Posts
Hi All,
I’m sitting in the Lander Household at 1313 Tanager Lane (part true and part Munster’s humor) and a little more than midway through the Holiday season. While most people returned to work yesterday, Maggie and I have the fortunate ability to work remotely. This allows us to spend time with family and remain up to date with the on-going struggles of the working world.
As for the Holidays, I managed to split my time between my family and Maggie’s by spending the week leading up to Christmas with my family and spending the week following Christmas leading up to New Years with Maggie’s.
The Holiday Season with my family included all the last minute Christmas (and returning home) Traditions like shopping, binging on my favorite hometown cuisine, homemade pizza, the annual family Christmas Eve Bash, Christmas Morning Gifts, and Dad’s big breakfast.
After opening gifts on Christmas Morning and consuming massive amounts of carbohydrate filled and calorie laced foods, Maggie and I loaded the sleigh, reigned up the horses, and went jingle belling all the way to the Pennsylvania House where we unloaded the sleigh and traveled a few more miles to the Lander House for Christmas dinner. Dinner consisted of a lovely Christmas spread centered on the main entrée of Turkey. Due to an over-abundance of Rye Bread, we made a last minute judgment call to modify the dinner from Turkey to Turkey Sandwiches. Christmas Festivities continued to December 26th with the arrival of Maggie’s sister and niece that evening and the opening of Secret Santa gifts.
In the gift department, I think I did some pretty good giving and some super good receiving. I came out of the holiday with almost everything on my list and a little more (rye bread). My parents came down the Saturday following Christmas to spend the day with Maggie and I and to have dinner with Maggie’s family.
Now I’m working (remotely) my way to New Years before heading to Albany for a New Year’s Eve Party. We’ll be driving back to PA the next morning and hopefully meeting up with some friends at our house in PA.
I hope everyone is having a Joyous holiday season.
Ryan.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Monday Monday 12.7.2008
Happy Monday Everyone,
The past couple of weeks have been eventful to say the least.
On November 21, I took my last call at the NAVY ERP Help Desk. After dutifully answering help desk tickets for the past year, I finally moved over to the integration side of the project. This means that I can now get involved with the implementation of SAP instead of dealing with post production support. I welcome the new role for the benefits it provides both to my career and to my sanity. I don’t want to belittle the Help Desk Experience because in a short term situation, I needed it to get the broad far-reaching understanding of our solution. Now I take on the challenge of specialization with a strong foundation in the most basic aspects of all areas related to the NAVY solution.
So that’s work. Things are looking up.
Since my last communiqué, the Thanksgiving holiday came and went. This year Maggie and I stayed home and family came to us. We had a collection of 6 people staying with us at our little Townhouse in South Carolina (plus Maggie and I totals out at 8), and we certainly enjoyed their company. The group consisted of Victoria and Steve from Tennessee, Maggie’s parents from Florida, Aunt Renie from New York, and Christian from Utah. In other words, people traveled from every state in the union to dine at our table for six.
The Black Friday adventures qualify for the Record Book. I think we had a contest to see if we could outspend the nation’s GDP and if my calculations are correct. . . .we missed it by only a few dollars. Don’t worry though because in our true selfless fashion for every one gift purchased for someone else. . . we bought six for ourselves. The ratio might be just a wee bit off. . . .it’s probably more like 1:1.
Skipping ahead, we spent this weekend at our House in Pennsylvania. My friend Timmy from college came down with his girlfriend Lindsay. We played games, walked the cross-country trails, and spent the time eating junk food and catching up. The leaking washing machine made for the most significant adventure as I had to play doctor/mechanic/plumber/referee between myself and the washing machine that almost went flying through the windows. Not that the washing machine did anything to warrant my heaving it through the windows, but I was plenty mad at the situation. Come to find out, we simply had a leaky hose. I replaced it with one of those heavy duty ones that can also be used for a weapon if you’re ever hiding out behind the washing machine waiting for some evil villain to come within striking distance. . . .crisis averted.
All else is quiet! Have A Great Week!
Ryan
The past couple of weeks have been eventful to say the least.
On November 21, I took my last call at the NAVY ERP Help Desk. After dutifully answering help desk tickets for the past year, I finally moved over to the integration side of the project. This means that I can now get involved with the implementation of SAP instead of dealing with post production support. I welcome the new role for the benefits it provides both to my career and to my sanity. I don’t want to belittle the Help Desk Experience because in a short term situation, I needed it to get the broad far-reaching understanding of our solution. Now I take on the challenge of specialization with a strong foundation in the most basic aspects of all areas related to the NAVY solution.
So that’s work. Things are looking up.
Since my last communiqué, the Thanksgiving holiday came and went. This year Maggie and I stayed home and family came to us. We had a collection of 6 people staying with us at our little Townhouse in South Carolina (plus Maggie and I totals out at 8), and we certainly enjoyed their company. The group consisted of Victoria and Steve from Tennessee, Maggie’s parents from Florida, Aunt Renie from New York, and Christian from Utah. In other words, people traveled from every state in the union to dine at our table for six.
The Black Friday adventures qualify for the Record Book. I think we had a contest to see if we could outspend the nation’s GDP and if my calculations are correct. . . .we missed it by only a few dollars. Don’t worry though because in our true selfless fashion for every one gift purchased for someone else. . . we bought six for ourselves. The ratio might be just a wee bit off. . . .it’s probably more like 1:1.
Skipping ahead, we spent this weekend at our House in Pennsylvania. My friend Timmy from college came down with his girlfriend Lindsay. We played games, walked the cross-country trails, and spent the time eating junk food and catching up. The leaking washing machine made for the most significant adventure as I had to play doctor/mechanic/plumber/referee between myself and the washing machine that almost went flying through the windows. Not that the washing machine did anything to warrant my heaving it through the windows, but I was plenty mad at the situation. Come to find out, we simply had a leaky hose. I replaced it with one of those heavy duty ones that can also be used for a weapon if you’re ever hiding out behind the washing machine waiting for some evil villain to come within striking distance. . . .crisis averted.
All else is quiet! Have A Great Week!
Ryan
Monday, November 17, 2008
Monday Monday 11.17.2008
Monday Monday 11.17
Hi Everyone,
To me it is unbelievable that I’m already thinking about Christmas Shopping again. Due to the struggling economy this year, the retail industry might have you thinking that we’re having not only black Friday but also an entire black third quarter. I made my way to the Carolina Place Mall this past weekend and to park and walk through it, you would have thought it was Christmas Eve. Fortunately we were in and out without any long lines, but we’re storing all our line waiting energy for one huge sonic boom of energy consumption next Friday. I’m anticipating line waiting similar to Disney World’s Space Mountain with the slight exception that most patrons of Disney World tend to be in a slightly better mood than a holiday shopper at 4AM. Our biggest discovery was the realization that our local mall actually has the audacity to open their doors at . . . . Midnight. That means that I’ll have to have an early Thanksgiving dinner, a relatively early second Thanksgiving dinner, and who knows if I’ll have time for a third Thanksgiving dinner because I’ll have to take a nap!
The funny thing about this whole experience is that I rarely make any alarming door busting purchases, but I enjoy going shopping to see the angry mobs of soccer moms rush through the anchor stores hoping to get in and out to the next store in record time when low and behold. . . .they have to wait in an hour long line before they can leave. Actually the tradition started several years ago when my mother and I realized that JC Penny was giving away free Mickey Mouse Snow Globes. Come to find out, the globes are only about 1 inch tall and fairly insignificant but it gets us up and out every year.
My theme for this past weekend was detoxification: no alcohol, no fried food, and not even any meat. For a weekend, you would have thought I was a vegetarian. Now that I’m back at work in the land of restaurant eating, I am about to fall off that wagon in a bad way. I’ll just have to double my efforts on the treadmill and Wii Fit to compensate.
Yes by the way, I acquired Wii Fit several weeks ago – so I have joined the legions of people that enjoy the combination of exercise and video games. I’m thoroughly impressed with the game and I defy anyone that says they can’t build up a sweat.
It’s been a long time since Maggie and I assembled a puzzle, but we started and finished a 1000 piece X-Mas puzzle this past weekend that we will glue and frame in the weeks to come so that we can hang it for the holiday season.
I know it might seem early for all this Christmas talk, but I’m telling you since the economy is so bad the world has decided to extend the joyous holiday season to brighten everyone’s mood and get them thinking about new ways to spend money they don’t have! That’s right folks – do you’re part for the economy by going out and maxing out your credit cards!
Ryan
PS – So there is no confusion, my last paragraph was not financial advice and should be filed away as sarcasm.
Hi Everyone,
To me it is unbelievable that I’m already thinking about Christmas Shopping again. Due to the struggling economy this year, the retail industry might have you thinking that we’re having not only black Friday but also an entire black third quarter. I made my way to the Carolina Place Mall this past weekend and to park and walk through it, you would have thought it was Christmas Eve. Fortunately we were in and out without any long lines, but we’re storing all our line waiting energy for one huge sonic boom of energy consumption next Friday. I’m anticipating line waiting similar to Disney World’s Space Mountain with the slight exception that most patrons of Disney World tend to be in a slightly better mood than a holiday shopper at 4AM. Our biggest discovery was the realization that our local mall actually has the audacity to open their doors at . . . . Midnight. That means that I’ll have to have an early Thanksgiving dinner, a relatively early second Thanksgiving dinner, and who knows if I’ll have time for a third Thanksgiving dinner because I’ll have to take a nap!
The funny thing about this whole experience is that I rarely make any alarming door busting purchases, but I enjoy going shopping to see the angry mobs of soccer moms rush through the anchor stores hoping to get in and out to the next store in record time when low and behold. . . .they have to wait in an hour long line before they can leave. Actually the tradition started several years ago when my mother and I realized that JC Penny was giving away free Mickey Mouse Snow Globes. Come to find out, the globes are only about 1 inch tall and fairly insignificant but it gets us up and out every year.
My theme for this past weekend was detoxification: no alcohol, no fried food, and not even any meat. For a weekend, you would have thought I was a vegetarian. Now that I’m back at work in the land of restaurant eating, I am about to fall off that wagon in a bad way. I’ll just have to double my efforts on the treadmill and Wii Fit to compensate.
Yes by the way, I acquired Wii Fit several weeks ago – so I have joined the legions of people that enjoy the combination of exercise and video games. I’m thoroughly impressed with the game and I defy anyone that says they can’t build up a sweat.
It’s been a long time since Maggie and I assembled a puzzle, but we started and finished a 1000 piece X-Mas puzzle this past weekend that we will glue and frame in the weeks to come so that we can hang it for the holiday season.
I know it might seem early for all this Christmas talk, but I’m telling you since the economy is so bad the world has decided to extend the joyous holiday season to brighten everyone’s mood and get them thinking about new ways to spend money they don’t have! That’s right folks – do you’re part for the economy by going out and maxing out your credit cards!
Ryan
PS – So there is no confusion, my last paragraph was not financial advice and should be filed away as sarcasm.
Monday Monday 11.10.2008
Monday Monday,
For reasons that I will explain later, Maggie and I took another trip north to the land of snow and ice that is Potsdam, NY.
Travel Story
After meeting Chris Spurchise in Syracuse for some Tully Tenders, I picked up Maggie at the airport and continued our journey north. Somewhere between Syracuse and Exit 48, I saw in the distance that a cop had someone pulled over on the left hand side of the highway. Doing the courteous thing, I switched to the right lane where I could see up ahead that a tractor trailer had pulled off on the right side of the highway. Just as my headlights hit the pavement ahead in the right hand lane, I saw a deer. In true Ralph Cramden fashion, “BAM ZOOM – Straight to the Moon.” So I managed to hit my first deer – luckily it was already lying dead in the middle of the road, so I didn’t mess up the ol’ Monte Carlo. I didn’t have time to swerve the car out of the way without putting myself in danger of:
A) Flipping the car.
B) Hitting the cop car on the left.
C) Hitting the big rig on the right.
So naturally I did the only safe thing. I hit the gas and ran that son of a bitch further into the pavement. Actually, I just maneuvered the car so I could straddle the deer between the tires and simply hoped to come out of the situation with my exhaust system still attached to the bottom of my car. I was thoroughly prepared to pull off the side of the road and dial my boys at AAA to tow me the rest of the way to Pdam, but by the grace of God – we escaped with my car, the exhaust system, and a little extra fur coating to keep the exhaust system warm for the upcoming winter.
Clarkson
As promised in my opening sentence, I’ll go into more detail about why Maggie and I made the trip back to Clarkson for the second weekend in three weeks. My Fraternity, Sigma Chi, celebrated 20 years at Clarkson this past weekend by having a weekend long reunion. Although I’m not sure what the total number of returning members were, I know it hovered somewhere above 100, which is a pretty decent amount considering the membership only includes 382 people.
Wedding plans also advanced a little further. Soon we’ll have a really good idea about all the details.
We’re going home this weekend. It will be the first time in several weeks, so I can’t wait to see how much mail I have!
For reasons that I will explain later, Maggie and I took another trip north to the land of snow and ice that is Potsdam, NY.
Travel Story
After meeting Chris Spurchise in Syracuse for some Tully Tenders, I picked up Maggie at the airport and continued our journey north. Somewhere between Syracuse and Exit 48, I saw in the distance that a cop had someone pulled over on the left hand side of the highway. Doing the courteous thing, I switched to the right lane where I could see up ahead that a tractor trailer had pulled off on the right side of the highway. Just as my headlights hit the pavement ahead in the right hand lane, I saw a deer. In true Ralph Cramden fashion, “BAM ZOOM – Straight to the Moon.” So I managed to hit my first deer – luckily it was already lying dead in the middle of the road, so I didn’t mess up the ol’ Monte Carlo. I didn’t have time to swerve the car out of the way without putting myself in danger of:
A) Flipping the car.
B) Hitting the cop car on the left.
C) Hitting the big rig on the right.
So naturally I did the only safe thing. I hit the gas and ran that son of a bitch further into the pavement. Actually, I just maneuvered the car so I could straddle the deer between the tires and simply hoped to come out of the situation with my exhaust system still attached to the bottom of my car. I was thoroughly prepared to pull off the side of the road and dial my boys at AAA to tow me the rest of the way to Pdam, but by the grace of God – we escaped with my car, the exhaust system, and a little extra fur coating to keep the exhaust system warm for the upcoming winter.
Clarkson
As promised in my opening sentence, I’ll go into more detail about why Maggie and I made the trip back to Clarkson for the second weekend in three weeks. My Fraternity, Sigma Chi, celebrated 20 years at Clarkson this past weekend by having a weekend long reunion. Although I’m not sure what the total number of returning members were, I know it hovered somewhere above 100, which is a pretty decent amount considering the membership only includes 382 people.
Wedding plans also advanced a little further. Soon we’ll have a really good idea about all the details.
We’re going home this weekend. It will be the first time in several weeks, so I can’t wait to see how much mail I have!
Monday Monday 11.4.2008
Happy Election Day,
Maggie and I ventured to Long Island this past weekend. For me, this trip marked my maiden voyage to a place where Oceans fall in all around you and small town America still exists. I hopped a 5:00 flight out of Baltimore-Washington International Airport aboard Southwest Airlines and descended upon Long Island Islip Macarthur Airport. For those interested (and I know a few of you are), I failed to see the word "International" on the airports website (http://www.macarthurairport.com/), so I am forced to believe that ISP is not considered to be an International Airport. Most of you don't care about this portion of this paragraph, but it was the subject of conversation this past weekend.
We joined some of Maggie's family at her sister's (Stephanie) home for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Walk to Cure Diabetes. As I mentioned last week, Maggie niece has diabetes and the walk is one way that we can help. Our team raised about $15,000 with Maggie and I raising somewhere between $1500 and $2000 of it. Thank you to all the people on this list that supported us in this effort.
It's always good to get together with family, and we had a nice weekend out on Long Island. Although Stephanie failed to introduce me to the Barone's of TV Fame (Everybody Loves Raymond), I'm not dissatisfied because it gives me something to look forward to next time I go. Luckily we had some really nice weather and spent some time on the beach. I don't mean to say that we were sun bathing or swimming as Long Island in November is nothing like the Cayman Islands, so our activities on the beach were restricted to wave watching and shell hunting. Having said that, we had the beach all to ourselves making for some beautiful photo opportunities.
As I mentioned before, small town America is still alive in Long Island. Don't get me wrong, I love Panera Bread and Pizza Hut, but there is something to be said for small time delis, bagel shops, and bakerys. Maddie, Maggie's niece celebrated Halloween by walking through town in her school's parade and trick or treating at all the town's businesses, so i got an opportunity to take in the little town's character.
We had a great weekend in Long Island, but eventually we had to make the trip back to work so here I am sitting at my desk and writing. Today is a big day though. America is on the edge of their seat awaiting election results!! Be thankful we have this opportunity.
Have A Great Week,
Ryan
Maggie and I ventured to Long Island this past weekend. For me, this trip marked my maiden voyage to a place where Oceans fall in all around you and small town America still exists. I hopped a 5:00 flight out of Baltimore-Washington International Airport aboard Southwest Airlines and descended upon Long Island Islip Macarthur Airport. For those interested (and I know a few of you are), I failed to see the word "International" on the airports website (http://www.macarthurairport.com/), so I am forced to believe that ISP is not considered to be an International Airport. Most of you don't care about this portion of this paragraph, but it was the subject of conversation this past weekend.
We joined some of Maggie's family at her sister's (Stephanie) home for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Walk to Cure Diabetes. As I mentioned last week, Maggie niece has diabetes and the walk is one way that we can help. Our team raised about $15,000 with Maggie and I raising somewhere between $1500 and $2000 of it. Thank you to all the people on this list that supported us in this effort.
It's always good to get together with family, and we had a nice weekend out on Long Island. Although Stephanie failed to introduce me to the Barone's of TV Fame (Everybody Loves Raymond), I'm not dissatisfied because it gives me something to look forward to next time I go. Luckily we had some really nice weather and spent some time on the beach. I don't mean to say that we were sun bathing or swimming as Long Island in November is nothing like the Cayman Islands, so our activities on the beach were restricted to wave watching and shell hunting. Having said that, we had the beach all to ourselves making for some beautiful photo opportunities.
As I mentioned before, small town America is still alive in Long Island. Don't get me wrong, I love Panera Bread and Pizza Hut, but there is something to be said for small time delis, bagel shops, and bakerys. Maddie, Maggie's niece celebrated Halloween by walking through town in her school's parade and trick or treating at all the town's businesses, so i got an opportunity to take in the little town's character.
We had a great weekend in Long Island, but eventually we had to make the trip back to work so here I am sitting at my desk and writing. Today is a big day though. America is on the edge of their seat awaiting election results!! Be thankful we have this opportunity.
Have A Great Week,
Ryan
Monday Monday 10.29.2008
Good Wednesday Morning Everyone,
I'm sorry for the delay in communication, but I thought that you might be all Monday Monday'd out with the first ever 3 Part Series. The past few weeks have been busy both here in Annapolis and at home.
JDRF
Before I get started with this week's email, I would like to ask for your support as Maggie and I join some other members of her family in Long Island this Saturday for the JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes. Maggie and I have participated in this walk for the past three years because it has special meaning to us. Maddie is Maggie's niece and she has Juvenile Diabetes. I've listed two links below: the first is Our Donation Page where you can make a donation of any size, read a letter from Maggie, and of course navigate through the JDRF website to learn about Diabetes. The second is a link to Stephanie's Page where you can read about Maddie and learn why this walk is so important to us. Remember any and all donations of any size are appreciated!
Our Donation Page Stephanie's Page
NASCAR WeekendA few weeks ago, some of my friends and family joined together for our annual trip to the Bank of America 500 at Lowes Motor Speedway in Concord, NC. For anyone on this list that might be an aspiring NASCAR historian, please note that this is about 5 minutes from where Dale Earnhardt (both Junior and the Old Man) grew up (that town is called Kannapolis - like where I work with a K in front of it). In any event, our group totaled 13 people that included seven people from my family (9 if you include Maggie and I) and 9 people currently residing in the State of New York.
It was good catching up with the family, showing off House #1 in SC, and making another sorry attempt at bowling. Small tidbit on bowling: I think bowling is one of those sports/games that I could get good at, but who wants to be the obnoxiously good bowler in the group? Doesn't everyone have more fun when everyone is terrible at it? I'm awaiting the big family photo that we took with my cousin's brand new camera (purchased just hours before the race), but I've yet to see that hit my inbox (Jen - perhaps you could help expedite this process by exercising some influence over your brother).
Renaissance Festival and Scarowinds Weekend
They called me "Lord" when ordering food, entering the festival, or passing by. I would characterize the Carolina Renaissance Festival as a Giant Themed Craft Fair with some interesting shows around the perimeter. I'm amazed by the fact that this event doesn't simply take over the local fair grounds or some random person's farmland. In actuality, the ground that the Renaissance Festival takes place on is used for the sole purpose of the Renaissance Festival. The whole area is complete with permanent buildings and full arenas for jousting and shows.
Scarowinds is the Halloween Version of the Carrowinds Amusement Park that sits on the border of North and South Carolina. The park is open from 6PM - 12PM and has a bunch of haunted house style attractions to augment the normal Roller Coaster attractions. Although crowded, we had a great time and if nothing else, we bought the souvenir cup (souvenir glassware is becoming something of an obsession for me).
Clarkson Homecoming Weekend
Maggie and I took the weekend and went North to the Frozen Tundra that is Potsdam, NY. It was great catching up with some friends, watching some Division 1 Hockey, and begin the wedding plans. Our hope is to be married in Potsdam and have the reception on campus. Early projections have been narrowed to early August 2010 or late May 2010. Either way . . .. the campus should be gorgeous and hopefully not under construction.
So there is the very brief summary of the past three weekends. Hope Everyone has a great Week!
Ryan
I'm sorry for the delay in communication, but I thought that you might be all Monday Monday'd out with the first ever 3 Part Series. The past few weeks have been busy both here in Annapolis and at home.
JDRF
Before I get started with this week's email, I would like to ask for your support as Maggie and I join some other members of her family in Long Island this Saturday for the JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes. Maggie and I have participated in this walk for the past three years because it has special meaning to us. Maddie is Maggie's niece and she has Juvenile Diabetes. I've listed two links below: the first is Our Donation Page where you can make a donation of any size, read a letter from Maggie, and of course navigate through the JDRF website to learn about Diabetes. The second is a link to Stephanie's Page where you can read about Maddie and learn why this walk is so important to us. Remember any and all donations of any size are appreciated!
Our Donation Page Stephanie's Page
NASCAR WeekendA few weeks ago, some of my friends and family joined together for our annual trip to the Bank of America 500 at Lowes Motor Speedway in Concord, NC. For anyone on this list that might be an aspiring NASCAR historian, please note that this is about 5 minutes from where Dale Earnhardt (both Junior and the Old Man) grew up (that town is called Kannapolis - like where I work with a K in front of it). In any event, our group totaled 13 people that included seven people from my family (9 if you include Maggie and I) and 9 people currently residing in the State of New York.
It was good catching up with the family, showing off House #1 in SC, and making another sorry attempt at bowling. Small tidbit on bowling: I think bowling is one of those sports/games that I could get good at, but who wants to be the obnoxiously good bowler in the group? Doesn't everyone have more fun when everyone is terrible at it? I'm awaiting the big family photo that we took with my cousin's brand new camera (purchased just hours before the race), but I've yet to see that hit my inbox (Jen - perhaps you could help expedite this process by exercising some influence over your brother).
Renaissance Festival and Scarowinds Weekend
They called me "Lord" when ordering food, entering the festival, or passing by. I would characterize the Carolina Renaissance Festival as a Giant Themed Craft Fair with some interesting shows around the perimeter. I'm amazed by the fact that this event doesn't simply take over the local fair grounds or some random person's farmland. In actuality, the ground that the Renaissance Festival takes place on is used for the sole purpose of the Renaissance Festival. The whole area is complete with permanent buildings and full arenas for jousting and shows.
Scarowinds is the Halloween Version of the Carrowinds Amusement Park that sits on the border of North and South Carolina. The park is open from 6PM - 12PM and has a bunch of haunted house style attractions to augment the normal Roller Coaster attractions. Although crowded, we had a great time and if nothing else, we bought the souvenir cup (souvenir glassware is becoming something of an obsession for me).
Clarkson Homecoming Weekend
Maggie and I took the weekend and went North to the Frozen Tundra that is Potsdam, NY. It was great catching up with some friends, watching some Division 1 Hockey, and begin the wedding plans. Our hope is to be married in Potsdam and have the reception on campus. Early projections have been narrowed to early August 2010 or late May 2010. Either way . . .. the campus should be gorgeous and hopefully not under construction.
So there is the very brief summary of the past three weekends. Hope Everyone has a great Week!
Ryan
Monday Monday 9.29.2008 Part III
So far in Road Trip 2008, Maggie and I have discovered the history of Rock and Roll in Cleveland, the historical steel industry in Pittsburgh, and the Underground Railroad in Cincinnati. Moving to the final leg of our multi state journey, we found ourselves in the most historically significant place in the entire United States: Philadelphia. I know this is a bold statement and those Bostonians might have an argument for historical significance, but remember that Philadelphia hosted the first Continental Congress and it is in this city that the founders signed our Declaration of Independence. In Philadelphia, George Washington first took the oath of office uttering those words that have been traveling through history ever since: “so help me God!”
I should note that the historical significance of these cities played no part in mapping out our agenda. In fact, we neglected to stop by Independence Hall or the famed Art Museum (where Rocky ascended the steps) in Philadelphia. We chose these cities because of their Baseball Stadiums, but understanding the city allows us to better understand the stadiums. I think it is a little known fact that Philadelphia fans are the most rabid fans outside of New York and Boston, so don’t expect the fans to make it a pleasant experience for the visiting team.
The name of the Philadelphia Phillies’ Ballpark is Citizens Bank Park and it sits just across the parking lot from the stadiums where in other seasons Philadelphians flock to watch the 76’ers, Eagles, and Flyers. Although the Phillies managed to lose the ballgame, we were pleased to watch a game that actually mattered in the grand scheme of things. At the time, the Phillies and Mets were in a dead heat for the National League East. Eventually we would see our unfortunate hometown Metropolitans fall again due to insufficient relievers that give up six or seven runs in the late innings of clutch ballgames. At least we can say that Maggie and I did our part as we delivered our “Home Team” curse by making sure the Phillies took a loss to the Atlanta Braves a la Chipper Jones going 1 for 1 with a homerun in a pinch hit situation. Way to go Chipper.
In my miniscule opinion, I didn’t think that Citizens Bank Park measured up to some of the other stadiums I’ve seen this year. Something about a parking lot being the only thing separating the ballpark from the football field doesn’t make for a very personal feel. Despite this, I was happy to be among the Philadelphia faithful in a sold out stadium watching a ballgame that meant something to the fans and the players. On the other hand, the Baseball Gods in Philadelphia haven’t linked the city to the stadium in the way that the Pittsburgh and Cincinnati organizations have. Looking at the stadium, you wouldn’t know how important of a place Philadelphia is to this nation’s history.
On another note, I’d like to bring up the fact that almost every baseball stadium seems to be sponsored by a financial institution: PNC, Comerica, Citizens Bank, the new Citi Field in NY. Considering the volatility of the markets, it is a freaking wonder that these teams even have a place to play. I often use the expression “up and down more than the toilet seat,” but if recent trends keep up, I will be forced to change my expression to “up and down more than the Dow.”
We met up with one of Maggie’s friends from her Westchester days (Sam) and her husband (John) at the ballgame and even spent the night in their little apartment later that night. We polished our night off with a stop at the bar and stayed up until 3:00.
So the vacation portion of our trip is now over, but I can’t simply conclude Part III of my Monday Monday without covering the Thursday through Sunday portion of our adventure. The morning after our last baseball game (Philadelphia), we got in the car to make our way to our house in Northeast Pennsylvania. We bought the house last December in the Masthope Mountain Community with the understanding that our little cabin in the woods would need a new roof within the next year. We’re fortunate that I have a cousin with his own construction business to provide the necessary skills for this endeavor, and I’m lucky to have a father and two uncles with kind enough hearts to make the journey down and provide the supplemental skills and labor (thanks to Michael, Uncle Mike, Uncle Bob, and Dad).
With the intimidation of rain looming all over our Saturday, we persevered by holding off the rain and completing most of the work on Saturday. Maggie and her parents were a lifesaver throughout the entire project running out for all the little items that we needed when obstacles presented themselves. Maggie and her folks also cooked for us, which was great because that meant we could use every hour of sunlight for the roof project on Saturday!!! On Sunday morning, we finished up the project in a few morning hours, but unfortunately that time was entirely spent in the rain!! I’m going to insert a special note here for anyone that has never put a roof on a house – you have to bust your ass!! I felt the affects of Saturday and Sunday for two days afterward.
When we weren’t working on the roof, we were just hanging about the house and eating. One of the things I don’t think the guys realized on their way down is how much of a “game preserve” Masthope is. I come from a long line of hunters, so Masthope must have seemed like a foreign country to them. . . . you mean you have deer in your front yard and none in your freezer. . . It made for quite the comedy act listening to how they were going to dupe the deer onto state land and then turn them into venison. I believe we also discussed digging a pit in the backyard and waiting for the deer to walk in . . . believe me there were a lot of plans.
I’d like to highlight this last bit of the Monday Monday by saying how much it meant to Maggie and I that my family came down and participated in the roof project. It just goes to show you that you can move far far away from your family, but in spite of that . . . they don’t forget about you, and they’re always there to lend a hand. Since I moved down South, I just don’t see all that much of the family, so having us get together to work on a project was really enjoyable, meaningful, and made for some great memories.
And so it goes, you went without Monday Monday for about three weeks, but in the final week of September you received a three part series. I hope you enjoyed my stories. Maggie and I have a three week streak to spend in Charlotte before making our next trip. Weekend number two in this streak is the Bank of America 500 – our annual NASCAR adventure.
Have A Great Rest of the Week!!
Ryan
I should note that the historical significance of these cities played no part in mapping out our agenda. In fact, we neglected to stop by Independence Hall or the famed Art Museum (where Rocky ascended the steps) in Philadelphia. We chose these cities because of their Baseball Stadiums, but understanding the city allows us to better understand the stadiums. I think it is a little known fact that Philadelphia fans are the most rabid fans outside of New York and Boston, so don’t expect the fans to make it a pleasant experience for the visiting team.
The name of the Philadelphia Phillies’ Ballpark is Citizens Bank Park and it sits just across the parking lot from the stadiums where in other seasons Philadelphians flock to watch the 76’ers, Eagles, and Flyers. Although the Phillies managed to lose the ballgame, we were pleased to watch a game that actually mattered in the grand scheme of things. At the time, the Phillies and Mets were in a dead heat for the National League East. Eventually we would see our unfortunate hometown Metropolitans fall again due to insufficient relievers that give up six or seven runs in the late innings of clutch ballgames. At least we can say that Maggie and I did our part as we delivered our “Home Team” curse by making sure the Phillies took a loss to the Atlanta Braves a la Chipper Jones going 1 for 1 with a homerun in a pinch hit situation. Way to go Chipper.
In my miniscule opinion, I didn’t think that Citizens Bank Park measured up to some of the other stadiums I’ve seen this year. Something about a parking lot being the only thing separating the ballpark from the football field doesn’t make for a very personal feel. Despite this, I was happy to be among the Philadelphia faithful in a sold out stadium watching a ballgame that meant something to the fans and the players. On the other hand, the Baseball Gods in Philadelphia haven’t linked the city to the stadium in the way that the Pittsburgh and Cincinnati organizations have. Looking at the stadium, you wouldn’t know how important of a place Philadelphia is to this nation’s history.
On another note, I’d like to bring up the fact that almost every baseball stadium seems to be sponsored by a financial institution: PNC, Comerica, Citizens Bank, the new Citi Field in NY. Considering the volatility of the markets, it is a freaking wonder that these teams even have a place to play. I often use the expression “up and down more than the toilet seat,” but if recent trends keep up, I will be forced to change my expression to “up and down more than the Dow.”
We met up with one of Maggie’s friends from her Westchester days (Sam) and her husband (John) at the ballgame and even spent the night in their little apartment later that night. We polished our night off with a stop at the bar and stayed up until 3:00.
So the vacation portion of our trip is now over, but I can’t simply conclude Part III of my Monday Monday without covering the Thursday through Sunday portion of our adventure. The morning after our last baseball game (Philadelphia), we got in the car to make our way to our house in Northeast Pennsylvania. We bought the house last December in the Masthope Mountain Community with the understanding that our little cabin in the woods would need a new roof within the next year. We’re fortunate that I have a cousin with his own construction business to provide the necessary skills for this endeavor, and I’m lucky to have a father and two uncles with kind enough hearts to make the journey down and provide the supplemental skills and labor (thanks to Michael, Uncle Mike, Uncle Bob, and Dad).
With the intimidation of rain looming all over our Saturday, we persevered by holding off the rain and completing most of the work on Saturday. Maggie and her parents were a lifesaver throughout the entire project running out for all the little items that we needed when obstacles presented themselves. Maggie and her folks also cooked for us, which was great because that meant we could use every hour of sunlight for the roof project on Saturday!!! On Sunday morning, we finished up the project in a few morning hours, but unfortunately that time was entirely spent in the rain!! I’m going to insert a special note here for anyone that has never put a roof on a house – you have to bust your ass!! I felt the affects of Saturday and Sunday for two days afterward.
When we weren’t working on the roof, we were just hanging about the house and eating. One of the things I don’t think the guys realized on their way down is how much of a “game preserve” Masthope is. I come from a long line of hunters, so Masthope must have seemed like a foreign country to them. . . . you mean you have deer in your front yard and none in your freezer. . . It made for quite the comedy act listening to how they were going to dupe the deer onto state land and then turn them into venison. I believe we also discussed digging a pit in the backyard and waiting for the deer to walk in . . . believe me there were a lot of plans.
I’d like to highlight this last bit of the Monday Monday by saying how much it meant to Maggie and I that my family came down and participated in the roof project. It just goes to show you that you can move far far away from your family, but in spite of that . . . they don’t forget about you, and they’re always there to lend a hand. Since I moved down South, I just don’t see all that much of the family, so having us get together to work on a project was really enjoyable, meaningful, and made for some great memories.
And so it goes, you went without Monday Monday for about three weeks, but in the final week of September you received a three part series. I hope you enjoyed my stories. Maggie and I have a three week streak to spend in Charlotte before making our next trip. Weekend number two in this streak is the Bank of America 500 – our annual NASCAR adventure.
Have A Great Rest of the Week!!
Ryan
Monday Monday 9.29.2008 Part II
When most people envision the perfect vacation, they consider spending some time on the water. This vision might include a cruise through the Caribbean, camping by a lake, or lying somewhere on one of the world’s great beaches, but water took on a different role during our battleground state vacation seemed. The Pittsburgh and Cincinnati portions of Road Trip 2008 utilized water as a picturesque backdrop for our baseball stadium tour.
We left Cleveland two Sundays ago at about 8:30 in the morning heading for the Steel City of Pittsburgh to see the home of the team locally known as “the Bucs.” Although the nickname remains a shortened version of the word Buccaneers, please note that the team in Pittsburgh happens to be the Pirates of Major League Baseball and not those shoulder pad wearing heavyweights from Tampa Bay (also known as the Buccaneers). In a previous email, I mentioned that my favorite stadium to date was Comerica Park: a great park made for the Detroit Tigers in a city known more for their abundance of violent crimes than for their proficiency on the baseball diamond. However after making a short stop in Pittsburgh, my opinion has changed. Baseball has been a part of the Pittsburgh culture almost as long as steel has been a part of their economy, but PNC Park perfectly combines the city’s history of steel with their tradition of baseball.
We arrived in Pittsburgh a little early, but not too uncomfortably early as we had adequate time to properly survey each and every side of the stadium before the gates opened. I should mention that we borrowed Gerard’s GPS for this trip, and it caused me a lot of stress both leaving Cleveland and arriving in Pittsburgh. In other words, we couldn’t get it to turn on when leaving Cleveland and we couldn’t get it to stay on while approaching Pittsburgh. Luckily we did manage to get the GPS to start and Cleveland and a baseball stadium makes for a rather easy target when entering the downtown strip of a smaller city. Not unlike a lot of older cities in this world, Pittsburgh has a river (the Alleghany) running through it giving me both a third and fourth dimension by which to characterize the city: baseball, steel, bridges, and water. The only problem with all of this is that the phrase “bridge to nowhere” comes into full affect because making one wrong turn might have you crossing a bridge that leads you somewhere you don’t necessarily want to be.
Provided you find your way (as we did), you can start your Pittsburgh experience by walking across the closed off Roberto Clemente Bridge that connects the middle of downtown with the stretch of property containing PNC Park. This bridge although usually open to traffic, remains closed on game days providing safe passage for fans to cross.
Entering the stadium, we were handed bobleheads depicting some of the all time Pirate greats (something I didn’t know the Pirates ever had).This is only worth mentioning as it is one of the most impressive stadium gifts since Petco Park gave me $1 hot dogs and sodas. I don’t have a whole lot of game highlights to give, but I will say that this marked the final Pirate home game of the season and as such I couldn’t find a Helmet Sundae because they were out of Helmets. In any event, our seats were on the second level, but good nonetheless and provided an excellent view of the steel Roberto Clemente Bridge and the Alleghany River below.
Although I could continue narrating our relatively brief trip to Pittsburgh, I feel it prudent to move along as I have used up about 500 words on Pittsburgh and I still have at least one more city to go before calling it quits on Part II of this weeks Monday Monday email.
Maggie and I grabbed a bite to eat at the Pittsburgh Hard Rock Café before departing the city for Cincinnati. That’s right folks, there will be no staying overnight in Pittsburgh because we’re on a mission and the Cincinnati game begins the next day at 1:00PM.
As I said before, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati are both characterized by their rivers. Where Pittsburgh’s history is in steel, Cincinnati has a rich history of using the Ohio River as a border between Kentucky and Ohio. Although this might not seem like a very significant border, it’s somewhat important to note that crossing the Ohio River from Kentucky to Ohio in the years before the signing of the emancipation proclamation meant a chance for freedom. In fact, Cincinnati has a history as a key stop for slaves traveling the Underground Railroad. I gathered this small history lesson at our last stop in Cincinnati: The Freedom Center (Underground Railroad Museum).
From our hotel room in Covington, Kentucky, we could see a number of bridges crossing the river and both major sport stadiums. We visited Cincinnati for the Great American Ballpark, so I might better get to that segment of the email before I end up droning on for three pages. We paid about $15 per ticket for 500 Level seating, but fortunately the hometown Reds were playing a makeup game against the Florida Marlins (also the Reds last home game) and the good people of Cincinnati were all at work for this particular Monday afternoon. I say “fortunate” because the good people of Cincinnati sold so few tickets that they closed off the 500 level, the 400 level, the 300 level, and the 200 level. Maggie and I sat about 20 rows back behind the home team dugout. In other words, our tickets were upgraded by a leaps and bounds of dollars and they were made comparable to the Dodgers and Mets game we went to earlier this year.
As for the stadium itself, I would say it, like Pittsburgh, embraces its relationship with the river by allowing the outfield to open up to the river. I would wager a guess that if we were sitting in the 500 level seats that we bough, we would have had an excellent view of the river. I guess that is the only unfortunate thing about sitting in 100 level seats; good for watching the game and bad for watching the boats go by. Cincinnati, unlike Pittsburgh, displays its relationship with the river by decorating the Great American Ballpark with a huge steamboat in Center Field. In fact, the whole city seems dedicated to the steamboat era.
In a game that meant absolutely nothing to anyone because the Reds and the Marlins weren’t really competing for a spot in the playoffs, I would say that the game in Great American Ballpark made for the best show and for once we actually did see the home team win. The Reds were trailing by half a dozen runs going into the seventh inning, but the fans put on their rally caps and the Reds found a way to score big to win the game.
We followed up the game with a trip to the Montgomery Inn (Boathouse Location) where I had some of the best BBQ sauce that I have ever had. This might sound like blasphemy, but it completely blows Dinosaur BBQ and Sticky Lips out of the water. I have a quart of the sauce in my possession as evidence. This was also probably the nicest dinner that Maggie and I had the entire trip as we sat in a nice white table cloth restaurant watching barges of coal go down the Ohio River.
Later that evening, we went to a live showing of WWE’s Monday Night Raw. Although I hate to say it, I have been fairly disappointed with the WWE product in recent months. Don’t get me wrong, WrestleMania 25 in Houston is still calling my name, but I hope the industry turns around by then. One thing I can say with some degree of confidence, whenever we go to watch Professional Wrestling, Maggie and I are definitely the best two looking people in the arena. 25,000 people and not a bra, tooth, shower, or belt between them. . .
The next morning we hit the Aquarium and the Underground Railroad Museum before hitting the road on the way back to Pittsburgh to spend the night in a hotel just off the highway. The only purpose of spending the night here was to make a halfway point between Cincinnati and Philly. I had full intentions of detailing our Philadelphia trip in this email, but since I am approaching three full pages of text. . . .it will have to wait until Part III.
Have A Great Day and I Hope You’re Reading,
Ryan
We left Cleveland two Sundays ago at about 8:30 in the morning heading for the Steel City of Pittsburgh to see the home of the team locally known as “the Bucs.” Although the nickname remains a shortened version of the word Buccaneers, please note that the team in Pittsburgh happens to be the Pirates of Major League Baseball and not those shoulder pad wearing heavyweights from Tampa Bay (also known as the Buccaneers). In a previous email, I mentioned that my favorite stadium to date was Comerica Park: a great park made for the Detroit Tigers in a city known more for their abundance of violent crimes than for their proficiency on the baseball diamond. However after making a short stop in Pittsburgh, my opinion has changed. Baseball has been a part of the Pittsburgh culture almost as long as steel has been a part of their economy, but PNC Park perfectly combines the city’s history of steel with their tradition of baseball.
We arrived in Pittsburgh a little early, but not too uncomfortably early as we had adequate time to properly survey each and every side of the stadium before the gates opened. I should mention that we borrowed Gerard’s GPS for this trip, and it caused me a lot of stress both leaving Cleveland and arriving in Pittsburgh. In other words, we couldn’t get it to turn on when leaving Cleveland and we couldn’t get it to stay on while approaching Pittsburgh. Luckily we did manage to get the GPS to start and Cleveland and a baseball stadium makes for a rather easy target when entering the downtown strip of a smaller city. Not unlike a lot of older cities in this world, Pittsburgh has a river (the Alleghany) running through it giving me both a third and fourth dimension by which to characterize the city: baseball, steel, bridges, and water. The only problem with all of this is that the phrase “bridge to nowhere” comes into full affect because making one wrong turn might have you crossing a bridge that leads you somewhere you don’t necessarily want to be.
Provided you find your way (as we did), you can start your Pittsburgh experience by walking across the closed off Roberto Clemente Bridge that connects the middle of downtown with the stretch of property containing PNC Park. This bridge although usually open to traffic, remains closed on game days providing safe passage for fans to cross.
Entering the stadium, we were handed bobleheads depicting some of the all time Pirate greats (something I didn’t know the Pirates ever had).This is only worth mentioning as it is one of the most impressive stadium gifts since Petco Park gave me $1 hot dogs and sodas. I don’t have a whole lot of game highlights to give, but I will say that this marked the final Pirate home game of the season and as such I couldn’t find a Helmet Sundae because they were out of Helmets. In any event, our seats were on the second level, but good nonetheless and provided an excellent view of the steel Roberto Clemente Bridge and the Alleghany River below.
Although I could continue narrating our relatively brief trip to Pittsburgh, I feel it prudent to move along as I have used up about 500 words on Pittsburgh and I still have at least one more city to go before calling it quits on Part II of this weeks Monday Monday email.
Maggie and I grabbed a bite to eat at the Pittsburgh Hard Rock Café before departing the city for Cincinnati. That’s right folks, there will be no staying overnight in Pittsburgh because we’re on a mission and the Cincinnati game begins the next day at 1:00PM.
As I said before, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati are both characterized by their rivers. Where Pittsburgh’s history is in steel, Cincinnati has a rich history of using the Ohio River as a border between Kentucky and Ohio. Although this might not seem like a very significant border, it’s somewhat important to note that crossing the Ohio River from Kentucky to Ohio in the years before the signing of the emancipation proclamation meant a chance for freedom. In fact, Cincinnati has a history as a key stop for slaves traveling the Underground Railroad. I gathered this small history lesson at our last stop in Cincinnati: The Freedom Center (Underground Railroad Museum).
From our hotel room in Covington, Kentucky, we could see a number of bridges crossing the river and both major sport stadiums. We visited Cincinnati for the Great American Ballpark, so I might better get to that segment of the email before I end up droning on for three pages. We paid about $15 per ticket for 500 Level seating, but fortunately the hometown Reds were playing a makeup game against the Florida Marlins (also the Reds last home game) and the good people of Cincinnati were all at work for this particular Monday afternoon. I say “fortunate” because the good people of Cincinnati sold so few tickets that they closed off the 500 level, the 400 level, the 300 level, and the 200 level. Maggie and I sat about 20 rows back behind the home team dugout. In other words, our tickets were upgraded by a leaps and bounds of dollars and they were made comparable to the Dodgers and Mets game we went to earlier this year.
As for the stadium itself, I would say it, like Pittsburgh, embraces its relationship with the river by allowing the outfield to open up to the river. I would wager a guess that if we were sitting in the 500 level seats that we bough, we would have had an excellent view of the river. I guess that is the only unfortunate thing about sitting in 100 level seats; good for watching the game and bad for watching the boats go by. Cincinnati, unlike Pittsburgh, displays its relationship with the river by decorating the Great American Ballpark with a huge steamboat in Center Field. In fact, the whole city seems dedicated to the steamboat era.
In a game that meant absolutely nothing to anyone because the Reds and the Marlins weren’t really competing for a spot in the playoffs, I would say that the game in Great American Ballpark made for the best show and for once we actually did see the home team win. The Reds were trailing by half a dozen runs going into the seventh inning, but the fans put on their rally caps and the Reds found a way to score big to win the game.
We followed up the game with a trip to the Montgomery Inn (Boathouse Location) where I had some of the best BBQ sauce that I have ever had. This might sound like blasphemy, but it completely blows Dinosaur BBQ and Sticky Lips out of the water. I have a quart of the sauce in my possession as evidence. This was also probably the nicest dinner that Maggie and I had the entire trip as we sat in a nice white table cloth restaurant watching barges of coal go down the Ohio River.
Later that evening, we went to a live showing of WWE’s Monday Night Raw. Although I hate to say it, I have been fairly disappointed with the WWE product in recent months. Don’t get me wrong, WrestleMania 25 in Houston is still calling my name, but I hope the industry turns around by then. One thing I can say with some degree of confidence, whenever we go to watch Professional Wrestling, Maggie and I are definitely the best two looking people in the arena. 25,000 people and not a bra, tooth, shower, or belt between them. . .
The next morning we hit the Aquarium and the Underground Railroad Museum before hitting the road on the way back to Pittsburgh to spend the night in a hotel just off the highway. The only purpose of spending the night here was to make a halfway point between Cincinnati and Philly. I had full intentions of detailing our Philadelphia trip in this email, but since I am approaching three full pages of text. . . .it will have to wait until Part III.
Have A Great Day and I Hope You’re Reading,
Ryan
Monday Monday 9.29.2008 Part I
Monday Monday Part I
Hi Everyone,
I know that it seems like forever since I last reached out to you via this email communiqué, but believe me it hasn’t been due to a lack of subject matter (this particular week especially). The past month since Maggie and I got engaged has been about home improvement projects, family, friends, baseball, and at least a couple of days where we just hung out together.
As you can tell from my subject line, I plan to make this week’s Monday Monday a multipart series because I really do have a lot to cover. In other words, if I don’t cover the portion of the story that includes your contribution to my life over the past month – don’t get offended because a later email might be completely devoted to you.
Maggie and I had some vacation to burn this year and we decided to explore some of our own native land here in the United States. Since the heated election between John McCain and Barrack Obama has garnered my interest in a way never before done by the political world, it seemed fitting that we would choose to focus our vacation around two battleground states: Ohio and Pennsylvania. In reality, politics had absolutely no bearing on our vacation decision but it did make for a nice fluff paragraph for Part I of this week’s Monday Monday.
If you’ve been on the Monday Monday list for any period of time, you might know that Maggie Mae and I are trying to attend every Major League Baseball Park in the country. Our trip really centered on attempting to make a dent in that list, and our two chosen states provided the force for making that dent. We knocked out four baseball stadiums: Progressive Field in Cleveland, PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, and Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
We began our trip in Cleveland visiting with our college friend, Brian Stakes, who entertained us with homemade brews, nature walks, the Great American Brewery, beer tasting, and the Winking Lizard (Pizza and Wing Bar = Awesome) among other things. As you can probably imagine, Maggie and I went way over on calories during this visit. In the interest of space and your time, I won’t go into extreme detail about each of these attractions, but I will say that we thoroughly enjoyed each and every aspect of our visit.
On the morning of our Cleveland Ballgame, we met our roommate and a couple of our Clarkson professors at Leah Murphy’s (another Clarkson friend) house to say goodbye to her before she leaves for two years of study in Germany. We had a delicious breakfast served up by her family, and we enjoyed their stories about what it was like growing up as Germans in America. We followed up our all too brief visit with Leah and her family with a trip to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and our official trip to the Great Lakes Brewery.
After all this, it was time for the main event of the Cleveland Portion: The Cleveland Indians and The Detroit Tigers battling it out for absolutely no chance at a post season spot. Coming off a heated fight in the previous evening’s confrontation, expectations were high for our game. In the end, I don’t really have anything to report except that the Hot Dogs ranked somewhere in the bottom 50th percentile and that we did meet up with our roommate and professors again to watch the game. I guess one of the more memorable aspects of the evening had to be the inconsistently but sometimes rabid Cleveland crowd. If they hated you (Gary Sheffield), they made no bones about letting you know. Following the game, we experienced the Cleveland version of the Hard Rock Café with Scott, Mike, and Sandy (our roommate and professors).
In Part II of this week’s Monday Monday series, we will explore PNC Park, The Great American Ballpark, and Citizens Bank Park.
Hi Everyone,
I know that it seems like forever since I last reached out to you via this email communiqué, but believe me it hasn’t been due to a lack of subject matter (this particular week especially). The past month since Maggie and I got engaged has been about home improvement projects, family, friends, baseball, and at least a couple of days where we just hung out together.
As you can tell from my subject line, I plan to make this week’s Monday Monday a multipart series because I really do have a lot to cover. In other words, if I don’t cover the portion of the story that includes your contribution to my life over the past month – don’t get offended because a later email might be completely devoted to you.
Maggie and I had some vacation to burn this year and we decided to explore some of our own native land here in the United States. Since the heated election between John McCain and Barrack Obama has garnered my interest in a way never before done by the political world, it seemed fitting that we would choose to focus our vacation around two battleground states: Ohio and Pennsylvania. In reality, politics had absolutely no bearing on our vacation decision but it did make for a nice fluff paragraph for Part I of this week’s Monday Monday.
If you’ve been on the Monday Monday list for any period of time, you might know that Maggie Mae and I are trying to attend every Major League Baseball Park in the country. Our trip really centered on attempting to make a dent in that list, and our two chosen states provided the force for making that dent. We knocked out four baseball stadiums: Progressive Field in Cleveland, PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, and Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
We began our trip in Cleveland visiting with our college friend, Brian Stakes, who entertained us with homemade brews, nature walks, the Great American Brewery, beer tasting, and the Winking Lizard (Pizza and Wing Bar = Awesome) among other things. As you can probably imagine, Maggie and I went way over on calories during this visit. In the interest of space and your time, I won’t go into extreme detail about each of these attractions, but I will say that we thoroughly enjoyed each and every aspect of our visit.
On the morning of our Cleveland Ballgame, we met our roommate and a couple of our Clarkson professors at Leah Murphy’s (another Clarkson friend) house to say goodbye to her before she leaves for two years of study in Germany. We had a delicious breakfast served up by her family, and we enjoyed their stories about what it was like growing up as Germans in America. We followed up our all too brief visit with Leah and her family with a trip to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and our official trip to the Great Lakes Brewery.
After all this, it was time for the main event of the Cleveland Portion: The Cleveland Indians and The Detroit Tigers battling it out for absolutely no chance at a post season spot. Coming off a heated fight in the previous evening’s confrontation, expectations were high for our game. In the end, I don’t really have anything to report except that the Hot Dogs ranked somewhere in the bottom 50th percentile and that we did meet up with our roommate and professors again to watch the game. I guess one of the more memorable aspects of the evening had to be the inconsistently but sometimes rabid Cleveland crowd. If they hated you (Gary Sheffield), they made no bones about letting you know. Following the game, we experienced the Cleveland version of the Hard Rock Café with Scott, Mike, and Sandy (our roommate and professors).
In Part II of this week’s Monday Monday series, we will explore PNC Park, The Great American Ballpark, and Citizens Bank Park.
Monday Monday 9.2.2008
Good “Short Work Week” to You,
I suppose getting your Monday Monday email on Tuesday might equate to reading the morning’s newspaper at 7:00PM – it becomes old news. For example, the Monday morning paper might have a nice article about John McCain’s new running mate, but by the time the nightly news rolls around - everyone probably shifts gears to start talking about Governor Palin’s 17 year old pregnant daughter and the potentially unethical use of the Governor’s power to remove someone from a state job. In any event, old or new, I’ll deliver the weekend’s news to you with the same level of detail and thought today as I would have loved to have done yesterday (if not for the observation of one of our beloved Federal Holidays).
Maggie, myself, and a plethora of her family members all converged on the little town of Lackawaxen, PA this weekend to celebrate her fathers “coming of age” surprise party. Depending on what age you are “coming to,” surprises might not always bode well for one’s cardio health. Ok . . .I’m done with the age jokes. Maggie, her sister, her niece, and I were in charge of keeping her father busy for a few hours while the party’s staging took place. We had a nice lunch in Milford at an old mill (water wheel and all) that had been converted into a restaurant and a series of small shops. Remember one of the most “Green” things you can do is revitalize an old building. After lunch, we took a stroll through some of the shops, let Maggie and Maddie ride Go Karts, and hit the driving range to hit a bucket of balls. After all this fun, we brought Maggie’s father back to the house where everyone was waiting to give out the well wishes. The party would then ensue, so <> and we’ll polish of this paragraph.
As you can well imagine, keeping this party a secret in such a small community made for some interesting difficulties. We needed to hide certain people just to keep suspicions low, so Maggie and I got to host her brother, sister-in-law, and their two dogs for the weekend. Will he drive by the house? Will we pass him on the street? Where will Maggie and I be all night on Friday? Why can’t we eat dinner with them on Friday Night? All questions that needed staged answers, and trust me . . . we had this thing staged like the main event of WrestleMania 25.
Quick sidebar! A wannabe terrorist just crashed into my building (in fact it was my own window). I know this is scary considering that I work on a Government contract, but rest assured that as long as Al-Qaeda continues using the U.S. population of Blue Jays instead of our flights operated by United Airlines – our country will be secure and safe. I’m leaving in five minutes to see if the Blue Jay survived – I will thoroughly question him in hopes that it can lead me to Osama Bin Laden.
To keep your news brief and “up to the minute,” I’ll leave out any other weekend details and wish you a good week.
Keep the Gulf Coast Residents in Your Thoughts,
Ryan
I suppose getting your Monday Monday email on Tuesday might equate to reading the morning’s newspaper at 7:00PM – it becomes old news. For example, the Monday morning paper might have a nice article about John McCain’s new running mate, but by the time the nightly news rolls around - everyone probably shifts gears to start talking about Governor Palin’s 17 year old pregnant daughter and the potentially unethical use of the Governor’s power to remove someone from a state job. In any event, old or new, I’ll deliver the weekend’s news to you with the same level of detail and thought today as I would have loved to have done yesterday (if not for the observation of one of our beloved Federal Holidays).
Maggie, myself, and a plethora of her family members all converged on the little town of Lackawaxen, PA this weekend to celebrate her fathers “coming of age” surprise party. Depending on what age you are “coming to,” surprises might not always bode well for one’s cardio health. Ok . . .I’m done with the age jokes. Maggie, her sister, her niece, and I were in charge of keeping her father busy for a few hours while the party’s staging took place. We had a nice lunch in Milford at an old mill (water wheel and all) that had been converted into a restaurant and a series of small shops. Remember one of the most “Green” things you can do is revitalize an old building. After lunch, we took a stroll through some of the shops, let Maggie and Maddie ride Go Karts, and hit the driving range to hit a bucket of balls. After all this fun, we brought Maggie’s father back to the house where everyone was waiting to give out the well wishes. The party would then ensue, so <
As you can well imagine, keeping this party a secret in such a small community made for some interesting difficulties. We needed to hide certain people just to keep suspicions low, so Maggie and I got to host her brother, sister-in-law, and their two dogs for the weekend. Will he drive by the house? Will we pass him on the street? Where will Maggie and I be all night on Friday? Why can’t we eat dinner with them on Friday Night? All questions that needed staged answers, and trust me . . . we had this thing staged like the main event of WrestleMania 25.
Quick sidebar! A wannabe terrorist just crashed into my building (in fact it was my own window). I know this is scary considering that I work on a Government contract, but rest assured that as long as Al-Qaeda continues using the U.S. population of Blue Jays instead of our flights operated by United Airlines – our country will be secure and safe. I’m leaving in five minutes to see if the Blue Jay survived – I will thoroughly question him in hopes that it can lead me to Osama Bin Laden.
To keep your news brief and “up to the minute,” I’ll leave out any other weekend details and wish you a good week.
Keep the Gulf Coast Residents in Your Thoughts,
Ryan
Monday Monday 8.25.2008
Happy Monday,
Maggie and I just finished off weekend number 1 in a series of weekends to be spent at our house in PA. For this weekend’s festivities, Scott and Jessica Ellsworth came down from Rochester with their two kids: Mary Grace (1.5 yrs old) and Ella (3 months old). There is something to be said for having your children fully raised and into college by the time you reach the age of 45.
Scott, Jessica, and the two kids made for an exciting weekend in PA when taking into account that the children brought a whole other dimension into our lives. Maggie and I rarely interact with many people under the age of 22 from day to day, so having two babies roaming around our 863 square foot home made for a sudden change in pace. Mary Grace has boomed since we last saw her now having the extensive vocabulary of 5-6 words including “Mama,” “Dada,” “Hi,” “Ella,” and “all done.” I say 5-6 words because I’m not entirely sure whether “all done” should be classified as one word, two words, or maybe it might even be a phrase.
Utilizing both the swimming pool and the lake, we brought the element of water to Mary Grace in full force. The pool stairs were like a miniature roller coaster as we all monitored Mary Grace climb in and out of the pool time and time again. She never wanted to get any deeper than her knees, but every now and then she would topple over into the water giving us all a little scare. At one point, Scotty dove to save her and almost couldn’t bring himself back up. . .we all just sat there and watched him nearly drown.
Once the little ones went to sleep, we played games and ate junk food. Maggie’s niece, mother, and father came over to play a 7 person game of Mexican Train. . . .Scott and Jess thoroughly enjoyed the game and commented on how they would be purchasing it shortly. . . I can’t believe how quickly this game is spreading.
I’m sure Scott and Jess would agree that we had an otherwise uneventful couple of days just enjoying the peace and quiet away from cell phones and internet.
I’m sorry folks, but there is nothing new to report on the engagement or the wedding.
If you’re looking for me over the next couple of weeks, I plan to be sitting in front of the TV watching CNN’s coverage of the Democratic and Republican Conventions. I’m not sure what’s on tap for the GOP, but the DNC has quite a roster of speakers (both of the Clintons, Gore, Obama, Biden).
Have a Good Week,
Ryan
Maggie and I just finished off weekend number 1 in a series of weekends to be spent at our house in PA. For this weekend’s festivities, Scott and Jessica Ellsworth came down from Rochester with their two kids: Mary Grace (1.5 yrs old) and Ella (3 months old). There is something to be said for having your children fully raised and into college by the time you reach the age of 45.
Scott, Jessica, and the two kids made for an exciting weekend in PA when taking into account that the children brought a whole other dimension into our lives. Maggie and I rarely interact with many people under the age of 22 from day to day, so having two babies roaming around our 863 square foot home made for a sudden change in pace. Mary Grace has boomed since we last saw her now having the extensive vocabulary of 5-6 words including “Mama,” “Dada,” “Hi,” “Ella,” and “all done.” I say 5-6 words because I’m not entirely sure whether “all done” should be classified as one word, two words, or maybe it might even be a phrase.
Utilizing both the swimming pool and the lake, we brought the element of water to Mary Grace in full force. The pool stairs were like a miniature roller coaster as we all monitored Mary Grace climb in and out of the pool time and time again. She never wanted to get any deeper than her knees, but every now and then she would topple over into the water giving us all a little scare. At one point, Scotty dove to save her and almost couldn’t bring himself back up. . .we all just sat there and watched him nearly drown.
Once the little ones went to sleep, we played games and ate junk food. Maggie’s niece, mother, and father came over to play a 7 person game of Mexican Train. . . .Scott and Jess thoroughly enjoyed the game and commented on how they would be purchasing it shortly. . . I can’t believe how quickly this game is spreading.
I’m sure Scott and Jess would agree that we had an otherwise uneventful couple of days just enjoying the peace and quiet away from cell phones and internet.
I’m sorry folks, but there is nothing new to report on the engagement or the wedding.
If you’re looking for me over the next couple of weeks, I plan to be sitting in front of the TV watching CNN’s coverage of the Democratic and Republican Conventions. I’m not sure what’s on tap for the GOP, but the DNC has quite a roster of speakers (both of the Clintons, Gore, Obama, Biden).
Have a Good Week,
Ryan
Monday Monday 8.18.2008
Good Morning Everyone,
The first edition of “Monday Monday” came out about 14 months ago: June 11, 2007 to be exact. While I won’t give you a 14 month recap, I will say that the first email covered the trip Maggie and I took with her parents to Italy, the new home in South Carolina, and my new assignment contracting with the U.S. Navy in Annapolis, MD. In my own small little way, I think of that email as a tiny fragment of family and social history. Having kept my family life almost entirely separate from my social life, I timidly put the original “Monday Monday” email list together wondering how my family and friends might come to know one another.
It’s funny how history sometimes repeats itself. Considering the events of this past weekend, it seems an appropriate time to intersect my own family and social life with that of another person’s family and social life. This email contains 14 new names and all of them are either members of Maggie’s family or friends that she considers close.
Since most of you have probably heard the news either through a phone call, the grapevine, or my newly updated facebook profile; I guess this “Monday Monday” won’t come as much of a surprise anymore – so I’ll continue to take my time with the actual announcement.
I’m still working in Annapolis, but I arrived home around 8:00 PM last Thursday. I had a few errands to run before Maggie was due to arrive in from Detroit at 11:00PM, so I nervously ran around for a couple of hours. I made it to the airport a few minutes early, but I had already decided to do things a little differently this week. Instead of waiting in the Cell Phone lot for a phone call, I decided to park the car and meet Maggie inside at baggage claim. I did so with roses. Suspecting nothing, Maggie traded me her suitcase for the flowers and we headed for the car.
We got home right about midnight. As we walked through the door, I informed Maggie to have a seat in her chair because I have one more gift. . . .
Now we’re engaged!
After that announcement, I guess there isn’t really a whole lot left to say. We spent the remainder of our weekend celebrating and making phone calls.
We went to Italy 14 months ago for a wedding; we went to Syracuse 3 months ago for a wedding; and now I’m talking about the commitment and promise to have a wedding of my own. As long as we’re talking about good news, I don’t mind history repeating itself.
Have a Good Week Everyone,
Ryan
The first edition of “Monday Monday” came out about 14 months ago: June 11, 2007 to be exact. While I won’t give you a 14 month recap, I will say that the first email covered the trip Maggie and I took with her parents to Italy, the new home in South Carolina, and my new assignment contracting with the U.S. Navy in Annapolis, MD. In my own small little way, I think of that email as a tiny fragment of family and social history. Having kept my family life almost entirely separate from my social life, I timidly put the original “Monday Monday” email list together wondering how my family and friends might come to know one another.
It’s funny how history sometimes repeats itself. Considering the events of this past weekend, it seems an appropriate time to intersect my own family and social life with that of another person’s family and social life. This email contains 14 new names and all of them are either members of Maggie’s family or friends that she considers close.
Since most of you have probably heard the news either through a phone call, the grapevine, or my newly updated facebook profile; I guess this “Monday Monday” won’t come as much of a surprise anymore – so I’ll continue to take my time with the actual announcement.
I’m still working in Annapolis, but I arrived home around 8:00 PM last Thursday. I had a few errands to run before Maggie was due to arrive in from Detroit at 11:00PM, so I nervously ran around for a couple of hours. I made it to the airport a few minutes early, but I had already decided to do things a little differently this week. Instead of waiting in the Cell Phone lot for a phone call, I decided to park the car and meet Maggie inside at baggage claim. I did so with roses. Suspecting nothing, Maggie traded me her suitcase for the flowers and we headed for the car.
We got home right about midnight. As we walked through the door, I informed Maggie to have a seat in her chair because I have one more gift. . . .
Now we’re engaged!
After that announcement, I guess there isn’t really a whole lot left to say. We spent the remainder of our weekend celebrating and making phone calls.
We went to Italy 14 months ago for a wedding; we went to Syracuse 3 months ago for a wedding; and now I’m talking about the commitment and promise to have a wedding of my own. As long as we’re talking about good news, I don’t mind history repeating itself.
Have a Good Week Everyone,
Ryan
Monday Monday 8.11.2008
Good Morning,
I hope everyone had a good weekend. With an impending work related milestone, we could almost guarantee that Maggie would have to work the weekend, so we planned to spend our time in Michigan. Despite Detroit’s reputation as America’s most prominent violent crime haven, we had a relatively productive and peaceful weekend. Maggie’s apartment is about 90 minutes away from the Detroit Metro Airport, so with a 3:00PM arrival time on Thursday and a 7:30PM departure time on Sunday, we had three full days to cram full of activities. Since we did so much ( and I could go into great detail about each and every meal, activity, and meaningless activity), I will only hit on three high points (each topic is bolded below).
The Dark Knight
The first major activity on our agenda was a trip to the IMAX theatre for my highly anticipated viewing of The Dark Knight. Since the movie’s debut a few weeks ago, countless sources have described its magnificence to me without giving away a single fragment of plot line. The Dark Knight did not disappoint me as the two and a half hour epic delivered in the areas of action, intrigue, and characterization.
Of course, the movie has the lingering shadow of Heath Ledger’s controversial death last winter looming in the foreground of every viewer’s mind, so I anxiously view this movie wondering if Heath would give us a farewell performance of any significance. By movies end, I determined that Ledger’s career would have been shaped and defined by this role if his life didn’t end so abruptly. In this role, Ledger files 10 Things I Hate About You in the previous lifetime folder, while placing Brokeback Mountain in the former preconceived notions folder, while delivering a performance that can now be placed in the modern day Christopher Lee folder. Bravo!
All in all though, the movie might rank among the best films I’ve seen in the past few years. I didn’t await its debut with the same eagerness as The Return of the King, the latest Harry Potter Movies, or even the latest Rocky movie, but the movie did parallel all in its delivery. Without giving away too much in the way of plot, I would say that the movie is definitely a “must see” for everyone.
Detroit Tigers Baseball
The next night featured baseball stadium number six this year as we went to Comerica Park to see the Detroit Tigers lose to the Oakland Athletics. For the record, this means that our curse has taken hold again, so as we round out the season with a few more games on the upcoming schedule – it will be nice to see if any more home teams can manage a victory with Maggie and I in the stands.
As far as baseball stadiums go, Comerica Park is probably the most well adorned facility in baseball that I have seen. Let’s say for example that you aren’t a fan of baseball at all, but your significant other is dragging you to a ballgame in Detroit (of all places). You would approach the stadium looking around with no question as to the Team’s mascot. Tigers surround the park covering every square inch, and I’m not talking about the cartoon-esque versions like Tony the Tiger either. When approaching the main entrance of the park, you get the feeling that the statues of Tigers peering down at you are guarding the entrance against fans wearing a different team’s colors or logos. Surrounding the stadium are pillars and atop each you can see the face of a tiger with a baseball in its mouth.
Inside the park, I have never seen such a variety or quantity of food vendors. Lining both sides of the entire Tier 1 corridor are vendors selling Hot Dogs, Italian Sausages, Pretzels, popcorn, beer, soda and all the normal baseball day fair. The item unique to Detroit, which I didn’t have because of the instantaneous loss of man points that would have occurred, is the daiquiri. They had every flavor you could think of and sold it by the yard in a commemorative beverage container. The hot dogs were ranked 24th in the big leagues, which doesn’t leave much room for anything worse, but then again Petco Park was supposed to be at the absolute bottom in the rankings, and I consumed three hot dogs while attending that park. My assumption in regards to the Hot Dog rating at Comerica Park is that the good people of Detroit changed there food vendor sometime after the publication of my Baseball Stadium Bible because the dogs that Maggie and I had were quite tasty.
As for our seats, I’ll say that they provided a great view of the game and a decent view of the downtown skyline. Since the ball field is actually below ground level, some fans have the privilege of watching the game free of charge from the outside perimeter of the stadium. I can’t imagine the view is all that spectacular, but the price is right.
Frankenmuth
About 30 miles away from Maggie’s apartment is a little German village filled with shops, restaurants, and German activities. Unfortunately it started to rain when we were about 15 miles away, so the visit wasn’t as nice as it would have been on a beautiful August day. We did sample the local fudge shop, Inn, and cheese store. I was quite disappointed that I couldn’t find a pretzel, but perhaps if it wasn’t raining, I might have looked a little harder.
One of the town’s major attractions is the huge Christmas store that looms on the outskirts of town. We spent a quick 90 minutes or so in this store before exiting with about $50 in ornaments, decorations, etc. Yep it’s not even Fall, and we’re already prepping for the holiday. I think Maggie and I have already determined that Frankenmuth is indeed worth a return trip sometime this winter when we can wear appropriate attire and give the town the attention it deserves.
Well, as promised I won’t fill your inbox with any of the other less important details of the weekend, but I hope everyone else had a great weekend.
Have a Good Week,
Ryan
I hope everyone had a good weekend. With an impending work related milestone, we could almost guarantee that Maggie would have to work the weekend, so we planned to spend our time in Michigan. Despite Detroit’s reputation as America’s most prominent violent crime haven, we had a relatively productive and peaceful weekend. Maggie’s apartment is about 90 minutes away from the Detroit Metro Airport, so with a 3:00PM arrival time on Thursday and a 7:30PM departure time on Sunday, we had three full days to cram full of activities. Since we did so much ( and I could go into great detail about each and every meal, activity, and meaningless activity), I will only hit on three high points (each topic is bolded below).
The Dark Knight
The first major activity on our agenda was a trip to the IMAX theatre for my highly anticipated viewing of The Dark Knight. Since the movie’s debut a few weeks ago, countless sources have described its magnificence to me without giving away a single fragment of plot line. The Dark Knight did not disappoint me as the two and a half hour epic delivered in the areas of action, intrigue, and characterization.
Of course, the movie has the lingering shadow of Heath Ledger’s controversial death last winter looming in the foreground of every viewer’s mind, so I anxiously view this movie wondering if Heath would give us a farewell performance of any significance. By movies end, I determined that Ledger’s career would have been shaped and defined by this role if his life didn’t end so abruptly. In this role, Ledger files 10 Things I Hate About You in the previous lifetime folder, while placing Brokeback Mountain in the former preconceived notions folder, while delivering a performance that can now be placed in the modern day Christopher Lee folder. Bravo!
All in all though, the movie might rank among the best films I’ve seen in the past few years. I didn’t await its debut with the same eagerness as The Return of the King, the latest Harry Potter Movies, or even the latest Rocky movie, but the movie did parallel all in its delivery. Without giving away too much in the way of plot, I would say that the movie is definitely a “must see” for everyone.
Detroit Tigers Baseball
The next night featured baseball stadium number six this year as we went to Comerica Park to see the Detroit Tigers lose to the Oakland Athletics. For the record, this means that our curse has taken hold again, so as we round out the season with a few more games on the upcoming schedule – it will be nice to see if any more home teams can manage a victory with Maggie and I in the stands.
As far as baseball stadiums go, Comerica Park is probably the most well adorned facility in baseball that I have seen. Let’s say for example that you aren’t a fan of baseball at all, but your significant other is dragging you to a ballgame in Detroit (of all places). You would approach the stadium looking around with no question as to the Team’s mascot. Tigers surround the park covering every square inch, and I’m not talking about the cartoon-esque versions like Tony the Tiger either. When approaching the main entrance of the park, you get the feeling that the statues of Tigers peering down at you are guarding the entrance against fans wearing a different team’s colors or logos. Surrounding the stadium are pillars and atop each you can see the face of a tiger with a baseball in its mouth.
Inside the park, I have never seen such a variety or quantity of food vendors. Lining both sides of the entire Tier 1 corridor are vendors selling Hot Dogs, Italian Sausages, Pretzels, popcorn, beer, soda and all the normal baseball day fair. The item unique to Detroit, which I didn’t have because of the instantaneous loss of man points that would have occurred, is the daiquiri. They had every flavor you could think of and sold it by the yard in a commemorative beverage container. The hot dogs were ranked 24th in the big leagues, which doesn’t leave much room for anything worse, but then again Petco Park was supposed to be at the absolute bottom in the rankings, and I consumed three hot dogs while attending that park. My assumption in regards to the Hot Dog rating at Comerica Park is that the good people of Detroit changed there food vendor sometime after the publication of my Baseball Stadium Bible because the dogs that Maggie and I had were quite tasty.
As for our seats, I’ll say that they provided a great view of the game and a decent view of the downtown skyline. Since the ball field is actually below ground level, some fans have the privilege of watching the game free of charge from the outside perimeter of the stadium. I can’t imagine the view is all that spectacular, but the price is right.
Frankenmuth
About 30 miles away from Maggie’s apartment is a little German village filled with shops, restaurants, and German activities. Unfortunately it started to rain when we were about 15 miles away, so the visit wasn’t as nice as it would have been on a beautiful August day. We did sample the local fudge shop, Inn, and cheese store. I was quite disappointed that I couldn’t find a pretzel, but perhaps if it wasn’t raining, I might have looked a little harder.
One of the town’s major attractions is the huge Christmas store that looms on the outskirts of town. We spent a quick 90 minutes or so in this store before exiting with about $50 in ornaments, decorations, etc. Yep it’s not even Fall, and we’re already prepping for the holiday. I think Maggie and I have already determined that Frankenmuth is indeed worth a return trip sometime this winter when we can wear appropriate attire and give the town the attention it deserves.
Well, as promised I won’t fill your inbox with any of the other less important details of the weekend, but I hope everyone else had a great weekend.
Have a Good Week,
Ryan
Monday Monday 8.6.2008
For the benefit of all busy readers, I'll just be brief this week.
Maggie and I went to House Number 2 in Pennsylvania and had a nice weekend away from the urban sprawl. On the subject of urban and rural living, I should relay a recent experience. One day last week, I decided to go for a short run in Annapolis, and in so doing I made an unfortunate discovery. I have never been the spitting image of health, so about the time my heartbeat reached an unbearable pounding and my breath became not only uncatchable but downright elusive, I learned how polluted and dirty our air has become in Suburban America. As I sucked in as much air as possible, I could taste the exhaust, smoke, and gases in our air. It just made me appreciate the fresh air in Lackawaxen, PA this past weekend.
We went with a bunch of Maggie's relatives to a small fair on Saturday night where they shot off fireworks at 9:00 and played Live Classic Country and Rock 'N' Roll until probably 1:00AM. We had some beers and danced a little, but just because the fair closed down didn't mean that we couldn't go up to the Lodge for a few more drinks. By the time it was over, we got home right around 4:00AM.
When waiting for Maggie to land at the Scranton/Wilkes Barre Airport, I went over to the Wyoming Valley Mall in downtown Wilkes Barre. I found their FYE had almost every season of Will and Grace on sale, so I picked up Seasons 1-6. As avid fans of the American Sitcom, Maggie and I are anxious to begin working through this one featuring a single, straight, woman living with a single, gay, man. I have caught a lot of episodes here and there, but I always find it enjoyable to watch sitcoms in the sequence they were designed to be delivered in.
I won't say much more, but I'm heading to Detroit this weekend where Maggie has been working for the past year. We plan to go to Comerica Park to see the Tigers play the A's and to the IMAX Theatre to see the much anticipated DARK KNIGHT.
Have A Great Week!
Maggie and I went to House Number 2 in Pennsylvania and had a nice weekend away from the urban sprawl. On the subject of urban and rural living, I should relay a recent experience. One day last week, I decided to go for a short run in Annapolis, and in so doing I made an unfortunate discovery. I have never been the spitting image of health, so about the time my heartbeat reached an unbearable pounding and my breath became not only uncatchable but downright elusive, I learned how polluted and dirty our air has become in Suburban America. As I sucked in as much air as possible, I could taste the exhaust, smoke, and gases in our air. It just made me appreciate the fresh air in Lackawaxen, PA this past weekend.
We went with a bunch of Maggie's relatives to a small fair on Saturday night where they shot off fireworks at 9:00 and played Live Classic Country and Rock 'N' Roll until probably 1:00AM. We had some beers and danced a little, but just because the fair closed down didn't mean that we couldn't go up to the Lodge for a few more drinks. By the time it was over, we got home right around 4:00AM.
When waiting for Maggie to land at the Scranton/Wilkes Barre Airport, I went over to the Wyoming Valley Mall in downtown Wilkes Barre. I found their FYE had almost every season of Will and Grace on sale, so I picked up Seasons 1-6. As avid fans of the American Sitcom, Maggie and I are anxious to begin working through this one featuring a single, straight, woman living with a single, gay, man. I have caught a lot of episodes here and there, but I always find it enjoyable to watch sitcoms in the sequence they were designed to be delivered in.
I won't say much more, but I'm heading to Detroit this weekend where Maggie has been working for the past year. We plan to go to Comerica Park to see the Tigers play the A's and to the IMAX Theatre to see the much anticipated DARK KNIGHT.
Have A Great Week!
Monday Monday 7.29.2008
Good Morning,
The sequence of on-time distributed Monday Monday emails ended swiftly with a one week streak. I’m writing this initial paragraph on Tuesday, so I guess we’ll see how long it takes me to get this edition out.
In terms of my hectic lifestyle, this weekend leaves me with little excitement to speak of. On Friday, Maggie and I brought her car to the garage as they neglected to completely fix her problem with the transmission. Their work is still under warranty, so I suppose we won’t mind too much as long as the job gets done properly this time around. We also stopped at NAPA Auto Parts to pick up the necessary equipment to fix the Air Conditioning in my car. With Dustin’s help on Saturday morning, I got the car’s AC back up and running. By the time I left for my drive to Annapolis on Sunday, the AC decided to stop working again. At this point, I don’t think there is anything I can do about it without spending more significant dollars (something I’m just not willing to do).
Our MLB Stadium tour came to a crashing halt this week after a two week, three stadium tour. We have two stadiums left on the agenda this year: Comerica Park in beautiful (and I use the term loosely) Detroit and Progressive (formerly known as Jacob’s) Field in the home of Drew Carey – Cleveland, Ohio. Oddly enough, when we go to see the Indians in Cleveland they will be playing the Tigers.
I’ve polished off a couple of books in the last month: The Dubliners by James Joyce and The Testament by John Grisham. The Dubliners is off the classical shelf and gives us an inside view of Dublin life around the turn of the 20th century. The Testament is another of John Grisham’s law based novels that I actually started in January, put down, and picked back up 7 months later. Now that I’ve finally read it, I can’t understand why I ever put it down. I’m currently reading Grisham’s latest novel, The Appeal, but will soon begin my somewhat yearly quest of re-reading the Harry Potter books. I’ve timed my reading of the Potter books to coincide with the release of the sixth movie this November. For those of you that care, the movie trailer will be released today at 9PM and should feature a glimpse of Lord Voldemort as a child.
My viewing of The Dark Knight continues to elude me, but I’m holding out for IMAX. As of right now I have plans to watch it next Saturday (not this one coming up). With everything I’ve read and heard, this 2 and a half hour epic should be the best movie to come out in 2008 thus far. I read in USA Today, that it was the fastest movie ever to hit 300 million. I guess you’ll read my non-spoiling review in a couple of weeks.
We’re off to Pennsylvania this weekend to spend our first weekend of the Summer at our house there. I’m excited for a weekend without internet, chores, cell phones, agendas, and calendars. We should get in late Thursday Night, and we won’t leave until Sunday afternoon.
As I said before, there isn’t a lot going on right now, so I’ll leave you with that. Have a good week!
The sequence of on-time distributed Monday Monday emails ended swiftly with a one week streak. I’m writing this initial paragraph on Tuesday, so I guess we’ll see how long it takes me to get this edition out.
In terms of my hectic lifestyle, this weekend leaves me with little excitement to speak of. On Friday, Maggie and I brought her car to the garage as they neglected to completely fix her problem with the transmission. Their work is still under warranty, so I suppose we won’t mind too much as long as the job gets done properly this time around. We also stopped at NAPA Auto Parts to pick up the necessary equipment to fix the Air Conditioning in my car. With Dustin’s help on Saturday morning, I got the car’s AC back up and running. By the time I left for my drive to Annapolis on Sunday, the AC decided to stop working again. At this point, I don’t think there is anything I can do about it without spending more significant dollars (something I’m just not willing to do).
Our MLB Stadium tour came to a crashing halt this week after a two week, three stadium tour. We have two stadiums left on the agenda this year: Comerica Park in beautiful (and I use the term loosely) Detroit and Progressive (formerly known as Jacob’s) Field in the home of Drew Carey – Cleveland, Ohio. Oddly enough, when we go to see the Indians in Cleveland they will be playing the Tigers.
I’ve polished off a couple of books in the last month: The Dubliners by James Joyce and The Testament by John Grisham. The Dubliners is off the classical shelf and gives us an inside view of Dublin life around the turn of the 20th century. The Testament is another of John Grisham’s law based novels that I actually started in January, put down, and picked back up 7 months later. Now that I’ve finally read it, I can’t understand why I ever put it down. I’m currently reading Grisham’s latest novel, The Appeal, but will soon begin my somewhat yearly quest of re-reading the Harry Potter books. I’ve timed my reading of the Potter books to coincide with the release of the sixth movie this November. For those of you that care, the movie trailer will be released today at 9PM and should feature a glimpse of Lord Voldemort as a child.
My viewing of The Dark Knight continues to elude me, but I’m holding out for IMAX. As of right now I have plans to watch it next Saturday (not this one coming up). With everything I’ve read and heard, this 2 and a half hour epic should be the best movie to come out in 2008 thus far. I read in USA Today, that it was the fastest movie ever to hit 300 million. I guess you’ll read my non-spoiling review in a couple of weeks.
We’re off to Pennsylvania this weekend to spend our first weekend of the Summer at our house there. I’m excited for a weekend without internet, chores, cell phones, agendas, and calendars. We should get in late Thursday Night, and we won’t leave until Sunday afternoon.
As I said before, there isn’t a lot going on right now, so I’ll leave you with that. Have a good week!
Monday Monday 7.20.2008
Monday Monday
Dear Readers:
I’m coming off a weekend spent in a New York State of Mind because I made it to both major league baseball stadiums within New York City. Again, it is my goal to see every Major League Baseball stadium out there. . . .maybe it’s a crazy goal, but hey crazy is My Life.
The city of New York broke ground for William A. Shea Municipal Stadium in the year 1960 and it has since been the long time home of Major League Baseball’s New York Mets. Although the venue more commonly known as “Shea Stadium” is best known for the Mets baseball team, it has also made history as the temporary home of the New York Yankees, Jets, and Giants. Not only one of the nation’s most well known sports complexes, Shea has also gained notoriety as a venue where the greatest musicians of the past 50 years have performed.
Don’t Ask Me Why, but the new Citi Field will replace historic Shea Stadium in 2009. Sports fans do have the chance to see the Met’s finish out the 2008 season, while music fans got the opportunity to witness the “Last Play at Shea” performed primarily by Billy Joel this past weekend. Maggie and I (along with Brian Smith seated on the other side of the stadium) attended this historic concert marking my second Billy Joel concert in two years. For obvious reasons, this concert couldn’t “blow the roof” off Shea Stadium, but I’m not sure a demolition crew will be needed because Mr. Joel and friends certainly tore the house down – and who said We Didn’t Start the Fire!
Since the opening act at Shea Stadium back in August of 1965 was performed by the Beatles, I guess it seems rather fitting that Paul McCartney came out with Billy Joel to answer the final encore. Although Sir Paul McCartney graced us with his age old “words of wisdom” singing “Let it Be,” Billy Joel left the arena with his own “words of wisdom” that were somewhat contradictory to those words of the former Beatle. I believe “The Entertainer”s words of wisdom were and I quote “Don’t take shit from anyone” – not quite the same as “Let it Be.”
For most people seeing both Billy Joel and Paul McCartney on the same stage on the same night might make for the perfect evening, but I’m completely Shameless when I say that witnessing Garth Brooks come out to perform with Billy stole the show for me. Garth Brooks is to me as Dave Mathews is to my friend Spurchise or in other words – he would be my favorite singer/songwriter/musician. Garth might be a country singer, but I have to say It’s Still Rock ‘n’ Roll to Me.
The musical years that came before My Generation didn’t belong to just Billy Joel and Paul McCartney, but also to Roger Daltrey: the lead singer of The Who, who also performed at Friday night’s show. You May Be Right to think that Billy Joel, Paul McCartney, Garth Brooks, and Roger Daltrey would make a good enough evening, but what super concert would be complete without Steve Tyler from Aerosmith urging us to Walk this Way. On a sidebar, from a distance Steve Tyler looks like Captain Jack Sparro! Don’t worry – there’s more . . . no matter what people say about Only the Good Die Young, I can certainly say that not all of them do because I saw Tony Bennett sing with Billy Joel and for all his talent – the man is no spring chicken.
Although the woman behind us refused to accept the fact that we would be standing, I turned around during Paul McCartney’s send off and I Saw Her Standing There dancing to Let it Be!
So as you can see, the concert was absolutely filled with incredible guest singers to make sure that the Piano Man gave Shea Stadium a very historic sendoff. It was almost as if the entire music world was singing a Lullabye to send Shea off to it’s eternal resting place. As it was heard several miles away in Highland Falls, I’m sure This Night will go down in history as one of the greatest single concerts of all time.
So that was Friday Night where because of foot traffic, trains, getting lost on the way home, etc . . . we didn’t get to sleep until about 4:00AM (you might say it was a Hard Days Night), but of course no rest for the wicked as Maggie and I were Movin’ Out at the early hour of 10:00 AM, so that we could make the Yankee Game by the 1:05 start time. To conserve time, we changed our plans last minute from riding the train into the city and take the subway to driving the car to the stadium and taking our feet into the game. I swear to be An Innocent Man when it comes to causing the Home Team curse that Maggie and I bring to every single stadium, but luckily for the Yanks – I think the curse has been broken. The home team has won two out of the last three games that Maggie and I have attended as the Yankees picked up a victory over the Oakland Athletics after 12 innings on Saturday afternoon. One might say that after 12 innings, it is a good thing those Yankees were Keeping the Faith. You may know that like Shea Stadium, Yankee Stadium will also be torn down this year, so I was very happy to make the trip before all the New York walls crumble to the ground.
I’ll say a couple of more brief things about Yankee Stadium and the game we saw on Saturday.
The new Yankee Stadium doesn’t look like a ball field from the outside. It actually looks like a major State Building or Town Hall. My thought is that going to Yankee Stadium in 2009 will be like doing baseball the high class way.
I’m going to give props to the Yankee establishment for playing some Scenes from an Italian Restaurant or at least outside of the Italian Restaurant owned by Rocky Balboa in the movie named after that character. Rocky was giving the “It doesn’t matter how hard you get hit, but how hard you can get hit and get back up” speech! Loved the movie – loved the parallel to baseball.
Yankees won in 12 innings, so I’m saying since baseball in a 9 inning sport that we got a third of a game for free.
Coincidently, The Star Spangled Banner made a nice Prelude to both the concert and the baseball game.
Ok so that pretty much does it for the major events of the weekend. Back in the plain world of Ryan Joy, I am still off soda for the most part – but I have indulged in a couple of Diet Cokes over the past few weeks. Hopefully, I won’t completely fall off the wagon – but what I wouldn’t do for a little Root Beer Rag.
I’m not sure how far I’ve been from Allentown, PA or how far Maggie’s parents house is from Miami 2017, but with all this talk about the Summer fun I’m having touring around the nation, I almost forget that Swanker is doing a tour of duty over in Africa . . . perhaps he might make a side trip to Zanzibar.
As they might have said back in the Vietnam War era:
Goodnight Saigon,
Ryan
P.S. Downeaster Alexa, Ballad of Billy the Kid, She’s Always a Woman
P.S.S – If this email seems a little cryptic, scattered, and oddly worded. . . .well it is . . .but hey who else can incorporate the entire play list from a historic concert into one email.
Dear Readers:
I’m coming off a weekend spent in a New York State of Mind because I made it to both major league baseball stadiums within New York City. Again, it is my goal to see every Major League Baseball stadium out there. . . .maybe it’s a crazy goal, but hey crazy is My Life.
The city of New York broke ground for William A. Shea Municipal Stadium in the year 1960 and it has since been the long time home of Major League Baseball’s New York Mets. Although the venue more commonly known as “Shea Stadium” is best known for the Mets baseball team, it has also made history as the temporary home of the New York Yankees, Jets, and Giants. Not only one of the nation’s most well known sports complexes, Shea has also gained notoriety as a venue where the greatest musicians of the past 50 years have performed.
Don’t Ask Me Why, but the new Citi Field will replace historic Shea Stadium in 2009. Sports fans do have the chance to see the Met’s finish out the 2008 season, while music fans got the opportunity to witness the “Last Play at Shea” performed primarily by Billy Joel this past weekend. Maggie and I (along with Brian Smith seated on the other side of the stadium) attended this historic concert marking my second Billy Joel concert in two years. For obvious reasons, this concert couldn’t “blow the roof” off Shea Stadium, but I’m not sure a demolition crew will be needed because Mr. Joel and friends certainly tore the house down – and who said We Didn’t Start the Fire!
Since the opening act at Shea Stadium back in August of 1965 was performed by the Beatles, I guess it seems rather fitting that Paul McCartney came out with Billy Joel to answer the final encore. Although Sir Paul McCartney graced us with his age old “words of wisdom” singing “Let it Be,” Billy Joel left the arena with his own “words of wisdom” that were somewhat contradictory to those words of the former Beatle. I believe “The Entertainer”s words of wisdom were and I quote “Don’t take shit from anyone” – not quite the same as “Let it Be.”
For most people seeing both Billy Joel and Paul McCartney on the same stage on the same night might make for the perfect evening, but I’m completely Shameless when I say that witnessing Garth Brooks come out to perform with Billy stole the show for me. Garth Brooks is to me as Dave Mathews is to my friend Spurchise or in other words – he would be my favorite singer/songwriter/musician. Garth might be a country singer, but I have to say It’s Still Rock ‘n’ Roll to Me.
The musical years that came before My Generation didn’t belong to just Billy Joel and Paul McCartney, but also to Roger Daltrey: the lead singer of The Who, who also performed at Friday night’s show. You May Be Right to think that Billy Joel, Paul McCartney, Garth Brooks, and Roger Daltrey would make a good enough evening, but what super concert would be complete without Steve Tyler from Aerosmith urging us to Walk this Way. On a sidebar, from a distance Steve Tyler looks like Captain Jack Sparro! Don’t worry – there’s more . . . no matter what people say about Only the Good Die Young, I can certainly say that not all of them do because I saw Tony Bennett sing with Billy Joel and for all his talent – the man is no spring chicken.
Although the woman behind us refused to accept the fact that we would be standing, I turned around during Paul McCartney’s send off and I Saw Her Standing There dancing to Let it Be!
So as you can see, the concert was absolutely filled with incredible guest singers to make sure that the Piano Man gave Shea Stadium a very historic sendoff. It was almost as if the entire music world was singing a Lullabye to send Shea off to it’s eternal resting place. As it was heard several miles away in Highland Falls, I’m sure This Night will go down in history as one of the greatest single concerts of all time.
So that was Friday Night where because of foot traffic, trains, getting lost on the way home, etc . . . we didn’t get to sleep until about 4:00AM (you might say it was a Hard Days Night), but of course no rest for the wicked as Maggie and I were Movin’ Out at the early hour of 10:00 AM, so that we could make the Yankee Game by the 1:05 start time. To conserve time, we changed our plans last minute from riding the train into the city and take the subway to driving the car to the stadium and taking our feet into the game. I swear to be An Innocent Man when it comes to causing the Home Team curse that Maggie and I bring to every single stadium, but luckily for the Yanks – I think the curse has been broken. The home team has won two out of the last three games that Maggie and I have attended as the Yankees picked up a victory over the Oakland Athletics after 12 innings on Saturday afternoon. One might say that after 12 innings, it is a good thing those Yankees were Keeping the Faith. You may know that like Shea Stadium, Yankee Stadium will also be torn down this year, so I was very happy to make the trip before all the New York walls crumble to the ground.
I’ll say a couple of more brief things about Yankee Stadium and the game we saw on Saturday.
The new Yankee Stadium doesn’t look like a ball field from the outside. It actually looks like a major State Building or Town Hall. My thought is that going to Yankee Stadium in 2009 will be like doing baseball the high class way.
I’m going to give props to the Yankee establishment for playing some Scenes from an Italian Restaurant or at least outside of the Italian Restaurant owned by Rocky Balboa in the movie named after that character. Rocky was giving the “It doesn’t matter how hard you get hit, but how hard you can get hit and get back up” speech! Loved the movie – loved the parallel to baseball.
Yankees won in 12 innings, so I’m saying since baseball in a 9 inning sport that we got a third of a game for free.
Coincidently, The Star Spangled Banner made a nice Prelude to both the concert and the baseball game.
Ok so that pretty much does it for the major events of the weekend. Back in the plain world of Ryan Joy, I am still off soda for the most part – but I have indulged in a couple of Diet Cokes over the past few weeks. Hopefully, I won’t completely fall off the wagon – but what I wouldn’t do for a little Root Beer Rag.
I’m not sure how far I’ve been from Allentown, PA or how far Maggie’s parents house is from Miami 2017, but with all this talk about the Summer fun I’m having touring around the nation, I almost forget that Swanker is doing a tour of duty over in Africa . . . perhaps he might make a side trip to Zanzibar.
As they might have said back in the Vietnam War era:
Goodnight Saigon,
Ryan
P.S. Downeaster Alexa, Ballad of Billy the Kid, She’s Always a Woman
P.S.S – If this email seems a little cryptic, scattered, and oddly worded. . . .well it is . . .but hey who else can incorporate the entire play list from a historic concert into one email.
Monday Monday 7.17.2008
Hi Everyone,
There is a lot going on right now, so I won't be brief! First, I'd like to say that I can't honestly remember the last time I sent out a "Monday Monday" on a Monday, but I figure it adds a little spice to all your lives by not knowing when the email will come.
Second, Maggie and I are gearing up for our yearly attempt at raising funds for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). As you may or may not know, Maggie's niece has Juvenile Diabetes – a currently incurable disease that can only be treated with an anally controlled diet and closely monitored blood-sugar levels. On top of that, Maddie has to wear an insulin pump around her waist 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We all know how hard it is to diet and pass up birthday cake and soda for carrots and water, but imagine how hard it is to make these sacrifices in your pre-teen years and all the time. By helping to raise funds for JDRF, we are sponsoring an organization that has been aggressively funding diabetes research for almost 40 years. If you're interested in sponsoring us for the walk, I'm including the link below. On the website, you can find a picture of Maddie and her mother, information about JDRF and Juvenile Diabetes, and methods for helping us in our cause. The Moving for Maddie team has raised $55,000 over the past three years!
http://walk.jdrf.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=extranet.personalpage&confirmid=87022800
Third, what a great weekend! I crossed off two more baseball stadiums, two more Hard Rock Cafes, and I finally made it to the west coast.
I took Southwest Flight Number 353 from Baltimore Washington International Airport at 6:50AM last Thursday. The flight would take me straight to Las Vegas passing directly over the Grand Canyon, which by the way doesn't look all too grand from 35 thousand feet. As exciting as Las Vegas would have been, playing the slots or hitting the tables just didn't make my itinerary. Instead, I jumped on Southwest Flight Number 2217. This plane ride took me to my final destination: San Diego.
I arrived somewhere around 10:30 A.M., but I didn't expect Maggie to arrive until about 9:30PM. Luckily for me (since Maggie made the rental car reservation), the Courtyard Marriot San Diego/Liberty Station had a free shuttle service, and they were thrilled at the prospect of picking me up. Arriving a little early for check-in, I had a couple of choices. I could check-in right then and have what room was available, or since I am a Platinum Member of Marriot Rewards, I could wait while they cleaned an upgraded room with a fantastic waterfront view. Since I had nothing but time, the wait made no burden on me. The receptionist (I believe her name is Andrea) gladly took my bags while I went for a walk. Little did I know that my little walk could consume my entire afternoon.
The remarkable thing about San Diego is that the ocean sort of winds itself into the city giving it this quasi-elongated coast line. Walking out the back exit of the hotel, I locked my eyes on planes flying overhead, a waterway leading to the ocean, and in the distance I could make out all the tall buildings required for a major U.S. city. Now a "long walk on the beach" this wasn't, but in a very literal sense it was a long "walk in the park". I walked from my hotel along the inlets of the San Diego coastline, passed Spanish Landing, passed the Cancer Memorial, passed the U.S. Coast Guard, and all the way into downtown San Diego. The entire walk there and back took me about three hours. If not for the long awaited scents of salt water filling my nostrils or for the well kept parks and sidewalks, I might have stopped after an hour. Between grabbing some dinner, hitting up the pool, and taking this walk. . . .I was ready for bed.
Our weekend really kicked off on Friday morning. We hopped out of bed in time to make the 8AM opening of the "World Class San Diego Zoo." Of course that small achievement was helped along by the fact that 8AM Pacific Time is actually 11AM Eastern Time. Although the Giant Panda Bears and Koala Bears seem to be the fan favorites, my favorite exhibit had to be the Polar Bears. For some reason, the bears were especially active when we saw them at about 9AM. Imagine two huge, white animals wrestling around in the snow and ice, but doing it so gracefully that neither could be hurt. Compound that by the fact that I was standing all of about 3 feet away from them as they stood on their back two legs. . .and you might understand my amazement. Thank God for the thick glass between the bears and the spectators.
Fortunately for us, Maggie's cousin Will has connections in the San Diego area that he was able to exploit for us. What that means is that we attended both a Padres game and a Dodgers game for free (and our seats were amazing on both nights). We met up with Will's friend at a bar called the Pacific Shore Club, where Will's friend is actually a partner. We had a couple of drinks on the house before leaving for that "long walk on the beach" – since it was right there. . .Actually we took the abbreviated walk on the beach, so we could hit up the Hard Rock Café La Jolla before heading back to downtown San Diego for the Padres Game. Luckily, we got to La Jolla just in time as the Hard Rock Café's there is scheduled to close sometime next year.
I'll always remember the San Diego Padres game for the awesome promotion going on while we were there. For the entire month of July, Hot Dogs and soda were being sold for $1 at Petco Park. I had a sudden break down in my diet as I consumed 3 hot dogs and gulped down 2 sodas. . .and $5 bucks later, I had never been to so cheap a baseball game: free game, $1 hot dogs, and $1 soda. Nevermind the fact that our baseball stadium bible declared the Petco Park hot dog as the absolute worse in the majors - who cares they sold them for $1. Another high point for the evening's festivities was the fact that we finally saw the home team win as the Padres shut out the Braves 4-0.
At this point, it is Thursday Morning and I'm trying to polish off this week's note, so pardon me if I suddenly become brief about my activities; I'm sure you're ready to stop reading anyway. After the Padres game, Maggie and I ventured through the Gaslamp Quarter where we found Hard Rock Café San Diego. We had a drink and an appetizer and added yet another Hard Rock Café to the list.
We spent Saturday morning in Old Town San Diego, which is pretty much a historical district where the State of California has tried to make time stop. This section of San Diego is full of open air markets, old time shops, historic buildings, and Mexican restaurants and culture. We shopped, we ate, and we left. Major purchase for the time spent in Old Town was a bouquet of 15 colorful wooden roses - $10. I wonder if I'm off the hook until these flowers die?
That evening we drove North to Los Angeles, which is about 120 miles away. Our sole destination was Dodger's Stadium to take in another night of baseball, beer, hot dogs, and fun. Getting back on track with our normal performance, the curse did return as the home town Dodgers did in fact lose to the Florida Marlins, but not until after 11 innings of baseball. In my view, we just got a little bit of free baseball (not that we paid for the first nine innings). I guess the major highlight of this game was our seats. According to our Baseball Stadium bible, the field level seats are not only hard to come by, but they are damn near impossible to come by. In fact, the book made us think that the seats would be filled with suits and ties. We got seats on the field level in Section 10 row N, which for reference places us somewhere between home plate and the Away Team's dugout and 9 rows back. In all likelihood, we will never get seats like this again. The bible said the Dodger Dog falls right in the middle of the pack, but again I thought they tasted alright.
At the risk of letting this drone on forever, all I will say about Sunday is that we spent it at Sea World. This upcoming weekend's activities include seeing Billy Joel play the last concert at Shea Stadium on Friday night and seeing the Yankees take on the Athletics on Saturday afternoon. Hopefully I'll send out a Monday Monday on Monday next week.
Stay Tuned for More Action! Hope everyone is doing well
There is a lot going on right now, so I won't be brief! First, I'd like to say that I can't honestly remember the last time I sent out a "Monday Monday" on a Monday, but I figure it adds a little spice to all your lives by not knowing when the email will come.
Second, Maggie and I are gearing up for our yearly attempt at raising funds for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). As you may or may not know, Maggie's niece has Juvenile Diabetes – a currently incurable disease that can only be treated with an anally controlled diet and closely monitored blood-sugar levels. On top of that, Maddie has to wear an insulin pump around her waist 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We all know how hard it is to diet and pass up birthday cake and soda for carrots and water, but imagine how hard it is to make these sacrifices in your pre-teen years and all the time. By helping to raise funds for JDRF, we are sponsoring an organization that has been aggressively funding diabetes research for almost 40 years. If you're interested in sponsoring us for the walk, I'm including the link below. On the website, you can find a picture of Maddie and her mother, information about JDRF and Juvenile Diabetes, and methods for helping us in our cause. The Moving for Maddie team has raised $55,000 over the past three years!
http://walk.jdrf.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=extranet.personalpage&confirmid=87022800
Third, what a great weekend! I crossed off two more baseball stadiums, two more Hard Rock Cafes, and I finally made it to the west coast.
I took Southwest Flight Number 353 from Baltimore Washington International Airport at 6:50AM last Thursday. The flight would take me straight to Las Vegas passing directly over the Grand Canyon, which by the way doesn't look all too grand from 35 thousand feet. As exciting as Las Vegas would have been, playing the slots or hitting the tables just didn't make my itinerary. Instead, I jumped on Southwest Flight Number 2217. This plane ride took me to my final destination: San Diego.
I arrived somewhere around 10:30 A.M., but I didn't expect Maggie to arrive until about 9:30PM. Luckily for me (since Maggie made the rental car reservation), the Courtyard Marriot San Diego/Liberty Station had a free shuttle service, and they were thrilled at the prospect of picking me up. Arriving a little early for check-in, I had a couple of choices. I could check-in right then and have what room was available, or since I am a Platinum Member of Marriot Rewards, I could wait while they cleaned an upgraded room with a fantastic waterfront view. Since I had nothing but time, the wait made no burden on me. The receptionist (I believe her name is Andrea) gladly took my bags while I went for a walk. Little did I know that my little walk could consume my entire afternoon.
The remarkable thing about San Diego is that the ocean sort of winds itself into the city giving it this quasi-elongated coast line. Walking out the back exit of the hotel, I locked my eyes on planes flying overhead, a waterway leading to the ocean, and in the distance I could make out all the tall buildings required for a major U.S. city. Now a "long walk on the beach" this wasn't, but in a very literal sense it was a long "walk in the park". I walked from my hotel along the inlets of the San Diego coastline, passed Spanish Landing, passed the Cancer Memorial, passed the U.S. Coast Guard, and all the way into downtown San Diego. The entire walk there and back took me about three hours. If not for the long awaited scents of salt water filling my nostrils or for the well kept parks and sidewalks, I might have stopped after an hour. Between grabbing some dinner, hitting up the pool, and taking this walk. . . .I was ready for bed.
Our weekend really kicked off on Friday morning. We hopped out of bed in time to make the 8AM opening of the "World Class San Diego Zoo." Of course that small achievement was helped along by the fact that 8AM Pacific Time is actually 11AM Eastern Time. Although the Giant Panda Bears and Koala Bears seem to be the fan favorites, my favorite exhibit had to be the Polar Bears. For some reason, the bears were especially active when we saw them at about 9AM. Imagine two huge, white animals wrestling around in the snow and ice, but doing it so gracefully that neither could be hurt. Compound that by the fact that I was standing all of about 3 feet away from them as they stood on their back two legs. . .and you might understand my amazement. Thank God for the thick glass between the bears and the spectators.
Fortunately for us, Maggie's cousin Will has connections in the San Diego area that he was able to exploit for us. What that means is that we attended both a Padres game and a Dodgers game for free (and our seats were amazing on both nights). We met up with Will's friend at a bar called the Pacific Shore Club, where Will's friend is actually a partner. We had a couple of drinks on the house before leaving for that "long walk on the beach" – since it was right there. . .Actually we took the abbreviated walk on the beach, so we could hit up the Hard Rock Café La Jolla before heading back to downtown San Diego for the Padres Game. Luckily, we got to La Jolla just in time as the Hard Rock Café's there is scheduled to close sometime next year.
I'll always remember the San Diego Padres game for the awesome promotion going on while we were there. For the entire month of July, Hot Dogs and soda were being sold for $1 at Petco Park. I had a sudden break down in my diet as I consumed 3 hot dogs and gulped down 2 sodas. . .and $5 bucks later, I had never been to so cheap a baseball game: free game, $1 hot dogs, and $1 soda. Nevermind the fact that our baseball stadium bible declared the Petco Park hot dog as the absolute worse in the majors - who cares they sold them for $1. Another high point for the evening's festivities was the fact that we finally saw the home team win as the Padres shut out the Braves 4-0.
At this point, it is Thursday Morning and I'm trying to polish off this week's note, so pardon me if I suddenly become brief about my activities; I'm sure you're ready to stop reading anyway. After the Padres game, Maggie and I ventured through the Gaslamp Quarter where we found Hard Rock Café San Diego. We had a drink and an appetizer and added yet another Hard Rock Café to the list.
We spent Saturday morning in Old Town San Diego, which is pretty much a historical district where the State of California has tried to make time stop. This section of San Diego is full of open air markets, old time shops, historic buildings, and Mexican restaurants and culture. We shopped, we ate, and we left. Major purchase for the time spent in Old Town was a bouquet of 15 colorful wooden roses - $10. I wonder if I'm off the hook until these flowers die?
That evening we drove North to Los Angeles, which is about 120 miles away. Our sole destination was Dodger's Stadium to take in another night of baseball, beer, hot dogs, and fun. Getting back on track with our normal performance, the curse did return as the home town Dodgers did in fact lose to the Florida Marlins, but not until after 11 innings of baseball. In my view, we just got a little bit of free baseball (not that we paid for the first nine innings). I guess the major highlight of this game was our seats. According to our Baseball Stadium bible, the field level seats are not only hard to come by, but they are damn near impossible to come by. In fact, the book made us think that the seats would be filled with suits and ties. We got seats on the field level in Section 10 row N, which for reference places us somewhere between home plate and the Away Team's dugout and 9 rows back. In all likelihood, we will never get seats like this again. The bible said the Dodger Dog falls right in the middle of the pack, but again I thought they tasted alright.
At the risk of letting this drone on forever, all I will say about Sunday is that we spent it at Sea World. This upcoming weekend's activities include seeing Billy Joel play the last concert at Shea Stadium on Friday night and seeing the Yankees take on the Athletics on Saturday afternoon. Hopefully I'll send out a Monday Monday on Monday next week.
Stay Tuned for More Action! Hope everyone is doing well
Monday Monday 7.8.2008
Monday Monday,
As of a week ago last Saturday, we have a roommate living with us in South Carolina. Scotty Lacombe moved in with us and is now taking up the space that once was my gaming room. We've decided that the financial reward of having a roommate offsets the inability to have a room totally dedicated to being a Geek.
Happy Fourth of July! We celebrated our nation's independence by going out and enjoying America's Game. Scotty, Dusty, Maggie, and I all went to the Bank of America Skyshow at Knights Stadium. The game started at 7 with fireworks afterward, but the day's festivities actually began around 3:00PM as we showed up with a trunk full of Tailgating goodies! The game featured our own Charlotte Knights (AAA Affiliate of the Chicago White Sox) taking on the Durham Bulls (AAA Affiliate of Tampa Bay Rays). Charlotte squeaked out a victory in the bottom of the ninth, so it made for a happy crowd.
On the subject of American Independence, one of the more rewarding things that I have done over the past month or two has been reading the John Adams novel by David McCullough and watching the Seven Part Tom Hanks directed HBO Mini Series based on the novel. I found the story historically enlightening and intriguing. Aside from being our second President, John Adams also played a huge role in the decision of our country to unite in rebellion and revolution against the British Monarchy. Along with telling the story of America's revolution and the founding fathers, the novel also brought to life one of the most romantic and interesting relationships of the period. Keeping in mind that the rights of women were barely more than those of slaves, the brilliant story of Abigail Adams and her husband John put a very humane twist on the country's founding. If you can't stomach reading a 700 page book, I recommend the mini-series as one of your most enjoyable American History Lessons.
On the subject of politics, when will this election ever truly get underway? Obama announced that he will give his convention speech in Mile High Stadium in front of approximately 75,000 people. I'm not sure that the super bowl could bring that many fans. Either way, I've decided that I am surprisingly liberal for this upcoming election. It would have been much harder to win my vote if we weren't coming off the heels of the George Bush era. The other problem is I don't like John McCain and I do like Barack Obama. Why can't we have an election where I like both candidates?
I'm going to see the Brad Paisley and Jewel concert in a few weeks at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Charlotte. I haven't been to a concert since I saw Billy Joel about a year ago, so this should be a good time. If the charlotte weather doesn't break than going to outdoor concert will be a very nice evening out!
On a completely separate note, I am making my return to the traveling world today. After spending about 1 month working from home, I am heading straight back to Annapolis, MD to work on NAVY ERP. Seeing that the month of June was primarily spent at home, the next few months will feature such exciting trips as California, New York City, Michigan, and of course house number 2 in Pennsylvania.
Hope Everyone Has A Great Week!
Ryan
As of a week ago last Saturday, we have a roommate living with us in South Carolina. Scotty Lacombe moved in with us and is now taking up the space that once was my gaming room. We've decided that the financial reward of having a roommate offsets the inability to have a room totally dedicated to being a Geek.
Happy Fourth of July! We celebrated our nation's independence by going out and enjoying America's Game. Scotty, Dusty, Maggie, and I all went to the Bank of America Skyshow at Knights Stadium. The game started at 7 with fireworks afterward, but the day's festivities actually began around 3:00PM as we showed up with a trunk full of Tailgating goodies! The game featured our own Charlotte Knights (AAA Affiliate of the Chicago White Sox) taking on the Durham Bulls (AAA Affiliate of Tampa Bay Rays). Charlotte squeaked out a victory in the bottom of the ninth, so it made for a happy crowd.
On the subject of American Independence, one of the more rewarding things that I have done over the past month or two has been reading the John Adams novel by David McCullough and watching the Seven Part Tom Hanks directed HBO Mini Series based on the novel. I found the story historically enlightening and intriguing. Aside from being our second President, John Adams also played a huge role in the decision of our country to unite in rebellion and revolution against the British Monarchy. Along with telling the story of America's revolution and the founding fathers, the novel also brought to life one of the most romantic and interesting relationships of the period. Keeping in mind that the rights of women were barely more than those of slaves, the brilliant story of Abigail Adams and her husband John put a very humane twist on the country's founding. If you can't stomach reading a 700 page book, I recommend the mini-series as one of your most enjoyable American History Lessons.
On the subject of politics, when will this election ever truly get underway? Obama announced that he will give his convention speech in Mile High Stadium in front of approximately 75,000 people. I'm not sure that the super bowl could bring that many fans. Either way, I've decided that I am surprisingly liberal for this upcoming election. It would have been much harder to win my vote if we weren't coming off the heels of the George Bush era. The other problem is I don't like John McCain and I do like Barack Obama. Why can't we have an election where I like both candidates?
I'm going to see the Brad Paisley and Jewel concert in a few weeks at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Charlotte. I haven't been to a concert since I saw Billy Joel about a year ago, so this should be a good time. If the charlotte weather doesn't break than going to outdoor concert will be a very nice evening out!
On a completely separate note, I am making my return to the traveling world today. After spending about 1 month working from home, I am heading straight back to Annapolis, MD to work on NAVY ERP. Seeing that the month of June was primarily spent at home, the next few months will feature such exciting trips as California, New York City, Michigan, and of course house number 2 in Pennsylvania.
Hope Everyone Has A Great Week!
Ryan
Monday Monday 7.1.2008
Hi Everyone,
I realize that it has been several weeks since you last heard from me, and my excuse is that I haven't had much to write about.
I have been working from home for the past month or so, and I'm preparing to head back out on the road next week. I'm just going back to Annapolis, MD and will likely be there for quite some time.
Graduation
I used points to fly up to Albany last weekend for my cousin's (Bobby - Aunt Pam's Youngest) high school graduation. He graduated from my Alma Mater, so it was interesting to see the Hartford Central School Graduation for the first time since 2002 when I walked that aisle myself. It was announced at graduation that 5 teachers were retiring. I had all of them, my parents had at least two of them, and its clear that now almost the entire staff has turned over since 2002.
Graduation reminded me of how technologicly advanced we are back in the rolling hills of Washington County:
We installed a new central air conditioning system this year called "The 2008 HCS Graduation Programs." This individualized device gets handed out to everyone as they walk into the gym, lists all the awards and students on it, and you get to take the air conditioning system how with you afterward. It was a good thing we had these programs to wave back and forth in front of our faces too because when you pack the entire team into our little gymnasium, the temperature rises very rapidly
We also have this great Slideshow presentation thingy-ma-jig. This year we could see about 50% of the screen, but I hear if you make the screen fit the projected image - you can actually see 100%. The slideshow did feature pictures from all of the 35 (give or take a few) graduates, and our friends at HCS played it over our new advanced speaker system that I think got purchased at Wal-Mart and was brought in over the right shoulder of one of our senior staff members. I wonder if this new speaker system had a casette player.
I guess its nice to see that some things don't change no matter how much you do or how far you move away. . .
We had Bobby's graduation party at my Parent's house the next day and lucky for us we had a beautiful day with a constant overcast sky, continuous thunder and lightning, and a cumulative percipitation of about 2.5 inches of rain. It was nice to see that no matter how much Mother Nature bitched (whoops let that curse word slip), she couldn't put down enough rain to put out our massive bon fire in the back yard.
Travel Woes
No matter how many times, Maggie and I fly into Albany International Airport (International because they probably have one flight to Montreal or something), we always have something go wrong. Last Thanksgivining, Maggie's flight out of Chicago was delayed, so she missed the connecting flight in Washington DC. Fortunately she was able to hop on a late night flight bound for Syracuse, rent a car, and make the three hour drive to Hartford. She got in at like 3AM that time. This time, she had a little bit better luck because she had a direct flight that only got delayed. Luckily we knew ahead of time, so Mom picked up a Mandy's Pizza to keep me occupide for a few minutes while we waited for her. She got into Albany at about 1:20AM. The surprising thing about all this is that we are relatively unphased by these minor disasters because we deal with them almost every week. One time Maggie had to fly to Atlanta and then make a 4 hour drive to Charlotte, so she got in at like 4AM. Another time she was forced to fly out to Raleigh Durham, so I drove out to pick her up (three hours away). Of course, I just talk about the time where I had three consecutive Thursday night flights home cancelled. Fortunately Baltimore to Charlotte is only about 8 hours, so I hopped in a car and made the trek getting in at the wee hours of the morning
While I was gone. . . .
Business was anything but usual in Charlotte, while I ventured up North.
Our friend, Scotty, moved into our spare bedroom. Which could have been a very smooth process if I remembered to put the key out. Fortunately I remembered as soon as I landed in Albany, so I still had time to pay $18.30 to overnight the key to him.
Our favorite restaurant that we probably average a once a week visit to closed it's doors over the weekend. I think I might move. . .
Our friend Dustin's car got stolen. . . .I don't know what else to say on the subject considering I thought that I got robbed by the post office when sending a key overnight.
Tah Tah For Now,
Ryan
I realize that it has been several weeks since you last heard from me, and my excuse is that I haven't had much to write about.
I have been working from home for the past month or so, and I'm preparing to head back out on the road next week. I'm just going back to Annapolis, MD and will likely be there for quite some time.
Graduation
I used points to fly up to Albany last weekend for my cousin's (Bobby - Aunt Pam's Youngest) high school graduation. He graduated from my Alma Mater, so it was interesting to see the Hartford Central School Graduation for the first time since 2002 when I walked that aisle myself. It was announced at graduation that 5 teachers were retiring. I had all of them, my parents had at least two of them, and its clear that now almost the entire staff has turned over since 2002.
Graduation reminded me of how technologicly advanced we are back in the rolling hills of Washington County:
We installed a new central air conditioning system this year called "The 2008 HCS Graduation Programs." This individualized device gets handed out to everyone as they walk into the gym, lists all the awards and students on it, and you get to take the air conditioning system how with you afterward. It was a good thing we had these programs to wave back and forth in front of our faces too because when you pack the entire team into our little gymnasium, the temperature rises very rapidly
We also have this great Slideshow presentation thingy-ma-jig. This year we could see about 50% of the screen, but I hear if you make the screen fit the projected image - you can actually see 100%. The slideshow did feature pictures from all of the 35 (give or take a few) graduates, and our friends at HCS played it over our new advanced speaker system that I think got purchased at Wal-Mart and was brought in over the right shoulder of one of our senior staff members. I wonder if this new speaker system had a casette player.
I guess its nice to see that some things don't change no matter how much you do or how far you move away. . .
We had Bobby's graduation party at my Parent's house the next day and lucky for us we had a beautiful day with a constant overcast sky, continuous thunder and lightning, and a cumulative percipitation of about 2.5 inches of rain. It was nice to see that no matter how much Mother Nature bitched (whoops let that curse word slip), she couldn't put down enough rain to put out our massive bon fire in the back yard.
Travel Woes
No matter how many times, Maggie and I fly into Albany International Airport (International because they probably have one flight to Montreal or something), we always have something go wrong. Last Thanksgivining, Maggie's flight out of Chicago was delayed, so she missed the connecting flight in Washington DC. Fortunately she was able to hop on a late night flight bound for Syracuse, rent a car, and make the three hour drive to Hartford. She got in at like 3AM that time. This time, she had a little bit better luck because she had a direct flight that only got delayed. Luckily we knew ahead of time, so Mom picked up a Mandy's Pizza to keep me occupide for a few minutes while we waited for her. She got into Albany at about 1:20AM. The surprising thing about all this is that we are relatively unphased by these minor disasters because we deal with them almost every week. One time Maggie had to fly to Atlanta and then make a 4 hour drive to Charlotte, so she got in at like 4AM. Another time she was forced to fly out to Raleigh Durham, so I drove out to pick her up (three hours away). Of course, I just talk about the time where I had three consecutive Thursday night flights home cancelled. Fortunately Baltimore to Charlotte is only about 8 hours, so I hopped in a car and made the trek getting in at the wee hours of the morning
While I was gone. . . .
Business was anything but usual in Charlotte, while I ventured up North.
Our friend, Scotty, moved into our spare bedroom. Which could have been a very smooth process if I remembered to put the key out. Fortunately I remembered as soon as I landed in Albany, so I still had time to pay $18.30 to overnight the key to him.
Our favorite restaurant that we probably average a once a week visit to closed it's doors over the weekend. I think I might move. . .
Our friend Dustin's car got stolen. . . .I don't know what else to say on the subject considering I thought that I got robbed by the post office when sending a key overnight.
Tah Tah For Now,
Ryan
Monday Monday 6.11.2008
Good Evening to You,
On May 29th, I worked my last day in Annapolis for a month. I am now on a work from home tour of duty that doesn't end until the week after July 4. Unfortunately for me though, Big Blue found me some training in Mechanicsburg, PA for a couple of weeks - so I won't be hitting the pool and soaking up the sun for the entire month of June.
You'll notice that last week came and went without a Monday Monday or any other email correspondence. Again since I am working from home, you wouldn't believe how busy I am (playing Mario Kart and Zelda, sitting by the pool, etc.) Have no fear, I'll give a short recap of the past two weeks so you won't feel disassociated with my everyday happennings.
One of the downsides of not traveling is the inability to go anywhere on the weekends. Having said that, Maggie and I have taken advantage of this by spending some much needed time at home. Over the past two weekends, we haven't gone anywhere but instead we had people come to us. First, Holly Kruchinski came down for the first weekend in June, and second my Mom and Aunt Pam came down for the second week in June. When on the road, it seems that we're always on the move and exploring new terrain, but with our guests in town we somehow found a way to simply relax by the pool. The color of my skin and my flakey shoulders offer nothing but proof of my relaxing habits.
Over both weekends, I started auditions for retirement activities. By that I simply mean that I woke up at 6AM, didn't do much until about noon, sat by the pool, and played dominos in the evening. The majority of all discussions had to do with what we were going to eat next or what foods would be allowed on my low calorie diet. On a sidebar, I think its important to mention that dominos will make an excellent retirement activity. Although neither my mom, aunt, nor Holly had ever played the particular Mexican Train Version - everyone certainly enjoyed our activities.
I'm going to abbreviate this email by simply giving a few one liners about the two weekends. Please note that each one liner could be a full paragraph.
One Liners
Aunt Pam drank enough beers to make sure we recycled
My Mom and Aunt wanted floats, so we bought some for 2.50 at K-Mart
I lost my car at the airport when I parked it to pick up my Mom and Aunt
I had a great time with Holly
I had a great time with my Mom and Aunt
Pool water was cold during Holly weekend
Pool water was warm during mom and aunt weekend
We had record breaking temperatures every day last weekend.
Record temperatures required us to be in the pool and not outside sitting next to it
Still 90 degrees at night
Hillary Clinton finally dropped out of the Democratic Primary Race.
Flew on an airplane this week
Completely dominate Mario Kart on 50cc and 100cc
Beat Mario Kart on 150cc and Mirro
Boston is on my Summer 2009 list of places to go (um what's up with the Celtics?)
Have a Great Week
Ryan
On May 29th, I worked my last day in Annapolis for a month. I am now on a work from home tour of duty that doesn't end until the week after July 4. Unfortunately for me though, Big Blue found me some training in Mechanicsburg, PA for a couple of weeks - so I won't be hitting the pool and soaking up the sun for the entire month of June.
You'll notice that last week came and went without a Monday Monday or any other email correspondence. Again since I am working from home, you wouldn't believe how busy I am (playing Mario Kart and Zelda, sitting by the pool, etc.) Have no fear, I'll give a short recap of the past two weeks so you won't feel disassociated with my everyday happennings.
One of the downsides of not traveling is the inability to go anywhere on the weekends. Having said that, Maggie and I have taken advantage of this by spending some much needed time at home. Over the past two weekends, we haven't gone anywhere but instead we had people come to us. First, Holly Kruchinski came down for the first weekend in June, and second my Mom and Aunt Pam came down for the second week in June. When on the road, it seems that we're always on the move and exploring new terrain, but with our guests in town we somehow found a way to simply relax by the pool. The color of my skin and my flakey shoulders offer nothing but proof of my relaxing habits.
Over both weekends, I started auditions for retirement activities. By that I simply mean that I woke up at 6AM, didn't do much until about noon, sat by the pool, and played dominos in the evening. The majority of all discussions had to do with what we were going to eat next or what foods would be allowed on my low calorie diet. On a sidebar, I think its important to mention that dominos will make an excellent retirement activity. Although neither my mom, aunt, nor Holly had ever played the particular Mexican Train Version - everyone certainly enjoyed our activities.
I'm going to abbreviate this email by simply giving a few one liners about the two weekends. Please note that each one liner could be a full paragraph.
One Liners
Aunt Pam drank enough beers to make sure we recycled
My Mom and Aunt wanted floats, so we bought some for 2.50 at K-Mart
I lost my car at the airport when I parked it to pick up my Mom and Aunt
I had a great time with Holly
I had a great time with my Mom and Aunt
Pool water was cold during Holly weekend
Pool water was warm during mom and aunt weekend
We had record breaking temperatures every day last weekend.
Record temperatures required us to be in the pool and not outside sitting next to it
Still 90 degrees at night
Hillary Clinton finally dropped out of the Democratic Primary Race.
Flew on an airplane this week
Completely dominate Mario Kart on 50cc and 100cc
Beat Mario Kart on 150cc and Mirro
Boston is on my Summer 2009 list of places to go (um what's up with the Celtics?)
Have a Great Week
Ryan
Monday Monday 5.28.2008
All,
The question of how to start these emails usually plagues me, but after I complete a few lines, the rest usually comes pouring out. This might explain why the email that I'm currently writing will arrive in you inbox nothing short of a few days late. Although you have to give me some credit considering that I had Memorial Day off and Tuesday came and went really fast.
Maggie and I spent our Memorial Day weekend among college friends, but the three day weekend's culmination came at the wedding ceremony and celebration of Lindsey Conklin and Chris Brekelmans.
Since the wedding came last and because Christopher Spurchise is expecting a full report on my consumption activities, I will reserve the matrimonial fun for the latter part of the email. I will title the next few paragraphs "A Full Report."
A Full Report
I arrived at the Residence Inn near Carrier Circle in East Syracuse, New York at about 7:45PM on Thursday the twenty-second of May. I requested the company of one Christopher Spurchise for a late dinner at a favorite local establishment of his choosing. Understanding that my rare visit happened to coincide with the season finale of Spurch's favorite "non-Syracuse / non-DMB / non-sports related" television program, I was expecting a subway dinner. Luckily for me, someone invented digital cable allowing us to forget "Grey's Anatomy" and head straight to the Empire Brewery in downtown Syracuse where they serve a myriad of different New York made beverages. With so many to choose from, I decided on the sampler, so that I could gain a more wholesome perspective on this underground eatery. I recommend this pub for both beverages and ambiance. After dinner and a tree splitting conversation regarding the upcoming Presidential Election, we went back to the hotel for a few minutes before I had to pick up Maggie at the airport and call it a night.
On day two of my visit to the Spurch proclaimed "Greatest Place on Earth," I revisited a small chain restaurant called Tully's. Tully's makes the claim that they have "The World's Greatest Chicken Tenders," and suckers like me believe it without question. The brilliance of their marketing team to take a simple item that can be found on every menu in every restaurant and turn it into their biggest draw is outstanding. Hardly does there exist another item so easily or cheaply prepared than a chicken tender, but Tully's probably controls about 50-60% of the chicken tender market share in the greater Syracuse area. I recommend this establishment for their chicken tenders, insanely large cups of water, and their low prices. I don't recommend this establishment if you live outside the state of New York and would like a beverage from the cocktail menu as they won't serve you. Now I'm not genius or anything, but something tells me that the refusal to serve people who live out of state is a form of discrimination. Where's the supreme court to back up our drinking problems. I know that many restaurants don't take out of state ID's, but hey where would be today if our early settlers just went ahead and paid the stamp tax just because someone said it was the rule. I digress. . . .
In the time between lunch and dinner, Maggie and I took our adventure to the one structure that has kept Syracuse going. Currently dubbed "Destiny USA," the Carousel Mall makes for a few hours of walking and shopping. Rumors are a buzz that by the time renovations are complete, the mall will actually rival the Mall of America in Minnesota. Since I know you're wondering how much I may have spent in said mall, I must explain that we both escaped fiscally healthy. The major purchase came from FYE where we bought a used copy of Everybody Loves Raymond Season 8. Upon my completion of this season, I will only need to view the ninth season to have viewed all episodes.
Meeting back up with Spurchise allowed us the opportunity to visit another famed Syracuse eatery. In truth though, I believe the 585 (Rochester) should actually be taking credit for Dinosaur BBQ, while the Syracuse version is nothing but a knockoff attempt that actually turned a classic BBQ place from a Business Executive/Biker hangout into a Business Executive/Biker hangout chain. I wanted to order some giant sampler platter, but cooler heads (Maggie and Spurch) prevailed, so I only ordered a two meet combo that came with Pulled Pork and Ribs. What can I say except that you can't go wrong with good BBQ.
K-Lob met up with us on day 3 (Saturday), so the three of us hooked up with Timmy LaRocque and Corey Finch for dinner. We then went over to Timmy's condo to learn a new drinking game that actually made for a pretty good time. Unfortunately Timmy and Maggie took two games from Kevin and I as our record ended up being a lousy 1 and 2. . . . I know I know. . . .we didn't even make .500. But hey, the New York Yankees won the world series almost 30 times, and they don't even have a .500 record right now. (Sidebar: I got my NYY Yankee Tickets yesterday).
Wedding
First and foremost, I'll take the opportunity to electronically congratulate Lindsey and Chris again on their marriage. On Sunday, we drove about 45 minutes outside of Syracuse to Vernon Downs to meet up with Ryan, Kate, Sandy, and Brian (Sandy's boyfriend) for the Conklin/Brekelmans wedding mentioned above. The wedding took place at Greystone Castle just a few minutes away from the hotel. While Ryan Stephens was taking notes for his own wedding scheduled to take place next year, we all watched a beautifully performed and adorned wedding take place. The remarkable thing about this wedding in particular is the personal flavor of the celebration. Although we've known Lindsey and Chris for a number of years now, the comments made by the bride and groom's family both during and after the ceremony gave us a lot of new insight from people that have always known them through every stage of life. Its amazing how the two families seem to fit together so well. As of the publishing of this letter, I believe the happily married couple is in Los Angeles enjoying thier honeymoon.
In Closing
I could go on for quite a bit longer about Syracuse and the Wedding, but I'll be very impressed if you've made it this far. I'm supposedly working from home the entire month of June, but those plans might be changing slightly. Either way. . . enjoy the rest of your week and you'll hear from me again on Monday
Ryan
The question of how to start these emails usually plagues me, but after I complete a few lines, the rest usually comes pouring out. This might explain why the email that I'm currently writing will arrive in you inbox nothing short of a few days late. Although you have to give me some credit considering that I had Memorial Day off and Tuesday came and went really fast.
Maggie and I spent our Memorial Day weekend among college friends, but the three day weekend's culmination came at the wedding ceremony and celebration of Lindsey Conklin and Chris Brekelmans.
Since the wedding came last and because Christopher Spurchise is expecting a full report on my consumption activities, I will reserve the matrimonial fun for the latter part of the email. I will title the next few paragraphs "A Full Report."
A Full Report
I arrived at the Residence Inn near Carrier Circle in East Syracuse, New York at about 7:45PM on Thursday the twenty-second of May. I requested the company of one Christopher Spurchise for a late dinner at a favorite local establishment of his choosing. Understanding that my rare visit happened to coincide with the season finale of Spurch's favorite "non-Syracuse / non-DMB / non-sports related" television program, I was expecting a subway dinner. Luckily for me, someone invented digital cable allowing us to forget "Grey's Anatomy" and head straight to the Empire Brewery in downtown Syracuse where they serve a myriad of different New York made beverages. With so many to choose from, I decided on the sampler, so that I could gain a more wholesome perspective on this underground eatery. I recommend this pub for both beverages and ambiance. After dinner and a tree splitting conversation regarding the upcoming Presidential Election, we went back to the hotel for a few minutes before I had to pick up Maggie at the airport and call it a night.
On day two of my visit to the Spurch proclaimed "Greatest Place on Earth," I revisited a small chain restaurant called Tully's. Tully's makes the claim that they have "The World's Greatest Chicken Tenders," and suckers like me believe it without question. The brilliance of their marketing team to take a simple item that can be found on every menu in every restaurant and turn it into their biggest draw is outstanding. Hardly does there exist another item so easily or cheaply prepared than a chicken tender, but Tully's probably controls about 50-60% of the chicken tender market share in the greater Syracuse area. I recommend this establishment for their chicken tenders, insanely large cups of water, and their low prices. I don't recommend this establishment if you live outside the state of New York and would like a beverage from the cocktail menu as they won't serve you. Now I'm not genius or anything, but something tells me that the refusal to serve people who live out of state is a form of discrimination. Where's the supreme court to back up our drinking problems. I know that many restaurants don't take out of state ID's, but hey where would be today if our early settlers just went ahead and paid the stamp tax just because someone said it was the rule. I digress. . . .
In the time between lunch and dinner, Maggie and I took our adventure to the one structure that has kept Syracuse going. Currently dubbed "Destiny USA," the Carousel Mall makes for a few hours of walking and shopping. Rumors are a buzz that by the time renovations are complete, the mall will actually rival the Mall of America in Minnesota. Since I know you're wondering how much I may have spent in said mall, I must explain that we both escaped fiscally healthy. The major purchase came from FYE where we bought a used copy of Everybody Loves Raymond Season 8. Upon my completion of this season, I will only need to view the ninth season to have viewed all episodes.
Meeting back up with Spurchise allowed us the opportunity to visit another famed Syracuse eatery. In truth though, I believe the 585 (Rochester) should actually be taking credit for Dinosaur BBQ, while the Syracuse version is nothing but a knockoff attempt that actually turned a classic BBQ place from a Business Executive/Biker hangout into a Business Executive/Biker hangout chain. I wanted to order some giant sampler platter, but cooler heads (Maggie and Spurch) prevailed, so I only ordered a two meet combo that came with Pulled Pork and Ribs. What can I say except that you can't go wrong with good BBQ.
K-Lob met up with us on day 3 (Saturday), so the three of us hooked up with Timmy LaRocque and Corey Finch for dinner. We then went over to Timmy's condo to learn a new drinking game that actually made for a pretty good time. Unfortunately Timmy and Maggie took two games from Kevin and I as our record ended up being a lousy 1 and 2. . . . I know I know. . . .we didn't even make .500. But hey, the New York Yankees won the world series almost 30 times, and they don't even have a .500 record right now. (Sidebar: I got my NYY Yankee Tickets yesterday).
Wedding
First and foremost, I'll take the opportunity to electronically congratulate Lindsey and Chris again on their marriage. On Sunday, we drove about 45 minutes outside of Syracuse to Vernon Downs to meet up with Ryan, Kate, Sandy, and Brian (Sandy's boyfriend) for the Conklin/Brekelmans wedding mentioned above. The wedding took place at Greystone Castle just a few minutes away from the hotel. While Ryan Stephens was taking notes for his own wedding scheduled to take place next year, we all watched a beautifully performed and adorned wedding take place. The remarkable thing about this wedding in particular is the personal flavor of the celebration. Although we've known Lindsey and Chris for a number of years now, the comments made by the bride and groom's family both during and after the ceremony gave us a lot of new insight from people that have always known them through every stage of life. Its amazing how the two families seem to fit together so well. As of the publishing of this letter, I believe the happily married couple is in Los Angeles enjoying thier honeymoon.
In Closing
I could go on for quite a bit longer about Syracuse and the Wedding, but I'll be very impressed if you've made it this far. I'm supposedly working from home the entire month of June, but those plans might be changing slightly. Either way. . . enjoy the rest of your week and you'll hear from me again on Monday
Ryan
Monday Monday 5.19.2008
Good Morning All,
Maggie and I went on an adventure to the "not-so Wild West" this past weekend with a trip to Denver, Colorado. My first gaze upon the city of Denver impressed me little, but as my visit increased in length so did my appreciation for one of this world's most unique and modern cities. I'm certain that my harsh initial perception was a result derived only from my after dark arrival time. From the moment we stepped outside of Denver International Airport, Will (Maggie's cousin) began giving us the grand tour, which for reference didn't seem like all that interesting considering we couldn't see anything at 10:00 PM. From our condo window, Will pointed out Six Flags, the Rocky Mountains, the building he lives in, while we simply put on a grin and gave him a nod. Walking out onto the condo's patio the next morning gave us a little shock as we realized that six flags ended up no more than a stone's throw away. The snow capped Rocky Mountains in the distance made for an unusually gorgeous view. Most people enjoy looking upon a city skyline from somewhere out in the suburbs, but in Denver - the highlight is actually being in the city skyline looking out at the Rocky Mountain suburbs.
Every time I go to a major city, I make it one of my objectives to visit the local Hard Rock Café, have a beer, and pick up a tall pilsner souvenir glass. Denver marked my thirteenth glass joining the ranks of World's most renowned cities: Orlando, Chicago, New York, Detroit, Rome, San Juan, Washington DC, Baltimore, Atlanta etc. The discussion on this fine establishment doesn't end here because I must go on about the overall experience. First, we all placed our order and mine being the simplest should have been the easiest to deliver: not the case. I ordered the quote on quote "Heavy Metal Chicken Tenders" or in other less rock and roll style words "buffalo chicken tenders." Just to be clear on the simplicity of this order – I am going to divulge the secret recipe for "Heavy Metal Chicken Tenders." Please follow the instructions carefully:
1. Pull chicken tenders out of bag
2. Place in fryer
3. Fry for short period of time
4. Remove from fryer
5. Toss in wing sauce
6. Put on plate and deliver to my seat.
Now I don't want to divulge all the secrets and mysterious recipes of the Hard Rock Café, but I am assuming that everyone else's dish might have been a little more complicated. Even though my meal came out about 10 minutes later than everyone else's, I have to say that I remain a faithful and satisfied customer of this musical eatery. Perhaps that decision comes as a result of the no hassle free plate of food that I received. No questions or comments from me – they just volunteered to give me my plate to make up for my wait.
On the subject of free food, we went to visit another baseball stadium on Friday night. We watched the Colorado Rockies lose to the Minnesota Twins. It seems that every time we go to watch a baseball game, the home team loses. Regardless back to food because that is obviously where my heart really lies. We had the fortunate opportunity of watching the game from the baseball stadium's restaurant. I recognize how I could jeopardize the restaurant industry by continuously handing out recipes in these emails, so I won't tell you how quick and simple it is to make a salad in comparison to hamburgers, pulled pork, grilled chicken and other dishes that were placed around our table. Somehow and for some reason, Maggie's salad got assembled slower than it takes the democrats to decide upon a nominee – I know a salad six to eight months in the making. In addition, Fran's (Will's wife) burger was over done and everyone's french fries were cold. Will respectfully complained and got all drinks, Maggie's salad, and Fran's burger for free. Now none of us typically complain, but Fran couldn't even eat the burger, so it made sense to just mention it to the waiter. They volunteered to give us all the goods for free, so the bill ended up less than half the normal total.
On all three nights, we ventured out to the Martini Ranch where we indulged in a great selection of delicious beverages. Will runs the Martini Ranch bar in Denver, so even though he had to work until 3:00 in the morning – we were easily entertained until all hours of the night. Like all great vacations, I even have a T-shirt to show for it because along with a lot of free alcohol we were also given some free Martini Ranch apparel.
So far you might think my trip to Denver was all about beer and food, but I must correct that assumption as we also indulged in hard liquor. For example, we ventured out to Boulder, Colorado on Saturday. Upon arriving in Boulder, we began looking for a place to cleanse our palette. We settled on the West End Tavern due for the main reason that it had a covered deck and bar atop the building where we could watch the 10 millionth running of the Preakness where good ol' Big Brown dominated in true Barry Bonds and Roger Clemons fashion. Why has nobody questioned the diet of this horse that more than dominated the rest of the field in an unheard of fashion? As for the small city of Boulder, it seems to come straight out of a historic novel. The main street doesn't include the standard ugly pavement of most cities. In fact, you can't even drive on this brick covered street adorned with street performers, flowers, and local artisan shops. For those of you familiar with Quincy Market in the city of one of the teams bidding for the NBA Eastern Conference Championship: Boston Celtics.
P.S. In regards to the above paragraph – if you've never had a Black Eyed Susan cocktail – there is no time like the present. Go out now and try it. I promise; you'll be glad you did.
Moving right along, Denver has a similar but not so cute area in the center of town. The 16th street Mall cuts through the city of Denver and although you can't walk it, you can take the hybrid buses from one end of the mall to the other. Along the way you will see every chain restaurant known to America. From P.F. Chengs to Pizza Hut; they're all here on the 16th street mall.
Well I could go on forever, but instead I'll just stop here. If you want more, you'll just have to tune in next week to hear about my trip to Syracuse and our attendance at another wedding that involves yet another college friend.
Ryan
Maggie and I went on an adventure to the "not-so Wild West" this past weekend with a trip to Denver, Colorado. My first gaze upon the city of Denver impressed me little, but as my visit increased in length so did my appreciation for one of this world's most unique and modern cities. I'm certain that my harsh initial perception was a result derived only from my after dark arrival time. From the moment we stepped outside of Denver International Airport, Will (Maggie's cousin) began giving us the grand tour, which for reference didn't seem like all that interesting considering we couldn't see anything at 10:00 PM. From our condo window, Will pointed out Six Flags, the Rocky Mountains, the building he lives in, while we simply put on a grin and gave him a nod. Walking out onto the condo's patio the next morning gave us a little shock as we realized that six flags ended up no more than a stone's throw away. The snow capped Rocky Mountains in the distance made for an unusually gorgeous view. Most people enjoy looking upon a city skyline from somewhere out in the suburbs, but in Denver - the highlight is actually being in the city skyline looking out at the Rocky Mountain suburbs.
Every time I go to a major city, I make it one of my objectives to visit the local Hard Rock Café, have a beer, and pick up a tall pilsner souvenir glass. Denver marked my thirteenth glass joining the ranks of World's most renowned cities: Orlando, Chicago, New York, Detroit, Rome, San Juan, Washington DC, Baltimore, Atlanta etc. The discussion on this fine establishment doesn't end here because I must go on about the overall experience. First, we all placed our order and mine being the simplest should have been the easiest to deliver: not the case. I ordered the quote on quote "Heavy Metal Chicken Tenders" or in other less rock and roll style words "buffalo chicken tenders." Just to be clear on the simplicity of this order – I am going to divulge the secret recipe for "Heavy Metal Chicken Tenders." Please follow the instructions carefully:
1. Pull chicken tenders out of bag
2. Place in fryer
3. Fry for short period of time
4. Remove from fryer
5. Toss in wing sauce
6. Put on plate and deliver to my seat.
Now I don't want to divulge all the secrets and mysterious recipes of the Hard Rock Café, but I am assuming that everyone else's dish might have been a little more complicated. Even though my meal came out about 10 minutes later than everyone else's, I have to say that I remain a faithful and satisfied customer of this musical eatery. Perhaps that decision comes as a result of the no hassle free plate of food that I received. No questions or comments from me – they just volunteered to give me my plate to make up for my wait.
On the subject of free food, we went to visit another baseball stadium on Friday night. We watched the Colorado Rockies lose to the Minnesota Twins. It seems that every time we go to watch a baseball game, the home team loses. Regardless back to food because that is obviously where my heart really lies. We had the fortunate opportunity of watching the game from the baseball stadium's restaurant. I recognize how I could jeopardize the restaurant industry by continuously handing out recipes in these emails, so I won't tell you how quick and simple it is to make a salad in comparison to hamburgers, pulled pork, grilled chicken and other dishes that were placed around our table. Somehow and for some reason, Maggie's salad got assembled slower than it takes the democrats to decide upon a nominee – I know a salad six to eight months in the making. In addition, Fran's (Will's wife) burger was over done and everyone's french fries were cold. Will respectfully complained and got all drinks, Maggie's salad, and Fran's burger for free. Now none of us typically complain, but Fran couldn't even eat the burger, so it made sense to just mention it to the waiter. They volunteered to give us all the goods for free, so the bill ended up less than half the normal total.
On all three nights, we ventured out to the Martini Ranch where we indulged in a great selection of delicious beverages. Will runs the Martini Ranch bar in Denver, so even though he had to work until 3:00 in the morning – we were easily entertained until all hours of the night. Like all great vacations, I even have a T-shirt to show for it because along with a lot of free alcohol we were also given some free Martini Ranch apparel.
So far you might think my trip to Denver was all about beer and food, but I must correct that assumption as we also indulged in hard liquor. For example, we ventured out to Boulder, Colorado on Saturday. Upon arriving in Boulder, we began looking for a place to cleanse our palette. We settled on the West End Tavern due for the main reason that it had a covered deck and bar atop the building where we could watch the 10 millionth running of the Preakness where good ol' Big Brown dominated in true Barry Bonds and Roger Clemons fashion. Why has nobody questioned the diet of this horse that more than dominated the rest of the field in an unheard of fashion? As for the small city of Boulder, it seems to come straight out of a historic novel. The main street doesn't include the standard ugly pavement of most cities. In fact, you can't even drive on this brick covered street adorned with street performers, flowers, and local artisan shops. For those of you familiar with Quincy Market in the city of one of the teams bidding for the NBA Eastern Conference Championship: Boston Celtics.
P.S. In regards to the above paragraph – if you've never had a Black Eyed Susan cocktail – there is no time like the present. Go out now and try it. I promise; you'll be glad you did.
Moving right along, Denver has a similar but not so cute area in the center of town. The 16th street Mall cuts through the city of Denver and although you can't walk it, you can take the hybrid buses from one end of the mall to the other. Along the way you will see every chain restaurant known to America. From P.F. Chengs to Pizza Hut; they're all here on the 16th street mall.
Well I could go on forever, but instead I'll just stop here. If you want more, you'll just have to tune in next week to hear about my trip to Syracuse and our attendance at another wedding that involves yet another college friend.
Ryan
Monday Monday 5.12.2008
Top of the Monday Mornin' to Ya,
As they say (although I'm not exactly sure who "they" is), there's never a dull moment. As you probably know from previous "Monday Monday" emails, I drive from Charlotte to Annapolis every Sunday and from Annapolis to Charlotte every Thursday. Because I don't fly, I'm usually relatively unaffected by the weather (never cancelled, never delayed etc). The one thing in life that we can always be certain of is . . . uncertainty. When I left my home in northern South Carolina yesterday afternoon at about 1:30, the outside conditions were damp but not unmanageable. Starting about 50 miles north of home, the weather took a turn for the worse. At one point, I remember the rain coming down so hard that the restrictions to visibility went only as far as the inside of my car. Luckily this only lasted a few minutes, so with that little scare I turned on the local radio with some hope of catching a weather report. In light of the 2008 natural disaster season, what I learned next made for a frightening situation. Kat Country 96.9 informed me that a Tornado Watch was in affect for the entire Kat Country Listening Area. Aunt Pam gave me the good advice to turn the car around and go the other way if I ended up running into one. My thoughts went back to my viewing of the weather channel on Friday morning where I heard that 22 people died as Tornadoes ripped through the plain states on Thursday Night. Of course we also have heard the reports of a Cyclone killing thousands in Mynamar, and twisters wreaking havoc on Memphis, Atlanta, and Norfolk. On this one particular occasion, I would rather have had a flight into Baltimore. At one point, I even toyed with the idea of turning the car around and heading straight back home to make some flight arrangements, but the thought of driving back through the weather that impaired my vision so drastically made that decision difficult. I am heading North on I-85 and beginning to escape the greater Charlotte Area. The weather is letting up (even though I am still in a Tornado watch area) and my courage is beginning to reform, so I continue onward making phone calls to both Maggie and my family back in NY. The rain continues to fade in and out for the next couple of hours, so I notice that listening to rain is like listening to running water because I have never stopped to go to the bathroom more than I did last night. I haven't heard a weather report in a long time, so I'm thinking that I must be out of the woods because with no weather alerts there must not be any severe storms ahead. After crossing the Virginia line and driving for about 15 miles, the traffic and weather both pick right up. My radio makes the "this is a test" noise, but the attention signal I just heard was followed by official news, so it was not a test. Our Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) let me know a laundry list of Virginia towns could expect severe thunderstorms over the next couple of hours. The only town that rang a bell was Hopewell because I knew that I would be driving through that town in the next 20 minutes or so. EBS let me know that the severe storm would hit Hopewell at approximately 6:25. . .the time was 6:22, so I knew that I would drive through Hopewell in the middle of this lovely downpour. To make matters worse, the EBS also mentioned that a Tornado watch was issued until 8:00PM for that entire laundry list of towns. Driving in heavy traffic, heavy rain, and the fear of Mother Nature's onslaught I continued my northern journey up I-85 and I-95 to where I could get off the highway at exit 104 to take 301 through the rest of Virginia and into Maryland. It seemed like the weather let up again until I got off 301 and stopped at a gas station to fill up. Holding an umbrella in one hand while trying not to fly away Mary Poppins style and holding the gas pump in the other hand, I didn't manage to stay dry.The rain came down in buckets as I heard the country music song with the lyric "Do you think that God could use another Angel/ to help pour out the rain." All I could think about while listening to that song was "not tonight he doesn't." Although the rain came down in buckets, I thought that I finally escaped the tornadoes; I stayed tuned to public radio just in case anything changes. Next thing I know while driving up 301 toward the Potomac River Bridge, the EBS comes back over the radio issuing a Flood Warning until 3AM. I should mention that I called Maggie twice asking her to check
weather.com, so I could at least know what to expect. I wouldn't exactly call the rest of the drive smooth sailing because I had to go about 45 miles per hour, but all I had to deal with was the potential of Hydroplaning and heavy rain. The Potomac River Bridge is worth mentioning because people are stupid. There are signs all over the bridge reading "No stopping on Bridge," so hey what better time to stop than on a windy and rainy day. It wouldn't be fair for me to just call this any old bridge, so here is a link to a picture of this bridge that frightens me on a nice day(http://en.structurae.de/files/photos/2183/harry_w._nice_bridge.jpg). Regardless the bridge soars high over the Potomac, so that no drawbridge is needed for boats going under. You can imagine the strength of the wind at the bridges pinnacle, so hey why not make a stop there. Rain was coming at me from ever direction: over the side of bridge, off the road from the car in front of me, and the actual rain hit me on the side. So at the conclusion of this long story about my adventure yesterday, I will say that my 7 hour 20 min drive took me about 10 hours and 30 minutes, but I did arrive safely.
On a brighter note, the rest of my weekend featured fairly nice weather in the 70's. Don't worry, I didn't dare go near the pool before or after the hours of 9AM and 9PM. Maggie's parents were in town, so we took them over to Pineville where we walked through a bunch of Antique stores in the "Old Part of Town." Driving the back way home, we made a few decent discoveries. Maggie and I have known for quite some time that Fort Mill has a baseball team (Charlotte Knights), but we had no idea where it was and we thought it was just some local inter-state league. Come to find out, it is a minor league team for the Chicago White Sox. They play the Syracuse Chiefs, Rochester Red Wings, Richmond Braves, Scranton Yankees, and Indianapolis Indians. Tickets range from $7 for the cheap seats up to $12 for the expensive seats. Now I'm assuming that most of you have heard the expression "Farm Team" and now I am completely aware of the origin of that expression. This stadium in out in the middle of nowhere to the point where I am sure that most people don't even know that its there. Either way, I'm looking forward to watching a game or two.
Along our journey with Maggie's parents, we also found a "Pick Your Own" strawberry patch, a Farmer's Market, and a Flea Market. The number of Charlotte-based activities that I'll be participating in just went through the roof.
Weekend Scoreboard
Golf (Card Game) - Maggie 1
Mexican Train - Joanne 1
Update on Mario Kart Wii. I have conquered the game on 50cc (Karts Only) and 100cc (Bikes Only), but I still have to begin my quest at 150cc (Karts and Bikes) to go. I picked up Mario Kart for Game Boy Advanced at the flea market, so I can work on that while waiting to get back home.
I hope everyone has a great week!
Ryan
-- Ryan Joy
As they say (although I'm not exactly sure who "they" is), there's never a dull moment. As you probably know from previous "Monday Monday" emails, I drive from Charlotte to Annapolis every Sunday and from Annapolis to Charlotte every Thursday. Because I don't fly, I'm usually relatively unaffected by the weather (never cancelled, never delayed etc). The one thing in life that we can always be certain of is . . . uncertainty. When I left my home in northern South Carolina yesterday afternoon at about 1:30, the outside conditions were damp but not unmanageable. Starting about 50 miles north of home, the weather took a turn for the worse. At one point, I remember the rain coming down so hard that the restrictions to visibility went only as far as the inside of my car. Luckily this only lasted a few minutes, so with that little scare I turned on the local radio with some hope of catching a weather report. In light of the 2008 natural disaster season, what I learned next made for a frightening situation. Kat Country 96.9 informed me that a Tornado Watch was in affect for the entire Kat Country Listening Area. Aunt Pam gave me the good advice to turn the car around and go the other way if I ended up running into one. My thoughts went back to my viewing of the weather channel on Friday morning where I heard that 22 people died as Tornadoes ripped through the plain states on Thursday Night. Of course we also have heard the reports of a Cyclone killing thousands in Mynamar, and twisters wreaking havoc on Memphis, Atlanta, and Norfolk. On this one particular occasion, I would rather have had a flight into Baltimore. At one point, I even toyed with the idea of turning the car around and heading straight back home to make some flight arrangements, but the thought of driving back through the weather that impaired my vision so drastically made that decision difficult. I am heading North on I-85 and beginning to escape the greater Charlotte Area. The weather is letting up (even though I am still in a Tornado watch area) and my courage is beginning to reform, so I continue onward making phone calls to both Maggie and my family back in NY. The rain continues to fade in and out for the next couple of hours, so I notice that listening to rain is like listening to running water because I have never stopped to go to the bathroom more than I did last night. I haven't heard a weather report in a long time, so I'm thinking that I must be out of the woods because with no weather alerts there must not be any severe storms ahead. After crossing the Virginia line and driving for about 15 miles, the traffic and weather both pick right up. My radio makes the "this is a test" noise, but the attention signal I just heard was followed by official news, so it was not a test. Our Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) let me know a laundry list of Virginia towns could expect severe thunderstorms over the next couple of hours. The only town that rang a bell was Hopewell because I knew that I would be driving through that town in the next 20 minutes or so. EBS let me know that the severe storm would hit Hopewell at approximately 6:25. . .the time was 6:22, so I knew that I would drive through Hopewell in the middle of this lovely downpour. To make matters worse, the EBS also mentioned that a Tornado watch was issued until 8:00PM for that entire laundry list of towns. Driving in heavy traffic, heavy rain, and the fear of Mother Nature's onslaught I continued my northern journey up I-85 and I-95 to where I could get off the highway at exit 104 to take 301 through the rest of Virginia and into Maryland. It seemed like the weather let up again until I got off 301 and stopped at a gas station to fill up. Holding an umbrella in one hand while trying not to fly away Mary Poppins style and holding the gas pump in the other hand, I didn't manage to stay dry.The rain came down in buckets as I heard the country music song with the lyric "Do you think that God could use another Angel/ to help pour out the rain." All I could think about while listening to that song was "not tonight he doesn't." Although the rain came down in buckets, I thought that I finally escaped the tornadoes; I stayed tuned to public radio just in case anything changes. Next thing I know while driving up 301 toward the Potomac River Bridge, the EBS comes back over the radio issuing a Flood Warning until 3AM. I should mention that I called Maggie twice asking her to check
weather.com, so I could at least know what to expect. I wouldn't exactly call the rest of the drive smooth sailing because I had to go about 45 miles per hour, but all I had to deal with was the potential of Hydroplaning and heavy rain. The Potomac River Bridge is worth mentioning because people are stupid. There are signs all over the bridge reading "No stopping on Bridge," so hey what better time to stop than on a windy and rainy day. It wouldn't be fair for me to just call this any old bridge, so here is a link to a picture of this bridge that frightens me on a nice day(http://en.structurae.de/files/photos/2183/harry_w._nice_bridge.jpg). Regardless the bridge soars high over the Potomac, so that no drawbridge is needed for boats going under. You can imagine the strength of the wind at the bridges pinnacle, so hey why not make a stop there. Rain was coming at me from ever direction: over the side of bridge, off the road from the car in front of me, and the actual rain hit me on the side. So at the conclusion of this long story about my adventure yesterday, I will say that my 7 hour 20 min drive took me about 10 hours and 30 minutes, but I did arrive safely.
On a brighter note, the rest of my weekend featured fairly nice weather in the 70's. Don't worry, I didn't dare go near the pool before or after the hours of 9AM and 9PM. Maggie's parents were in town, so we took them over to Pineville where we walked through a bunch of Antique stores in the "Old Part of Town." Driving the back way home, we made a few decent discoveries. Maggie and I have known for quite some time that Fort Mill has a baseball team (Charlotte Knights), but we had no idea where it was and we thought it was just some local inter-state league. Come to find out, it is a minor league team for the Chicago White Sox. They play the Syracuse Chiefs, Rochester Red Wings, Richmond Braves, Scranton Yankees, and Indianapolis Indians. Tickets range from $7 for the cheap seats up to $12 for the expensive seats. Now I'm assuming that most of you have heard the expression "Farm Team" and now I am completely aware of the origin of that expression. This stadium in out in the middle of nowhere to the point where I am sure that most people don't even know that its there. Either way, I'm looking forward to watching a game or two.
Along our journey with Maggie's parents, we also found a "Pick Your Own" strawberry patch, a Farmer's Market, and a Flea Market. The number of Charlotte-based activities that I'll be participating in just went through the roof.
Weekend Scoreboard
Golf (Card Game) - Maggie 1
Mexican Train - Joanne 1
Update on Mario Kart Wii. I have conquered the game on 50cc (Karts Only) and 100cc (Bikes Only), but I still have to begin my quest at 150cc (Karts and Bikes) to go. I picked up Mario Kart for Game Boy Advanced at the flea market, so I can work on that while waiting to get back home.
I hope everyone has a great week!
Ryan
-- Ryan Joy
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