Phillies 4 Mets 1 - Citi Field - Queens, NY

Before the World Series started and Chase Utley pwned CC Sabathia on Wednesday night there were some other memorable moments for the Philadelphia Phillies in New York City. 
They were in New Yankee Stadium in May.
They also brought some excitement to Citi Field.

Instead of embarrassing the Mets again, Wednesday night the Phillies visit the Bronx to continue the defense of their 2008 World Series victory.  Pics of Me in Front of Stuff visited Philadelphia to join in the celebration!  In case you missed it, it was kind of a big deal.

Before the Phillies could reach the playoffs and defend their title as World Phucking Champions they had to recapture the NL East Division title.  In 2007 and 2008 the Fightin' Phils battled the New York Metropolitans until the end of the season when the Phils did whatever it took to win and the Mets folded like an oragami master.  In 2008, Pics of Me in Front of Stuff visited the dump known as Shea Stadium for the last series between the NL East rivals.  Thank God they tore that place down.  The Phillies lost the game but they took 2 out of 3 in the series.  In case you have not heard the Phillies also went onto win the World Series.  In hopes of recapturing the magic, the night before the above triple play, a rag-tag team of Phillies' fans and a token Mets' fan visited the newly opened Citi Field for an enchanted evening of baseball

....and a lot of beer.

Like many great adventures, this one started with free hot dogs.  I doubt that pig would look so happy if he knew we were on our way inside to consume some of his friends that had been processed into tube form.  In case you have not heard of it before, Rudy's, a bar generously described as a dive on 9th Ave near 44th Street, serves free hot dogs to go along with their cheap beer.  The 6 of us, the 5 gentlemen pictured and CP behind the camera, started off the hot, humid summer day with some cold, cheap beer and some lukewarm hot dogs.  Fortunately, as a former employee at a hot dog factory, I know it is as safe to eat hot dogs uncooked as it is to eat them cooked.  Hot dogs are heated in the factory and are essentially ring bologna with a little less sugar.  In addition alcohol helps kill bacteria and given the amount of beer that was consumed it is unlikely any bacteria could possibly have survived in our stomachs.  Beer was essentially our Purel.  Rudy's home brews, Rudy's Red and Rudy's Blond, could be marketed as antibacterial elixirs...  Aside from the beer and hot dogs, there is also a hilarious story involving the Mets fan, the bearded young man in the picture above, and his personal space being invaded by a drunken middle-aged British woman.  She was willing to surrender to him ala Cornwallis  at Yorktown or maybe Corn-holis at Porntown.  Despite her willingness, the Mets fan was less than interested and the awkwardness pervaded and it included a British accent. 
High-larious!
Following our successful outing at Rudy's, the 6 of us hopped on the 7 train to Queens.  Little did we know we would accompany the wife of Mets right-fielder Jeff Francouer to the game. 

Aren't they a cute couple?

Through an excellent observation, CP noticed Mrs. Francoeur had a fancy ID badge attached to her purse.  Via some minor camera manipulation, she was able to photograph said badge for closer examination.  Caitlin Francoeur was riding the 7 train with what appeared to be her in-laws.  The elder Mrs. Francouer even laughed at one of my jokes.
Me: I had a friend in high school who once wore a t-shirt that said 'In case of rapture you can have this t-shirt.'
Jeff Francoeur's Mom: Ha Ha Ha
Taken completely out of context you may assume I went to high school full of Christian fundamentalists.  Maybe I did.  You may also have noticed that was not really my joke or really a joke at all, but it still happened.

We eventually arrived at Citi Field in Queens to meet the Mets and watch the Phillies beat the Mets.  The Metropolitans new home is certainly an upgrade over Shea Stadium which I am certain I have described as a dump more than once.  Twice actually.  Since the naming rights were partially paid for by TARP, it better be a nice stadium.  Our tax dollars got sunk into the damn thing, ours and Bernie Madoff's money.  I am glad my taxes only went into the stadium and not into improving the baseball team.  There are two obvious reasons.  The first is the fact that they are the Mets.  Seriously, aside from buying tickets, food, and beer at a game in which the Phillies are visiting I want no part in helping to finance that organization.  The second is that even if I did not hate the Mets, the Mets were awful this season. They were not quite Washington Nationals bad or Texas State Armadillos bad, but not far behind them in awfulness level.  The Mets did not have early 1990s Kath Ireland going for them either.

While early 1990s Kathy is quite a hottie, I still would not give up this guy to get her.

We did actually watch a baseball game in Citi Field.  J.A. Happ, 2009 NL Rookie of the Year, pitched 7 innings and gave up 1 run.  Chase Utley however countered with a 2-run home run into the right field seats in Citi Field.  If my facebook friends were paying attention they would know I christened that location Chase's Place due to Utley's propensity for hitting home runs there this season.   My Bartner called the right field seats in Yankee Stadium Chase's Place after he took CC Sabathia there twice in Game 1 of the World Series.  Too soon?  Either way Pedro Feliz and Chooch each added an RBI to get the final score and Brad Lidge even nailed down the save.  Despite the 11 blown saves everyone mentions, Lidge did manage to wrap up 31 save situations and this just happened to be one.
The obnoxious and victorious Phillies fan in me left Citi Field singing High Hopes. 

We miss you, Harry.
After all the singing and the yelling, thanks to the Phillies win and a whole lot of beer everybody had a good time at the game. Even the Mets fan.

 If you stay tuned, you may hear about singing and dancing part of the evening.  Also, maybe another story from Hawaii.

Rock n Run 5K - Oak Ridge Park - Clark, NJ

I know you probably look at that photo on my profile or some of the photos of me filling up this blog and you must think, how does one man stay so sexy everywhere he goes?

Do you know how hard it is too look dead-sexy all the time?!
Clearly, for #306, it ain't easy.

That is one drenched, grumpy looking Kyle with CP. Some may say I always look grumpy. Unfortunately for them, I am the one with the blog and I get to post stupid pictures of them.

Who's grumpy now, biatch?

Clearly, it's still me. I may also be a little bit of jerk. Maybe it is more than a little bit. Then again, I have a feeling CP took this blurry picture and provided me with fodder to start what will hopefully escalate into something hilarious. I am keeping my fingers crossed for a running joke.

Something better than my usual stuff regarding Paul Giamatti.

It's not easy for Paul to look dead-sexy all the time...or ever.
ZING!

Anyway, I did get drenched and sweaty for a reason and that was the Rock n Run 5K in Clark, NJ as part of the Union County Music Festival. The 5K was to support the Love Hope Strength Foundation which raises funds to purchase medical equipment and supplies, raise awareness through special events, documentaries and media, build cancer centers and find bone marrow donors. Definitely a noble cause which always needs more attention. I even registered to donate bone marrow via the Be the Match Foundation. I watched Seven Pounds earlier that week as well. There was no way I couldn't register after all that. You should register, too.

Regardless of my willingness to donate essential tissue, it was still a rainy Saturday morning which has been a common event this past summer. I dragged CP out of bed and forced her to navigate me to Oak Ridge Park.

Thank goodness CP is a good sport because we got there an hour earlier than needed. I swear the brochure said the race started at 8. CP really has to be to let me drag her to all of these random places and take pictures of me. Once the hour had passed the runners took their place at the starting line and the race was underway.

About 27 minutes later, I finished.

There is not much to say about the intervening time. Oak Ridge Park used to be a golf course. We zigged and zagged along what used to be the cart path. I ran the first 2 miles in a little over 16 minutes which is pretty fast for me. My final time was about 25s off my personal best also known as fast enough to pwn Paul Giamatti.

P.S. I let that girl in the red shirt pass me.

Pu'uhonua O Honaunau National Historic Park - Hawai'i, Four miles on from Kealakekua, Honaunau, Hawaii

So what's your feeling regarding another post about Hawaii, guys?

That looks like 3 affirmatives...or maybe one giant thumbs up along with one drunken smile and one...well, I don't know what that is. But really, it does not matter what that picture is. It is my blog and I will post whatever the hell I want. It's Pics of ME in Front of Stuff and this is the second post in a row that I have made this statement, so I must really mean it.
It's my blog, I do what I want.

Whateva, I do what I want!

And what I want to do...no, need to do is another blog about my recent trip to Hawaii. So maybe June is not so recent. Once again, see above regarding to whom this blog belongs. This really is the chronologically the last story since shortly after this last excursion CP and I returned our rental car and boarded a plane back to the mainland US. Regular readers should know, I do not let chronology slow me down. I recently listened to A Brief History of Time recently so maybe I will just find a black hole send me wherever in time I really feel like going. I had one long painful excursion back to a much less beautiful place than Hawaii following this trip to the beach, what's a few light years trying to get to the nearest black hole? Thinking about it makes me want to build a time machine and tell my past self to just forget about the job in New Jersey and stay in Paradise. Would I trade a chance to tap away at the keyboard in my small apartment in New Jersey for a chance to stay in Paradise for a long, long time?

Maybe.

I might have to think long an hard about it. If I reallwanted to just stay in Hawaii, wouldn't I? Maybe the siren songs of family and friends and security and stability were far too great for me to overcome and remain on the Big Island. It is hard to know for sure, but I am in Jersey and Hawaii is a long flight away. I was not sure I would get back a second time but I made it. Who's to say there will not be a third time?

But back to the subject at hand...
Pu'uhonua O Honaunau National Historic Park is to Hawaii what Colonial Williamsburg, Old Bedford Village, and/or Daniel Boone Homestead are to Virginia; Bedford County, PA; and Birdsboro, PA; respectively. I might be slightly East Coast biased in my comparisons, but you probably get the idea from the Colonial Williamsburg. You getting the idea is not going to prevent me from stating the obvious: Pu'uhonua O Honaunau National Historic Park is a monument to Hawaiian heritage. Until the 19th Century, this beach was a place of refuge for defeated warriors, non-combatants, and those who broke a kapu, an ancient law. Pu'uhonua is Hawaiian for place of refuge and this one was protected by a massive wall. Massive might not describe just how big the damn thing was. S ee it below, it's a big one. The grounds inside the massive wall once housed palaces and temples of Hawaiian royalty, some of which are reconstructed for visitors to ogle at today. Some of those structures are pictured above. Scroll back up and look at it.

The grounds were also guarded by several tikis.

They may seem intimidating, but clearly they did not scare off CP and me.

They were slightly more intimidating than Paul Giamatti. It takes a lot more than the star of Lady in the Water to slow me down. So CP and I continued to explore the lovely grounds.

Eventually, we stumbled upon a rock that was one of Mark Twain's favorite spots to sit and contemplate life. As another luminary of literature, I felt compelled to sit there. Saying we stumbled upon it is a bit a stretch, it's listed in the brochure. Calling myself a literature luminary...well, that might be a bit of a stretch, too. Either way, I sat there.

Soon after that we left. We left and went back to New Jersey. :-(
Only one more Hawaii post left.

Random Bear Fight Pictures - Hoboken, NJ

Some people might say there are no winners when it comes to Bear Fights...From the look on my face below, that is clearly not true.

I beat those two guys like Paul Giamatti in a 5K!

Thanks to my former office partner for putting this photo on facebook giving me the opportunity to post it on my blog.

Kilauea Lava Flow - Hawaii

Despite protests from some readers, I am not quite done with Hawaii. Supposedly, giving the people what they want is the way to go. Youe way right away is what Burger King would say, but I am not about to let some weirdo determine the direction Pics of ME in Front of Stuff is going. I will type about my visits to New York City to see the Phillies play the Mets or the excitement in Atlantic City when I am damn good and ready to get there. Right now I am breaking down my vacation to Hawaii because I am sure most of my readers, aka CP and I, want to read about how awesome Hawaii was. You just need to sit tight and hold out for the misadventures in which you are included to be featured. Do not worry, buddy, it will be here soon enough. I only have so much time to blog with the job taking up so much of my time.

With that min-diatribe out of the way, back to Hawaii. In case you missed it, unknown and/or known readers, we visited Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on an overcast cloudy day. Visibility was low, part of the park was closed to visitors due to high levels of sulfure dioxide, and we were time limited due to big volcano attraction closing that evening. The big attraction was the fact that the lava is still flowing into the ocean and constantly increasing the size of the Big Island. The lava flow is at the end of Highway 130 in Hawai'i County on the southeast tip. The viewing area is open to arrivals from 5PM to 8PM and closes at 10PM. Thanks to a tip from a friendly park ranger at the national park, we learned the best time to view the lava is in the evening.

In the past, visitors were able to walk relatively close to the lava so long as they remembered to bring their close-toed shoes, water, and a flashlight. That has changed due to a large portion of lava rock that extended into the ocean collapsed. Instead of being able to walk as near to the lava as safety allowed, we were penned in by ropes and saw horses the locals had erected for the safety of visitors about a mile away from where the lava enters the ocean. Lava is slower moving than Paul Giamatti, but due to its extreme heat danger is never far away.

Did you think I forgot about my challenge, Paulie-Boy?

You can't scare me with that Charlie Manson beard.

While there were opportunities to ride a boat very close to the lava, the boat rides were expensive and we settled for watching the steam-plume rise in the distance.

That is probably the best picture of the lava flow I have. I do have 20 or so more with which CP and I bored our families. If you really want to see them you will probably have to come visit. That or look for CP on Facebook. So for a few hours we stood with many other onlookers and watched the steam plume into the sky. We visited Hawai'i too late to get a closer view of the lava, but unlike other signs posting warnings with my best interests, I decided not to ignore the regulations of the lava viewing point.

We did manage to take this picture.
And do I really need more than that?