Thursday, July 10, 2008

Trip Report: Maine, July 2008

I'm assuming no one else regularly reads this blog, so everyone who is reading this was also there. So it's kind of like a group diary. In fact, my next post will be about our feelings. And how that cute guy in 7th period English is totally into our best friend, but not us, and it makes us so jealous.

But I digress.

Trip Report:
Location: Portland, ME
Dates: 2008-07-02 to 2008-07-06
Attendees: Ajay, Alex, Azim, Fu, Jack, Kanna, Zhi
Rating: 9.0 out of 10, but only because the Ukrainian Judge is a jack-ass.

- First off, big thanks goes out to Alex for planning most of the trip. It was awesome. Also big thanks to Alex's folks who let us use their places. I'm sure we brought down both their property values with our non-whiteness.

- Awesome effort on getting everyone to come out this time. I'm really proud and happy that we made it happen. By my count, we had 5 working professionals and 2 full-time grad students, from CA, CO, IA, and NY, and we all managed to take some time out for this reunion. I hope we can keep this up.

- Drinking was an awesome idea. Whoever decided that we would use our time getting sloppy drunk is a genius!

- White water rafting is super fun. I think I'll try and do that more often. I'll have to see where I can do that here in CA.

- I would just like to point out that I am the greatest kick-ball pitcher of all time. If there was a Kickball Hall of Fame, I would the the first and only inductee. They would then close the place down for being 'too Asian'.

- If we were playing Kickball according to the rules, a foul ball is defined as such: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/downloads/y2008/official_rules/02_definition_of_terms.pdf
Basically, I was wrong on that call. Also, to settle the discussion, if the ball is touched by a player, it is judged foul based on the position of the ball when it is touched, not on the position of the fielder.

- Food seems to be a re-curring theme when I hang out with Alex. As such, the food on this trip was good, but not great. The sushi place was good, especially the pork belly appetizer and the spicy shrimp roll. The Salt Water Grill was decent, but non of the food was that great and the service was obviously sub-par. The Grill Room was nice, but again, the food not very memorable. Alex, you should so go back and hit on that waitress. And I'm sorry about the wine.

- As I gathered, the next trip idea thrown out was Chicago? Can I just start the lobbying process for Vegas again?

If you have anything to add, feel free to edit this post or comment.

peace

5 comments:

Alex said...

Hail the mighty douche that can pitch a kickball! No really. you do that well, almost as well as you jingle your balls.

Please remember folks, we were in ME. The grill room is about as good as it gets in the backwaters of this country - if we were to go to Colorado I could do little better(with 1 exception). If our general food snobbery is going to continue at this trajectory (I have no problem with that). We need to stick to major metropolitan areas. We all like food, that is clear. And I do not hold Zhi responsible for the wine. If I hadn't been a dick even after he made the point that he wouldn't know, we wouldnt have wasted most of 50 bucks.


Also how can you googlers rewrite reader to have the option to view comments. That is GAAAYY.

I hope the rest of your vacations were all fun.

What are we going to do in vegas? It costs me a lot of money to go there. I am a poor to atrocious gambler. And for that matter so are you.

later

Zed said...

I believe my balls "jingle" because they are made of brass. So suck on that.

Also, stop being an ass and RTFM. How Alex Learned to Stop Bitching and Add Comment Feeds

I like the culinary track we are taking as well. Let's do that. And I didn't say that the food was bad, I just put it in perspective.

Vegas is supposed to be fun and draining. Deal with it. And this time, don't skip out on the strippers to go spoon some dude.

Jack said...

I'd much rather go to Chicago. Here's some restaurants that I'm interested as an attempt to tempt you guys into choosing Chicago.

Alinea (a must)
Charlie Trotters
Tru
Moto
Tallgrass (reasonably priced)

*warning* you might get a culinary boner looking at this so enjoy in the privacy of your home

Azim said...

I vote somewhere west, maybe San Diego? I'm all for Chicago but go there all the time. I would be much more helpful in the planning in Chicago, and we could still drive up to WI for some rafting!

Azim said...

Jack those are all really nice places, and even more expensive. I haven't been but have heard good things. I'm all for exceptional cuisine, but $300 a person (not including drinks) is insane.