Sunday, November 30, 2008

November Update

What a busy month, so much for updating this more frequently. Plenty going on down here in South FL - and other places. A couple of big things in the five weeks that the Phillies have reigned as World Champions (World Ph*cking Champions!), so here's a quick recap what Jen and I have been up to:
  • The job. As of today, my company officially merged with Allied Waste, which means the clock is ticking on my time at Republic. I don't worry as much as Jen does about this, since I'm on two fairly important projects now (I spent the first two full weeks of Nov out in Scottsdale, AZ for the merger - traveling can really be tiring). Still it's somewhat unsettling to have the full responsibilities of being a "grown up" and staring at yet another job change.
  • Speaking of travel, we got to head to Philly for my cousin Corey's wedding - pictures here. It was a great weekend and wonderful wedding, even though we got there late because the bride's brother-in-law (uh, I guess that makes him my cousin in law) Mark took us the slowest way possible from Cherry Hill to Camden. Otherwise though, great ceremony, fun reception, some good food, and plenty of drinks. It is the Irish side of the family. Congrats Corey and Eric - and their adorable boy Cameron!
  • Also that weekend, we had quite a Friday night in Philly. I arrived early, and after eventually making my way to Jeff's, he and I met up with Lehman, Caniz, and Rick for happy hour... you can probably guess how this went (click the wedding pics above and look at the first few for a glimpse). Poor Jen - she had an earlier flight and because of some work stuff, she had to take the later one - which of course got delayed because of the weather. So she didn't get there until 1am, so you can imagine the freak show she walked into. Oh yea, Martin is drinking again, I remember why we used to get in so much trouble down here. Great time fellas, it was nice to come home and not have to juggle a while bunch of conflicting plans and just head out for an old-fashioned night out at home. Good times.
  • Thanksgiving in Florida... what another fun, tiring, eventful weekend. It was a weekend of firsts - first holiday in our new house, first "real" holiday being married, first time hosting Thanksgiving dinner, first Shady Banks Turkey Bowl, first swim in the canal, first FL high school football game (Jen's HS is #2 in the nation). Heck, even first wedding for Sari. See below for all the details.
  • The Turkey Bowl was a success - unless you were Trevor or Mike and had to nurse a weekend warrior injury on Friday. At one point (once the Opre brothers showed up) we had 13 guys out there. In the end, we took an OT W/tie, giving those guys the last two possessions to make up a 5-3 deficit. They did. Oh well. Jen hosted the ladies with Mimosas, and they got to cheerlead for some of the game, even being impressed with some of our "athletic ability". Obviously the gals haven't been around top-quality athletes in some time. Still, it was a TON of fun, and we're going to figure out how to have a monthly football game here. To top it off, the first swim from our dock took place after a few post-game beverages; I've been itching to hop in the canal but just haven't done so yet. Now that the ice is broken, I'll be in our "temporary pool" much more often. For the record, the water is brackish, almost freshwater, and warm, and the bottom is just coarse sand and not the Jersey Shore muck I'm used to.
  • Dinner was at our house; Luke and Lyn got a last minute trip to Europe that left Thanksgiving night, so we scrambled a bit and pulled off one heck of a meal. Jen was QUITE the Betty Crocker in the kitchen; I was pretty darn impressed. We only had 7 of us for dinner, but it was quite a bit of fun. Mike was in charge of the turkey fryer, Grandpa brought the desserts (well, there were a bunch of desserts there from the Turkey Bowl), our friends Sam and Julie took care of some of the sides, but Jen was the hostess with the mostess. I took care of the "entertaining", limping around to fill everyone's drink. We had a great time, even Grandpa had plenty to eat and drink, and (as the pictures show) the Sambuca took quite a hit. A great first holiday in the Sharpe house!
  • Saturday night we had Sari's wedding, preceded by Florida-FSU fiasc, er I mean, game. I was sporting the old school CMU #86, which vaguely resembles FSU's jerseys. It didn't help. They got spanked. As the game wound down, we got dressed, I pimped it out in the tux (black tie wedding), and we headed to the Ritz-Carlton. It was quite a place (an understatement) - the pics are at the end of the Thanksgiving link. Congrats to Sari and Michael and we'll see you guys out in LA one of these days soon! Oh yea, quick post-script, Fred and I got dressed in the tuxes on Sunday and had bloody marys (and a few other drinks) around Fort Lauderdale. I can't imagine what everyone was thinking (other than what the F is wrong with these fools in tuxes and flip flops), it's just too bad there was no 1pm Eagles game at the Parrot. Oh yea, and I helped Fred take his boat out too - even piloting it from his Dad's place to the ramp around the corner. It's not a big deal for most guys down here, but when you're in a tux, you've had a few drinks the day after a long Saturday night, and it's your 2nd or 3rd time behind the helm in about 5 years, you tend to worry about things such as ramming into something or sinking the damn thing. It was fun to be behind the wheel though - Jen and I definitely need a boat someday soon!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Phinally Champs!

I'm sure the three people who read this are tired of hearing me go on and 0n about the World Series. There's not much I can add to the extended coverage (ok, "extended" being last week on philly.com and some SportsCenter spots) although I am pissed that ESPN2 didn't get the parade on like they did for the Sawx in 2004. Then again, they might have had advance warning on Utley's sweet speech - tell 'em Chase! A few things before we hit the showers this morning:
  • Haven't seen many teams play that cohesively in recent memory. Yea, they collectively stunk with runners in scoring position, and it's not like any particular Phillie picked up the team and put them on his back. The little guys did a little bit of everything to win the game, and that's what separates the champs from the good teams. Philly sports have for the most part been good teams in the last 25 years, but almost to a fault, they didn't have that contribution from the non-headliners when it mattered most.
  • Cole Hamels might not be the most overpowering guy on a big league mound, but there's very few other guys I'd want out there when it mattered. And the kid is 24. It seems like he's been in the bigs for quite awhile, but this was only his third season.
  • I've got too much Phillies stuff to upload, so just go over to the700level.com for pretty much everything I'd want to link to. Take a look at Harry the K...with accompanying video for sure, it's 12 minutes of what baseball should sound like.
  • I missed the biggest party in Philly in God knows how many years, and yes, I was jealous. Work sucked that Friday... I should have been here instead.
  • Work also sucked on Thursday because the Parrot became a zoo scene on Wednesday night. There were bottles of champagne being sprayed everywhere, the place was LOUD for the entire 9th inning, and shots were lined up everywhere. Guys (and gals) were going nuts, and the normal Parrot crew - John, Pat, John, Josh and Erin, a bunch of guys whose names I always forget, even Opre - went nuts together. Of course, I made it an interesting night by forgetting to sign off my tab, taking a cab halfway home then hopping out, and somehow ending up by Beach Place where an EMS guy gave me the once-over when he found me stumbling around in the grass. Whoops. Luckily Opre happened to pass by and was able to convince these guys he could give me a lift home. Probably celebrated a little too much, but hey, it was 25 years, whaddya expect? And I temp. lost my phone too - luckily some dude found it and got it back to me, although the screen is busted and the memory chip doesn't seem to have any of the pictures and videos I got.
  • Finally, there's a great post somewhere on the700level.com that talks about who this championship was for. All those fans who have suffered as adults, the guys my age who were in 2nd grade when Tommy Gee skipped class to go to the parade and I mistakenly figured I'd have my chance to go soon, for my cousins who are in high school and at GMU and Temple who have only known sports frustration.... it's for everyone, and unless you have lived through it with the dedication and heartbreak similar to Philly sports fans, you won't understand. I hope someday soon my buddies from Cleveland get their day, 'cause it's a chill-inducing feeling that brings a goofy smile to my face every time I think about it. So for Dad and Jay, for my cousins and uncles and Johnny Santarpio, for the Eustace fellas, and Caniz and Freed and Lehman and Jeff, for the Parrot crew, and the many, many people (most of whom I know only by face or first name) that I've shared the ups and downs of Philly sports with (and yes, that includes Jen)... this one's for you. Enjoy it. We've earned it. And thank you to those 25 guys and Uncle Cholly for reaching the summit. You've earned a place in our sporting hearts forever.
Time to get to work. I'm sure I'll have my first political post tonight or tomorrow. In the meantime, it's been all of 7 days and the World Champs - excuse me Chase, that's World Phucking Champions - are still making me smile.