Weekend Update

Ah, the weekend. It's what everyone is working for. Sometimes you're busy with lots of activities. Sometimes you can relax and unwind. Maybe sleep in. The sleeping in part never happens for me. On Saturday morning, I woke up a little after 3:00 thanks to hearing Lucy throw up. After cleaning it up with a carpet stain removal, I went back to sleep...only for Lucy to again wake me up at 5:00 because she wanted food. I love this cat, but she is so annoying. And as I’m typing this she is scratching the couch.

Okay, enough about Lucy. Let’s get to some good stuff.

The big highlight of the weekend was taking my boys to a card show. My dad took my brother and me to card shows regularly when I was in middle school, and I actually sold cards several times at the Eastland Mall Super Flea in North Versailles, PA. I love the atmosphere of card shows. For sports cards (since I skip over tables with Pokémon and non-sports cards), many people love to talk about certain cards or teams or players. At this particular card show, I learned why a guy who grew up in Northern Virginia is a Bills fan. I bought myself a $1 Bryce Eldridge card since I saw him play at Madison High School in Northern Virginia, and I hope he has a long and successful baseball career. This led to a discussion about ultimate frisbee with a father and his teenage son who plays ultimate frisbee with some guys from Madison HS. And I bought a Konnor Griffin card because why not.

The Moose bought several cards that might be valuable in the future, but for the most part, they bought cards of players they like or cool cards. For example, Pedro Tulo bought himself a Detroit Pistons Rodney Stuckey card since it included part of his jersey. While it’s a neat card, I doubt there’s a huge resale market for Rodney Stuckey cards. We did not consider getting a Lamine Yamal card for $15K or a Victor Wembanyama card for $8K. Someone else was trying to sell a signed drumstick by Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. One guy I met named Nicholas creates his own cards via Near Mint Customs. While we talked about the absurdity of Enes Kantor declaring for the WNBA draft (he was selling some of these cards that he made), I really liked his "What If" series (though Russell Wilson should have been in an Orioles or Rockies jersey since those MLB teams drafted him).

I went out to a really nice dinner the other night and mentioned that I’m seeing the Foo Fighters on Monday night. (Future blog post?) When asked who was the opening acts, I replied Queens of the Stone Age and practically had to whisper Mannequin Pussy. At a quiet, fancy restaurant, not quite the environment to say that name loudly! Actually, this was probably a missed opportunity to say the band name loudly!

Wegmans is discontinuing its mac and cheese boxes. I don’t know why. The grocery chain should really inform me of any actions taken. Anyway, did I buy 10 boxes for 26 cents each? Absolutely. I figure that I might make a box or two and I can donate the rest at an upcoming food drive.

When I was in 5th or 6th grade, my dad put a pair of red sweatpants in the washer with whites. All of my whites turned pink. At that point, I decided it was time to do my own laundry. With The Moose about to start his sophomore year in high school, he should have at least done some of his laundry years ago. Still, he did his first load of Sunday.

When the kids were away at camp, we ran the dishwasher twice a week at the most. Now that they’re home again, we’re back to running the dishwasher every day or two. So many cups get used by them!

It’s Dad Camp week, so more about that to follow.

Two Baseball Games

I'm so bad at creating blog post titles. Anyway, in less than a week, I got to attend two Washington Nationals games. That's not the story though. For the first time since 1999 or 2000, I went to Fenway Park to see the Boston Red Sox. We just happened to see them play the Nationals since tickets were half the price than they were for Boston's previous series against the New York Yankees. Is it okay to write that Fenway Park is magical? A little too much? The stadium opened in 1912, and while there have been renovations over the years, it's a historic venue. While I think that the Pierogi race in Pittsburgh and the Presidents race in Washington is fun, particularly for kids, there aren't those types of gimmicks at Fenway Park. You're there to watch a baseball game. And sure your primary view of the game is the outfield if you sit straight in our seats about 20 rows up from the right field foul pole (meaning that you need to turn your body to the left to see actual at-bats), but that's part of the stadium's charm. 

Okay, one gimmick is great. Singing Sweet Caroline!

I'll admit that I don't watch many Red Sox games on TV, but sports betting advertising on the Green Monster is a bit much.

As for the second Nationals game, I saw Washington host my Pittsburgh Pirates. It was hot. Really hot. 100 degrees at first pitch. While I've seen dozens of Nationals games over the years, a few notes from this one.

The national anthem was sung by DC Washington. Perfect name for an anthem singer for a game in Washington DC and a terrific voice. Not sure if DC Washington would be as successful in Baltimore.

My biggest complaint (besides the heat) is the primary scoreboard. Look at this picture and tell me what inning it is.

Is this any better? I mean, the math doesn't math.

(The answer was the 7th inning.)

I also got to see Pirates phenom Konnor Griffin play for the first time. He seemed to enjoy the post-game fireworks.

Unsure if Griffin met the 1st overall pick of the NBA draft, AJ Dybantsa who threw out the opening pitch.

The Nationals defeated the Pirates 9-5, but the Pirates won the last two games of the series. Interesting note. Two Nationals players (Luis Garcia Jr. and Daylen Lile) both hit two home runs. Not sure I've attended a game where teammates hit multiple home runs. Meanwhile, the Red Sox defeated the Nats 6-3 in a game that featured three home runs in the first inning though the Nats won the last two games of the series.