Thursday, September 23, 2004
Week 3...
Before I talk a little about the Eagles I’m going to write a little about my wedding / honeymoon. Anyone who reads my Phillies blog can skip to the bottom, because they've read this before ...
My wife and I married at 2:30 PM on Saturday, September 4, 2004 in Natrona Heights, PA. Our wedding went well, aside from an embarrassing incident involving alcohol and a fight with a relative of mine and a guest (don’t ask). Everyone had a terrific time and the pictures and videos we got back have been terrific. My wife looked beautiful in her wedding gown. My best man gave a terrific toast that was so nice that I can hear a relative of my wife’s remarking on one tape: “What a great friend…” Both families seemed to have a terrific time, and despite the fact that it was a 300+ mile drive from Philly to Pittsburgh, I had a lot of family at the church and reception. I had the time of my life.
We left two days later we left for the first leg in our journey: we flew to San Francisco and spent a day and two halves in the city by the Bay. SF is gorgeous: the Bay is crystal blue, with white sails from sailing ships dotting the horizon. We cruised the Bay, ate at Pier 39, visited the Bay Aquarium, and toured the Ripley’s Believe-It-Or-Not! Museum. On Wednesday we left for Oahu. We did our honeymoon as part of a tour group, which was fun. We got to stay at terrific hotels and ate at stellar restaurants.
On Oahu we did all of the touristy stuff: the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial (very, very evocative moment to be standing there, thinking about the over 1,000 sailors who died when the battleship blew up), the Punchbowl National Cemetary, the Polynesian Cultural Center (very interesting and very worthwhile if you get a chance: the students who perform are very talented), etc. We stayed at the Hyatt in Waikiki Beach, which offered a terrific view of the local area. Waikiki is an interesting place (lots of Japanese tourists) and a good beach: very soft surf. I saw people swimming at midnight there.
We left and spent three days on Kauai. I liked our hotel a lot (the Sheraton Kauai at Poipu Beach): it had a gorgeous view of the pool and beach and was situated just forty or so yards from Poipu Beach itself. Kauai is nice but a little too rural and quiet. We had fun doing a helicopter tour of the island (if you go to Kauai you must do it: the views of the island are sensational), but we weren’t that sorry to go. For one thing, while Poipu is nice, I don’t understand why people rave about it the way they do.
Maui, on the other hand … my wife practically cried when we left there. The beach (Ka’anapaali) is like something out of a post-card and Maui itself is just the right mix between quiet and solitude and activity that you could never get bored there. Plus, our hotel (Hyatt Maui) was a palace. Anyway, we did a lot: we snorkeled (I have a cool picture of my wife swimming with a sea turtle), took a trip to Mount Haleakala [sic?], and explored Ka’anapaali.
We got back and found out that the Pittsburgh area got hit with six inches of rain last Friday, which flooded the rivers and left people’s boats laying on the sides of roads and flooded people out of house and home. My wife and I were fortunate that we live on a hill in an apartment complex, but others lost everything. (one of my wife’s bridesmaids’ family house got about six inches of water in the basement.) It was been very tragic to see.
On to football. It isn't surprising to see the Eagles at 2-0, but they've looked a lot better than I think a lot of people expected them to be. Defensively, Kearse has been everything the Eagles wanted when they signed him in the off-season. Let's see if they can keep it going in the battle between the 2-0 teams ...
This week’s predictions:
Steelers 17, Dolphins 7; Big Ben starts for the Steelers. He'll do well.
Falcons 35, Cardinals 13; Vick for MVP?
Ravens 13, Bengals 6
Texans 24, Chiefs 14; my upset special
Vikings 28, Bears 3
Giants 23, Browns 7; a pity Winslow got injured. The Browns have little-to-no chance of doing anything now.
Rams 33, Saints 10
Titans 16, Jaguars 13; a good test for the Jags.
Broncos 31, Chargers 0
Seahawks 34, 49ers 7
Colts 21, Packers 14; I predicted a rough season for Favre & Co...
Buccaneers 19, Raiders 16
Cowboys 24, Redskins 21
And the Eagles game …
Eagles 27, Lions 20; with all due respect to the Lions, wins against the Bears and Texans aren’t a real test. The Eagles should be able to hit Harrington early and often given the lack of a ground game in the Motor City. The Lions defense also looks a little soft. I’m pretty confident that McNabb could throw for 300 yards this Sunday. Look for T.O. to get a TD: he’ll be motivated to show up his old coach.
Check out this terrific article about Jevon Kearse I saw on the AP page. What a great pickup! (So far the Birds braintrust look like geniuses.)
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My wife and I married at 2:30 PM on Saturday, September 4, 2004 in Natrona Heights, PA. Our wedding went well, aside from an embarrassing incident involving alcohol and a fight with a relative of mine and a guest (don’t ask). Everyone had a terrific time and the pictures and videos we got back have been terrific. My wife looked beautiful in her wedding gown. My best man gave a terrific toast that was so nice that I can hear a relative of my wife’s remarking on one tape: “What a great friend…” Both families seemed to have a terrific time, and despite the fact that it was a 300+ mile drive from Philly to Pittsburgh, I had a lot of family at the church and reception. I had the time of my life.
We left two days later we left for the first leg in our journey: we flew to San Francisco and spent a day and two halves in the city by the Bay. SF is gorgeous: the Bay is crystal blue, with white sails from sailing ships dotting the horizon. We cruised the Bay, ate at Pier 39, visited the Bay Aquarium, and toured the Ripley’s Believe-It-Or-Not! Museum. On Wednesday we left for Oahu. We did our honeymoon as part of a tour group, which was fun. We got to stay at terrific hotels and ate at stellar restaurants.
On Oahu we did all of the touristy stuff: the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial (very, very evocative moment to be standing there, thinking about the over 1,000 sailors who died when the battleship blew up), the Punchbowl National Cemetary, the Polynesian Cultural Center (very interesting and very worthwhile if you get a chance: the students who perform are very talented), etc. We stayed at the Hyatt in Waikiki Beach, which offered a terrific view of the local area. Waikiki is an interesting place (lots of Japanese tourists) and a good beach: very soft surf. I saw people swimming at midnight there.
We left and spent three days on Kauai. I liked our hotel a lot (the Sheraton Kauai at Poipu Beach): it had a gorgeous view of the pool and beach and was situated just forty or so yards from Poipu Beach itself. Kauai is nice but a little too rural and quiet. We had fun doing a helicopter tour of the island (if you go to Kauai you must do it: the views of the island are sensational), but we weren’t that sorry to go. For one thing, while Poipu is nice, I don’t understand why people rave about it the way they do.
Maui, on the other hand … my wife practically cried when we left there. The beach (Ka’anapaali) is like something out of a post-card and Maui itself is just the right mix between quiet and solitude and activity that you could never get bored there. Plus, our hotel (Hyatt Maui) was a palace. Anyway, we did a lot: we snorkeled (I have a cool picture of my wife swimming with a sea turtle), took a trip to Mount Haleakala [sic?], and explored Ka’anapaali.
We got back and found out that the Pittsburgh area got hit with six inches of rain last Friday, which flooded the rivers and left people’s boats laying on the sides of roads and flooded people out of house and home. My wife and I were fortunate that we live on a hill in an apartment complex, but others lost everything. (one of my wife’s bridesmaids’ family house got about six inches of water in the basement.) It was been very tragic to see.
On to football. It isn't surprising to see the Eagles at 2-0, but they've looked a lot better than I think a lot of people expected them to be. Defensively, Kearse has been everything the Eagles wanted when they signed him in the off-season. Let's see if they can keep it going in the battle between the 2-0 teams ...
This week’s predictions:
Steelers 17, Dolphins 7; Big Ben starts for the Steelers. He'll do well.
Falcons 35, Cardinals 13; Vick for MVP?
Ravens 13, Bengals 6
Texans 24, Chiefs 14; my upset special
Vikings 28, Bears 3
Giants 23, Browns 7; a pity Winslow got injured. The Browns have little-to-no chance of doing anything now.
Rams 33, Saints 10
Titans 16, Jaguars 13; a good test for the Jags.
Broncos 31, Chargers 0
Seahawks 34, 49ers 7
Colts 21, Packers 14; I predicted a rough season for Favre & Co...
Buccaneers 19, Raiders 16
Cowboys 24, Redskins 21
And the Eagles game …
Eagles 27, Lions 20; with all due respect to the Lions, wins against the Bears and Texans aren’t a real test. The Eagles should be able to hit Harrington early and often given the lack of a ground game in the Motor City. The Lions defense also looks a little soft. I’m pretty confident that McNabb could throw for 300 yards this Sunday. Look for T.O. to get a TD: he’ll be motivated to show up his old coach.
Check out this terrific article about Jevon Kearse I saw on the AP page. What a great pickup! (So far the Birds braintrust look like geniuses.)
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