the blue bombers are continuing their winning ways taking out the blizzard this week by a score of 4-1.

the summer pool season is in full swing!

after my win on monday with my new team, i joined my tuesday team at paddy’s to take on the other paddy’s team.

i got there early and had a few with dympna behind the bar. of course, there was a bit of smack talking. ahem. it was good to hang with keith and rich for a bit as well…

we won the night 3-2!

chris (4) took out rick (5) in the first match. thank you to rick for forwarding the info about the “buffalo takes manhattan” party this weekend!

i played carol (4) and… won! woo! that makes 5 straight wins for me going back to the qualifier i won a few weeks back. there was a really interested scenerio in one of the games that is very difficult to describe in words. however, it involved me getting ball in hand, soft safety-ing and then carol trying an up and down shot giving me ball in hand. all with her on the 8 and it hanging on a corner. several times in a row. she eventually won that game… again, i played with more confidence. something that i was truly lacking last season.

stephen was playing dympna when i left. unfortunately, he lost. as he points out, he is, bizarrely, 0-3 against her, but it is never really a bad idea to lose to a bartender.

i am not sure who played fourth, but they lost…

jace (6) took down sui (6) in the last match…

it was great to see ye olde dog’s bollock’s during the night. the old team showed up at paddy’s for a bit of a reunion that ended up at bull’s head. twas cool to see them!

i played my first match with my new monday apa team — manic monday. the team plays out of paddy's — the same place my tuesday team plays out of. convenient.

i was not able to stick it out til the end, but here is what i know…

we won the night 3-2.

nina (3) beat one of their sixes in the first match.

i played a LONG match against another (3) and i took it down. it was one of those "really evenly matched" things. we both made our fair share of nice shots. and crappy ones. in the final game, i ended up on the 8 with a good angle to the corner. which i, of course, missed most badly. my opponent had an "easy", straight wall shot that he babied. i put in the 8 from there. *phew*

paddy (yes, THAT paddy) lost a tough one.

sui was playing when i left…

the building across the street from us on the east side of peck slip and water is on FIRE. alison saw flames on the roof and when i got down to the street there were smaller flames, a LOT of smoke, fire engines, tons of bystanders… crazy. even our apartment smells like smoke now…

pics: peck slip building fire

without a pool qualifier to go to yesterday, alison and i decided to go to the movies!

we love walking directly across town to the battery park movie theater. not only is it a nice short walk through only some minor hustle and bustle, the theater is the best secret in nyc for movie watching. statium seating. popcorn buckets. and 12 screens. that are never, ever full.

on the walk over, we noticed that “they” have put up scaffolding on the north side of the trade center site. again. it was not all that long ago that “they” had taken down the scaffolding — which stretches over the entire sidewalk from chruch to the new wtc 7 building. now it’s back. *cough* boondoggle *cough*

anyway…

we went to see shrek the third! the ~25 or so folks in the theater were half small children. no, not half sized small children. i realize that sounded weird.

the movie was entertaining, certainly, but there were so many “new” characters — none of them really had a chance to shine through. we did like some of the gags in the movie and the pop culture references — especially the sight gags that were funny on one level to a child and funny ha ha on a completely different level to an adult. this, to me, is the hallmark of a great animated flick.

as i write this, ronda & phil have been in merry old england for just a few days…

the friday before their departure, there was a gathering at sweet & vicious. a goodbye thang.

sweet & vicious has a nice-sized back “garden” area… thick wooden tables with benches to match. the “gathering” had the entire back wall — which was draped in a huge american flag. apparently, the area that we were in used to be a back bar that served only frozen drinks. the establishment itself is long and narrow — like many nyc bars. the bartender was pretty cool — she even searched high and low for a bottle of pims for me.

the gathering was a mix of friends and co-workers for both ronda and phil. everyone was quite cool and it was great to see so many folks turn out to say goodbye and good luck to ronda and phil.

sadly, i was quite ill on that day and i spent a fair amount of time drinking club soda and dreaming of eating saltines later in the evening.

pics are in: 20070525 - Ronda & Phil - Goodbye…

the blue bombers are in prime playoff position after taking out the hornets by a score of 8-3 on friday night…

we had a solid roster — bolstered by a visit from prodigal team member vince who gave us a nice preview of his impending return to the team in the fall after spending the last ~3 years in hawaii. vince even had the first goal of the night!

jamie continued his shooting rampage throughout the game — getting/taking chance after chance. on one of his goals, he ended up alone in the offensive zone, took a shot, grabbed the rebound, waited, waited, and shot again — scoring — before any of the hornets got back to defend. i was joking with one of the refs about that one… “shot, rebound, grabbed a sandwich, slept, went to work, called his family, shot, score…” ha!

dom was great in goal — albeit, relatively untested…

the hornets seem to let up late in the second period. demoralized? ahem. fred was his usual self — getting into dutch with the refs and generally playing the instigator role.

personally… i got a great pass from the corner from jeremy — total laser — and was able to zing it top right corner just from the top of the slot. in the waning minutes, i put out a pass from behind their net, through traffic, right onto karel’s stick and he, of course, put it home…

i have joined a new (additional) pool team!

in addition to VLP (viva las paddy’s) on tuesday night’s, i have joined a team on monday night’s with sui as el capitaine… both teams are based out of paddy mcguire’s. nice!

new season starts next week….

i am not sure where i saw this over the weekend…

BuyYourFriendADrink.com

apparently, for a $0.99 “fee”, you can use this website to buy someone a drink at a bunch of bars in nyc.

i am not sure whether this is freaky or cool or lame. or all three.

my question, though, is… why would you not be AT the bar with your friend?

qualified! woo!

at o’flanagan’s on saturday for another attempt at qualifying for the apa single’s championship…

started out against an sl4… won the first game giving me a huge advantage (as he needed to win 3 straight) and in the second game, he tried a defensive shot that ended up scratching on the 8-ball. round one… won!

second round versus hunter, an sl3. again. winning. woo.

final round against cisco, an sl4. he took the first game. and then the second game. eeeek. and then things got weird. on the break, in the third game, he sank the 8-ball, followed closely by the cue ball. strike up one for me… on my break, in the fourth game, the 8-ball came within 1/2 inch of going into the center pocket. cisco ran some balls… i ran some balls… he made it to the 8 first and… scratched with too much follow into the corner pocket.

certainly not the way i wanted to “win”, but… i am qualified!

now i need something to do on saturday afternoons!

coupla other photos from the day are in Miscellaneous 2007…