Break Between Vacations

So, I have been back just a few days from my vacation in Myrtle Beach, and I leave for a vacation in Michigan in a day.  I have taken a few moments to take stock in my life, and I have to say, life is good.

So, I got to Myrtle Beach on Saturday.  Dunk picked me up from the airport and we drove to meet my parents, brother, and niece.  As it turned out, we did no get the house we originally asked for, because there was a leak in the ceiling.  Instead, they moved us to a house with a plasma flat screen and an in ground pool…nice.  There were four bedrooms in the main house, and a guest house with two bedrooms and a bathroom.  Tom and I took the guest house.  My two nieces shared a room, My oldest sister and her son shared another, and my other sister and Dunk shared a room, with my parents taking the master bedroom.  The whole week was awesome.  We laid out on the beach, swam in the ocean, played in the pool, etc.  I even went to a club.  We went to the House of Blues on Monday, which was cool.  My brother, Dunk and I went with my cousin who is a cop in the area.  We went to the Dixie Stampede, Le Grade Cirque, and I saw four movies.  Hulk was cool.  iron man was just as good the 2nd time.  The Happening and Zoahn were awful.  I was sad to leave the following Saturday.

Before I flew home, we went out to see my cousin’s house that he is building in Longs, South Carolina.  The house is awesome.  It has three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a four car garage, a rec room, an in ground pool and jacuzzi.  The house is friggin sweet.

After dealing with a delayed flight out of Myrtle Beach, I got home and put together a poker game, where my winning streak finally ended, ending the night down 20.

On Sunday, I went to the Nats-Orioles Game with Mike and his 5 year old Son Sammy.  We had a good time and saw a 12-inning game end with a walk-off two run home run  by formal Cardinal Ronnie Belliard, to give the Nats a best 2 out of three against their Beltway rivals.  That night, Lenora and I went to go see Wanted before doing dinner at Hops.

Monday night, we pre-bowled for our Wednesday night league, since Lenora and I will both be in Michigan on Wednesday.  I bowled horrible, with a 112, 130, and 101.  Luckily, Paul bowled a 200, 193, and 200.  Seh and jen each beat their average twice, so we have a good shot at staying in first place in the league.  if we lose, i accept full responsibility for sucking it up so bad.

Also, when I got home tonight, I made the payment, officially becoming a Washington Redskins season ticket holder.  I even had enough money left from my saving sot pay off both of my credit cards, with money to spare for my Michigan trip.  Awesome.

After work today, I hope to spend the next week lounging on a boat or playing lots of golf, ping pong, cards or just chilling in Michigan for the 4th of July.

Life is pretty damn good at the moment.  I am thankful for the way things are right now, and I hope it stays this way for at least a little while longer.

Weekend Without Roommates

So, both of my roommates were out of town this weekend, so, with the exception of Grant, who is staying with us, I had the house to myself.  On Friday, I stayed in and just chilled at the house.  Grant and Alan showed up for about an hour before going out for the night.  I watched Spider-Man 3 on tv…I had forgotten how bad that movie was.  The first two were so good, but they just went certain directions that were ridiculous.  Not sure why they decided to make Peter Parker all emo when he was in the black suit.  Anyway, I called it a night rather early on Friday.

I got up around 8:30am on Saturday.  I got the kitchen, living room, and basement clean up a bit.  The kitchen was f’n train wreck, so that was no small chore.  Grant and I ended up going bowling with Paul and Jen.  I bowled a 104 (bad, very bad) and then a 135 and a 134.  So I just needed to shake off the dust before that first game.  That night, I hosted another poker night. This was the first “all guys” poker game I have had in awhile.  It was Grant, Paul, Alan, Matt, one of Alan’s friends. and I.  Only Grant, Alan, and I finished ahead.  I was 11 ahead, Alan was 12 ahead, and Grant was about 27 ahead.  Matt and Paul bot went out twice, and Alan’s  went out once. 

Sunday was a completly chill day.  I watched a lot fo CSI.  It was a very relaxing weekend, as most of them have been since school ended.  As one of the partners at the Firm keeps saying, Steve has a really great life.  I get free baseball tickets, I ham taking a total of 10 business days off over a period of three weeks, starting next week.  All in all, I can’t complain.

Also, Congrats to Chucko on his recent engagement.  There so few of us left now.

Baseball, Burns, and Busy Weekends

So, on Wednesday, I sat in the ballpark, under cover, watching the rain fall for 2.5 hours.  My cousins had canceled on em earlier that morning, so I was going to go with one of my coworkers and her family.  When I got to the ballpark and it began pouring, I went ahead and called my coworker to let her know she should just stay home until I knew the game was on.  So I once again sat in the ball park, solo, listening to my iPod, or texting and/or talking to my brother and/or Greg in St. Louis, Dunk in Richmond, to Libby and JD, who were up in a corporate box drinking free beer.  I did find a TV that was showing the Stanley Cup Finals, Game 6.  A bunch of us ended up standing around watching that.  I finally threw in the towel at 9:30, and went home.  I bumped into Libby and JD on the way home, and Libby gave me a present, which is always nice.  When I got home, the power was out from the storm, finally coming back on around 11pm.

So, I after getting more work done in 3 hours then I normally do in a whole day, I took off of work early on Thursday to see the make up game from the rain out the night before.  My seats were 7 rows behind the home team dugout.  They were awesome.  Plus the Cardinals won 4-1, having won 6-1 on Tuesday.  I got burned pretty bad on both of my arms, but it was worth it.  After that game, we got kicked out of the ball park for an hour and a half before they would let us back in for the second game.  I met up with Liz and we went to the National Portrait gallery across from the Verizon Center.  I have never been there before, so it was pretty cool.  We got back to the park and met up with Allen for the 2nd game.  The Cardinals started losing very badly (7-0) before tying it up at 8-8 in the 9th inning.  They took the lead in the 10th, but then lost in the bottom of the same inning.  Fun game though.

Friday, I met up with Lenora and went to dinner at the Fish Market.  I love that place.  I don;t get down there nearly often enough.  We decided to do a movie afterwards, so the evening turned out to be  pretty nice one.

On Saturday, I ended up having work that needed to get done, so I was unable to go meet Vicky and one of her friends at the DC Botanical Gardens.  Was probably a good thing, since it was in the high 90’s that day.  It was blisteringly hot all weekend.  We played poker that night.  We had 7 players: Me, Seth, Matt, Vi, Lenora, Cliff and Andrew.  Cliff is a friend of Corey’s from church that is staying with us for a couple of weeks.  He invited Andrew, who turned out to be a guy from my Torts class last semester.  I was up maybe 30-35 at one point, but then ended up going heads up against Lenora and finished only 22 ahead.  She took about 15 off of me.  Damn.

On Sunday, after doing lunch with Seth, Corey and Holly (Corey’s sister), Holly and I watched the musical episode of Buffy, from the 6th season.  That night, Seth and I went over to Lenora’s for a housewarming/birthday party.  There about 14 people crammed into Lenora’s little studio apartment, but it was nice and cozy.

All in all, not a bad week followed by not a bad weekend.

True Blooded Fan

So, the Cardinals are in town this wee for a three game series against the Nationals.  I, of course, have tickets to all three games.  So, the original plan was to go to last night’s game with Seth, Paul and Jen.  For tonight’s game, I was going to go with my cousin Kevin, his wife Janice, and their son Pete.  Thursday was still open.  So, I got to the game last night around 5:30pm (for a 7:10pm start) to watch the Cardinals batting practice.  As I sat there, with a frosty beverage in my hand watching Albert Pujols take batting practice, I had one of those moments when I knew all was right in the world.  Then it got a little dicey.

Seth, Paul and Jen showed up just prior to game time.  Then, right as the first inning was about to start, the skies opened up.  Most people ran into the concessions area to escape the rain.  I stayed in my seat.  No umbrella, nor rain coat or poncho, just me in my Cards hat, jersey, and the dress pants I wore to work.  I got soaked, but I watched them play for three full inning before stopping in the 4th.  When the delay was called, I joined everyone else under some cover.  We waited for about an hour before they announced they would be starting back up at 9:50pm.  At that point, the three losers I was with decided to head home.  I stayed.  At 9:50pm, they started back up and got through the 4th, before another delay was called at the start of the 5th.  They finally got back at 11:00pm and played the final 5 innings.  So yes, I was deserted by my comrades.  I was soaked to the bone.  I was tired by the time I got home at 1:30am this morning.  And yes, I am damn proud of myself for sticking it out!

The Cardinals ended up winning 6-1, thanks in large part to a three run home run by Catcher Yadier Molina.  it was his 3rd home run this season.

Forecast for tonight: SEVERE Thunder storms.  As such, my cousins crapped out on me this morning.  As of now, I have no one to take the other three tickets, though I am still waiting to hear back from people.  Even if no one steps up, I sure as hell am not going to miss the game if they play.  I will once again go out alone, abandoned by family and friends (you’ve go to love the over dramatic picture I am painting) to brave nature’s worst, all in the name of loyalty to the St. Louis Cardinals.  BRING IT ON!

End of May

So, my last week of May was not bad.  On Memorial Day, we ended up going bowling after failed attempts to go to the batting cages and driving range.  We bowled again on Wednesday, and although I finished above my average, there were some ugly parts to it.  I started with a 130, then got a 166, and then finished with…a 93!?!?!  WTF!  A 93!  Needless to say, I was pretty pissed.  So on Saturday, we needed to pre-bowl, since only three of us can bowl this upcoming Wednesday.  Again, I bowled two games above average, and one below, but not quite as bad as last week.  I bowled a 127, 121, 131 (average going into this week was a 123).  Seth had a monster week, which is good, since Paul really tanked and Jen and I did just about average.    After bowling, we had dinner at Hops.  This was pretty much all I did this weekend, since I am trying to save money for vacations this year.

I am headed to Myrtle Beach in a few weeks, to spend a week in a large beach house with the family.  The house has ten bedrooms, three kitchens, two living rooms, and multiple bathrooms.  There is a deck on the second floor, which leads to the beach.  There is also an above ground pool and a jacuzzi in the backyard (there is some bushed separating the backyard from the actual beach).   We went to this same house a couple years ago.  That time, it was me, my parents, my brother and his daughter, by Aunt, my cousin Kenny along with his wife and three kids, and my other cousin’s oldest son.  We also had a few other relatives drop by.  It was a really good time.  We spend all day on the beach, and then would have dinner together, or go to the Dixie Stampede.  My Dad, bother, cousin, and I all went to a minor league baseball game too, which is always a good time.

This time around, my aunt and cousins may not be there, but both my sisters and my sister’s kids will be there instead.  So it will be me, two parents, three siblings, two nieces, and one nephew.  Pray my sanity prevails.

Stop Bitching, Start a Revolution

While walking through Arlington National Cemetery on Sunday, my mother called.  We talked for about 45 minutes while I tried to stick to the lesser traveled roads in the cemetery, so as to not disturb any one else by talking on the phone, we talked about my old church.  My mother has been unhappy for some time with the direction her church is going.  She does not care for the new pastor, and she does not like how the church has dropped a number of the old programs and traditional services that my mother grew up with.  Now, my mother, like me, loves tradition, but it not opposed to change.  The key is that any change needs to be for the better, not worse.

Now, while she has taken a stand for the way they deal with the young children in the nursery, she has not really done much to try and effect the way things run in the congregation as whole.  She says that she and many others are not happy, and that more people are realizing the problems.  What I finally confronted her about is that if she is unhappy, and believes there is a better way, why not speak up?  She had a number of excuses, one of which, is that enough people are picking up on it to do something about it, and she doesn’t want to be seen as the old bat who doesn’t like change.  She was unwilling to put herself in the position where others might view her this way.  This disturbs me, because my mother has always been a woman of action, not taking crap from most people.  but in this case, she care too much about what other members of the congregation think of her.  She does not want to get out of her comfort zone.

I told her as much, much to my own personal satisfaction, since she used to tell me that ALL THE TIME!  She then went on with a string of reasons why that is not the case.  She was rationalizing her lack of action.  I recognized this easily, because I do it ALL THE TIME!  While I was trying to convince her that she should do something about the church if she felt so strongly about it, I realized that I share this trait with my mother.  However, while her habit was localize on this one issue, mine is a full fledged character flaw.  I do it in nearly every aspect of my life, professionally, academically, socially, and spiritually.

And that is when I realized, its like I am waiting for something.  Some sort of event or sign that will somehow make eveything in my life beter, the way I want to to be.  How incredibly pathetic is that?  What’s worse, is that I know better than this.  I know that work is not going to give me more $ and more responsibility unless I prove I can handle it.  I cannot rely on classmates to do worse on exams, I need to work to do better.  No chick is going to magically appear at my door, with all the qualities I think make the perfect woman.  If she is out there, I need to get off my ass and go find her.  I am not going to wake up one day and be healthy and fit.  if I don;t want to have a heart attack by age 40, I need to make lifestyle changes.  God is not going to make me a better Christian.  He wants me to work on becoming more Christ-like.  Every aspect of my life requires the kind of idea that National Community Church professes: Pray Like It Depends On God, Work Like It Depends On You.

Now I have said this many MANY times before.  And I will likely say it many MANY more times.  I just wish that I could get motivated to start making the changes I need to make, and stay motivated to keep the process going.  Damn.

Busy Life Continues

Aside from being busy at work with various issues, I have kept pretty busy outside of work as well.  On Tuesday, I went to my first Nationals game using the firm’s season tickets.  The Nats played the Phillies, losing 1-0.  The game was a pretty good defensive display,  I went with Grant, Paul, and Seth.  Corey and Mike actually sat just behind use, using Mike’s firm’s tickets, I think.  Turned out that Liz, Dan, and other AU Alumni were also there.  I caught up with Dan and Liz for awhile.

On Wednesday, we had our second week (for Lenora and I) of bowling.  I bowled better than last week, beating my average all three games, but only because my average from the first week was so damn bad.  I bowled a 123, 146, and a 124.  My average was a 111 going into the week, so I hope I raised it a bit.

Thursday, I left work a bit early to go wait in line for the new India Jones movie.  We had gotten tickets for Lenora, her mother, Seth and I.  I waited in line for 2 hours, to make sure we got good seats.  We saw the movie at the Uptown in Cleveland Park.  The movie was good, though I was not a huge fan of how the movie played out.

On Friday, I stayed home, needing a bit of a break.  I didn’t actually leave the House all day Saturday.  On Sunday, I had actually forgotten that I was supposed to go to a Nats game with Seth, his g/f and her roommate, and I woke up just before they were going to leave.  I decided I was just too damn tired.  So I putzed around for a couple hours before deciding to go down to Arlington National Cemetery.   I wanted to go on Memorial Day, but figured it would be less crowded on Sunday.  I went down there solo, just me and my iPod.  I go on these “walk abouts” every now and then.  It is just a time for me to walk around, listen to music, and just think.  To steal yet another page from both Crocodile Dundee and some other sources, you could see it as a way to walking, hoping to run into myself.  Sometimes I even use it as a “quiet time” to both talk, and hopefully listen to God.

I actually like to listen to worship music while walking through Arlington.  Rather than b all somber and such for the fallen, I use as a time to praise God’s blessing of dedicated service men and woman in this country.  It is truly a blessing to have committed members of the armed forces, willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice to help protect our freedom and our way of life.  I just wish I could show half the courage and dedication of those honored soldiers, both alive and dead.  After I spent time walking around lee’s old house (and can I say, the view from his front porch is probably the best view of the whole of DC), especially through the rose garden and the odd little amphitheater behind the house, I ended, as usual, at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  I love watching the Changing of the Guard.  It is a very interesting ceremony.  For those of you who do not live in the DC area, you should make sure to see this ceremony if you ever visit DC.

I then decided to walk across Memorial Bridge, down the National Mall, and up to the Capitol Building.  I walked about 5 miles throughout the day, which is quite a lot for me.  At the Capitol, they were taping the Memorial Day concert they do every year on the West Steps of the Capitol.  You should watch it on PBS tonight.  Despite being exhausted from this walk about, I always end up feeling good and refreshed.  It is a great way to clear the mind.  Not to mention, it is also good for me to get off my fat ass every now and then.   Now I just hope my feet stop hurting before bowling on Wednesday.

Memorial Day

So partly in honor of Memorial Day, and partly just because I fealt like it, I went to Arlington National Cemetery yesterday.  I would have gone down today, but because of all the ceremonial stuff that goes on on Memorial Day, that place is always a mad house.  So, I made my normal rounds, heading to JFK’s grave, then up to Lee’s old house, before ending at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider.  After spending an hour or so there, I decided to go on yet another one of my walk abouts.  I ended up walking from Arlington, across Memorial Bridge, across the National Mall, ending at the Capitol Building.  All in all, i walked about 7 miles yesterday, and my feet are killing me.

Anyway, as always, I enjoyed my time at Arlington.  It is a great reminder of those who have died to ensure I have the freedom that I enjoy (and often take for granted) everyday.  That is the whole point of Memorial Day.  Now, while I agree, we should have a day aimed at reminding people of those who have earned out respect, I wish we lived in a world where people didn’t need to be reminded.  To be honest, there is rarely a day that goes by that i don’t think about it, but not to the degree that I did today.  That is why I love Arlington so much.  Odd that I enjoy spending time at a cemetery, but I guess I enjoy seeing other people there, all of whom are realizing the price so many people have paid for serving their country.  Its nice to know that people are at least taking time to honor the fallen.

As I was walking around, both at Arlington and around the Mall, I noticed all the people wearing some sort of patriotic article of clothing.  Some had flag pattern hats/bandannas and shirts.  Then there were the Rolling Thunder bikers that were everywhere, all wearing some sort of veterans clothing.  I was there in a pair of cargo shorts, black polo, and my Cardinals hat.  Oddly enough, it occurred to me that my Cardinals hat might be the mst patriotic thing I owned.  Not because I think the Cardinals are “America’s Team” or anything like that, but because to me, the Cardinals are the greatest symbol of the St. Louis area.  My Midwest heritage is exactly why I am patriotic.  The core values my parent instilled in me: patriotism, respect for service men and women, Fear/Love of God; it all comes from who raised me and where they chose to raise me.  Everything I remember about my life in St. Louis circles around my love for my family, my country, and my Lord and Savior.

Anyway, while you are enjoying your day off of work today, please remember the “victorious dead” that rest in Arlington, as well as all our current men and women serving in the Armed Forces.  Take time to say a little prayer, thanking them for their service, and asking God to keep them safe, whether serving domestically, or in a war zone.  We Salute You and ask that God Brings You All Home!  God Bless!

Odd Roommates

So, while tossing the football around on Sunday evening, Seth decides to talk to Corey and I about a dream he had the night before. In that dream, Seth, Lenora, Paul, Jen, Susan, and I are all at some sort of gala. In this dream, Paul and Jen are, obviously, still married and together. Seth then goes on to say that Susan and I are an item in this dream sequence, and a rather affectionate one at that. Now, Susan is a friend of Lenora’s that Seth and I met on Friday at “Prince Caspian.” She then came to play poker with us on Saturday, which would explain why she was in Seth’s dream. So far, none of this is what I ended up finding both hilarious and weird.

While describing his dream, Seth mentioned my hooking up with Susan in the dream. This seemed to offend Corey, that Seth would dream about Susan hooking up with me rather than with Corey. Corey seems to feel he is more deserving. Susan is an attractive blond law student going to school in NYC. I think I actually met her once before, but I am not sure. Corey seemed to have had his ego wounded when Seth could picture me with this girl rather than him. I find Corey’s indignant reaction quite amusing.

Then I started to get creeped out. I mean, while I am certainly flattered that Seth can imagine such a hook up…why the hell is he dreaming about me hooking up with anyone?!?! That is weird. So, I have one roommate who dreams about my hookups, and another who is offended that I got the girl instead of him…in someone else’s dream. He, seemingly, would like to be the feature character in another dude’s dream. Why do I always get stuck with the weird-ass roomies?

Funny Ideas About Relationships and Adulthood

So, as a Hotmail user, I often see a number of interesting headlines, either on the “Today” page of my email, or on the main MSN page. There are a number of “Lifestyle” articles that talk about what men and women should or should not do, both alone and as part of a relationship. I find most of these funny, because the writers affiliated with MSN seem to feel they are an authority for what makes a proper man or woman in the modern age. Here are just a few of these stories.

18 Things A Grown Man Should Never Have

Things a Man Should Never Do In Front of a Woman

10 Things You Should Never Say To A Woman

And they have many more of the same articles for women.  Now, although I am providing the links to these stories on my blog, I am not, in any way, giving my support or endorsement to these articles, I am simply hoping to point you towards an amusing article.  I find most of these ridiculous.  If I am with a woman who takes issue with my Bud Light logo pint glasses, or the fact that I enjoy cheap beer, than this is obviously not a woman for me to begin with.  If I am not allowed to question her footwear, or play the Wii in front of her, then this is a woman who probably couldn’t;t tolerate me to begin with.  And i am expected to know the difference between certain outfits, or understand hair styles…well, they need to just go out and find a BGF (best gay friend), because that is just the way it is.

I just get a kick out of how all these articles and advice columns and books are always telling people to be themselves, and then turning right around and telling you what you can/can’t do/say around the opposite sex.  Its all ridiculous.  I don;t see the benefit if pretending to be something or someone you are not, just out of fear of scaring people away.  If being yourself drives people away, maybe those are people you should not have really been involved with in the first place.

The fact is, I am going to be me, no matter where I am, whom I am with, or what we are doing.  When I am at work, I am going to be respectful to people, and I am going to keep my mouth shut if I don;t have anything useful to say.  When out with friends, I am going to be loud, let my opinions be known, whether solicited or not.  And when I am with a lady, I am going to joke around and try to have a good time.  If our ideas of a good time are not the same thing, better to know that right away then invest too much time and effort into a doomed relationship.  So, take my advice…stop taking advice!