Wheaton was having a bonfire and cookout at his house, so took the dogs over and hung out, getting eaten alive by mosquitos. A bunch of people had guitars, but none of us knew anything that anyone else knew... |
Bridge on the AT/LT. |
I got up, packed up, took the dogs for a walk, then drove over to the Rutland Airport to catch the 11:30 flight to Boston and eventually to Lebanon Ohio for USA Ultimate Grand Masters Nationals. I was hand-searched at the airport since, for the first time ever i think, the metal detector went off. I had NOTHING metal on me. Full flight to Boston (10 people in a Cessna 402). Took off for Washington-Dulles and made it about 3/4 of the way there, then turned around and went back to Boston. Sat at the terminal for about an hour, then the let us off the plane. And hour or so later, we reboarded and flew to Dulles. I landed at 8:30, checked the board and discovered that my Dayton flight was leaving at 8:40 (all flights had been delayed for a while due to a severe thunderstorm moving through). I caught the flight and asked one of the baggage handlers if my bag was going to make it. He checked his hand-held scanner device and couldn't find a record of my bag. Grr... So i arrived in Dayton to find that i indeed had no bag. There was another flight from Dulles arriving later and the United serviceperson assured me that my bag would be delivered to my hotel.
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Got up to discover that my bag had NOT arrived. I called United and found out that it had been left in Boston, never making the transfer, and was on its way that morning. Geez. Fortunately, my hotel roommate Mark had just bought a new pair of cleats which he didn't like and was planning on wearing his old cleats. They were a size too big, but they worked fine. The team captain had my numbered uniform shorts and shirt, so i was covered for the day. I was playing with "The Le Grande Tigre" from Santa Fe. We were seeded 3rd in our pool, 11th overall out of 16. We started the day by losing to the #1 seed in our pool, Surly, 12-8. They had a few players on it that i played with on Machine in Chicago. I felt OK, my legs weren't hurting, and i played fairly well. The next game was against the #2 seed in our pool, Big Sky, and we beat them 11-9. Our third game was against Sick Hammers, which had my friend from college Ian Jipp on it. We beat them 13-7. So we were sitting at #2, until Big Sky beat Surly, making it a three-way tie, and on points we ended up 3rd. Meanwhile, Scrapple beat the #1 seed in their pool, DoG, putting them at #2, so in the crossover game, we had to play DoG. We played well, and apparently scared them into thinking that they might end up in the lower pool on Sunday, but in the end, they beat us 13-10. Chicken dinner at the fields, then i went back to the hotel (my bag had finally arrived) and watched TV.
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I was sore, and during the first game my hamstrings started cramping up again. We beat The Ozark Hillbillies 13-6, beat Iron City Ultimate 13-8, then finally ran out of steam and lost to a larger Ball and Chain team in the "Nine-als" 12-7, placing us 10th. So, my first-ever Nationals tournament. I did well, with 5 recorded goals caught, 6 thrown, 3 defensive blocks, and (for the first time ever in a tournament probably) zero turnovers. I missed one pass that was thrown into the ground in front of me that i dived for, but it bounced off of my hand, so not quite completely perfect, but not bad. I hung out and watched the GM and Masters Women finals, taking some pictures. When it was all over, i went back to the hotel and lazed around in the pool for a while, then drove over to a movie theater and saw the movie "Horrible Bosses".
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Got up, drove up to Dayton, flew to Dulles, plane for the Boston flight was delayed in arriving so we were late leaving Dulles and i got into Boston at 2:25. I exited the concourse and got to the Cape Air desk and they bumped me to the front of the line and gave me my boarding pass. I got into the security line at 2:44 and finally made it through at about 3:08 for a 3:10 flight. I ran down to the gate and they were just about to start loading all 6 of us, so no problem, but of course, my bag didn't make it. I got into the plane and asked the pilot if he had a copilot. He asked if i wanted to sit in the copilot's seat and i accepted. Once in Rutland, though, i realized that the keys to my truck were in my bag. The Cape Air attendant asked if i wanted to borrow a car, and lent me one of the rental cars, a nice Volvo. A few hours later, i drove back to the airport, picked up my bag and one other person's bag who lived very close to me (i said that i'd bring them their bag), then drove down to Katherine's house in South Wallingford. She had picked up my dogs on Saturday and had them at her house, so i picked them up there, visited with her a bit, dropped off the other bag in Mt. Holly, then went home.
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Went out to the Jackson Gore Music Series where The Butties, a Beatles cover band, was playing. Shot a couple rounds of disc golf on my own, then one with Dennis and Nuge. |
Meadow and Josh had offered me a free ticket to SolarFest, and i was going to go, since i'd never been, but i woke up feeling sick, and by noon i was crashed on the sofa watching TV for the rest of the day. Bleah. |
Wanted to go to SolarFest, but still felt crappy.. |
Since i'd been sick all weekend, i took a sick day off of work. I had the oil changed on my truck, took the dogs to the vet (they had fleas), went shopping, went to the bank, and took trash to the transfer station. |
Halfway to ultimate, i had to stop quick and i blew a brake line, leaving me with almost no brakes. I drove carefully to ultimate and carefully home. |
Had my truck towed to Japanese Auto, and they managed to get it fixed by the end of the day, but i didn't get the message until the next day. |
Caught the bus to work (i had left a message for Rob to pick me up, but he never got it). Rob gave me a ride to Japanese Auto that afternoon and i picked up my Trooper. I was told however, that unless i get some reinforcements welded onto my frame, the Trooper won't pass inspection.
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Ian arrived for a visit. He hung out at my house while i went out to play ultimate, then we had dinner and stayed up past midnight talking. |
Went for a walk along Clarendon Gorge with the dogs, then Ian headed off to Albany. I took the day off of work. |
Spent the weekend cleaning the garage. |