Filed under: entertainment, events, family, sports | Tags: bandwagon fans, chad ogea, fairweather fans, nittany lion football, Penn State football, pennsylvania teams, philadelphia phillies, philly phanatic, world series
A lot of good has been happening in my home state this fall. In honor of their recent success, I’d take a minute to cheer for the home teams in a 2-part series: the Philadelphia Phillies and the Penn State Nittany Lion football team.
The Phillie Phanatic, formerly known as, "The Only Worthwhile Reason to go to a Phillies Game"
Philadelphia is notorious for it’s fair-weather fans. I grew up in the 80′s with a distinct lack of respect for the Philadelphia Eagles & the Phillies, in spite of living an hour outside of the city. My family drove down down to see Baltimore Orioles games more often than Phillies games – partly because they had a way cooler stadium, but also because we were all of the opinion that Philadelphia teams flat-out stank. A friend of a friend, Chad Ogea, who played pitcher for the Phillies back in the late 90′s, has confessed that he couldn’t take his family out in public for fear of what disgruntled Philadelphia fans do or say in front of his two little girls . Not a very loyal fanbase, eh?
Boy, how times change! A few weeks ago when I flew home to the ASLA meeting, I couldn’t help but notice the number of people sporting the Phillies gear. At no point in time did I think it was because the team was actually doing well, I just figured it was another fashion fad that centered around sports, jerseys and sleazy nightclubs. This past Saturday night my own mother, who found out about the Phillies success just in time to jump on the wagon, stayed up till 2am to watch the end of game 3.
The World Series may be about to end (and with a Philly win, we bandwagon Pennsylvanians hope!), but the end of Pennsylvania’s winning streak isn’t over yet. Stayed tuned for Part 2 of the “Phantastic year for Pennsylvanians” series, in which I plan to write about another winning Pennsylvania team who, in contrast to the Phillies, has a very loyal fanbase - the Penn State Nittany Lions football team.
It’s not often that you get a whole weekend to be selfish and do only the things that you really want to do. After a long & stressful week that began mere hours after returning from vacation and knowing that this will be the last birthday of my 20′s, I feel a little less bad about flaunting my birthday weekend this time around.
In the past few years I haven’t done much for my birthday. In Austin it always seemed to fall on ACL weekend, when everyone was busy with shows and after-parties. This year is different. My birthday is on Sunday, but we started the weekend off early with a happy hour on Friday at Zax - it was so much fun to get all sorts of people together and enjoy some drinks and good food. It was also amazing to see so many people I love all in one place, who came to celebrate little ol’ me! Thanks to everyone to showed up – I hope you had fun too!
The next fun part about birthdays is the mail. I LOVE mail. Going to the mailbox in the evening is such a treat. It’s a major bummer on the rare days when the box is empty. Even a bill in the mail is better than no mail at all! So I especially love birthdays, when family & friends send cards (and sometimes even presents!). It’s so fun to open the cards & remember your loved ones. Some cards arrive a few days early and start getting you excited for the day, some show up right on time, and others come a little late – stringing the celebration out a little longer!
So thanks to everyone who showed up and made last evening special. Thanks to mother nature, for swinging Hurricane Ike away from Austin (but sorry for those who ended up in his path). Thanks to Justin for setting this weekend up, and thanks to my friends and fam who couldn’t be here but are sending their love through the US Post! You guys have made and are making this weekend a great one!
Filed under: family, go green | Tags: mom, pennsylvania, rain barrel, rain harvesting
mom's whiskey barrel & thirsty hosta wait for the next rain.
Yup, my mom & stepdad have hopped on board the eco-friendly train by doing some rainwater harvesting! And with a recycled barrel, no less – bonus points for Mom!
Mom reports that the rain barrel was purchased from a local Amishman in Pennsylvania, who is recycling old whiskey barrels into rain collectors. I know what you’re thinking: “Amish? Whiskey? Rain barrels?” I wish I could explain better. But you’ll just have to trust me on this one – the 3 can go together in one sentence, really.
Besides the lingering scent of alcohol that has reportedly resulted in at least 1 bad hangover since purchased, Mom had nothing but rave reviews so far. Last week she said 1″ of rain overnight resulted in 2 overflowing barrels, which she’ll use to water her plants rather than watering from a garden hose. Good job, Mom! You make your daughter proud.
I was just kidding about the hangover, by the way. But it does make you wonder if her plants have been feeling a little woozy since the switch to whiskey water…? If only plants could talk. In this case, I think her hosta next to the barrel there would be saying, “Pour me another, Mrs. Bartender!”
