sha in LA

ouchie waa waa

All across town, similar situations are undoubtedly playing out as I type.  I've already been engaged in numerous workplace conversations on the events that occurred in Downtown Los Angeles last night.  It goes a little something like this:

11:09:37 AM: Derrick: enjoy the game?
11:09:45 AM: shannon: f* you
11:09:54 AM: Derrick: big hugs!
11:10:00 AM: shannon: bye bye
11:10:55 AM: Derrick: Mr Bryant, can you identify the man that stole your ring?

11:11:48 AM: shannon: ok, now that was funny.  you need to forward that to XXXX...he apparently has ice and bandages for all of us because according to him "that must have hurt"
11:12:29 AM: Derrick: Haaaa
11:12:37 AM: Derrick: nice

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'88 was great, '08 is better

This past weekend I went back to the DMV area (D.C., Maryland, Virginia) to attend my 20th high school reunion from Largo High School.  Nothing earth shattering happened, it was your typical "wow, has it really been that long" type of event with the requisite exchange of info and "see you in 10 years."  I went to the dinner on Friday night and planned on going to the picnic on Saturday but I had an incorrect address, hence an incorrect google map and no GPS, so I decided to call it quits after driving around the back roads of rural Maryland for about 20 minutes.  I'm truly a city girl at heart - give me a grid street structure any day of the week over single lane roads and tons of trees.  It all looked familiar but I had no clue how to troubleshoot the fact that I was on the back side of a very large park, far away from where the "official" entrance was located.

So I cut my losses on the picnic and decided to visit my old neighborhood and the family that I grew up next door to for 18 years.  We caught up and laughed about the good old days when I was this goofy little girl (guess I still am actually).

[telling Cedric the neighborhood boxer dog to "go home" - he frequently would jump the gate and run around the neighborhood.  bossy then, bossy now.  change much?]
 

That evening I had tickets to the Nationals/Giants game and prior to leaving L.A. had no one to offer my extra ticket to...until the plane ride to D.C.  There I am at LAX, waiting to get on the plane when I bump into a friend that I haven't seen in about 10 years.  A friend that I know from L.A. but who happened to be traveling back to D.C. with his wife on the same flight as me.  Then he mentions a mutual friend of ours who lives in D.C. that I haven't seen in about the same amount of time and a little light bulb turns on in my head.  Bingo!

I met Khalil at his coffee shop, Pound, and from there we took the subway to the beautiful new Nationals Park where we proceeded to sweat our a$$es off.  Mind you, there was a small little heat wave happening with temperatures soaring near 100 degrees during the day with something like 100% humidity, making it feel like an oven-sauna.  D.C. is not like L.A. where the temperature breaks in the evening, it stays hot and muggy and in a word...disgusting.  At the game we pulled up weather.com on his iPhone and it said the temperature was "88 but feels like 98."  With no scoring well into the 7th along with no breeze we did the L.A. thing and left.  Turns out S.F. got 6 runs in the 8th so we didn't miss much.  We thought about going and getting a drink but the heat had done us in and we parted ways at the Chinatown/Gallery Place metro stop.

[Khalil at his coffee shop]

[This is what you see upon entering Nationals Park.  It's a beautiful stadium, by the way, I just wish it hadn't been so freaking hot!]

[the "W" in the grass]

[the largest HD jumbotron in the league]

[you know me, gotta get my "art shot" in]

[the view from our seats]

[another shot of K - the t-shirt he's wearing will be explained in a forthcoming post]

[Goodbye, off to find AC!!!]

To add insult to injury, all weekend long my phone was peppered with text messages from my L.A. friends telling me of the "beautiful 75 degree and sunny weather with not a cloud in the sky."  Bastards.

Overall I'm happy I went back and although I didn't have as stellar of a time as I did a few months ago I did realize one thing, nevermore will I bitch or complain about the cold and the rain when I visit again.

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blue vs. reds

Spent a lovely evening at the ballpark watching an amazing game. The Dodgers finally presented a good one for me to watch in person. Thank you Blue for beating the Reds.

No pics, only memories seared into my mind for remembrance.

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my dodgers booty

Behold the booty I received this weekend from the Dodgers!

A few years ago there was an adult fan club so to speak but apparently it was extremely short lived. I recently received promotional literature from the Dodgers about the Blue Crew. I think it mentioned something about kids somewhere, or possibly not. And yes, the logo looked somewhat geared toward the younger set but seeing as how I'm a big kid at heart I readily joined and am now an official Blue Crew member. Here are the details of the goodies:

- Russell Martin Jersey drawstring backpack*
- Dodger cap*
- Dodger wallet*
- Dodger lanyard and ticket holder available only through the All Star Blue Crew Fan Club*
- 6 ticket vouchers, good for any of the 12 Blue Crew games. Over $100 in value!
- Membership card, redeemable for a different premium item at each of the 12 games
- Birthday card from the Dodgers
- One free Universal Studios Hollywood Kids ticket*
- Discount coupon to the Aquarium of the Pacific*

* subject to availability

Granted, I had to spend $25 to join but the 6 ticket vouchers make up for that small fact. There are game restrictions too but generally speaking, I could care less - I'll be in the park, that's all that matters. 3 lucky people get to join me at 3 separate games. I already have 2 picked, I wonder who the lucky 3rd will be?

* I did get the items that were subject to availability and will be giving them (and some of the other stuff) to various young ones in my life.

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a simple equation

The above referenced theory was hypothesized by me earlier today while meditating.....not that I believe New York will get out of Green Bay intact.

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3 Romo's and a Winslow

It was "Wear Your Jersey to Work" day today. My beloved team is out of the playoffs but one Dallas fan in particular, who just received a nifty gifty for the holidays, is a little nervous about the game this weekend...hence the theme.

"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore Toto."

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and so it goes

The Cleveland Browns go 10-6 on the season and fail to make the playoffs.

Shannon is melancholy....but happy that she now gets to sleep in on Sunday mornings.

We better be better next year.

...and I think I've just inspired myself with a potential Halloween costume...

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brown out in arizona

Sunday was the longest day of my entire life, or at least it seemed that way. Waking up at 5:45am was brutal especially after getting a not so restful night of sleep prior. It felt like I was 7 years old waiting for Christmas morning...the anticipation of going to the game was so intense that I couldn't sleep. Upon picking Patrick up at 7am I learned he had a similar experience. He immediately gifted me with a Kellen Winslow jersey which I proudly wore all day long. He sported a Kamerion Wimbley jersey so we looked like twinsies.

We arrived in Arizona just before 11am, picked up the rental car and made our way to the stadium in lovely Glendale, Arizona. Gordon Biersch was the place to be before the game and it was packed with an even mix of Cardinals and Browns fans.

At the stadium we were regulated to park in the Browns parking lot....I mean Brown parking lot (all the parking lots for this particular stadium are color coded). With the amount of Browns fans at the game, and in that lot, I'm quite shocked that a creative type didn't alter the sign in some way. I should have taken the lead. Next time.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity we found ourselves in the stadium and at our seats. 28 rows up from the field on the 15 yard line. NICE.

The fun part of the story ends there. After kickoff it steadily went downhill with the Browns playing, in my humble opinion, like crap. It really sucks watching your team lose but the pain is magnified infinitely when you travel and see it in person and have to deal with drunken Arizonans whooping it up. UGH. At least we weren't dressed like this guy....I dubbed him Crazy Dog Bone Head Man.

After the game we went back to Gordon Biersch to watch the evening game and kill some time before our 9:30 flight out of town....which was delayed. The odd part though, we left Arizona at 10:15 and arrived in Los Angeles at 10:15. Time stood still momentarily on the longest day of our life...

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a girl walks into an airport terminal...

What kinda town is it that you can't find the local football game on any TV's at the airport? Oh that would be Boston. I think you know where I'll end up with this story...

So Friday morning I arrive in Boston just in time for morning rush hour. In LA that would mean sitting in traffic for god knows how long. In most other major cities it means finding just enough room for you and your luggage on a crowded subway car. The latter is fun for a while but I can see how it would harden a person.

A few stops later and I was in Cambridge and ready for a nap. Laying down flat versus being cramped in an uncomfortable chair was all I needed to get me back to normal. A lovely half hour walk to the college in unseasonably warm 80º heat was not so fun but the sheer joy of being in a new place overshadowed that small nuisance. An evening of Figaro at the ART, a cracked out waitress named Rita and watching the Sox win a playoff game in a bar filled with Sox fans rounded out the evening.

Saturday was another lazy morning, and a little groundhog day-ish in the walk to the college. The Empress and I made our way into Boston-proper late in the afternoon and hit the Freedom Trail, which all references thereof were lost on me the night before. Along the way I took a few pictures of noteworthy items of interest:

Ben Franklin and Old City Hall

Imagine my utter shock and horror at hearing a guide tell tourgoers that Old City Hall was the ugliest building in the city. There must be more to that story but i didn't stick around to find out...and I'd hardly call that building ugly.

The Freedom Trail for Dummies

Some cities have the Red Light District, Boston has the Red Line District....follow the Red Line on the ground to access historical sites from Boston's past.

Paul Revere's house

The Empress made me take the picture. A long ago relative rode with Paul for about 15 minutes before escaping according to the timeline. Prescott is a family name.

Paul Revere Statue

Chowda from America's Oldest Restaurant

The Empress had this thing about the chowda and everyone I spoke to prior to going to Boston said the same....so chowda it was. The hour wait for our table was spent at the bar watching Jim work. Yes, I make friends fast especially if they are a tender of bars. What can I say, it's in my genes, my dad was a bartender and my mom was a patron. But I digress. We asked good old Jim for some rec's on places to hit up afterwards and he pointed us in the direction of Silvertone. We managed to find it by nearly sheer luck. Upon looking for "City Hall and a graveyard" we found Old City Hall as referenced above with a graveyard behind it. However little did we know that a block away was New City Hall and a graveyard in front of it...which is where Silvertone was located. I can see how it could have been fun but there was no where to camp out so after a quick shot in The Duchess' honor we decided to hit up "the friendliest bar in town" the Hub Pub which was the epicenter of 4 random people meeting and sharing a beer. Libby was a doe-eyed 21 year old who just got out of the Army 2 weeks ago and on his way via train to South Carolina to work as a security guard. Ben was a charming 21 year old community college student still figuring out a lot about life. They had both met on the train and somehow found their way to Hub Pub. We all had a drink and the 2 of them were on their separate ways as we found ourselves heading back to Cambridge.

Back on the other side of the river we had and uneventful drink at Cambridge Commons then walked directly across the street to Westside and found our 2nd favorite bartender of the evening, Dave. He was skilled at altering drinks and created a lovely concoction for The Empress' sensitive taste buds. I wished to stay here for the rest of the evening but my unruly partner determined that we should keep moving....so the final drink of the evening was spent at New Towne Pub (or something like that). Football talk between me, Fred the bartender and Jason a patron somehow ended up in both us girls walking out of the bar with Boston Red Sox pint glasses. Yeah, I don't know how that happened either....but no mind...it was far better than any t-shirt I could've bought.

Hollywood Empress Video

The great thing about our mini pub crawl? Traveling via subway and foot the entire time.

The great thing about the east coast? First football game of the day is at 1pm. I was in bed at 2:30am and didn't have to get up at 9:15...it was sooooooo nice to sleep in.

Since we had made such good friends at New Towne we decided to go back to watch the Browns get pummeled by the Patriots. Mind you I am a Browns fan so I cheered very gently on the 2 good plays we had in the first half. Since my fight was leaving at 6pm I decided to go to the airport semi-early and catch the last quarter of action in the terminal because surely it would be on a TV somewhere at the airport right? I mean c'mon we were in Patriot land for heaven's sake. No, we had the 3 TV's in the bar trained on the Red Sox game and all the other TV's in the terminal on the FOX network feed which consisted of the Steelers/Seattle debacle. I watched the ticker. 10 - 20 Patriots (not bad considering). 10 - 27 Patriots (damn). 17 - 27 Patriots (we got a TD!). And in the final minutes 17 - 34 (damn, now it actually looks like we did worse than maybe we really did....what do I know though, I'm just getting numerical updates).

So that's my long winded story about an airport, a football game and my weekend in Boston.

Go Browns!

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nice night for a walk to the park

EA & I celebrated our 3rd game together this season at the ballyard with a nicely played victory by the boys in Blue. It was much more exciting than the previous game I attended a few weeks ago. At least we had some semblance of an offense. We met at the Short Stop prior to walking up the hill to the stadium, thereby allowing us to drink the $15 we’d normally spend on parking. As convenient as it is to meet there, pray no one in your party needs to communicate the fact that they are running late as the place is a black hole....especially if you carry Sprint as your cell service provider. We had none of those problems though, all was fine and dandy in the meet up.

The tickets I had for the game were sort of a gift from the Dodgers organization. Last year I was a True Blue member, receiving points and perks if I spent money at certain places and showed my “card.” It was a short lived promotion and those who actually took part received a consolation prize this year of vouchers for certain games. The stipulation that it had to be a Monday – Thursday game with certain blackout dates. I finally got around to finding a date that worked with our schedules and since the Nats were in town and I’m originally from the D.C. Metropolitan area I thought it’d be a good game to choose. Granted the Nats weren’t in D.C. when I grew up but no mind, one also assumed that it might be an easy win for the Dodgers. Thankfully the stars aligned as the moon shone brightly over the stadium illuminating us with the glorious glow of said win.

If my luck holds out I just may get to another game this season....Go Blue.

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