PHL=PHaiL

Angela and I had an awesome weekend in Pittsburgh, despite the awful transportation to and from Pittsburgh.  

On Saturday I rowed with my alumni boat, and gosh darn, we didn’t lose!  We even beat Pitt’s alums and a case western varsity boat.  I think if we worked on it (not that we will), we could actually be a pretty formidable boat. 

Immediately afterward, I hot seated into a double with Alyssa and began rowing to the starting line.  (It had been 40 minutes since last call for the event.)  The race was behind schedule enough that we arrived at the starting line with plenty of time to spare.  But it was not to be, shortly after turning to get called up to start lightning was seen on the horizon.  We were instructed to paddle into the boathouse.  Not interested in waiting to row, we decided to walk back to the point where we had launched from.  I walked back with Dave and Natalie, who were also in the event, wearing only our unis.  All of a sudden, and unmarked white van pulled up next to us.  What would a couple of rowers wearing nearly nothing think in this situation…maybe other rowers!  Sure enough, the Duquesne boat that was also forced off the water was driving back and gave us a ride.  From there, I got a ride with Dave back to Jon’s house where we were staying.  Angela had gone a head as she had had made an appointment to get her hair cut.  I was able to meet up with her just as she was finishing.  It took a little while getting used to the new do, but it is pretty chic.  

That evening Justin Samuels, soon to be married, was kidnapped by a couple other alumni rowers and brought to Jon’s house to begin a surprise bachelor party.  The evening started with the Union Grill, then to Doc’s where some of the guys were hunted by ‘cougars’ from a bachelorette party, and finally a couple of bars on the Southside.  All along Paul (the DD) stopped the rented van to get Justin to get out and get a picture with some girls on the side of the road.  

THe evening ended with an attempted visit to the Cricket Lounge (a strip club), however, Justin was far too incapacitated, and luckily (as I was not so interested in going-I’ve heard it is quite seedy) it closed at 2am (it was currently 1:55am).  On the way home I got dropped off at Ashleigh’s, where Angela was hanging out, and we walked back to Jon’s from there.

Sunday morning, we awoke and went to meet my cousin, Josh, his wife, Rachel, and new daughter, Rosemary for breakfast at Pamela’s.  It was delicious as usual (although the hotcakes weren’t as crispy as usual.

After breakfast we walked back to pick up our stuff and then dropped by our chem. advisor, Karen’s house.  We chatted briefly, then began to walk toward campus to pick up the airport bus.  We missed the one that would have given us ‘plenty’ of time, but the next one would get us there ‘just’ in time.

 

Now on to how the Philadelphia airport (PHL) sucked this weekend.  

Friday evening we leave our house at 7pm.  Deciding that the $11/24hr parking at the airport is a better deal than 1 token + $6  each way per person on the train (assuming Friday evening-Sunday evening = 2 days).  We arrive with plenty of time to spare only to see that our gate is swamped with backed up flights.  Not a word is mentioned about our Pittsburgh flight.  (Maybe they are just getting these poor folks out before they board us.) Nope.  9pm (5 minutes after our scheduled departure, I ask what’s up. Delayed, no earlier than 12:30.  12:30!!  That’s 3.5 hours! Ridiculous.  We decide to hunker down and nap in shifts.  Oddly, the flight was never updated on the departure TV monitors, and eventually is wiped all together.  This initiated another round of “How bout Pittsburgh?” “12:30″

oy.

Thinking we were done with this nonsense, we decide to fly home on Sunday.  We get to the airport, delayed 30 minutes.  OK, not so bad, we were running late anyway.  We get onto the plane and are told, no, Philly isn’t accepting and more flights at this time.  Long story short, we were stuck in the plane (able to leave if needed) until 7pm!  

In summation, for a total of 80-100 minutes of flight time, we were stuck in the airport for a total of 7 hours this weekend, sweet.

Pretty cool weekend

The primary reason for my visit to Washington DC this weekend was to see Angela race at the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Crew Championships (MACCCs) in Fairfax, Va on Sunday.  I drove up Friday afternoon and crashed at my friend, Cara’s apartment in Bethesda.  I met a few of her friends Friday and then fell asleep on the pullout.  

Saturday morning we took the metro into the city to visit “Passport DC” where all of the European Union countries opened up their embassies and showed a good deal of tourist, and business/investment opportunities of their countries.  They also offered samples of foods, and in some cases samples of their countries’ wine or beer.  Here’s the list of what I sampled:

• Austria:  Viennese pastries, and elderberry juice (and coffee)
• Slovakia: Gnocci with poppies and sugar, a fish spread on bread, and wine. (Sat in the ambassador’s chair! Scroll down for excerpt if you don’t have an account.) 
• Czech Republic: Sugar cubes (invented there), bread dipped in salt, Pilsner beer (out!)
• Hungary: Goulash, Cottage Cheese Scones, and wine
• Bulgaria: Pastry cups with mildly spicy tomato based something, yogurt drink, and wine.

It was a really cool day, and since I’m traveling to Austria and Czech this summer, I was sure to pick up some travel info.

In the evening Cara and I visited Angela and the rest of the team who was staying nearby.  We then returned back to Cara’s and baked bagels (boiled and baked, actually) and brownies for the crew team.  They were both a hit!

To the racecourse Sunday morning.  Cara and I picked up Emma, a former (and current as we saw today) coxswain from the CMU team.  Seeing Angela before her race was very nice, and just hanging around the team made me feel very relaxed as well.  Two of Angela’s high school friends came to visit and watch her race, so she had quite the little support group.  Some boats did very well; Angela’s probably would have done better had they not been run into, but they looked pretty good to me.  C’est la vie.  Next week’s Dad Vail’s should be a great opportunity for them to row against some great boats who are actually filled with lightweight girls like them.

For the first time in recent memory I was able to get home before dark on a Sunday (I would have stayed all night with Angela, but she had to leave, too!)  So I was much more relaxed on the drive home, not thinking as much about getting home to get nearly a full night’s sleep.  

“In the Slovakian Embassy, the ambassador showed us his office,” said Katharine Liang, a 23-year-old from Seattle who is doing a yearlong program at the National Institutes of Health. She was in a group with Adam Suhy, a 22-year-old teacher from North Carolina. “I got to sit in his chair,” Suhy said.

Home-state Hoedown

Back in WV for the weekend.  Not to visit family, but to watch and race in the West Virginia Governor’s Cup regatta.  Meeting up with Angela and the rest of the crew team I feel at home with the words of “cox box” yelled across the gym, watching Elliot carefully choose his snack from the vending machine (oh, but his dollar won’t work. Ah, there it goes.), and wondering how many of the other teams have (or think they have) the energy to play basketball until 11pm and row fast in the morning.

Tomorrow, I will be waking up around my normal weekday wake up time to help rig boats (or perhaps just the ones I will row in, and watch others do the rest, I am an alum. after all.)  I will be rowing in a single against someone from Ohio, then later rowing a double with my former coach against CMU’s women’s light 4+.  Both 1000m races (half of a full race), a nice re-introduction to racing!  Well, I should be walking home with at least a gold and silver medal, hopefully 2 golds.

 

Crew Comic #8

I wonder how it calculates ratio.

Crew Comic #7

Crew Comic #6

gently down the stream.

Crew Comics #5

 

Especially ones named Angela

Crew Comics #4

Crew Comics #3

Crew Comics #2