More softball than you can shake a stick at

Our last post left off with a cliffhanger as to what we would do the next week.  Well, at the time we were unsure, but now that it has happened we know and so we are going to share it with you, our faithful readers.

As the title of this post indicates, Ben and Kelly played a lot of softball this week.  Tuesday night we played with our the architecture team we freelance with from time to time.  We helped them on to another victory, which was nice.

Thursday meant more softball.  It also meant more heat.  The heat wave that has been sweeping across the country arrived in full force on Thursday in our nation's capital.  Unfortunately, the heat did not help us in our Thursday night game against "Milwaukee's Best."  Kelly and Ben took the loss pretty hard.  This could have been because it was their first loss in DC, but the more likely reason is that Milwaukee's Best were total jerks.  To borrow from George Costanza, the jerk store called because they were running out of Milwaukee's Best.

Our final softball commitment of the week was a charity tournament on Saturday.  This was probably a bad idea to participate in.  First, it was unbelievably hot.  Next, not everyone embraces softball like Kelly and Ben.  In particular, our team manager did not really embrace softball or the benefit of winning.  This became evident when Kelly and Ben were slotted to hit in the 9th and 11th spot respectively.  Seeing that Kelly and Ben went a collective 5-8 with 3/4 of the team's RBIs and the 1-4 hitters on the team went 1-12 with no RBIs, a different managerial strategy may have been beneficial.  Oh well, it was for charity.

(The best thing about the charity tournament was this Darth Vader spatula.)

Having narrowly avoided heat strokes, Ben and Kelly returned to the apartment to spent some quality time with the dogs and watch a movie in the air conditioning. 

(Dexter wanted to say hi)

Debt Ceiling Schmedt Ceiling

Our Congressional leaders put off more pressing issues Thursday night to play a baseball game Democrats v. Republicans.  Kelly and Ben put off more pressing issues in order to watch the game.  

 (Speaker of House John Boehner (pink shirt) wondering if there is room for him to get a hot dog under the current debt ceiling.)

This was the 50th annual game and the first time it had been played at Nationals Park.  For a history of the game visit:  http://www.rollcall.com/features/Baseball-Program_2011/baseball/-207212-1.html

(St. Louis area Representatives Russ Carnahan and Lacy Clay talk pre-game strategy.)

The Democrats jumped out to an early lead and dominated 8-2 behind the phenomenal pitching and hitting of freshman representative Cedric Richmond (Louisiana), who apparently played baseball in college at Morehouse.

A complete wrap-up of the game is available here: 

http://www.rollcall.com/news/for_love_of_the_game-207336-1.html?pos=adp

With the game largely decided, Kelly and Ben decided to do some people watching and a little mingling.    Ben got to see his former boss, which was fun.  

(Imagine what this guy would do for a tuxedo t-shirt.)

(Who is that behind Ben & Kelly?  Oh, it is Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.)).

There is not too much to report from the weekend.  We went to a going away happy hour on Friday for one of our softball teammates.  Dexter and Mo made many new friends at the park.  We watched the British Open, the women's world cup final, a couple movies, ran a bunch of errands, and cleaned up the apartment.  

Also, we continued our war of attrition with the mosquitoes.  We are now fighting the war on multiple fronts (front and back door).  Also, we are using a variety of methods - traditional (the hand swat), chemical (bug spray), and electrical (both the hand held swatter and a bug light).  Even if we don't defeat the mosquitoes, it makes us feel a little better to bite a few of them back.

What will next week bring.  Who knows... you'll just have to wait for our next post.  

A rollercoaster to start the week...

The week started out with a lot of potential.  Sure it was a going to be a full week of work, but we had softball Tuesday and apparently one week after America's birthday is 7-11's birthday on July 11th.  While 7-11's birthday does not have fireworks, it does have free Slurpees.  After waiting for the end of the work day, Ben and Kelly grabbed the dogs and went for a walk towards the 7-11 like it was Christmas morning.  What happened next is probably best explained in the letter below.

Dear 7-11,

I was looking forward to celebrating 7-11's birthday yesterday.  I had seen a news article telling me about the free slurpee offer and I thought that would be a nice treat during the heat wave Washington, DC is currently experiencing.  I am a pretty big fan of Slurpees and often get a couple per week. That said, I have been unwilling to go away from my Coca-Cola/Fanta Cherry mix because it is so good.  

I had thought the free birthday Slurpee would be a great opportunity to try a new flavor.  Unfortunately, my neighborhood 7-11 was out of free cups and none of their machines had frozen Slurpee in them.  Committed to this idea, I walked an additional 7 blocks to the next closest 7-11.  Again, I was disappointed.  At this 7-11 I found a hand written sign that said no free slurpees after 4pm.

(For you sticklers, the 4pm was on a sign inside.)

I guess 11-7=4, but that doesn't seem like the company motto to me.  Anyway, I hope 7-11 had a great birthday, I am just sorry I did not get to celebrate it by trying a new Slurpee flavor.  

Regards,

Ben

While 7-11 disappointed us, we were pleased to see that some people had been listening to us.  Those of you who are frequent readers of this blog may remember our desire for escalator repair in Washington, DC.  Well, our pleas have been heard.  And other have joined in us in calling for better escalators in our nation's capital. 

(7/12/11 - Washington Post, front page above the fold)

There was also a Washington Times article on the issue and multiple reports on local TV news.  

We hoped our escalator success would carry over to the softball field.  It was a hot evening on The Mall with the heat index over 100 degrees.  Our team was ended up winning 14-10.   


Wednesday was another day at our respective offices without much to report.  Tomorrow is the 50th annual Congressional Baseball Game, where members of Congress actually play a baseball game Democrats vs. Republicans.  Our next post should contain some highlights, so look forward to that.

So we got that goin' for us, which is nice.

The 'short' work week that followed the 4th of July was spent trying to recover from the fam's visit.  Ben had a lot going on at work and it felt like much more than a 4 day week. 

Dexter and Mosely appeared to be exhausted from sleeping all day as well. 

(Mosely needed some beauty sleep as evidenced by the bags under her eyes)

Thursday we returned to the softball field for the first time in 2 weeks. Our team suffered a devastating loss last week without us (rescheduling conflict) and put 95% of the blame on our shoulders for not being able to play. Fortunately we claimed the victory this week and all was forgiven. (Kelly and Ben are 11-0 in DC softball) The next game is scheduled for Tuesday (7/12), so look forward to that update.

We had considered going to the Nationals game on Friday night because it was another 'free' hat night, which Ben cannot get enough of.  Kelly was not as enthusiastic, pointing out that you really only need to where one hat at a time.  The weather agreed with Kelly and we spent the rainy Friday evening at home catching up on Netflix.

Big movie fans should recognize the following from the classic Caddyshack:

Carl Spackler (Bill Murray): So I jump ship in Hong Kong and I make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a looper at a course over in the Himalayas.
Angie D'Annunzio: A looper?
Carl Spackler: A looper, you know, a caddy, a looper, a jock. So, I tell them I'm a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald... striking. So, I'm on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one - big hitter, the Lama - long, into a ten-thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier. Do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga... gunga, gunga-lagunga. So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.

Conveniently, the Dalai Lama was giving a free talk on the West lawn of the Capitol (about a mile from our apartment) on Saturday. Ben was concerned about the availability of seating and decided to head to the Capitol at 6:30am for the 9:30am start time.

(The Capitol at 6:40am)

Kelly was not interested in waking up that early and slept in a couple of additional hours and headed down around 8:30am. Ben quickly realized he was way too early, but was able to get into the VIP section.  Kelly was unable to join him and took a seat in the back.

(Kelly's View)

The event was good, but a bit random.  Whoopi Goldberg hosted it, much to her surprise.  This became evident as her stream of consciousness presentation hinted at a lack of preparation. 

(So uhhh...., Bill Murray told me the Lama is a good golfer.)

Also, there was a musical introduction by someone named Skylar Grey, who is apparently somewhat known for her collaborations with rappers.

(It seemed a bit warm for fur, but what do we know)

Eventually the Dalai Lama arrived and spoke for quite some time.  He did not mention any golfing tips, but did share some of his insights on life - so we've got that going for us, which is nice.

(Ben the early bird does get the worm, but do you really want worms?  Think about that.)

After several hours in the hot sun (Ben's knees somehow got sunburned), we decided to escape to our favorite DC thai restaurant for lunch.  After lunch, we ran a few errands and then went home.  The rest of the weekend was spent catching up a little more on R & R, the dogs, Netflix, life chores and (last but not least) on a few posts for your favorite blog. 

Continued...

We started the last day of the fam's vacation at Arlington National Cemetery. The fam took the tour while Ben and Kelly wondered through the cemetery in search of interesting gravesites. We found several Supreme Court justices, including Thurgood Marshall, William Brennan, and Oliver Wendell Holmes.

We met up with the fam at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider to watch the changing of the guard and 2 wreath changing ceremonies.

We left the cemetery and headed to Ray's Hellburger for lunch. After returning to the apt, half of us made a return trip to the Eastern Market to do a little shopping. Kelly picked up some wonderful peaches for the week while Mom proceeded to spend her first retirement check at the bakery and lemonade stand.

The afternoon included laying around while Ben worked his magic in the kitchen. Gumbo and spinach cornbread was on the menu for the fam's last dinner and even though there were doubters, everyone seemed to enjoy Ben's concoction. After dinner we laid around the apartment, talked about the wedding and enjoyed a mediocre tv movie.

Everybody but mom and dad left monday morning. The rest of us drove them to the airport in Baltimore.

For all the veteran blog readers, you will remember the Paper Moon restaurant that we are fond of. We decided since we were in the semi-close area, we would show mom and dad our new favorite place to eat.

With full stomachs, we headed to the Thomas Jefferson and FDR memorials. They had not made it over to these memorials on their tour and they are a couple of our favorites. One reason we like them so much is their location. They are right on the tidal basin and normally less populated. We went to the Jefferson Memorial first and enjoyed the beautiful statute and insightful quotes on the wall.

We took a nice stroll along the basin and walked through the FDR memorial. FDR happens to be Kelly's mom's favorite president so she really enjoyed the memorial.

Ben and Kelly's dad wanted to go the Nationals vs the Cubs game, so Kelly and mom dropped them off on the way to the aptartment. While the boys were at the game they got a little wedding planning done.  Kelly is sure that it has to be a frustrating process for mom and Abbey due to the ignorance and overall apathy that Kelly has shown in planning the wedding. In her defense, all she wants is at the end of the day we are married, the details are up to them!

Meanwhile, Ben and Roger were acquiring new complimentary hats, watching baseball game between mediocre teams, and admiring the number of people who decided to celebrate America's birthday by wearing U.S. flag pants.

It was good to see another President's race get the crowd fired up.  Teddy failed to win again.

(not everyone was fired up)

After Ben and Roger got home from the baseball game, we headed to Cantina Marina for dinner. It was a great evening for sitting outside and we had a great table right on the water.

(Check out the complimentary hats - Go Nats!)

After some great seafood, we went back to the house for a bit before heading to the Capitol for the fireworks. We grabbed a spot on the steps of the Library of Congress, which is not an ideal spot, but is only a 15 minute walk from the apartment without the hassle of security or crowds. The fireworks were impressive.

They were loud, big and long. The finale was approx 3 minutes long and shook the ground.

Mom and dad were getting on the road first thing in the morning. It was sad to see them go, we had a great visit and wished they could stay a couple days longer.

Shaken Not Stirred

Get excited Blog readers, it is math time.  


(8 adults + 2 babies + 2 dogs) x (1 trip to the E.R. + 1 stomach flu/food poisoning) x (1 broken air conditioner + 4 days of 100 degree weather) / (a 2 bedroom apartment) = Awesome Family Vacation Fun! 

Fourth of July week brought the family into town.  Mom, Dad, Abbey, Steve and the twins started the drive in the morning and arrived late Tuesday night. The van looked like a clown car. People and stuff kept coming out. 4 adults, 2 babies and 198 bags of baby related items. The babies had grown so much in the past two months it was wonderful to see them again. 

The next morning the fam walked Kelly to work. It was fun to show them the route to work. After work, we headed up to Baltimore to see the Cardinals play the Orioles. It was a blast. We had perfect weather, good/cheap seats and the Cardinals won!

Katie and Grandma flew in that night completing the posse. 

Thursday was not great. Dad woke up with a tooth infection and had to go to the E.R. for antibiotics and pain medicine. Kelly woke up with stomach issues and all that is involved with the flu. Ben woke up, assessed the situation and ran out the door to work ASAP.  Kelly made it through the work day only because she was giving a tour of the Capitol to the fam that afternoon. The tour went well and everyone seemed to enjoy it, especially getting to go on the floor of the House of Representatives.

That evening, we had Mexican for dinner at La Loma on Capitol Hill.  

Friday the fam started the day on a hop-on hop-off bus tour.  Kelly was still recovering and Ben went to work.  In the afternoon, Kelly and fam went to the Kennedy Center.  

After work, Ben came home and got to have a series of absurd conversations with Sprint about his new phone that apparently will not work with his plan.  Stay tuned for another potential blog post ranting about Sprint.  Only time will tell if such an exciting post gets written. 

After the Sprint experience, Ben knew that there was only one option for dinner - Armand's.  A few deep dish pizzas later, everyone was stuffed and there was some left over for breakfast.

If you have never had an over-easy egg on top of a leftover piece of pizza for breakfast, it is time to seriously consider it.  Ben started his Saturday with just that and knew it was going to be a great day.  Our first stop was Eastern Market to check out the scene.  While we were there, we tried some fruit samples from the farmers market section and picked up a few treats from the bakery.

After walking back from the Eastern Market, we got ready to head out for the rest of the day.  The first stop was lunch at Ben's Chili Bowl.  

From there, we headed to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum.  The rest of the fam arrived via metro, so Ben and Kelly went to get the other car at the house.  The next stop was the American History Museum, which was packed.  Apparently, 4th of July weekend is a popular time to visit DC and the Smithsonian -- live and learn.

From the Museum, we all headed to Georgetown for an early dinner at Paolo's.

It was a nice dinner before we went for a wander through the neighborhood.  We tracked down the house where Jackie and JFK lived.

From there, we made a little time for shopping before picking some cupcakes for a b-day dessert for Mom/G-Ma/Janet.

Apparently cupcakes are the new cake.  Georgetown Cupcake has gained a fair amount of fame as it is apparently featured on some TV show.  Unfortunately, they had a line going down the street.

Fortunately, we had heard that Baked & Wired down the street was actually better and as it is less famous, there was not a line.  

With our cupcakes in hand, we decided to visit the Georgetown University campus for a nice picnic spot.

What happened after that?  Did it involve following a man in a gold tuxedo?  You will just have to read the next post to find out.  To be continued....