22.6.05

Finally a weekend at home

I am really looking forward to a weekend at home (that is in DC) and not on the road. Not that I didn't enjoy my weekends away, but it's time for a weekend where I can sleep in my own bed until 10:00!

Since May 21st, I've been traveling each weekend. This past weekend I went home for Father's Day Eve and was in Richmond on Sunday. That was a lot of traveling for two days. Actually I went up to NJ for Father's Day as well as to see my mom. She'd just returned from India where she was for a week after her oldest brother passed away.

Anyhoo, like I said in my last post, I'm just blogging for the sake of blogging. Tonight, we're celebrating Mr. Carter's birfday. There's bound to be blog material from that!

One Year...

Wow. It's amazing how fast time flies. I've been a homeowner for exactly one year. I remember because, it was Mr. Carter's birthday when I closed and got the keys.

Don't really have much to say about it. Lieutenant Colonel Bobo (yes he's been promoted again!), Bailey, and I are right at home. However, I already am planning on my next home! Around this time next year, I will be searching for a rowhouse further north from here.

I know that it's only me and the cats but I feel like this current place is a little too small.

Anyway, I thought I'd blog since I haven't in a while.

15.6.05

Stuck in a Christopher Guest Movie?

Over the weekend, I visited my friend Scott in Atlanta. My friend Brian also went down to visit his cousin. After we arrived, our two parties went to dinner together. We went to this place called Bahama Breeze.

Yes, I know it sounds like a fruity mixed drink. Well, as it turns out the place also looked and felt like a fruity mixed drink. The architecture screamed Hawaiian shirt and Bermuda shorts, while the staff, well, one staff member screamed insane asylum.

The whole night I couldn't put my finger on it. There was something slightly off. I was having a great time, but there was something just not right.

If you're familiar with Atlanta, Bahama Breeze was outside the Perimeter. This is similar to outside the Beltway in the DC metro area, in that the Perimeter is I285 which loops around Atlanta. Bahama Breeze is approximately seven miles outside said Perimeter. Essentially, what this means to those not familiar with either is that Bahama Breeze was in the outer suburbs.

[side note] As the night ended, I told Brian that I would not be leaving Atlanta city limits the next day.

After we were seated by the hostess, the waitress came darting over. Her pep and enthusiasm were palpable. She had the spunk of someone who just downed six cans of Red Bull, only I imagine that she avoids caffeine. From her aspirations of becoming an ambassador to her confusion over whether she and one of the bartenders are "dating" and her odd way of saying that her religion did not allow her to eat pork (ehh.. okay, so what), she was very forthcoming with a lot. She was quite the open book as Eric, Brian's cousin-in-law, pointed out.

[another side note] Eric's got a full studio in his house. For Jen's, Brian's cousin, sake, the room's walls are sound proof. So when we're were in there drunk at 4:00 in the morning, she could sleep! Mmmmm, I think you'd like his album.

He also pointed out that she was Reese Witherspoon's character in Legally Blonde. At this point it hit me. I knew what it was that made the evening so strange. I was in a Christopher Guest movie, more specifically Waiting for Guffman. All the characters were there:
  • Parker Posie's Blizzard making waitress character: "We could watch TV."
  • The Willards
  • Dr Pearl was the guy at the bar singing bad covers of TV theme songs
Then to make life a little more interesting, we arrived at our next destination "Wild Bills", the areas largest country western bar in Georgia (or something like that) complete with mechanical bull. As we approached, after driving past the strip mall complete with a Chili's, the parking lot gave this Indian American a "bad feeling."

I think it was a good thing that there was a $14 cover to get in that helped convince those that still wanted in that we should seek alternative entertainment. The 50's cover band Swinging medallions, the self proclaimed party band of the south, definitely wasn't winning crowds over either. The parking lot looked pretty empty.

So we went to an alternative location: Sweetwater Tavern, a very, very dive bar. That night there were several bands playing, of which we only caught the last. The band was Abyss - a death metal/RAtM-like band. The odd part, if I were to pick one, was the crowd. It ranged from typical white trash dive bar girls and boys, to black folk that didn't exactly strike you as the type to be into death metal, and finally to several "old" people, ala the bands parents?

It is worthy to note that in the crowd, perhaps a member of one of the prior bands, was one we dubbed as "Evil Roger."

Most of my readers have at one point met Roger. "Evil Roger" vaguely looked like Roger. "Evil Roger" wore a hat in a similar fashion as Roger. He had the same pronounced jaw bone. The same round-rim glasses. He wore a red shirt, not one that Roger would wear, but red here is the key. Roger would wear a red shirt.

Besides vaguely looking like Roger, he had many of the same mannerisms. Most of you know of his mannerisms, his gait, etc. Most notable is how Roger behaves when listening/watching a live band. "Evil Roger" had all of these mannerisms.

Well why then was he "Evil Roger". Besides looking like, and behaving like Roger, "Evil Roger" looked, well, evil. He had a goatee that was long enough to part down the middle. Each part came to a point about four inches below his chin. He had tattoos and piercing across his body. Roger, conversely, is quite clean cut.

The night ended and in typical dive bar fashion a fight almost broke out over a woman or something like that.

6.6.05

Ride To Provide 2005

True to every charitible event, this past weekend's Ride to Provide for Fan Free Clinic in Richmond was every bit a memorible event as any other I've done. Not knowing anyone on the ride except the moto crew and one of the sweeps didn't matter, as I (and some of the other out of towners) immediately felt like part of the family.

Much like the DC-based AIDSRiders, members of Team Fan Free Clinic are members of a tight-knit family. Everyone was as loving and friendly as anyone I've met on all of these events. The second we sat down in the car to return to DC, I felt the sadness of the end of an event and the return to "reality".

Ride to Provide was very much a success. It had the Hero-esk feel of a small (about 30 riders) ride in which everyone either already knows everyone else, or you will by the end of the day. There were no major incidents: two flat tires (one on a bike, one on a sweep vehicle) and a minor crash between one of the motos (Richard aka "Crash" is okay) and another sweep vehicle.

I am looking forward to riding with Team FFC again. If you would like to donate to FFC please click here.

Why Racoons Shouldn't Drink

I was hoping to have a picture to go along with this post, but I wanted to post it while it's still fresh. I'll have to post a picture when one is sent out to our group.

This weekend I participated in Ride To Provide for Fan Free Clinic in Richmond, VA. I signed up to ride in honor of my friend Dennis Beierschmitt who passed away earlier this year. More on the ride in another post.

Imagine EBFE Virginia -- back country roads, little to no traffic, and lots of roadkill. Riding along, we pass a lot of road kill. Racoons, squirrels, skunks, etc. litter the road after they're tragically struck by speeding motorists.

One particular racoon had been posed in quite an unusual way. So unusual that many of the riders nearly fell off their bicycles from laughing so hard. You see, Bob the Racoon had an empty beer can neatly tucked under its arm.

Now, Bob should have known better than to drink and try and cross the road. He should have remembered what happened to the chicken who crossed the road to get to the bars on the other side. He should have remembered what happened to Frogger when he got to the third level and got cocky and did a shot of tequilla.

But alas, Bob is dead now -- all because he had himself a High Life.