Text 28240, 111 rader
Skriven 2009-09-03 15:47:24 av Michael Loo (1:18/200)
Ärende: PA trip leftovers 120
=============================
Continuation of the Billy and Annie trip report from last month.

We were meeting Robbie and his friend Cindy at the Kast Hotel,
an old lodging house that has a "good plain food" restaurant.
I'd prefer something more regional, but the generic bar fare
here is done pretty well. We started with an order of nachos,
which were remarkable for the fact that the tortilla chips were
made in house, which I prefer, with wheat tortillas, which I
prefer, and deep-fried rather than some lesser method, which I
prefer. I had a couple chips fairly far from the cheese, followed
by a "Ruben," which disappointingly was made with corned beef
round - too lean and too salty. The sweet potato fries were pretty
good. Others at the table had the burger (made rare, good); the
"colossal club," which was indeed huge; and something else
sandwichy, I forget. Yuengling Light.

The backyard grill for dinner. Hot Italian sausage from Weggies,
pretty good but way too lean. Lamb chops in Moroccan spices out
of a jar augmented with a little cinnamon. Teriyaki and honey
mustard wings, marinades made by me, none of this sissy bottled
stuff, though such were available. Corn fritters and pineapple-
kiwi-starfruit salsa from Annie. Yuengling Light.

=

I might as well tell you what groundhog day is like.

Every day. Billy gets up fairly early (earlier than me);
newspaper (local delivered; Annie goes off downtown to get the
NY Times and USA Today, for which delivery isn't available);
a hit of TV; leftovers or a deli sandwich for lunch; another
hit of TV or some reading; a nap; a nice supper; bed. This
of course beats the alternative, but I do keep encouraging
him to walk around the block each day to prepare for the day
when he may need the leg muscles again. Tuesdays and Fridays,
Annie takes Shalimar (a retired blue-ribbon Birman) to the
vet for a fluid injection, and on rare occasions, Billy gets
to do the chore, which at least gets him out and about.
Michael's regimen for him would include a bunch more exercise
and a bunch more stuff like doing the groceries.

On this occasion I took Shalimar to the vet with Annie
driving: on my lap, even in the carrier she was much
calmer than usual. Perhaps Billy should ride shotgun
when Annie drives to the vet.

Lunch: leftover wings; leftover okra; leftover lamb chops;
Yuengling Light. Leftovers and Yuengling Light are appropriate
for Groundhog Day, don't you think?

=

Williamsport is home of the Little League World Series - but
the locals don't find it that big a deal, except revenuewise.
Watched considerable portions of three blowouts on the teev:

Staten Island 10, Mercer Island 3 - a slaughter from the getgo.
The hated New Yorkers (most of them, when asked who their
favorite baseball star was, said Derek Jeter) were impressive.
The kids from up Hap's way didn't stand a chance.

Taoyuan TW 16, Ramstein 0 - apparently likewise, but as the first
game took a rain delay, the first half of this one was preempted
(I'm sure ESPN has extra channels that it could have shunted this
one on, but it didn't), and nobody got to see the beginning of
the rout, which apparently included a grand slam in the first.
I would have thought that a team from a big AFB would have done
better, but it didn't.

Warner Robins GA 11, Urbandale IA 3 - this one was a real game for
a couple innings; then it was suddenly 5-3, and after we finished
going off to cut up some meat or something, kaboom. I think that
a lot of the 16 teams that got to the World Series were dominant
in their home leagues, and when confronted with the big bad real
world, weren't psychologically equipped - sort of like when a bunch
of valedictorians find themselves no longer the #1 seed at Stanford
or something.

=

Dinner: flank steak a la Billy Joel; Chinese-style garlic noodles
made with Penn Dutch very fine egg noodles - a very nice texture,
almost fluffy. Yuengling Light.

Annie dropped me off at Lamade Stadium (after unsuccessfully
schmoozing one of the Lamade boys to see if VIP parking was
available, in which case maybe Billy, who is still pretty shaky,
might have been able to go) so I could watch the Peabody-San
Antonio game. The Peabody team was supposed to have some of the
best talent around, with a couple of the players singled out
for special coverage by USA Today. There were about 10,500
people, I think more Peabody fans than Texans, which stands to
reason, but mostly neutral. It was a nothing nothing gem for a
third of the game, but then Peabody blew a chance with bad
baserunning and quickly fell apart. After a vast number of
errors and wild pitches and such the final was San Antonio
TX 10, Peabody MA 1 on what should have been scored as 10
unearned runs but owing to the generous scoring was deemed
to be half earned, half unearned. I sat between a local couple
and a Little League coach who had driven up with his grandson
from Bucks County, in the section right by the Peabody rooters.
I didn't know anyone there, though I looked for some of my
friends from city hall and the library.

I called Annie to pick me up a bit before the game was over -
things were hopeless. Interestingly, there is minimal traffic
jammery after the games.

___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30
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 * Origin: Nocturnal State BBS - bbs.nsbbs.info (1:18/200)