Posts
Hi Everyone,
I hope everyone is well.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Monday Monday 10.19.2009
Saturday, June 20, 2009
The Relevancy of Twitter: 6.20.2009
MySpace put social networking on the map, the Facebook made social networking popular, and now Twitter might just make social networking relevant. Whoa wait a minute . . . Twitter relevant? . . . Really? Yes and now more than ever!
I’m constantly hearing questions and comments in the vain of “what’s the purpose of Twitter” or “I don’t care about the everyday miniscule happenings of people’s lives.” The latter comment refers to people’s incessant commentary like “Going to the bathroom now”, “Just got back from the bathroom”, and “I’m reading John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government while doing my business in the bathroom.”
While we all agree that useless information doesn’t add any substance to our ever expanding noggins, Twitter can provide real-time and uncensored broadcasts from the places where news happens. The Iranian election uprising marks only the most recent and obvious example of how Twitter is useful as a “Spread the Word” type of device. When Twitter broke the news about the Iranian election and its resulting riots and government censorship, CNN was busy broadcasting reruns of Larry King Live!
We can’t knock down the news networks for not covering these types of stories; it’s impossible for them to be anywhere at anytime (especially when cameras and cell phones get suddenly banned by a country’s government). Unfortunately for the TV networks, Twitter can provide news updates at anytime, from anywhere, and by anybody. We don’t fault the network, but we do notice the weakness.
Twitter becomes an outsourcing of the news from our field reporters to the everyday person on the street. Thomas Friedman speaks to the world’s everyday navigation toward globalization in The World is Flat. Since everyday people can now broadcast the news as it happens, Twitter has essentially flattened the reporting business by providing a more efficient way of spreading the word. The news networks that can collect, analyze, and rebroadcast the news coming in over social networking websites like Twitter will survive . . . the rest will become irrelevant and outdated.
Woah . . . all of a sudden Twitter has become relevant and we actually have to start questioning the relevancy of our TV news stations.
I’m constantly hearing questions and comments in the vain of “what’s the purpose of Twitter” or “I don’t care about the everyday miniscule happenings of people’s lives.” The latter comment refers to people’s incessant commentary like “Going to the bathroom now”, “Just got back from the bathroom”, and “I’m reading John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government while doing my business in the bathroom.”
While we all agree that useless information doesn’t add any substance to our ever expanding noggins, Twitter can provide real-time and uncensored broadcasts from the places where news happens. The Iranian election uprising marks only the most recent and obvious example of how Twitter is useful as a “Spread the Word” type of device. When Twitter broke the news about the Iranian election and its resulting riots and government censorship, CNN was busy broadcasting reruns of Larry King Live!
We can’t knock down the news networks for not covering these types of stories; it’s impossible for them to be anywhere at anytime (especially when cameras and cell phones get suddenly banned by a country’s government). Unfortunately for the TV networks, Twitter can provide news updates at anytime, from anywhere, and by anybody. We don’t fault the network, but we do notice the weakness.
Twitter becomes an outsourcing of the news from our field reporters to the everyday person on the street. Thomas Friedman speaks to the world’s everyday navigation toward globalization in The World is Flat. Since everyday people can now broadcast the news as it happens, Twitter has essentially flattened the reporting business by providing a more efficient way of spreading the word. The news networks that can collect, analyze, and rebroadcast the news coming in over social networking websites like Twitter will survive . . . the rest will become irrelevant and outdated.
Woah . . . all of a sudden Twitter has become relevant and we actually have to start questioning the relevancy of our TV news stations.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Monday Monday: What's On Your End Table 6.15.2009
If you’re like me, then you work 50 hours a week, read three books at once, get religiously hooked on good TV, and listen to several hours of podcasting every week.
For that reason, Monday Monday this time round is aptly dubbed: What’s on Your End Table. In a not so “I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours kind of way”, I want to share what I’m reading, listening to, and watching in hopes that you might reciprocate with a couple of book, podcast, or television show recommendations. By the way, I don’t care if the TV show is on-air, in syndication, or only available through some other form of complex electronic media.
TV Shows
I started watching LOST in February, sped through the first 4.75 seasons, and watched the last few episodes live on ABC. As far as I can remember, LOST stands alone as the single greatest mystery show in television history. That comment should elicit one or two solid retorts from someone. Regardless, this show challenges the audience to grapple with the possibilities of legitimate science fiction. Although some things seem a little far fetched, the show has done nothing that can’t somehow be explained by science. LOST falls nicely into the Onion metaphor where you can just keep pulling back the layers. Each group of characters might be a different layer, each time period might be a layer, and each conflict might just be a single layer in the overall Onion. Just like an Onion, I’m weeping to get inside the show and learn the final conclusion next season
I’m on my second run of Babylon 5. I remember watching different shows on FOX back in the early 1990’s and seeing commercials for a weekly sci-fi show that looked way too over the top. Every commercial would end with “ON THE NEXT: BABYLON 5!” It took me 15 years to give the show a chance and it blew me away. Once you get past the 1993 graphics and begin to learn the back story of this adventure through space, you find another extraordinary tale with far more thought and better characterization than Star Trek had in all twenty-seven spin offs.
Books
It’s nearing the Fourth of July, so I have to read something patriotic or at least on the subject of Government. Last year, I read the John Adams book by David McCullough and fell flat on my face for our nation’s second president. This year, I’m challenging myself by re-reading John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government. I’m not sure what made me decide to put myself through this again as I didn’t particularly enjoy his writing when I read this treatise in college. In any event, everyone will be impressed when I can pull out a couple of John Locke quotes during my next political discussion.
Although I’m not reading A Time to Kill, I am listening to the audio book. I’ve read almost all of Grisham’s other books, but having already seen the movie, I didn’t feel that I would lose much by listening to this novel about small town Mississippi at the height of America’s civil rights movement. If anyone chooses to listen to the audio of this novel, I do recommend stopping it when going through the McDonald’s drive thru as Grisham uses the word “nigger” liberally throughout the book. If the McDonald’s cashier happens to be African American, she’ll be offended and you’ll be embarrassed (trust me . . . I know).
On July 17th, the boys over at Warner Brothers will delight us with the latest film based on my magical friend Harry Potter. In tribute, Maggie and I are attempting to re-read books 1-5 in anticipation of the new movie to be based on Book 6: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I’m currently reading book 1, and I’m roughly 130 pages in. My newest observation comes when Professor Quirrel tells Harry in their first conversation that he wants to find a book about Vampires from one of the stores in Daigon Alley. Well, as we know Voldemort has a parasite-host relationship with Professor Quirrel in which Voldemort uses Quirrel to help him find and drink the blood of Unicorns. The Unicorn blood acts as Voldemort’s life support and he can’t continue without it. It clearly makes sense why Professor Quirrell would be interested in blood sucking Vampires. In the words of Mr. Olivander, “Curious . . . Curious.”
Podcasts
I might never have fallen for this form of media if not for LOST (see above). That television show has created so much interest that each episode has hundreds of podcasts dedicated to it. I follow the The Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack. I enjoy both their analysis and their kind hearts as they raised over $12,000 for Autism speaks by doing a 25 hour podcast a couple of months ago. Needless to say, I think they earned my download through that single deed alone. From this show, I started listening to a couple of their other comedic shows relating to modern pop-culture.
I also listen to Buzz Out Loud and This Week in Tech. These two technology podcasts keep me up to date on what companies like Apple, RIM, Nintendo, Microsoft, and SONY are up to. Their content keeps me informed about the latest and greatest ways of staying in the loop.
I’m subscribed to Mad Money with Jim Cramer. “Welcome to Mad Money, Welcome to Cramerica!” He entertains me, and I find him extremely credible!
I am severely lacking a Sports Podcast. Scotty has suggested the BS report. Anyone else have a suggestion? I want something that covers all the high points in sports, but doesn’t get me lost down in the weeds. If someone breaks the toss across record, I want to know about it.
That’s it for me. Write to me or post a comment to this entry on my blog. I want to know “what’s on your end table.”
Ryan
For that reason, Monday Monday this time round is aptly dubbed: What’s on Your End Table. In a not so “I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours kind of way”, I want to share what I’m reading, listening to, and watching in hopes that you might reciprocate with a couple of book, podcast, or television show recommendations. By the way, I don’t care if the TV show is on-air, in syndication, or only available through some other form of complex electronic media.
TV Shows
I started watching LOST in February, sped through the first 4.75 seasons, and watched the last few episodes live on ABC. As far as I can remember, LOST stands alone as the single greatest mystery show in television history. That comment should elicit one or two solid retorts from someone. Regardless, this show challenges the audience to grapple with the possibilities of legitimate science fiction. Although some things seem a little far fetched, the show has done nothing that can’t somehow be explained by science. LOST falls nicely into the Onion metaphor where you can just keep pulling back the layers. Each group of characters might be a different layer, each time period might be a layer, and each conflict might just be a single layer in the overall Onion. Just like an Onion, I’m weeping to get inside the show and learn the final conclusion next season
I’m on my second run of Babylon 5. I remember watching different shows on FOX back in the early 1990’s and seeing commercials for a weekly sci-fi show that looked way too over the top. Every commercial would end with “ON THE NEXT: BABYLON 5!” It took me 15 years to give the show a chance and it blew me away. Once you get past the 1993 graphics and begin to learn the back story of this adventure through space, you find another extraordinary tale with far more thought and better characterization than Star Trek had in all twenty-seven spin offs.
Books
It’s nearing the Fourth of July, so I have to read something patriotic or at least on the subject of Government. Last year, I read the John Adams book by David McCullough and fell flat on my face for our nation’s second president. This year, I’m challenging myself by re-reading John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government. I’m not sure what made me decide to put myself through this again as I didn’t particularly enjoy his writing when I read this treatise in college. In any event, everyone will be impressed when I can pull out a couple of John Locke quotes during my next political discussion.
Although I’m not reading A Time to Kill, I am listening to the audio book. I’ve read almost all of Grisham’s other books, but having already seen the movie, I didn’t feel that I would lose much by listening to this novel about small town Mississippi at the height of America’s civil rights movement. If anyone chooses to listen to the audio of this novel, I do recommend stopping it when going through the McDonald’s drive thru as Grisham uses the word “nigger” liberally throughout the book. If the McDonald’s cashier happens to be African American, she’ll be offended and you’ll be embarrassed (trust me . . . I know).
On July 17th, the boys over at Warner Brothers will delight us with the latest film based on my magical friend Harry Potter. In tribute, Maggie and I are attempting to re-read books 1-5 in anticipation of the new movie to be based on Book 6: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I’m currently reading book 1, and I’m roughly 130 pages in. My newest observation comes when Professor Quirrel tells Harry in their first conversation that he wants to find a book about Vampires from one of the stores in Daigon Alley. Well, as we know Voldemort has a parasite-host relationship with Professor Quirrel in which Voldemort uses Quirrel to help him find and drink the blood of Unicorns. The Unicorn blood acts as Voldemort’s life support and he can’t continue without it. It clearly makes sense why Professor Quirrell would be interested in blood sucking Vampires. In the words of Mr. Olivander, “Curious . . . Curious.”
Podcasts
I might never have fallen for this form of media if not for LOST (see above). That television show has created so much interest that each episode has hundreds of podcasts dedicated to it. I follow the The Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack. I enjoy both their analysis and their kind hearts as they raised over $12,000 for Autism speaks by doing a 25 hour podcast a couple of months ago. Needless to say, I think they earned my download through that single deed alone. From this show, I started listening to a couple of their other comedic shows relating to modern pop-culture.
I also listen to Buzz Out Loud and This Week in Tech. These two technology podcasts keep me up to date on what companies like Apple, RIM, Nintendo, Microsoft, and SONY are up to. Their content keeps me informed about the latest and greatest ways of staying in the loop.
I’m subscribed to Mad Money with Jim Cramer. “Welcome to Mad Money, Welcome to Cramerica!” He entertains me, and I find him extremely credible!
I am severely lacking a Sports Podcast. Scotty has suggested the BS report. Anyone else have a suggestion? I want something that covers all the high points in sports, but doesn’t get me lost down in the weeds. If someone breaks the toss across record, I want to know about it.
That’s it for me. Write to me or post a comment to this entry on my blog. I want to know “what’s on your end table.”
Ryan
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Monday Monday Part Deux: Time Travel 4.16.2009
Monday Monday Part II
On Thursday, I experienced a fairly common phenomenon that most people participate in without even realizing it. Time travel, although not a fully developed area of science, happens everyday as people travel from one side of the United States to the other. Personally, I left Washington airport at 6:00 AM on a Thursday morning, I travelled in the air for six hours, and then I landed in San Francisco at 9:00AM on that same Thursday morning. For all intents and purposes, I actually travelled back in time three hours (who knew all those hippies out in San Francisco were literally three hours behind us)? Who knew that the technology for time travel has actually existed for decades?
Three nights falls short of the time required to fully appreciate San Francisco’s vast offerings, but Maggie and I did manage to personally experience the whole Full House intro. I know you remember that little red convertible driving over the Golden Gate Bridge as the big bubbley yellow letters spelling out “Full House” flash across the TV. In the next scene, you’ve got the whole crew running over Hippie Hill in Golden Gate Park and then riding Cable Cars in the scene after that. Somewhere along the way, the guys (Jessie, Danny, and Joey) are leaning against the pier down at Fisherman’s Warf. I can’t resist not placing the lyrics below for the sole purpose of jogging your memory and hopefully bringing you back in time to a place where three men sang the Teddy Bear Song to Mary Kate and Ashley:
“What ever happend to predictability?
The milk man, the paper boy, evening T.V
You miss your old familar friends, but
waiting just around the bend.
Everywhere you look (everywhere)
There's a heart (there's a heart)
A hand to hold on to.
Everywhere you look (everywhere)
There's a face of somebody who needs you.
When you're lost out there and your all alone
A light is waiting to carry you home
Everywhere you look.”
I just went on and on about Full House because the parallels in life make travelling fun. I grew up watching that TV show year after year, and I never paid attention to the scenery used during the filming. When I got to San Francisco this past weekend, the whole show hit me like a ton of bricks. “WAKE UP SAN FRANCISCO!”
Now you have the secret of my lofty travel ambitions. I actually seek to experience that which I’ve previously experienced. I’ll always associate the Golden Gate Bridge with my childhood memories of Full House, so visiting the bridge brought me back to my own childhood memories. I can remember coming home from school and parking my butt on the couch to watch reruns of Full House. I think at one point, Full House aired reruns every day from 4:00-5:30PM (that’s three episodes in a row) with the brand new episode airing on either Tuesday Nights at 8:00PM or somewhere amongst the TGIF lineup.
Many years later, I experienced a similar phenomenon. Soon after I read the Hunchback of Notre Dame and the Da Vinci Code, I had an opportunity allowing me to visit Paris. From reading Hunchback, I had vivid images of Quasi Modo perched up in the Bell Tower. From the Da Vinci Code, I wanted nothing more than to see the glass pyramids decorating the entrance to the Louvre. Forget the Eiffel Tower and Mona Lisa because I had images of a cathedral and a pyramid that I needed to experience in reality to bring my imagination to life.
For me, travelling isn’t always about all the great new experiences. Travelling is also about experiencing something I already cherish, but in a new and exciting way.
I literally travelled three hours into the past, but my imagination and experiences took me back a whole decade.
Take Care Everyone,
Ryan
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Monday Monday 4.15.2009 Part I
Hi Everyone
And so it begins. . .
Major League Baseball started last week, so I devote this entire email to my Week 1 Experiences. There are 30 teams in Major League Baseball, and Maggie and I have vowed to witness a game at each team’s home stadium. This goal has given us direction and reason to visit all the major cities in the United States. In week 1 of the seven month and162 regular game season, I visited three major league parks to witness four regular season games.
Although I don’t pledge allegiance to any one team, I always find it easiest to follow the New York Yankees as they usually get the most press from the media, my colleagues, my friends, and my family. When I heard that a group of guys were considering an afternoon trip to Camden Yard to witness the Baltimore Orioles home opener against the Yankees, I jumped at my first opportunity to watch some good baseball. In 2008, the Yankees missed the playoffs for the first time in 14 years, so with the acquisition of some big name and high dollar talent most Yankee fans expected them to bust through the saloon doors with guns blazing this year. Unfortunately, my eagerness to see the new Yankee Ace, CC Sabathia, pitch in game one of the three game series on opening day made for one big disappointment. Lucky for Sabathia, he has the reputation and somehow validated excuse of being a slow starter. When you get a new job paying you more than any former AIG employee ever dreamed of, you make sure you have your shit together for your first day on the job. Sabathia gave Baltimore three runs in the third inning and three more in the fifth before he was removed from the game. The Yankees scored six runs that day and lost 6-10.
On Wednesday, I went back to Camden Yard for game 2 between the Yankees and the O’s. Chien-Ming Wang spent a lot of 2008 on the injured lists. As the number one pitcher for the Yankees, his injuries were believed to be a contributing factor in missing the playoffs. After watching Wang let in seven runs in less than four innings, I’ll question that line of reasoning too. So I saw two big Yankee defeats in the first week of the regular season, but it did give me a chance to park my butt in one of baseball’s great stadiums. Oriole Park at Camden Yards is what baseball should look like: great seats for under $30, great concessions inside, and cheap vendors outside that appeal to your always thinning wallet. Throw a winning team in here and you might just find baseball heaven.
Following Wednesday’s game, I drove back to Annapolis and spent a couple of hours in my hotel room before driving 1 hour and 20 minutes to Dulles International Airport where I hopped an early morning flight to San Francisco. Maggie and I made it to San Francisco for the final game in the Giants’ series against the Milwaukee Brewers. I hoped to see Randy Johnson pitch, but unfortunately he is the number two guy for the Giants and we were watching game three of the season. I won’t say too much about the game as the Giants led the entire time, but the stadium itself was a think of beauty. Maggie and I walked the San Francisco coastline passing Pier after Pier after Pier on our way to AT&T Park, so the park is as close to the water as both Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. I’m not sure what it is about water, but whenever you put a building near H2O; it seems to improve the experience and beauty. San Francisco is no exception, but the water is only the beginning. The stadium is adorned by red brick, which is nice because it certainly isn’t adorned with championship jerseys or banners. Again, throw a winning team in the mix and we’ve got ourselves baseball heaven. Maggie and I took note of the generous sampling of food selections ranging from Churros to Ghirardelli Hot Chocolate to Garlic Fries and of course Hot Dogs. I haven’t been this pleased with stadium grub since I went to Petco Park and found dollar dogs and dollar sodas.
My four game mini baseball tour came to an ironic end when I witnessed the best and most evenly matched ballgame in a place where baseball should never exist. Across the bay from San Francisco on the east side sits another small city: Oakland. The Oakland Athletics share a stadium with Oakland’s other famous sports team: the Oakland Raiders. The arrangement although cheaper for the city, does not lend itself well to the avid baseball follower. Maggie and I enjoyed the game, but were appalled by the team’s choice to not sell two of baseballs most sacred items: scorecards and hot dogs. Apparently scorecards didn’t sell that well last year, so management decided to forego them in 2009. They extended this practice to their stadium postcards – something Maggie and I collect from every park we visit. As bad as this seems, I find it hard to believe that the A’s used the same reasoning to justify not selling hot dogs.
Here’s the Tale of the Tape:
Best Concessions: San Francisco for their Garlic Fries, Hot Chocolate, and actually having hot dogs
Most Avid Fans: Oakland for making me scared to be wearing anything but Green and Yellow
Best Activities Outside the Stadium: Baltimore for their two sodas and two hot dogs for $5 deal
Best Game: Oakland for making it close.
Best Stadium: San Francisco for its beauty and Baltimore for its ambiance
Ryan’s Recommendation
If you’re going to visit just one of these stadiums in your life, I recommend Oakland – just kidding. Either stadium in Baltimore or San Francisco make for an excellent choice, but I lean toward Baltimore because the cheap outfield seats compare to the experience of sitting behind home plate. The O’s label them bleachers, but the chairs are as good as any other in the stadium and you have terrific concessions in relatively close proximity. If you want to go out to celebrate after the game, Camden Yard is only a short walk to the Inner Harbor which is the Main Strip in Baltimore (made beautiful by its location on the water). If you make a weekend trip out of stadium hopping like Maggie and I do, you might get a chance at seeing the concrete structure down the street in Washington DC called Nationals Park. Although the team sucks, I enjoy how spacious the builders made the stadium. As a tourist, you’ll pay a premium for food in our nation’s capital, but most of the attractions are free (monuments and Smithsonian museums). I say visit Oriole Park when a good team is in town and you want to see a particular player strut his stuff.
Have A Good Day
Ryan
And so it begins. . .
Major League Baseball started last week, so I devote this entire email to my Week 1 Experiences. There are 30 teams in Major League Baseball, and Maggie and I have vowed to witness a game at each team’s home stadium. This goal has given us direction and reason to visit all the major cities in the United States. In week 1 of the seven month and162 regular game season, I visited three major league parks to witness four regular season games.
Although I don’t pledge allegiance to any one team, I always find it easiest to follow the New York Yankees as they usually get the most press from the media, my colleagues, my friends, and my family. When I heard that a group of guys were considering an afternoon trip to Camden Yard to witness the Baltimore Orioles home opener against the Yankees, I jumped at my first opportunity to watch some good baseball. In 2008, the Yankees missed the playoffs for the first time in 14 years, so with the acquisition of some big name and high dollar talent most Yankee fans expected them to bust through the saloon doors with guns blazing this year. Unfortunately, my eagerness to see the new Yankee Ace, CC Sabathia, pitch in game one of the three game series on opening day made for one big disappointment. Lucky for Sabathia, he has the reputation and somehow validated excuse of being a slow starter. When you get a new job paying you more than any former AIG employee ever dreamed of, you make sure you have your shit together for your first day on the job. Sabathia gave Baltimore three runs in the third inning and three more in the fifth before he was removed from the game. The Yankees scored six runs that day and lost 6-10.
On Wednesday, I went back to Camden Yard for game 2 between the Yankees and the O’s. Chien-Ming Wang spent a lot of 2008 on the injured lists. As the number one pitcher for the Yankees, his injuries were believed to be a contributing factor in missing the playoffs. After watching Wang let in seven runs in less than four innings, I’ll question that line of reasoning too. So I saw two big Yankee defeats in the first week of the regular season, but it did give me a chance to park my butt in one of baseball’s great stadiums. Oriole Park at Camden Yards is what baseball should look like: great seats for under $30, great concessions inside, and cheap vendors outside that appeal to your always thinning wallet. Throw a winning team in here and you might just find baseball heaven.
Following Wednesday’s game, I drove back to Annapolis and spent a couple of hours in my hotel room before driving 1 hour and 20 minutes to Dulles International Airport where I hopped an early morning flight to San Francisco. Maggie and I made it to San Francisco for the final game in the Giants’ series against the Milwaukee Brewers. I hoped to see Randy Johnson pitch, but unfortunately he is the number two guy for the Giants and we were watching game three of the season. I won’t say too much about the game as the Giants led the entire time, but the stadium itself was a think of beauty. Maggie and I walked the San Francisco coastline passing Pier after Pier after Pier on our way to AT&T Park, so the park is as close to the water as both Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. I’m not sure what it is about water, but whenever you put a building near H2O; it seems to improve the experience and beauty. San Francisco is no exception, but the water is only the beginning. The stadium is adorned by red brick, which is nice because it certainly isn’t adorned with championship jerseys or banners. Again, throw a winning team in the mix and we’ve got ourselves baseball heaven. Maggie and I took note of the generous sampling of food selections ranging from Churros to Ghirardelli Hot Chocolate to Garlic Fries and of course Hot Dogs. I haven’t been this pleased with stadium grub since I went to Petco Park and found dollar dogs and dollar sodas.
My four game mini baseball tour came to an ironic end when I witnessed the best and most evenly matched ballgame in a place where baseball should never exist. Across the bay from San Francisco on the east side sits another small city: Oakland. The Oakland Athletics share a stadium with Oakland’s other famous sports team: the Oakland Raiders. The arrangement although cheaper for the city, does not lend itself well to the avid baseball follower. Maggie and I enjoyed the game, but were appalled by the team’s choice to not sell two of baseballs most sacred items: scorecards and hot dogs. Apparently scorecards didn’t sell that well last year, so management decided to forego them in 2009. They extended this practice to their stadium postcards – something Maggie and I collect from every park we visit. As bad as this seems, I find it hard to believe that the A’s used the same reasoning to justify not selling hot dogs.
Here’s the Tale of the Tape:
Best Concessions: San Francisco for their Garlic Fries, Hot Chocolate, and actually having hot dogs
Most Avid Fans: Oakland for making me scared to be wearing anything but Green and Yellow
Best Activities Outside the Stadium: Baltimore for their two sodas and two hot dogs for $5 deal
Best Game: Oakland for making it close.
Best Stadium: San Francisco for its beauty and Baltimore for its ambiance
Ryan’s Recommendation
If you’re going to visit just one of these stadiums in your life, I recommend Oakland – just kidding. Either stadium in Baltimore or San Francisco make for an excellent choice, but I lean toward Baltimore because the cheap outfield seats compare to the experience of sitting behind home plate. The O’s label them bleachers, but the chairs are as good as any other in the stadium and you have terrific concessions in relatively close proximity. If you want to go out to celebrate after the game, Camden Yard is only a short walk to the Inner Harbor which is the Main Strip in Baltimore (made beautiful by its location on the water). If you make a weekend trip out of stadium hopping like Maggie and I do, you might get a chance at seeing the concrete structure down the street in Washington DC called Nationals Park. Although the team sucks, I enjoy how spacious the builders made the stadium. As a tourist, you’ll pay a premium for food in our nation’s capital, but most of the attractions are free (monuments and Smithsonian museums). I say visit Oriole Park when a good team is in town and you want to see a particular player strut his stuff.
Have A Good Day
Ryan
Monday, February 23, 2009
Monday Monday 2.23.2009
Hi Everyone,
Maggie spent the weekend at Foxwoods in Connecticut, so I hung out at home discussing the finer aspects of America’s Game with our roommate, Scott. After this weekend, I find myself on the verge of buying partial season tickets to the Minor League Baseball’s Bowie Baysox of Southern Maryland: the AA Affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. Since I went to a professional Basketball Game, Minor League Hockey Game, and the Indian Land High-School to toss the baseball; you might say that I had a sports oriented weekend.
A short dissertation about my personal obsession with baseball follows:
Going to watch a professional basketball game between the Charlotte Bobcats and the Orlando Magic where two of the greatest players of all time observed from the sidelines (Michael Jordan as partial owner of the Bobcats and Patrick Ewing as Assistant Coach of the Magic) doesn’t even compare with the experience of watching high school level baseball. Normally seeing Ewing and Jordan on the same court would cause some degree of excitement for even the most moderate of basketball fans, but I miss my baseball too much.
Last year, I visited 11 major league baseball stadiums and one minor league stadium at home in Charlotte. My journey through the sport’s various cities left me with an appreciation for all that goes into the baseball experience: the unique food in a unique stadium, a cold beer while keeping a meticulous score, and an odd patience for sporadic excitement.
All the local color of Pittsburgh, all the bad sides of New York, the History of Philadelphia, and all the glitz of Hollywood come to life in the home ballparks of Major League Baseball’s Pirates, Mets, Yankees, Phillies and Dodgers. My year long single sport quest presented itself as a city by city tour of the United States, and I can say with some degree of confidence that you can judge a city by its ballpark. Take the Pirates for instance; a team occupying Pittsburgh in three different centuries (since 1891 to be exact) but failing to produce a Pennant in the last 30 years. The Bucs finished last season at the bottom of their division and had damn near the worse record in baseball; yet when I attended a game in the latter part of the ‘08 season, and long after the playoffs were a foregone conclusion, the Pittsburgh fans seemed oblivious to their team’s misfortune. As they say, “There’s always next year”. I guess it doesn’t matter whether your team wins or loses (although we do all like to see the home team on top) because you can still go watch baseball, score the game, eat a hot dog, and wash it all down with an ice cold Bud Light (unless your watching the game at Coors Field in Denver or Miller Park in Milwaukee – you may have to order the local fare at those two parks). Like the Pirate fans cling to their Pennant memories of 30 year’s gone by, the residents of Pittsburgh are a resilient bunch of people clinging to the glory days of the steel and manufacturing industry that occurred through the mid 20th century.
For me, these little likenesses and nuances make the viewing of baseball a National History Lesson. At the same time, its activities make baseball a great National Pastime. Particularly the score keeping is a meticulous and precise activity where the fans can get involved with every pitch, hit, out, and inning. In my case, I’m trying to record Hits, RBI’s, and Runs in my scorebook while also clutching a soda in one hand and a Hot Dog in the other. When considering the obesity problem in America – it’s hard to believe there’s anything more American than this. I cannot imagine trying to record stats for a less segmented game like basketball where you have 12 minute quarters and numerous possessions. Not to disrespect or diminish basketball; a sport where superior athleticism, raw talent, and precision are paramount to a successful organization. I’m merely trying to emphasize the aspects of my sport that get me excited about April. I’ll consider seeing Patrick Ewing and Michael Jordan together as a major highlight of my live basketball experiences, but it falls short of that day where the Pittsburgh Pirates competed in a game with absolutely no bearing on the outcome of the regular or post seasons.
Someday when I arrive at my second career, I hope to somehow get involved with baseball. During my retirement years, I don’t mind the prospect of working at the ticket counter, between the aisles as an usher, or even in the stands yelling “Get your Hot Dogs!” Just give me a justification to go to the ball field every day, and I will.
So “Put Me in Coach! I’m Ready to Play”
Ryan
Maggie spent the weekend at Foxwoods in Connecticut, so I hung out at home discussing the finer aspects of America’s Game with our roommate, Scott. After this weekend, I find myself on the verge of buying partial season tickets to the Minor League Baseball’s Bowie Baysox of Southern Maryland: the AA Affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. Since I went to a professional Basketball Game, Minor League Hockey Game, and the Indian Land High-School to toss the baseball; you might say that I had a sports oriented weekend.
A short dissertation about my personal obsession with baseball follows:
Going to watch a professional basketball game between the Charlotte Bobcats and the Orlando Magic where two of the greatest players of all time observed from the sidelines (Michael Jordan as partial owner of the Bobcats and Patrick Ewing as Assistant Coach of the Magic) doesn’t even compare with the experience of watching high school level baseball. Normally seeing Ewing and Jordan on the same court would cause some degree of excitement for even the most moderate of basketball fans, but I miss my baseball too much.
Last year, I visited 11 major league baseball stadiums and one minor league stadium at home in Charlotte. My journey through the sport’s various cities left me with an appreciation for all that goes into the baseball experience: the unique food in a unique stadium, a cold beer while keeping a meticulous score, and an odd patience for sporadic excitement.
All the local color of Pittsburgh, all the bad sides of New York, the History of Philadelphia, and all the glitz of Hollywood come to life in the home ballparks of Major League Baseball’s Pirates, Mets, Yankees, Phillies and Dodgers. My year long single sport quest presented itself as a city by city tour of the United States, and I can say with some degree of confidence that you can judge a city by its ballpark. Take the Pirates for instance; a team occupying Pittsburgh in three different centuries (since 1891 to be exact) but failing to produce a Pennant in the last 30 years. The Bucs finished last season at the bottom of their division and had damn near the worse record in baseball; yet when I attended a game in the latter part of the ‘08 season, and long after the playoffs were a foregone conclusion, the Pittsburgh fans seemed oblivious to their team’s misfortune. As they say, “There’s always next year”. I guess it doesn’t matter whether your team wins or loses (although we do all like to see the home team on top) because you can still go watch baseball, score the game, eat a hot dog, and wash it all down with an ice cold Bud Light (unless your watching the game at Coors Field in Denver or Miller Park in Milwaukee – you may have to order the local fare at those two parks). Like the Pirate fans cling to their Pennant memories of 30 year’s gone by, the residents of Pittsburgh are a resilient bunch of people clinging to the glory days of the steel and manufacturing industry that occurred through the mid 20th century.
For me, these little likenesses and nuances make the viewing of baseball a National History Lesson. At the same time, its activities make baseball a great National Pastime. Particularly the score keeping is a meticulous and precise activity where the fans can get involved with every pitch, hit, out, and inning. In my case, I’m trying to record Hits, RBI’s, and Runs in my scorebook while also clutching a soda in one hand and a Hot Dog in the other. When considering the obesity problem in America – it’s hard to believe there’s anything more American than this. I cannot imagine trying to record stats for a less segmented game like basketball where you have 12 minute quarters and numerous possessions. Not to disrespect or diminish basketball; a sport where superior athleticism, raw talent, and precision are paramount to a successful organization. I’m merely trying to emphasize the aspects of my sport that get me excited about April. I’ll consider seeing Patrick Ewing and Michael Jordan together as a major highlight of my live basketball experiences, but it falls short of that day where the Pittsburgh Pirates competed in a game with absolutely no bearing on the outcome of the regular or post seasons.
Someday when I arrive at my second career, I hope to somehow get involved with baseball. During my retirement years, I don’t mind the prospect of working at the ticket counter, between the aisles as an usher, or even in the stands yelling “Get your Hot Dogs!” Just give me a justification to go to the ball field every day, and I will.
So “Put Me in Coach! I’m Ready to Play”
Ryan
Monday, February 16, 2009
Monday Monday 2.16.2009 Part II
Hello Again,
In closing my last message, I mentioned the parallel universe of Babylon 5 (B5) and the location of the world’s largest kiss. I clearly owe you some sort of explanation.
Leaving Cesar’s hometown, our small group of Americans left for Mexico City. Lara and Cesar’s wedding godparents gave us a ride in their 12 passenger van to the town of St. Martine where we could catch a bus to Mexico City. Once we made this 2.5 hour journey to the city, we took a taxi cab to the hotel. I mention all this travel only because of our interesting cab experience. Since I don’t have a true appreciation for football, I didn’t mind risking the chance of missing the biggest sports event of the year by traveling outside of the country on Superbowl Sunday. Nonetheless, I will never forget how I saw the last 30 seconds of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ big victory on a 6 inch television screen mounted to the dash of a Cab in Mexico City.
Maggie and I spent the remainder of Sunday Night and all day Monday in the city. With limited time, Cesar focused on two main attractions: the Zocalo and Garibaldi Square. According to our friends at Wikipedia.org, in Mexico “a zócalo is the main plaza or square, set in the heart of the town.” The original Zocalo sits at the heart of Mexico City with a huge cathedral, hundreds of vendors selling trinkets off blankets on the ground, and scattered street performers. It’s a place of great commerce, entertainment, and history. We spent a few hours at the Zocalo basking in the sun, getting cleansed by the medicine men, shopping a little, and watching the street performers.
The second of our two stops came later that night about 7 blocks from our hotel at Garibaldi Square. If you ever find yourself in search of a Mariachi Band in Mexico City, you simply come here and pick one out. People come to this square to pick out a band that serenades your party so you can either dance or stand by listening with admiration. The bands charge little to nothing for their services and put on a great show. I noticed the smiles on each of the band member’s faces and thought “these people are enjoying themselves as much as we are enjoying ourselves.” Garibaldi Square also makes a great place to get drunk as the local beverage of choice is some crazy concoction calling for beer, lime juice, hot sauce, chili powder, and one very large cup.
Before I close the books on my discussion of Mexico City, I have to relate my stories back to my original statement amount B5 and the world’s largest kiss. Anyone close to the subject of Babylon 5 (which I’m guessing is approximately 0 people on this email chain) would already see the parallel. The Babylon 5 Space Station fictionally resides in space during the years 2258-2278 with the major storyline revolving around the first five years. The station acted like a floating city where aliens and humans could work out their problems peacefully. Now that you have the background of Babylon 5, I can give you the parallels. The major central market on Babylon 5 has a name and you guessed it: The Zocalo. On top of that, one of the central characters is Security Chief Michael Garibaldi (like Garibaldi Square). I left Mexico with no doubt in my mind that Babylon 5 writer Joseph Michael Straczynski spent at least a little time using Mexico City as a central point for the characterization of his television series.
As far as the World’s Largest Kiss goes, I read in the Charlotte Observer this past Sunday that the Zocolo housed the world’s largest crowd of kissers this past Valentine’s Day with nearly 40,000 people gathering in the square and kissing at the same moment. Guinness World Records has verified that this event marked the World’s Largest Group Kiss!
Stay Tuned because I still have my first wine tour and Valentines Day left to relay in Volume III of this week’s Monday Monday.
Have Fun Today,
Ryan
In closing my last message, I mentioned the parallel universe of Babylon 5 (B5) and the location of the world’s largest kiss. I clearly owe you some sort of explanation.
Leaving Cesar’s hometown, our small group of Americans left for Mexico City. Lara and Cesar’s wedding godparents gave us a ride in their 12 passenger van to the town of St. Martine where we could catch a bus to Mexico City. Once we made this 2.5 hour journey to the city, we took a taxi cab to the hotel. I mention all this travel only because of our interesting cab experience. Since I don’t have a true appreciation for football, I didn’t mind risking the chance of missing the biggest sports event of the year by traveling outside of the country on Superbowl Sunday. Nonetheless, I will never forget how I saw the last 30 seconds of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ big victory on a 6 inch television screen mounted to the dash of a Cab in Mexico City.
Maggie and I spent the remainder of Sunday Night and all day Monday in the city. With limited time, Cesar focused on two main attractions: the Zocalo and Garibaldi Square. According to our friends at Wikipedia.org, in Mexico “a zócalo is the main plaza or square, set in the heart of the town.” The original Zocalo sits at the heart of Mexico City with a huge cathedral, hundreds of vendors selling trinkets off blankets on the ground, and scattered street performers. It’s a place of great commerce, entertainment, and history. We spent a few hours at the Zocalo basking in the sun, getting cleansed by the medicine men, shopping a little, and watching the street performers.
The second of our two stops came later that night about 7 blocks from our hotel at Garibaldi Square. If you ever find yourself in search of a Mariachi Band in Mexico City, you simply come here and pick one out. People come to this square to pick out a band that serenades your party so you can either dance or stand by listening with admiration. The bands charge little to nothing for their services and put on a great show. I noticed the smiles on each of the band member’s faces and thought “these people are enjoying themselves as much as we are enjoying ourselves.” Garibaldi Square also makes a great place to get drunk as the local beverage of choice is some crazy concoction calling for beer, lime juice, hot sauce, chili powder, and one very large cup.
Before I close the books on my discussion of Mexico City, I have to relate my stories back to my original statement amount B5 and the world’s largest kiss. Anyone close to the subject of Babylon 5 (which I’m guessing is approximately 0 people on this email chain) would already see the parallel. The Babylon 5 Space Station fictionally resides in space during the years 2258-2278 with the major storyline revolving around the first five years. The station acted like a floating city where aliens and humans could work out their problems peacefully. Now that you have the background of Babylon 5, I can give you the parallels. The major central market on Babylon 5 has a name and you guessed it: The Zocalo. On top of that, one of the central characters is Security Chief Michael Garibaldi (like Garibaldi Square). I left Mexico with no doubt in my mind that Babylon 5 writer Joseph Michael Straczynski spent at least a little time using Mexico City as a central point for the characterization of his television series.
As far as the World’s Largest Kiss goes, I read in the Charlotte Observer this past Sunday that the Zocolo housed the world’s largest crowd of kissers this past Valentine’s Day with nearly 40,000 people gathering in the square and kissing at the same moment. Guinness World Records has verified that this event marked the World’s Largest Group Kiss!
Stay Tuned because I still have my first wine tour and Valentines Day left to relay in Volume III of this week’s Monday Monday.
Have Fun Today,
Ryan
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Monday Monday 2.16.2009 Part I
Hi Everyone
Since the frequency of my letters dwindled over the past month, you all probably feel entitled to a Monday Monday Mini Series. Only once before did I write a three part bonus installment edition of Monday Monday with a To Be Continued style theme. With that in mind, I urge you to check your email often with the understanding that a new chapter could appear in your inbox at any time.
We closed the books on January a few weeks ago, and in the first month of 2009, the Bullet Train that is my life made stops in Maryland, New York, Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Mexico (keep in mind that I work in Maryland and travel through most of the other states on my way there).
Maggie and I just returned from a trip to Mexico where we witnessed the marriage of Maggie's cousin Lara to her new husband Cesar. Our plane left Charlotte on the last Thursday morning in January. We stopped in Atlanta to switch planes, but made it to Mexico City at about 2:00PM. Lara and Cesar met us at the Airport, and the weekend rollercoastered from there.
Witnessing the Mexican tradition of marriage made for a once in a lifetime experience that I will undoubtedly remember forever. In short, we saw live people dancing with live turkeys, Lara (with a bottle of tequila in hand) chasing Cesar (wearing an apron) through the street (an area that also doubled as the reception hall), a mob hoisting up the bride and groom and tossing them as high into the air as humanly possible, and another mob attempting to knock the newly married couple out of their chairs. Believe it or not, all this happened during the “first dance” section of the wedding.
I also learned where the phrases “blocking off the street” and “road block” come from. During the wedding reception hours, traffic could not pass by Cesar’s house because bricks were literally laid down in the road to prevent automobiles from travelling through. Even if people did get through the blocks, they would next have to bolster their way through a 25 foot high tower of speakers for the all night DJ, then through all the tables and chairs, and then through the bandstand set up for live music on the other side. I could include a picture of this scene, but it wouldn’t do the sight any justice; you had to experience it.
I can’t say enough about the scenery on Lara and Cesar’s actual wedding day, but I’d commit an injustice by not mentioning the previous day’s activities. The other Americans and I stood by as we witnessed town-wide and weekend-long participation in the preparation for this special day. No less than 50 people packed the center court yard of Cesar’s parent’s house to pluck 250 chickens, make god knows how many tortillas, and they worked well into the nights making somewhere in the neighborhood of 5,000 tamales. During this tamale production Cesar grabbed me to help serve shots of tequila to all the hard working people. I think the crowd consumed three liters of tequila in about 10 minutes. . . .I don’t think we can serve three liters that fast in America.
On the subject of Tequila, I should point out that each table at the wedding was provided one bottle of soda, one bottle of tequila, and all the beer we could hold. When that ran out, you didn’t even have to get up before another bottle of soda, tequila, or beer replaced the empty.
This email has already reached one page in length, so with brevity in mind, I’ll have to wrap it up. But I can’t finish this chapter without mentioning my favorite part of the wedding in Mexico: Lara’s arrival at the church and the procession that followed. At 15 minutes before the hour, Cesar made his way down the street to wait at the door of the church. At 5 minutes before the hour, Lara made her way out of the house, down the street, and met Cesar at the entrance. Lara is immediately followed by a mariachi band singing and playing music as she walks. All of the family, friends, neighbors, and witnesses followed the band and Lara down the street and to the church. The whole thing was beautifully done like something out of a storybook!
In my next installment, I’ll take everyone back to Mexico City where I’ll discuss the parallel universes of Babylon 5 (the science fiction television series from the mid 90’s) and the location of the all time world’s biggest kiss.
Ryan-- Ryan Joy
Since the frequency of my letters dwindled over the past month, you all probably feel entitled to a Monday Monday Mini Series. Only once before did I write a three part bonus installment edition of Monday Monday with a To Be Continued style theme. With that in mind, I urge you to check your email often with the understanding that a new chapter could appear in your inbox at any time.
We closed the books on January a few weeks ago, and in the first month of 2009, the Bullet Train that is my life made stops in Maryland, New York, Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Mexico (keep in mind that I work in Maryland and travel through most of the other states on my way there).
Maggie and I just returned from a trip to Mexico where we witnessed the marriage of Maggie's cousin Lara to her new husband Cesar. Our plane left Charlotte on the last Thursday morning in January. We stopped in Atlanta to switch planes, but made it to Mexico City at about 2:00PM. Lara and Cesar met us at the Airport, and the weekend rollercoastered from there.
Witnessing the Mexican tradition of marriage made for a once in a lifetime experience that I will undoubtedly remember forever. In short, we saw live people dancing with live turkeys, Lara (with a bottle of tequila in hand) chasing Cesar (wearing an apron) through the street (an area that also doubled as the reception hall), a mob hoisting up the bride and groom and tossing them as high into the air as humanly possible, and another mob attempting to knock the newly married couple out of their chairs. Believe it or not, all this happened during the “first dance” section of the wedding.
I also learned where the phrases “blocking off the street” and “road block” come from. During the wedding reception hours, traffic could not pass by Cesar’s house because bricks were literally laid down in the road to prevent automobiles from travelling through. Even if people did get through the blocks, they would next have to bolster their way through a 25 foot high tower of speakers for the all night DJ, then through all the tables and chairs, and then through the bandstand set up for live music on the other side. I could include a picture of this scene, but it wouldn’t do the sight any justice; you had to experience it.
I can’t say enough about the scenery on Lara and Cesar’s actual wedding day, but I’d commit an injustice by not mentioning the previous day’s activities. The other Americans and I stood by as we witnessed town-wide and weekend-long participation in the preparation for this special day. No less than 50 people packed the center court yard of Cesar’s parent’s house to pluck 250 chickens, make god knows how many tortillas, and they worked well into the nights making somewhere in the neighborhood of 5,000 tamales. During this tamale production Cesar grabbed me to help serve shots of tequila to all the hard working people. I think the crowd consumed three liters of tequila in about 10 minutes. . . .I don’t think we can serve three liters that fast in America.
On the subject of Tequila, I should point out that each table at the wedding was provided one bottle of soda, one bottle of tequila, and all the beer we could hold. When that ran out, you didn’t even have to get up before another bottle of soda, tequila, or beer replaced the empty.
This email has already reached one page in length, so with brevity in mind, I’ll have to wrap it up. But I can’t finish this chapter without mentioning my favorite part of the wedding in Mexico: Lara’s arrival at the church and the procession that followed. At 15 minutes before the hour, Cesar made his way down the street to wait at the door of the church. At 5 minutes before the hour, Lara made her way out of the house, down the street, and met Cesar at the entrance. Lara is immediately followed by a mariachi band singing and playing music as she walks. All of the family, friends, neighbors, and witnesses followed the band and Lara down the street and to the church. The whole thing was beautifully done like something out of a storybook!
In my next installment, I’ll take everyone back to Mexico City where I’ll discuss the parallel universes of Babylon 5 (the science fiction television series from the mid 90’s) and the location of the all time world’s biggest kiss.
Ryan-- Ryan Joy
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Monday Monday 1.21.2009
Hi Everyone,
Last year, I wrote 33 Monday Monday emails meaning publication occurred three out of every five weeks. Since I have a 63% track record when it comes to successful delivery, I don’t mind making you all suffer from my tardiness when a Monday comes and goes as it did this week. I do not have detailed records to show my punctuality, but I’m guessing that at least one of my faithful readers has kept tabs and could offer statistics on how often this note reaches your inbox on-time.
With the almost weekly tardiness apology complete, I’ll move on to more interesting topics in order to provide a detailed account of the past week’s activities. I left work last Thursday and made the 5.5 hour drive from Annapolis to the Pennsylvania house. Passing through Wilkes Barre, I met up with Kevin Lobdell and picked Maggie up at the airport. Kevin spent Friday and Saturday visiting with Maggie and me before heading back to Connecticut where he will finish his Graduate Work in Student Affairs this spring. Rounding out the Pennsylvania crew this weekend was Stephanie, Maddie, and Tim who all came up to enjoy some skiing during the holiday weekend.
Although Kevin is an avid skier, he decided to forgo the calling of Big Bear (the mountain’s name) citing the frigid temperature as not being worth the activity. Never one to spend much time outside during the winter, I agreed with Kevin and decided that the lodge’s bar could fulfill my fun quota for the day. So while Maggie and family were skiing down the mountain, Kevin and I enjoyed a refreshing pint in the warmth and comfort of the lodge.
We had a good time hanging out with Kevin and catching up, but unfortunately all three of us had different plans for Saturday evening that eventually necessitated a mass evacuation on Saturday afternoon. Since Lara (Maggie’s cousin) is getting married in Mexico at the end of the month, Maggie drove over to Buck County, Pennsylvania for a bachelorette party. At the same time, I got back in my car and took the four hour drive up to my family’s stomping grounds for my cousin’s 40th birthday party. We both enjoy spending time with family, so we didn’t mind making these short field trips to spend some quality time with the people we don’t see enough of.
My night ended calmly with an 11:30 bedtime, while Maggie stayed out until 3:30. Either way we were both back on the road at 8:00 the next morning. Maggie and I met up at the Milford Wal-Mart just over the Pennsylvania border after driving through all kinds of snow, and then we did the unspeakable - We drove all the way to South Carolina!! Essentially we were both in the car from 8:00AM to 1:30AM. Of course, we had a short layover at the Pennsylvania house and another short layover at the Harrisburg Pizza Hut where we tried the new whole wheat crust.
Under normal circumstances, we never would have considered making this drive, but since I work in the Greater Washington DC Metro Area. . . it was not a normal circumstance week. Because of the 2009 Presidential Inauguration, travel costs for the greater DC area skyrocketed, and my project decided to operate entirely remote this week. For convenience sake, I wanted to be home and if we didn’t do the drive on Sunday. . .getting home would have been a logistical nightmare.
Regardless of the extensive travel that it took to get here, I’m having a great time working from home, making a mess of the house, and watching TV all day while I compute away for the U.S. NAVY.
Happy MLK Day and Happy Inauguration,
Ryan
Total Car Time for Ryan = 26.5 Hours between Thursday and 1:30AM on Monday
Last year, I wrote 33 Monday Monday emails meaning publication occurred three out of every five weeks. Since I have a 63% track record when it comes to successful delivery, I don’t mind making you all suffer from my tardiness when a Monday comes and goes as it did this week. I do not have detailed records to show my punctuality, but I’m guessing that at least one of my faithful readers has kept tabs and could offer statistics on how often this note reaches your inbox on-time.
With the almost weekly tardiness apology complete, I’ll move on to more interesting topics in order to provide a detailed account of the past week’s activities. I left work last Thursday and made the 5.5 hour drive from Annapolis to the Pennsylvania house. Passing through Wilkes Barre, I met up with Kevin Lobdell and picked Maggie up at the airport. Kevin spent Friday and Saturday visiting with Maggie and me before heading back to Connecticut where he will finish his Graduate Work in Student Affairs this spring. Rounding out the Pennsylvania crew this weekend was Stephanie, Maddie, and Tim who all came up to enjoy some skiing during the holiday weekend.
Although Kevin is an avid skier, he decided to forgo the calling of Big Bear (the mountain’s name) citing the frigid temperature as not being worth the activity. Never one to spend much time outside during the winter, I agreed with Kevin and decided that the lodge’s bar could fulfill my fun quota for the day. So while Maggie and family were skiing down the mountain, Kevin and I enjoyed a refreshing pint in the warmth and comfort of the lodge.
We had a good time hanging out with Kevin and catching up, but unfortunately all three of us had different plans for Saturday evening that eventually necessitated a mass evacuation on Saturday afternoon. Since Lara (Maggie’s cousin) is getting married in Mexico at the end of the month, Maggie drove over to Buck County, Pennsylvania for a bachelorette party. At the same time, I got back in my car and took the four hour drive up to my family’s stomping grounds for my cousin’s 40th birthday party. We both enjoy spending time with family, so we didn’t mind making these short field trips to spend some quality time with the people we don’t see enough of.
My night ended calmly with an 11:30 bedtime, while Maggie stayed out until 3:30. Either way we were both back on the road at 8:00 the next morning. Maggie and I met up at the Milford Wal-Mart just over the Pennsylvania border after driving through all kinds of snow, and then we did the unspeakable - We drove all the way to South Carolina!! Essentially we were both in the car from 8:00AM to 1:30AM. Of course, we had a short layover at the Pennsylvania house and another short layover at the Harrisburg Pizza Hut where we tried the new whole wheat crust.
Under normal circumstances, we never would have considered making this drive, but since I work in the Greater Washington DC Metro Area. . . it was not a normal circumstance week. Because of the 2009 Presidential Inauguration, travel costs for the greater DC area skyrocketed, and my project decided to operate entirely remote this week. For convenience sake, I wanted to be home and if we didn’t do the drive on Sunday. . .getting home would have been a logistical nightmare.
Regardless of the extensive travel that it took to get here, I’m having a great time working from home, making a mess of the house, and watching TV all day while I compute away for the U.S. NAVY.
Happy MLK Day and Happy Inauguration,
Ryan
Total Car Time for Ryan = 26.5 Hours between Thursday and 1:30AM on Monday
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Monday Monday 1.11.2009
Hi Everyone,
After spending about 6 weeks on the road (the time between Thanksgiving and now), I finally made it home to South Carolina for a couple of days. I picked Maggie up at the Charlotte Airport on the way home from Annapolis and the weekend officially started rolling. We were up until 1:30 AM unpacking the car, revisiting the Christmas gifts that had been sitting in the car for two weeks, and organizing our house and life – a project that would take all weekend to only partially complete.
Should have used some SPF-35
Maggie gave me an Aloe plant for Christmas and from everything that I’ve read online, the only way to kill this plant is to intentionally do so. Well my plant didn’t take too kindly to the constant movement around the country and the sudden, drastic, and continuous changes in temperature as I moved it from room to car to room to car to house etc. Hopefully the transplant performed on Saturday will help the plant recuperate and become healthy again.
20 Frames and We Still Look Bad
We have a bowling alley down the street from us, but they somehow found a justifiable reason for charging $4 for shoe rentals. This outrageous and unethical taxation of my bottom line prompted Maggie and I to request bowling shoes for Christmas, and my mother came through for us. I put on my best bowling shirt (or the one bowling shirt that I purchased four years ago and never found the proper occasion to wear), grabbed my shoes, and headed to the lanes on Friday night. Our new shoes did nothing for our game as both Maggie and I managed to bowl two absolutely miserable games. Now that I have these new shoes, perhaps I will find the time to practice my game a little. Scotty (our roommate) and Gerard joined us and bowled just as poorly, but at least they could blame the rented shoes or something. Actually Gerard appeared (next to us) to be quite good, but as he would say “that was just luck.”
I’ll take that Medium Rare
With some residual Home Depot and Lowe’s gift cards in hand, Maggie and I decided to leave the house on Saturday afternoon to do some shopping. I wanted to find a better way of organizing my expanding collection of tools as my shed sitting out back does nothing but leak water!! I managed to find a pretty slick big mobile tool box thingy that holds about half of everything I own, but the highlight of our little excursion to the domain of manliness included the purchasing of a new Gas Grill! Oh yes my friends, it was originally $130 marked down to $50 and purchased with gift cards . . . making it free! The new grill doesn’t have any amazing bells and whistles, but I imagine that it will perform any culinary duty that I request of it.
Aside from all of that, we had a relatively quiet weekend.
Best Wishes!!
Ryan
After spending about 6 weeks on the road (the time between Thanksgiving and now), I finally made it home to South Carolina for a couple of days. I picked Maggie up at the Charlotte Airport on the way home from Annapolis and the weekend officially started rolling. We were up until 1:30 AM unpacking the car, revisiting the Christmas gifts that had been sitting in the car for two weeks, and organizing our house and life – a project that would take all weekend to only partially complete.
Should have used some SPF-35
Maggie gave me an Aloe plant for Christmas and from everything that I’ve read online, the only way to kill this plant is to intentionally do so. Well my plant didn’t take too kindly to the constant movement around the country and the sudden, drastic, and continuous changes in temperature as I moved it from room to car to room to car to house etc. Hopefully the transplant performed on Saturday will help the plant recuperate and become healthy again.
20 Frames and We Still Look Bad
We have a bowling alley down the street from us, but they somehow found a justifiable reason for charging $4 for shoe rentals. This outrageous and unethical taxation of my bottom line prompted Maggie and I to request bowling shoes for Christmas, and my mother came through for us. I put on my best bowling shirt (or the one bowling shirt that I purchased four years ago and never found the proper occasion to wear), grabbed my shoes, and headed to the lanes on Friday night. Our new shoes did nothing for our game as both Maggie and I managed to bowl two absolutely miserable games. Now that I have these new shoes, perhaps I will find the time to practice my game a little. Scotty (our roommate) and Gerard joined us and bowled just as poorly, but at least they could blame the rented shoes or something. Actually Gerard appeared (next to us) to be quite good, but as he would say “that was just luck.”
I’ll take that Medium Rare
With some residual Home Depot and Lowe’s gift cards in hand, Maggie and I decided to leave the house on Saturday afternoon to do some shopping. I wanted to find a better way of organizing my expanding collection of tools as my shed sitting out back does nothing but leak water!! I managed to find a pretty slick big mobile tool box thingy that holds about half of everything I own, but the highlight of our little excursion to the domain of manliness included the purchasing of a new Gas Grill! Oh yes my friends, it was originally $130 marked down to $50 and purchased with gift cards . . . making it free! The new grill doesn’t have any amazing bells and whistles, but I imagine that it will perform any culinary duty that I request of it.
Aside from all of that, we had a relatively quiet weekend.
Best Wishes!!
Ryan
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Monday Monday 1.6.2009
Hi Everyone,
Since I can’t seem to ever get the message out on Monday, I’m beginning to think that I should rename this email something else. With the sending of this email, my M2 messages will be in their third year of circulation (not the third anniversary, but I will have written these things in three different calendar years). For those of you skimming this message, please note the bolded paragraph headers.
Il est Mort
With 2008 coming to a definitive end, I can say that as a whole that I’m pleased. As my Christmas Letter described, I spent the year traveling to all different parts of the country and although Maggie and I didn’t purchase any Real Estate in 2008, we did get engaged (meaning that we both got stuck with something much more pleasant than a mortgage – does anyone find it funny that “mort” (a word that means dead in French) is in the word “mortgage”).
South of the Border
Our 2009 includes all sorts of adventures, and we’ll kick into gear with our first big trip at the end of January! That’s right – don’t be expecting a M2 letter the first Monday in February because Maggie and I are flying south to Mexico for Lara and Cesar’s wedding (Maggie’s cousin and cousin to be). We’re both pumped for the trip and for Lara and Cesar!!
Coldest State – Hottest Governor
This August, our friends Scott and Jessica will join us for a cruise to our most northern and coldest state: Alaska. We booked the cruise a few weeks back and have since had a price reduction and a room upgrade . . . we’re hoping that we’ll keep getting upgrades until we have a room with a balcony!! I can’t wait for Polar Bears, Dog Sleds, Glaciers, and my first glimpse of Russia (ok no more jokes about the good governor from our most Arctic State)!!!
New Years Week
The hits just keep on coming. We estimate that we cooked about three farms worth of animals at 1313 Tanager Lane over the course of the Holiday Season. For the couple of Vegan/Vegetarian/Animal Activists on this email, I’m telling you these dinners collectively would have been your worse nightmare!
On New Year’s Eve, Maggie and I went up to Albany and spent the day and evening with a bunch of people from Maggie’s high school days (I’d say more if I could remember, but I do remember seeing all the big names). Thanks to Mark and Jess for a great breakfast and to Jacqui for the accommodations and company!!! Thanks to all else involved for observing the Ryan Joy show at the bar – but next time I’m selling tickets!
Our friends Ken and Kim came to visit us on the Friday after New Years, and it was so good to see them after such a long time. I can’t believe that their son Zach is 11 months old – we can all join in with Kim on the countdown to his first birthday (as of this document’s publication, we have 29 days).
So 2008 has come and gone! Let’s brace ourselves for the year ahead, keep on keepin’ on, laugh a little harder and longer in 2009!!
Ryan
Since I can’t seem to ever get the message out on Monday, I’m beginning to think that I should rename this email something else. With the sending of this email, my M2 messages will be in their third year of circulation (not the third anniversary, but I will have written these things in three different calendar years). For those of you skimming this message, please note the bolded paragraph headers.
Il est Mort
With 2008 coming to a definitive end, I can say that as a whole that I’m pleased. As my Christmas Letter described, I spent the year traveling to all different parts of the country and although Maggie and I didn’t purchase any Real Estate in 2008, we did get engaged (meaning that we both got stuck with something much more pleasant than a mortgage – does anyone find it funny that “mort” (a word that means dead in French) is in the word “mortgage”).
South of the Border
Our 2009 includes all sorts of adventures, and we’ll kick into gear with our first big trip at the end of January! That’s right – don’t be expecting a M2 letter the first Monday in February because Maggie and I are flying south to Mexico for Lara and Cesar’s wedding (Maggie’s cousin and cousin to be). We’re both pumped for the trip and for Lara and Cesar!!
Coldest State – Hottest Governor
This August, our friends Scott and Jessica will join us for a cruise to our most northern and coldest state: Alaska. We booked the cruise a few weeks back and have since had a price reduction and a room upgrade . . . we’re hoping that we’ll keep getting upgrades until we have a room with a balcony!! I can’t wait for Polar Bears, Dog Sleds, Glaciers, and my first glimpse of Russia (ok no more jokes about the good governor from our most Arctic State)!!!
New Years Week
The hits just keep on coming. We estimate that we cooked about three farms worth of animals at 1313 Tanager Lane over the course of the Holiday Season. For the couple of Vegan/Vegetarian/Animal Activists on this email, I’m telling you these dinners collectively would have been your worse nightmare!
On New Year’s Eve, Maggie and I went up to Albany and spent the day and evening with a bunch of people from Maggie’s high school days (I’d say more if I could remember, but I do remember seeing all the big names). Thanks to Mark and Jess for a great breakfast and to Jacqui for the accommodations and company!!! Thanks to all else involved for observing the Ryan Joy show at the bar – but next time I’m selling tickets!
Our friends Ken and Kim came to visit us on the Friday after New Years, and it was so good to see them after such a long time. I can’t believe that their son Zach is 11 months old – we can all join in with Kim on the countdown to his first birthday (as of this document’s publication, we have 29 days).
So 2008 has come and gone! Let’s brace ourselves for the year ahead, keep on keepin’ on, laugh a little harder and longer in 2009!!
Ryan
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