"Are you excited?"

Um, just in case you plan on seeing me today or tomorrow and asking if I'm excited about turning 30, I'll go ahead and answer the question: "Yes."

Currently I'm a little bit like those kids in Disney World commercials who can't sleep because they're too excited. Also, I can't sleep because I'm old and have a bad neck and can't get adjusted to my pillow.

Actually, truth be told, I'm entirely ambivalent about turning 30. I think that writing a blog for two months about a relatively innocuous event has made me numb. (Maybe I wouldn't have been so upset when my cat Sam got hit by a car when I was five if I had written a blog about that?)

BUT, I am excited about all of my friends meeting each other! I'll go ahead and mention a few universally-acceptable conversation topics that should help people get to know each other:

1. How tragic and sad it is that Richard started losing his hair at 16.
2. The Super Bowl-bound Washington Redskins.
3. Ol' Dirty Bastard.
4. The fact that Warren Buffett now has a guaranteed income of $500million a year for the rest of his life, but Richard is unemployed.
5. The L'Enfant Plan.
6. Danny Pate: Great, or the Greatest?

See everyone on Saturday!

Hail to the Redskins!

As much as I dislike the "Redskins" name, I sure do enjoy rooting for the 'Skins. Especially when I turn on the Cleveland/Pittsburgh game and hear Al Michaels talking about Jamal Lewis "missing a year for jail." Whatever.

There was a serious threat that the 'Skins wouldn't win a game before my 30th birthday. At this point, they'll probably be 1-3 on September 27th, then lose another game on the 28th to drop to 1-4. Thankfully, future hall-of-famer Jason Campbell saved the day and we can all be happy that they're not off to another 0-5 start...

Addendum: solid game from Laron Landry, number 48 (some rookie, whoever that is), and Santana Moss.

Party from a year ago

Katherine and I have hosted a weekend-after-Labor-Day party for the last few years. Last year's was probably the best, if only for having half-smokes.

Let's see, some keys to a good September backyard party:
keg of Pilsner Urquell - check
spicy all-beef half-smokes on the grill - check
sitting at the picnic table talking about the Redskins - check
We Are Scientists on the iPod - check
our neighbor Ian drinking a whole bottle of lemonade - check
out-of-town guests - check
MBA students - missed that one

I can't really think of anything that would've improved last year's party, except for having more people there. So, this year we'll be making a special effort to get a huge amount of MBA classmates to the party. (Note to MBA students: the NPV of this party is infinite!)

DC dance party!

I guess no one will be surprised to find out that having a standup comedian is pretty unworkable for a house party. First, it's not really a good venue, so comics don't really want to do it. Second, we'd have to pay someone, which is NOT going to happen. And third, well, there's not really a third, since those first two are pretty damning.

Katherine and I are focusing on some other entertainment ideas right now. We talked to Fuggles about learning some tricks, but she stuck out her claws and jumped out of my arms, so I don't think she's interested. But, we ARE going to have an all go-go dance hour at some point! Look for this on the official party agenda (due out sometime around 9pm on September 27th, realistically) and get ready to dance to some Chuck Brown, TCB, Backyard Band, Junkyard Band, EU (added for Rouzbeh), and more! Also, we're going to have a good representation of DC music for the rest of the night. Of course, there will be some standards (Fugazi, Teen Idles, whatever), but we'll also have some non-pop stuff (John Philip Sousa, Duke Ellington, that female opera singer who's famous). Should be a good time! Put your requests in the comments section.

Oh, since this isn't a Redskins blog, I'll keep the game commentary to this: this might be the worst 'Skins team of the Dan Snyder era.

Eigth year of the Redskins!

Kids, believe me when I tell you that it is REALLY weird to watch sports for so long that you remember Vinny Testaverde as a rookie, you watched that crazy fog game in Chicago where no one could see the field, and your favorite Redskins QB of the last decade is Tony Banks. That's right, I'm now so old, and so far removed from anything good happening with the 'Skins, that I really enjoy thinking about Tony Banks.

Highlights of Banks' career in Washington:

1. Tony being the absolute best play-faker in the league

2. The 'Skins winning 5 in a row after losing their first 5.

Wow. That's a decade of bad football...

But, tonight's season opener should be a good opportunity to cheer for my new favorite 'Skin: Todd Yoder! I think he's some sort of chef, but I might be thinking about Casey Rabach, so it's hard to say. He is a fantastically plodding tight end, as you can see in the picture below.

Note: this is Todd scoring on a pass from Todd Collins, in the greatest combo of Todds of all time.

Oh, I've also been surprised to get over my extreme dislike for the Manning brothers in my old age. Maybe I've mellowed, maybe I've just been around long enough that they've worn me down with their lovable ads and efficient leadership, or maybe I just have a soft spot for Peyton becoming the best bald QB in the league (replacing Matt Hasselbeck).

Who else is turning 30, finally? (Volume 2)

Apparently, this guy is turning 30 on September 27th.

Yeah, who knew, right? According to various internet searches, Curt Fortin is some sort of a Dutch celebrity. Born in Aruba, he's now living in the Netherlands and hosting a video show or something. Naturally, he appears to be a Miami Dolphins fan, which I also was at the ripe age of seven. I thought people grew out of being Dolphins fans and matured into cold-weather team fans (or at least Redskins fans). I guess I was wrong.

Anyway, it's always good to see Aruba in the news. In response to Greg Damage's comment on an earlier thread, I'm including more pictures relating to Aruba. Like this one:

Or, what do you think about this one?

For you non-cycling fans out there, this is a completely weird picture of people who still aren't 30 but are ridiculously accomplished. Left to right: TdF yellow jersey wearer Linus Gerdemann, winner of everything Tom Boonen, TdF winner Alberto Contador, handsome Dutch phenom Thomas Dekker, and all-around freak Andy Schleck (last seen smiling up L'Alpe d'Huez). For some reason, these guys are all wearing bathing suits before a race in Aruba. Check out Schleck's fancy tan lines.

Screw Curt Fortin, these guys are making 30 look old. Ouch.

28,000 for practice?!

Yesterday's Post had some good coverage of the 'Skins scrimmage game on Saturday out in Ashburn. You didn't go? Really? Well, 28,000 other people did! That's right: 28,000 people watched practice! I would make a lot of comments about how ridiculous this is, but it's probably just as well to let Allen Iverson speak my mind for me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGDBR2L5kzI.

If FedEx Field holds about 90,000 people, then this means that practice draws a third of the crowd for real events. Doing some quick calculations from other parties Katherine and I have thrown in recent years, we see that the real event (my 30th Birthday on September 27) figures to be pretty good.

Here are the practice parties with their attendance:
Labor Day 2006: 30 people
New Year's 2007: 20 people (many of them in tuxedoes)
Labor Day 2007: 35 people (and half-smokes)
New Year's 2008: 15 people
July 4th 2008: 10 people (not an ounce of planning went into this party)

Adding all these numbers up, then multiplying by 3, it looks like we can expect a crowd of at least 330, without adjusting for the weak dollar or the presence of a standup comedian. Don't miss it!