Big Fat Geek Wedding

Notes from the trip to Seattle:

Keith and Shaleah's wedding was very nice. And quick, too, which I very much appreciated.

I enjoyed the Space Needle and Pike's Place Market. I saw some fish get thrown, which was enjoyable.

It's hard to find your way around if you're not familiar with the area. My dad found that out the hard way and didn't quite get to the wedding on time. But since it lasted about 10 minutes tops, that didn't really matter.

The shot of the SN included with this post was taken from my hotel room. Sweet view, huh?

I gave a toast, but I think it sounded like drunken rambling. Judging by the intellectual cohesiveness of this blog post, I'm sure it isn't much of a stretch for the reader to envision just such an outburst.

I'm digging the party favor mix CD that was handed out. Excellent songs on there, although I told Keith a song called Grounds for Divorce might not be such a good choice. It's a good song, though.

Irish dancing. There was a lot of it at the reception. The leader was excellent, although I blame him for giving my dad the opportunity to improvise. This led to something that could be considered breakdancing, if you are incredibly generous or blind.

It was great to see so many family members. It seemed that everybody had a good time, although we did have to enlist Seattle's finest due to a missing purse.

Our hotel was right across the street from Key Arena, where the Seattle Supersonics do - or once did - play. The newspapers were filled with stories about whether the team would be moving. I didn't see any U-Hauls while I was there.

I thank Keith and Shaleah for a nice time and also my family for picking up checks (always appreciated) and hanging out. It was definitely a good time.

But those are simply prologue to the real aim of this post: to discuss the first time I have ever flown first class. On our outward flight, the Alaska Airlines flight attendants delivered us what ever we wanted to drink plus warmed nuts. You may think you enjoy a nice mix of almonds, cashews and peanuts, but trust me, if you warm them up, they become just about the best thing ever. I think even my nuts were warmed by the warm nuts.
The leg room was stupendous. At one point, I crossed my legs while reading. It was divine. If you get the opportunity, by all means fly first class. Food tastes better, the flight goes faster, I can't recommend it enough.

Quick bits

The Grand Canyon! (Said in that Oprah-style-this-is-really-a-big-thing voice)



Things that have been on my mind Larry King-style!

The Grand Canyon was a lot of fun. It was quite an impressive sight and definitely worth the trip. Anyone who has not gone must go or face possible loss of citizenship, or at least mild rebuke.

I'm really digging the jacket Roger Federer has been wearing before his matches. It sort of reminds me of Joe Namath wearing a fur coat on the sideline during games, but without the same level of pomposity and penchant for hitting on sideline reporters while sloshed. I think Federer is primed to blitz Nadal if the Spaniard can get to the final. The way Nadal played today against Agassi, I think he can. I think Federer would love the chance to dominate him on grass, but he knows what is important will be beating him next year in Paris.

I don't know how I feel about the Celtics going after Iverson. I kind of want them to give Telfair a chance to run the point and play with the guys they have. Bringing in a bunch of young guys and building around Pierce doesn't make much sense if you're just going to use them as trade bait a year or two later to bring in a guy who wants the ball and shoots all the time. Boston already has one of those, and I think they should stick with him. Plus, look at how well Iverson meshed with Webber. Maybe Webber's production has more to do with him than AI, but the bottom line is they couldn't make the playoffs.

I do like what the Suns did, even if it was basically selling their picks to the highest bidder. I'm trusting D'Antoni, and his visoin is to go into next season with the guys they can count on, hope they have a healthy Amare Stoudemire and try to win it all. I think it's possible - the problem I see is that most athletes come back stronger from microfracture surgery in year two. The trick will be for the Suns to keep everything together - Barbosa and Diaw are in the last year of their contracts and Nash will be a year older - until the Stoudemire version 2005 returns, if he ever does.

Happy retirement to my Dad, who is finally out of school after many decades in education.

I've been enjoying the World Cup soccer - I need to watch more of it during the regular club seasons - but after watching Portugal and England today, I don't know how I would feel as a player if I worked for 120 minutes and it had to come down to simply kicking the ball at one guy from 12 yards away. I know there's been plenty of soccer bashing here in the States, but my point is simply that it might be tough to swallow. However, England didn't really bring it during the game or the penalty kicks, so I don't think they can feel shortchanged. I was impressed by France and especially Zidane. That was some first-class football.
The Germany-Italy semifinal should be exciting - and it's on the 4th of July so I can watch it - and I'm sure the France-Portugal match will be good, too. It should be exciting.
Oh, and one more thing, for the best (and by that I mean worst) in soccer bashing from the U.S., you have to go to the Weekly Standard here.

That's about all for now. Ciao.