Shawn Blatheringtag:www.rupture.net,2008:/~shawn//662008-08-21T19:06:18ZMovable Type 3.36Baffler of the Weektag:www.rupture.net,2008:/~shawn//66.49162008-08-21T18:57:39Z2008-08-21T19:06:18ZSeriously? I mean, is this supposed to be ironic, or what?...shawnhttp://www.rupture.net/~shawn/
I mean, is this supposed to be ironic, or what?
]]>
Protein Bombtag:www.rupture.net,2008:/~shawn//66.48572008-06-09T14:56:13Z2008-06-09T15:19:36ZI'll carve off what I want, and ride the rest home, thank you. 20 oz Kansas Strip, Queue de Cheval Steakhouse, Montreal, Quebec...shawnhttp://www.rupture.net/~shawn/
20 oz Kansas Strip, Queue de Cheval Steakhouse, Montreal, Quebec]]>
Questions That Keep Me Awake At Nighttag:www.rupture.net,2008:/~shawn//66.48392008-05-19T16:42:54Z2008-05-19T17:10:37ZHas the Dalai Lama ever seen Caddyshack? EDIT: No...shawnhttp://www.rupture.net/~shawn/
Caddyshack?
EDIT: No]]>
Day Eighttag:www.rupture.net,2008:/~shawn//66.48282008-05-09T01:09:12Z2008-05-09T01:24:56ZHad a reasonably nice sleep interrupted by the alarm, prodding me to go move the car before it got ticketed. After waking Jenn, we got ready and headed to what turned out to be a delicious bagel place on Mission....shawnhttp://www.rupture.net/~shawn/
Had a reasonably nice sleep interrupted by the alarm, prodding me to go move the car before it got ticketed. After waking Jenn, we got ready and headed to what turned out to be a delicious bagel place on Mission. From there, we headed north towards the Golden Gate Bridge, which still retains some majesty, despite my having seen it probably close to a thousand times in various media. Surprisingly, felt a little shorter than I would have expected. We stopped at the vista point on the north side to take some shots of the city, but there was still too much morning haze clinging to it to make the shots worthwhile.
Got up into Marin County, and followed the twisty road up to Muir Woods. The fog/haze had burned off by this point, but the towering trees kept the air pleasantly cool, although a bit too cold for Jenn.
We followed the one mile trail, that wound through some gorgeous scenery. Kept a sharp lookout for Biker Scouts, but I think we passed undetected. It's certainly one thing to see a cross section of a redwood, and be told it's a wide, tall tree; and quite another to stand at the base and see them soaring towards the sun. It's also weird to see a grove of saplings dancing in the sun, and know that maybe only two of them will outstrip the others at some point, cutting them off from the nurturing rays, eventually dooming them to die and fade back into the soil, eventually feeding the roots of the victors.
On the way back, we stopped for a third round of In-n-Out, and consigned the El Feracito trip for tomorrow, and 86'd the dim sum until the next time.
Prepping now for a trip for Chinese, to Sam Lok. I don't know that I've ever had proper Sizchuan. If Bourdain's experience on No Reservations is any indication, maybe I should bring a mopping rag. Survivor's report to follow.
Pondering: Ship some clothes and knick-knacks home?
Day Seventag:www.rupture.net,2008:/~shawn//66.48272008-05-08T15:32:24Z2008-05-08T15:32:51ZThere is only one CVS in the city of San Francisco....shawnhttp://www.rupture.net/~shawn/
There is only one CVS in the city of San Francisco.
Salt Licktag:www.rupture.net,2008:/~shawn//66.48162008-04-29T02:24:40Z2008-04-29T02:52:16ZOn my flight from BWI to Hartford, the Southwest stewardess dropped off two bags of peanuts. Without particularly paying attention, I opened the first bag, poured some into my hand, and threw them back - and almost gagged them back...shawnhttp://www.rupture.net/~shawn/
On my flight from BWI to Hartford, the Southwest stewardess dropped off two bags of peanuts. Without particularly paying attention, I opened the first bag, poured some into my hand, and threw them back - and almost gagged them back up. I looked in my hand, and there was salt. Now, I'm not talking like, "oh, yeah these peanuts were too salty". I'm talking, "I'm holding the remains of Carthage".
Too bad I had already finished my drink. I suppose that with the tens of millions of bags of peanuts, odds are that over-salting would take place, though not that often. But I'll still be eyeing my peanuts more carefully from now on.
Shows I'd Pay To Seetag:www.rupture.net,2008:/~shawn//66.47772008-04-02T17:45:50Z2008-04-02T17:46:29ZStephen Wright performing an evening of Jeffrey Wright sermons....shawnhttp://www.rupture.net/~shawn/
Stephen Wright performing an evening of Jeffrey Wright sermons.
First Glance, Nationals Park or: We're Going To Need A Bigger Chili Bowltag:www.rupture.net,2008:/~shawn//66.47662008-03-30T03:34:38Z2008-04-02T18:44:14ZWithout me asking for them, the Nationals sent me two tickets to tonight's annual exhibition game versus the Orioles. Eric couldn't go, so Jenn eagerly accepted, just for the chance to see the new park. We drove to Foggy Bottom...shawnhttp://www.rupture.net/~shawn/
Getting off the Metro, I immediately spotted one problem. The "renovated" Navy Yards station only had two escalators leaving the platform. The RFK stop had three. So already I think speed of egress from the platform will be reduced by 1/3rd. (Note: the tail end of the Green Line train is where to be to have quickest access to the escalator) As we took the next set of escalators to street level, a female Metro employee yelled at people to stay to the right on the very uncrowded steps. Like, really yelled. She wouldn't let you walk past anyone. Just like D.C. Making things as inefficient as possible.]]>
scoreboard is huge, bright, easy to read, and has just about all the info on it you'd want and expect. There are auxiliary LED boards above the bullpens that have closed captioning of the PA announcer.
The stadium was very empty. Maybe about 50% full. Maybe people stayed away because it was bitterly cold, but the pricey seats were pretty bare. By contrast, we had the Uecker seats in the last row of section 420, with a lovely view of the Anacostia and the gravel factory. We stayed as long as we could, but restarting blood flow became an imperative, and we walked through the rest of the park.
We followed a crowd into the club level, which was nicely appointed, but not as ostentatious as the one at FedEx Field. The food in there seemed the same as the rest of the park. There were at least three bars, with views of the field, including one with a Homestead Greys theme, which I was happy to see. (I had very much wished that they would name the team the Washington Greys) Each of the bars had a theme, actually. The decor of the entire club level was dedicated to Washington baseball, naturally, but there was also a photo selection dealing with baseball and war, including one of Ted Williams heading to the Air Corps office.
But what about the chili? Well, it took me the better part of a half hour to get my chili half smoke from the Ben's stand. There were two lines, and when I got up there, there was a plethora of cased meat waiting to be served. Only one cheese dispenser though, which maybe was a bottleneck. I'm willing to write it off as opening snafus, but they were not moving people through very well. I won't go back if it's going to be that much of a pain in the ass every time. Jenn actually took almost as long to get her own hot dog, around the corner. Fortunately, I discovered the Nats Dogs stands on the 400 level carried the Ben's chili half smokes as well, though not the full menu. The chili half smokes went for $6.75, I think.
Now, on to what you really want to know:
Restaurant Stands:Ben's Chili Bowl, Hard Times Cafe, Red, Hot & Blue, Five GuysFood: Dogs, brats, Italian sausages, chicken fingers, hamburgers, crabcakes, hamburgers with crabcakes on them, French fries, garlic fries, kosher dogs, kosher sausages, kosher garlic potato knishes, pizza, pretzels, cotton candy buckets, fish & chips, Cajun fish tacos and crabcakes, sesame seeds ($5!!)
Beer ($7.50 for a draft, but not sure if that held true for every stand): Leiniekugel, Pilsner Urquel, Bass, Hook & Ladder, Peroni, Blue Moon, Guinness, Miller, Bud, Bud Light
Also: cocktails & wine
All in all, a very nice stadium. It doesn't have immediate character like PNC in Pittsburgh. The Capitol out in center field is certainly an irreproducible sight. I can foresee many great nights of baseball in the park.]]>
And You Thought the Seats Were Small at Fenwaytag:www.rupture.net,2008:/~shawn//66.47542008-03-25T16:49:19Z2008-03-25T16:51:24ZFrom the box score of the Sox-A's game at the Tokyo Dome this morning: Attendance: 44,628 (131% full) I guess MacArthur forgot to introduce fire marshals to post-war Japan....shawnhttp://www.rupture.net/~shawn/
From the box score of the Sox-A's game at the Tokyo Dome this morning:
Attendance: 44,628 (131% full)
I guess MacArthur forgot to introduce fire marshals to post-war Japan.
Getting off the Metro, I immediately spotted one problem. The "renovated" Navy Yards station only had two escalators leaving the platform. The RFK stop had three. So already I think speed of egress from the platform will be reduced by 1/3rd. (Note: the tail end of the Green Line train is where to be to have quickest access to the escalator) As we took the next set of escalators to street level, a female Metro employee yelled at people to stay to the right on the very uncrowded steps. Like, really yelled. She wouldn't let you walk past anyone. Just like D.C. Making things as inefficient as possible.]]>
scoreboard is huge, bright, easy to read, and has just about all the info on it you'd want and expect. There are auxiliary LED boards above the bullpens that have closed captioning of the PA announcer.
The stadium was very empty. Maybe about 50% full. Maybe people stayed away because it was bitterly cold, but the pricey seats were pretty bare. By contrast, we had the Uecker seats in the last row of section 420, with a lovely view of the Anacostia and the gravel factory. We stayed as long as we could, but restarting blood flow became an imperative, and we walked through the rest of the park.
We followed a crowd into the club level, which was nicely appointed, but not as ostentatious as the one at FedEx Field. The food in there seemed the same as the rest of the park. There were at least three bars, with views of the field, including one with a Homestead Greys theme, which I was happy to see. (I had very much wished that they would name the team the Washington Greys) Each of the bars had a theme, actually. The decor of the entire club level was dedicated to Washington baseball, naturally, but there was also a photo selection dealing with baseball and war, including one of Ted Williams heading to the Air Corps office.
But what about the chili? Well, it took me the better part of a half hour to get my chili half smoke from the Ben's stand. There were two lines, and when I got up there, there was a plethora of cased meat waiting to be served. Only one cheese dispenser though, which maybe was a bottleneck. I'm willing to write it off as opening snafus, but they were not moving people through very well. I won't go back if it's going to be that much of a pain in the ass every time. Jenn actually took almost as long to get her own hot dog, around the corner. Fortunately, I discovered the Nats Dogs stands on the 400 level carried the Ben's chili half smokes as well, though not the full menu. The chili half smokes went for $6.75, I think.
Now, on to what you really want to know:
Restaurant Stands: Ben's Chili Bowl, Hard Times Cafe, Red, Hot & Blue, Five Guys
Food: Dogs, brats, Italian sausages, chicken fingers, hamburgers, crabcakes, hamburgers with crabcakes on them, French fries, garlic fries, kosher dogs, kosher sausages, kosher garlic potato knishes, pizza, pretzels, cotton candy buckets, fish & chips, Cajun fish tacos and crabcakes, sesame seeds ($5!!)
Beer ($7.50 for a draft, but not sure if that held true for every stand): Leiniekugel, Pilsner Urquel, Bass, Hook & Ladder, Peroni, Blue Moon, Guinness, Miller, Bud, Bud Light
Also: cocktails & wine
All in all, a very nice stadium. It doesn't have immediate character like PNC in Pittsburgh. The Capitol out in center field is certainly an irreproducible sight. I can foresee many great nights of baseball in the park.]]>