The Philly Beer Fest!!!

The LSAT was a week away....I hadn't done well on my last few practice tests....so what was the answer:

THE PHILLY BEER FEST!!!

Tanya, me, two of the people she works with and one of their wives all joined forces at the 'fest. It was a really good time - lots of great German style beers. Most of them had some kind of Oktoberfest theme, but they were all pretty tasty. We were able to start with a big stein of Spaten - we both chose the Oktoberfest brew. The rest were all in a small "tasting" glass, but hey - it was as many as you wanted!

I think the pics tell the best story...

Here's how it all started

Clay and Shannon - Clay works with Tanya at the same firm

Clay and I enjoyed the most amount of beer, I think. And I, at times, enjoyed two at once!

Tanya, at times, relies on her Blackberry rather extensively. I give her grief about it, but I know that I'll probably be doing the exact same thing in about four years! Or at least I hope so...

Here is me mocking her. I'm "worshipping" the Blackberry - or "crack"berry, as it's apparently very addictive!

I finally had to just go get a beer...We had a blast! Can't wait for the next big Philadelphia drinking festival. Not sure when, who, or where; but in this city it's a guarantee. Possibly if the Phils keep winning in the NLCS!!!

NASCAR Weekend

This is a picture-less post, as I forgot my camera....can't believe I did that....but on the 21st of September, John came up to visit in Philly.

We'd both planned on running the ING Philadelphia Distance Run, but I hurt a hamstring a few weeks before the race. I was SO upset that I couldn't run with John, but fortunately, he was still able to do the race. It's a great run, all through the downtown historic part of Philly, and then out along the banks of the Schuylkill River. Remember the scenes in Rocky when he was pulling Mickey behind him? Yeah, that's on the Schuylkill (by the way, that's skoo-kull). It's probably an Indian name, but I haven't had the motivation to look it up.

The night John arrived, me, Tanya, and John went to Monk's Cafe for dinner. Monk's is a very cool Belgian themed "beer bar" here in Philly. We had a great dinner of mussels and other assorted goodies and Tanya and I proceeded to enjoy the great beers. John had a couple, but he did have to run the next day! After getting home, we tortured him with a late night game of scrabble while Tanya and I had a martini and a couple drams of Scotch. We ended the game soon and finally let John get some rest!

The next morning, John did the race and I lamely waited with coffee in hand as he finished with a damn good time. I believe is was 2:04, correct John?

After that, we headed down to Dover, DE. All of the people I work with (the "experts") said that it would take HOURS and we'd be in traffic forever and we'd never make the start!!! We left at about 1100 and were walking to our seats at about 1230 - and that's after we stopped at the Sunoco hospitality tent for some free food and schwag.

We hit the stands and proceeded to watch a great race. Thanks again to John for springing for the radios that allow you to hear the pits and drivers talk to each other - one of the coolest things at these races.

Now, as we were sitting there we discussed what it would be like if Holly had been there. This led to us laughing quite frequently. There is a certain awareness of humanity that you can only get at NASCAR races. Not all races - some are pretty posh. However, the track in Dover makes you feel like you're smack in the middle of the movie Raising Arizona. The best part is that as we were walking down the swaying, flimsy metal steps under the flimsy metal bleachers at the end of the race; we were getting rained on by God only knows what kinds of fluids.

In any case, it was a great time. Once again, we largely beat traffic on the way home and had another good dinner and good beers at The Belgian Cafe (same owners as Monk's, but it's a block and a half from where I live).

Great times!! John - when are we doing this again!!!???

Last Shore Weekend - and Long Overdue Post!

Wow, it's been a while! Between studying for the LSAT, which thankfully ended last Saturday....now I just have two weeks to wait on the score....work, trying to recover from a nagging hamstring injury, and moving again; I have been very remiss in postings.

During that time, I've met Tanya. Tanya is a lawyer working in Delaware, and we've been dating for almost two months. Things couldn't be going better and we have an absolute blast every time we're together. This post is from one of those times.

These pictures are from a trip we took "down the Shore" last month. Note: if you're from the Philly area, you do NOT go down TO the Shore....you go down the Shore. Anyway, her aunt and uncle have a shore house in Sea Isle, NJ and we spent a weekend (one of the last) in 90 degree sunshine on the beach. They were very generous to let us use the place for the weekend and we thoroughly enjoyed every minute we spent there.

Great weekend, good food, a little guitar, relaxing, and great company!

Here are some shots.

A good pic from the beach:

Another good pic of the beach, and notice the sky!:And my personal favorite....
More new posts as soon as I can get them ready!!!

Yes, I Like Cats

So what?! Yous gotta problem wit dat?! (Think: Philly accent when reading that last line).

Anyway, I saw this on a radio show's website and thought it was hysterical. The person who made it added some sound effects, but it's still very funny.

This cat might even be dumber than Renegade!

http://www.noob.us/entertainment/cat-vs-printer/

The Finer Things...

I wish I had remembered my camera last night, and Tanya's phone wasn't working; but it would have been nice to capture this moment on film.

Last night I had a martini while sitting in the Diamond Club section at the Phillies game. Very, very nice.

She shares season tickets with some other lawyers in her office, and we went to last night's game against the Brewers. The Phils won, 6-3 and it was a great time. The Diamond Club is the section directly behind home plate and we were 17 rows up (about 50 m from home plate)! It was also the first time I've ever had draft Stella Artois at a baseball game.

After getting some food, we were sitting in the exclusive Diamond Club bar and I noticed that it was in fact, a full bar. I mentioned that I never thought I'd be in a position to drink a martini and sit in the stands at a baseball game. With that, Tanya promptly got up, went to the bar, and came back with an ice cold Beefeater martini...up, with two olives! Granted, it was in a plastic martini glass, but hey - they have to have some rules.

In any case, it was a great time. That's the way to do baseball games - in style!

North East Triathlon Pictures

The rest of the pics are here!

Not quite Michael Phelps, but...

I was pretty proud of it!

Here I am in first place of the Male 30-34 Age Group at the Patriot's Triathlon.

There are more pictures (action shots) from the race here.