Both teams ventured to Crime Scene afterwards and took advantage of their exclusive pitcher specials and quickly got to drinking. The perimater of the main room was encompased by couches, leaving the center open for debauchery and nonsense. They soon brought out collapsable tables for us to play flip cup on that reminded me of my past fraternity days, followed by plastic cups and ping pong balls in case we got crazy and decided to play beer pong.

Without hesitating we took to one side of the table, with the team that had beaten us following to the opposite side  and the real drinking began. We started socializing in between pounding beers and flipping cups and realized the other team has been playing together for the past 5 seasons and won the league 2 years in a row, making us feel ever so slightly better. They did however continue to dominate, beating us on the flip-cup arena something like 10-1 and all pride was sapped from our team. I like to think there are no real losers in flip cup as long as you keep playing, but it still sucks to lose.

We got cleared out of the middle to make room for a band that was coming, which was fine because our pizza just arrived. A guy announced himself as Krussia and that he had a fresh music video they just shot and was showcasing for the first time ever, just for us! I enjoyed it, thinking the music was kinda like Incubus and Linkin Park, but as soon as he got to actually playing, his mic died. For the next hour the guitarist and drummer did instrumental jam music, touching on Hendrix, Zeppelin and simply making my ears happy. As soon as Krussia was ready I was ready to leave, after thoroughly enjoying these two jamming together.

Good luck to him and to team Back That Pass Up, we’re both going to need it.

Then I was talking with Don, and he mentioned he was heading down to DC to see our good friends Jim and Carolyn, and that I should come because the weekend boasted a Bacon and Beer fest. As much as I would have loved to see Josh, a festival celebrating bacon AND beer just cannot be passed up, especially by a redditor.

So $48 later, I’m on my way tomorrow afternoon via a round trip Megabus ticket, getting dropped off right back where I was near Union Station 2 weeks ago. No mound ball this time, but lots of stuffing of the face of beer flavored bacon and bacon flavored beer. If I see epicmealtime there I might scream like a little girl.

It starts with a hat. Everyone throws in a dollar, and the first person holds on to the hat during the first innning. The person holding the hat wins the money when the umpire throws the ball to the mound between innings and it lands on the dirt of the mound. If the ball touches the grass, or doesn’t stay on the mound, the hat is passed and everyone antes up another dollar. As you can guess the money can really add up if the umpire doesn’t throw it well and it rolls off. Or in our case this weekend, never throws it at all.

Aside from winning, the best part is waiting for the umpire to toss the ball and seeing how it lands. It’s like playing at a Roulette table and watching as the ball spins around with high hopes and anticipation of it landing on your number. Well, there was such a build up because the umpire never threw the ball on the mound! We kept going inning by inning, adding more money until there was a thick wad of bills mixed with everyone’s drool. Sitting under the overhang of the seats above, we didn’t realize right away why the umpire was sabotaging our game of Mound Ball. It turns out he kept the ball until the fielding team’s pitcher came out and tossed it to him so it wouldn’t get wet.

Well the rain cleared up the second time around the 8th inning and I was up next to hold the hat. I was excited. I knew I had a shot to take this money straight to the bar and buy everyone beers. I wanted to be that guy. The inning was over and the umpire, ball in hand, walked straight to the mound, and ever so gently, tossed the ball. It was heaven enfolding before my eyes! Such a set-up in Mound Ball has never been recorded! He was 6 feet from the mound, it was perfect. The ball rolled and gently came to a stop on the dirt and I jumped up and, 4 tall boys in, screamed “ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO ME!!! I AM THE WINNER OF MOUND BALL!!!”. I can’t remember if I was beating my chest like an animal or my shirt was off when the clapping of strangers and sighing of family suddenly stopped. I paused my celebrating to momentarily look at my fellow players pointing at my winning mound ball and gasped; the ball was moving. Slowly at first, then faster, then with enough speed to exit the mound.

I willed it to stop but it was no use. It was over. My objections to it not touching the grass were overruled by everyone and thus I was forced to pass the hat, tears now mixed with the drool, to my 7’2″ cousin Big Jim. He looked down at me, took a sip of his beer, and bellowed, “At least he threw the ball for you.” I can drink to that.

GF and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary on June 19th. It was beautiful on Saturday so we took out our bikes, pumped up the tires and headed to Red Hook to grab some food and drinks. I haven’t ventured into west Brooklyn on bike yet, so it was great to ride around Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens and eventually into Red Hook. We drove to Ikea to pick out some chairs when we first moved, and I recognized the same streets as we made our way to the water.

There is a great market GF knew about called Fairway that we stopped in and got some foods to eat. We shared some pineapple, havarti cheese and bread and enjoyed eating outside near the water. It didn’t smell at all to everyone’s relief, and we finished up and rode around to find the mysterious key lime pie that was advertised everywhere. Our search was fruitless (we discovered it opened in a week) and we went on a expedition to find a place to get a drink.

We passed a cute little corner bar which was adjacent to small chocolate factory and after riding another few blocks GF decided that it was in our best interest to investigate. I couldn’t have agreed more. The bar is called Botanica and we found out they are affiliated with the factory and that they served the chocolate treats, in addition to serving fantastic drinks. We will definitely be stopping back again.

We started to feel hungry again and knew that the restaurant we wanted to go to would be busy, so we rode to Buttermilk Channel and put our names down. It would be about an hour and a half, so we rode to a nearby bar that had outdoor seating and enjoyed talking and getting more drinks. We both heard from coworkers that lived nearby that they had amazing food, especially the fried chicken. We couldn’t wait any longer so we headed over a little early and had a drink at their bar. GF ordered an amazing Vignoles and I tried the tequilalicious Chilanga and was surprised by the kick the jalepenos packed.

The waitress seated us outside and we excitedly ordered the Saturday steak special, the fried chicken and a spare rib appetizer. A successful transaction, the waitress was off and I was left sucking down what I could of the Chilanga, before ordering another drink for GF and deciding on beer for myself. Immediately after ordering a manager came over and regretted to inform us the steak was gone forever and we had wasted precious energy attempting to order it. Feeling already heated from the spicy drink I demanded retribution in the form of duck meatloaf but in my haste forgot to inquire if it could be on the house.

Overwhelmed by jalapenos and slightly dejected about our order, the Brooklyn Summer I ordered arrived with perfect timing and it was like a gift from the gods. The first sip suddenly made everything right in the world. The duck meatloaf was phenomenal; I had completely forgotten about the steak and how much I was paying for it. The fried chicken was as good as everyone predicted and I had a great time sharing with GF and we both enjoyed the food and ride back to our apartment. We stopped at a small cabin-like bar on Smith st. called Chestnut and enjoyed more tequila.

It felt like the perfect way to celebrate our anniversary and to kick off summer. More adventures like this to come for sure, perhaps with more tequila and less jalapenos.

We have 12 ft ceilings, so I debated jumping on the table and attempting to thrust the magazine against it vertically. At this exact moment, the roach stopped and seemed to look me straight in the face. It sensed my hesitation, flicked me off, and started flying directly towards my face. I let out a little scream as this giant monster took to the air to decapitate me with its wings. This was first time I saw one fly, having heard stories from my good friend in Bermuda about their flying roaches, I was expecting a devastating whoosh as it soared around the room and prayed for death. I crouched with the magazine ready…and waited…and waited… and it finally flew over my head and onto the blinds. Any fear I had was washed away by the pure slowness of the flight of this roach. I jingled the blind and it flew to the brick wall again. I casually walked towards it and wanting to impress GF, decided to lunge like that dude in 300 who thew the spear at that other dude and chucked the magazine against the wall with all my might.

An utterly perfect throw, the roach was hit and fell to the ground and I finished the deed with a quick squish of the magazine. I turned with a big grin of satisfaction, expecting to be congratulated on my prowess and agility by GF and she was no where to be found. She called me 2 seconds later and revealed she had sneaked outside and called her mother. I bent down and picked up the home decorating magazine, my Excalibur, and with a slight smile, returned it to the pile of other magazines.

Inspired by this guys blog, I will be forfeiting my shampoo, or rather NYSC’s shampoo, in favor of straight hot water. This will be particularly interesting as my hair is the longest it’s been since I had a rat’s tail in 4th grade. I’m expecting a brilliant natural shine, but I’m going to miss screaming out in orgasmic ecstasy whenever I rubbed shampoo through my hair.

Here is a list of the proteins I’ve tried: Muscletech Nitrotech, Optimum nutrition 100% whey, Dymatize Elite, Prolab Advanced Whey, Isopure (low carb), Integrated 100% WPI,

Man, I love Alec Baldwin, and I thought the best bit that he was apart of was the staring contest he had with George Clooney. My favorite stare down between the two happened when Alec was going to list off the nominees for Best Performance and abruptly cut himself off, staring blankly down at George for just enough time and with enough silence to make it awkwardly hilarious. He was all I could pay attention to when he was on stage, with his seemingly uncaring face and sporadic hand gestures.

Steve Martin’s innocent quips were humorous at times, calling one nominee Damn Helen Mirren instead of Dame, with Alec correcting him afterwords, but I thought the two lacked the chemistry that I see exemplified every episode of 30 rock between Alec and Tina Fey.  The best dressed was Vera Farmiga, worst dressed has to go to Charlize Theron, best acceptance speech was that Austrian dude from Inglorious Basterds at the very beginning and best presenter of the night I thought was Tom Hanks. I am also pleased to see Demi Moore is still hot as ever.

I have never stopped ordering it.

I still remember that frightful afternoon years ago when I learned that the Cheesy Gordita Crunch (CGC) was going to be discontinued from the Taco Bell menu. Why, I thought, would they end the reign of such a delicious and fulfilling item, arguably their best non-burrito creation? Weeks went by without at trip to the Bell, as my desire vanished like the cheesy middle between the hard and soft shell tacos, until one day I decided to venture back. Out of habit, and possibly scorn, I presented my order as usual: One chalupa, one gordita and one cheesy gordita crunch.  The staff shuffled as normal and produced my order, not missing a beat.

Elated I devoured my food and spread the word to everyone I knew. Subsequent trips followed suit and it wasn’t until a manager handled my order that I understood the reason why my orders weren’t rejected.  I presented my selection and he smiled as he punched in the order.

“Ya know,” he started, “I have to make this for you even though we don’t have it on the menu anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

“As long as there is this button on the register, I have to make it for you.”  His smile changed to something more sinister as he pointed to a button that I couldn’t see and kept bobbing his hand up and down just long enough to make it uncomfortable, like this button was the reason his girlfriend left him and he still lived with his parents.

“Well I’m glad that button still exists.”

He passed me my receipt with a look of disdain and I hurriedly stepped to the fountain drink machine, out of arms length. There I waited for the deliciousness to come, hoping that he didn’t secretly blame Mountain Dew for killing his goldfish.