sweet seats at the nationals game (thanks amy!)

teenwolf, my best friend from growing up, is moving to dc. pretty sweet. he got here last week, and the wolfpack (his wife, who also grew up with us, plus three munchkins) are rolling down here in a few weeks). he and i met in seventh grade, when he moved to the nati from germany. we played on the soccer team together until we graduated, played in band together (he was our lead singer), planned to go to duke together for college (that didn't really work out so well, but hey duke, fuck you for rejecting me, because i went to harvard anyway), were groomsmen in each others' weddings, and generally got into a lot of trouble together.

i'm really pumped to be in the same city. teenwolf and i have made a career out of almost being in the same place at the same time. he's a captain in the air force, and has moved around quite a bit. when he was stationed in georgia, i had moved from atlanta to manhattan. when he was sent to nj, i moved back to atlanta two months later. one month before my wedding, he moved to japan for several years (and consequently was a groomsman in absentia). he's spent the last few years in california, and is now going to be based in dc for a year.

last week we had front row seats to watching the nationals whomp the phillies 8-1. front row, as in we could put our hands on the dugout. i've been to a lot of baseball games--these were by far the best seats i've ever hand. big up to amy for hosting us.

Deuce

On the train home. The announcer just let us know to board at "gate d, track 3. That's "d" like deuce."

Uhh, deuce? who uses that?!?!

congrats

big up to dr. broseephus and the cheese (that's right, i said doctor).

broseephus defended his dissertation last week. and the cheese passed her licensing exam. and they celebrated their 2nd wedding anniversary. and they're moving to delaware this week. big week.

keep out

You know what business I want to be in? Escalator repair. Insatiable demand. This escalator (at the metro stop by my house) is ALWAYS broken.

fallen tree on 1st ave

Pretty bad storm. Power is out. Thankfully, this did not fall on anyone.

handle with care

Greetings from BWI. I just landed from my last business trip for a long while. My plane had two military officers escorting the body of a soldier, and I happened to be sitting on the wing and saw them saluting the coffin as it conveyed on the belt from the plane. The box went down the belt to a special truck, whose roof was covered with a flag. Somewhere, a mother, a father, a sibling are about to have a very difficult day. A proud day, but a sad one, too.

fan club

the fan club at the dc united game was pretty raucous. waving flags, banging a giant drum, throwing confetti. if it weren't for the stands being 80% empty, i might have almost thought i was at a real professional soccer game.

wintermutes at united vs. galaxy

Donovan's penalty kick puts the the galaxy ahead 2-1. Meanwhile, it"s a comfortable 173 degrees at rfk stadium. dr. w was less than thrilled.

youngling robe

brie is easily winning the race for best baby shower gift. ever.

she made, BY HAND, a jedi robe for our youngling-to-be.

it is amazing.

the youngling's midichlorian count will be through the roof.

now, i just need a matching robe.

dr. w said, "well, we know what the kiddo will wear for halloween."

me: "who's waiting for halloween?"

empire strikes back small marquee

episode v at afi

hey, stormtroopers like to go to the movies, too

the afi is running an 80s film festival, and tonight they're playing my favorite movie of my favorite saga: empire strikes back. it's almost too good to be true.

dr. w and i had an amazing day: watching world cup soccer, grilling out, and drinking beer (well, just me on the last one) while enjoying beautiful weather in the backyard with the chief and chief chick.

we walked to afi around 6. i had never actually seen this movie in a theater--i wasn't old enough when it came out, and the summer that the original episodes replayed ('98) i was living in hungary.

so this is a BIG night.

imagine my shock when i saw 'sold out' on the marquee sign. every geek in town is out tonight, including this stormtrooper.

mothershitter.

unbeknown to us, afi had just started selling tickets online (they were virtually the last theater in the country to do so, but i kind of liked it--part of the old-school charm of the place).

dr. w had a great spirit about it. she said, "let's go get dinner, and then see if we find a way in." well, we wintermuted our way on to a plane that supposedly had no seats (and for which we did not even have an itinerary that day to fly there) to memphis last week, maybe it could work here.

so we grab some food in awesometown and strategize. our plan centers on buying scalped seats. we agreed on an initial offer of $20 a seat (2x the face value), with a cap of $30 per seat (since had a max of $60 between us). we hoped that some people would have a friend that failed to show and would be looking to unload an unused ticket.

when we get there, there was exactly one person trying to unload a seat, and she sold it right before i could get to her.

fukstix.

well, the one card i had left to play is that i remembered from working in a movie theater in high school and college that some theaters retain some house seats that the managers reserve for special guests, last minute sales, or other reasons. one 'other reason' is that typically, theaters put a seat in every row in order to keep the place looking symmetrical. so a 40' x 60' auditorium might have room for 200 seats (10 rows of 20 seats), however, when the fire marshal reviews the capacity s/he might decide that the safe capacity is less than 200 human beings--say 197. in theory, the theater can't sell those last three seats. so, there is always three unsold seats.

i was at the ticket booth, and sure enough, they have some house seats on hold! they agree to sell three of them at first. the dad and son in front of us grab two, and i grab one.

now we have to find one more seat. dr. w tries telling me that i should go in without her, but i want to see it with her (and our kiddo--this is his / her 1st star wars showing, albeit in utero).

five minutes before showtime, the manager comes out and agrees to sell some more house seats. we're 2nd in line and grab a ticket for dr. wintermute.

there is no try. do or do not.

the force was with us.