Houseguestapalooza Phase II, III, IV

Another outline of Houseguestapalooza events, more for my organizational benefit than your informatic one.

Saturday - Cubs game, draft/pizza, giuseppe's
sunday - hr derby, brunch, oldtown scottsdale (frisbee), softball
monday - arcosanti, pizza from cibo
tuesday - luxe, heard museum, grilled fish / steak
wednesday - SMoCA, house of tricks, aaron, pizza, frisbee
thurs - phx art museum, SMoCA, Los Olivos
Fri - hung out, dinner here, poker
Sat / Sun - Grand Canyon
(Tournament, Chuy's)(House clean, Sonic, softball)
Monday - Tucson / Frisbee
Tuesday - hangin' / grill
Wednesday - museuming (Scottsdale), grill (kabobs)
Thurs - hangin, pasta
Friday - hangin', ASU (Margie), Michelina's w/ Dan & Christina
Saturday - IKEA, Tempe Arts Festival (Frisbee Practice/Reading), red devil pizza
Sunday - hiked superstitions, hung out, chihuly, p.f. chang's
Monday - Mesa (Margie), Grilled Chicken Dinner w/ Margie's Dope Beets / Cactus
Tuesday - nate worked all day, Caesar Chavez day so no Phx library, hangin' / spark & wrig shave, nursery, frame shop (GPGDS), Giuseppe's for dinner, sitting at kitchen table recounting week's events.
Wed - Off to Santa Fe

Houseguestapalooza Phase I, In Which Doris Gets Her Oats

My parents spent a lovely week a couple of weeks back with us here in the Valley, and before I started forgetting details of what we did, I wanted to get it down, bullet-style. Details forthcoming... maybe:

• Saturday - came in the PM; we grilled burgers on the patio and goofed around on goodreads
  
• Sunday - got brunch; went to the Heard Indian Arts Festival (took the light rail) and got art and sno-cones; ate burritos at home for dinner
  
• Monday - went to see the Cubs mop the Kansas City Royals; had Red Devil for the traditional Monday night Pizza Dinner. Watched Hudsucker Proxy.
  
• Tuesday - visited my ASU office, the rattlesnakes, went through the museum, ate lunch at Trick's and saw Gran Torino in the afternoon. Beck got stuck at work, so we ended up ordering Red Devil for the second time in two days - YEAH!
  
• Wednesday - Dad and I went golfing where I shot an even 100; Beck and Mom met Ann for high tea at the Phoenician. Fun times Ultimate game that night, followed by breakfast for dinner at a diner around the corner.
  
• Thursday - went to Fidelity (YAY) and then to the SMoCA for a fun day. Grabbed lunch at Taco Del Mar and saw Watchmen in the afternoon. Grilled sausages and asparagus for dinner that night at home.
  
• Friday - went to see the Cubs mop the Mariners; came home to SURPRISE meet the iPJ and iPMM; met the Tuftsboys at TeePee for dinner and Gellato Spot afterwards.
  
• Saturday - Mom and Dad left pretty early; Beck, iPJ and IPMM and I headed to the Cubs game for the afternoon.
  

So that's it for the first leg of the tour. More fascinating bullet outlines of Phase II in the queue!!!

"If I Wanted Yesterday's News, I'd Look in My Brain."

Yep, Beck greeted me thusly this morning after I told her that Charlton Heston had died and that Beyonce and Jay-Z had gotten married. Don't blame me, blame a non-refreshed Yahoo-headlines page on her laptop. That said... I give you Yesterday's News! And the day before that, and the day before that.

First, though, a bullet list of miscellaneous thoughts that crossed my mind in the past few. Several are music related. A couple are not.

1. During the opening day Cubs game, Brewers outfielder Corey Hart (wearing his UV-filtering contact lenses during the day so he can so he can see the ball before his eyes) made a nice play down the line in right. The camera lingered on him a bit after the play, and he did something I've never seen on a baseball field before - reached into his back pocket and pulled out a laminated, color-coded sheet. Clearly some kind of scouting report info on the Cubs batters. Why haven't I seen this before? Why don't pitchers carry palm pilots out on the mound and look up the batter's tendencies online? The future is now.
2. I walked into Fry's the other morning very early to get some milk, expecting to hear the usual pop-morass on the overhead speakers. And lo, I was elated: "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" by TMBG! In a friggin' grocery store! Awesome. I danced like no one was watching, because no one was; there were approximately 3 people in the grocery store: a cashier, an old lady buying four weeks-worth of groceries, and a Nyet. Sweet! Of course, this was followed up by the sad-sap R&B stylings of a synth-infused no one, so the trend stopped quickly. I then spent 15 minutes waiting for said old lady to finish her checkout, all the while exposed to the more normal top 200 stuff. Sigh.
3. I had GPGDS's Slow Down in the CD player as I left ASU campus on Friday. "Seasons Change," specifically. And there was something very nice about a little indie reggae providing the cruising soundtrack as I rolled through campus. I had a pretty good mood going anyways (see below), but I especially enjoyed the serious happy-times triumphant life-score provided by "Seasons Change" in a place where they rather blatantly don't (unless nice -> hot constitute seasons). So, further props to Jamie et al for providing a solid life soundtrack.
4. While that was great, I did have a better music as soundtrack experience yesterday while walking to work. I was attempting to motivate myself for a full day of tutoring - "here we go, seven hours of SAT, YES!" - when on the iPod comes that familiar Survivor beat. No, not Destiny's Child; rather, the early '80s version that invokes boxing and general riff-driven ass-kicking, aka "Eye of the Tiger." Only something sounds a little funny about the guitar, and it's not until I'm fist pumping and shadow-boxing and the first verse is about to kick in that I realize that this is not Survivor, this is Werid Al, and this is not EoTT, this is "Theme Song to Rocky XIV." Fat and weak, what a disgrace, etc. So I had a good laugh about that one. But again, I was on the Pima path, nary a soul around, so hell yeah I belted out those lyrics. Somebody got a 9:40 AM free show. All praise Weird Al.
5. On a separate trip to the grocery store last week, I saw an older lady drop her bag of groceries. And she exclaimed pissed-offedly, "God F... Bless America." I think, but am not sure, that is the first time I've seen blasphemy and treason committed in the same breath. Props to Scottsdale.

Alright, there were other things, but I'm sure I'll think of them later. Friday, as mentioned, I had an appointment with Drs. Robert (crushingly, I just learned that this is pronounced "Reaux-bear," which makes a lot of sense given his Canadian origin. So alas, a lifetime of Beatles jokes just died right there) and Maienschein down at ASU. And we had a fantastic meeting, setting up courses to look at for this fall and people to talk to re: research projects. Just awesome to be speaking with people and not have the conversation revolve around what "unique" means or why 4 divided by 2 is not, actually, negative two (and yes, those are two real conversations I had this week at work. God F... Bless the future of America). Seriously, though, talked about a seemingly infinite gamut of topics and projects and potential directions. Great stuff - it sounds like it will be very easy to mix and match coursework in everything from neurosciences to media studies to journalism to philosophy to etc. - YAH! I get that deep-welled since of "SWEET, FINALLY!" just thinking about it. Great feelings, life-direction-wise, after quite a while of wheel spinning. And after feelings of pressure crept up, I reminded myself: I smoked my med school courses, and that was with a fair degree of anti-motivation. I am, in a true sense and not the usual "good things to say in interviews" fodder sense, looking forward to seeing what I can do when properly motivated. We shall see.

So that's more than enough self-indulgent yeah-Nyet talk for today. But suffice it: am pumped. Might even start working on some projects this summer. Here's to real life, started at age 30.5. Of course, contingent upon whatever I mean by "real."

So the rest of Friday was spent serenading the neighbors with electric guitar and rolling into work for a a few hours of tutelage. And then I drafted yet another fantasy baseball team for a somewhat ridiculous league in which the only stats that matter are HRs and Ws. No, I will not post my team; instead I will laugh at buddy Neil for auto-drafting and grabbing Ichiro and a slew of closers. Good luck with that, homes. (Neil, incidentally, is kicking in Japan these days. Use that info as you will). Beck and I made an evening of margaritas and Risk (in which she kicked my ass soundly - the the atrocities committed by the pink armies storming Western Africa will be forgotten in the annals of history as there were NO SURVIVORS for my side. Yikes. I smell a revisionist history as written by the Iron Fist in the near future). Beck deserves special congratulations - and not just for the Risk-smacking - essentially for the first time since she started working, she was thrown to the veterinary wolves, left in the clinic by herself without other doctors in a coincidentally extraordinary busy time. And she performed swimmingly and made mad cash. Diagnosed kitties and pups and saved many lives. Great work, Dr. Fe-Fist. :)

Sometime Saturday I was strangely inspired by the nice weather and texted Dan - we arranged some HOME RUN DERBY for the afternoon at the gargantuan ballpark near our house, known in these parts as the "Little Miss Scottsdale Softball Park for Grades K-9."So after work, Dan came over and we displayed our prowess, launching many balls well past the 140 foot foul poles. As you can guess, HELLA fun but made us feel manly in exactly no way. Beck hit, too, and in her first set of swings crushed the ball. We won't mention the second set here.

Dan had dinner plans with Wren & Tim, so we stayed local and headed to a film. On Tufts-bud Andy's rec, we went to see "The Bank Job," which was quite good - nice, tense action/heisty film which struck a nice balance of humor and complex crime plot. Not going to win an Oscar or anything, but definitely in the 70-75 range for very good film - I recommend it, too. The Beck and I followed up our movie with a nice quick dinner at Oregano's (featuring an Award-Winning Weirdest Waitress Rocking a Pseudo-Britney Look) (who failed the "Bring Beer Within 20 minutes" test) and came back to watch a better-than terrible SNL hosted by Christopher Walken. So I'll hold off the Sunday news and just let you feast on the late night skit of "Googley Eyes Gardener" which just seems like some sort of "let's see if Walken can pull this off" type bet. And he did:

TWTWA, ctd.

Sunday, the Beck and I woke up early - GASP - and headed down to Aunt Chilada's for the Co-opted Pagan Spring Fertility Ritual* Brunch. Ay dios mio. THAT was an excellent brunch. Huevos rancheros, omelettes, chile con carne, Mexican rice, brown-sugar crusted bacon**, sausages, cinnamon-coated fried dough, AND fruits and pastries under a chocolate fountain. I'm having "I ate too much" pains just reminiscing. Another tremendous meal. WA-friggin-hoo.

(* So maybe I just noticed this for the first time because I'm, you know, a self-absorbed moron, but EVERYONE, from co-workers to cashiers to Walmart greeters to waitresses, wished me "Happy Easter" this weekend. I'm not offended, but I do find it interesting that with so much hoopla over the "Happy Holidays / Merry Christmas" pseudo-scandal that people would so blatantly ignore any sense of PC-ness when speaking of a holiday so drenched in overtones. In my mind, Easter is tied much closer to Christianity in terms of direct reference to beliefs than Christmas. Not to mention the whole Jews-as-crucifiers subtext in the passion narrative. So you would think that wishing a "happy easter" would be vastly more potentially antagonistic that "Merry Christmas." But it was done completely brazenly, at least in this Southwestern neck of the woods. I scared Beck by telling her that I would respond "and a happy co-opted pagan spring fertility ritual to you, too," to the next person who happy easter'ed me, but I didn't. I am, it turns out, an academic punk in spirit only. Or, you could say, the spirit is punk, but the flesh is adult contemporary non-offensive pop. Or something. )

** - Really - who looks at bacon and says, "Joe, we've GOT to improve this!"

The flowers were so pretty when I took my parents to the Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden that I wanted Beck to see them. And woah, they were out in even fuller bloom than before. Watch out - it's flower time AGAIN:

AHA! Join us next week on "The Ballad Frilly." Seriously, though, the garden is beautiful, and we picked a great day to traipse around with the other tourists. Fun times.

I capped off the Sunday with some pickup Ultimate that, for whatever, reason, was even more fun than usual. I managed to make the throw of my life, too - an inside out thumber, which in normal play would be a ridiculous stupid thing to throw, but on Sunday pickup hit Tricky in stride for a score perfect-style. Crazy. Got home for some delicious Sunday night dinner with the Beck. So yes, all in all, a spectacular weekend.

I will get back on the "recounting the visit" game at some point. But as I mentioned, Craig of Tufts fame is in town, so when he is not drinking it up with those other kooky rocket scientists, we will be getting into our own adventures. Which will probably involve, you know, hiking and Ultimate. CRAZY.

(And hear this: I pulled off my first fantasy trade of the new season in my Tufts league. McCann / Francoeur for Sheets / Hunter, and I got Ben and Torii. Whadya think?

Play Us a Tune!!!

Ladies and gents, thanks to my extensive highlighter-fueled research and the genius of Tufts-bud Josh's auction-drafting prowess, two (of my three) fantasy baseball opening day lineups are set. On the left you'll see my draft league (the one I play in with Mike NTPB, 12 teams) and on the right you'll see my ten team Tufts league team. Btw, "Rynomite Warlock" is a play on "Rynomite Manwich" which is a play on "Rynomite Sandwich" which is a play on "Vegomite Sandwich" which comes from the land down under. Marvin Cobain is Kurt Cobain's cousin who attended a Sadgasm concert circa 1990. Wahoo to the maximum:

Rynomite Warlock!	Marvin Cobain
Jorge Posada	Joe Mauer
Adrian Gonzalez	Adrian Gonzalez
Brandon Phillips	Chase Utley
Miggy Cabrera	Ryan Zimmerman
Derek Jeter	J.J. Hardy
Michael Bourn	Brad Hawpe
Vernon Wells	Jeff Francoeur
Vladimir Guerrero	Alex Rios
Todd Helton	James Loney
Matt Diaz	Delmon Young
Felix Pie	Brian McCann
Barry Bonds	Michael Cuddyer
	Evan Longoria
***************	****************
Roy Oswalt	Johan Santana
John Smoltz	Roy Oswalt
A.J. Burnett	Aaron Harang
Tim Hudson	Adam Wainwright
Ian Snell
Greg Maddux
Francisco Cordero	Francisco Rodriguez
Kerry Wood	Mariano Rivera
Todd Jones	Chad Cordero
	Matt Capps

I'm sure you can now all sleep better at night.

Fantasy Team has been drafted.

Came back from an excellent dinner at Moe's (a Mexican Restaurant on Route 9) and met Beck's fun pathology team. They are nice folks. Plus, Alli Wolf knows Bones, and therefore indirectly, Angel. Major bonus points.

I just drafted my team, and it went okay. Here's the starting lineup for the 2006 Fantasy Season:

C - Jason Varitek
1b - Lance Berkman
2b - Placido Polanco
3b - Aramis Ramirez
SS - Miguel Tejada
OF - Barroid Bonds
OF - Jim Edmonds
OF - Geoff Jenkins
Util - Lyle Overbay

SP - Jake Peavy
SP - John Smoltz
RP - Eddie Guardado
RP - Todd Jones
P - Andy Pettitte
P - Danny Turnbow
P - Zach Duke

So we'll see; could be good, could not. It all depends upon a red wheel barrow, as they say. Note that I also drafted Jay Gibbons, who I am told I look like (or who looks like me, depending on our relative fame). I did that as a joke.

And, incidentally, Fantasy baseball more than anything is an excuse to keep in touch with my buds from the Tufts Ultimate Frisbee team. Good guys, all. NEwho, I will keep you updated on how this season turns out (last year, I was the Tuftsmen champ!)