Bryan and Mary's big day

I realized I never talked about St. Louis. Overall we had a great time down there but I wanted to give a few thoughts and comments around the wedding in St. Charles.

• It was great to see family and friends that I had not seen in a while. Negative - there were so many people that I wanted to talk to that I felt like I didn't get to talk to anyone.
• Bryan and Mary looked amazing. Not shocked about Mary but Bryan cleaned up nicely!
• Loved that we went to White Castle as a stop on the bus.
• I was really honored to be best man in a wedding but did not realize the amount of responsibility I had. It was a lot of work. I loved it though
• I was nervous about the speech. Not really nervous about talking in front of lots of people but nervous I would have too many beers on the bus before giving it. We were on the bus for almost 4 hours! I did good though. I was still under control
  
• The music selection for the wedding was fantastic and it showed. The dance floor was PACKED all night!
• With me being in the wedding and having to run around a lot, Michelle was on Samantha duty for a LOOOOONG time. Nice work Michelle!
• My speech would have never worked if it wasnt for Plothow setting it up beforehand. THANK YOU!
• I freaked out when we got into the reception and the mic was plugged into a wall on the other side from where the computer was setup. Thank goodness for wireless microphones.
• Pai Gow after the reception was fun. It was not profitable but it was fun.
• When I kneeled for my wedding, I thought that would be the last time. Then I showed up for the rehearsal and found out round 2 was coming!
  
• Trailhead Brewery was awesome. I really liked that place.
• I am still can not believe Michelle had a WWE belt cake make in a 48 hour period. Wow.

In the end, I had a great time and I was honored to be part of the wedding. Fun times by all!

Vin Scully - Another year

I don't get to listen to many Dodger games. I do not get to watch many Dodger games but it does make me very happy that Vin Scully is coming back. The living legend recently announced his intentions on coming back and quite frankly, if he is healthy, I do not see him walking away ever.

When we visit my parents out in the burbs, my dad watches the Dodgers games online. It was such a treat to watch the game and listen to the legend work his magic.

He has been broadcasting since 1948. 1948....Granted he just does home games and west coast trips but he is the voice of the Dodgers. He is an iconic voice of baseball and he is in my opinion the best ever. Thank you for coming back for another season.

All good things must come to an end and Rick Monday is good but there will never be another Vin Scully.

The Fire and the News

So, Michelle did a good job of detailing the incident. Honestly, if I was not a father, I do not think I would have been as upset as I was. What keep going through my mind was "Thank goodness we did not have Samantha with us." Then my thought went to "What if this was January?"

Seriously, how could a hotel not have plans in place in case of a fire. Michelle actually wrote a complaint to the Intercontinental and the hotel manager called her. He admitted that they dropped the ball and everything was complete chaos. As unlucky as the fire was, they really did get lucky that the fire happened in the summer.

As we all layed in a hotel ballroom for hours, hundreds of us laying side by side on the floor, I was shocked the media was not covering this more closely. At 9 am, we were standing in line, 100s of us in ridiculous clothes or just robes for some outside the hotel and no media is there? Intercontinental gets a pass on this poorly managed incident?

Well, when we finally made it back to the room, I called the local news. I went off on them a little about not being there and then told them the story. They asked if they could use my name. I said sure. Well, Michelle and I then caught up on some sleep.

A couple hours later I get a phone call from the news station saying they want to interview me and asked to meet me. I said sure and 15 minutes later I was outside doing an interview on camera. A buddy of mine taped the local 6 o'clock and 10 o'clock news and he said I made both or part of my interview made both. I also made this article.

In the end, I do give the local news some credit. They did hear me out and even made my voice heard.

I STILL can not believe that alarm went off again Sunday morning. That was UNBELIEVABLE!

Outside of that, Boston was an absolute blast. Fun town, fun times and fun people!

Recovery and Getting Old

Now that I got close to 20 hours of sleep the last two days, I am feeling 100% from last weekend. Now, my weekend was extended until late Monday night.

Of course as I say that I am feeling 100%, I am heading to Boston on a 6 am flight tomorrow and the trip will include two nights of partying.

It amazes me how long it takes me to recover not even from a night of drinking but a night of little sleep. Now, Bryan and Mary's wedding was extra emotional for me and a little more stressful since I had to give a speech and all other duties I had as best man. Oh and there was some casino time in there. Let us not forget that!

Michelle had never been to St. Louis before. Actually, it is another state for Samantha too! The wedding was an amazing time! Stopping at White Castle after pictures were over was CLUTCH!

After the wedding, my parents, my bro and his family and michelle, sam and I all stayed a couple days in downtown St. Louis. It was a lot of fun that including some zoo time and lots of pool time as well!

Getting back at 11:30 monday night - not fun.

Well, St. Louis, Boston and Nashville are the three cities Michelle and I are hitting up in a 4 week period.

One down, two to go!

Summer TV and the upcoming weekend

As we are in the middle of summer, I figured this would be a good time to go over a few shows I am watching.

New ones:

Pretty Little Liars - Let me tell you that I found this show and not Michelle. yes, it is true and I love it! The season finale just happened and I am quite interesting in seeing where it is going next season.

New seasons...

Jersey Shore Season 2 - I loved this last year. LOVED! This year is not disappointing either.
Big Brother - New cast. new fun. I am shocked that an early alliance is still hiding.
Real World - I believe I am too old for this but it is in new orleans...I could not miss it!
Psych - The original mentalist....
Royal Pains - Another show I found a couple years ago that I love.
FNL - One of my favorite shows of all time...yeah I said it.
Top Chef DC - I am SHOCKED by who got sent home last night...SHOCKED!!!!

That is all I can think of right now.

This weekend is Bryan and Mary's wedding. I am so excited. There will be family and LOTS of friends there, friends that I have not seen in forever. Another wrinkle for me is that I am best man. I am honored with the role but am a little nervous for the speech. On the bright side, it is written and ready to go. You see I have stood up in a good amount of weddings but this is my first time being best man. I just hope I don't screw up!

St. Louis this weekend is upper 90s and humid...great time to be in a tux...yikes!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Albert Hayensworth Test

It has been annoying. I wish it would end. I do like random challenges though. As most of you have read, Albert Hayesworth has failed his conditioning test and can not practice until he passes it. The test is simple. Run 25 yards down, turn, run back. Do that 6 times for 300 yards. You have to do it twice but you get 3.5 min rest in the middle. He has to do it in 70 and 73 seconds respectively.

So Mike Golic tried it for ESPN a couple days ago. He passed the test by doing it in exactly 70 sec and 73 sec. It did not surprise me at all that he did it in the exact allotted time. He found a rythymn based on time being yelled out to him during each set. He has done these before and there is no reason to do these faster than what is necessary.

Going into the run, Mark Schelereth said he had NO DOUBT in his mind that Golic would do it. These tests come down to heart and nothing else. I found that to be interesting.

Well, I had to try it. Now, I have not been working out a lot lately especially the last few months. Between traveling and work, I just haven't made the time. Summer is always busy. Well, I made it to the gym last night and did my workout. Afterwards, Knowles and I set up our bags on the sidewalk 25 yards apart and timed each other.

I did both sets in 68 seconds and Knowles did both sets in 66 seconds. We both could have done it faster if need be. SIGN ME UP REDSKINS! Well, except I can not pass the "go run over to the parking lot and flip every car over test". It really was a drill of pace and heart and not a challenging athletic test. Haynesworth has no business failing this test.

So, my challenge to you. Go try it. It is a fun little challenge. 3.5 min rest is plenty for the heart. Your legs will feel it.