Welcome Benjamin

Headed East yesterday for the Pilgrim's shower for little Benjamin Eugene. That's a fine name if you ask me. Ben was a little early in his a arrival a few weeks ago, but he's doing fine now and doing all those normal baby things (pooping, sleeping, crying, pooping, and pooping). It was a good time, but probably the last time Matt and Beth will have to hang out for 18 years or so. Good luck with that. And I don't change diapers.

Pics.

sleeping: activity 1 of 3

crying: activity 2 of 3

oh yes

from one Eugene to another

carhartts, direct from Indiana (courtesy Miss Brown)

Hillbilly Holiday

I was back in Indiana last weekend for a full slate of Labor Day activities covering nearly the entire state (and parts of another). It all started with a plan to get together with some of my high school pals, and as the preceding weeks went by more and more got penciled into my calendar. I'll devote a post to each event.

I took the red eye Thursday night, meaning I arrived at IND at around 5:30 am. Geesh. Kelsey met me there bright and early to start things off. Perhaps foolishly, with her exhausted from a long week of school and me getting zero sleep on the plane, we were a couple of zombies. Worst part was we had more or less nowhere to go. We had plans in Bloomington that night, but couldn't check into the hotel for some time, and it would be pointless to drive back to Cass County. Kelsey did have a last bit of homework to finish up, so we ended up at a McDonalds just off 465. Free wifi and a McMuffin kept us awake for a while.

It didn't take long for Kels to finish her assignment so we headed down 37 to Bloomington. If I had planned ahead, I'm sure we could have crashed for a bit at The Pauls, but in my defense, I didn't. I kind of had an idea that we could just drive over to Lake Monroe and nap the day away there. The gloomy skies overhead quickly reminded me that I wasn't in southern California anymore and that I should consider the, you know, weather. We drove on anyway (what were our other options?), and things just worked out as the clouds opened up and the sun came out within a couple minutes of laying a blanket down.

We napped for an hour or so then decided we would head into town for an early lunch and try to get another nap that afternoon. Well that was the plan for about 20 minutes when we found out that we could get into the hotel a couple hours early. We promptly discarded lunch for sleep.

Unfortunately the nap didn't really take, so we just decided to get ready for the evening, realizing we would likely fall asleep spontaneously at dinner, dropping our faces into our plates. Jason and Liz met us and Kelsey's parents at the hotel around 4, and we all walked the ped/bike path over to Upland Brewery for dinner.

This was also the location for that night's main event, a benefit concert headlined by none other than Todd Snider. Deeter and his new gal pal, Mendi met the rest of us at dinner and we all proceeded to chow down. While we all chowed, it can not be said that we did so equally. The highlight was Deeter (of course) and Bruce ordering "Inferno Burgers." I dipped a corner of a fry into the habanero sauce, and I all I can say is that I am shocked that meal doesn't come with a waiver form.

After dinner we all walked over to the brewery parking lot where a stage and hay bail seating had been set up. There were a couple good folksy opening acts, The Elly Maze and T.V. Mike & The Scarecrows, and then Todd came out with a bassist and electric man. I've seen Todd many times - only with a band once - but this was something entirely different. They went straight into rock versions of Todd's songs and continued to kill it all night long. It. Was. Awesome. I had so much fun, and seeing all my old buddies just made it that much awesomier. Looking forward to next time.

the gang

todd snider, dan baird, and keith chritopher

More pics.

Update: and if you feel like downloading a great show, do it here.

School's Out For Summer!!!

Well at least for a week or so anyway. Kelsey had a little time off between the second summer session and the fall semester, and I wanted her to come out and go to a wedding with me, so she was out here for about ten days the week before last. We took it pretty easy the first weekend she was here (I'll post about the second weekend later on), and part of that taking it easy was an afternoon at Bolsa Chica with The Pilgrims and The Mellquists. We did a little bonfiring and some weenie roasting. Matt and Kelsey did a little surfing. A pretty fun time was had by all as one might expect at a beach bonfire. I'm pretty tired so this is all you get tonight. I'll do better next time.

the lineup was filled with hooligans that day

Matt has yet to explain the finger licking

Paddle! Paddle! Paddle!

More pics.

School's Out

OK, I'm going to pull a cop out on this one. Here's the thing... I'm way behind on posting, and the subject of this post is the least proximate, chronologically speaking. Can you even mix proximity with chronology? Well, I just did. Unfortunately, it is likely also the most unforgivable for not giving its proper due. But I'm behind on posts and there does not appear to be any let up in activity now that the summer has started (I just made three more tees and there are more after that). And with a camping trip this weekend and heading home for the Fourth after that, yeah, you get my point.

Anyway... Kelsey got to come out here again in May after her semester was over and before the summer session started. As always, we had a great time - got to see a Dodger game, plus Naja's and the beach. No plans too grandiose, just a nice relaxing time together.

yup, read it

Sorry this post is so short, but I needed to post these pics.

Pittsburgh - Day 1

Well May came and went. I did a lot of stuff, but haven't been able to finish a single post. But in my defense, you don't write this blog, so shut up. So in an effort to keep this blog somewhat current, I'm starting with the latest May activities, and I'll have to fill in the earlier stuff at a later time as "retro" blog posts.

Last weekend, Kelsey and I met in Pittsburgh for a wedding. We decided to extend our trip a couple days beyond the wedding since we were both taking the time to fly in. We (I) arranged our flights to arrive as close as possible, so we were able to share a cab ride from the airport to our hotel downtown. There we met Kelsey's co-BFF, Stacy, and her husband, Brian, with whom we would be attending the Pirates game later, and generally spending the weekend... once Kelsey and Stacy stopped shrieking and hopping and hugging.

Hungry before the game and preferring not to get gouged by ballpark food prices (even though we would later anyway), we walked over to Primanti Brothers, whose gimmick seems to be "a meal in a sandwich." Ultimately what this means is that they put what would normally be considered "sides" in the between the bread. Interesting, to be sure.

bff's

The ballpark was just a ten minute walk from there, across the river. A very cool thing about Pirates games is that the bridge between downtown and the ballpark is shut down for motorists to allow game-goers to walk across. PNC Park is one of the newer fields in the league and is now ranked annually as one of the best places to experience a MLB game. I'm assuming this is based solely on the aesthetics and features of the park and not the actual play of the Pirates. The best evidence of this being that our $25 tickets were about 15 rows from the field between home and first.

over the river and to the game

the cheap seats

The game was great fun (Braves won handily), highlighted by two Jumbotron appearances: Kelsey and Stacy dancing between innings, and Brian and Stacy on the Kiss Cam. Also some dude may or may not have one a sweet Andy Van Slyke jersey, so that's pretty cool.

jumbotron!

kiss cam!

After the game we met some other wedding goers and Kelsey ordered one of the strangest pizzas I've ever had. Then back to the hotel to rest up for the next day's wedding festivities.

More pics.