Weekend with friends

First I need to post a work blurb because it's long overdue; and once you see the blurb, you'll know why I say this may be the last in a while. My worst fears came true as I have been unofficially assigned the route I most feared I'd end up with and least wanted. I start on that route tomorrow, at least one day with its former salesman, maybe 2. But I believe I'm safe in saying that at least early on 16 hour days will be the norm.

Thanks to the Monday holiday, poetically for me Labor Day, I have the rare 2 days off in a row; and thus the chance to get away and do something. AA and I have talked about me getting down there to visit for music, "fine" food and beverage, as well as getting to a minor league baseball game together. Well, 3 1/2 out of 4 ain't bad. I'll get to the missing half shortly. I want to make sure I again gratefully thank my gracious hosts, AA and Mrs. AA, for a very comfortable, entertaining and relaxing weekend. Hopefully the offer and opportunity to do it again exists, and feel free to take us up on a reciprocal offer...we have the room.(Yes Bro, it was good to see you and "the Mrs" too...and Larry)

I made it down to the South Shore in a tad under 3 hours in my rented PT Cruiser Touring. I liked it very much, though not the Caliber (no pun intended) I was hoping to rent, except it was the mandatory rental automatic. I arrived to find Bro and Mandy and Larry already there, and AA's famous cheese dip bubbling and a cold Sammie immediately placed in my hand. We soon had other excellent fair to eat, spicy ribs and pepperoni sticks, and then a trip to a huge liquor store to pick up some special brews.

AA and I then spent several hours in the "panic room," his excellent (though hot), perfectly small and acoustic music room, where we spent much time showing each other some of our favorite stuff, mostly played on his impressive turntable...ahhhh, hours spent listening to vinyl heard better than ever while imbiding some excellent adult refreshment. Thanks for the introduction to Smithwicks by the way. Too bad I'd had too little sleep as usual and by 3 a.m. had hit my 24 hour mark. That was time thoroughly enjoyed and needs to be revisited soon. It was a lot of fun hearing some of my old vinyl sound like new and also to be introduced to excellent "new" material.

Now on to Sunday and the game that wasn't. We'd been keeping an eye on the weather to see whether venturing to Norwich, CT for a minor league game was going to be possible. The weather maps and radar showed the rain by 11 a.m. passed that area, even though there was still a very heavy mist in the South Shore. So AA and I headed out, tanked up at Taco Bell and head to Norwich, about an hour and a half west. It continued to mist all the way to the MA/CT border, in fact rained heavy at times with nothing but clouds ahead in the direction of Norwich; but lo and behold within about 15 miles of the ballpark you could see the highway was dry from tire tracks, which gave us much optimism this wouldn't be a wasted trip. We arrived at a nice new ballpark, though strangely in a rural industrial park, with no rain and the clouds lifting.

For 10 bucks each we got seats in the second row behind the 3rd base dugout, grabbed a couple of frothy Sammies and settled in for the ballgame. It was supposed to start at 2:05 but not much was happening or said until at 2:15 or so the PA announcer advised us that the game was postponed due to field conditions, right when the clouds had completely lifted and the sun was shining bright. There were large puddles in the dirt areas around the backstop, and it was obviously too wet to play...something they should've known before selling us tickets at 10 minutes before game time. Oh well. We grabbed a couple of Nathan's dogs and took a $10 tour of the ballpark.

We drove back and spent the rest of the afternoon watching and napping through another disappointing Red Sox game and then managed to keep AA entertained enough with Nascar to see a solid half of the race from Cali or more, which I thoroughly enjoyed on his Hi Def TV, the first time I've been able to experience what a wonderful difference there is. Woooo hoooo, Kasey won!

Again Aaron and Meg, thanks for a great weekend. I was quite comfortable (too much so at times, LOL) and thoroughly enjoyed myself. And folks, there is life after AA's cheese dip...it just takes a while to pass.