Song: The Beatles - From Me To You

Great title, huh?

Dinners with family members and packing up for the big move dominated the week, all leading up to Friday. I was expecting to take the first half of Friday off of work to help Elise move all her junk into a storage unit. We wanted to move on the weekend but the free moving truck that came with the unit was booked then, and since she had to be out of her apartment before the end of the month, the next best day was Friday. We had 3 friends who were going to help out, bringing the moving crew up to a healthy 5 people. And considering there was only 3 rooms of furniture to move, it seemed like it’d be a breeze.

I picked up the moving van from the storage place while Elise picked up the people who were going to help us. First fun fact #1: The air vents in the moving fan did not work, so neither wind nor air conditioning got through to the driver (me!!!!) the whole day. When Elise showed up at her place, only Nate was with her. It turned out that our other two friends were tied up at work (understandable considering it was a Friday morning) and were not going to be able to help us!

We only had the truck until 5:30 and luckily we had 2 dollys and a furniture roller. We packed the truck as tight as possible and had time for one load only. The storage unit had more than enough room for all the items. I returned the truck at 3 while Elise took Nate back to work - there was not enough time to make another run for items. We had gotten all the big stuff (bed, dressers, big boxes) in the first round and planned to load up cars the next day. I went into work for a 2-hour work day! Saturday also proved to be all about the moving, as Elise and I finished hauling stuff over to the storage unit. Because we only had our cars (the truck was booked for the weekend) it took us a few more trips than Friday.

Sunday was our 1 year anniversary and we kept a low-profile. We got some carry out from the Cheesecake Factory and I managed to venture out to play a little basketball with Stanus and Brandanus. Lot’s of Toine-talk happened on the court with the hilarious new sentence-making version of Crappy (if you don’t know what I’m talking about you’re missing out!!) While watching Point Break in the dark, I saw a small scurry of motion across the floor, in the light from the TV. Not wanting to freak out Elise (nor myself) I got up and silently looked around the chair to see what it was. Thinking it must have been another hoppy-hop (what is the real name of these things anyway; I only know them as hoppy-hops) I sat back on the couch to continue watching the movie. A few minutes later it happened: A MOUSE RAN FROM UNDER THE CHAIR TO UNDER THE TV!!!! After a little bit of freaking out, I resolved myself to letting him live for the night. The next day, Monday, during my lunch break, I bought 2 mouse traps. They were rectangular, enclosed boxes that I put some peanut butter in. I put one near the chair (where he ran to first) and under the TV (where he ran to from the chair.) Tuesday morning I noticed a little bit o’ tail hanging out of the trap. I thought I’d hear the snap during the night, but thankfully I didn’t. I disposed of the cadaver in the trashcan outside!!!

Song: The Police - Wrapped Around Your Finger

This long weekend (took off Friday from work) was a much needed, relaxing vacation spent in Ocean City, Maryland - though technically most of it was in Fenwick Island, Delaware. I’ve always referred to these collections of beaches (Bethany, Fenwick, Rehoboth, etc.) as Ocean City, going back to when I would stay with my family in Bethany Beach for a week every year. This trip has been in the planning for about a month, and was basically the sequel to a trip we took back in August 2007.

Like last time there were to be 10 of us going (8 returning from last year) but at the last moment one dropped out. Three went down Thursday afternoon (Jill, Ryan and Chuck) and stayed up late having a “fist-pumping” good time. Two more (Hall and Ben #1) were to follow the next afternoon, while the rest of us (Elise, Mary, Ben #2, and I) got up early Friday - 5:30 AM for me! - to make sure we got there by noon. I decided to drive so I could utilize both my Sirius satellite radio and Tom-Tom GPS system and had picked up everyone by 7. The drive down was fairly quick as we listened to a ton of 80’s tunes on The Big 80s, stopping only to pick up some corn and other vegetables on the side of the road.

The first place we went when we arrived was the grocery store, but the second was straight to the beach. It wasn’t as hot as last time, being in the mid to upper 80s with surprisingly chilly wind at times. I jumped into the freezing ocean with Ryan but only stayed in about 10 minutes. We played around with the volleyball a bit (last year’s surprise hit) but it didn’t have the same hold over us this year as it did last year. Friday night when everyone was there we grilled some hamburgers and hot dogs along with some squash, corn and zucchini. Ryan received wound #1 by burning himself on a citronella candle. Dinner was followed by beer pong, with Ryan being the clear winner - over 5 games and multiple partners, he never lost! Although he paid for his winnings with drunkenness - when I was his partner once, when swiping to block a bounced ball, he knocked over three of OUR OWN cups! The first night’s sleep I rate a 2 out of 5 stars. Although I was asleep by 11, I woke up a dozen times from all the movement of sleeping on a metallic bunk bed.

Saturday I “slept in” until 9:30 and hit the beach early. I played some croquet with Jill and Ben and went for a walk with Elise, but mostly I just relaxed on the beach reading a book and constantly messing with the umbrella. The umbrella was easily the MVP of my vacation (I did not get sunburned at all) but what with the sun moving so quickly and the gusts of wind, I was constantly having to move it. That night most of us decided to order some crabs and in the meantime we walked to the nearby Econolodge and listened to a singer/guitarist do some covers. He was in visible pain with a wrapping around his ankle, and his wife/girlfriend was pretty poor as a second vocalist, but we were only stopping by waiting on the crabs. As the others devoured the crabs (both Bens received wounds #2 and 3 by cutting their fingers on knives while eating,) Elise and I slipped out to eat at Warrens Station - a restaurant my family and I use to frequent every time we used to visit Ocean City. It was alot of fun reliving this nostalgic place with her and I made a pact with myself to bring her to another of my nostalgic locations - the Ocean City boardwalk - the next day. We returned and tried to help out drinking the extraordinary amount of beer we bought (accidentally bought 6 packs of Coronas instead of 3!) but the two of us were just to tired and wanting to relax. We headed to our room and read some more in our books (the weekend I read a 100 pages in Live From New York, a book about the history of Saturday Night Live as told from those who worked on it, and Elise demolished the corresponding novel to the movie Willow!) I’m sure everyone else thought we were losers not taking advantage of the beach (they went to the beach at night while we stayed in,) but in all honesty, neither of us can take the sun long and besides we had a blast just hanging about being nerds.

Unfortunately, that night I got another 2/5 star-rated sleep thanks to those uncomfortable bunk beds. Both Elise and I decided we weren’t going to hang out on the Fenwick Island beach with the group that day, we were headed to Ocean City beach, 15 minutes down the road. This is the one I remember from childhood with it’s games, rides and junk food galore. There was a huge kite display and although I didn’t get to ride the roller coaster I ride there, I did take another collection of photo-booth photos (I try to do that every year at Fun City Arcade.) Last year Elise and I were in the same booth, and although the photos came out great, they were sort of ruined by placing them too early in an advertisement newspaper - the ink was too wet and stuck to the print! We had frozen custard, took funny photos and bought a crab-ornament, keychain and decal (for a guitar.) When we returned to the beach house, it was time to clean up and get going. Luckily we missed most of the rain that was due to hit the beach that day, only driving through it on our way home.

All in all, I really enjoyed this vacation. It was short and sweet and not too intensive, which was what I was looking for. The only thing that would have made it better were not buying too much beer, although now we have beer for a party or something, and I should have made more time to check out the old house we used to stay at. Last year I couldn’t find it, and this year I was prepared but just didn’t find the time. Oh well, good stuff.

Photos coming soon!

Song: Paul McCartney - Ebony And Ivory (Paul solo)

Ugh, I began writing this blog a few days ago, and had over 2 paragraphs, but then lost power and lost everything. Don’t you hate re-writing blogs? I think I lose alot when I try to redo it. I feel like it’s been done before, get frustrated, and condense too much. I’ll try not to that here.

Like the Beach Boys’ song, this weekend was a bunch of “Good Timin’.” Thursday was Anthony’s 28th birthday, so I planned a celebration on Friday, the 29th for The Big Doh. Originally we were going to have a barbecue in my backyard followed by a trip to Dave & Buster’s in Maryland. But people kept dropping out (Both Tim and Victor had work so were going to skip the barbecue and meet us at D&B; The Xanthopoulos’ bailed all together in order to go to a work-related function) that we decided just to have dinner at Rock Bottom. RB is a bar/restaurant/brewery that is conveniently situated between Brandon and Katie and Elise and would be a perfect pre-D&B shot.

Toine had the day off and met Brandon over at his and Katie’s apartment and who knows what they did before I showed up (the possibilities are endless!!) I gave Dohboy his gift: Autographed photographs from three Playboy Playmates that I got in Daytona and had been sitting on for almost 5 months. Then we broke out some Wii (I’m definitely not impressed) followed by some nostalgic Nintendo 64 (Mario Kart, of course.) Before we knew it it was time to head to Rock Bottom and meet Elise for dinner. Toinicus got a beer sampler (for free) and managed to down every little glass but one. Katie bid us a-doh and we left for D&B (with the help of my trusty GPS Tom Tom.)

Dave & Buster’s is basically a Chuckee Cheese for adults; there are games and arcades but in the center of it all is a bar. When we got there Victor met us outside and the first stop was the bar. I bought Toiner’s Red Bull & Vodka and Elise’s random gin-mix (she didn’t know what to get so the bartender made her something on the spot - she later sent it back it was so bad.) The first game we played was a car race for 6 people, 4 seats being taken up by the guys (I actually didn’t play as my car wasn’t working.) We played some basketball (both the mini, moving ones and the far-away normal ones) and I was horrible on both. The trivia game I did better at, but Brandon dominated in tickets. Elise and I, then Brandon and I played air hockey, and I won 2 jackpots on some huge game that you drop a ball into a rotating dial with each dial representing a different amount of tickets. I still have all those tickets (gotta be around 500) because the place closed up early, unbeknownst to anyone there, for a private party. Right around midnight Tim showed up. He wanted to buy Dohmaster a beer so we found a Bennigans nearby, but none of us were in the mood anymore so we got some chips and salsa and soda with a brownie for dessert. After this we all said our goodbyes and Doh’d outta there.

The rest of the weekend was fine. I worked alot on my guitar-project, hung out with Dad, and watched two crappy movies on Netflix’s watch instantly: Superman III and Being There. Supes III is basically a horrible Richard Pryor movie with some really silly Superman stuff thrown in there (the fight between Superman and Clark Kent being the only cool thing.) I was told by Netflix that I’d like Being There but it was wrooooooong. Although I didn’t hate it, I didn’t laugh once. And the category next to the title, in Netflix, was COMEDY. It was basically a movie based on one joke - oh snap! Let’s see how he’s going to be misinterpreted and find himself in an even loftier position this time!!!! Blah…

I’ve added a new feature to the SteverOnline sidebar. It’s a look back into Beatles history, showing us what the Fab Four were doing on this exact day. I’ve been planning on doing this for awhile but wasn’t exacly sure of the details. I was thinking of maybe making it a “Today in Nirvana History” but Nirvana would hibernate for months at a time and only were around for a few years. Then I was thinking of combining both Nirvana and Beatles but didn’t feel like doing all the work, so I just decided on The Beatles. I think more people would care what they were doing on a particular day than Nirvana. And both bands are brilliant anyway, so it doesn’t matter to me! To look up any day (and where I got most of my info) check out this website: http://www.beatlemania.ca/dayinhistory/dayinhistorymain.htm.

Just found this - possibly the best Seinfeld scene of all!

Song: Leona Lewis - I Will Be

This blog is titled “Hot weekend” because I saw the new Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian movie!!!!!!! Okay, I’m just kidding. Well, not about seeing it, I actually saw it Friday after work and it was okay. It was enjoyable (if a little sappy and cheesy at times - but hey, it’s a kid’s movie) but we only really saw it because we had a free pass to use.

Saturday was a big day, as my girlfriend and I planned to visit Six Flags Baltimore/Washington …interestingly situated in Bowie/Mitchellville. It reached a blazing 96 degrees while we were there, which actually worked to our advantage, as the park was probably just a little over half full. We breezed past normally-full line mazes, starting off with Joker’s Jinx. What’s great about Six Flags is it has DC Comic character themes. Some Batman rides and a Superman one. Joker’s Jinx looks like a balled up rollercoaster, it’s twists and flips with not alot of drops. I’m more a drop man (why I’m a member of The Doh Drop) so after Joker’s Jinx I was jonesin’ for Supes. But my girlfriend is not a rollercoaster-er so we settled for a light coaster to build her tolerance up. We unfortunately chose the Penguin’s Blizzard River, which looks harmless enough but spins the lunch out of you as you travel down a slide in a huge tube to end up with a tiny splash of water at the end (I was the only person to get splashed.) One of us felt pretty queasy after The Penguin, so the male one went to Superman: Ride of Steel alone. It’s definitely the most intense rollercoaster ride I’ve been on - check it out for yourself. After Supes even I was done (I can’t even imagine riding this at night) so we decided to trek over to Hurricane Harbor, the water park section of Six Flags.

It was getting hotter by the second so the first place we went to was Hurricane Bay, the wave pool, to cool off. It was basically a huge swimming pool for the first 20 minutes, with about 8 lifeguards stationed all over the place (and blowing whistles every 3 seconds.) Then the waves started up, which was nice until I lost my sunglasses in the deep end. Luckily for my eyes, after a few dives I found them on the bottom of the pool. The next ride turned out to be the best of our trip called The Tornado. It’s basically a huge funnel on it’s side, and you twist up and down it as you sit in a big tube. The best part was there was an unexpected drop! We followed this up with some tube ride where you take 2 paths and can race. I took the semi-open path and won, but I accidently went down the whole way backwards! The rest of the waterpark was much of the same but I was super glad it was there to keep us cool. After lunch, we changed clothes and trekked around the park. I tried one of those carnival-like booth games, called Crows Nest Ladder Challenge. It’s a rope ladder that twists from side to side and you have to balance your way up to a bell to ring. Like all carnival games, it looks way easier than it is. It goes against what your brain tells you - when you put your left foot down, say, you expect it to be your footing and your strong point. But it’s actually your weak point as it weighs you down to the left side. I even tried putting my foot in the middle of the rung, but to no avail. I toppled both attempts! After a little bit more time walking in the sun we decided to call it a day and head home. But right as we were leaving we decided to try one of those charicature artists. This turned out to be the best decision of the day, as the drawing turned out hilariously on-target. The guy was so spot-on he got my girlfriend’s wink and my slightly-crooked nose and both of our set of freckles! Awesome. When we got back I crashed on the bed and watched A Mighty Wind which I rate A Mighty Disappointment. Zing!

Sunday I kept a low profile during the day to recover from Saturday and keep out of the heat, but that night I had scheduled a huge meeting between the heads of Dohblog, B-Log and SteverOnline!! We met at the basketball court of nearby Barrett Elementary, near Brandon’s, and started off with a photo-shoot! What probably was supposed to last a few minutes turned into the better part of an hour, the best of which can be seen in my photos section (you can also check out some photos from the Six Flags adventure there.) We got lots of Toine’s stiff-looking jumps, some of my belly-showing, but precious little of Brandon as he was photographing. It was pretty much a Doh-Show, but lots of fun none-the-less. As it was getting dark fast we played only one game of basketball (a hilarious version of Crappy where each player creates a word that builds a sentence.) I’m not sure if I can choose a “best part of the weekend” but the worst is that this heat is still with us!