Originally published at The Definitive Dmbosstone. Please leave any comments there.

It’s not that hard to be a Red Sox fan in Washington, DC.

It’s a really great thing to see all the members of Red Sox Nation come out for a game in B’more against the Orioles. That’s where I’ll usually go every year to get my Sox fix. However with inter-league play bringing the Red Sox to Nationals Park this year, it was guaranteed to be a packed game full of all the Sox fans that you’d find at Rhino Bar or Kelly’s Irish Times.

On Tuesday I went with Wendi, Rebecca, and Adam. We had seats out in right field, right by the wall next to the bullpen. We could cheer for J.D. Drew, jeer at Julian Tavarez, and just laugh at the excuse that is the Nationals bullpen. We were so close to the bullpen that I could hear the ringing of the phone used to warm-up and bring in relievers. The phone sounded like a cellphone despite it being a big metal box. The phone was ringing off the hook since the Sox put up 11 runs on the Nats that night- nothing could stop them, the Red Sox even dominated the attendance records, which was broken every night in the series thanks to all the Sox fans which turned Nationals Park into Fenway southeast.

I met up with MeggiePoo towards the end of the game who was busy Tweeting the game from her seats.

Thursday was a different story, I showed up to my company’s suite with Kevin. I got a lot of flack for my Red Sox gear but there were clearly more Red Sox fans in the suite than Nationals fans. It was a quiet game however with future hall of famer John Smoltz making his 2009 season debut with a terrible first inning. The Sox never recovered from the 4 runs he gave up and the Nats went on to dominate. That’s ok though, we still won the series 2 games out of 3. A blogger moment was had when Anderson Hernandez walked up to his favorite song: Stanky Legg. Thanks to LiLu I’ll never listen to that song with a straight face again.

So I got my Sox fix for now, I can’t wait til August however when they come back down to Baltimore, it should be a fun weekend with a bunch of FSC friends coming to visit.

Tags: baltimore, blog, j.d. drew, julian tavarez, nationals, orioles, red sox

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It’s summer time already and I already welcomed the season with my annual beach trip, and now I’m taking a big picture view of what I got coming up this summer:

June

• Joyride: I have a couple of free days worth of car rentals with National and I want go on a day trip somewhere. Sonic? Skyline Drive? Charlestown? White Castle? Hardee’s? (if you don’t know, I’ve always wanted to attempt to eat a Monster Thickburger.)
• Red Sox vs. Nats: The Red Sox are coming into town and I’m going to catch a couple of games in the series with some friends, maybe I’ll even take the day off and make it a Sox holiday.

July

• 4th of July: This year it’s on a Saturday, which only means one thing. Meyhem. Bar crawl? BBQ at my place? Not sure what I’m going to do but it’s probably going to be an epic weekend.
• 14 Dates in 14 Days: I’m beginning to doubt if I have the skills to line up enough dates for a Mass Dating Experiment but I will try.

August

• Red Sox vs. Orioles: A lot of my hometown friends are going coming down that week to catch the Sox in B’more so I’m keeping those days free on my calendar
• Diana’s Engagement Party: My sister is having her engagement party that month so I’ll also be home for a weekend.
• Pittsburgh Trip: I enjoyed visiting Melanie and Jim last summer that I think I’m going to do it again! There’ll be some Pirates games late into the month that I may want to check out.

September

• North Carolina Trip: After Nicole’s visit to DC I owe her a return visit in North Carolina, maybe I’ll slot this one for Labor Day.
• DMB Road Trip: I won’t be able to see DMB in Bristow this summer, right now the front runner show to replace that stop is the Scranton, PA show on September 23rd. It just sounds cool to visit the town that The Office takes place in.

Sounds like a fun summer to me, not to mention the Nats games, pool days, happy hours, and other events I’ll get caught up in between trips.

Tags: blog, nationals, orioles, red sox, travel

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It was supposed to be a great day today.

It was all over my Facebook feed this morning along with similar comments- it’s opening day for baseball, the Red Sox, and Fenway Park.

This morning I took the Red Sox broadcast schedule and copied national broadcasted games to my outlook- as a Red Sox fan away from Boston I have to know when I’ll be able to watch my team. I’m already excited to try and catch some games this summer in DC and Baltimore.

Right now Josh Beckett was supposed to throw out the first pitch in Fenway Park to start the 2009 season but it appears rain will postpone that moment til tomorrow.

I can’t wait.

Tags: baseball, blog, nationals, orioles, red sox

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My boss always asks me how many sporting events I’ve gone to in my recent years. It seems that I’ve gone to a lot thanks to access I have to tickets through work. Well I recently decided to actually find out how many games I have been to.

For a few years now I’ve kept all my ticket stubs in a box. Recently I decided to actually peer into the box and organize the many tickets I have laying in there.

After organizing and counting them here’s my current tally:

• 28 Nationals games (3 in 2006, 8 in 2007, 17 in 2008)
• 26 Wizards games (7 in 2006-2007, 19 in 2007-2008)
• 6 Wizards games (2 in 2006-2007, 4 in 2007-2008)
• 4 Redskins games (2 in 2006, 2 in 2007)
• 12 Orioles games (4 in 2006, 5 in 2007, 3 in 2008)
• 1 Red Sox game (thanks Mike!)
• 1 Patriots game (pre-season)
• 1 New England Revolution game (circa 1997)
• 2 Sea Dogs games (thanks FSC!)
• 2 Georgetown Basketball games (I also got to see the NCAA tournament this year)
• 3 Maryland Football games (thanks to my Maryland friends for that one)
• 1 UNC Baseketball game (part of that scandalous New Years)
• Various Verizon Center Events (including 2 WWE Raw shows)
• Various other concerts (I keep all my DMB stubs in a scrapbook already)

I’ve certainly been to a lot of sporting events. It appears like I need to increase my hometown sporting event experience. It’s also interesting to see the number of movies I’ve seen over the past years after I counted those ticket stubs.

• 4 movies so far in 2008 (plus one advanced screening)
• 8 movies in 2007
• 12 movies in 2006
• 5 movies in 2005
• 8 movies in 2004
• 11 movies in 2003
• 9 movies in 2002
• 11 movies in 2001
• 3 movies in 2000
• 3 movies in 1999
• 4 movies in 1998

I’m not much of a movie theatre person- I’m not surprised that most of the time I’ll average around 7 movies per year. Netflix and watching movies at home has been a big factor in keeping those numbers low.

So what to do now that I organized all these stubs? Well That’s My Ticket sells ticket stub albums as well as lanyards, frames, and other display items. Sounds like I got some scrapbooking to do.

Tags: ben folds, blog, capitals, favorites, georgetown, guster, maryland, nationals, patriots, red sox, redskins, revolution, sea dogs, sports, unc, verizon center, wizards, wwe

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Well the theme this week is work… as it has been for the past couple of months.

Just finished a seven day work week and I’m pumped to follow it up with a six day work week. I knew that work was going to be intense til the end of the year. After Chanelle left my department has been left short-handed and the workload the office faces has only gone up.

As summer comes to a close so do the baseball games. I went to my last two Nationals games this week. On Thursday I saw them fall to Johan Santana and the Mets and last night I saw them fall to Padres. Looks like some things don’t change. However I saw the preliminary 2009 schedule and the Red Sox are coming into town! I can’t wait to see those games next summer.

Not a whole lot more went on this past week- besides some drunk calls I got last night things were pretty busy and boring. This week will certainly fix that.

Tags: blog, johan santana, mets, nationals, padres, work

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This weekend John McCain picked Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate this fall. I’m not going to talk about how unknown she is or how inexperienced she may be. What I want to say is that for a mom of five and a former runner up Miss Alaska- she is still kinda hot.

Oh ya there I said it- beauty doesn’t know political lines.

I’m not the only one that thinks so- Huffington Post has photos of her from her glam high school days and her photo shoot for Vouge (which has already spawned photoshopped covers.)

I also think it’s fortunate for the author who wrote one of the only biographies on her- he’s now raking in the cash.

All right enough politics.

Work has been busy as usual leading up to my trip this weekend- I seem to have mastered the art of sleeping for four hours a night.

Monday Wendi and I went to the White Sox/Orioles game and enjoyed yelling at Aubrey Huff and watching Ken Griffey Jr. We actually managed to arrive at the park before the game started and we walked around and got to take in the Yards for what it’s worth. We visited the bullpen and I saw some pitchers signing balls for the little kids- I thought it was such a nice thing to do right before a game. There were also these two kids who kept trying to run down to the dugout between innings to try and get a game ball- they were finally rewarded at the end of the game. A person who wasn’t rewarded was the fan who jumped onto of the dugout- then leaped over the dugout onto the field and raced across the diamond. He was promptly arrested when he made it to the other side.

Baseball never ends in my life, on Wednesday I went tothe Dodgers/Nationals game with LJ, Sarah, and Ryan. LJ and I enjoyed booing at Manny who went 2 for 5. His last hit occured when we was up in the 9th with 2 outs. It would of been great to see him end the game but alas Manny has to be Manny and he got on base- extended the game. The park gave an homage to Manny during that night’s President’s Race when Teddy wore a dew rag and dreads- then proceeded to give up halfway through the race.

After flying back on Thursday I went out for to Fanueil Hall with Adam and all the guys. We hopped all over the area and I have to say that Adam has a fun group of guys from the down under. Afterwards I met up with Alyssa and she absoltely impressed me with her hopsitality- she is such a mother hen.

Last night I met up with Bill and got to meet his new girl Megan. We got some Margaritia’s nearby to which I will say I am totally secure with that choice of drink.

Ok well I gotta get going and get ready for this wedding tonight. This weekend is clearly shaping up to be a weekend of distruction- let’s hope I survive it!

Tags: baltimore, blog, boston, debauchery, dodgers, election 2008, fanueil hall, fun times with friends, girls i think are hot, nationals, orioles, sarah palin, sleep, stress, weddings, white sox, work

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This morning I was reading the Washington Post’s article on Michael Phelps record setting 8th Gold Medal at this year’s Olympic Games. Hear what his relay teammate Aaron Peirsol had to say:

“The term Spitzian feat is kind of outdated,” Peirsol said. “Now, it might be Phelpsian feat.”

Buzz is always created when a record is about to be shattered, especially the records that take time to build, like  total Gold Medals at a single Olympic Games, total home runs in a season, or touchdown passes in a season. The hype just builds up and it’s the only thing anyone is talking about. In the article I read even other swimmers put aside their own accomplishments just to watch Phelps:

Leisel Jones, a gold medalist from Australia, said her biggest thrill here was not her own victories, but watching Phelps.

A level of hype so high almost nothing can break through it. I am most impressed that under that kind of pressure, Phelps not only performed- but he performed at a level that will leave all of his records intact for decades.

Now on to the ramblings.

It’s not much of a Phelpsian Feat but my recovery from dreadful Wisdom Teeth surgery is pretty much complete. I got a clean bill of health on Thursday to which end I bit into a hamburger at the Mets/Nationals game to which LJ saw me try and open a mouth that was a little rusty at actual eating. It was comical to say the least- and afterward it definitely ripped out a few of my stitches.

That hamburger was pretty much the most challenging piece of food I’ve tried after the operation. I went out with Kate after work on Tuesday and I just stuck to soup, so a hamburger was a really big deal.

But ever since Thursday I’ve been fully embracing food again. Friday I had a foot long sub for lunch and Kabobs for dinner (you know how much I love Kabobs.)

Later that night I saw Fast Times At Ridgemont High with Carolyn and I have to say that film was way ahead of it’s time. I also couldn’t believe all the people that were in the movie “before they were stars.”

Last night I walked down the street to Liberty Tavern and met up with Rebecca and just about everyone else. Another first is I haven’t even gone out in all this time- and I definately put my body to the test. Not eating dinner last night did not help at all- and now as I write this I am dying of hunger.

I think I need to go get brunch at the Delhi Darba- it’s so good! All the money saved and pounds lost from this Wisdom Teeth ordeal is about to dissapear.

Tags: aaron peirsol, blog, clarendon, fast times at ridgemont high, food, fun times with friends, girls, mets, michael phelps, nationals, olympics, wisdom teeth

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July is all about celebrating independence as well as blowing up things. Well I have to tell you that a lot of things have been blowing up both figuratively and litteraly.

To celebrate the upcoming fourth I went out with Rebecca, Adam, Camille, Sarah, and the rest of them downtown to partake in the Liberty City Bar Tour. I’ve done bar tours with Rebecca and I know when I go out with her crew it’s always a great time. We started at Mackey’s and somehow I ended the night in the streets of Dupont. Things I learned about the places I visisted:

• The Singapore Bistro is not a great place to go to on a bar tour- mostly because it’s still in restaurant mode and it looks silly when you are rolling in deep and families look at you weird.
• Ozio is very classy, very swank, but don’t sit on the couches unless you are prepared to make it rain, or at least make it hail.
• Recessions is still in my opinion, one of the best places to go to when you need a cheap drink in a bar that looks like a finished basement.
• Rumors doesn’t serve anything but burgers on bar tour night.

We were all so cool that On Tap magazine snapped our photo.

The next day I had to work a little in Silver Spring then I head back to meet up with Neal where he was having a BBQ- one of the last parties he’ll have in his relatively nice place. There I learned about bocce and why I should be playing it. This year I really wanted to celebrate the 4th of July by watching the DC fireworks so I went down to the Georgetown Waterfront to see them with Rebecca and crew the next day. I really expected that anywhere in DC would be crowded so I wanted to avoid it like the plague- maybe go somewhere in Arlington to watch it like Mallory did. However I took a chance after I was coaxed into it the night before- and it wasn’t that bad! The show was much better than anything Lowell could offer.

What else have I been up to? I got a chance to get back into Nationals Stadium where Adam, Megan, Sarah and I saw the Diamondbacks/Nationals game. I went to a Meet Dave preview with Ashley (and I have to say that I was more entertained than I expected.) I had an great conversation with Caitlin on Friday and we watched Adam light some fireworks in our back yard- not the safest place to shoot things. The nice growth of trees provided plenty of deflection and caused all of us to go running for cover. I went to the Astros/Nationals game this past weekend with Melissa where we enjoyed dinner at Tortilla Coast (home of the all-you-can eat chicken fajitas.)

Well more to recap on later- today I’ll be flying back home to attend Jimmy Clancy’s wedding- the first wedding of someone back home!

Tags: astros, blog, debauchery, diamondbacks, dupont circle, eastern market, food, fun times with friends, girls, holidays, meet dave, nationals, washington dc, wedding

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You would think that I would need a vacation after my beach vacation but that wasn’t happening at all. I welcomed myself back to DC with a string of baseball games. Monday after my trip I drove up to Baltimore with Cynthia to see the Red Sox/Orioles game. The game was going well for the Sox and halfway into it I decided to walk over to the bullpen area. At Camden Yards the visitors bullpen is very accessible to views and hollers from the fans so I decided to see who I could see.

In between the sixth inning I saw Mike Timlin run from the dugout to the bullpen and there he was standing there watching the game. I figured he had to start warming up if he was going in for the seventh but he was just chillin’. David Aardsma was out there earlier with his own camp chair- looks like he wasn’t going to be palying anytime soon. Timlin turned around and started to head back into the ‘pen. Our eyes met for a moment and I give him the cool and collected headnod- he shoots one back to me and ducks back inside. Visiting the bullpen is something I’m doing way more often.

Things got real exciting when I got to see Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon start to warm up. I told Cynthia how Okajima was from Japan and she tried yelling some Styx lyrics at him. It was great to see the relief pitchers warm up and ultimately walk through the bullpen doors and enter the game. Unfortunately I saw Okajima walk through those doors and blow the game. Oh well we can’t win them all, but I’d love to actually go to a Red Sox game where they won.

The next day I took some of the Maryland crew out to Nationals Park to see the Cardinals/Nationals game. I did a pretty good job of packing the suite- I also invited Wendi and gave guest passes to Sarah and Mike since they were already going to the game. There was a two hour rain delay but luckily with a suite we were able to stay dry. Our suite attendant also did a great job in keeping us entertained. He walks in all excited to teach us a new dance he called, “The Cha Cha Slide.” Of course we knew it but we played along and at the end he came back with a cookie platter since we danced with him.

Just another great time at the ballgame- the event of choice for the summer.

Tags: baltimore, baseball, blog, camden yards, cardinals, cha cha slide, david aardsma, fun times with friends, hideki okajima, jonathan papelbon, mike timlin, nationals, orioles, red sox, styx

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Quick Hits for last week:

• Tuesday went to trivia night at Union Jacks with Melissa and a smart group of NiH scientists. Don’t have to say how much I was able to contribute to the math questions.
• Friday was the highlight of the week- Adam, Burak, and Simon, and I went down to DC9 to meet up with some friends. Burak got really drunk and I met a cute girl- obviously a great night.
• After Friday I pretty much kept it chill last night. Laura came over and cooked us “Guinness Burgers” (can you guess the secret ingredient?) Later that night I grabbed some sushi with Ian at this great little place in DC called Mei Wei. It’s a small place in the middle of a corporate park somewhere near Chevy Chase. Because of the location the place was not too full and the sushi was excellent.
• Lots to look forward to this week. Watching the Sox on TBS now, and going to my first Nationals game on Thursday. Hopefully maybe a Celtics game can get in there too.

Tags: blog, celtics, food, fun times with friends, nationals, red sox, trvia night, washington dc

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So I’m sitting here on the last Sunday of March, watching the Nationals home opener on ESPN and President Bush came out to throw the first pitch in the new Nationals Park. He walked onto the field to a great crowd of boos and cheers. I thought it was more boos than cheers but other media sources, like the Baltimore Sun, thought otherwise. Burak and I laughed at the President’s welcome and the following “high heat” he threw on the mound. At the third inning he joined the ESPN broadcasters in the booth and commentated during the game. I thought it was very entertaining to hear the President ramble on about baseball and how he used to own the Texas Rangers. What’s also entertaining is the lead the Nationals have against the Braves here in the bottom of the seventh. Maybe this will be the start of a winning season for the Nats. At least the Os will be right down there with them if they have another losing season.

It’s been a rather quiet week here on the home front. It’s been getting too quiet- I need to get out and do something next weekend. At least April will be busy on the social front.

Tuesday I got to catch up with Rebecca at her new place- which is actually in the same gated community as her old place. I love to pick on her about it since I live in a regular ol’ house and she lives behind pearly gates. Sitting and watching TV at her new place makes me totally want to upgrade my digs. It’s something I’ve thought about once in awhile but I love my roommates right now and I’m quite content living in my old dump.

Thursday I went over to LJ’s new place (also very nice) and watched some March Madness. I think it’s amazing that all four #1 seeds got into the final four this weekend- first time it’s happened ever I think. Of course that really killed my bracket but at least I’m still in the running- I think I have an outside chance to win it all if things go right.

Ok well that’s all for now- I’ve been thinking about a lot of things I want to get done this year, and a face lift to my blog is one of them. I hope to start work on that and get something up soon. Maybe start blogging like a real blogger. That’ll be a first.

Tags: baseball, blog, fun times with friends, march madness, nationals, president bush, rangers, webpage

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Before I go on, all fans of Kelly need to watch her latest video: Let Me Borrow That Top. Totally awesome and has tons of cameos.

Not a whole lot going on last week. Went to the Phillies/Nationals with Wendi Thursday. It was my last game at RFK before the new stadium opens. We enjoyed the view one last time as well as all the excellent concessions the Diamond Club brings.

Friday Ian and I went out to see Resident Evil: Extinction. Overall an ok sequel to the first two, but at least Milla Jovovich is still hot. Ian has a new place near AU and it’s not that bad- has the looks of a place in Little Havana however.

Last night Adam had a friend from Atlanta in town so we all went out to Adams Morgan. We all hit up The Reef, which was amazingly not too full. I did run up a pretty big tab however. Afterwards we all had Empanadas at some place next door. Unlike most other people that go out in Adam’s Morgan, I still have not experienced a big slice.

Well I’m all tired out from watching football with Sarah, Laura, and Doug. Disappointed the Redskins lost. Happy the Patriots won. Crushed that I’m losing my office fantasy game. Relieved that I think I’m winning my other league. At least tonight’s Family Guy was so awesome.

Tags: adams morgan, blog, family guy, football, girls i think are hot, kelly, milla jovovich, nationals, patriots, redskins, resident evil, rfk stadium, tenleytown

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I told Rebecca I’d start my blog with these words: I’ve been drinking for four days straight. More on that later.

Let’s start from the beginning. Tuesday I went out with Marjorie to the Phillies/Nationals game. The Phillies are one of her favorite teams so we were rooting for the visiting team (I like to say I was just rooting for the sport in general- I just cheered for anything that happened. Also had to root for my fantasy players Pat Burrell and Jimmy Rollins) It’s really not that hard to cheer for the other team when you’re watching the Nats. For once I actually got to the game in time to catch the pre-game food spread at the Diamond Club. It was pretty nice food.

Thursday I went out with Wendi to Recessions for happy hour. It may not be the prettiest of places but with $2.50 appetizers and jumbo-sized $2.75 beers, we had lots of fun. We later took the show on the road and walked to
Dupont Circle, but not before sneaking into Renaissance Mayflower Hotel for a break. We then tried to play some inebriated billiards at Buffalo Billiards. This would mark day one of chaos.

Day two continued at Clarendon Ballroom Friday night. Now I would not normally show up at this haven of d’bags but Rachel wanted to go there to celebrate her last day before going back to JMU. Perez Hilton was hosting a little black dress party and I guess Rachel and a lot of other females love him. So I waited an hour in line to meet them inside, but once I got in I had quite a good time. $80 worth of alcohol will do that to you (don’t freak out, drinks are just expensive in there.)

Last night Carolyn and I met up with everyone else for Emily’s housewarming party. She has a nice new place near U-Street and Falkor, Doug, and I could only do one thing to housewarm her new place- play tons of flipcup. What started as a 2 v 2 match quickly gathered interest from the throngs of people that didn’t even know what the game was. Soon we were flipping cups well into the late of night.

You would think that after a weekend like that I would be resting today. Oh hell no. I got up early to pick up Rebecca and join the rest of the TMG crew for a day at Charles Town Races and Slots. Dan was nice enough to arrange a day of betting on horses with a great brunch buffet… complete with free beer and wine… score. I have never gambled on horses before but I quickly got into it. Rebecca told Dan to bet on Jetstorm on the second race (that was called the McGinn MS&L Company race) and Jetstorm won! It was a great time had by all.

Ok now I’m thinking about going to bed early and drinking nothing but water for the next few days. I’m going to need it.

Tags: baseball, blog, charles town, clarendon, dupont circle, fun times with friends, girls, jimmy rollins, nationals, pat burrell, perez hilton, phillies, rfk stadium, u-street, washington dc, work

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I’ve been working a rather intense schedule. It all started on Thursday, I had to get up at 6 AM to help out at an event at the National Press Building, home of press contacts worldwide. If you were on 14th street in Washington DC- you would of seen the Chevrolet Volt, General Motors newest electric car. While I won’t spend the entire blog talking about the fact it runs 40 miles without gas, and has an estimated 150 MPG when going 60 miles, I want to concentrate on some of the reactions of this sweet looking car.

It was parked outside the building and it turned heads and stopped traffic. Cars slowed down to catch a peek of it- even Prius drivers couldn’t resist taking a look at the next best thing. It’s a really beautiful looking car, people were walking up to us asking how much for just the rims- a man even pulled out $2,000 cash on the spot for just the wheels.
On Friday I was with the car from 4 AM - 3 PM at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center. It was really exciting to deal with more excited people and the press that came out to cover the car. What got even more attention was when the car was loaded back on the truck at the end of the day, to see an electric car actually come to life really excited the crowd. It looked a lot like the unload that happened the day before on 14th street.

Last night was another long day, I went out to film yet another wedding- this one for one of Chanelle’s friends. It was a relatively smooth day- just a long affair. After three days of long hours- I’m looking forward to a restful week- too bad it’s starting with another long day/night at Union Station for work tomorrow.

I did manage to have one highlight of fun amongst lots of work. On Wednesday I took Marjorie out to the Astros/Nationals game. It was her birthday and what couldn’t have been a better way to celebrate than behind the plate at RFK Stadium. It was certainly a great time, we had Diamond Club seats which gave us a great view and free food. A waitress even comes directly to your seat to deliver it- how cool is that? The Nats even won the game, something that definitely doesn’t happen very often.

Well I’m going to get ready to run some errands- some which include another stop into the office- work never ends!

Tags: baseball, blog, general motors, girls, national press building, nationals, rfk stadium, ronald reagan center, stress, washington dc, weddings, work

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Ah another great week, of course with all this fun I can’t forget about all the video projects I really want to work on. Oh the balance of work and play.

Last week’s Diamondbacks/Orioles game with Rebecca was a great great time. Even though they screwed it up in the 8th, it was a great day to see a game in Camden Yards. She told me we need to keep in touch more often and I agree- we were doing so well back in the day.

The beginning of this week was when I actually had time to really open up my Wii and go shopping for all the required Wii accessories. It took me a couple of shopping trips but I now have a couple of games and an extra controller and a case. I got Mario Party 8, Wii Play, and Madden 07 to complement my system; but nothing beats baseball on Wii Sports. I guess it’s because I love playing basebal video games. I can’t wait til The Bigs comes out this week, so I can play a game with some real players. If it’s any good I’ll be buying it with my next bonus (which I hope comes soon).

At work I managed to hook up the system to the staff conference room projector, so my work favorites and I had a nice Wii party at lunch on Friday. Mallory surprised me by bringing her favorite game- Mortal Kombat Armageddon. Nice. I definitely need to get that game now, in fact I may go out and rent it after this blog post.

Wednesday Dave drove up from one of his crazy crabbing adventures. He, Ben, and I checked out the Tigers/Nationals game. Of course I don’t have to tell you who won. It was cool to see Todd Jones play, I’m a fan of his column in the Sporting News.

Thursday we all had a birthday dinner for Doug. We all gathered for Tacos and we had a real great time setting up a “cheesy surprise” for him. We had Laura take him out to distract him and we just acted really silly when they came back to the house- complete with door wide open with a sign that said “Doug’s Surprise Party. Nothing.” We all started screaming things like “QUIET, DOUG’S COMING” when we walked up to the door. It’s those moments when we’re acting totally ridiculous that make me realize what a great group of friends I’ve made here. It’s up there with Hershey Park last summer (which we are totally doing again in July).
Last night I went out with Neal and his friends. First we were going to go to Adams Morgan, then it changed to Dupont, then it changed to Georgetown, then it changed to Falls Church. We ended up at a party full of people that went to Yorktown High, Neal’s old high school. It made me wonder if this would be the kind of party I’d be at if I stayed in Chelmsford. Of course this party had it’s share of drama, late into the night I witnessed two girls just start fighting each other right in front of me. Later after that two guys almost duked it out- at that point we thought it’d be a good idea to leave.

Ok I’m seriously thinking about running out right now and getting Mortal Kombat. Let’s hope a place has it.

Tags: adams morgan, baseball, blog, camden yards, diamondbacks, dupont circle, falls church, georgetown, hershey park, madden, mario party, montgomery county, mortal kombat, nationals, orioles, stress, tigers, todd jones, wii

Originally published at The Definitive Dmbosstone. Please leave any comments there.

After an amazing adventure like last week I should have taken the week to just recover. I just kept the week grooving all to this weekend. Tuesday I hit up RFK for the Braves/Nationals game. Sarah, Doug, and I enjoyed watching the Nats give up yet another game. As of right now they are 15-28, only 72 games more to 100 losses. Thursday Burak and Nicholas decided to introduce me to the Royal Lee, the bar down the street that has karaoke almost every night. It reminds me of Hooligan’s but a little more trashier.

This weekend I’ve been chillin here in the crib. We are holding an open house to find another roommate (Nick is moving out in June). So far I haven’t seen a lot of peoples but I hope today will yield someone. Last night Doug and I hit up Dreamo’s. There an usual amount of people there, we apparently walked into a party for the Washington Area Frisbee Club. I’ve never ran into so many crunch granola types/preps.

This week should be fun, I’ll be celebrating Margaret appreciation week with multiple parties in her honor. Also Diana is graduating this weekend, and then- THE BEACH! My new annual kick-off to the summer season. This year we have a great house and I am going to rock out with sixteen of my favorites. Can’t wait.

This weekend I watched Swingers, and I think it’s one of my new favorite movies. It really gave me a new view on life and women, that and Vince Vaughn is in classic form. It was money baby.

Tags: baseball, blog, clarendon, fun times with friends, karaoke, nationals, obx, rfk stadium, roommates, swingers, vince vaughn

Originally published at The Definitive Dmbosstone. Please leave any comments there.

The Asian Sensation, no not me, I’m talking about Daisuke Matsuzaka. He’s the newest addition to the Red Sox rotation, creating a big buzz in his first season since arriving from Japan. But more on that later. I am going to talk about a lot of baseball in this post.

Monday I celebrated Tax Day and Patriot’s Day with dinner with my parents. After a very good meal we all looked at my Aunt’s and Uncle’s vacation photos. It was cool to look at them on my uncle’s PS3, it’s nice to know that $600+ gets you a machine that does a little more than play video games.

Tuesday I went to watch a little of the Braves/Nationals game, I really just stopped rooting for the Nats on the most part- I really enjoyed watching John Smoltz, Chipper Jones, and Andruw Jones.

Friday night I went out to Dupont Circle with Jennifer. We stopped by what is becoming one of my favorite stomping grounds, Buffalo Billiards. We watched the end of the Boston/ Yankees game and had some nice conversation. After Boston beat the Yankees, we took a walk to Adams Morgan and talked with the works over at Maggie Moos.

Yesterday I had dinner again with my parents (on their way back from Florida). We enjoyed traditional Vietnamese fare at Eden Center. I live only 10 minutes away from the place but you won’t find me there very often. However after discovery a bubble like drink I can buy there, I may stop by more often. I just said bubble like drink- sounds like I’m becoming more Asian by osmosis.

Today the weather was fantastic- it really felt like a lazy summer afternoon. I did some hardcore Costco shopping with my roommate Adam, and I enjoyed the Red Sox/Yankees game on ESPN. It’s always a treat to get to watch the Red Sox play, living here in DC it’s not a luxury I had back at FSC. Allow me to put on my sports anchor hat on so I can blog about the wonderful game.

I usually don’t recap or talk about games in detail, but I really enjoyed this matchup. It was Dice-K’s first game against the Yankees, and of course any new player in Red Sox Nation needs to understand the huge rivalry in play.

Matsuzaka hit a couple of the Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, showing that he understands how much we hate ‘em Actually he was probably trying to pitch to them inside, but I loved how ESPN showed a clip from Friday of Dice-K and Julian Tavarez (a player I first came to know as the pitcher who broke his hand after punching a cement wall). They were discussing how to handle the Yankees and you can see Tavarez pantomiming to Dice-K to hit A-Rod in the head. It appears that he took his advice to heart.

Other memorable moments, has to include one of the most amazing baseball moments I have seen (outside of the Red Sox winning the World Series or defeating the Yankees on their way) was the back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs. I was checking some e-mail when Manny hit his first one, I thought, “good for him, he’s been having a slow start”. Then I saw J.D. Drew hit one and I told Adam and Burak (who I was watching the game with), “See I told you J.D. was going to come up big.” Then Mike Lowell hit one and I just started laughing and feeling sorry for Chase Wright (the rookie pitcher who was pitching his second major league game ever). Our other roommate Nick walked in to see what we were all hollering about and then Jason Varitek his a home run. At that point we were all laughing and cheering. I love the Red Sox.

Jonathan Papelbon closed out the game and was lights out as usual. I remember watching his first major league game back at FSC. I even think I blogged about it. Who knew he would become a whirlwind force in the bullpen. The other night the commentators on Fox made notice of his delivery: he stares at the ground and when he’s ready to pitch he picks up his head and turns and stares down the batter, a very menacing and intimidating look. I notice it now everytime I see him pitch, if you ever watch him take a look- wouldn’t it just freak you out if you were the batter?

Well I guess you could tell I enjoyed watching the Sox sweep the Yankees.

Baseball has really been a favorite sport of mine, I remember back when my neighbor and good friend Dave introduced me to the sport and eventually got me to play little league (a comical attempt at that). The love for the sport was revived with NESN in our dorm rooms and lots of fellow students who loved the Sox.

Makes me wanna pick up a bat and pick up a sport again. Hell I need a side activity right?

Tags: adams morgan, alex rodriguez, andruw jones, baseball, blog, braves, chase wright, chipper jones, costco, daisuke matsuzaka, derek jeter, dupont circle, eden center, girls, holidays, j.d. drew, jason varitek, john smoltz, jonathan papelbon, julian tavarez, mike lowell, nationals, red sox, seven corners, yankees

Originally published at The Definitive Dmbosstone. Please leave any comments there.

Sometimes I think about creating a blog with a purpose, like a green/eco blog, an auto blog, or maybe a mommy blog. If I had a news blog or a celeb gossip blog I could write all about Larry Birkhead. But in reality it’s a cool thing to know but I think I’ll be moving on now, not that this drama has kept me from living life.

This past Sunday I went to the Diamondbacks/Nationals game with my roommate Adam, Rebecca developed an ocular emergency that day. I’m glad she’s ok though. It was a good game even though the Nats lost.

The DC losing streak continued into the week. I had the luck to end up with a few tickets for the Wizard’s game tonight. Doug, Sarah, and I enjoyed what was a really close game. However in the last minute, the Nets came out on top. Tonight was a key game for the Wizards to make the playoffs, but they lost. However because The 76ers beat The Pacers, they Wizards are now playoff bound. The announcement was made as the entire crowd was leaving the Verizon Center. Not many people seem to care. I had a really fun time at the game however. Sarah and Doug make life fun.
I heard about this article on Washington Post, after I saw a story on ABC World News. A world famous violinist puts on some plain clothes and plays inside the DC Metro. Nobody notices his talent. I think it’s amazing.

I mentioned my dreams from last week to Chanelle, and she thinks that it must mean that someone has been on my mind. If she’s right I really don’t know if that’s a good thing. As much as I’d like to have someone to think about, should I really be putting my eggs into one basket? A part of me wonders if I am setting myself up for disappointment.

Tags: baseball, blog, diamondbacks, dreams, fun times with friends, larry birkhead, metro, nationals, verizon center, website, wizards

Originally published at The Definitive Dmbosstone. Please leave any comments there.

Last post I said it was going to be one of those weeks. It’s one of those weeks. I’ve been working non-stop, trying to manage multiple projects at once. I like the challenge of what’s going on and I kinda feel good about being able to step-up and take the challenge head on. However I’ve noticed that it’s really easy to get sucked into just focusing on work, and leaving the rest of your life behind. I felt a little bit like that this week. I felt great about managing work but realized I could easily lose myself in it if I’m not careful. Conclusion? I need to make this weekend about myself, make sure I revisit other parts of my life I don’t want to leave by the curb.

In other news my office just got an Nintendo Wii, and I played it today, and I already think it’s really cool. I didn’t get a lot of face time with it but I can see it really being something different than the PC games I typically play. I kinda wanna get one of my own and play Wii Sports all day long. This is probably as Asian I will get about the subject. Unlike others I do not spend hours playing DDR or Guitar Hero.

So what’s my plan this weekend? Well I don’t want to stay in for another weekend but quite a few people are going home for Easter. I didn’t know that was a holiday people went home for, I guess it makes sense. Well I think tomorrow I should go out maybe a little if I can rest up today, Saturday I should catch up on dreaded videos, and Sunday I’m going to the Nationals game with Rebecca.

Also fantasy baseball is now in full effect and I am welcoming it with open arms. I’m also glad to see that an Asian can rock baseball once again.

Tags: baseball, blog, dance dance revolution, fantasy sports, guitar hero, holidays, nationals, stress, wii, work

Originally published at The Definitive Dmbosstone. Please leave any comments there.

It’s one of those weeks- it better not be one of those months, but this week isn’t looking any better. I’ve been at work every day this week, working some nights as well. I can’t say much but there’s a lot of work to be done and not enough hands to do it all. I’m really trying to keep my wits about myself. I’ve been even dreaming of work this weekend, which isn’t a good sign. I really think after Easter is over things will calm down.

I did have a chance to get out though on Saturday I went to a Orioles/Nationals pre-season game at RFK. I took Ian and met up with Chanelle and her boy (well I don’t know what that status is, it may be as complicated as Meridith and McDreamy). The game was long and the Nats lost, affirming that they will probably lose 100 games this season. Without Soriano, it’s just a lot of young talent- it is talent, but right now is not their time. Ryan Zimmerman is cool though.

So back to dreams, Friday I had a dream about losing a girl- a girl I don’t even have right now. It was weird but included all of my friends and a tour bus. Saturday I had this dream about work. I can’t remember much now but it had to do with videos.

I need a vacation.

Tags: alfanso soriano, baseball, blog, dream, grey's anatomy, holidays, nationals, orioles, rfk stadium, ryan zimmerman, stress, work