We are officially opening (to friends and family) on Sunday. It's actually going to happen. Open to the public on Thursday most likely. Finally going to have some income again, and hopefully a lot of it.
We have spent several hours over the last few days setting things up, and it finally looks like a real restaurant with tables and place settings and a stocked bar and a functional kitchen. No turning back now.
Brad, Melissa, and I volunteered our entire Friday today to do extra helping work. We were slightly abused and unappreciated by most of the upper management openly, but I'm sure inwardly they really appreciated it. Feels good to be extra helpful, even if you're not well acknowledged.
Not much else worth mentioning at the moment. I think I might be getting sick--at the worst possible time with the 'Pacc ("potch" - our nickname for Carpaccio) opening--with a cold. Getting that blech feeling that accompanies illness.
Recent movies worth seeing...
Forgetting Sarah Marshall = hilarious. Well worth seeing. It got better and better as the movie went on. I can't remember if I've already posted about this movie or not. If I have, sorry to repeat. If not, I give it two thumbs way up.
Harold and Kumar = hilariouser. Barely stopped laughing. I liked it more than the first one. Much more subtle and clever comedy woven in, which are my favorite kinds of funny. Must see.
I find it hard to root for the Wizards against Cleveland. They have been playing kinda dirty all series, and I'd like to see LeBron get a championship while he's still young. I'm still pulling for the Celtics. Don't call it a bandwagon. I have to cheer for a team that imports two of my favorite players in the league (KG and Ray Allen, who has the prettiest jump shot in basketball). I like Paul Pierce, too, even though he's goofy and duck-footed. But I like the Hawks, especially their young guys. My only question to the Hawks is this: Mike Bibby, what are you?
Flag Monkeys are at it again tomorrow. Hoping for a win against our league rivals, the Bombers, formerly known as the Ballyhoo Bombers, who used to run Oklahoma drills to warm up for games, and who were caught filming our practices before facing them in the playoffs a few seasons ago. We hate them, so we would really like to win. Maybe I'll get a shot at quarterback again, where I'm undefeated on the season.
For now, I'm resting up for an 8am wake up call to head to DC. I have to return immediately from the game to get to the 'Pacc for some menu tasting before we open. What has two thumbs and is excited to start making money again?
Showing posts with label flag football. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flag football. Show all posts
Friday, May 2, 2008
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Flag Monkeys - Game 3
Game 2 for my attendance.
Charlie was back and played quarterback. He was elusive in the pocket, but his throws were not too accurate. It gets a little frustrating. I'd like to get back there. He's gone again next week, so I'll get another shot.
We were playing "Ezee Cougars...Ezee". They have very athletic guys, and average girls. We outmatched them on the girls side, but were pretty badly outmatched on the guy side. I got #1 duties on their best receiver. He was an absolute animal. There was nothing we could do to cover him. I'm not the best coverage corner out there, but I can hold my own, and I'm fast enough to keep up with most guys. This guy worked me all over the field. I could only hope to stay close enough to get his flags after the catch. He got the first touch down of the game under double coverage (little lapse in awareness by the safety, maybe). The first half ended with us trailing 6-0. We got the ball to start the second. Other than this guy, our defense stymied them completely.
Our offense was knocking on the door all day long, but just couldn't cross the goal line.
With about 1:50 left in the game, Will came up with a monster interception. He took off down the field, managed to pitch back to me before having his flags ripped, and I took off. The ref said I stepped out of bounds before getting to the end zone, but I disagree. The crooked side lines were a factor, unfortunately.
Despite that, we had the ball back with two time outs and about 1:30 on the clock. We're moving, but not well.
Finally, we decide to draw up a play where we have two split ends, and I line up in the slot (one guy wide on each side, and me lining up on the right side, but close to the middle of the field). My job was to draw my man and the safety away from the right side. Charlie watched me so the safety locked on his eyes, and at the last second, after I took the defense to the left, he bombed the ball right to Will, who was streaking down the sideline. Caught on the one yard line, tip toed in to the end zone. Score sat at 6-6 with 0:12 seconds left. We failed to convert on the extra point, unfortunately. We should have had it for the win right there.
They got the ball back on the kickoff and had two chances to score, but couldn't. No overtime in SLeagues, so we ended in a tie.
Team record: 1-1-1. Good game, very friendly and competitive.
In the first half, I jammed my thumb trying to catch an underthrown ball across the middle. Worst jam I've ever had. Current thumb condition: iced, wrapped, and inoperable.
Charlie was back and played quarterback. He was elusive in the pocket, but his throws were not too accurate. It gets a little frustrating. I'd like to get back there. He's gone again next week, so I'll get another shot.
We were playing "Ezee Cougars...Ezee". They have very athletic guys, and average girls. We outmatched them on the girls side, but were pretty badly outmatched on the guy side. I got #1 duties on their best receiver. He was an absolute animal. There was nothing we could do to cover him. I'm not the best coverage corner out there, but I can hold my own, and I'm fast enough to keep up with most guys. This guy worked me all over the field. I could only hope to stay close enough to get his flags after the catch. He got the first touch down of the game under double coverage (little lapse in awareness by the safety, maybe). The first half ended with us trailing 6-0. We got the ball to start the second. Other than this guy, our defense stymied them completely.
Our offense was knocking on the door all day long, but just couldn't cross the goal line.
With about 1:50 left in the game, Will came up with a monster interception. He took off down the field, managed to pitch back to me before having his flags ripped, and I took off. The ref said I stepped out of bounds before getting to the end zone, but I disagree. The crooked side lines were a factor, unfortunately.
Despite that, we had the ball back with two time outs and about 1:30 on the clock. We're moving, but not well.
Finally, we decide to draw up a play where we have two split ends, and I line up in the slot (one guy wide on each side, and me lining up on the right side, but close to the middle of the field). My job was to draw my man and the safety away from the right side. Charlie watched me so the safety locked on his eyes, and at the last second, after I took the defense to the left, he bombed the ball right to Will, who was streaking down the sideline. Caught on the one yard line, tip toed in to the end zone. Score sat at 6-6 with 0:12 seconds left. We failed to convert on the extra point, unfortunately. We should have had it for the win right there.
They got the ball back on the kickoff and had two chances to score, but couldn't. No overtime in SLeagues, so we ended in a tie.
Team record: 1-1-1. Good game, very friendly and competitive.
In the first half, I jammed my thumb trying to catch an underthrown ball across the middle. Worst jam I've ever had. Current thumb condition: iced, wrapped, and inoperable.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Flag Monkeys: 1-1
In my book, we're 1-0, since I missed the first game. But it actually did happen. We had a 'power play' for the whole game because the other team was short a player, and still lost 12-0. Clearly the team was a little rusty. We were short on our usual players as well, but at least fielded a full team.
Yesterday's game was different. Let's start with the trip to DC.
The cherry blossoms are in full bloom, which means DC is an absolute madhouse. We should have foreseen this and ridden the Metro. We arrived at the fields at almost 12 exactly, giving us plenty of time to warm up for our 1pm kickoff. Foreshadowing: gas tank light was on in Bill's car at this point. Unfortunately, parking was at a minimum. We circled around after our first pass through to find out that our normal parking strip was suddenly blocked by police barricade. One thing led to another and boom, we're in Georgetown with no clue how to get back. A couple of phone calls and several wrong turns later, we finally get to Constitution and park about a mile from the fields. Current time, 12:55. So, Bill, Liz, Zach, and I take off at a brisk jog through the mob of tourists. We took a wrong turn at the reflecting pool and lengthened our journey pretty significantly.
Finally, we arrive at the softball fields where our game is almost underway. Current time: 1:10. As luck would have it, the other team was short a player as well, so they waited for us.
We get ball first. I'm playing quarterback. I had about 30 seconds to warm up my arm. Our first possession wasn't pretty.
Our stalwart defense locked things down from the get go. They had one good player, and she (who I'm convinced was laced up with HGH and anabolic steroids) was all over the place. She was getting ridiculous pressure on me in the pocket. She made a one-handed catch on a severely underthrown ball coming across the middle. And her attitude was terrible.
Both teams traded off mediocre possessions. I had an interception (playing defense). The second half, we finally found our rhythm a little bit. We began to matriculate down the field, but still couldn't find the end zone. On one of our last possessions of the game, we were firing on all cylinders. I found Bill in the back of the end zone with a bomb from about the 30 yard line. It wasn't pretty, but he came down with it. We couldn't quite connect on the conversion, so the score sat at 6-0 with time winding down.
Liz's shut down performance at the boundary corner spot was unreal. Someone decided we should put her on a guy so that we could have a guy man up on the beast girl. She was in his grill all game long. They tried him deep when they saw the mismatch, and Liz closed the small gap (I called it baiting the quarterback) as soon as the ball was in the air and knocked it right out of the guys hands. Play of the game. He complained that she interfered with his route. Picture perfect defense.
They failed to get a first down from their own 20 with under two minutes left, and the referee called the game. Flag Monkeys win it, 6-0.
We began our happy trot back to the car. Bill needed to be at work in an hour, so we thought we were golden, time-wise. Current time: 2:00.
First task was turning around on Constitution so we could get on 395N. Not easy. The excursion through Georgetown had brought his gas level to the final red bar, and the light was a constant reminder of our impending doom. Those of you familiar with DC know it's a horrible place to need a gas station.
After about 45 minutes of trying to find one, while trying to stay near 395, and avoiding the cherry blossom traffic, we are all close to panic mode. When all was considered lost, fate intervened. We are suddenly on 395N about a mile from New York Avenue, where I know gas stations live. How far down NY Ave., I misjudged. After some intense worry, our beacon of hope appeared. A big, green, BP sign. We drifted in to the gas station parking lot as the car began to sputter on its last fumes. Success.
Lunch at Checker's was amazing. It's a rare treat that I get to eat there. Anyone who has never tried their burgers or fries, or even shakes for that matter, it's worth the trip.
Editor's note: We did not actually sputter on fumes, though we were dangerously close to that point. I took the liberty of exaggerating the story for entertainment purposes.
Yesterday's game was different. Let's start with the trip to DC.
The cherry blossoms are in full bloom, which means DC is an absolute madhouse. We should have foreseen this and ridden the Metro. We arrived at the fields at almost 12 exactly, giving us plenty of time to warm up for our 1pm kickoff. Foreshadowing: gas tank light was on in Bill's car at this point. Unfortunately, parking was at a minimum. We circled around after our first pass through to find out that our normal parking strip was suddenly blocked by police barricade. One thing led to another and boom, we're in Georgetown with no clue how to get back. A couple of phone calls and several wrong turns later, we finally get to Constitution and park about a mile from the fields. Current time, 12:55. So, Bill, Liz, Zach, and I take off at a brisk jog through the mob of tourists. We took a wrong turn at the reflecting pool and lengthened our journey pretty significantly.
Finally, we arrive at the softball fields where our game is almost underway. Current time: 1:10. As luck would have it, the other team was short a player as well, so they waited for us.
We get ball first. I'm playing quarterback. I had about 30 seconds to warm up my arm. Our first possession wasn't pretty.
Our stalwart defense locked things down from the get go. They had one good player, and she (who I'm convinced was laced up with HGH and anabolic steroids) was all over the place. She was getting ridiculous pressure on me in the pocket. She made a one-handed catch on a severely underthrown ball coming across the middle. And her attitude was terrible.
Both teams traded off mediocre possessions. I had an interception (playing defense). The second half, we finally found our rhythm a little bit. We began to matriculate down the field, but still couldn't find the end zone. On one of our last possessions of the game, we were firing on all cylinders. I found Bill in the back of the end zone with a bomb from about the 30 yard line. It wasn't pretty, but he came down with it. We couldn't quite connect on the conversion, so the score sat at 6-0 with time winding down.
Liz's shut down performance at the boundary corner spot was unreal. Someone decided we should put her on a guy so that we could have a guy man up on the beast girl. She was in his grill all game long. They tried him deep when they saw the mismatch, and Liz closed the small gap (I called it baiting the quarterback) as soon as the ball was in the air and knocked it right out of the guys hands. Play of the game. He complained that she interfered with his route. Picture perfect defense.
They failed to get a first down from their own 20 with under two minutes left, and the referee called the game. Flag Monkeys win it, 6-0.
We began our happy trot back to the car. Bill needed to be at work in an hour, so we thought we were golden, time-wise. Current time: 2:00.
First task was turning around on Constitution so we could get on 395N. Not easy. The excursion through Georgetown had brought his gas level to the final red bar, and the light was a constant reminder of our impending doom. Those of you familiar with DC know it's a horrible place to need a gas station.
After about 45 minutes of trying to find one, while trying to stay near 395, and avoiding the cherry blossom traffic, we are all close to panic mode. When all was considered lost, fate intervened. We are suddenly on 395N about a mile from New York Avenue, where I know gas stations live. How far down NY Ave., I misjudged. After some intense worry, our beacon of hope appeared. A big, green, BP sign. We drifted in to the gas station parking lot as the car began to sputter on its last fumes. Success.
Lunch at Checker's was amazing. It's a rare treat that I get to eat there. Anyone who has never tried their burgers or fries, or even shakes for that matter, it's worth the trip.
Editor's note: We did not actually sputter on fumes, though we were dangerously close to that point. I took the liberty of exaggerating the story for entertainment purposes.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Thursday's Happs
Had a relatively productive day today. Relatively is the key word. The life of the pseudo-unemployed lacks eventfulness more often than not.
My day started at 7:45am, at least that's when I woke up. I had a follow up appointment with my ENT at 8:30. I was out of it last night when I set my alarm for 8:30 to make the appointment. Fortunately, thanks to it coming up in conversation, I realized all of a sudden my folly and reset the alarm for a more appropriate time. Rambling... So I get there and it turns out my guy is out for the week and I see an assistant. She talks to me like she's been the one working on me all along. "This looks much better than before, you're making lots of improvement." I had never met her, though she swore we had met previously. Long story short, my prognosis is improving. I got a saline nasal gel to keep my nasals moisturized. Set an appointment to get my ears checked. Got some tipso...proxy...gram..athing...that measured fluid level in my ears. I was within the norm (it printed out a neat little graph that looked like it could have been part of a game on our old Commodore). Nothing to do but sit, do my sinus rinses, apply saline nasal gel, and wait for improvement.
After the doctor, I went to Safeway to grab organic peanut butter and some orange strawberry banana juice for my gym smoothies. I managed to rassle Ryan from bed via text messages at a reasonable time (9:45) to come over and have our ritualistic pre-gym smoothie, then hit the weight room. Cardio was a little basketball shootaround. Gotta do J-work in preparation for the AEPi undergrad-alumni basketball tournament next weekend. Today was shoulders and legs, capped with some abs. Decent work out.
Lunch at Chipotle negated the entire workout, but it was delicious. That is the hot spot.
After lunch, I got dropped off at home, finished up some laundry, took a shower, and resigned myself to the computer for a bit to do some online dealings, a little conversing with friends, you know, the usual.
I finally made myself call Julie about working at the Melting Pot again. I can justify my regression with volunteering at the State's Attorney's office (starts tomorrow morning) and with the prospect of being in law school in six months. Gotta pay the bills, right? Of course, I mustered up all that courage and she didn't answer, nor has she returned my call. I'll try again tomorrow.
Then I went to see Vantage Point. It has been compared to "24" in movie form. A pretty accurate comparison. In what was supposed to be an action packed thriller, I couldn't stop myself from nodding off towards the end. The idea and the premise were good, but the execution left me wanting more. The decent cast wasn't enough to save it.
Things to look forward to this weekend: Matt's birthday outing Friday night (after a possible happy hour outing with Kate and anyone else interested in coming). Flag Monkeys season opener Saturday. Starting quarterback is this guy right here. I'm pointing two thumbs in my own direction.
I'll have game synopses as they come. You can follow our season right here. We are contenders for the title this year, despite losing our top recruit to a preseason ACL injury.
One last thing, vote for me (10s please) in the Rob & Big Best Roommates Contest! I want to win, 'cause I'm a huge dork. The link is up and to the right. Tell your friends.
My day started at 7:45am, at least that's when I woke up. I had a follow up appointment with my ENT at 8:30. I was out of it last night when I set my alarm for 8:30 to make the appointment. Fortunately, thanks to it coming up in conversation, I realized all of a sudden my folly and reset the alarm for a more appropriate time. Rambling... So I get there and it turns out my guy is out for the week and I see an assistant. She talks to me like she's been the one working on me all along. "This looks much better than before, you're making lots of improvement." I had never met her, though she swore we had met previously. Long story short, my prognosis is improving. I got a saline nasal gel to keep my nasals moisturized. Set an appointment to get my ears checked. Got some tipso...proxy...gram..athing...that measured fluid level in my ears. I was within the norm (it printed out a neat little graph that looked like it could have been part of a game on our old Commodore). Nothing to do but sit, do my sinus rinses, apply saline nasal gel, and wait for improvement.
After the doctor, I went to Safeway to grab organic peanut butter and some orange strawberry banana juice for my gym smoothies. I managed to rassle Ryan from bed via text messages at a reasonable time (9:45) to come over and have our ritualistic pre-gym smoothie, then hit the weight room. Cardio was a little basketball shootaround. Gotta do J-work in preparation for the AEPi undergrad-alumni basketball tournament next weekend. Today was shoulders and legs, capped with some abs. Decent work out.
Lunch at Chipotle negated the entire workout, but it was delicious. That is the hot spot.
After lunch, I got dropped off at home, finished up some laundry, took a shower, and resigned myself to the computer for a bit to do some online dealings, a little conversing with friends, you know, the usual.
I finally made myself call Julie about working at the Melting Pot again. I can justify my regression with volunteering at the State's Attorney's office (starts tomorrow morning) and with the prospect of being in law school in six months. Gotta pay the bills, right? Of course, I mustered up all that courage and she didn't answer, nor has she returned my call. I'll try again tomorrow.
Then I went to see Vantage Point. It has been compared to "24" in movie form. A pretty accurate comparison. In what was supposed to be an action packed thriller, I couldn't stop myself from nodding off towards the end. The idea and the premise were good, but the execution left me wanting more. The decent cast wasn't enough to save it.
Things to look forward to this weekend: Matt's birthday outing Friday night (after a possible happy hour outing with Kate and anyone else interested in coming). Flag Monkeys season opener Saturday. Starting quarterback is this guy right here. I'm pointing two thumbs in my own direction.
I'll have game synopses as they come. You can follow our season right here. We are contenders for the title this year, despite losing our top recruit to a preseason ACL injury.
One last thing, vote for me (10s please) in the Rob & Big Best Roommates Contest! I want to win, 'cause I'm a huge dork. The link is up and to the right. Tell your friends.
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