Mas California

Hello Friends,

Sorry that it has taken me a few days to post a new update on our lives, but we are in sunny southern California. It's a bit difficult to sit inside and write when the beach is a half mile away. Before I get into what we've been up to, let me answer my mom's questions in her most recent comment. The Indians traded Cliff Lee. They are now looking at trading Victor Martinez (our best player) to the scum of the Earth, the Boston Red Sox. What do I think? Well Tribe fans, get ready to experience the Cleveland Indians of 2003-2006. We are in full-on rebuilding mode. Expect to see a different manager next year, and don't be surprised if we are so bad in 2010 that the Kansas City Royals finish with a better record. It would be nice to see some life from the Tribe at the end of the season to save Wedge's job, but don't count on it. As a Cleveland sports fan, I now have three things to look forward to. (1) Tailgating and drinking my way through another horrific Browns season. (2) OSU football - winning just enough games to make it to a BCS bowl game and get blown away by an SEC team. (3) King James leading the Cavs to a championship and ending the 46 year drought of Cleveland professional sports (yes, I actually believe this). Enough Cleveland sports venting, here's what we've been up to...

Our past few days in LA were some of the best I've had on this trip. We spent two nights in Westwood on UCLA's campus with Rachel. She moved in on Tuesday to get ready for law school. Once again, Sam and I were the first guests to spend the night. The majority of the night was spent catching up with Rachel, and then we went out to a couple places around Westwood Village. First, the Westwood Brewing Co. is the most disappointing brew pub around. They had a $3 bottle special, only they were sold out of about 20 kinds of beer and had 4 types left. Weak. The best part was that Mickey Davis (Christie's sister) met us there for a few beverages and was kind enough to pick up the tab and treat us to some free drinks. She gave us - well really Rachel - the scoop on living in LA, all the fun stuff to do, and what to watch out for. We also spent some time talking about the upcoming wedding and how much fun we're going to have, of course. When Mickey decided to call it a night (it must suck to have a job), Rachel, Sam and I went across the street to a kick-ass Mexican (go figure) restaurant for dinner. Unfortunately, the kitchen was closed so we didn't get much of a dinner. What we did get were giant margaritas and the best guacamole I've ever had - no joke. The manager brought out a huge tray with all the ingredients, sliced and scooped the avocado, added in onions, tomatoes, cilantro, etc., threw in some hot peppers, and squeezed the juice from a lime to top it off. He asked smooth or chunky (chunky obviously), and wallah, the best guac ever!

The only word to describe our last day in LA is perfect. Here's a quick rundown. Rachel and I spent most of the day at the beach. We bummed on the beach, walked from south Santa Monica to the Venice Pier, and walked back north on the Venice boardwalk. This place is slowly becoming one of my favorite's in the country. I think I've mentioned it before, but there simply isn't a better people watching spot. So we headed back to Westwood after a full beach day, cleaned ourselves up, and got ready to celebrate Sam's birthday!!!

We first went to a small diner in Westwood for dinner. I had a turkey burger with avocado. I only mention that because I absolutely love how Californians put avocado on everything. So to celebrate, we drove down the road to Santa Monica to a place called Cabo Cantina. This place has something that most bars I've been to wouldn't even be smart enough to think of. It has late night happy hour, in addition to its normal happy hour. So from 10:30 to 12:30, ALL drinks are two-for-one. In other words, order a beer, get two. Order a margarita, get a double or get two. Order a birthday shot for Sam, get one for yourself. You get the idea. What made it even better was that we had an OU reunion to celebrate. Our good friend Sara was in town from Chicago, staying with Ashley and McKenzie. Plus Rachel joined us and Sam's friend Brittany was there as well. Seven Bobcats all drinking together in LA. We decided that we have absolutely no school spirit until drinking is involved. "Sam, drink that faster. You call yourself a bobcat?" After Cabo, we went to a bar down the street to end the night. The only important thing to note is this: Sam had three guys around her at once talking to her about the baseball trip. As you all could have easily guessed, telling a guy in a bar that you're on a baseball roadtrip to see every MLB stadium will most certainly get his attention - especially if you're a cute blonde. Definitely a successful bday celebration for Sam!

Yesterday was a bittersweet goodbye to LA. On one hand I was psyched to go to San Diego (who wouldn't be?), but on the other hand I was sad to leave LA and some of my very best friends. But the show must go on, so we drove to SD after a quick pit stop to pick up my credit card from Cabo Cantina! Bonehead move Matt. I spent yesterday with my cousin Jess and her boyfriend Alex, while Sam took the car and headed to her high school friend Evan's place. Jess, Alex, and I walked the rocks/cliffs along the beach and enjoyed happy hour at South Beach Bar & Grill - my favorite place in Ocean Beach. We enjoyed fish tacos and $3 pint night. After spending a few hours drinking and people watching as beach-goers passed by, we headed back to their apartment to chill in the hot tub and crash early. I was pretty drained from our stint in LA, but I'm refreshed today and ready to take on the Padres game. I think I slept for 10 to 11 hours last night, but it was a well-need rest. I'll be checking back in in a few days, so please stay tuned to read more about San Diego and the Bay Area. Adios!

Matt

Indians vs. Angels

Hello out there all you Wahoo maniacs. I know I  just wrote yesterday, but I figured I would give everyone who hates their job something to do at work today. Plus, I want to dedicate an entire entry to the Indians vs. Angels game last night - it was THAT good.

Besides the fact that I'm a Tribe fan going into enemy territory, the cops  were on our ass before we even got into the stadium. Some moron cop yelled at us through a megaphone because we were jaywalking. REALLY? We were already half way across the street and we had to turn around, fight traffic to get back to the sidewalk, and walk two blocks out of the way to get to an effing crosswalk. REALLY? Go arrest someone who's actually committing a crime. 

OK, now that I've gotten that out of the way, last night's game was probably my favorite so far. As we are  waiting in line at the ticket center, a guy comes up to us and offers us free tickets. He got them from work and could only use the one, so we joined him in seats behind home plate in the first row of the second deck. Great view of the field, of course.

First of all, we were keeping the official score because we had scorecards left over from the Diamondbacks game. I used to hate keeping score on the bench when I played baseball, but it's been so long and I completely forgot how much fun it can be. You have to pay attention to every play, so the game turns out being way more interesting. What made it even more interesting is that the guy sitting next to me (ticket-giver) talked baseball with me the whole time and filled me in with all the important info about the Angels. 

The game was one of the most exciting we've seen so far. Here's a quick rundown of how things went:

Tribe scores 2 in top of 2nd (2-0)

Angels lead off bottom of the 2nd with back-to-back-to-back HRs (2-3)

Tribe and Angels each score one in the 3rd (3-4)

Tribe tie it in the 5th (4-4)

Angels get that run back in the bottom of the 5th (4-5)

Angels score again in the 6th (4-6)

Angels bullpen does its job and shuts down the Tribe for three innings (4-6 still)

Top of the 9th: Carroll singles. Choo singles. I say to Sam, "Here's how this is going to play out. Victor is going to hit a 3-run HR, we'll take the lead, then Kerry Wood will come in and blow a save." Sure enough, Victor Martinez hits a 3-run HR in that at bat! Peralta follows with a solo HR. (8-6 Indians!)

Bottom of the 9th: Kerry Wood gives up a lead-off double, just to make things interesting. Then he does his job for once and gets a fly out, a strike out, and a fly out to end the game! It's pretty rare that I'm  wrong, but I'm glad I was in this case!

It was a fantastic back-and-forth game with tons of hitting and an Indians victory. That's five in a row for the Tribe. Now if only they hadn't sucked miserably for the first three quarters of the season, then maybe we'd be on to something here. But at least we don't have the worst record in the American league anymore! Since I have a scorecard, let me give you some highlights...

Indians get 20 hits and 8 runs, leave 11 runners on base

Choo: 4-4, BB, 3 runs

Martinez: 1-5, 3RBI (3-run game winning HR)

Peralta: 4-5, 3 RBI, 2 runs

35,371 in Attendance

Pitching: non-existent

The only other important thing to note is the Angels fans. I was extremely confused by them. The ticket-giver was telling us how Dodgers fans are really intense and Angels fans always have a laid-back atmosphere at the game (it is Orange County). I was wearing my Grady Sizemore t-shirt and never once heard anyone give me shit or try to trash talk the Indians. The crowd even clapped and tipped their hats to an amazing diving catch Ben Francisco made in centerfield. I have never been to a stadium where the fans were more receptive to visitors. However, they must have something against each other. We saw a pretty serious fight in the stands half-way through the game. Then at the end, two Angels fans were escorted out for being obnoxious. The best part is that it was other Angels fans that were complaining about it and cheered like crazy when they were finally kicked out!

Anyways, I think last night was one of my favorite games so far (it's still tough to top Camden Yards). We have a few days off from baseball and we'll be spending them enjoying Westwood (UCLA), Santa Monica, and Venice. Life is good.

Go Tribe,

Matt

I'm In L.A. Bitch

If you don't know what I'm referring to in the title, you're lucky. If you do, then you've heard the worst song on the planet. If you're curious, or you're a glutton for punishment, youtube the title, but beware that you'll be pissed you heard it. Thanks for introducing me to this song Ashley. 

Before I talk about our first two days in LA and how much I love this place, I have a few things that I forgot to mention in the last blog. First, did anyone else know that Phoenix doesn't have daylight savings time? We thought we were on Mountain Time, but apparently Phoenix is on Pacific Time until the fall. The result of our ignorance was arriving at the Diamondbacks game 45 minutes before the first pitch (which I kind of liked, obviously). Also, I woke up the next morning to my alarm, brushed my teeth and washed my face and all that jazz, only to find out I was up an hour early and we weren't planning on leaving for another hour and a half. Fantastic! Now, I forgot what the second thing was I wanted to talk about, so when it comes back to me I'll throw it in.

The drive from Phoenix to LA was about six hours long, a relatively short trip considering some of our recent journeys. We stopped at Joshua Tree National Park along the way for a quick drive through and some pictures. It was pretty scenic and interesting, but mostly it was just the middle of the effing desert. All I could think of during our short visit there was U2 and the Entourage guys doing shrooms.

Moving on, we went to Sam's brother's (Chris) place in the valley when we finally made it to LA. We chilled and watched entirely too much Man vs. Wild (although I'm pretty fascinated with it since I had never seen it before). Chris and his roommate came to the Dodgers game with us. Dodger Stadium entered into my Top 5 favorite stadiums list. It's older, but has a great baseball feeling and the fans create a great atmosphere. They LOVE Manny, which is OK with me for the most part because I'm one of the few Tribe fans that still likes, or at least has an appreciation for, Manny. Here's a hilarious list of celebrities who were at the game and that they showed on the Jumbotron: Larry King, A.C. Slater (Mario Lopez - who am I kidding? If you don't know who Slater is then we aren't friends), James Vanderbeek, and some dude from the original 90210. Also, some moron proposed to his girlfriend on the Jumbotron during the Kiss Cam segment. I'm not an expert on the female psyche by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm fairly confident in saying that 9 out of 10 ladies DOES NOT want their hand in marriage requested at a baseball game in front of 30,000+ people. That's about as romantic as proposing on the Universal Studios Tour when Jaws pops out of the water (which is my plan by the way). Two more notable memories from the game: Chris' roommate bought Sam and me Dodger dogs because he grew up in LA and insisted it is the best hot dog on the planet. It's damn close to being true. Second, he brought a handheld AM/FM radio to the game to listen to the radio broadcast while we watched. Despite the fact that it's such an old man thing to do, it was awesome.

After the game we drove to our friends Ashley and Mckenzie's apartment in Venice. We hit one of the local watering holes expecting a somewhat tame night. As usual, I was wrong. It turned out to be a ton of fun though and we headed back to the apt and crashed. I feel asleep on the couch and woke up on an air mattress. That's mostly attributed to the warm well shots of tequila - which were $7!!! None of this is important, so moving on. Yesterday was a full day of Southern California fun. Ashley, Sam, Sam's bro and friend, and I went to Venice Beach (which is a 90 second walk from the girls' apartment) and walked the boardwalk. I'm convinced that this is the best place in the country to people watch. Those who have been here understand, and it would be impossible to describe it to those who haven't. Just a preview: Tree Man walks on stilts in a full tree suit and creepily stalks beach-goers. Also, on Sundays at sundown Venice Beach hosts the world's largest drum circle. Anyways, after strolling the boardwalk for a while, we laid on the beach for a few hours and relaxed. I swam for a little while, but the Pacific is pretty damn cold. The waves were amazing though - easily the best I've ever seen. After the beach, we went to a German beergarden right on the boardwalk and enjoyed mid-day pitchers. 

After a brief stop at Ashley's apartment again for a dip in the swimming pool and hot tub, Sam and I headed to West Hollywood where we stayed last night with my friend Kristen from HS. Kristen, Kim (sister), Sam, and I went to Runyon Canyon park and hiked up to a great lookout spot with a view of the entire city from downtown to the beach. We followed that up with a trip to a place called Crazy Rockin' Sushi. I have been craving sushi for over a month, and it was everything I expected it would be. It really hit the spot. Last night at Kristen's apartment, we watched some Planet Earth DVDs and chatted to catch up on everything. It was a great relaxing night and the perfect end to what I'll call one of my favorite days on the trip so far. As if it isn't obvious, I love it here.

A few schedule changes for anyone who cares:

Aug. 2 - Giants game in SF

Aug. 5 - A's game in Oakland

Aug. 19 - Tigers game in Detroit.

I hope to talk to you all soon. Peace.

Matt

Californication. (Sam)

After what I would consider the best day of sightseeing in Colorado Springs, we spent 11 miserable hours driving through the desert in order to get to the Arizona Diamondbacks game.  We arrived to the game at what we thought to be on time, but due to the no daylight savings thing Arizona’s got going on, we were in our seats, ready to go a half hour before the game.  It’s a good thing the beers were only $4 & the corn dogs $1.50 as that kept me occupied until the game started.  The retractable roof made for a cool stadium- in both senses of the word- but we had to watch Pittsburgh play… AGAIN.  Why is it that people insist on wearing Ben Roethlisberger jerseys in public?  I mean, you don’t see me sporting Chris Brown attire around.

 

We only spent a total of about 15 hours in Phoenix, and given the triple digit temperature, it was enough for me.  Onward to California!  After making a quick trip to Joshua Tree, we drove into LA.  I’m not ashamed to say that I partook in the ultimate cliché and played California by Phantom Planet when we rolled in… you know, the O.C. theme song.  First stop: Sherman Oaks to visit the big brother.  Chris moved out here about 3 years ago so we don’t get to see each other much.  He & his roommate came to the Dodgers game with us & proceeded to supply me with beer during the game & one hell of a Dodger Dog.  It’s no Big Red Smokey, but it runs a close second. 

 

What do 90210, Saved By the Bell & Dawson’s Creek have in common?  Other than each having some kind of connection with 89 Mill (the Dawson’s Creek poster, the Saved By the Bell birthday bash & just a general obsession with Jason Priestly I’m sure a majority of you had) the star of each was at the game.  Ian Z, James Van der Beek & everyone’s favorite army brat turned wrestling jock- AC Slater all attended the game.  We also saw the best thing I’ve ever seen.  And by best, I mean worst.  A marriage proposal via the jumbotron.  Note to my future boyfriend/fiance/sugar daddy: A proposal via jumbotron is a guaranteed no.  

 

Afterwards, we went to Venice to meet up with Ashley & McKenzie.  Two fellow Harvard on the Hocking alums.  We went to a bar across the street from the girls’ apartment, which led to the ineluctable hangover this morning.  Apparently going out would be the demise of my entire body because not only did light/sound/movement in general hurt my head, I also woke up with a broken toe.

When I called my step dad to have him make a diagnosis via telephone, he asked what had happened.  Naturally, I had no answer, which led to him asking how many times I’ve been ‘loaded’ on this trip.  I’m expecting an intervention when I get home.  Funny thing is I really wasn’t loaded, I’m just dumb sometimes when it comes to remembering what I did more than 10 hours ago. 

 

So today we spent the day on Venice beach, first at the beach & later moving to an outside bar where the shampoo effect occurred.*  Later in the evening we got to West Hollywood to visit Matt’s friend from high school, Kristen.  We went to a park that overlooks the entire city before making our way to a half-price sushi restaurant.  Matt got a little excited & ordered enough food to feed a small army, so we’ve got lunch for tomorrow. 

Blogging in detail is a new idea for me.  I don’t know if you even care to know that I got my first sunburn of the summer, that my body is slowly planning a revolt against me, or that I hate Ben Roethlisberger (let’s be serious, don’t we all?) But since I’ve still got your attention, I must be doing something right.  So I’ll be sure to keep doing this more often- so you have something to do while you’re at work.

 

1.     * 1. Shampoo Effect

A residual drug or alcohol phenomonon in which, during a period after a heavy binge, only a small amount of the recently-abused substance is needed to re-activate your buzz. So named after what happens in the shower when you "rinse and repeat": only a tiny bit of shampoo is needed the second time around to achieve a full sudsy lather.

Heading Out West

Hello all you dedicated readers. Sam and I are in Phoenix right now, and we just witnessed a massacre at the Arizona Diamondbacks game. Before I get to the game, let me catch you all up on the past few days. First, a dilemma: Sam's previous blog was a perfect detailed account of our days in Colorado. Should I write my normal overwhelmingly annoying blog that contains every single detail, or should I concede the details to Sam on this one. Easy choice...I don't want to steal Sam's thunder, so I'll be brief. Plus it's late, I'm tired, and I don't feel like writing.

I promise only a few thoughts on Colorado:
I WAS mad we had to stay in a hotel, but life goes on. Now the good part. As Sam said, Pueblo and Colorado Springs are absolutely gorgeous. The Garden of the Gods was one of the most amazing sites I have ever seen. Pictures will be coming soon so you all can be jealous...err I mean enjoy them. Finally, I could see myself living in Colorado Springs or Denver - I liked it that much. The only problem is this guy named John Elway and the EFFING Denver Broncos. I'm not sure the city is big enough for the two of us.

Moving on now, we had about a 12 hour drive to Phoenix today. It was the first time all the long drives actually started to be excessive. By the end I was thinking to myself, "Get me the hell out of this car." Although the drive was excruciatingly long and we were driving through the middle of nowhere, the scenery was, in a word, breath-taking. Mountains. Canyons. Deserts. Evergreens. Cacti. We saw all of the above.

As for the game, I continue to be amazed by almost every ballpark. Chase Field is a site to see. It's another stadium with a retractable roof (I guess it's really hot in Phoenix?). The place is absolutely huge too. My favorite part is that there's a pool and hot tub beyond the fence in right-center field. And wouldn't you know it, a home run was hit into the pool during the game! The other great part about the stadium was their value food at concession stands. Hot dogs, corn dogs, popcorn, peanuts, etc. all for $1.50 each. Can't beat that. Now, I said the game was a massacre because it was close until about the sixth inning when the Pirates scored four runs to make the score 6-3. Two innings later they scored three more to make it 9-3. We decided to leave after that, obviously disgusted with any Pittsburgh sports team actually winning a game. The final score was 10-3. I think I threw up in my mouth on the way out.

So we're off to Los Angeles tomorrow for the Dodgers game. There's talk of a stop at Joshua Tree National Park along the way (keeping my fingers crossed that we have time). Coming up for us in SoCal are visits to West Hollywood, Santa Monica, Venice, and San Diego. As if our lives aren't sweet enough already, it just keeps getting better. But did I mention I miss everyone back in Ohio (and elsewhere)?

Two things I learned today:
It's REALLY windy in the desert sometimes (which makes it a bitch to drive).
It DOES rain in the desert, but it only lasts about 90 seconds.

Adios Amigos,
Matthew

The Gateway to the West, Saint's & The Rocky Mountains (Sam)

You’d think being on this adventurous summer roadtrip, I’d be better at keeping you updated on what we’ve been doing.  Unfortunately, baseball, bars & swimming all day have kept me from doing so.  I’m sorry.  I’ll try harder.  I’m going to attempt to recap the past 5 days to you in an excruciatingly detailed blog that will make Matt’s mini-series of books look like child’s play.  But I get ADD more often than not, so we’ll just take it one paragraph at a time.

            Six hours after midnight & five after I went to bed, we had to hit the road for our eleven-hour drive toward the gateway to the west.  The minute I realized our jaunt was nearing the halfway point, I wanted to drive slower, thinking that I could somehow make this lifestyle last an extra month.  We got to St. Louis around 4 in the afternoon to my Uncle Fuffy’s house (my brother couldn’t say Jeff when he was younger, Fuff came out & that’s stuck around for about 25 years).  I haven’t seen Fuffy, Aunt Sandy or their perfect little munchkins, Abigail & Blake for about a year.  Matt and I parted ways for the night (tear) & I spent the night with the family at Sandy’s family reunion.  The game was Sunday afternoon & Busch Stadium quickly became my new favorite stadium (until Kansas City, but we’ll get to that eventually).  We went to the game with Matt’s friends & their family.  It’s becoming more apparent to me that when people join us for the games, it’s a better time.  Not that I don’t love you dearly, Matt, but after long hours in the car together we’re starting to run out of things to talk about.  It was especially nice having other people with us at this game, because it fell on a day that Matt decided to have a hangover.  For those of you who know Matt’s new years resolution for 2008 was to have one & only one hangover (which I was lucky enough to see last summer in W.V).  This year- he’s doubled that number on this trip alone.  While I was in bed at 10:30 on Saturday night, Matt was busy playing beer pong, going to bars, & eventually losing his phone/dignity/ a little self-respect. 

            After the game I had a homemade family dinner while waiting for Pavia to get back from the family dinner he was attending.  We watched Entourage & went to bed early- rightfully so for Matt, I just went to bed out of boredom.  Monday we went swimming with the kids for a little bit before we left.  They’re in 1^st & 3^rd grade and a delight to be around.  I was sad to say goodbye.  Nonetheless, we packed up & headed out for Kansas City to prepare for our visit to Kauffman, Drama’s & for those of you who know us, another night of drinking. 

            We arrived 4 hours later to Drama’s house.  Drama & Mike met a few years ago in a Browns bar- apparently there’s some outside of Cleveland-  & it must have been love at first sight because they lived together when Mike lived in Kansas City.  After a couple hours of UFC (I’ve got to get some more girlfriends), a bar called Saints was on the itinerary.  Ah, Saints- where the $2 drinks flow like wine & the 20-something TV monitors show silhouettes of exotic dancers after midnight.  After what I would consider to have been little-to-no effort on our part in persuading Drama to drop the position of DD & to let me witness what everyone has been referring to as “dramatized”, things started to get interesting.  Yes, $2 domestic beers, import beers, well and call drinks and yes, Matt & I still manage to rack up a $66 dollar tab.  Not bad right?  After the damage done to my credit card we cabbed it home & sealed our fate for the next day- of being bums.  While Drama had what I imagine to be a terrible-horrible-no-good-very-long day at work, I introduced Matt to Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia.  4 hours of it.  After, we got our acts together & went to the best BBQ restaurant I’ve ever been to, which happened to be connected to a gas station.  Oklahoma Joe’s was the best recommendation I’ve ever been given- Thanks Mike!  The Plaza is a pretty cool area with outside shops, restaurants & bars near Mike & Drama’s old place.  From there we went to the Royals game.  I love, love, loved Kauffman Stadium.  The waterfalls in the outfield, the jumbotron, & my favorite, the kids’ area behind the outfield.  They had mini golf, a mini baseball field & batting cages.  Everything a 10 year old could ask for.  & apparently, everything Matt could ask for because I had to remind him he was 23 a number of times.  In fact, saying “We gotta get outta here, I wanna do all this stuff but I’m an effing grown up now” would be a direct quote.  After snagging some close seats for the rest of the game, we went back to a friend of Drama’s to watch more Its Always Sunny & to relax before the long drive ahead of us on Wednesday.

            Flash forward to Wednesday around midnight, after our 10-hour odyssey to Pueblo, CO in order to break up our original 20-hour trip to Arizona.  Another friend of Pavia’s was kind enough to leave us the key to his apartment even though he’s out of town for the week.  One problem: midnight + half working flashlight + possible wrong address does not equal a comfortable night stay in Pueblo.  What it does equal is a mad Matt & a $60 hotel room.  Our night of beer, pizza & Bull Durham was interrupted by this unfortunate turn of events.  Matt went to bed & I stayed awake watching Fight Club & working on this fine piece of craftsmanship you are now enjoying.

            We woke up today & after digging in the rocks for a while we finally found the invisible key to let us into the apartment.  We got ready & headed for the Garden of the Gods- which has been my favorite place to date.  I’ve been looking forward to the Colorado visit since the beginning of the trip & I’ve been quite pleased so far. 

Garden of the Gods is a beautiful place that I can only describe with photos (which will be up soon).  Matt & I went on our own for this exploration & I eventually found a cozy rock that overlooked the mountains where I sat & read for about an hour.  I can’t wait for our visit to Denver in a couple weeks. 

            Even though this is the longest blog I’ve written, it may not have surpassed Matt’s epic entries.  But you’ll have to forgive me because A) tonight we are rain checking my favorite movie, which was interrupted last night & 2) we’re watching Walking Tall right now featuring the absolute love of my life, The Rock.  If you’ve ever been in my bedroom before you’ve seen the life size cardboard cut out & the water bottle, so you know I’m being totally serious.  I probably won’t blog again until after my birthday so the next time you hear from me, I’ll be 23! 

            And again, I’m being totally serious about The Rock.

Kansas City

We're in KC right now, but heading out to Colorado later today. Our next baseball game is in Phoenix on Friday, but we decided to stay a night in CO to cut the 20 hour drive in half! With last night's Royals game, we're officially over the hump. We've been to 16 games so far, and some of the best are yet to come. We've been in KC for two days now, and I only have a few stories to share, so I'll attempt to keep this short.

In my last post I explained how I drank entirely too much in St. Louis and then mentioned to Mike that "I'm never drinking again." Well, as most of you know (especially Mom), that usually means I won't be drinking until the opportunity presents itself again. So we arrived in KC on Monday at Drama's house. Drama was my brother's roommate before he moved to Chicago, and in case you're wondering, he got the nickname Drama for good reason. We decided to go out for a few drinks at a place called Saints. I've actually been there before, but it was called Mickey's and I don't remember much because Jimbo was running a Tequila promotion a few years back which included Mexican Sumo wrestling. Use your imagination. I also distinctly remember this place because last time I was there I almost got arrested thanks to Jimbo's douchebag boss who led me to believe that following him through the kitchen to piss outside the back of the bar was a good idea since the line for the bathroom was too long. Thanks jack ass.

Anyways, moving on to Monday night. Monday specials at Saints just happen to be some of the greatest weekday specials I've seen at any bar. All bottles and draughts are $2. All well and call liquor is $2. Yet still, Sam and I managed to run up a $66 tab between the two of us. How the hell did that happen you might ask...unfortunately, I cannot answer that question. I think it was a combination of the many beers and drinks we consumed, plus the couple of shots that actually weren't $2. Damn you Saints. Now then, Monday night is a school night for Drama. He drove with the intention of only have a drink and staying sober to drive us home. Well for those of you who know Drama, it wasn't too difficult a task for us to convince him that his plan wasn't going to work. He proceeded to get close to Dramatized, we took a cab home, we didn't get to sleep until early morning, and then Drama had a wonderful time getting up for work at 7:30. Ahh the life of a working man. Needless to say, it was a great first night in KC.

Day two was the day of the Royals game. We bummed around and recovered all day, watching hours worth of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. I had never really watched the show before, but I love it now. In the late afternoon, Sam and I went to Oklahoma Joe's on a recommendation from Mike. Simply put, it was the best barbecue I've ever tasted. How does a beef brisket barbecue sandwich with melted provolone and onion rings on a kaiser bun sound? The best part...the "restaurant" is in a gas station! After lunch (kinda) we went to the Plaza, which is just a huge strip on a few streets of shops, restaurants, bars, etc. It's where Mike used to live in KC, so I'm pretty familiar with the area and was able to show Sam around a little bit. We went into a few stores, Sam bought some stuff while I looked around at things I don't need / can't afford, and then we took off for the Royals game.

The last time I was at Kauffman Stadium was a few years ago. Since then it has been renovated, and it's like a completely different stadium. We moved down to really good seats on the third base line during the game and got to see a close game...at least until the 7th inning when the Angels scored 8 runs to blow the game wide open. Way to go Royals. My favorite (and least favorite) part of the stadium was the area beyond the outfield stands. It was great because they had mini golf, simulated batting cages, a timed running the bases, a mini baseball field for kids to take batting practice, a jungle gym, etc. It's like little kid baseball heaven. Now what I didn't like about it is that the whole time walking through there I was thinking, "Damn that would be so much fun! I really want to run the bases! I really want to hit batting practice on the mini field. I BET I COULD HIT A HOMERUN." And then Sam reminded me, "Of course you can hit a homerun jack ass. The field is made for kids." This is where I got really depressed and realized that I now have to refer to myself as an adult. Life sure is rough these days...

Stay tuned for stories from Colorado, Phoenix, and then California! I cannot wait to get out west! I'm looking forward to seeing everyone out in LA, SD, and the Bay area!!! See you all very very soon.

Matt's Favorite Pictures

Halftime

Well I realized today that our trip is half over. We've gone to 15 baseball games in about a month and seen many cities along the way. So far, this has been one of the best experiences of my life, and I'm looking forward to the second half. I could never have imagined how great it was going to be seeing all of the friends and family we've been staying with. Since this is the half way point, I'm going to give you all some Top 5 favorite lists to give you an idea what's been on my mind so far.

Cities: New York, Austin, Atlanta, Boston, DC

Ballparks: Oriole Park at Camden Yards (Orioles), Citi Field (Mets), Minute Maid Park (Astros), Citizens Bank Park (Phillies), Fenway Park (Red Sox)

Beers: Yuengling, Fat Tire Amber Ale, Dos Equis, Killian's, Tecate (only cause they were $1)

Sites: Central Park, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Washington Monument, Town Lake (Austin), Georgia Dome

Drunkest Nights: Karaoke night in St. Louis, Dirty Triangle night in Atlanta, Mexican fiesta night in South Jersey, Karaoke night in Pittsburgh, Solid Gold night in Miami

Teams We've Seen: Cleveland Indians, New York Mets, Baltimore Orioles, Houston Astros, Cincinnati Reds

Cities I'm Most Looking Forward to Visiting: LA, San Francisco, Denver, San Diego, Seattle

Ballparks I'm Most Looking Forward to Visiting: Wrigley Field (Cubs), Pac Bell Park (Giants), Coors Field (Rockies), Safeco Field (Mariners), Rogers Centre (Blue Jays)

Michael Jackson Songs (REVISED): Wanna Be Startin' Something, P.Y.T., The Way You Make Me Feel, Bad, Human Nature

That's it for now. Check out the next post for my Top 5 Favorite pictures...

Adios Ya'll

We're in St. Louis right now. It's 11:12 PM and I'm STILL nursing a hangover from last night, but I'll get to that soon. First, let me catch ya'll up on the past few days.

Don, Sam's dad's childhood friend and our extremely generous host, had beer waiting for us when we got to his house. Dos Equis is fantastic. Now then, he took Sam and me out to dinner at a hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant, which was delicious. I had one of the best burritos I've ever eaten. The next day, Friday, was gameday for us. We went to the Texas Rangers game, and it was one of the best ball game experiences we've had yet. First, Don's company donated four tickets to us...in the 17th row directly behind home plate. It was a gorgeous view. Sitting there, seeing the entire field in perfect view, and recognizing every pitch reminded me why I love baseball. I've been to so many games recently that the novelty wears off sometimes. But not on this night. Baseball truly is a beautiful game. All right now, enough of that crap. Moving on...

Don and his wife Kelley couldn't make it to the game with us, so we scalped the other two tickets to some Twins fans. It was like finding extra money in your pocket that you didn't know about. Needless to say, that's a sunk cost. That money was as good as spent as soon as it was handed over. We rarely eat or drink very much at games because it's expensive. But at this game, we were able to treat ourselves to dinner. I had a hot dog and a few Killian's. Sam skipped the hot dog, and had a lot of Killian's. For once on this trip Sam was drunker than me. Music to my ears. Here's how I can sum up the Rangers game: Free tickets. Free parking. Free (in my mind) food and beers. Drunk Sam sighting. Josh Hamilton hit a towering home run. This was a GREAT game. To all our friends in Texas, THANK YA'LL!!!

OK now, I'll stop with the ya'll since we're out of Texas. Although it is catchy. On Saturday we drove 11 hours to St. Louis. We went to Sam's uncle's house and talked for a bit, then she went to her family reunion and I took the car to Meaghan Pijut's apartment. Sam has asked me a few times how I know Meaghan, and this is tricky, so take notes. Meaghan is the cousin of my brother's college roommate's wife (Adam and Bree). Anyways, I'll just call her a friend. I was worn out after a long day of driving, so one of the first things I said to Meag was, "I'm getting shitty tonight." Let's just say that I did not disappoint. First we went to Matt's (Meaghan's brother) house. For the first time in 2+ years I indulged in cold, refreshing Natural Light (only it was effing warm!). It tasted just like I remember...warm, watered down piss. Matt's friend Jordan and I went undefeated in beer pong. I've still got it. Who knew? Meaghan's friends were at bar, so we went to meet them there. Let me just say that it didn't take much convincing to get me there. Meaghan uttered the two phrases that immediately send adrenaline through my body..."dive bar" and "karaoke." The rest of the evening went something like this: Drank too many beers. Took too many shots. (Thanks Matt. I told you I HATE vodka...future hosts please keep this in mind.) Fell in love with one of Matt's friends, or so he says, but who can remember (Allison maybe?). Talked for an hour to some guy who shares Meaghan's birthday. Sang Piano Man with Meaghan and Julia. Asked a 300 pound man to do a duet with me (we didn't get called, which worked out for the best for Double D's patrons). Walked home. Called six pizza places at 2AM (and no one answered). Which led to...ate cold leftover bow tie macaronis and a plain tortilla shell. That's that last thing I remember.

The Aftermath:

I woke up this morning feeling like I got hit by a train, but I'll get back to that in a minute. There are two beds in Matt's house, and his roommate wasn't in town, so one open bed. I passed out on the love seat. Meaghan was on the couch. Matt was in the recliner. The two beds were empty. I was walking to the bathroom and ran into Matt and Meaghan's dad who was there to pick up Matt to go get Cardinals tickets. My phone was lost for two hours (the first time I've misplaced my phone for more than a couple minutes in my life!). It was under Matt's roommate's pillow! If I was in the bed, why did I pass out on the love seat? Matt opens the freezer and says, "Who put the container of macaronis in the freezer?" That would be me of course. What the hell? I called Mike to tell him a little bit about the night. I muttered my famous words, "I'm never drinking again." Mike's response was, "Did you get hit by the Pijut Train?" Well Mike, in a word, YES. I chugged more than a gallon of water and still felt dehydrated. But enough of my sob story. Life goes on and the world keeps turning despite the fact that I shut down for a day.

We actually had a baseball game to get to this afternoon. We met Matt and Meaghan's parents at a bar before the Cardinals game. I drank water. They were kind enough to bring us St. Louis' delicioso Gus's pretzels. The game was a close one. A 2-1 Cardinals victory, but all I could think about was if I was going to die, if my head was going to stop throbbing, and if my stomach was actually exploding or just felt like it. Basically, I didn't feel so hot. 

After the game Sam took the car back to her uncle's and I went to the Pijuts' for a lovely home-cooked meal. It was absolutely amazing, topped off with some dessert for Meaghan's birthday. Happy quarter century bday Meag! Don't join AARP just yet :) Then, Matt made my day. He walked from the living room into the kitchen with a record, and wouldn't you know it, it was Thriller! We listened to the entire album on the Pijuts' record player and searched through all of their old records. I mentioned when we were in Boston that I really wanted a record player after messing around with Meg's (Meg from Boston that is. Miss you!). Now I know that it will be the next thing I buy, besides food, beer, baseball tickets, and gas of course. I'm back at Sam's uncle's casa now, and winding down to call it a night. We watched Entourage and I'm a little disappointed. First, because I want E and Sloan to get back together. And second, in myself for actually being emotionally invested in a television show.

THANK YOU Pijuts for showing me a fantastic time in the Lou. Matt and Meag, I can honestly say you all got me drunker than I have been on this trip yet. That reminds me, I can't drink like I used to. If I couldn't only get myself to believe that I'd have a lot less problems. As I told you earlier today, I hope that last night stands as the drunkest night of the trip. It will be hard, nearly impossible, to top. Please keep reading and spreading the good word to all your friends. We love having fans!

I'll check back in very soon. We're off to Kansas City tomorrow to see my good friend DRAMA! Until then, stay classy folks.

Catch You On The Flip Side,

Matthew

P.S. Check out this video from last night. It explains a lot.

Texas: So Big it Took A Week to See it All. (Sam)

Our week long break in Texas has been an eventful yet restful one.  The rest of our stay in Austin included a fabulous shish kabob dinner, seeing millions of bats fleeing the "bat bridge", $1 cans of Tecate (A Texan's Corona) & a newly strong bond between Marisa & me.  At 11p.m. I decided to get the tattoo I've been wanting, and when they finally squeezed me in at 3a.m., Marisa was kind enough to donate her now-likely-broken hand to me while the artist went to work on my side. Now, I'll always remember our vacation in Austin.  Wednesday we left for Dallas, with a little detour to visit the Pavias' neighbors from Nashville- of course they don't live in Nashville anymore, but you seem like a bright reader, I'm sure you figured that out already.  We spent the day laying on their doc, swimming in the lake, and eventually going out on a boat ride at sunset.  I keep telling you guys we lead this tough life, but you don't seem to think I'm serious.  Weird.

Yesterday we got to Dallas, and my Dad's friend from when he was a kid, Don's house.  After the Dos XX went down like water, Don, his son Zach & niece Amanda took us out to dinner at....wait for it....a Mexican restaurant.  We can't get enough during this trip, each place gets better and better!  We sat around the pool for a little while longer that night & I played cards with Amanda.  She beat me. Twice.  

Today we're going to the Texas game.  Don's company was kind enough to donate 4 tickets behind home plate for the game.  Probably our closest (legitimately) seats this entire trip.

It's been great hearing Don's stories about my dad, and even though I was already given the "don't hold anything you hear against me, i'll deny it all" disclaimer, I'm sure I can use some of it as ammo in the near future.

Many people ask us if we're going to write a book on our trip.  It started to become more and more of a good idea to me in recent days, so I've decided to see what I can do.  Hopefully I don't get bored with it after 20 minutes of writing, but I'll keep you updated in future blogs.

Smell ya later,

Sam.

San Antonio & Austin Pictures

Texas Again!

Hello Friends,

So we’re still in Texas. At the beginning of this trip, I thought this week would be the slowest and worst part of the trip. I was definitely wrong, because each day in Texas has been amazing in its own way. Our second night in Austin was so cool, in a completely different way from the first. First, we banded together to collectively cook a feast! Between the six of us, we made steaks, vegetable skewers (w/ mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers, and onions), corn on the cob, rice, and couscous. Huge success! Then, we saw the phenomenon simply known as “the bats.” Each night, at about sundown, somewhere around a million bats fly out from under a bridge into the city, which is obviously known as “bat bridge.” The cool part is that we were watching with a crowd of hundreds of people that show up every night just to see the bats. I wonder how many times a bat has flown down and given someone rabies?

Now then, Marisa took Sam and I to what I’ll call Mecca. Let me attempt to paint a picture for you. This bar has Tecate Tuesdays, which means $1 cans of Tecate and Tecate Light (think Corona, but better). It also has just about every bar game you can think of. Just to name a few, there’s pool, ping pong, shuffleboard, Golden Tee, Big Buck Hunter, Ms. Pacman and Galaga (on the same machine!), and my personal favorite…SKEEBALL!!! Besides the fact that I’m incredibly rusty and basically sucked at skeeball, it was more fun than I can describe in words.

Our next mission of the night – our first of course being $1beers and skeeball – was to find Sam a tattoo parlor. After a few tries, we found one that could fit her into the schedule. In reality, they didn’t fit her into the schedule but the artist was kind enough to stick around past the time they were open to tat up Sam…at 3 o’clock in the morning! Now, this was a great night, but it was time to cash in considering we had a long drive the next day.

After Austin we headed North towards Dallas, but took a detour to spend a day with Bob and Marlene, good friends of my parents from when we lived in Tennessee. They live near Athens, TX! For those without a map, it’s about 70 to 80 miles southeast of Dallas. Bob and Marlene live in a place where the majority of roads are County Rds. Bobcats, think Co Rd 25, only more secluded. Their backyard walks down to a personal dock overlooking a beautiful lake! I’ll spare all of the details, but here is the gist of how yesterday, last night, and this morning went…

Floated in a raft on the lake with a book and a beer. Laid on the dock and soaked up some sun listening to S&G. Bullshitted and swapped stories with Bob and Marlene at happy hour (mostly stories about how my parents used to be back in the 80s in Tennessee – their partying days). Were fed delicious burgers and baked beans. Took a ride on their boat at sundown. Watched the sunset from the water, with a full cooler. Slept like a baby, in my own bed. Woke up early enough to enjoy sitting on the dock – before the Texas heat arrived – and reading for a few hours while gazing out at the entire lake.

Why should I ever get a job? I could do this for the rest of my life.

I WOULD LIKE TO THANK MARISA AND THERESA FOR LETTING US STAY AT YOUR PLACE AND SHOWING US A KICK-ASS TIME IN AUSTIN. I LOVE IT THERE AND I AM SERIOUSLY CONSIDERING A RETURN TRIP FOR ACL. THANKS ALSO TO BOB AND MARLENE FOR SHOWING ME HOW BEAUTIFUL TEXAS CAN BE, LETTING US ‘CHILL’ FOR A DAY, AND SHARING SOME GREAT STORIES ABOUT MY PARENTS!

Random side note:

Sam called her last entry “Everything’s Bigger In Texas.” Here are some random observations that make me believe that statement…

The Capitol building in Austin is larger than the U.S. Capitol in D.C.

At lunch in Austin, the water cups were at least as big as mega mugs (32oz).

The County Roads aren’t double digit like in Ohio…there’s Co Rd 2830.

I think there are more billboards from Houston to San Antonio than anywhere else on

Earth. (And at least twenty for one giant travel stop called Buc-ee’s)

The turtles I saw in the lake this morning should be in the Galapagos.

More from Texas soon… 

Peace,

Matt

More From Texas

Austin is my favorite city in Texas so far...hands down. But before I go into details (cause you know I will), let me catch y'all up on what's been going on since Houston. We left Houston Monday morning and headed for San Antonio. I had an absolute blast in Houston. It was fantastic to see Brett and meet Sam (Who I'm sure I've met before somewhere. OU is a small world.), and of course it's always great to be with fellow Bobcats. SO THANKS A MILLION BRETT AND SAM FOR LETTING US STAY...ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING WE DRAGGED IT OUT FOR FOUR DAYS! WE HAD AN AMAZING TIME SO THANK YOU!

In San Antonio we saw the Alamo and strolled along the Riverwalk. The Alamo was very cool and had an old Spanish/western vibe. It was strange how such a historical building is right in the center of downtown San Antonio, across from a Ripley's Believe it or Not. There was a lot of history to read, but no one wants to stand around reading in 100 degree heat, so we spent about an hour or so there. The Riverwalk was amazing. It's very peaceful and relaxing to just walk around. All the restaurants and shops are cool too. The BEST part was that Christie met us for lunch because she's in San Antonio on business this week. It was so great to see her and catch up. San Antonio (or at least the Riverwalk) in a word: "Quaint"

We arrived in Austin Monday night at Marisa's house. She's a friend and former co-worker of Mike and Christie. Her roommate Theresa and her have a nice little house, and Theresa's younger sister and brother are visiting too, so it's a full house. Last night we went out to 6th Street in Austin. Marisa's description is very accurate. "Bar. Pizza place. Tattoo parlor. Bar. Pizza...you get the idea" I loved it because it reminds me of Court Street in Athens, only on a much larger scale. But it's fantastic and I had a blast. We hopped around to a few different bars, and by the time we took a cab home, I was feeling no pain...until this morning.

After a late and painful start this morning, all of us went to lunch at a great place with mostly Mexican food and a Hawaiian theme. It's right on the river/lake too, so we had a great view. After lunch was the favorite part of my day, and of my trip to Texas for that matter. Marisa dropped me off at Austin Rowing Club. I rented a kayak for an hour and cruised around on Lady Bird Town Lake, which is pretty much more of a river. I have some great pictures I'll be putting up soon. Oh and just in case anyone out there is as dumb as me and didn't think about this, if you go one way downstream, the return trip will be upstream. In my defense, it's supposed to be a lake, not a river. Anyways, I just love being out on the water and it was incredibly relaxing (even the trip upstream). I listened to Simon and Garfunkel on my iPod the whole time, and my mood afterwards was about the best it's been in a while. 

I walked from the lake back to Marisa's. About four miles in Texas heat is fun. But I made it and I'm glad I walked because it gave me time to listen to some tunes, get some exercise, and enjoy being outside. I know most people wouldn't enjoy being outside when it's 101 degrees, but I'm not most people. Stay tuned to read more about Texas in the upcoming days.

Adios,

Matt

Everything bigger in Texas. (Sam)

I don't usually like to blog more than one time in one state, but everythings bigger in Texas- including the amount of time between games apparently- so here's the first half.

We got to Houston & walk into Brett & his girlfriend's apartment.  What do you know, I know Sam from freshman year at OU!  Before we went to dinner, they introduced us to their amazingly perfect schnoodle, Google.  She's a schnauzer poodle mix and the new love of my life. They took us to a Tex-Mex restaurant which was amazing, I'm really getting used to this Mexican food 3 times a week thing.  We had a couple of beers & watched some TV for a very relaxing first night.  

Friday, we spent the day at the pool at Sam & Brett's apartment complex before the game.  The entire time I was thinking about Google.  We went to a place called The Flying Saucer before and after the game, which had 80-something beers on tap & 300 total.  You can join a UFO club where once you try every beer, you become infamous with your name on a saucer for their wall.  The saucer wall consists of 7 walls and a ceiling... covered in saucers.  I tried a couple of different beers & we had ginormous soft pretzels which are quite possibly the best pretzels invented.  

Saturday we went to Galveston for pizza slices & the beach.  The water was more hot tub than ocean water, but the breeze on the shore made it much easier to lay out for a couple of hours.  With the SPF 70 on of course.  We stayed in and hung out with beers, brajitas, and Taken. 

On Monday I was forced to say goodbye to Google, Sam & Brett.  We had an awesome time in Houston!

We went to San Antonio for the day to see The Alamo, and the Riverwalk.  We had lunch with Christie who was in town for work & it was great to see her.  

Once we arrived to Austin I realized one of the girls we're staying with is cousins with my friend from high school- so that makes 75 out of the 15 cities we've been where I've known someone who knows someone who's cousin is someone else.  Its been getting more standard.  We went out last night & tonight we're making steaks....and going out again.  This is also getting pretty standard.  I don't hate it.

Until Dallas

Houston Pictures

My First Trip To Texas

Hi Friends,

It's been a few days since I've checked in, so let me catch you up on what's been going on in Houston...

We arrived on Thursday afternoon and didn't over-exert ourselves at all. After a 16 hour drive, there isn't much to do except for try to recover. We are staying with more friends from OU here in Houston. My friend Brett and his girlfriend Sam have been nice enough to put us up for a few nights and treat us right. Our first night, we went to dinner at a killer Tex-Mex restaurant, had a few beers, and watched some TV. It was good to catch up on sleep after the long drive.

Friday was game day, and we hung out by the pool for most of day. Once Brett got home from work, we headed downtown to a bar called The Flying Saucer. It's a great bar with about 80 or so beers on tap. As Brett said, "Any bar that celebrates beer is OK with me." 

Minute Maid Park was pretty cool, and it was the second game in a row played inside a dome. Actually, it's a retractable roof, but they keep it closed during the summer because apparently it's hot in Houston in July. The game was a close one. The Astros led most of the way until the Nationals scored a few runs in the 7th and took the lead 5-4. The Astros tied it up, and then ended it in the bottom of the 9th on a game-winning single with the bases loaded. So exciting! After the game they opened the roof and we watched fireworks with the Houston skyline in the background. I'm starting to realize that each game is different and each game presents something interesting and unique. The games honestly keep getting better as the trip progresses. 

We went back to the Flying Saucer after the game and drank some more. One of my favorite things is a bar that offers sampler platters of a bunch of beers. So I took advantage of the Flying Saucer's "Texas Flight" sampler of different beers from breweries around Texas. Afterwards, we headed back to Brett and Sam's and I think I passed out sitting up trying to watch TV. Probably a combination of still being tired from the long drive and drinking a few beers. 

On Saturday we slept in a bit to recover, then the four of us took off for Galveston. We spent the day at the beach and I passed out for a while listening to the sound of the ocean. It doesn't get much better than that. We picked up some beers on the way back into Houston and went straight into the pool with them. After a while, we went back up to Brett's to cook dinner. Brett and I used our super culinary skills to come up with a great new creation. He made brats, but also fried up some peppers and onions and we put them on tortillas with cheese and hot sauce for a make-shift brat/fajitas dinner. We'll call them brajitas.

The rest of the night we hung out in the apartment, drank, and watched some great stuff. East Bound and Down on HBO on demand. For those who have seen it, you know what I mean when I say it's absolutely hilarious. For those who haven't, watch it as soon as you can. Then we watched Taken on blue-ray. I thought it was a really good movie and the main character is a total bad-ass. On a side note, thanks to Brett, I discovered a new great beer and a new great idea. The beer is Fat Tire Amber Ale, and the idea came from the side of the label. The founder/brewer of Fat Tire went on a bicycle trip around Europe visiting different breweries. I think that sounds like fun (just kidding Mom! don't worry). So anyways, it's been a fantastic couple of days in Houston. I'll keep y'all posted during the rest of our tour of Texas! We're off to San Antonio and Austin tomorrow.

Peace,

Matt

Orlando and "The Marathon" Drive

Hello Again Friends, 

It’s one o’clock Central Time and I’m writing from the car somewhere near Lafayette, Louisiana. We’ve been in the car since 12 midnight Eastern Time when we left Orlando this morning. We decided to drive straight through from Orlando to Houston without any stops, passing through the great states of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas in the deep south. Let’s just say we’re a bit anxious to get to Houston. This is the longest car ride of my life to date, even if that will change in a week or two when we head out west! 

Our last day in Orlando was another low key one. I caught up on blogging, uploading pictures, and responding to emails. I went to chill out by Alisa’s pool and read, but after a half hour it started getting dark and windy. I said, “Screw it, I’m not getting rained on,” and went back to the apartment. It rained five minutes later. She lives right by an outdoor mall (similar to Crocker Park for you Cleveland folks), so I went there and walked around, went into a few stores, and eventually settled in at Barnes and Noble’s Bookstore for a couple of hours. 

After work, Alisa met Sam and I for dinner at this kick-ass restaurant called Fuji Teppan Cuisine and Sushi. Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Davis (Christie’s parents – she’s my brother’s fiancé), Sam and I were able to enjoy a delicious Japanese Steakhouse dinner at no cost to us! The leftovers fed us for lunch this afternoon too. Gotta love that. We watched There’s Something About Mary after dinner and I took a power nap because I was driving the first shift. So all-in-all Orlando and Tampa were very laid back. It was refreshing to slow down and not move so fast for once. A wise man once said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop to look around once in a while, you might miss it.” 

So goodbye Florida and on to Texas. Some fun (and some not so fun) and strange tid-bits I learned during our stay in Florida:

-       It rains just about every afternoon, but not for more than a few minutes

-       Even though it rained every day we were in Florida, it never felt gloomy and I never felt the usual depression I do from Ohio rain

-       There are little to no waves on any Miami beaches

-       Toll roads suck. And of course, they’re everywhere in Florida, especially near Disney World and all that jazz.

-       The GPS sucks in big cities (just expanding on prior knowledge)

-       Lots of old people live in St. Petersburg

-       The Florida panhandle is longer than it looks

-       The Central time zone actually starts just west of Tallahassee, not at the Louisiana/Texas border

-       Miami is awesome (thanks to the weather, beaches, and Latin culture – coincidentally, the Latin culture also enhances the beaches) 

I had a great time in Florida, but I’m glad to move on to Texas. We have eight or nine full days in Texas, so we’ll be all over the place! Here’s a little preview of things to come…Houston for a few days, Galveston, San Antonio, Austin for a few days, and Dallas/Fort Worth for the rest of the time. Although I originally was dreading this long stay in Texas, I’m definitely looking forward to it now, and I think it should be a killer time with everything we’ve got lined up to see! 

JUST WANT TO THANK YOU AGAIN ALISA FOR LETTING US DROP BY IN ORLANDO FOR A FEW DAYS. IT WAS GREAT TO SEE YOU! 

Keep On Livin’,

Matt

Day-old Japanese food & the mind of a 20-something female. (Sam)

Since days here seem to run together, I can only assume it’s 4 days after my last blog- since Matt usually blogs daily and we’ve been in the car for 16 hours.  That puts us at Thursday. 

There’s not much to tell since Miami.  We went to Orlando & I finally got to see my long lost friend Alisa who we stayed with.  It was great seeing her & it makes me wonder when the 59 +1 can have a reunion.  We drove 2 hours to St. Petersburg to join the Ibolds (one of my best friends from high school) for dinner & they came to the game with us.  They were on vacation & decked out in Reds gear for the game- a fact I was very impressed with- especially after that 22-1 loss against the Phillies the night before.  The Rays stadium was a dome, the first one I’ve ever been in.  While I loved the smorgasboard of decorations around the stadium, the fact that it was inside felt a little surreal to me.  Baseball is a spring/summer season sport & what’s the point of having it inside? 

Last night, Matt, Alisa and I went to dinner at a great Japanese steak house (compliments of Mr. & Mrs. Davis- thanks a mil!).  We got a great meal and were able to visit with Alisa after she got off work & before we had to leave for our long haul across the south.  I drove from 4:30-9am & since I don’t have much to talk about in this blog, I’ll share something’s that came to my mind during that time:

-       First and Foremost, if you ever thought listening to Dane Cook would get old- you would be wrong.

-       Secondly, day-old Japanese food is the best food when you’ve been on the non-eating diet like I feel I have been on.  Which brings me to point 3:

-       the non-eating diet is the best diet I’ve ever been on because, in the words of the great Sparky Palastri “You see, when you skip a meal, your body feeds off its fat source. And if you skip enough, maybe your body will eat your ass.”  Thanks for the confidence boost, Sparky.

-       While in the middle of playing Super Troopers in my head for the oh- about the fourth time this trip- I started wondering what the semi trucks coming the opposite way would look like if they became Transformers (it was also at this moment that I realized how severe my ADD could be).

-       I came to the conclusion that solitary confinement is cruel & inhumane, as there were a couple of times when I would have paid a trucker to talk to me.  I also want to know why human teleportation hasn’t been perfected yet, and do we have anyone working on this?

-       After my fifteen podcasts on “stuff you should know” I found out a very interesting fact:  The world’s biggest serial killer was a Hungarian Countess.  She killed over 650 people- and she had some accomplices. 

-       One of those was a Ujvary.

-       Finally, I want to know when the American Idol tour will be over so I can buy Kris Allen’s debut album.

The mind of a 20-something female is very complex, and since I’ve spend a number of hours in seclusion while my co-pilot was sleeping, I’m going to take full advantage of the mall we are sitting at, be a girl for an hour and purchase myself a little pre-birthday present. 

Hope you enjoyed my rambling, and I’ll see you in 3-4 business days.

Tampa Pictures

Miami Pictures

Orlando and Tampa

Hello again loyal readers. When I last signed off, we were living the high life in Miami. Since then, we've moved on to Orlando and Tampa. We arrived in Orlando on Monday night, and we're staying with our friend Alisa from Rocky River who is also another fellow Bobcat. Our first night was a very relaxing one, and I needed it to recover from the last week in Cincinnati, Atlanta, and Miami. Monday was the first night in a week that I didn't drink, and it was a well needed rest (although I'm certainly not complaining about the craziness that was this past week).  We ate some delicious Subway ($5 footlongs is the best thing that has happened to fast food since the invention of Chipotle) and watched some TV. 

Sam and Alisa have this ridiculous show that they watch called The Secret Life of The American Teenager. It is the most outrageous show I've seen in a while, considering that everyone in the entire show is pregnant and no one is still married to or dating the person who impregnated them. Furthermore, they're all dating the best friends, ex-whatevers of their baby's daddy. Did I mention all the characters are 14 and 15 years old? Oh yeah, the acting is just about the worst I've seen since Keeanu in Bill and Ted. But, I enjoyed the entertainment value of it! I felt the need to redeem myself after that, so Sam and I popped in Green Street Hooligans, one of my all-time favorite movies. If you haven't seen it, check it out. 

Yesterday I slept in. Sam woke up before me for the first time on our trip, and I'm not quite sure why. But it felt good to catch up on sleep and not have much to do all day. We drove to Tampa for the Rays game in the afternoon. We actually drove all the way into St. Petersburg (who knew the Tampa Bay Rays played in St. Pete?) and met Sam's high school friend Jessica and her family who are on vacation in St. Pete. We all hung out at a bar by the stadium and then went to the game together. They were super generous and Jessica's dad even bought the tickets to the game and wouldn't let us pay. Normally I would have put up much more of a fight, but any help we're offered along the way is difficult to turn down. Jessica's whole family was decked out in Reds gear, and they definitely heard about the 22-1 Reds loss on Monday night from all the Tampa fans. On any other day I'm sure no one would have cared about Reds fans in Tampa. They don't even play in the same league. But leave it to the Reds to embarrass their fans. Sam was definitely happy though though because she had the opportunity to be a girl for once on this trip. Jessica and her gossiped for the ENTIRE game, and Sam didn't stop smiling for a second.

Tropicana Field is the first dome we've visited on the trip. It was a completely different feeling. There's something unnatural about playing baseball inside, but regardless it was a fun game. Four things stick out about the game...

1.) There was a cool carnival atmosphere on the lower level of the stadium. The lower level was actually sort of under the stadium and you had to walk UP stairs to get to the seats. There were more games and promotions than any other stadium we've visited so far.

2.) Most stadiums focus their in-game and post-game promotions around kids. For instance, kids under 12 run the bases after the game. In St. Petersburg, they have the Senior Stroll...senior citizens stroll the bases after the game. They also have Rays Bingo!

3.) A huge fish tank sits in centerfield and has tons of sting rays swimming around for your viewing pleasure. I couldn't pony up the ridiculous $4 fee to get close and pet them though. But I got a few cool pictures.

4.) This was the first game we've been to that went into extra innings. Pat Burrell won the game for the Rays in the bottom of the 11th with a walk-off 2-run home run. We left at the end of the 9th because we had to drive back to Alisa's in Orlando! Buzz kill.

So today is another chill day as we decide when to leave for Houston. We have at least a 15 hour drive to get there, but the Astros game isn't until Friday night, so we can take our time. With the All-star break approaching, we have two games between now and July 18! So we'll be touring the great state of Texas and seeing lots of other stuff besides baseball games. Stay tuned for more pictures coming soon and stories from Texas. 

Lots of birthdays this time of year so...Happy B-day to Billy, Jerry, and Richards. What a drag it is gettin' old.

Thanks Bill for the new Dave CD. I've been jamming it non-stop since we left the Nati. My favorite songs so far: Shake Me Like A Monkey, Time Bomb, and Spaceman.

Peace,

Matt

Atlanta Pictures

Cincinnati Pictures II

Welcome to Miami

I’m not quite sure where to begin with the madness that has been Miami. We’ve spent two days here, and it has been a hell of a good time. While in Miami, we’ve been staying with Julie/Jewel, our great friend Rachel’s sister. She was generous enough to give us a key to her apartment by the beach because she slept at her boyfriend Mike’s place. This is becoming a theme, and it’s crazy that people are entrusting us with keys to their houses/apartments. Another crazy thing is that this is the third or fourth place we’ve stayed where we were either the first guests to stay at a new residence or the first people at all to even sleep in someone else’s place. Anyways, enough with the preamble, let’s get into some stories… 

We spent our Fourth of July driving ten hours from Atlanta to Miami, instead of spending it with all of our closest friends celebrating Seth and Danielle’s wedding. What’s worse is that a ten-hour drive turned into twelve because my favorite toy, the dumbass GPS, got us lost once again. We drove around Miami for what seemed like an eternity before finally finding Jewel’s place. Her and Mike (boyfriend) were spending the 4^th on a friend’s yacht, watching fireworks over the ocean. Sam and I had to entertain ourselves, so what could we do? Well of course, we found a liquor store and bought some beers, then found a pizza place and bought some dinner (at 11pm). So we ended up having a pretty kick ass 4^th with just one another, drinking, eating great pizza, and watching Animal House and The Graduate on Sam’s laptop. One thing I’ve been learning on this trip is that things rarely go as planned and having the ability to have fun no matter where you are or what you’re doing is truly a virtue. Most of you know that I’m anal as shit about having a plan and trying to make things go exactly the way they’re supposed to. Fortunately, this trip has been teaching me that I can’t go through life that way, and I need to more frequently play the cards that life deals. Anyways, my point is nothing we planned on doing on the 4^th came through and we ended up having a killer time just drinking, eating pizza, and chatting it up. (Side Note: Sam and I learned more about each other in the drive to Miami and our night in than I think either one of us bargained for. Just a sample…Sam now knows who of our friends I’m most attracted to…and I won’t mention that here!) Anyways, a simple evening with not much to it turned into a great time. 

Now, day two in Miami was the complete opposite of simple and low key. I woke up and drove to the beach from Jewel’s (it’s really only about a half mile away but I underestimated how close it is). I went for a run on the beach, which kicked my ass because all the beer drinking, pizza and hot dog eating, and lack of working out is slowly putting me out of shape. Nonetheless, it was a great time and the scenery was beautiful. The water is crystal blue around these parts. And strangely, there are really no waves in this area and the ocean is incredibly calm. For those who don’t know, I’m a complete beach junky and could spend every waking second of every day there and be 100% happy. But unfortunately, I had to leave the beach to make it to a baseball game (I guess that’s why we’re on this trip in the first place. Damn.). 

Jewel and Mike joined Sam and me for the Florida Marlins game. They play at what used to be Dolphin Stadium, but was recently renamed Landshark Stadium thanks to Jimmy Buffet. I’ve never seen less people at a baseball game. If I had to guess, I would say the crowd was about 2,000 people. The stadium looked even emptier because it is a football stadium and it’s huge. We had a great time at the game in spite of the fact that it was 98 degrees out and we were baking in the sun the entire time. I was sweating more than Patrick Ewing in his prime. We ran into some OU people at the game randomly. This is happening way more than I thought was possible. This is the second city in a row that we RANDOMLY crossed paths with some Bobcats that we know. One other thing I noticed is that prices for food/souvenirs at the game were outrageous because the Marlins can’t sell tickets so they need to make money some how. 

DISCLAMIER: THE FOLLOWING STORY IS NOT FOR PEOPLE WHO DON’T WANT TO LOOK AT THEIR BABY IN A DIFFERENT LIGHT. THAT MEANS YOU MOM J HOWEVER, I WANT TO BE TRUTHFUL IN EVERYTHING I WRITE, SO HERE’S HOW THE REST OF THE DAY WENT. 

One thing I’ve been trying to do on this trip is surrender to our hosts’ lifestyles. A great way to gain experience on this trip is to let our hosts show us a good time and never say no to doing anything they want to do. Each time we stay with new hosts, I like to attempt to become part of their lives for a few days. In other words, “When in Rome…” 

Moving on…after the game we went back to Mike’s apartment and met his kick ass dog Odie. We started making some drinks and snacked on Mike and Jewel’s huge array of stolen hot sauces with chips and Jewel’s delicious homemade salsa. Then we went down to the pool with our drinks to just relax and chat about life. After a few hours, we cleaned up a bit and went to dinner at an incredible authentic Argentine/Mexican/Cuban restaurant. The chicken fajitas were the best I’ve ever had, period. 

While at dinner, Mike received a text from a friend asking if we’d like to meet him at Solid Gold. At first, Sam and I were drained and decided we would just have our hosts drop us off at Jewel’s before they went out. We didn’t think we could handle another night out. We were wrong. We changed our minds and decided to go with Mike and Jewel to meet their friend. One thing that’s amazing is how well connected they are (shout out to OU MIS: Your network is your net worth). On our drive there, Jewel gets on the phone with a friend and the conversation goes something like this -

Jewel: We’re on our way to Solid Gold. Who do you know there that can hook us up?

Friend: Yada Yada Yada.

Jewel: Cool, so ask for him, him and her and tell them we know you?

Friend: Yada Yada Yada. 

Result: We park the car for free, skip the cover, and get escorted to a VIP table. 

Anyways I’m rambling now, so I’ll try to wrap up soon. Sam is spoiled. Her first strip club experience was in a Miami club at the VIP table. We got complimentary drinks and then Chris (the Friend) and Mike bought a bottle of Grey Goose for our table. We proceeded to drink way more of it than is necessary, especially for me because Vodka never sits well in my body. Sam’s first ‘tip’ was hilarious, but she enjoyed the hell out of it. The strippers could smell new blood and they loved Sam knowing it was her first time. So to make a long story short (which I’m absolutely terrible at), Sam will forever be tainted with the idea that all strip clubs are like this one. That is until she visits a place like Concepts or The Crazy Horse on Brookpark Rd. and gets a wake-up call. 

I could never lead this type of lifestyle on a daily basis. It’s just not my personality. But for one day, I had a damn good time. 

My favorite part of our stay in Miami was the moment at Solid Gold when Sam learned (via a group vote from the people we were partying with) that she should “let her hair down more often!” 

Sorry about writing a novel. I know it was long, but I hope you enjoyed it. 

Peace,

Matt