Oct 31, 2011

My first day of the week substituting for Erika began with watching Nightmare Before Christmas at Lakeside then to Lakeside to watch Spiderman. I spent a lot of time reading and got through a lot of my book while the students were mostly good. I met Ryan at the gym after work and then went to Moe's where we met Kate and got our Monday fix.

I went up to Deptford mall to meet Christy and get some gelato. We walked around the mall once but didn't get anything of course.

We headed to Barnes and Noble and browsed the books. I always find a ton of things I want to read but whenever it's time to read something new I don't know what to start. We sat there until they closed.

It was a nice day. Hoping the rest of the week will be similar.

Oct 30, 2011

I met Ryan at the gym in the morning to do push-ups and chest exercises. I increased the weight on the chest press I was doing with dumbbells and hit myself in the chest with one of them. It hurt a little, but at least I missed my face.

We went to Parvin for a one-lap run. I don't know if it was my pace but I'm glad we only did one lap this time. When we finished we walked the mile or so back to the bridge so I could take some shots of the reflected fall leaves. It looks much nicer in person.

I went to Kate's later where Chuck played guitar for us as I drank some of the Flying Fish beer I got. We just sat out there and listened to him play and kicked a soccer ball around.

Kate made me an orange creamsicle drink. I couldn't finish the whole thing but it's really good. You can make a lot of drinks with Pinnacle whipped cream vodka.

We all had to work in the morning so we left a bit early and headed home. I got to bed after the new Dexter.

Oct 29, 2011

Ryan and I went to the gym to do pull-ups and other arm exercises since we missed Thursday. We did the assisted pull-ups that help me do them slightly but I'm not very good.

Chuck and I headed up to the Flying Fish Brewery in Cherry Hill for a tour of the facility and some samples. The guy giving the tour was one of the founders of the company and gave an amazing tour. He talked about very complex processes and made them understandable for the lamen. He also described why cheap beer companies want you to drink their beer VERY cold: because it inhibits the taste and you won't notice how bad it really is.

We got some samples of all of these beers. There were some really delicious ones in there, including the Belgian Dubbel and the Exit 4 Trippel, the two that Chuck and I got six packs of. It was a really interesting tour and a lot of nice people work there.

Next stop was Blue Monkey for paninis and a glass of something new. I wasn't too fond of the beer I got. Its name implied much more hops than I got. The panini was delicious though. After eating we returned to the snowy October weather and drove north.

The drive really wasn't bad at all despite it snowing the whole time. Parking was a little tricky and walking to the venue from the VFW lot got my feet wet. We hung out in the bar area as The Wonder Years were just finishing. Too bad we missed them. Set Your Goals played next. I'm not really fond of them. New Found Glory came out and played basically the same set as last week.

Chad talked a lot and they added a couple different songs and got rid of "Radiosurgery" which made us happy. The set was good and the crowd was not too bad besides a few people. It was fun but felt somehow lacking. Maybe I just wasn't as into it this time.

The drive home was also not bad though I thought it might be. Chuck went to sleep.

Oct 28, 2011

I covered study team meetings at Mt. Pleasant all day, going from fifth grade to first to third to kindergarten. It was an experience. One of the classes was taking a test so that was easy. Another class was just obnoxiously running around the room and the other teacher didn't seem to mind. It was a pretty easy day for the most part, ending on a Halloween party in the kindergarten class.

I went for a run after work and headed up to get Christy and go to Creamy Acres for their Night of Terror. We waited in line quite a while for our tickets and then waited longer in a short line before the hayride actually began.

The ride was fun. People kept jumping up on the trailer with chainsaws, mostly tormenting this one girl across from us who was very jumpy. We went through a few buildings with different things in them, including an undead dance party. When we finished we went through a building that was pitch black where we had to feel our way through the walls. It was strange and disorienting.

There was a "cornfiled maze" (that's how they spelled it) which was just a fence maze with corn on it. It was quite difficult to find our way out though. There were two funhouse things after that. One was a pirate theme and the other was a 3-D clown house. The latter was creepy and really cool. There were disorienting tunnels that spun around you while you walked the platform. It was a really fun time so I'm glad we went.

I came home to change into my costume (Chuck from Chuck) and then headed to Kate's for the party. We hung out downstairs while Wolverine and other superheroes played beer pong for a while.

This is adult Halloween. Candy and beer. I got Brooklyn IPA for myself and Dogfish Head for Chuck. I didn't get to any of the candy before we left.

We decided to go upstairs and play cards instead of sticking around the characters downstairs. We played quite a few games of palace and had drinks. It was better than the beer pong party in my opinion.

After the game died down Chuck played guitar for us and we sang along while finishing our beers. I headed home when everyone was getting sleepy and ready for bed. It was a good party.

Oct 27, 2011

I was in no shape to get up early so I spent most of the morning in bed. I was awaiting the FedEx guy to drop of my iMac all day and it finally came in the late afternoon. I set it up and marveled at the prettiness of it. Then I went through the motions of adding all of the programs and other things I need to use it. It's really nice to have a fast computer. Hopefully I can get a lot more work done now.

A little later I met Christy at the park and we talked for a while before deciding to go to Pop Shop for dinner. We got a pre-set meal deal thing for Restaurant Week which started us with appetizer samplers and then our sandwiches and fries. Christy got a soda float to top it off.

There was so much food that we left more than half of it before we even got our chocolate chip cookie dough balls for dessert. They were so good. And I had a giant meal leftover for later.

We went to Jeff's for a little while after eating since he's right around the corner. We mostly just sat and talked until we had to leave. Then I came home and played with my computer some more.

Oct 26, 2011

Work was an English class at the Senior High where I had one class in the morning by myself and then the last two classes of the day after lunch break were with the other classroom teacher so I sat at the desk by myself and read. Not a bad day.

I went for a run at Silver Run after work. I only did one lap around. I'm just not liking this trail much anymore. The narrow paths and myriad turns just get annoying when I'm trying to do a distance run.

Kate picked up Chuck and myself and then we grabbed Shannon on the way to Philly for the Abbaye's Ithaca U-Buy-the-Glass night. All of the beers were really good. The Apricot Wheat was amazingly delicious and not overwhelming. The Cold Front was perfection. Such a tasty smoky beer. I think I drank too many. Diana stopped by with her friends before the show also, in costume, and had a few drinks with us. I had the mac and cheese too. Forgot how great that was.

Despite the beer at the Abbaye, Shannon and I stopped by JD's before the show and got another drink while we waited.

Circa Survive took the stage and costume and played a long set of good music. I was having a good time in the crowd from what I remember... After the show we walked back to the Abbaye and met the rest of our party to head home sleepily.

Oct 25, 2011

I had a job at the Senior High for a math teacher, where I got to read some more of my book. The classes were mostly good. I really love the book.

I spent some time editing photos and posting things again after work and then went to Union Lake to try out a new running trail. I really liked the paths even though some parts were sandy. It's nice to run somewhere new. I ran five miles without even noticing.

I met Chuck and Kate at the Oar House and we hung out for a little while. Chuck didn't have much of a voice so it was hard to talk. Luckily it was a lot quieter than last night so we could hear him.

I got a job so I came home to get some sleep like everyone else.

Oct 24, 2011

I had a very productive morning editing photos, posting them, then updating Beer Me That Blog! with a comprehensive post on DuClaw Brewing Co. and then networking with some of the people who work there to a surprising amount of praise. After I had done what I needed to I went to Parvin for a run. I only took one lap around this time.

I went to the gym with Ryan a bit later and we had a quick mile run around the hospital. I ran it in 7:12. I have nothing to judge that against, but I think I need to improve that a bit. I met Kate at the Oar House and we were soon joined by Stephen. We had some food and attempted to empty the Shiner Ruby Redbird keg. I casually watched the World Series game while Stephen was devoted to it.

We had a good time out, but we all had to get back somewhat early and didn't want to stay out drinking all night.

Oct 23, 2011

Ryan and I met at the gym for our workout and then came to Wildflower to meet Chuck, Kate, Erika, and my sister for lunch. It was a great day to sit outside and eat and the tofu BLT was wonderful. We had a good time sitting and talking.

Ryan and Erika left while the rest of us wandered up and down High Street. We went to Bogart's to browse the books for quite a while. I ended up getting two for a great price. There were a lot more that I wanted to get.

We went to the Apple orchard to pick some apples but I only shot photos. I expected it to be a cooler thing than it was. I got a few decent shots out of it though.

Later Alex and I took a drive to Ocean City and walked a long way down the beach. We both needed to talk a bit and the beach is always nice. Running in the sand is difficult.

It was a good walk and talk and a nice ride. I felt better once we got back so it worked.

Oct 22, 2011

I got to Tracy's house at 5am so we could leave for Maryland. It wasn't a bad drive, but we got a late start after Wawa took forever. The parking situation was in a muddy field and we had to catch the bus on the road near there to get to the race. It was very cold, but we weren't worried until we got on the bus and were told there was a backup of buses that had to travel one at a time down the small road to drop off racers.

With less than ten minutes until our heat time, we rushed through the packet pickup lines, checked our bags and then I realized that I needed my flags and Tracy didn't have her monitor. We met back at the starting line and got running about five minutes after everyone else.

I was still putting my belt on when I encountered the first field of zombies, allowing one of them to snag two of them with one hand. Not cool. So I was down to one flag at the very start. The race was through the woods, up some mild grades, and over bails of hay obstacles. The hardest part was sprinting full speed past fields of zombies so they couldn't steal my only flag.

I didn't even hesitate when it came time to jump in the water and cross. It got really deep at some parts. While running down some forest paths a zombie would pop out from behind a tree and try to grab me. I managed to avoid them somehow.

After a very large hill we came to The Gauntlet. There were tons of zombies and, much like the rest of the race, I was mostly by myself to get through them. I zigged, zagged, and spun my way through them all and got over and under the obstacles then dunked in the big pool of blood red that I needed to cross before the final wooded path run to the finish line. After ducking under a chain link fence that said "Safe Zone" I was done the race and they separated the dead from alive. I lived with one flag!

Tracy was waiting for me by the tents. She took a different path than I did. That's one of the interesting things about this race: you can go different ways and still end up at the end. We took our drink tickets and got a pretty crappy free beer and then perused the clothing tents and tried some salsa. There wasn't a lot to do there after the run. The bands didn't start until afternoon so we decided to get back on the shuttle and go.

I looked up a nearby brewery called DuClaw and we went there for lunch and drinks. I made a good choice because they had an amazing blackened tuna sandwich. Best I've ever had. They also had a ton of good beers I wanted to try...

So I did. I got the sampler of all of their beers on tap. So many amazing ones. Very different. One was made in whiskey barrels and had quite a kick to it. I was pretty loaded after drinking all of those. Not really drunk, but not very far from it. I wouldn't have let me drive. Luckily Tracy had the wheel so I was free to drink at my leisure. I wrote up a nice post for it at Beer Me That Blog.

Not very long after getting home we headed right back out to Philly to JD McGillicuddy's for some pre-show drinks and food. I got one Golden Monkey-yeahhh and some Old Bay fries that ended up being free because the waitress gave mine to the wrong person first.

We went into the Electric Factory a bit before New Found Glory came on. They opened up with a surprise and got into a set full of all kinds of songs. They played a few new ones, two of which are my favorite tracks. They played a few songs I didn't expect but skipped some I did.

The encore was the big surprise. They covered "Basket Case" by Green Day and added a nice little NFG-riff in there. It was a good cover followed by "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "My Friends Over You" of course.

It was a great show as always and a crazy fun day! From zombies to beer to New Found Glory. Can't complain about any of that.