This Weekend

I went to Friday's Knicks vs Lakers game at Madison Square Garden with A. and we got to see first-hand what all this Jeremy Lin hype was about. Wow and to think that this talent was just sitting around waiting to be noticed.

Letters M, N, W, and Y were added to the Souvenir Foto School project.

I washed practically every textile in my house (clothes, bed sheets, couch covers, curtains, carpets) out of fear of having bed bugs. It took nearly four hours and too many trips up and down a fourth floor walk-up.

Two days later, I realized that I probably don't have bed bugs. I get one more mysterious bite though and I'm out of here.

The Painted Veil so did not end as I thought it would...

I started taking advantage of NY Sports Club's 30 Days for $30 deal along with Anonymous. Painful but fun.

Whitney Houston passed away at the age of 48. My sister sent along this video of the Dubai Fountains synchronized to "I Will Always Love You" today and yes, I cried a bit.

So Let Me Finally Tell You About My Weekend

These photo-filled posts take me quite a while to create (which is why there's an ever-growing list of travel posts that get put on the back burner), but I really wanted to show and tell you about my weekend because it was just so good. Last Thursday's post had me feeling a bit spazzed because of allergies and an impending deadline, but luckily writing the story was a breeze. I'm actually quite proud to say that it's for the fourth issue of Anthology magazine! (Remember my write-up on the premiere issue last year?) (Okay, just read the comments and apparently Intense Guy is a bit of a psychic!) Six months after meeting co-founder Meg Mateo Ilasco (and Joy Cho) at a "Creative, Inc." book signing event and expressing interest in contributing to her new mag, I landed an assignment. All has been going well and hopefully I'll get another chance to write for a future issue. I'll be sure to let you all know when the story's out.

Because I was scheduled to work for BET.com on Sunday and then hanging out with friends that night, I treated Mom and the sibs to a Mother's Day outing a day early. It was a bit of a slow start and my intentions for lunch quickly turned into an early dinner, but it was such a nice time. We rarely ever eat a meal together let alone go out to a restaurant as a family so this really meant a lot. Everyone behaved, we shared some laughs and I'm proud to see that my "little" brother has begun to shed his "too cool for everything" act. Guantanamera's Cuban cuisine was delicious and that sangria? So sweet! (The flan was just meh though.) I really want us to plan more moments like this. You hear that, sibs?!

Because things often have a way of, um, escalating when the parentals get together, I decided to keep the restaurant event to just us four and that was all right by Dad. Besides, right after the meal, I was taking him and A. to the Mets v Dodgers game at CitiField. The sappy girlfriend in me just wanted her dad and boyfriend to bond some more so what better way than by taking them to see their favorite teams go up against each other and then drag home a loser and a winner? Dad teased A. pretty frequently and came out the victor, but A. was a good sport about it all. He really likes my dad. Or maybe the poor guy was still feeling defeated about the Lakers' third loss against the Mavericks in the NBA playoffs the night before.

Aside from having a fun time with these two foolios, I also got to see three friends at the game: our friends Zack and Jona and my grad school BFF, Kimmie, who regularly covers the Mets and the Yankees and gave us a quick tour inside the press box. Sweet, huh? Actually, it was pretty quiet and just lined with tables and chairs with people tapping away at their laptops, but for a moment I was cool by association when A. called Zack right up to tell him all about our Amazing Adventure.

Sunday morning, I woke up early to start posting stories onto BET's site while lucky A. slept peacefully in my room. I somehow convinced him to stick around until the end of my 9-to-5 shift by letting him watch the Lakers game on my computer. Too bad that was the game that finally ended their season. What a letdown.

But thank God for friends right?! A. had organized a trip to Brooklyn Boulders to teach some buddies how to rock climb and show off his Spider-Man skills. Although he'd originally intended to teach some how to belay, his plans were foiled by some surprise cockamamie rules at the center (something about liabilities or whatever). So he belayed all of us and then found someone who could do the same for him. Then we did some bouldering, or climbing without ropes, for the rest of the time. All in all it was a great night, albeit late as their cheaper off-peak hours are from 9-11 PM, and I'm happy to note that I'm getting quicker and more confident climbing up. Unfortunately, I still shriek and shake on my way back down.

So, was your weekend as exciting as mine was?

Images: some images courtesy of Damaris Ramos and Zack Hample

A Quick Trip to Yankee Stadium

Yesterday morning, A. asked me if I'd like to head to last night's Yankees vs. Orioles game with our friend Zack. A fun and spontaneous trip with the bf to finally see the new stadium and watch Zack in ballhawking action? "Sure!" I immediately replied. We got our tickets and headed over to the ballpark right after work for the 7:10 PM game. The weather was threatening, but we hoped the drizzle wouldn't pick up before the game was through.

Unfortunately, the rain started to come down as soon as we found Zack, who had already caught three balls from some Orioles players, had given one away to a little girl and was now in the middle of a phone interview for a Phillies blog, but we weren't going to let a little water scare us away. So we stood in the outfield bleachers under our umbrellas taking photos and waiting for the game to begin. Twenty minutes later, the game was officially called off. *womp, womp*

We hung around for a bit and joked about our luck before heading to Zack's to watch baseball and basketball 'til 1:30 in the morning. By the way, he's meticulous when it comes to recording details of every game attended, so go and read his blog entry about last night's game-that-didn't happen here. Oh and guess what? I later found out that my sister, her boyfriend and coworkers were also by the stadium to attend the game. Too bad I didn't know beforehand otherwise I would've swung by Billy's Sports Bar to say hello.

Image: Zack Hample

Zack Hample, Baseballs and It's a Small World

So here's a little story I've been sitting on for the past year. Remember that baseball book I mentioned at the 8:51 pm and 9:25 pm marks during the debacle known as live-blogging the 2008 All Star Game? The same one I later added to Merc3069's guest post on the Perks of Being a Sports Babe book roundup? Well imagine my surprise when, in late 2009, I walked into A.'s apartment for the first time and spotted the very book Mr. First had given me two years before.

"Omg you have this book?!" I exclaimed grabbing it off the shelf.
"Open it up," he replied from the kitchen.

Inside, the author had written "For A., who's already such a big baseball geek, he (almost) doesn't need to read this book. Thanks for making the writing group more fun, and for talking so much baseball with me." Not only did he know Zack Hample, but they were actually friends. And now I'm lucky enough to call him my buddy too.

Over the last year I've attended the writing group Zack created nine years ago, meeting in different apartments, hopping around the city and discovering a whole new circle of great friends. We'll write for an hour (sometimes I do and sometimes I just think about it), introduce ourselves and then give feedback to those who choose to share their work with the group. Well for the better part of two years, Zack has been sharing snippets as he worked on his third book "The Baseball: Stunts, Scandals, and Secrets Beneath the Stitches." This man has pored over every sentence in that book, fighting for interviews and uncovering secrets in the MLB ball-making industry that it's almost hard to believe that it was FINALLY released today! (He was even sweet enough to mention A. and me in the acknowledgments.)

Now I know not all of you give a crap about baseball (and you're probably nowhere near as obsessed with this sport as Zack is), but every time he read us a chapter from his book, you couldn't help but be intrigued or genuinely amused. It makes for such an entertaining read that even non-baseball fans will be able to glean something new without getting lost in a sea of stats. The best part (well, after the section on freak accidents caused by baseballs) comes at the end when he gives tips on how to snag your own Major League ball and as the world record holder for the most snagged game balls (4,662 to date), I'm going to go ahead and say the guy knows what he's talking about. As to what he does with all those balls? Well he gives some away to children at the end of every game he attends and he uses his yearly totals to raise money for the non-profit charity Pitch In For Baseball. Pretty stand-up guy, huh?

Incidentally, I never did get "Watching Baseball Smarter" back from Mr. First. After I returned it in a fit of breakup madness, I couldn't bring myself to ask for it back...until last summer. But by then the book had already gone missing. Last night he sent along a text during his part-time shift at his local Borders saying, "I see your bud has a new baseball book out tomorrow so I'm making sure it gets a good spot on the front of our new paperback table. He's representin' in [here]." I guess that makes up for it.

Image: zackhample.com

Happy Friday!

I feel like I finally managed to work a full week and now it's time for yet another long weekend. Before you say anything I should explain that I'm on as a contractor. Ergo, no work, no pay. Still, I won't mind getting some time to rest and turn my attention on a couple other things like painting, bowling and dinner with friends and playing with the new toys I finally connected and installed. Oh, and staying warm and cozy. What do you have in store this weekend? I mean other than checking out these links I stumbled upon...


Image: imgfave.com