To be early, is to be on time.
Wednesday night, not Thursday. I'm early. Photos have been posted. I was going to put up Wendy's photos, but she said she's going to take care of it. No pressure.
I could try to recap the weekend, but I think there are chunks that are a bit blurry. Like some of my photos. I shall do my best. Luckily my flight into town was uneventful, and I met people for dinner at El Ranchero. Good times.
Friday, after a little car trouble, Wendy, Doogie, Josh and I had lunch at Atlas, followed by frisbee golf at Turkey Creek at the Res. Wendy made it 3 holes before giving up with a twisted lower back muscle. I played very well, surprisingly. Then we hurried home to change clothes and get downtown in time to pre-parade Party at Gabe's. You've got to love it when you walk into a bar only once a year and the bartender greets you with "Lemon Drops?". Good times. I think we had Lemon Drops, Tequilla, JŠger, Pucker, and then Wild Turkey. Some folks had double shots... and some people should have stopped before the Wild Turkey.
Back to the parking lot, where there was the unfortunate incident with the chipped tooth. And there was the odd Hot Dog Sale sign that amused several people. The parade itself was a bit unclear in my memory. It went very quickly. I remember spinning around a lot in my kilt. Thankfully I had the foresight to protect small children from being scarred for life. With stickers! The same courtesy was apparently not shown to bar patrons later in the evening. Oops!
Pizza on Dubuque supplied a nourishing slice of pepperoni and then I joined up with the Beer Band at the Deadwood (having had car issues and people be taken home in questionable condition). Then Mickey's, where the sign listing specials said that they have "$2 Woo Woo" which sounds like a heck of a deal. You know you gots to have dat Woo Woo!
Eventually we got to Brother's, where things kind of break down. I mean, it was 9:45 people! A few of us motivated kids meandered to Studio 13 and played a more limited set before the drag show started. The Dublin Underground was calling my name from earlier in the night, so I returned there to find a bunch of kids I knew and sat down to enjoy a Guinness pint after being accosted by a man from Northern Ireland. I had to promise him I did not actually have a position on the disarmament of the IRA. Honestly.
Then my phone rings, and 'somebody' needs to be picked up from the ER because she really didn't want to have a hangover and thought IV fluids were her best chance. Smart girl, except for not having shoes. Not one to waste a pint of Guinness, I hurried up and we fetched her and got home. 6:30 AM came waaaaaay too early the next morning.
Pre-game rehearsal was great. I'm so tired of the "hey let's march the S off the field" joke. Unfortunately our hurricaine-inspired vortex drill didn't go over well. Poor execution, methinks. Express tailgating followed. 20 minutes here, 20 minutes there, 10 minutes in-between time, 10 minutes late to line-up. Marching into the tunnel through the construction zone was really quite un-interesting. I hear reports that pre-game was right-on, but I wasn't watching myself on the jumbo-tron as I know some folks did.
The game was a lot of fun. We beat Illinois, and our special teams did well, although I was a bit disappointed by the defense in general. We did alumni-kickline with the pink-shirted junior-kickline. Oh, the pink shirts in the stadium in reference to the pink visitor locker room were too funny. Let's get over it people. It's a pink locker room, and it's not offensive to women or gays or anyone else. It's just pink. Get over it. I suppose all publicity is good publicity though.
A post-game nap was had, followed by a shower and dinner (where I wore the kilt again) with all the married kids, and their kids. Walking back to Wendy's from Boston's this girl completely gasped and squealed at me, "that guy's wearing a kilt!". I totally loved all the attention. Then I went and rounded up some people at the Vine and we rendevouzed at Frosty's place where there was poker. There was also Dr. Tran on DVD. I don't remember the website, but someone please remind me. And also send me a copy of that DVD, because that is HILARIOUS! Belive me, or I will dole out the harshness. Even Greg snuck out of his house to hang with us for the evening (along with Josh, Jenniffer, Donor, Micah, Julie, Nicki, Brad, Tara, Jamie, and Frosty). Very very sleepy Jeff went home at almost 3 AM.
As has become a Sunday tradition, everyone showed up later than agreed at Steak & Shake. Love that greasy meat. Surprise guests in the morning were Neal and Courtney! Sometimes wishes do come true. Slowly, everyone gave Reggie his or her order, and then re-ordered shakes and malts and he was amazing at getting nearly everything right. Then my parents showed up and we ordered more shakes.
Back to Wendy's for a bit of NASCAR racing car-crashing excitement and then on to the beautiful Eastern Iowa Airport. Flying home sucked, due to a thunderstorm in Chicago that caused my flight to leave CID 1.5 hours late and then I was delayed again at ORD. Luckily the pilot put on the afterburners and landed the plane at LGA at 11:55 PM. After midnight all LGA flights are re-routed to JFK and that would have royally screwed up my ride home. Safe and sound though, and my luggage was first off the baggage carousel.
Go, look at pictures. Leave comments with errors and omissions (or just randomness). And somebody get me a copy of Dr. Tran.
Update: Here's a clip for those of you who have no clue.