Just finished a rather spectacular weekend with superfriends Ben & Ali, aka The GrinGoat. Highlights abounded, but I'm lacking writing energy at this exact moment so I may just throw down some kind of outline-ish dealio. Let's see...
The Invention of Games: After this spring's hit "Cat in a Boat" swept the nation, we figured that we shouldn't deprive America of any more of our gaming brain spawn. So first, Ben invented the awesome "Catch a Bubble in the Hot Tub" game, something that sounds stupendously dumb but is monstrously entertaining. If you want a copy of the rules, please send a SASE to Ben's new apartment.
We also expanded our game marketing base beyond the "while sitting in a car" and "while sitting in a hot tub" platforms to include a new exciting area, "while sitting in front of a computer." Perhaps we should name our company Wile E. Sitting. Perhaps not. Anyhoo, the new computer game we've designed is called "Marathon Simulator." So far the only concrete feature we're prepared to release the public is that you will tap the A button for each step. This game will also be featured as part of a "historical gaming series," meaning that you will get to play the game in different formats. For example, one version will utilize the Doom engine and be a first-person runner; another version will be a 2-D side scroller - maybe you will pick up a power bar you see on the ground?; perhaps the final version will be a text adventure:
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"You see a long road in front of you and are surrounded by people in small shorts. What do you want to do?"
?> Take a stride.
"You move up three feet. You see a long road in front of you and are surrounded by people in small shorts. What do you want to do?"
?> Take a stride.
"You move up three feet. You see a long road in front of you and are surrounded by people in small shorts. What do you want to do?"
?> Take the subway.
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So clearly, we were up to our very best idea-having this weekend.
In a more straight-forward sorta account, on Friday I picked up the dynamic duo at the airport. We hit up Oregano's for lunch, the first of far too many delicious meals on the weekend. Came back to the apartment and said hey to the pups, then successfully hung out poolside despite our New England friends' collective paleness. Beck surprised us by coming home early, and we cruised down to Old Scottsdale to eat at Los Olivos - SUPER YUMMY, por supuesto. Turns out that Ali used to frequent the O.S. in the days of her wayward youth, so we hit up a seriously good little establishment called "The Sugar Bowl." After getting heckled re: the correct pronunciation of "Sundae" and Ben's ordering of a single scoop of ice cream, we enjoyed stupidly delicious treats. Photographic evidence of Gringoat's Phoenician presence:
For the record: the "from the tabletop" camera angle, in a pink booth with fluorescent lighting, always makes for the best shot.
So we stuffed ourselves silly and headed home. Beck had to work on Saturday - BOOOOOO - so GG and I spent the morning chilling, eating honey nut cheerios, watching all kinds of Youtube video crack AND, most importantly, checking in on what the kids watch these days. Yep, Saturday morning with sweet cereal and cartoons. We saw a remake of Tom & Jerry, some Strawberry Shortcake, a very bad indeed George of the Jungle and an off the charts terrible live action show about a girl named Cake and her friend Miracle who was getting to the age where she is starting to smell when she sweats. Yeah... so after quite enough of that, we lounged poolside for a bit and then headed to Chompie's for lunch. The weather took a bizarro turn that day - cloud cover all morning - so we headed to play some frisbee at the local park. At 2 in the afternoon! In Phoenix! In July! WHAAAA??? Nuts, and a lot of fun - my ankle is slowly getting there, and despite not having thrown a disc since the beach in SC, Ben and Ali were on their game.
Beck and I took a brief detour to go fruitlessly house-hunting that afternoon - lots of places in the partially remodeled state, don't get me started - and came back to grab our pals and head out for Italian. We collectively offended the entire restaurant, and their dirty looks were so loud that they overpowered the lounge singer covering 50 ways to leave you lover. Outstanding! Good food, though, and after a stop by The Coffee Bean (TM), we came home to kick it in the hot-tub and invent a bubble game. Somewhere in there, Ben and Beck learned about the Velvet Underground.
We attacked our Sunday with the appropriate level of lassitude - cooked a big waffle and eggs and fruit salad breakfast, then combined our four brains into one large brain to take on the NYT crossword. If you were wondering - and I know you are - "skirr" means "go rapidly" and "spoor" is animal evidence used for tracking. Those killed us; otherwise, we smacked the puzzle around quite a bit. Somewhere in there we got coordinated enough to head out for a Jamba-Juice knock-off and then went to see the new Batman movie (along with the rest of America). Review pending, but we all enjoyed it, even if we're not quite ready to hand out any posthumous Oscars.
Headed over to central-ish Phoenix for New Mexico-style Mexican dinner at a joint called Richardson's, featuring some of the best roasted garlic / cheese / salsa platters you will ever experience. Great food, and we had plenty to take home for lunch the next day. Hung out there quite a while and got home just in time to collapse; took Ali and Ben back to the aeropuerto on Monday, and our quick, excellent weekend came to a close.
So yes, great times, and we definitely owe them a New England visit soon. Thanks so much, Ben and Ali! And Ben, we are not a shoe depository. That is all.
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