In the earlier days of this blog, I regularly had Trivia Tuesday posts. They became less and less popular, so I stopped writing them. While I have no plans on bringing the Trivia Tuesday posts back, I thought I would try some old-school Pittsburgh trivia questions. Please leave your answers in the comment sections below.
1. Who was with Quinn in the morning?
2. Where does the place go crazy every 16 minutes?
3. Who said it would?
4. Fill in the blank: Don't say Olds, say ________ Olds.
5. What is the name of this sticker?
6. What is just minutes from the mall and on what street is this located?
7. What is Edgar Snyder's original phone number? (No area code necessary.)
8. What is Rusted Root's most-successful song?
9. Who is this?
10. What restaurant (probably best known for their roast beef sandwiches) had the slogan, "Fast Food with Style?"
Good luck! (There are no prizes, so please don't cheat. Even if there were prizes, still don't cheat.)
Back in December, I wrote a blog post about Loudoun United, a new soccer team in the United Soccer League. For those of you not familiar with Loudoun United but may know baseball, Loudoun United is somewhat like a AAA team for the MLS team DC United with common ownership and some players playing on both teams. The point of the December post was to share Loudoun United's 2019 schedule and also as a sort of application to become the team's official blogger. My idea was to write about the team on my blog as well as on my Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram pages and share things that people wouldn't normally see or at least with a different viewpoint from the team's perspective. For example, I proposed writing several posts where I would get to take pictures of the stadium as it was being built and completed and possibly get to interview a few players.
I hoped that the team would appreciate the extra (free!) exposure, and in exchange, give me some tickets to take my family to a few games. Despite some correspondence with the team, nothing ever came of this. I would see pictures from Loudoun United's social media account from various events like the debut of the team's jerseys and the stadium ribbon-cutting ceremony only after the events occurred. I was never invited to any of these functions. While I understand the team not wanting to partner up with a blogger who they don't know, I feel like my social media helped (and could have helped more) promote the team at no cost at all to them.
Last Friday, Loudoun United hosted its first home game at the just-built Segra Field. Continuing my amazing lucky streak this summer, I won two tickets to the game against the Charlotte Independence. I have now won tickets to see Dave Matthews Band, DC United, Loudoun United, George Mason men's basketball, and entry for 10 to an area piano bar all in the last few months. And yes, I played the lottery once recently but lost $1 on a scratch-off ticket. Anyway, since The Moose didn't do a good job listening last week and was talking back more than an eight year-old should, I took 5 year-old Pedro Tulo with me. He promptly fell asleep about five minutes into our 35 minute ride to the stadium, not including the time it took to park.
Speaking of parking, according to WTOP, "two of three parking lots within a few hundred feet of the stadium [were] ready for Friday's game, with the capacity of holding approximately 500 cars." I think those lots filled up quickly. I was directed to park by the youth fields down the hill from the stadium, where I passed at least one sign that said "No Segra Field Parking." I don't want to say that they weren't prepared for the amount of cars for the first game, but there's plenty of room for improvement in getting people in and out of the venue.
I took a few pictures of the stadium on the way in. It's nice. I would probably compare it to a good high school football stadium. I don't know if that's a compliment or not. The field looks great, though it's a turf field, so I hope Loudoun United plans on converting it to a grass field next season. The seats also look nice, though we sat in the "Supporters Section" which are your standard bleacher seats with no backs. Everything else is somewhat piecemeal. There are no permanent structures with the merchandise in a tent, the box office in what appeared to be a trailer, and food and drinks available in tents or at food trucks. I didn't buy food during the game, but it didn't look like you could get food quickly.
A beer man (or woman) going through the stands selling beer and/or water may have alleviated this. My biggest complaint is that you weren't allowed to bring in an unopened bottle of water despite it being August in Northern Virginia meaning temperatures in the 80s even as the sun started going down. In case you’re wondering, DC United, the Washington Nationals, and the Jiffy Lube Live concert venue all permit unopened water bottles. And these were the bathrooms:
Oh, the team also has a horse.
If you want to feel old and feel like maybe you haven’t accomplished much in your life as a teenager and into you’re 20s, Loudoun United games are the place for you. These are the ages of some of the Loudoun United players who played in Friday night’s game.
Moses Nyeman - 15
Jacob Greene - 16
Griffin Yow - 16 (He signed a contract at 15 and played a few games for DC United)
Nelson Martinez - 18
Christain Sorto - 19
Connor Presley & Orlando Sinclair - 21
These kids, and yes they are kids, are getting paid to play soccer before some of them can even vote!
Going to games with Pedro Tulo is always an adventure. While The Moose never wants to miss anything and will sit for hours watching a game, Pedro Tulo gets restless. He bounced back and forth between sitting (or standing) on the bleachers and sitting on my lap in the first half. Then, as the second half was about to start, two kids sat next to us holding beach balls. Despite the second half starting, Pedro Tulo wanted his own beach ball immediately. So we walked from our seats at one end, past the food trucks (and the still long lines at the food trucks) to the other side of the stadium to the Visit Loudoun table where they gave any beach balls, stickers, and more, including a Loudoun County wine map which Pedro Tulo insisted on getting even though the Visit Loudoun staff member said it was adults. (Pedro Tulo liked the map in it, and he can be very charming.) The Visit Loudoun person also told me about the Dulles Summer of Love Music Festival on August 17th featuring Michael Glabicki of Rusted Root and his new band, Uprooted and tried to explain who Rusted Root was. I graduated from a Pittsburgh-area high school in the mid-90s. I know Rusted Root. The father of one of the band members officiated my wedding. I know Rusted Root. (I didn’t say any of this out loud.)
On our way back to the bleachers, I thought that maybe we could sit in one of the regular seats for a better view and better for my back. There were no ushers, so we easily could have done this, but Pedro Tulo wanted to go back to the bleachers. Ugh. One of my favorite things to do when I was younger was get cheap seats for Pittsburgh Pirates games at Three Rivers Stadium and then move down to the nice seats on the third or first base lines in the 5th or 6th inning. I need to teach this to Pedro Tulo.
Back in the bleachers, we sat closer to the Screaming Eagles group. Pedro Tulo enjoyed the drumming and especially the cheers of “Loudoun United.” He constantly screamed this phrase, and for once, his screaming at a public venue was completely appropriate!
After the game, several players came over to the Supporters Section and slapped hands with the fans. At that point, we moved from the bleachers toward the exit but were able to stand by the edge of the field. Then, much to the security guard's dismay, Pedro Tulo ran on to the field and gave high-fives to Elvis Amoh and Griffin Yow. The security guard decided not to stop him because Pedro Tulo ran right back and was being charming again.
It again took longer than it should have to get out of the venue, but we made it, and I expect that this process will improve for future games. My final verdict is that I enjoyed going to the game. It was good, entertaining soccer with a lot of goals scored in a back-and-forth game. The game ended 3-3 with Charlotte taking 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 leads before Loudoun United responded. Definitely a great environment to take your kids. As for Segra Field, the scoreboard went out several times in the second half, and from the Supporters Section, you couldn't hear the announcer share who scored or received a yellow card. The parking situation needs improvement, though I expect that there won't be 5,000 people at the next game as was the announced attendance for this game.
It also appears that my hope of being Loudoun United's official blogger is over. With that written, I can easily be bribed with tickets to write future posts about the team! :)
I slipped on my steps, and this is the result. I'm sure you're thinking, with the snow and cold weather, Sean, you need to be more careful walking outside. Of course, this actually happened when I fell on steps inside my home.
Let's set the scene. It was about 6:20 AM on Thursday morning, and I was on our main floor getting The Moose (age 6) breakfast. Meanwhile, Pedro Tulo wasn't making any effort to start the day, so I went upstairs to get him. As I was carrying the three year old down the hardwood steps wearing my old slippers with little tread, I slipped and slid down about four steps. I fell on my wrist and had the additional weight of Pedro Tulo landing on top of it. Pedro Tulo started crying but we quickly determined that he was just shaken up by the fall and was completely fine. Meanwhile, I figured that my pain would wear off in a few minutes and I would be fine. The pain did not wear off, so I went to the ER.
I have no good stories from the ER, only that they did X-rays and found that there was no break. They gave me a splint, the name and number for an orthopedic doctor, and sent me on my way.
Despite taking ibuprofen, I was still in pain throughout Thursday. On Thursday night/Friday morning, I don't think I slept for more than a 30-minute stretch because I just couldn't get comfortable. My right hand was basically useless. Therefore, for my Friday morning doctor's appointment, I decided not to drive and took a Lyft for the first time, and I have to admit that I enjoyed the experience.
The orthopedic doctor did several exercises with my wrist, mostly causing even more pain, but also gave me some type of shot so he could twist my wrist even more. He then gave me an order to get a CT scan/MRI.
Fast forward to Monday and my wrist felt better. I still couldn't rotate it, but I was (barely) able to tie my shoes. I got the MRI done, and when the doctor's office received the results, they called me to schedule an appointment to come in. My thought was: This can't be good. And it wasn't. In talking with this doctor on Monday and a hand specialist on Tuesday, I learned that I have a complete dislocation of the radial ulnar joint. Basically, it's a broken joint in my wrist. This is going to seriously hurt my chances of becoming a hand model!
The big issue is that I cannot rotate my wrist. Who knew that rotating your wrist is so important? The only way to fix this for adults is surgery, and my right wrist/arm is going to be useless for some time (I'll explain more below). Right now, I can't pick up my 4 month old, Luigi, because I have no strength in my wrist. This has been particularly devastating since we really bonded over the last few weeks as I had been home with him. I can't get him in and out of his crib or his clothing. I'm not sure how to feed and burp him with only one hand either.
Here are other things I can't do:
- Open most food packages, most notably the applesauce packets Pedro Tulo eats every morning.
- Type with my right hand
- Put in my contact lenses
I've shaved twice since the accident and while not awful, the results haven't been great.
The doctor also said that I should get slip on shoes since I won't be able to tie them.
I need to figure out how to do things with only my left hand and quickly.
I'll get surgery over the next few days and will likely wear a cast for 4-6 weeks. That will be followed by physical therapy. The doctor said it would be 3-6 months to get back to using my wrist normally. That's a long time. I mean, the Pittsburgh Pirates could trade most of their veteran players before my wrist heals completely.
Wish me luck...and for clothes and shoes that are easy get on and off!
I did a little spring cleaning recently and managed to compile a complete bag full of clothes to donate. I also found dozens of clothes, particularly T-shirts, that I'm not willing to give up. Occasionally throughout the summer, I plan on sharing pictures of some of these clothes. (I'm sure that you can't wait for this!)
First up is this Rusted Root T-shirt from a concert I saw on some mountain or ski slope around State College, PA in the fall of 1995. I don't remember much (if anything) about the concert except that everyone sat on the grass/blankets on a fairly steep hill.
For those of you not familiar with Rusted Root, well, shame on you. They were by far the biggest band in Western Pennsylvania in the mid-1990s. They were huge among the high school and college scene, and at least to me, were right there with the Dave Matthews Band. Although the band sold over 3 million records (albums? cassettes?), they never seemed to hit the mainstream unless you count Send Me On My Way being played in Enterprise car rental commercials.
Rusted Root still tours and were actually at Washington DC's 9:30 Club on Wednesday night. My guess is that they're not selling this T-shirt at the show.
Bonus Fun Fact #1: Despite growing up in Pittsburgh during the height of Rusted Root, I never actually saw them perform in Pittsburgh. I saw them at State College, Ithaca & at the Celebrate Fairfax festival in 2010.
Bonus Fun fact #2: The father of one of the band members officiated my wedding.
Click here to see more in the Found in My Basement Series.
Perhaps it's because Celebrate Fairfax is only days away, but I'm getting into the festival mood. I also realize that it's unlikely I'll be able to visit Pittsburgh this summer (this year?) and that makes me a little sad. Therefore, why not put the two together. That's right. I want to create a Pittsburgh festival in the Washington, DC area.
I could worry about the details like location (Dulles Expo Center?), insurance, security, etc., but today, I'm going to be an ideas man. There are thousands of Pittsburgh transplants that live in the Washington area (see the 2008 Steelers game at FedEx Field and the Post-Gazette series detailing Pittsburghers that moved away) and even more if you expand this to Baltimore. Why not celebrate our Pittsburgh-ness and expose the city to the greater Washington DC area?
The first step would be to partner with Visit Pittsburgh, the official tourism office for Pittsburgh. They are the experts on all the great things to do and see in Pittsburgh.
Here is what else this festival should have (some of this is unrealistic but others could definitely work):
- Food: You can't have a Pittsburgh festival without Pittsburgh food. Primanti's sandwiches, Quaker Steak & Lube wings, hot dogs from The O, Potato Patch fries, Peppi's Roethlisburger, pierogies, Eat 'N Park Smiley Cookies, anything from the Oakmont Bakery, Prantl's Burnt Almond Torte, Vincent's pizza, Sarris Candies, Dave & Andy's ice cream and lots of Heinz condiments. Yes, there will be Iron City beer too. I'm getting hungry!
- Some type of presence from current or former Steelers, Pirates, and Penguins. Heck, we can have some Riverhounds or Maulers too. Yes, I'll even allow a visit from Steely McBeam.
- We need to have some type of Kennywood exhibit. Maybe they can build The Racer or Thunderbolt for this festival.
- Music: Let's get Wiz Khalifa, Rusted Root, The Clarks and Mac Miller, who recently wrote "I am Pittsburgh" on Twitter.
- Admissions officers from Pitt, Duquesne, CMU, Robert Morris, Chatham, Point Park, and Carlow to help recruit high school students.
- Bring a dinosaur from Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum. With the dinosaur hall at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History closed until 2019, folks in DC will want to see a real dinosaur skeleton.
- An exhibit from the Andy Warhol Museum.
- A Mister Rogers and/or Daniel Tiger exhibit. Mr. McFeely could make the trip to DC again.
- Birds from the National Aviary.
- Have a giant poster showing the view of Mt. Washington where people can take a picture standing in front of it.
- Booths from some of Pittsburgh's biggest employers such as UPMC, Giant Eagle, Highmark, US Steel, and PNC Financial Services to recruit potential employees.
What else would you want to see at a Pittsburgh festival? Do you think this could happen?
In the nearly 9 years of writing Sean's Ramblings, I've shared a lot about myself and probably more than you wanted to know. (For proof, feel free to read any TMI Thursday posts.) Today, I wanted to share more things that you may not know about me. There's a chance I've shared some of this information before, but cut me some slack since I've written over 2,300 posts.
- My first job after earning a graduate degree was working at a Repo company.
- My second job after earning a graduate degree was demonstrating a Harry Potter board game at Springfield Mall.
- I was on my high school's diving team.
- I finished second in the high school balloting for class clown.
- My wedding was officiated by the father of a member of Rusted Root.
- I performed in two musicals in high school and even had a solo (for two lines). I believe that both musicals won the Gene Kelly Award for best Pittsburgh area high school musical.
- I was featured in a CNN.com article about fantasy football.
- In my final high school soccer game, I scored my first high school goal.
-I'm pretty sure I freaked out former California Governor Gray Davis. When I lived in San Diego, I had a bad day when my e-mail account was deleted. In a bad mood, I came across Gray Davis who walking towards a stage as he was preparing to give a speech. Probably not in the nicest tone, I said, "Hey Gray. How are you?" He sheepishly nodded and waved.
- I don't spend much money on clothes. If I won the lottery and had millions of dollars, I still probably wouldn't spend more than $25 on a shirt.
- I think I would be a great candidate to appear on a fashion make-over show.
- I don't own an iPod or MP3 player and have never downloaded any music.
- I would love to write a book someday.
- I have never watched Duck Dynasty or The Amazing Race.
- I have been in the same fantasy baseball league since 1992. I have never won this league.
- I've turned into a morning person. I don't remember the last time I was out past 10:00.
I'm sure that there is a lot that I'm missing, so you'll have to stay tuned to see what I share in the future!
How do you eat funnel cake, pizza, quesadillas, brownies, kettle corn, a gyro, many varieties of chips/salty snacks and drink significantly more pop (or soda as some of you call the carbonated beverage) than usual and still manage to lose a few pounds? Volunteer at the Celebrate Fairfax festival for an entire weekend! I spent approximately 42 hours over the past three days walking dozens of miles, lifting stuff, putting up and taking down tent sidewalls and talking a lot (does this help with weight loss?).
Here are some brief notables from this year’s festival:
- KC of KC & the Sunshine Band proclaimed that he was your mom’s Justin Timberlake. Somewhere, David Cassidy and Leif Garrett disagree.
- KC also requested coffee.
- Like more behind the scenes stuff? The girlfriend of one of the headline performers brought a dog, but apparently did not have a leash. Several staff members scrambled to find a dog leash.
- After signing autographs, Washington Redskin DeAngelo Hall got a rendering of himself done by a caricature artist.
- I saw Rusted Root play for the first time in 15 years. They still sound great. I really need to break out my Rusted Root cassettes and play them again. Yes, cassettes and not CDs.
- Upon arriving home on Saturday night/Sunday morning, I sat on the couch to check e-mail and my fantasy baseball team. I promptly fell asleep, woke up about two hours later, and then spent the next 30 minutes trying to find the energy to go upstairs while continuing to doze off.
As usual, I really enjoyed the event and look forward to volunteering and seeing everyone again next year. Unfortunately, it may take me a few more days to recover and catch up on sleep!
Celebrate Fairfax announced the headliners to its 29th annual festival, which will take place June 11-13 at the Fairfax County Government Center in Fairfax, Virginia.
Friday, June 11 at 8:00pm – RUSTED ROOT Saturday, June 12 at 3:00pm – CAROLINA LIAR Saturday, June 12 at 8:00pm – KC & THE SUNSHINE BAND Sunday, June 13 at 4:30pm – JOSH THOMPSON and JIMMY WAYNE
Not that you need my opinion on these performers, but I’m sharing my thoughts anyway.
Rusted Root – This is my wheelhouse. Rusted Root was the biggest band in Pittsburgh when I grew up in said city. I have their tapes (yes, tapes) and saw them in concert several times. However, I haven’t seen them perform in almost 15 years. Call it nostalgia, but I can’t wait to see them live.
Carolina Liar – “Show Me What I’m Looking For” is a great song. I honestly can’t tell you any other of their songs, but I’m a big fan of this one.
KC & The Sunshine Band – This is the most intriguing band of the group. If KC & The Sunshine Band played at Wolf Trap or somewhere else in the Washington DC area, I wouldn’t blink an eye (meaning that I wouldn’t go). However, for $12 or less (depending on when you purchase tickets) at Celebrate Fairfax, I’m excited to see them. Seriously, I don’t think I would ever seek out a KC concert but if they’re in my back yard for a cheap price as part of an event with other bands and activities, I’m there!
Josh Thompson and Jimmy Wayne – I have no idea who these people are. Is Josh Thompson the son of former Pittsburgh Pirates’ first baseman Jason Thompson? Does Jimmy Wayne have a brother that plays for the Indianapolis Colts? Anyone?
So there you have the 2010 Celebrate Fairfax headliners. For more about the festival, please check out the Celebrate Fairfax website. I’m sure that I’ll have more about the festival as it gets closer.
Welcome to Sean's Ramblings! If you're looking for thoughts on pop culture, music, fun and informative links, random DC and Pittsburgh info, sports (particularly Pittsburgh sports), and just what's going on in my life, then you're come to the right place.
Any questions, comments or links? Contact me at seanramblings[at]yahoo[dot]com.
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