Monday, February 25, 2008

keeping it weird

greetings, from 5:15am in austin. always a treat to be here. weekend was a downer, as we lost our third-round game to nyu, and failed to make even the quarterfinals. it felt good to beat michigan (the harvard of ann arbor, after all) and UT (always good to send the host team packing). however, we really had a stronger team than nyu. couldn't put it away in the first half, and then they squibbed one into the net in the second half. we pounded them for the last ten minutes (no less than seven direct kicks in their third of the field), but it was not meant to be.

it's always easy to complain about the refs when you're on the losing end, but this goal was really crappy. their striker was in a huge offside position, but the center ref didn't see it. that in of itself sucks, but it is understandable, because you need to be parallel to the ball to see an offside position.


however, the ref was running the game without linesman.

inexcusable in a big game in tournament play.

so, the big h leaves empty handed. we had one of the strongest lineups we've had in several years, too. a shame.

i was too depressed to go out saturday night, even though austin is one of my favorite towns (and a potential future home...more on that later). i went back to my hotel after dinner and stared at the ceiling for an hour until i fell asleep. i had difficulty getting out of bed sunday morning.

a major highlight, though, was seeing bloodninja and his brood, with whom i stayed last night. he and ms. bloodninja have a little one. she's a stunning clone of bloodninja, so we've been calling her mini-me. there is no denying it. those genes are strong! unfortunately, bloodninja and sin-thai-ya both came down with food poisoning shortly after lunch. they blame the previous night's dinner, as i had the same brunch as they did. poor sin-thai-ya's parents got it bad, too (they were visiting for the weekend, and left shortly after brunch). her dad actually puked while driving back to dallas.

between the two of them puking and mini-me crying regularly, it was not the most restful 5 hours of sleep.

i also realized just before i stepped out of their house that i had left my sweet winter jacket at the hotel (dr. wintermute gave it to me when i moved to boston). thankfully, the hotel was on the way to the airport, my cabbie knew the way, and i had left plenty ahead of time. and housekeeping had turned it into the lost and found.

pit stop in atlanta for some meetings up in alphacrappa, and then, finally, home sweet home.

Friday, February 15, 2008

hazing

greetings from atlanta. here for work today, and sticking around for a fraternity alumni event tomorrow. i think i'm close to using up all of dr. wintermute's patience on my activities as a fraternity alum. what can i say? i love it. forty, not four. anyway, got to hang with a bunch of old co-workers at the booz allen alumni event in midtown, and then have been babysitting for the six sigma enigma's kids while he and his wife enjoy a night of free babysitting.

tonight, however, i am missing the festivities with the enemy of my enemy crew. j-watt is in town with new dude (who looks eerily like he could be related to her!). however, i'll be home tomorrow, and we'll all hanging out tomorrow night, too. am looking forward to meeting him. this is the first time we've had any newcomers to the crew in well...a long time. in fact, dr. wintermute is still kind of the new kid on the block (considering that bloodninja, mrs. bloodninja, the chief, chief chick, big game, j-watt, and momma cass all go back to first semester freshman year)!

we've also just set the date for the annual gathering, which will be in awesometown this year. the chief and chief chick just moved 2 miles down the road from us, and now between the two residences, we have room to house everyone. anyway, we'll have a new dude, and he's going to be in for some...uhh, hazing. good natured, mostly. the real sign of acceptance will be when he can roll with the mom jokes. might give him a test run tomorrow night in georgetown.

best. metalsome. ever

last week i had an extended stay in atlanta. stayed with the six sigma enigma and his family. his kids are great--they even refer to the guest room as being "wintermute's room." hit metalsome with moe, bama, and friends. it had been a long time since i had had my fill of live heavy metal karaoke, and this night did not disappoint. in fact, i might have to rate it as the best metalsome ever. highlights:

first, it was mardi gras night. this included two metal checks coming up on stage to flash the drummer, and then figuring it wouldn't hurt to turn around and give the crowd a look.

the night also featured a ring toss. staying with the theme, girls tossed glow stick necklaces onto a sibian, which is apparently the world's most powerful vibrator, as featured on howard stern. it's kind of a saddle with an appendage that vibrates at like 40,000 rpms. the prize? a super duper vibrating dildo.

anyway, on to the songs. a truly great set list:
  • fat bottom girls (never realized how great of a song it was until i heard it live)
  • rocks of ages
  • bulls on parade
  • crazy bitch
  • lit
  • for whom the bell tolls
  • fooling yourself (gotta have some styxx!)
  • enter sandman