Exploring paths.

Lunch at the Sugar House

Drove over to Sarah & Jake's house after work and picked up them and Kyle and drove down to Andover, MA, where i dropped them off at Rachael's house. Then i drove over to Edna & Greg's house in Littleton.

Regionals. We (Huck'n Babiez) were the 16th seed in the Mixed division, so opened the day against the #1 seed, Tandem. They beat us 15-2, but at least we scored 2. We then went on to lose to the #9 seed Kung Fu Grip 15-6, which put us in the race for 13th, but we lost to Enough Monkeys 15-4 (we should have played much better), so our last hope was 15th, but we lost to 7 Express 15-8, thereby holding our #16 seed.

Eugene and Nick came back to Edna's with me and stayed the night.

Regionals, Day 2. I could have played with WIPP in the Grand Master's division, but since i'd turned my ankle on Saturday, i opted out and did some observing work. I observed the Bashing Pinatas vs. Denoiret game in the Mixed division, then did my first Masters game, the "game to go" - Above & Beyond vs. Tombstone. After that, Jay asked me if i could do either the Open or Women's "game to go", but i claimed my hurt-ankle-long-drive-home exemption and drove home with Nick and Eugene.

That's Edna's new dog Neeka.

Morning on the paint crew.

Fall colors on the tree in my front yard.

Hiked around some trails at the end of Beaver Meadow Road.

Started work in the Okemo Sign Shop. I had stopped in to the shop right after i started working for Rob, painting, and Tim, the Sign Shop manager, asked if i wanted a job. After some internal Okemo beaurocracy, it was decided that i'd start working there when Rob went back to his winter Snowboard manager position.

The tree again.

And again, early morning. I took the trash over to the transfer station today and walked the dogs over by Elfin Lake.

Hiked up by Fifield Pond.

Aaron and Heather in the Okemo Sign Shop.

Hiked up by Fifield Pond.

Hiked to where i'd hiked to from the other end.

Morning on the way to work.

Slept in, packed up, drove down to the Albany airport, and flew to Tampa, FL. When i got on the shuttle bus from the economy parking lot at the Albany airport, two ultimate players (Jim and Matt) that i'd played with at the White Mountain Open got on as well. On the same flight were about 7 players from the Bashing Pinatas team, including Erchon, who i'd played with in Chicago.

Once in Tampa, i had about an hour wait for Brian and Art, who flew in from Vancouver and were observers as well. I saw some of the DoG team arrive, ran into Matt Luck (formerly from ABQ) and Calvin while i was waiting. Vic picked us observers up and we drove down to the hotel in Sarasota, where i got to watch game 1 of the World Series. I was roomed with Vic and Clayton, who arrived sometime in the middle of the night when i was asleep.

Observed a Master's game (Big Sky vs. Miami), then was scheduled off for the second round, but got called in to observe the second half of an Open game (Sub Zero vs. Truck Stop). Finished off the day with another Master's game (OLD SAG vs. Miami). I used my free lunch ticket for a meal just before i left the fields, then walked over to the Target next to the hotel for some chocolate and snacks. Watched game 2 of the World Series.

Started the day with a Master's game (Troubled Past vs. Mileage), continued with a second Master's game (Big Sky vs. Above & Beyond), then observed an Open quarter-final game (Condors vs. Truck Stop) in intermittent rain which was interrupted for half-an-hour due to lightning. Once again ate my lunch for dinner and hung out at the hotel watching "Borat" and "Happy Feet".

Observed the Master's semi-final game of DoG vs. Troubled Past. Very low-spirited game. Two of the players on Trobled Past came very close to getting red cards and being ejected. I don't feel like i took enough control of the escalating situation of that game, but it all worked itself out. Trobled Past ended up with the lowest spirit rating of the Master's Division.

After that i observed one of the Mixed semis - Amp vs. Slow White. Mixed games are a LOT more spirited than Master's or Open games. Pretty easy game to observe.

Back to Target for more chocolate, then game 3 of the World Series.

Although there were 16 observers at Nationals and 4 finals games to observe (with 4 observers per game), i wasn't scheduled to do any of them, which bummed me out a little bit, but it was OK to sit and watch all of the games. I got to chat with a bunch of the people from all over the country that i knew that i'd run into there, which was pretty neat.

All of the observers and tournament volunteers who were left that evening went out for dinner, then i watched the Red Sox win the World Series for the second time this century.

Vic and Byron and i got up at 4:00 AM and drove up to Tampa. We parted ways for our respective airlines, and i was one of the last ones on my Southwest flight to Baltimore, but i got the middle seat in the very front row. The sun came up as we were nearing Baltimore.

Unfortunately, i didn't realize that i had a 4-hour wait in BWI, so i bought a book of crossword puzzles and did a few of them. I was in the C boarding group again and this time got the middle seat in the front row, but on the other side.

I got annoyed at the parking attendant at the economy parking because there were no signs indicating it, but he wouldn't let me pay cash; credit card only. But i got over it, drove the 2 hours home, and communed with my very happy pups.