teddy wins!

With things not going well for the home team at Nats Park this season, the most exciting part of the game is often the President's race between Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt (they also participated in the Post Hunt we blogged about somewhat recently). Since it started at every home game in July 06, TR has never won. Actually I believe he has won once or twice, but he was disqualified in those races so he is an 0-for in the record book. The long national nightmare...or at least the one other than the bozo in the White House...came to an end Saturday night.

Friday night I went to the game. It was a great night, with the Nats giving up and then taking back the lead late in the game and a nice fireworks show at the end. Plus, I managed to get a free smoked sausage from Red Hot and Blue - the ticket scanners weren't reading my loaded ticket (thanks Zach and Jillian for the tickets) - so it was an all around good night.

The Nats were playing the Orioles and since they are from just up the road in charm city, the O's mascot was at the game. Teddy was winning the race but the Oriole tripped him near the finish line. The next half inning a press conference was held where Teddy challenged the Oriole to an "unsanctioned" race Saturday night. Didn't go to the game last night, but with the wonder that is the internets and a blog dedicated to the race, I was able to find out that Teddy finally won. Due to it being an unsanctioned event it won't count in the standings (right now for this season it is Lincoln 22, Jefferson 10, Washington 10, and Teddy 0) but at least Teddy won something.

hail hail to the lucky ones

Sunday I had a date with Ed, Mike, Stone, Jeff, Matt, and Boom...and about 15,000 others who were there to see Pearl Jam. As some of you may know, I am a big fan. Some would even say obsessed. No matter how you label it, I have been looking forward to the show, my 11th, for several months.

The band did not disappoint. They played 31 songs and nearly three hours. Because I have pretty good seniority in the fan club - a dues paying member for over ten years - our seats were great, 19th row just off center. This was the third show Nathan and I have hit together. In 2006 we saw them in DC and in Pittsburgh.

As usual they played a good mix of old an new, fast and slow. They opened with Hard to Imagine, a nice opening song that starts slow and lets everyone ease into the night. It was the first time I had heard it. The next few songs increased in tempo leading up to a stellar Do the Evolution with the lights up and entire crowd having their hands up chanting 'hallelujah' at the right time. Ed had a few political rants, about the need for the people/shareholders to take the country back, the bullshit arguments big oil is using to try to promote offshore drilling, how we should "put some color in the White House" which led into Green Disease, and another about the story of wounded Iraq War vet Thomas Young (who is from KC) before No More.

Other highlights included I God Id, Who You Are - they brought it back this tour after not playing it for ten years, and All Along the Watchtower. For Watchtower, they brought a 13 year old kid up and Eddie gave him his guitar. The kid, who we found out is named Jake, looked kind of nervous at first but then seemed to be loving every minute of it. Just like the rest of us.

Beat Mario Kart

Check out my Mii in the number one spot! To be fair, I just beat the 50cc portion. Now, off the do the other two!

A nod to Virgin America

A missing component of our San Francisco trip was our flight. I was so excited to try Virgin America, an airline actually adding features to your flight experience rather than taking them away.

We got a great deal with a direct flight from Dulles to San Francisco. If you don't know, some of the features of Virgin America include mood lighting, leather seating in coach, and an interactive tv screen where you can watch movies, listen to the radio, play video games and order food and beverages whenever you want.

We had on time departures on both legs and even arrived a half hour early when we came back to DC. If you have a chance, I would definitely try Virgin America. Below are a few shots from my camera phone.

SF trip pics

I'm sure you are waiting on the edge of your seat for the final post about our last couple days in San Francisco. In the meantime, our flickr page has been updated with our pictures. Here are 50 or so pictures that make up the highlights and the unabridged version if you want to go through all 250 or so.