The Smyths Take Manhattan

Note: I'm finishing this post in Jan 2012, so I'll keep it brief and use lots of pictures. Better late than never, right?
We had just as much goofiness as the Muppets, but not quite a much fur.

I took the bus up to NYC, and my parents, Pete, Jordyn, and I had a weekend of Big Apple excitement.

My dad was in conference meetings during the first day, so we figured a good way to see lots of sites in a short amount of time was one of those touristy buses. Cue the Gray Line.

The tour was taking longer than we'd expected, so we hopped off at Battery Park and walked around for a little bit, looking over at the Statue of Liberty for a bit and grabbing an ice cream.

The rest of the tour bus was informative and finished back at Time Square, where we met up with dad for a quick bite to eat and watching sand-sculptors work on a Fleet Week project.

In production

The finished product, later in the weekend

Sand-sculptor watching was brief, as we had tickets to "Anything Goes" on Broadway. The show was quite entertaining, though a little too old-fashioned feeling for me. However, whatever the story and music/lyrics lacked was made up for by Ms. Sutton Foster's performance. I can see why she is the darling of Broadway right now. Extremely talented all around.

Pops played hooky from his meetings the next morning, so we all took the Gray Line bus to Ground Zero and saw the progress so far on the 9-11 Memorial. It's come a long way, and looks like it should be ready by the 10th anniversary in September. Pretty sobering to think about and see up close.

Just chillin' on the Gray Line again

Next on the agenda? Seeing the Blue Man Group perform. Remarkable how many clever gags and technological doodads they used during the show. And not smiling or laughing at any of it! We were cracking up from the get-go and didn't stop until we had left the building. I can't imagine how much fun that job must be.

We didn't have a whole lot of time before I had to head to the bus the next day, but we went up to Central Park, ate at Alice's Tea Cup (I highly recommend it, especially if you get there early before the crowds), and snagged some ginormous dessert cookies from Levain Bakery.

Riding the subway

While waiting for our Alice's Tea Cup table,
Pete & Jordyn looked very metropolitan

A little Alice's Tea Cup magnet shout-out to my running group

The whole visit was lots of fun, mostly because I was with the family and I love seeing them.

So where shall we meet up next? Count me in for wherever.

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From One Fan to Another

Note: this is not a post about homosexuality or gay rights or same-sex marriage. It's about respect for each other as human beings.

If you've watched ESPN or just about any news this week, you've heard that Joakim Noah of the Chicago Bulls used a homophobic slur towards a fan attending Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat. Here's ESPN's synopsis of the event.

First, I don't agree with what Joakim said. It was hurtful and wrong,

and being in the heat of the moment does not excuse it.

Second, there is no room for this type of language, in or out of the world of sports.

I applaud the NBA for taking this issue head-on, such as helping with this commercial encouraging creative trashtalk and discouraging the old, stupid homophobic trashtalk.

Now maybe the NBA can come out with a commercial to let fans know intelligent commentary and trashtalk is also expected from the stands...

I fully agree with Joakim's teammate, Luol Deng, who condemned what was said and added that the fan should have been thrown out.

"[Noah's] got to do a better job of controlling his emotions," Deng said. "But at the same time, us as players, everyone is always watching us. And Jo kind of lost his temper, he shouldn't have, but that fan should have been out of the game. He should have been thrown out way before. He just kept going at him and we're in an emotional game like that, and things aren't going Jo's way, it's just human nature to just react. I know Jo and I know he didn't mean what he said at all."[Full article]

Buying a ticket doesn't mean you can say anything you want.

You pay for the opportunity to see remarkable feats of athleticism and potentially history-making performances, not the right to belittle and jeer the players.

I do have to give props to Joakim for not repeating what was said by the fan, for whatever reason, because it was also probably something quite offensive.

It's time that other fans start standing up for respectful behavior and alert security to these types of fans. Imagine you were at the game with your child. Would you want some guy in the row ahead of you cussing and using derogatory terms? I sincerely hope not.

Let's stand up for respecting other human beings, and hopefully these stories can both stop distracting us from the amazing games being played and become a thing of the past.

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Susie Subaru is Sick

I love my car.

She's treated me well ever since I got her right after returning from my mission.

She's taken me across the country three times; on road trips and site seeing; to ballgames and birthdays; to countless triathlons and races; and in my daily commutes to work, church, friends' houses, and running errands.

As I like to do, my Subaru was named using a little alliteration: Susan Subaru.

Clearly she's a sporty gal, so she goes by Susie for short.

Here is a Disney short about another car named Susie. While Disney's Susie is a blue coupe, and my Susie is a green wagon, the video alludes to today's events and the purpose of this post (if you're strapped for time just skip the video):

Today my beloved Susie got sick.

She started squealing and giving off a faint burning smell, so I pulled over and checked under the hood. There was definitely a little smoke rising up around the belts, so I used water to cool her off and let her sit for a few minutes. I decided to head straight home and take her into the shop first thing in the morning.

We didn't make it home.

About 6 blocks from the check stop, and 6 blocks from home, she gave up. Engine died and all the check engine, oil, etc lights came on. No more smoking or flames or explosions, but still not good signs.

Some nice passers-by gave me a push so I could get onto a side street, which was greatly appreciated. After sorting things out with AAA and waiting a considerable amount of time for the tow truck, Susie had been carried to a nearby repair shop and we'll find out what the damage is after they've run some diagnostics.

Get better soon, Susie!

Update on 5/24: Picked her up from the repair shop today.

2 days and $988 later, she's back on the road.

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Muddy, Turkey Leg-Gobbling Warriors

Ever heard of the Warrior Dash? If not, you need to look into one near you. So much fun!

We had a good-sized group of runner friends that met up to run the Budds Creek, MD, race on Saturday.

Look how nice and clean we started out.

That was before we ran through a muddy forest, climbed over cargo nets,

ran over hay bales, jumped over fire lines, and crawled through a mud pit.

And here is what we looked like afterward.

There just something so soul-cleansing about getting absolutely filthy this way.

Note: scrubbing out the cuts on my knees later wasn't quite as enjoyable.

Look how happy Brenan's tummy is to have done this race and gotten so dirty.

Of course, you have to celebrate becoming an official warrior with a big turkey leg.

We could only fake being tough guys for about 15 seconds. This is the real us.

I don't know how it happens, but I always see the Holly and Amber at races in the DC area.

Look forward to inevitably seeing you two at the next one!

Yep, that's a pile of shoes. Mine are in there somewhere. Props to the race directors for washing these all and giving them to kids in third-world countries that need shoes.

See you next year, my fellow Warriors! And we will recruit more for our pillaging and plundering!

Update on 5/24: Just saw the results, and I took 714th out of over 8,700 runners.

Maybe I'd have made a decent Viking after all...

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No Mo "Macho Man"

Another WWF/WCW legend has been lost.

I remember watching the "Macho Man" as a kid

and loving hearing his raspy yelling voice,

when he'd threaten to snap another wrestler in half.

Now that raspy voice can rest.

RIP "Macho Man" Randy Savage

Full story [here]

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My Work Day Today

7:00 Wake up. Say I'm getting up and then don't.

8:15 Wake up again. Get ready for work.

8:35 Leave for work. Stuck in traffic on 50 so it takes a bit to get to GW Parkway. Fast from there.

9:15 Arrive at work. Do stuff to earn the Benjamins.

11:30 Head to department picnic.

~1:00 Work day is over. Head to golf course with my manager to play 18 holes.

Some days, I really love my life.

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Spirit to Serve

Doing service feels good. We all know that.

Service is one reason I'm grateful that each year of my professional career,

I've had a day set aside by my employer for service in the community.

With Deloitte, as part of "Impact Day", I got to clean up a school yard in southwest DC (2008) and work on the sloth bears exhibit at the National Zoo (2009). On my first Marriott "Spirit to Serve" day (2010), our team went to a neighborhood park

[read about it here and see pic of Ryan and me below].

This year, we were scheduled to do painting and pruning at a therapeutic riding horse farm. Due to rain, not as many went up for that, and I ended up back at Marriott HQ.

The time was put to good use, though, doing various craft projects for the sick kids at The Children's Inn at NIH. We tried to be creative and make them fun, and these are some examples of the journals that I came up with:

I tried to make some guy ones, since most of the volunteers on this project were ladies and chose to make girly ones with lots of pink and purple and hearts and that sort of stuff. Little boys need to have something to remind them of sports and playing, too, right?

Thanks to companies like Deloitte, Marriott, and others that recognize they are part of the community and can do so much to benefit less-fortunate people around them.

And these days are a great reminder that we can also do service with our church groups or friends or even on our own anytime we'd like!

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Grahamwiches

Just a quick shout-out to my mom.

This is a little treat that my mom makes with

the leftover frosting when she bakes a cake.

I've grown fond of skipping the cake part and

going straight to the grahamwiches.

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War Games: A Birthday Story

This weekend a group of us went down to Richmond to celebrate my friend Angela's birthday. Most of us got in late on Friday night, so we all chatted for a bit, ate Angela's first birthday cake (Virginia-shaped, even), and then went to bed.

And on Saturday the real fun began. Of course, it started with a birthday cake/orange roll pull-apart baked by Russ and Cara.

Very tasty!

Chippenham Hospital

This is where Angela was born, and she hadn't been back in the 26 years since.

After trying to make it in time for lunch in the cafeteria (sadly, we were too late), we grabbed some ice cream out of the vending machine, played with the face masks, and headed to the nursery to see her first ever tanning salon -- yay for jaundice -- and bedroom.

Dang, we make masks look good.

Be careful. The birthday fun is communicable.

Angela recalling her first moments here on earth.

Carnies

Just down the street, a street carnival was in action, so we couldn't pass up that opportunity. We took a leisurely ride on the ferris wheel, almost puked from the g-forces on another ride, and did our best not to focus on the "small hands, smell like cabbage" folk soliciting our money on rigged games.

Matt getting hornswoggled (after I got bamboozled by the same fellow)

Riding the ferris wheel!

Ready to take out some aggression

Angela and Matt attacking each other with their prizes

These would come in handy later. Keep reading to see how.

Picasso? Sorry, No

The VMFA was in its final days of hosting the traveling Picasso exhibit, so we wanted to go check it out. To our chagrin, the exhibit was 100% sold out -- even with extended-til-midnight hours). Since we were there, we got our culture on by checking out the American art, including the original "Outlaw" cowboy statue by Remington (buy a copy here).

Carytown

Richmond has a cool little street that sorta reminds me of Old Town Alexandria, VA and/or Park City, UT. It's called Carytown and is appropriately on Cary Street. There are lots of trendy clothing and food spots all along the "mile of style". First, Matt took us to For the Love of Chocolate, which maybe wasn't the smartest on empty stomachs (for our wallets, at least).

For real food, we continued down the street to Carytown Burgers and Fries where we got our much-needed grub on. Then we made a quick stop at CVS for some supplies and hula-hooping competitions. Cara was dominant. She made it look effortless.

Shakira would be proud of Cara's hip action.

War Games

Due to copious quantities of rain and a power outage at Matt's house, our plans for a bonfire and watching a movie were nixed. But never fear; when we stopped by Target for the ladies to get matching pajama pants, the fellas prepared for war by snagging a whole bunch of $5 Nerf assault rifles and plenty of batteries. We played three different games:

1. Hold the fort: Two teams. One team tries to invade and take out the other team. There was some great innovation with this game: use of mattresses as shields, going around the house outside for a sneak attack through the side door, etc.
2. Zombie invasion: Not sure why we called it this, maybe just because it's catchy. One person starts and all others hide. When you're found and shot, you join the zombie crew. Quick game, but fun trying to hide and/or run from the zombies before being shot, then joining the zombie in hunting.
3. Predator: By far my favorite. One person (the predator) is downstairs with a soft plastic club--acquired at the carnival earlier in the day. All others are upstairs, and are sent down individually at one minute intervals with only 2 bullets. Predator tries to club you; you try to shoot predator. Loved feeling like you're being hunted and trying to be ready for an attack at any moment, then the rush in the midst of the assault.

Don't mess with this rowdy crowd

Exhausted from the excitement of battling and hunting and clubbing and shooting, we had some home-mixed shakes and hunkered down to watch Matt's favorite movie on a laptop (still no power) and then catch some zzz's.

On Sunday morning, we woke up, got ready, and ate some delicious crepes and waffles for breakfast--thanks to Angela, her cousin, and her parents.

Finally, we finished the weekend off with one last "cake" (see below; it was a buttercake, get it?) for Angela. Apparently there's some inside joke about this, but she was so happy about it that I got a kick out of it, too.

Then she opened some presents we'd bought for her at the VMFA and some of her own stuff that we'd found and wrapped up.

Thanks for such a fun weekend, Angela! We're glad you were born!

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