Don’t get caught holding this bag
A mugger in San Diego grabbed a bag from a woman walking her dog. Guess what was in the bag? Yep, poop.
Vegas baby!
Lisa, in spite of her better judgment, agreed to let me go to Vegas as my birthday present this year. This should be fun. I'm going with my buddy John Kerr, but if anyone wants to meet us there, we'll be there April 13-16 (Wednesday through Saturday). Air fare was pretty cheap, only $200+taxes on Southwest. Only catch was that I have to leave from BWI. But they were by far the most flexible on times and such. United and America West were close, but both would have had me leaving at 8am on Saturday morning. Early in the morning after spending three days in Vegas just wasn't sounding too good.
Now all I need to do is find a place to stay. We're looking at Harrah's right now, since it's one of the cheaper places to stay right in the middle of the Strip. If anyone's been there before and has suggestions, I'm open to hearing them.
Vegas baby! Vegas!
Cheeburger, cheeburger!
The Billy Goat Tavern is coming to DC! The Chicago landmark and inspiration for the John Belushi SNL skit is branching out. My guess is that they're trying to transfer the Bill Goat curse from the Cubs to the Nats.
Of course, we all know it's not gonna be the same as the original. But I'll still check it out.
Customer “service”
I recently sent an email to the Washington Nationals' ticket people, because, while all the other teams in the majors explicitly state that tickets are required only for age 2 and up, the Nationals don't say one way or the other. Here's my note:
My daughter is 18 months old. I would like to know whether I need to buy her a ticket for a Washington Nationals game. Most of the other teams say they only need a ticket if they are 2 years old, but the Nationals' web site does not mention anything about an age limit.
Their reply:
Dear Brian,
Thank you for sending your email.
For Ticket and schedule information please visit our Tickets page, or access
the following link:http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/tickets/mlb_tickets_entry.jsp
After following the link, you will find a "T" link on the schedule that will
allow you to purchase tickets online.Contact information for each team can be found by accessing the following
link:http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/team/mlb_team_index.jsp
Thank you again for taking the time to write!
Regards,
sr, MLB.com Support
That's right, I'm such a moron, I found the email form on their web site, but I didn't know how to order tickets! So clear now! Except, wait... That wasn't my freakin' question! Oh, the humanity. Such morons. Finally, after waiting on hold for 25 minutes with the Nationals ticket office (located in "Trailer 4" at the RFK Stadium parking lot), I found out that Ellie doesn't need her own ticket until she's (drum roll) two years old! Shocker. 25 minutes on hold, lord knows why, because they don't actually handle ticket orders... The good news is that Ellie is so small, she can probably pass for 2 next summer as well!
Final Four times Two!
The MSU women have advanced to the Final Four, joining the men, who advanced on Sunday. That's just a huge accomplishment for a team that had never advanced beyond the second round before. Tonight they took down the AP #1 team Stanford, who was coming off a win over the perennial champs UConn (who, incidentally, MSU beat earlier in the year). Once again, Kristin Haynie had a huge game, with 20 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Liz Shimek also came up big, with 24 points and 10 boards. It's now on to Indianapolis, where it doesn't get any easier, facing either Rutgers or Tennessee, both powerhouse teams. Way to go ladies!
Like Mom and Apple Pie
Just got our first tickets for the Nationals. We're going to the July 4th game vs. the Mets. You can't get more American than baseball in the Nation's Capital on July 4th. Should be lots of fun, I just need to decide who to root for....
And yes, Ellie already has a glove ready to catch foul balls. We're straight back from home plate, slightly to the side of right-handed foul balls. Gotta teach her early.
Ain’t Nothin’ Gonna Break My Stride
I've been on a roll lately. Aside from my NCAA pool picks, that is. Michigan State basketball has been rolling. Curling (aside from the pitiful bonspiel performance, which wasn't so much my fault) has been going well. And the deathmarch at work has turned into not much of one, frankly.
The MSU women play Stanford tonight. It's going to be tough to beat Stanford. They're #1 in the polls overall, but didn't get a #1 seed, because MSU took it from them. They're gonna be ticked.
In both my curling leagues, I played really well and helped my teams to important victories. Last night, we needed to beat the #1 team to force a tiebreaker, and we were firing on all cylinders, especially me and our skip. My shots were good, and my sweeping calls were mostly spot on as well. Plus, it was a really fun night. The other team wore kilts to curl, and they were having a lot of fun, all while making a lot of good shots. Add a couple of beers after the game, and it was a good time.
I burned through all my work last week, even while taking Friday off for curling. So now, most of my stuff is done, and I'm just waiting on a few other people to get theirs done so that I can finish. Not much of a deathmarch, frankly...
And now, I wait for the jinx to come, now that I just said out loud how great everything is.
Go B, It’s yo birfday
Subject to later additions, my wish list has been updated on Amazon. Click on the right side to get everything (the new stuff is the waiter's corkscrew and noise cancelling headphones, not much new, I know). A couple of additional things are not on that wish list:
A carrying case for my iPod (I like this one)
A Nationals batting practice cap. Not the one with scripty W on it (too many bad connotations in DC), but the one with block DC interlocking.
Performance curling broom. A couple of things about this. My existing broom has developed a bit of a rattle, something loose. I'd like to get one of these super-light carbon fiber deals, but they're pretty expensive. Best price I can find is $170 Canadian (about $138 US). The good thing though, is that I can do with the cheaper regular one for now, then get the carbon fiber replacement handle later. Anyway, it's still one for those with the big bucks, and I don't really need it until the fall anyway, since curling season's almost over.
I was thinking about getting a new cell phone (prepaid only, but I am not sure how much info people need to get me one... I don't think you can go buy the one I am looking at in Michigan, Florida and Illinois and have it work here. Let me know if anyone's interested). Ours expires at the end of April, so it's a little early, but since the zero key doesn't work on mine... Amazon has the one I want for $125 after rebate, but won't let me add it to my wish list,
probably because it has to be tailored to your zip/area code. It shouldn't matter though, because I'll end up transferring my existing number over when the contract is up. So here's the link.
John Kerr, cell phone expert, said T-Mobile worked pretty well at our house for him, so that's what I'm going with.
Weekend curling update
Potomac V had a rough time this weekend. We were only missing our shots by fractions of inches, but at crucial times. We ended up going 1-3, beating a team from Detroit, ironically, when Lisa and our friends from Michigan came to watch. In our final game, we fell behind big early, and tried to come back, but just ran out of time and shots. Fortunately, we played another Potomac team, so it was a lot of fun. Plus, George brought some of his "Pursuit of Happiness" out. If you're ever near the Clay Pipe Brewing Company in Westminster, MD in the winter (it's a seasonal brew), you should definitely pick some up. Very hoppy and citrusy. High alcohol content leads to an estery taste too. Lovely, just don't drink a lot, or you won't be driving.
The US Women's team fell just short of the gold at the World Championships. They beat Sweden on Saturday to advance to the Gold Medal game, but then lost to them on Sunday in the rematch. The 10-4 final score was deceiving, as the score was tied at 4 after 8 ends. Sweden took 2 in the 9th, and the US team just ran out of rocks to try to score their two in the 10th, leaving Sweden sitting 4. Still, a silver medal for this very young team is a tremendous accomplishment. We'll be seeing a lot more of them in the years to come. They will be representing the United States in the 2006 Olympics as well, so look for them in Turin!
Final Four!
Holy Cow! That's all I can think of to say. Best. Tournament. Ever. Three of the four regional finals go to OT, and the other is close. Two Big Ten teams in the Final Four, including the Spartans. Great effort by them. Tremendous comeback by Kentucky to get it to OT too. But ya gotta wonder, much like Arizona the night before, what is that guy doing, dribbling the ball around at the three point line, running the clock way down at the end of the first OT? 7-6-5, then they never get off a good shot. Crazy, but we'll take it. Good to see Alan Anderson redeeming himself too. Up by two, with two free throws to almost ice the game with 12 seconds left, and again with 7 seconds to really put it away. He's really making the big plays when they need him.
Lest we forget, the MSU women are in the Elite Eight as well. They came back from a 7 point half time deficit to beat Vanderbilt 76-64. Kristin Haynie had a triple double, which is almost unheard of in the women's game. The announcers on ESPN2 thought it may have been the first in tournament history. At any rate, it was only the second in school history.
A great day to be a Spartan!
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