On the Corner of 3rd and 29th

Ahh, yes, another weekend has come and gone.  Another week back to the grind, as they say.  With only one week until the most wonderful time of the year, life for most people is beginning to become a lot more hectic.  But here at Adventures, life is finally starting to slow down and relaxation for the holidays is beginning.  Unfortunately, Christine and I will not be leaving the New York area for this year's Christmas in hopes of saving vacation days and money for May's Colossal event.  Even though it will be nice to relax around the Holidays for a change, we both will miss our families and think of them during our eating fest and movie watching marathon on the couch.

Last weekend was a weekend of firsts.  We started off the weekend on Friday by attending the celebration of matrimony for my coworker and good friend, Omar.  Taking the non-traditional route, he and his lovely bride Joyce (what a fantastic name!) held only a reception open to the public, in which they rented out a local party room for 50 of their closest friends/relatives.  Our camera was unfortunately in the hands of 2 confused-at-technology people (Christine and I), and it took until we left the party to figure out why the pictures were blurry, so no pictures can be posted of our time at the Gadalla wedding.  Christine and I were a little hesitant of the event at first, since we basically would know 2 of the other 48 people at the gathering, but it turned out to be a great night.  Their friends are fun and hilarious, with impromptu speeches and laughter galore.  I finally met Omar's dad, who is himself a famed ancient Egyptian historian and former Civil Engineer.  Those two professions aren't usually synonymous with each other, but he makes it work, and does something to inspire a fellow Civil Engineer/writer wannabe.  

The other event of the weekend was the famed Crosstown Shootout, the epic struggle between the two Cincinnati basketball juggernauts, The University of Cincinnati and Xavier University.  If anyone even has to ask who I was rooting for, just take this simple comparison as my reasoning:

     or        

You be the judge of the more ferocious mascot.  A Bearcat would LITERALLY eat a musketeer, as it's common knowledge Bearcats love chocolate and wuss schools for dinner.  

Even with my obvious win in the mascot department, Xavier won.  I wasn't too happy about the game, or even our playing ability, for I feel UC could have and should have won the game.  I may have jinxed the Bearcat hopeful by not having my ceremonial 2 cheese coney, small 3-way, oyster crackers with hot sauce, and large southern-style sweet tea meal before the game, but our motley crew did go to a UC bar in anticipation for a big win.  I was surprised with an attendance of over 20 UC Alumni (including Ben and J-bomb, who get nods as plain old UC fans) at the bar, making a homey and inviting atmosphere to be a UC fan. 

 

Much to the chagrin of those present at The Hill (not to be confused with the MTV hit drama, The Hills), Xavier prevailed and bested our favored Bearcats in the 40 minutes of basketball.  Deonta Vaughn led the Bearcats with 39 points, and pretty much tried to win the game by himself, but we still fell short.  Story of our lives.  We left the bar and retreated home, but with added hope that this season and even next season will have more in store for UC than the past few.  As you can see to the right, Christine still got in the Spirit.  And above, Ben and I are pathetic.

Saturday also held the event of Christine and I going to Macy's.  I stress that if anyone ever plans on visiting New York during the Christmas season, stay as far away from Macy's as possible.  It was a madhouse.  People pushing, yelling, and buying all at the same time left me wanting to get out as fast as humanly possible.  But we both got very lovely watches courtesy of the Plageman's Christmas gift. (Thank You!!)  I'm amazed at the sheer volume of people that fit into the store.  You couldn't pay me enough to work there during the season.  Well, I suppose there is an amount....

Another exciting event was the purchasing of Christine and my wedding bands.  We decided this was as good of time as any to make this purchase, as the jewelry stores all have sales during the Holiday season, and it makes our Christmas gifts easy.  It was a pretty cool experience picking out the bands, and makes me wish the May 23rd date came faster than it already is. 

Week of Sports Predictions

UC 79  -  Mississippi State 68

I feel UC made a big step in their near win over Xavier, and Vaughn is a superstar, so look for him to drop another 20+.

Bengals 56 - Browns 49

Another shootout like the '05 game.  This one won't be nearly as pretty, with Fitzpatrick struggling with 6 TDs and 7 INTs, but Bengals will prevail for 2nd week.  They're out of the running for the #1 draft pick, so they might as well beat the Clowns.

UNC 100 - Whoever they play 50.

North Carolina is that good.  Hansborough or not, these guys dominate everyone in their path.  They'll only lose this year if they want to.  Duke, what up?  UConn, what up?  "The only team that can beat UNC is UNC themselves," is the lamest comment you can make, but it's a true one. 

Music of the week

The Fray - You Found me.  They found me, addicted to their music again.  To me, their guitarist can be likened to a subtle rainfall while you're trying to sleep.  Awesome, until you take it away, then dearly missed.  Ok, so that was a horrible analogy, but he's really good and I feel really drives the band on.

Run of the Week

Central Park in the snow.  Fun AND not crowded.  

Hope y'all enjoyed it this week.  I had fun living/writing it, so I only hope you had fun reading.  Next week is Christmas, so if we don't talk to you before then, Merry Christmas!!   We miss everyone and can't wait to see you all again! Y'all come back now, y'hear?!