Kyle Brown’s Grand Scale of Debauchery

BART,

I’m headed homw on the train on a Friday afternoon after a very hectic week at work. Lots of proposal writing, lots of website stuff, and lots and lots of baseball. Well, I mean baseball wasn’t really part of work, but I can’t accurately describe my week any other way.

Truth be told I had been to a shamefully low amount of ballgames thus far this season. (3 total 2-A’s, 1-Giants) For someone who was throwing around the idea of season tickets, and embarrassingly low and disgraceful number to be sure. And so last Friday I decided to do something about it. Despite the fact that my beloved A’s might have the worst offense in the history of the sport, I was going to go enjoy my favorite summer pastime. And so, here we go breaking down my week according to baseball:

-Friday Night: Tailgate. Oakland. Travis, me, Nichole, Syvia, and the real special bonus, the Lonergan brothers fresh off of their cross country road trip. We were having such a great time hanging in the South Lot that we missed entirely the A’s 6 run 1st inning outburst. Of course the greatest offensive output of any single inning all year was completed while I stood 200 yard outside of the gates munching on a hoagie and downing a tall boy. Figures.A’s go on to a rout, everyone has a blast. A’s 9-1 Attendance: Maybe 11,000

- Saturday: I return from seom strolls around the city to watch the A’s once again put up a crooked number on the board. I gleefully turn off the game as it was time to attend a birthday dinner, but by now the A’s have won 5 in a row.A’s 9-1 again.

- Sunday: Tailgate redux. This time we have a new crew. Ben, Katy, Allysa and Alie (2 of Katy’s good friends). Another tailgate, but this time we make it into the game on time. We miss out on the free giveaway: a 12-pack cooler, but enjoy Vin Mazzaro’s (22) home debut (13 2/3 innings scoreless as we sit here today.) The A’s win despite of themselves. They manage a 3 run rally with only 1 hit, a leadoff single no less, which has to be one of the strangest innings I have ever seen. A’s win 3-0.  Attendance: 17,500

- Monday: I am at the family casa in P-town enjoying the continuing emergence of Mr. Josh Outman (24). Seriously, can there be a better name for a pitcher? OUT MAN. F and Yes. He K’s reigning MVP Justin Morneau 3 times in route to the win and the winning streak hits 7. The A’s rotation has a combined age of 113. And yet they are pitching their young asses off. The offense consists of a 3 run triple by the 8 hitter and a solo homer. This cannot last much longer, but the A’s win 4-3.

- Tuesday: The lack of offense finally starts to catch up to them. They can’t capitalize on some early chances and Brett Anderson (21) loses his way midway through, giving up 5. The bullpen also implodes leading to a 9th inning defecit of 10-0. Then something strange happens. The A’s start scoring. In bunches. Before I knew what was happening it was 10-5, bases loaded, and 1 out. But the Twins, sensing impending doom bring in their closer Joe Nathan and he shuts the door with two K’s to the 8-9 hitters. Game over.

- Wednesday: It’s $1 hot dog night. And I have nothing to do, so I decide to have a little me time and go up to the game by myself. I get a bleacher ticket and settle in with my $8 beer and 2 hot dogs. Yup, I know… The A’s starter Dallas Braden (the old man in the rotation at 25) pitches great save for one bad inning and leaves after 7 leading 3-2. And then the bullpen comes in. And that’s when things unravel. Solo shot to tie it in the 8th. And then young Andrew Bailey comes in for the 9th and promptly surrenders a leadoff triple. Damn…I quickly know where this is headed and I exit to the sounds of a 6-3 beating. Attendance: 14,000

- Thursday: Boys day. My father and I had lined up to play hooky from work and make this game with a good family friend a few weeks prior. My brother was able to make it as well, and so we took off a little early for lunch from work and headed up 880. It was one of those june gloom days that quickly gives way to brigh, bright sunshine, so fast that you’re caught off gaurd. I ran into the A’s owner Lew Wolff outside of the stadium prior to the first pitch. I asked, “Mr. Wolff, are you hiring at all right now?” His response: “Yeah right, if only I could hire people to come to the game” Ouch. Trevir Cahill (21) pitches a solid 7 innings despite giving up a 3 run line drive blast. The A’s offense is silent all day until the 8th when 3 consecutive hits (the final one being a HR tie the game.) We start the “Let’s go Oak-Land” chant in the 9th as the A’s get the first guy on. Kurt Suzuki comes to the plate and attempts to bunt (WTF. Bunt the best hitter when Daric “I have a .000 AVG” is up next? Geren, you suck) Suzuki gets hit by the pitch, thank god, and Barton is able to get the sacrafice down. Rajai Davis then lofts the first pitch he sees over 1B and the A’s celebrate good times, come on! A’s 4-3. Attendance: 13,000

Tonight: Yup, heading to AT&T park to watch the first game of the annual Bay Bridge series. Going with Katy, BEn, and Valerie for a little baseball double date. And its one heck of a pitching matchup. My new golden boy Vinny Mazzaro vs. the Gaints Cy Young Timmy “I still look 12″ Linsecum. Truly I don’t think any MLB pitching matchup has looked this pre-pubescent. I am of course very stoked.

And so while the summer presses on, I am quickly forgetting about that other sport and concentrating on this young batch of green and gold. And even though the team has no realistic shot at the postseason its keeping me occupied and very entertained.

Go A’s

Kyle

88 Cumberland,

I have been sick the last several days, which is no fun for anybody this time of year. But today I found a silver lining in having to remain confined at home so nobody else is exposed to my hacking and wheezing: The Scripps National Spelling Bee is on ESPN all freaking day! YES!

We have all the normal players and analysts back for another year. Erin Andrews is once again making pubescent boys giggle with nervousness, and parents are doing the whole hand-over-the-eyes-with-a-small-crack-open-scary-movie-thing.

In case you are unfamiliar, the kids are allowed to ask for the following to assist them:

- The Definition

- Type of speech

- Language of Origin

- Use in a sentence

- Alternate Pronunciations

These are all answered by Dr. Bailey, who has the most monotone voice on the planet, and makes for a great dichotomy between his flat voice and the emotion in the kids faces.

Let’s steal one of my favorite sports writing devices…the running diary! We join in progress in the 5th round.

- Fun facts: One contestant beat a chess grand master in the 2nd grade.

- Mr. monotone just made a joke that made an 11 year old squirm in delight. I’ll give you a hint: it had to do with bathing. Nothing to get an elementary school nerd giggling like body smells.

- Erin Andrews just conducted an interview with two of the finalists from last year (2nd and 4th place) to see if they were rooting for each other or against each other. They said they felt they were competing against the dictionary, not each other. Which is the golfer’s excuse when they get whupped by someone else. Come on kids, you can be more in life than Phil Mickelson!

- The analyst just let us know that the middle vowel of thylacine could potentially throw off like Keiki…and he was right! She went for the “o” instead of the “a”. Man, great in-depth stuff here from the ESPN team!

- I found out the answer to one of my longing questions! Mr. Monotone just made a bad joke, half chuckled and then said, “no, more seriously” before continuing on with the word in a sentence. That’s what the man does when tickled pink…

- “laeotropous” - She forgot the A, and another one goes down! Kids are falling left and right here. They call the 5th round, the “killer round” and it is living up to the name. Only 18 remain!

- An 8th grader just stepped up whose favorite food is listed as Ramen Noodles. Kid, you still got a good 5 years or so before thats all you have to eat! Now if this was 1996, he would know how to spell his word: “Santeria” Hell I know it…thank you Sublime! Although thank you for asking for the definition, I now know what I have been singing along to all these years.

- The final speller of the round, is a 14 year old girl from Seattle. She is having some trouble with epicrisis…eventually throwing out a guess…which was wrong. 16 speller remain for round 6.

- There is a 14 year old girl with a scene haircut who just spelled her way into the finals. She looks like she would intimidate the hell out of the skinny Asian kids in the competition. I wonder if she tries this tactic backstage as a way to spook her opponents. If I were her, I would.

- Kyle Mou is up! Yeah for a rad name, even if he is about 4′6, 80 lbs, with glasses and a lisp. We are clearly very similar. He also just killed his word in about 10 seconds to advance without any emotion. He’s here on a mission. I think I have my horse for tonight.

- Some kid just busted out glasses mid word! He doesn’t have to read a damn thing. What a freaking showman! And he aced the word.

- Last year’s runner up is at the mic. He has the best 13 year old dirty stache, a sweater vest, a tie, and wire rim glasses. He looks like 60 year old college professor in a chubby jr. high kid body. Classic.

- A girl with braces threw out a blind guess and got it correct, causing an ecstatic smile filled with metal. Always good times.

We ended the preliminary rounds with 11 kids headed to Prime Time! I’ll have a run down of the finals sometime later on, but until then…here is a good run down of what you missed this morning:

http://deadspin.com/5272180/the-coolest-kids-at-the-national-spelling-bee?autoplay=true

Cheers,

Kyle

88 Cumberland,

The Scripps National Spelling Bee is on Thursday, which is one of my favorite events on the TV calendar. You can read what I wrote about it last year here. I cannot recommend this highly enough. Unintentional comedy and massive drama combined.

Memorial Day came and went, and I put some travel miles in as I ping ponged around the bay. Some highlights of the whirlwind:

- Friday night we went to a little German place in Hayes Valley called Supenkuch. Now, the thing about this place is that it is A. extremely popular = crowded, and B. Is known for their large beer portions. We experienced both during our dinner, as we fit 13 people at a table meant for 8, and then Michael, Will, and I shared this:

That’s 5 liters. Bigger than Will’s massive dome by some measure. It took an extra bit of effort simply to raise it to your lips. But boy was it tasty!

- Saturday JB picked me up in the morning and we ventured out to the delta for an afternoon of…power washing. I am telling you that dock is looking beautiful. Max Wong made his triumphant return to the city later that evening, and so we had a little roommate dinner at our local sushi spot, Yo-Yo’s, where the owner always brings us free Saki. She is the best.

- Sunday I slept in until almost noon (only day without construction) and went over to SF State to watch Katy’s graduation. It was a lovely event and afterward I accompanied her and her parents to their favorite Chinese restaurant in Berkeley. I think we ordered the entire restaurant. I ate it two days ago and I think I am still full. Unreal. Afterwards we headed down to SJ to visit Mr. Campbell and to go to a party for Nichole and I’s good friend Danielle. She is a big fan of Karaoke and so I tried to give her a nice present and sang R Kelly’s “I’m a Flirt”. Ben would be so proud. I tend to forget that not only is that song 6 minutes, but there is not one second of instrumental downtime. By minute 4 I was straining and by the end I practically needed an oxygen mask. How those guys do an entire concert is beyond me. Travis and I had to take Katy over to O’Flareghty’s, and so we ventured down to San Pedro square before last call and had a few proper pints of the black stuff.

- We awoke on Memorial Day to some amazing home made muffins and lattes. (You are the freaking best Kit!) I had the sudden brilliant idea to go to Oakland to watch my beloved, and terrible, Oakland A’s play. Katy and I packed a lunch and headed over, forgetting to bring the most essential item with us: sunscreen. And of course I had made the equally brilliant decision to wear my jeans that have holes in the knees and a baseball T. I now am the proud owner of one of the strangest looking farmer tans you have ever seen. With bright red circles on my upper knees and a thick red stripe extending from my elbows down my forearms. Yup, I am Irish…The A’s won, which made it better, but I began to develop quite a nasty cough toward the end of the day.

And so I am currently a little under the weather, which has thankfully turned around after the fog drenched weekend. I also cannot wait to watch those kids squirm come Thursday…

Cheers,

Kyle

BART,

I’m heading back to the city after another day of work at the office. Unfortunately I couldn’t work from home today, and so I don’t look like this:

You have to admit, its a pretty fun face to show when on a company video conference. I believe they asked which shelter I slept in last night…

Of course you are asking yourself, “But Kyle, don’t you have something to share with us besides radical facial hair?” Yes I do. Bay to Breakers was this past weekend, and the theme (besides, get drunk, walk, have fun, repeat next year) was Future Sailors. Inspired by The Mighty Boosh of course. I grew out a proper Howard Moon mustache for the event, and have thus far not shaved it. I am growing more attached to it by the day, and it may just stay for some time.

This year was supposed to be the big crackdown year at the notoriously rowdy affair, and while there were less kegs than in previous running’s, the party atmosphere remained. I woke the whole apartment (which included several friends in town for the festivities) at around 6:30 with the following rendition of one of the timeless holiday tunes:

It’s the Most Wonderful Day of The Year!

Where People Are Drinking/And frolickers reveling/In debaucherous cheer!

It’s the most wonderful day of the year!….GET UP!

We lasted until 1 or so before needing to head home for a much needed nap. Zack X made the trek once again from LA, and I get the feeling this will become an annual occurrence. I am very pleased by that possibility.

The cops attempted to crackdown on drinking, but failed fairly miserably. In fact, I had no problem drinking my two liter bottle of fun right next to them. We had made a 5 gallon tub of pink passion fruit jungle juice around 7 and spread it out in various containers that we all carried with us. WARNING: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME:

-          2 gallon of Cranberry Juice

-          2 Containers of Gatorade instant Mix (Fruit Punch)

-          1 Handle of Cheap Vodka

-          30 cans of Coors Light

Mix and Enjoy!

Yeah, I had fun. We all did. Hell Jack even made money, heading back to the race after we got home to play rogue cab driver. He made 80 bucks in about an hour carting drunk idiots all over town. DBB was indeed proud.

Will summed up the mood of the day best on Monday night. “I can’t believe we have to wait another 364 days for Bay to Breakers.” (This of course prior to chilly willy’s of Fernet and bottle rockets at the park. Yeah we know how to turn a bummer into a positive. We’re crafty like that. )

This weekend is Memorial Day. I hope everyone is safe and of course having a good time.

Kyle

88 Cumberland,

It’s Tuesday and I am not sure if I am fully back to normal after Saturday night. Two words: Four Loko. Yeah, that’s right, a drink so ghetto and crazy it spells “loco” with a k. Reno was rediculous. Like Vegas but without the dudes waving sex pamphlets in front of my face, and with pregnant cocktail waitresses. Pretty much, awesome. I have to say the highlight of the whole weekend for me was going out to the hills around town and shooting clay pigeons with the Miller family. I mean, take a look at this…

The family that shoots together, stays together?

My shoulder is still somewhat sore. It was fun, but to be perfectly honest, being around guns still makes me nervous, and I wasn’t completely at ease. That’s probably a good thing, as I was very aware the entire time about what I was doing, and taking extra precaution to make sure that everything was done with safety in mind.

Overall, it was a fun weekend, and while I’d like to describe more, I really think that most of the “good” stuff is not exactly family appropriate. Here are some photos to make up for it.

Hotel Party!

El Capitan!

Drunken Mustache Brigade!

This weekend is Bay To Breakers. That’s right, expect some redic photos this time next week. I can’t wait.

Kyle

88 Cumberland,

It is not my intention to bring back rock-paper-scissors-slap this year as we have been known to do. But you never know, when tequilla and XX get involved, crazy things go down.

I was in Alabama last week and frankly too depressed about the state of my hockey team to want to write anything. I in fact went on a giant hunt through the greater Birmingham area trying to find a bar that had the NHL package so I didn’y have to wait for VS. to finish the Calgary-Chicago game. Alas, it was not to be, and I was stuck at of all places, Hooters (let me tell you they are all the same, only the accents change) watching the last 7 months of my sports life (and as you know, that is a lot of freaking hours) go down in flames again. This one hurt so bad, I think I am still in denial over the whole thing. I even started looking forward to 49er training camp, a desperation move that would never, ever happen if it wasn’t for giant stink bombs in the south bay and the A’s slow start.

Alabama on the other hand was very pretty and gave me whole new appreciation for the appalacians, which to be fair in my leftist, California head, I had always associated with backwoods extremeists and hicks. Instead I found everyone to be quite charming, friendly, and accepting. Now, I probably didn’t get into the seedier areas of town, but from what I saw, I give AL a big thumbs up.

Last night Jack took me to see a punk show in Protrero Hill of a band from Vancouver called Living With Lions. I got to say, my new favorite punk single. Like Face to Face 2.0. Here is the link to the video. I highly recommend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rUKpdByKgI

They are signed to Billie Joe Armstrong’s label, so you know its legit. They were very friendly dudes as well, letting the JB party in their van prior to the gig. As a bonus, their guitarist looked like Zack Galafanakis.

I have been investogating the rediculously cheap airfare right now, and am starting to think maybe I’ll head to Australia and hang out with Mr. Nicholson. I’m not sure, but I got to do something big this year. Thats it for now, stay thirsty my friends.

Kyle

Pleasanton,

Picture the scene: Thousands of people sprawled onto the green patches of grass with the downtown skyline of San Francisco stretching out in the distance. Drinks and food are in full supply. Dogs of all breeds and sizes wander about or sit obediently next to their master. The sun is shining down on another glorious day. And through the entire scene comes walking a figure. He is the superstar of this congregation. Picnickers quickly rise to take his picture and bask in his glow. He smiles broadly despite the fact that in addition to a crown of thorns he is strapped to a cardboard cross. But he comes with a message, written inside large white speak bubbles: BRB LOL.

Welcome to Easter in Dolores Park.

And so went the most memorable Easter of my adult life. My parents came up to the city, my good friends Josh and Mary were in town (they are moving to the Bay and were looking at possible locations to live. I am ecstatic about this development) and we decided to bask in the gloriousness that is San Francisco. I love this city.

When I finally find a photo of him, I will post it. But camera phones were all we had.

The weekend in general was somewhat of a reunion weekend. On Friday Dave was in town and so he came up to the city to hang out. Hearing that Dave was in town Nichole, Sylvia, and Ben all decided to come hang out as well. Then Josh and Mary were around Saturday through Monday, completing the old school vibe.

I played tour guide for The Pendletons on Monday afternoon driving them south to San Jose and introducing them to the lovely bedroom neighborhood communities of Los Gatos, Willow Glen, Saratoga, and Campbell. After a day of looking around the South Bay, they had come to the one logical conclusion: San Francisco or bust. I think it was hunky Jesus…

Kyle

88 Cumberland,

Monday night hanging out at the house after the A’s opening night loss. It’s been a week and a half of trying to get back into the groove of SF before I have to travel out to Birmingham, AL for work.

Before I get to the story that the title refers to, I will begin last week in what I liked to call, “Nostalgia Week”. JB and I went to two concerts last week that would have been AMAZING when I was 17 years old. First we hit up New Found Glory on Sunday. Yes, the same NFG that dominated the TRL countdown when I was 18 and 19 and have somehow managed to not only continue to tour but actually has reclaimed some underground street cred with a younger audience by signing to some repsected labels. The crowd was defenitley more JB’s age but that didn’t stop me from jumping up and down like a little kid. I may or may not have slammed around in the pit, and may or may not have gotten an elbow to the face by some 15 year old snot.

It was a really great time, except it was somehwat dissheartening to see what the younger generation has done with what was once my scene. This is 90s POP PUNK. I”m talking dick jokes, bright colors, spiky hair, and whiny voices. And in this veign you have 17 year old kids doing hardcore dances and windmill kicks. Now, this is stupid as hell to begin with, even to hardcore music. Seriously, who hears a song and immediatley thinks to themselves, “you know what? When I hear this sweet riff, all I want to do is kick in a circle and wave my arms like a windmill!” NOBODY DOES THAT. Hardcore dancing is for kids who are more into “looking cool” than actually enjoying the music. It is lame and has no place in songs like this.

Thursday was a little more mellow as we then went to see the Get Up Kids. This crowd was a little older, and less rowdy, as was to be expected. I had never seen them before, but they have been the favorite band for many of my friends, and the favorite band of my brother. Thye show was really good, and they opened with my favorite, “Holiday” and played for a solid 90 minutes. Jack was loving it, and I think its safe to say that everyone around us knew he was having an awesome time.

This weekend my cousin and god parents were supposed to make the trip up for my mom’s birthday, but things got in the way and so we were unfortunately denied the presence of Mikey Fischer. However, not to be deterred we decided to proceed with our original wine tasting agenda on Saturday for Pam’s big day. The roomates all piled into JB’s car and the 5 of us cruised over the bridge and into the East Bay. We were hitting up the usual Pleasanton/Livermore stops and after 3 different wineries and countless glasses we headed back to the house for a BBQ. By now the wine really starts to flow…

After bringing everyone back into SF, we get dressed up for Soul Night at the Elbo Room, a throwback of 60s soul and motown that is garaunteed to make you shake your rump. JB was especially dapper and I think he may have danced with every single girl in there. By now, Jack and Max were two peas in a pod and before you knew it, they began to enter a zone I like to refer to as “Embracing the Tornado”.

A tornado is a random violent and mindless beast. It is a force of nature that cannot be stopped and can only hope to be contained. A tornado leaves a wake of destruction in its path. And when you get enough booze and excitement in some people’s systems they are left with no choice but to embrace the tornado.

A list of destruction as recorded on Sunday morning:

- One broken public phone

- One broken door handle

- One shattered Gin bottle

- One massive bruise (Max)

- One jacket filled with sand

- One man-boy filled with sand (JB)

- One destroyed sleeping bag

- Two destroyed heads

Remedy for Tornado-itis: 2 Aspirin, water, breakfast burritos, a day at the beach…

The beach was lovely yesterday as temps soared into the 80s. It was recovery Sunday, indeed. I can only imagine what would have happened had Mikey Fish been here. (We could have added “One broken heel” to the list).

As my good friend Zack X used to say “These are the party days!”

Kyle

Denver,

I’m watching large snowflakes flurry in front of my hotel room window, making dashing darts and swoops in the howling wind. I was supposed to be headed to the airport in a few hours, but the entire Mile High region is currently ensnared in a blizzard that has dropped roughly 6 inches over the last 3 hours. My flight is cancelled, my Friday plans bust, and I am now sitting in front of my laptop catching up on things after another 5 days on the road.

The trip started in Phoenix on Sunday night. Oh Phoenix, so warm and bright, how I wish I had stuck to the original itenerary which had me going to Denver first. But I digress, in Phoenix I was once again going to a client site to perform an assessment with DBB and another PM from work Chad. This is for the same company that had me on the East Coast just two weeks ago. And now it was time to check in on their West Coast operations.

I had hoped to take in some spring training while in the Valley of the Sun, but all the games on Monday started at 1pm, which was not going to jive with my business schedule. And so I looked up some alternative entertainment: A Suns basketball game. So Monday night, the three of us went to downtown Phoenix to take in some NBA action.

Now, I haven’t been to a pro bball in some time. I went to a Knicks game 2 years ago, but the game was so memorable (ahem…it was not) that I forgot about it until halftime of the Suns game. Now, I go to a lot of various sporting events and I feel like I have a good pulse on what they should look and sound like. What I am about to say comes with the caveat that of all the major sports, basketball is my least favorite. So…

- What is up with all the dance squad stuff? I mean, I like a little T&A as much as the next hetero male, but am I at a sports game or at a night club? This is rediculous. I am trying to watch a sporting competiton, and all I am getting is hair whips in my face like I’m David Lee Roth taking in the afternoon buffet. Not only did they have the “Suns Dancers” on the court, but they also had the “Solar Squad” which sent wanna be cheer girls (ASU co-eds no doubt in even skimpier outfits) to various sections to perform a solo little cheer dance during the timeouts in the second half. When I am headed out to the arena to watch a bunch of 6-8 behemoths dunk a ball, the last thing I am thinking I am getting is Havasu spring break.

- Why all the constant music during play? Can’t you wait for the ten freaking time outs at the end of each half that drag the game on for another half hour? Aren’t there plenty of times for you bust out the Venga Boys that doesn’t include a 6-3 serbian gaurd dribbling harmlessly towards center court? I love music at events, but context people.

- I am clearly no NBA coach, but the Suns are currently the last team out of the playoffs and desperatley needed the win. With 6 minutes remaining and a 4 point margin, not a single starter was on the court for Phoenix. How is this possible? In a sport where guys play 75-95% of the game, how do you not have at least some of your best guys out there when the pressure is on. Now, the Suns ended up winning by 3, so maybe that was part of the reason why, but I can’t get over the fact that you would leave ALL of your starters sitting in the 4th of a game you know you MUST win.

- Nuggets center Nene head butts the Suns center and gets ejected and suspended 2 games. Brad Staubitz breaks Jordon Tootoo’s face with 8 to 10 elbows and gets 5 minutes in the box. You tell me which is the more bad ass sport.

I think it’s time to get a little nap in before dinner. Cheers,

Kyle

Pleasanton,

I am over at the parent’s house tonight, completing my favorite task: piles and piles of laundry. Yes I may have graduated college nearly 4 years ago, but I still lug over a suitcase of laundry to my parent’s house when I visit. Something about doing laundry at Mom’s is still way better than doing it myself at a laundromat or at my building. (It may or may not have something to do with the fact that each load costs $2.75.) I will get to St. Patrick’s Day in a bit, but first lets catch up a bit.

I was on the east coast last week, and after leaving New Jersey we drove to the lovely metropolis of Baltimore. (I know, a trip full of winners). The good part of being in Baltimore is that is only a 45 minute drive from DC, and so Mr. Redding drove up to meet DBB and I for dinner. We headed downtown next to Camden Yards (The first of the new “retro” ballparks and historically a big deal in architecture and city planning), and I got to run and grab the gate, so according to Chuck, I have been to Camden Yards. We really only stayed in the Inner Harbor area, and did not have any exposure to “The Wire” side of the city. We were all amazed at the amount of hotels in Baltimore that apparently have popped up due to the amount of government workers constantly flowing through.

Michael was good although he is still looking for work now that his boss has moved under the Secret Service’s custody. We told some old stories and laughed about some of the debauchery that happened when he was in the Bay for Christmas.

Thursday we finished up our East Coast leg of our business trip and headed home. I have a week back in the city and then on Sunday I head to Phoenix and then Denver for the same client. DBB will be joining me again, and we might take in a Suns game in the desert.

But really, who cares about that, it was St. Paddy’s Day weekend! (That’s right, with a D, the true Irish way. I hope you noticed Karen!) Saturday was the annual Tipton corned beef and beer fest and so all of the roommates and JB made the trek down to Sunnyvale for the event. We were treated to lovely corned beef, mashed and Irish cooked taters, some amazing Irish whiskey and of course some music. We were actually the music, as we brought instruments and spent a good amount of the evening, jamming out in a corner, which is the true Irish way. About 10pm we headed back into the city and decided to meet up with Michael’s lady Lindsay and her friends. Unfortunately they live in the Marina for the time being, and so we were headed up to my least favorite part of the city.

True to form, there were skimpy dresses, douche canoes a plenty, and more than a few obnoxious drunks. But there was Karaoke. I’m going to take this time to announce that I have a new favorite karaoke partner in Max Wong. We did two duets over the course of the evening, first a lovely rendition of Van Morrison’s “Moondance”, and the killer ending to the evening, Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated.” The latter started out fairly normal, but as it was the final song of a long and eventful day, we of course took it to some heightened extremes that left my vocal cords a little sore.

Yesterday, on the proper day of days, we all met up downtown after work and after a stop at Jonny Foley’s Irish House made our way to Thirsty Bear brewery which has pool tables, dart boards, and yesterday $3 stouts. After a few hours of carousing, I was pooped and so we headed back to the apartment for some night caps.

Now back to some quick notes and house cleaning issues.

- I am always struggling with trying to keep this blog interesting with stories, but now that I am not traveling as much, it becomes a little difficult to keep things fresh. In this vein I will be posting more blogs that focus on music, sports, and general thoughts. Don’t worry, the random comings and goings will still be here, but probably a little scaled back.

- I have a new love in my life. Her name is Katy, and she’s fantastic. She’s completing a speech therapy degree right now at SFSU and is originally from the East Bay. I am really very happy about this. However, I tend to get a little shy about posting things regarding that part of my life, so there won’t be too much here on that subject. But now when you hear that name you will have some reference. Friday we spent the late afternoon/early evening walking through downtown and watching the seals at Pier 39. Cute, I know…

- Sharks playoffs are coming up soon, and you know that means I go a little crazy. I think I will be posting after every playoff game, so look for that series in April. Also, A’s season is beginning, and they have officially killed the Fremont plan, so let’s just hope they don’t up and move to Vegas or something.

I apparently am now going to cut my brother’s hair. See, this is what happens when you go home to do laundry…you get roped into a whole bunch of college era stuff…

Cheers,

Kyle