuts, Mounds don't, yeah Mounds is right). Why does it smell like a delicious chocolate drenched coconut bar? (checks seat) I'm not sitting in anything...

Huh - it's gone. Back to regular bus scents. I'm really glad I don't have chocolate on my pants.

Weekend so long ago...

Alright, I've been really busy.

So, the weekend:

Watched a couple of movies - Liz and I watched Superbad together, which was hilarious. Then I watched District 9 while Liz and Tiff went and saw Letters to Juliet. District 9 was alright; I'm certain I enjoyed it more than I would have enjoyed Letters to Juliet...

Went for a hike - Liz, Tiff and I went for a small walk on Saturday. It was pretty warm (up around 85/30), so it was a good thing we were in a shady area and didn't go far.

Grilled some food - Chicken. It was pretty tasty.

Saw some of Tiff's photos - Tiff drove cross country recently, so she showed us some of her photos from the trip. She went to some pretty cool/interesting places, such as Arches and Zion National Parks, Colorado and Crater Lake.

But, the piece de resistance, perhaps the highlight of my weekend...

Let me set the scene. The sun had just finished going down, but it was still up around 85/30 degrees. Sheet lightning flashed in the clouds in the distance. Tiff, Liz and I decided to check out the annual Greek Festival, which was being held at the Greek church up the road. We were expecting Greek - Greek food, Greek dancing etc. We got closer to the church and noticed a lot of people. A lot more than we expected. We drove past and saw the carnival rides, which we knew would be there, and then fought the car and pedestrian traffic to find a parking spot in a nearby school. We walked to the festival, and as we neared the church we could smell Greek food. It turned out that was the only real hint of Greek we were going to get.

Walking through the festival, which was more just a carnival, was a disappointment. There were 2 tents cooking up Greek food, then it was all carnival. Wade through people, smell some vomit. The lines were ridiculously long, but we didn't plan on going on any rides. We walked past the ferris wheel and turned a corner. Then it happened. One of the most awesome sights I have ever witnessed.

He was big. Not tall - heavy. He looked like a typical carny. He was operating one of the crooked games, charging people large amounts of money to throw darts at balloons to claim poorly made stuffed toys. He was sweaty - his size and the heat were working against him. I saw him bring his hand down, vigorously mopping the sweat away from all over his face. He pulled his hand away from his face and the hand moved back to his head. He had just wiped his face with his hat, and then put the sweaty hat right back on his head. It was simultaneously disgusting and awe inspiring.

I may not have seen everything, but I have seen a sweaty carny wipe his face with his hat and then put it back on his head.

Softball Wrap - Game 5

I didn't post a wrap for last week's game, but it worked out well. This week we have a bye week, so no game tonight, and hence no wrap for it...

InsightExpress took their season record to 4-1 with a slaughter last Thursday. After a pretty even first inning we went on a rampage in the second, scoring 12 runs. The opposition tried switching pitchers but it helped little as we plundered our way to a scoreline of something like 20 - 5.

The opposition, in fairness, looked like they were missing some regular players, including their pitcher, which was evidenced by pitches landing 4 feet away from the strike zone.

I was happy with my performance - 5 times at the plate for 3 hits, an out and a walk.

But of course you can't have a slaughter without laughter (it's there in the spelling if you don't believe me). If you're sadistic/an ass or maybe just human the laughter came when we were batting. One of our guys hit a long, high ball out to right center. Their fielder was a ringer, and his method of catching was "move to the spot and hold your hand in the air". It almost worked. He made it to the spot, but the ball grazed his glove on the way down and smacked into his face. At the end of the game I believe he had a mark on his face from his glasses. He turned away help so we all applauded him. But I'm sure someone, somewhere, laughed.

Could it be, finally?

Dark clouds, fair amount of breeze, rumbles mixed with the traffic noise... Could it finally be a storm?

Rain drop on the Blackberry screen, and it's even darker... Bigger rumble!!!

Man I hope this is good...

Update: We did end up getting a small storm. It rained heavily for about 10 minutes then stopped. I saw a few bolts of lightning so I was happy. If only this bolt hadn't been behind a tree...