Day 136

It is absolutely pouring here today. Had a crazy storm here last night, but that didn't stop Major League Baseball from screwing my Indians. The Tribe started their season last night by playing the White Sox. After a rather in-auspicious start where our #1 starter CC Sabathia got hurt and looks like he is headed for the DL, the Tribe tied it at 3 on a two-run homer by Eduardo Perez. Then the perfect storm hit. It poured for three hours. It hailed. Casey began to freak out and wouldn't sit anywhere but on my lap on underneath the chair in the office. Games are rarely restarted after a 2 hour rain delay. This one was three hours and for some reason around 11:20 PM CST, they decided to restart the game. Within 5 minutes, it began to pour again. Tribe reliever Fernando Cabrera couldn't find the plate through the rain drops and the next thing you know, it was 6-3 White Sox after Jim Thome's 431-foot blast. What a kick in the teeth that was for Tribe fans like me. Thome is my all time favorite athlete and is now playing for the enemy. I hate seeing him in a Sox uniform. I went to sleep around midnight with the Tribe down 7-3. They eventually lost 10-4 and the game ended at 1:22 AM. What a joke. Not the greatest way to start the season for my boys. The worst part of the evening which I had been looking so much forward to was the opening where they re-capped the Sox World Series run last year and had clips from that a-hole AJ Pierzynski talking about it. Made me want to vomit.

I didn't end up going to the Final Four as stated in Thursday's entry and as pissed as I was to miss out on it, it turned out to be a good move. The games were both non-competitive and pretty much boring. My boy Dave went down to Indy as he is a Florida grad and had a great time. He called me from his seats and sounded so jacked. Here is a lesson when it comes to scalping tickets outside a game. The closer you get to game time, the lower the ticket prices drop on the street. I had told Dave to wait as long as he could to get his seat and it worked. He said 2 hours before tip time, the seats were all close to $200 over face value. By 15 minutes before tip, he ended up paying $150 for a seat that was 5 rows behind the Florida bench. He did say that the great seat and being in the Florida section made all of the difference. Ags and our buddy KC were down there as well and had a little different experience. With no rooting interest and average seats, Ags told me it was a great experience, but the games were boring which caused kind of a slow night and less raucous atmosphere. We ended up having Mark P over, got some pizza, drank some beers and tried not to fall asleep during the second game, UCLA's blowout of LSU. Tonight, I predict UCLA beats Florida 62-56.

Friday night we went out with Jaime and Steve and Ags and Julie to Cafe Baba-Reeba for Tapas. That is another one off of our list of places we need to hit before we move. We love their Red Sangria, but Jaimo and Leah were convinced that they barely put any alcohol in it because it tastes so good. My top dishes there are they beef tenderloin with Blue Cheese on top, the beef skewers with grilled onions and horseradish sauce, and the spicy potatoes.

Speaking of food, I weighed myself Friday morning and I was back to the lowest I had been in ages, 157. Then I ate. And ate. And ate. My food intake this weekend was an old-school weekend for me. Saturday, I went solo mission to Hot Doug's, another place on my list. Gregg turned me onto it 4 years ago. First off, the line was literally out the door and around the block. Hot Doug's is a Sausage/Chicago Hot dog place that is second to none and unique in the city. The original location was on my street, Roscoe, when I first moved here. There was a fire in the apartment above it, so they had to close down and move. Doug, the owner, is this very eccentric guy who takes serious pride in his place. His picture is above. Their menu has your basics for Chicago; Your Chicago Style dog, Italian Sausage, cheese fries, etc. But what makes this place different is the variety of specialty Sausages available. Every week he has several specials. Sometimes is Alligator Sausage or something like that. They serve Duck Fat fries on the weekends which are the whup. My order: A Three Chili Wild Boar Sausage with chipotle dijonaise and jack cheese, A Wild Mushroom/Chicken Sausage with Asiago Cheese, and an order of Duck Fat Fries. I buried all of it. Hey, give me credit, at least I didn't have cheese with my fries. I waited essentially 30 minutes for the food and it was well worth the wait. Then for dinner, we had the pizza. I weighed myself yesterday morning - 160.5. Is it possible to gain 3 and a half pounds in one day? I guess so. Bottom line here is that Hot Doug's is a must go to place in Chicago. It is on California and Roscoe, between Diversey and Addison. Don't forget my man Doug's slogan "There are no two finer words in the English language that Encased Meats, my friend."
http://www.hotdougs.com/

Must give two birthday shout-outs today. The future Mrs Ags, Julie Markowitz turns 30 today. She has been a solid addition to our little family crew. And the great Todd "Fritzer" Friedman also turns 30 today. Todd and I go all the way back to Agnon pre-school. We were in each other's weddings, he was a major part of "The Summer of Todd" in 1998. Actually, it wouldn't have been half as fun without him that summer. We have so much hilarious history, 5 calls during every Tribe game, speaking in our own language, the screenplay we never finished, The in-famous "Can't you wait and F'ing hour" incident, our Vegas trip last month, and so much more. Much love Fritzer - welcome to the 30's.

Off to C-town tomorrow for work and to see 4 houses. I will keep you all posted if we find something we loved.

Song of the Day: "Down With the King" by Run DMC