Una Pinata para Amy

Feliz cumpleanos a ti

Feliz cumpleanos a ti

Feliz cumpleanos querida Amy

Feliz cumpleanos a ti

Some people like a quiet birthday party with a few close friends and a basic birthday cake. Amy is not "some people". For her 24th, she and her roommates planned a fun evening, complete with good stuff like:a princess cake, finger foods, plenty of friends, and [drumroll, please! badabadabadabadabada]a unicorn pinata. Happy 24th, Amy!

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"In the Name of Love", "I Will Follow" an "Angel of Harlem" on a "Beautiful Day" "Where the Streets Have No Name"

I feel like music fans generally have a list of a few bands they'd love to see in concert at some point during their lives. I've been able to see some of mine so far, including Metallica, Coldplay, Rascal Flatts, and the Dixie Chicks. Okay, so that last one isn't actually on my "must see" list, but I've still seen them, and they put on a decent show. Anywho... fate smiled on me and I was able to see another one of the big ones: U2. Yeah, maybe you've heard of them?Christina, Steph, Becky, and I met up in Old Town and drove together to FedEx Field. Amazingly, there wasn't total gridlock on the freeway, so we made good time and were even able to find a parking space quickly. We snagged some Johnny Rockets and found our seats during the opening act, which was Muse. A couple of their songs were recognizable, but we aren't huge fans or anything, so we were just whetting our whistles for the main attraction which was to come.Marcia came and we all enjoyed watching the show from our birds-eye-view seats. We had a perfect view of the spaceship/praying mantis stage, complete with walkways surrounding a fan area, so some people were in the inner circle right by U2. Plus, four Brazilians were sitting in front of us, and they were quite entertaining both to talk with and watch during the show.One thing I'll tell you for sure. U2 has a plethora of recognizable and sing-along-able songs. I felt like almost the whole time we were joining in and having a great time with it. [A long aside, if I may: I realized that during one song Bono let the crowd do the singing. He was just hanging out. Then I realized that lots of bands do this at their concerts. Then I realized that we as audience members pay good money to attend these concerts and listen to talented and polished band members sing and play for us. They're taking our money and then making us sing to ourselves! Lazy singers, making us do the work when we're paying to hear them! Just an observation. Ok, that's enough ranting for one blogpost.]

U2 sang/played[/let us sing] for 2 hrs and 15 mins, and that's a lot of time to fit in great music. The setlist included such favorites as "One", "Where the Streets Have No Name", "Beautiful Day", "Vertigo", "With or Without You", and "Sunday Bloody Sunday", plus a whole lot more.After 2 or 3 encores, they called it a night and walked off the stage. When the lights came up, we knew it was over and started to head for the car. Time = 11:15. It maybe took 20 mins to get to the car. Then it took another 45 mins to get out of the parking lot (no thanks to jerkyfaces who don't honor the allow-a-car-then-go rule. If you don't know that rule, call me or email me and I'll be happy to explain. It's one of the fundamental building blocks of car etiquette, but it was being brazenly disregarded at this event, and that makes me sad... and frustrated. We're talking Incredible Hulk frustrated. After taking Marcia to her car downtown, we finally got home at about 1 AM. It was a looooong night, but worth it to see the legendary U2 live in concert.

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Takes a Licking...

Young man, there's no need to feel down.

I said, young man, pick yourself off the ground.

I said, young man, 'cause you're in a new town.

There's no need to be unhappy.

Young man, there's a place you can go.

I said, young man, when you're short on your dough.

You can stay there, and I'm sure you will find

Many ways to have a good time.

"YMCA" by the Village People

For the past 10 years, the Roanoke Valley YMCA has held a fund raiser that brings triathletes from all over the state (and some from other states, of course). The Big Lick Triathlon was a great event and very well put together. Smith Mountain Lake is a beautiful setting and the recent rain made the scenery green and lush.My race was fairly standard, with a little run drama due to my unhappy IT band. Using kinesio tape helped for most of the race, but the rain during the bike ride made the tape fail during the run. Oh well, it was good while it lasted, and maybe I can find a better way to adhere it to my skin. Superglue?In her final race of the season, Julie tore it up and came in 3rd in her division. Great job, Julie!

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Those Poor, Unfortunate Murderous Villains

"The 2nd most poignant super-villain tale of our generation."

-Aaron Smyth

Do you love superheroes? Do you love reality TV show camera confessionals? Do you love Doogie Howser... I mean... Neil Patrick Harris? Then have I got a treat for you!

Today I came across a fantastic internet film called Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Between this and Wicked, I'll never look at villains the same way again. As the great Phil Collins once sang, "We always need to hear both sides of the story."Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is a short film (three 14-min. acts for a total of 42 mins), so you can watch the whole thing in less than an evening, or just on your lunch break. Take a little time and watch it HERE. I think you'll be glad you did.

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Red Sox 3 - Orioles 1

ESPN probably summarized tonight's Red Sox vs. Orioles baseball game with details such as:

• Clay Buchholz (BOS) bested Jeremy Guthrie (BAL), though they both pitched pretty well.
• Jason Bay (BOS) and Luke Scott (BAL) hit home runs.
• Jonathan Papelbon finished it off for yet another save.

What you won't get from that ESPN story is all the fun that Shonni and I had at the game and all the delicious (and nutritionally-vacuous) foods we inhaled. For example, at the hot dog line, a girl slipped under the rope to get in line with her friends. I joked with them about being careful that the rest of the line behind didn't start callin them "butters" like back in elementary. I thought that'd be the last time I ever saw these people. To my surprise, about 15 minutes later (after Shonni and I had found our seats), this exact same trio came walking up the stairs towards us and sat down right next to us.

The guy with these two girls looked very familiar, but I couldn't put a name with the face. I just figured he must have one of those faces, ya know? Well, I was wrong. As we got to know them, the guy turned out to be ex-NBA basketball player David Wesley, and the lady who butted in the hot dog line was a Cleveland Cavaliers executive. Awesome.Now where were those seats, you may ask? I mean, they must be excellent seats, in order to be by an ex-NBA player and a basketball team executive. Right? Wrong. Our seats just so happened to be on the very top row of the entire stadium. We even had the chain link fence behind us to keep us from falling backwards to our deaths. These nosebleeds seats were, however, directly behind home plate. Which means we had a great view of the whole field, even if we had to squint to see what was going on down there.According to one of our new friends, people from Boston have another name for Oriole Park at Camden Yards. They've dubbed it "Fenway South". Shonni and I noticed early on how many Red Sox fans there were in attendance, and we decided that our friend's nickname for the ballpark is quite appropriate. There were even times during the game that Red Sox fans would start a chant for their team, and it dominated the whole crowd. So much so that if you didn't know it, you'd think you were at a Red Sox home game. Now that's a display of passionate fans to show up en masse at an away game! Here's me with the base of what used to be a #8 statue for Cal Ripken, Jr. Last week, some numbskulls took it for a joyride around the city. They got busted and I'm sure the Orioles will put it back eventually, but they're probably figuring out how to make it more secure and less likely to be the victim of a 5-finger discount.

And no trip to the ballpark would be complete without those yummy foods. Here's our 9-inning food intake:

• 2nd inning: hot sausage dog with mustard and peppers
• 3rd-5th inning: nachos & french fries
• 8th inning: Dibs ice cream snacks [Note - Where have these been all my life?!? Tasty and little-to-none of the mess normally associated with ice cream. Genius!]

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Laws of the Universe

There are some laws of the universe that we're all familiar with. Some are scientific, like gravity and intertia. Then there are some that are societal laws and well-known, like Murphy's and the Peter Principle.

Today I realized that there is one more. Not sure if someone has already identified it, but if not, then I dub it the Aaron Law. And the law is thus:

"When you have the most work to do, that is when you will find the best time-wasting websites."

My example for today: My Life is Average. Enjoy!

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Going Private

Hey y'all. I've decided to go private with this blog. I know this is tragic news for all the voyeuristic pervs out there, but it's time for you to face your demons and come clean on wanting to follow my blog on a regular basis in the light of day.

I'll try to invite as many of you as I'm aware of, but if you aren't on my list, just ask me and I'll approve it. I'm thinking I'll do the actual privatization on next Sunday, thereby giving you a full week to see this post and let me know you want in.

In return, I promise to provide continued reading material and pictures (including extreme and awkward close-ups like this):Happy reading!

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Crash and Burn: A Triathlon Story

A) I love running races right in Washington DC. There's just something so cool about running past national monuments and the highest seats of power in this great nation.

B) I love running triathlons. I've been doing them about 10 years now, and I've loved racing in lots of different states, from Utah to New York to Florida.

As they always said in math class, A + B = C

C) Since I moved to DC a couple years ago, I've wanted to compete in the Nation's Triathlon, and this year I had my chance.

I debated even showing up for registration, since my IT band has been bothering me a lot this summer, but I decided on Saturday to go for it. Getting signed in and dropping my bike off on time was then a close call, but we made it just in time. I woke up early on Sunday morning and drove across the bridge, parking my car near the Jefferson Memorial.

Swim
Supposedly, the Potomac River is pretty gross. I've always heard that, but swimming in it wasn't bad at all, at least in terms of water quality. The Schuylkill River, which I swam in for the 2006 Philadelphia Insurance Triathlon, was much dirtier and definitely had more debris in the water. Ew. Starting the swim going upstream was a little bit of a challenge, though, and my time showed it. [Swim time = a slow 34:09]Bike
Loved, loved, loved this bike course! Gentle rollers along smooth roads. That's a recipe for a fast bike split. My only qualm with the bike course was that the dismount was kinda sudden. As in, little to no warning that it was time to dismount. As in, I couldn't get my foot out quick enough and had a major wipeout for all the spectators to watch in horror and amazement. [Bike time = a fast 1:12:50 (and that's including the crash)]Run
Oh the run. That fickle, foul friend. Sometimes he's got your back, and sometimes he takes the opportunity to stab you in the back. Today was, sadly, the latter. I was rockin' and rollin' for about 4.5 miles, and then the debilitating shots of pain began exploding from my IT band.Let's just say that the last 1.7 miles were "off pace". Many of the people I'd blown by since the start of the run went plodding past me during my walk breaks, and that was hard to stomach. When I finally limped across the line, I immediately went to the med tent and got some ice and an ACE bandage for my IT band, and that helped a lot. [Run time = a painful 56:42]On the bright side, I realized that even with my terrible last 1.7 miles of the run, my total time (including transitions) was 2:47:57. Not blazing fast, but encouraging considering that it could have been about 10 minutes faster without the IT band issues. And that time still equated to an overall placing of 1,349/3,933 participants.

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You Can Always Go... Downtown!

There's always something happening in Washington, DC. Especially on the weekends. And fortunately, much of the time the activities available can be free.

TeaParty

We were walking towards the US Capitol and there was a large gathering of people carrying signs, some wearing costumes. Turns out that today was a Tea Party day, and conservatives all across the country held rallies near government buildings to voice their concerns and show solidarity for their chosen causes. We didn't stay long, but we did get a kick out of reading their signs and seeing some of the 18th Century costumes.

Library of Congress

Though I've lived in DC for over 2 years, I hadn't been to the Library of Congress. So it was nice to see this historic building that houses so much knowledge. We got to see the main room (as made famous in National Treasure 2, I believe) and Thomas Jefferson's book collection, and the Gershwin's piano, plus lots of cool architecture around the building and paintings (frescos?) on the ceilings.

Opera in the Outfield

Just like last year, the Kennedy Center sponsored a free simulcast showing of a famous opera to Nationals Ballpark. We brought a blanket, dinner, and some snacks, and set up down in the outfield. [Note: that grass is marvelous. So soft and cushy, and the perfect height. I would love to get to play softball down there someday.] This time, the opera performed was the Barber of Seville, and I enjoyed it greatly. Knowing Spanish helped with understanding what's going on, as the opera was in Italian, but just the visuals and their voices make for a great experience.

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Franks for the Memories

I met Frank Magana soon after I arrived in the Washington DC area. He's one of those outgoing guys that makes it easy to be friends. Plus, he loves trying new things and seeing what this world has to offer. So, naturally, we ended up at the same activities and became buddies.

During my time here, Frank's been involved in some of our most fun adventures, including 80's parties, Dairy Godmother runs, 4th of July patriotism, countless birthday celebrations, beach trips, wedding receptions, and a whole lotta sweet nights of clubbin'.

There has also been one more type of activity: farewell parties. And sadly, on this night, we gathered to wish the one and only Frank Magana a safe journey back to his home city of Chicago. As you can see in the following pictures, he was very loved and there will be many here who'll miss him, including me.

Chicago had better treat you right, Frank, or we're taking you back. You're always welcome here in DC.

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Ms. Smyth Goes to Washington

My sister Megan had some time off from work, and she wanted to see DC, which I think is a fantastic idea (though I'm biased, since I mostly just want to see as much family as I can, all the time). This blogpost is my brief account of her visit. For her more-expertly-written account, see here, here, and here.

Saturday: Shonni and I picked Megan up from BWI airport, and we stopped in Bethesda, MD, on our way back for some food. We decided on a place that serves Indian food, but on our way walking there, we passed a burger joint (aptly named BGR: The Burger Joint) and some guys that were buying the signature dish, "The 9 Pounder". Wow!After eating our tasty Indian food, we stopped at a little park near Reagan National airport (DCA) to watch airplanes taking off and landing. Sadly, we got there a little late and the wind direction was wrong, so we didn't get to see too many planes.

Sunday: We went to church in the morning, and I enjoyed showing off my cute sister and introducing her to the fellas in my ward. And I must say, the guys didn't mind meeting Megan, but there was a definite sad face they'd get when they found out she was just in town for the weekend and it wasn't a permanent move she'd made. Sorry for getting your hopes up, guys! In the evening, we drove downtown to see a free performance in front of the US Capitol by the National Symphony Orchestra. Weather was finicky, and before the NSO had even played a song, there was a delay due to rain. Just before we were going to head back to the car, the skies cleared up a bit and the show continued. They played some songs we knew, some we knew well enough to sing along with, and some we didn't know but thoroughly enjoyed. They stopped for an intermission, and apparently the heavens didn't like that, because they started crying. Based on the dark skies, we determined that was the end of the show for us, and we made our way quickly back to the car, getting totally soaked in the process.Monday: For Megan's birthday, a group of us went down to an amusement park called King's Dominion. We spent almost the entire day down there, and we rode all the rides we wanted to since, to our great surprise on a holiday, the park wasn't totally packed. And we were even able to go on the rides we liked multiple times without a big wait in line.Now that is the way to spend a birthday! Happy birthday, sister!Tuesday: Unfortunately, I had to work some this day, so I dropped Megan off at the DC Temple so she could do an endowment session. When I picked her up a couple hours later, we checked out some exhibits in the visitors' center before going to pick up Shonni for more sightseeing. Next we headed to the National Mall to see some of the gardens, followed by the Pentagon Memorial and Marine Corps War Memorial, commonly called the Iwo Jima Memorial by us locals. For dinner, Shonni and I took Megan to Good Stuff Eatery, which we'd just been to recently but like enough to share with others. We highly recommend the toasted marshmallow shakes and village fries, just in case you're wondering.

Wednesday: Megan had to fly out pretty early, and I was sad to say goodbye, but I'm glad that she chose to come to DC with her time off and we got to spend the weekend together. From her multiple blogposts, I get the feeling she was happy to come, too. Love you, sister!

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Hey Man, That's the Good Stuff

I'm a country boy. I'll admit it. And one of my current favorite country songs is Kenny Chesney's"The Good Stuff". It's a tender song and I love how it reminds us that the most important things are the memories we make with that special someone who makes our heart skip a beat.

Well, that a long introduction to the place we went for shakes tonight. It's in Washington DC (3 blocks from the Capitol on Pennsylvania Ave) and it's called Good Stuff Eatery. They have a simple menu, a modern decor, and a charismatic owner/operator named Spike who was a contestant on Top Chef a while back.We got an order of Village Fries (covered in rosemary, thyme, and sea salt), a toasted marshmallow shake, and a Milky Way malt. Three items, one word: delish. If you're in DC and need a shake, we highly recommend this place. Plus, I've had the burgers there before, and they're quite tasty. I'm pretty sure we'll take my sister Megan there when she comes into town, just so she can enjoy the good stuff at Good Stuff.

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