Friday night I crashed your party
Saturday I said I'm sorry
Sunday came and trashed me out again
-- Billy Joel
Non-stop social weekends will soon be a thing of the past, but I'm sure enjoying them now.
Friday night we did dinner with Sharon and Gary in Logan Circle by their new place. These are friends who live "in the country," but when they needed to stay with us for a week, fell in love with the commutes that are one-third of what they're used to. So they bought a condo in the city, and suddenly they have an extra two hours each day. I knew Logan Circle had been undergoing significant revitalization, but it was really neat to see all that's happened there -- it's really turned into a chic spot that nevertheless maintains its historical character.
Saturday afternoon was spent at the Old Dominion Beer Festival, a tried and true annual event in a big field next to one of the best local breweries (~40 minutes from home). And lucky me that I had a designated driver this year. It wasn't too hot (otherwise Kathy wouldn't have come), and the rain that was forecast didn't arrive during the few hours we were there. We enjoyed meeting up with a few of the local RateBeer people too. Sadly, the beer really wasn't that impressive, and the price (a steep increase to $20 per person, including designated drivers) didn't even include beer -- you had to pay extra for that. So I think that the ODBF, having been tried, is no longer so true, and short of a significant change in their approach, I don't intend to go back next year.
After a quick nap, I made dinner then headed for the DC United game, the last home game I'll get to see for nearly two months (they only have one home game in that span, and I'm busy that night). United has the best record in the league, but the truth is that their record is better than their performance has been. In 2000 the team looked great but couldn't win to save their lives. While this season isn't the exact opposite, there's no question we shouldn't be comfortably ahead in our conference. Around halftime the long promised rain started up, and I wasn't exactly dressed for it. No biggie -- I didn't mind getting wet to keep watching the game, and it kept me bouncing around. The game, however, was suspended due to lightning just a few minutes after halftime. While we waited in the stadium concourse, we figured the game would be called, but after a 40-minute delay, play resumed, and back into the rain we went. It took less than a minute after the game started back up that United scored the only goal of the game, so again the home team was victorious. I came home quite soaked, then took a quick hot shower and put on some dry clothes.
Sunday we did lunch at a brewpub, then drove over to the theatre where Spamalot was playing in an attempt to get tix. I didn't even know it was playing in town until Dave posted on his blog, and then was reminded of my interest in it during the rain delay at the soccer game when my friend Noah recommended it as well. When I got to the box office, I discovered that they didn't have any pairs of tickets next to each other for the remaining two weeks of the show's run in town. I couldn't quite bring myself to spend $90+ per ticket for two seats, one in front of the other, on the far left where you couldn't quite see everything due to the angle. So I came home slightly dejected, but on a whim checked out Craigslist and found a pair of tix for below face, in the center of the second lower balcony row, for that evening. First time I'd used Craigslist, and major score.
The show was great, and if you haven't seen it, I recommend it. Plenty of laughs, and lots of nostalgia (assuming you watched and enjoyed The Holy Grail). There were some twists, plus a few additions and subtractions (bring back Castle Anthrax!) -- I'd say it's about 50% faithful to the original. After the show, we were treated to more rain, and sadly we hadn't brought an umbrella. When I say "more rain," you have to understand that "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" was our song for the evening, as we got more wet in the 2.5 blocks to the Metro than I did the entire previous evening at the game. It was torrential. Our train went right through the station that was closed until this afternoon due to the flooding that this storm caused. Fortunately Kathy figured she'd want to go to bed shortly after the show, and we drove to within 1.5 blocks of the Metro. Otherwise, we would have been in the lightning storm that we found ourselves in when we got off the Metro quite a bit longer. When we got home, I once again took a quick hot shower and put on some dry clothes.
Today it was back to the grind (starting my second week of covering for my boss and another fellow manager), with more rain forecast (and falling now amid thunder). Still, having had a weekend like that made the previous week seem like a distant memory. Maybe I should have weekends like this more often.
