Because just writing about baseball doesn't do it justice...

I thought instead of expressing my thoughts about the Phillies game I went to this afternoon I would post pictures of my experience. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words, isn't it?

(Also... just click on the pictures if you want to see them in, what I like to call, hi-def)

Jayson Werth signing autographs (he was so close!); my poor attempt at taking a picture of Chase Utley. Although, I must say, I did capture Ryan Howard quite nicely.

Cliff Lee was a true ace on the mound (excuse that guy's head. Let's just be glad I'm not a photojournalism major); Shane Victorino going back into the dugout.

Werty my boy! (I just thought I got a good picture... even though I had to use the digital zoom and it's blurry)

There's Chase! (again, excuse the fan's head...); Mike Fontenot (FonteYes?) pinch hit in the last at-bat for the Cubs and he grounded out. (Maybe that's why he hasn't been playing every day lately.)

Okay it's time to play "Where's Cole(-do)?" Because he's wearing sunglasses, I like to pretend he was looking at me. (I can dream, right?)

Sarge interviewing Ryan Howard. Gotta love his hat!

As you can see, it was a good day for the Phils at Wrigley.

And a beautiful day for Baseball!

back again...

Okay so I'm back from an unanticipated month-long hiatus. I wanted to get a lot of my things bought and ready for school before I went on vacation so I turned out to be pretty busy, then I went on vacation (which ended up being more of an "adventure" than I thought it would be, which I'll explain later), and now that I'm back, I only have a week left until I'm back in Mil-town (I can't wait!)

But backtracking a little bit here... vacation. What to say about vacation?

Well... let's just say things got a little... wacky... towards the end.

Not in a good way.

So the original plan was for my mom, my dad and I to fly out to Philly the 22nd of July, rent a car, and drive to my Uncle's house. The next day my cousins Nathan and Lydia were going to hit the road from North Carolina early in the morning to get to my Uncle's by early afternoon. So far so good.

The next night, my dad and I headed off to Citizen's Bank Park to see the Phils play the Padres.

One word: Unbelievable.

One of my dad's high-school buddies has season tickets between first and home right in front of the Phillies dugout!

Why so great?

That's where the Phanatic does his thing at the bottom of the 7th every home game. It also so happened that the Penn State Nitanny Lion was at that game and, let me tell you, hilarity ensued. (Check out the video I took on my phone here... you won't regret it.)

Also, Cole Hamels was pitching which is always a wondrous thing, and the Phils won 9-4. Overall... it was amazing!

Meanwhile, back at my uncle's house, turns out that my cousin Rachel's boyfriend is going to be staying with us at the shore for the weekend... (well... until Tuesday). And everyone is fine with this (let me just mention that Rachel is 24, I don't really see how this is exactly a scandal) except my Aunt.

I suppose it's understandable that Rachel's mom didn't want her boyfriend to stay with us because no one likes to see their little girl grow up... especially when it gets this close to marriage.

But by Monday, the rest of the family was kind of with my Aunt. Rachel's boyfriend was very nice... but turns out Rachel is one of those girls who, when they get a boyfriend, that is literally all they care about. She was uninterested in her entire family the entire time her boyfriend was there (including her sister, who just came back from an entire year in Japan, and her extended family who she only sees once a year for a week).

Let me put it a little more simply: She acted like a 16 year old the entire time.

Then, to top it all off, her boyfriend absentmindedly (that's my "nice word") booked his flight incorrectly and my Uncle drove him all the way to the airport in Philly only for him to realize that his flight left the day before. They decided he was going to stay at a hotel in Philly and get a flight the next day and Rachel decided she wanted to stay with him and come back to the shore when he left. Her mom and dad said no.

Cue her acting like a 16 year old girl again.

She was miserable all week. Wouldn't talk to her sisters, wouldn't talk to me, wouldn't talk to her mom and dad... it was really irritating.

But I'm gonna move on from that subject because I can't really handle it right now.

Now I'm going to talk about my cousin Nathan and my Grandma (because the drama with Rachel wasn't enough for the week. Remember, we're making up for a whole year of not seeing each other which basically means we're making up for a whole year of no drama).

So anyhow, Nathan somehow cut his hand while he was doing something with mulch back home. And we're not talking a regular cut here. It was HUGE, really... gross, and it was really painful for him. By Friday, his right hand was useless. (There's more to this story but I'll get back to that later.)

So, Thursday morning my mom gets a call from my grandma who tells her she doesn't feel well. That night she's at the hospital... but it's looking like just an overnight thing.

Friday night my Uncle, mom, Rachel, Nathan, my Aunt, and my other cousin, Sarah, get back to my Uncle's house.

Later, we get a phone call. My grandma (still at the hospital) apparently was so confused from the medicine they put her on she kept trying to get out of bed and they had to actually put a restraint on her so she couldn't get out. Let's just say it was looking pretty serious. By the time we all went to bed my mom and aunt had made plans to go to the hospital first thing in the morning.

Fast forward to 4am: the phone rings. I'm the only one who heres it. I got so freaked thinking it had to be the hospital. (I mean who calls at 4am right?) So I rush upstairs, wake my mom and aunt up, they start freaking out. My mom rushes downstairs trying to look through the caller ID and we can't find anything. After 15 minutes we decide to just go back to bed... it must have been a wrong number.

But of course, me being me, I was still scared and didn't get any more sleep that night.

(Hint: This is the part of the story where I look like an idiot).

Fact: in my state of panic/the fact that I was half asleep when the phone rang, I failed to distinguish my Uncle's cell phone from his home phone.

Fact: the last person Nathan had called on his cell phone was my Uncle

Fact: Nathan's phone has a redial feature

Fact: Nathan sleeps with his phone

... Do you see where I'm going with this?

Turns out, at 3:52 am Nathan had an outgoing call to my Uncle's cell.

Yeah... it wasn't the hospital, it wasn't a wrong number, it was Nathan sleep-dialing.

But even with that scare out of the way, Nathan's hand gets worse. My grandma gets worse.

My mom and aunt go to the hospital Saturday morning bright and early to see my grandma and she's really REALLY confused. Confused and depressed.

So what do my Uncle, my cousins and I do back home?

We sit, watch Boondock Saints, and pretty much wait for bad news.

By 1pm, my mom tells me I'll be flying by myself the next day back home and she'll be staying back east.

By 2pm, Nathan is flying back home asap so he can go to the hospital for his hand.

By 3pm, Nathan AND Sarah are flying home asap because my aunt is staying in Philly as well.

By 4pm, my cousins are gone.

My Uncle and I get back from dropping off my cousins at the airport and we go back to sitting, watching tv (opting this time for King of Queens instead of Boondock Saints, it's not really a mood-lightening film) and waiting for more bad news.

By 11pm, turns out Nathan might have MRSA. (Note the "MRSA might be fatal" part, and even if it's not, note that Nate kinda needs his hand since he goes to the Citadel and is in the Army).

Anyhow, the next morning (9:30am EST to be exact) my Uncle drives me to the airport, and at 7:30pm CST, after many flight delays due to storms, I'm finally at Chicago-Midway getting my suitcase (which, turns out, is soaked from the outside in from God knows what).

And that's the end of my sob story.

In case you want to know, my mom is still out east but she's coming home tomorrow.

Nate's doing alright, it's not MRSA, thank God!

My grandma should be released from the hospital on Monday.

Despite the end of vacation... it was a lot of fun while it lasted (despite Rachel successfully channeling her inner teenage angst)... and I'll update soon with pictures and happenings while I was at the wonderful shore.

Emily's Opinion: My Top 10 Favorite Youtube Videos

Let's be honest. There are days when I wake up in the morning and, before I do anything else, I go to the computer and end up on YouTube. Flash forward an hour later. I'm still in my pajamas, I haven't showered, eaten, or even put a brush through my hair. Nope. I'm still right where I was when I woke up catching up on "What The Buck?!", watching the newest Jukebox the Ghost music video, or even sometimes (shamefully I might add) finding myself re-watching (for the umpteenth time) my favorite user-generated videos. I mean... I LOVE YouTube. I'm kind of addicted to it. But as much as I enjoy being able to watch old clips from Whose Line is it Anyway? and commercials from the 90s, there's nothing better than good old user-generated content (as I mentioned before). 

This is why I'm dedicating this blog post to my all time favorite user-generated YouTube videos.

10. Muffins 

I know, I know, y'all have seen this one before. But I can't help it. Back when I was in high school and this was really popular, I loved it, and I still do. (Especially "Asbestos. I'm baking muffins asbestos I can!") So sue me :P

[See also: Let Me Borrow That Top ]

9. Kittens Inspired By Kittens

I don't really know why, but this gets me every time. Probably because it's something I would have done (and subsequently managed to annoy my parents with) pretty much every day. 

[See also: World War 2 explained by Inspired Kittens Girl] 

8. Completely Uncalled For

One word. GENIUS. Note: don't try this on your friends. They won't think it's that funny... believe me. 

[See also: Mother's Day]

7. Proving Science Wrong... with Lonelybeast and Danielgirl15

Okay so we all know by now (and have known for years) that "lonelygirl15", or "Bree", is not a real person and that the whole story line between her and her friend Daniel is completely scripted. Back in the day, however, I used to really love lonelygirl15's channel and always hoped that in the next video Bree and Daniel would finally get together! I found this video particularly endearing, and I still like to watch LG15's old videos from time to time. 

[See also: First Blog/ Dorkiness Prevails (for the start of it all)] 

6. Fred Goes Swimming

What can I say? Everyone loves Fred... and I am not an exception to that generalization. He really does sound like a three year old. That's what makes it so funny. 

[See also: Fred Gets Dissed at Bible School] 

5. Potter Puppet Pals in "The Mysterious Ticking Noise"

Again, I know everyone has seen this one. And again, I can't help it. I love Harry Potter and I double love the Potter Puppet Pals. Snape, Snape, Severus Snape... so catchy!

[See also: Potter Puppet Pals in "Wizard Swears"]

4. My Hands are Bananas

This is, hands down, the weirdest thing I've ever seen on YouTube. (Yes, that includes Charlie the Unicorn). But, at the same time, I think it's really hilarious. Most of my friends don't share the same opinion but still... it's amazing!

[See also: The Magicians] 

3. Too Gay to Function?! My Favorite Video EVER!

I absolutely, positively, 100%, LOVE Michael Buckley. There were a lot of videos of his I could have chosen... but for some reason this one is my absolute favorite. There's something just so genuine and simple about it. 

[See also: ARE YOU GAY?]

2. Hot Seats

Okay, so I think I can safely say that 99% of you have not seen this video. Also, if you're not into baseball and aren't a Cubs fan, you probably won't find too much humor in this video. If you are, though, you HAVE to check this out. It cracks me up every time and my best friend and I are constantly quoting it. 

[See also: The Best Man]

1. DISTURBIA!!!!!

Ohhh doglover. This is hands down my absolute favorite YouTube video. This girl's moves are AMAZING. In fact, she has so many amazing videos, it was incredibly hard to pick one. Before you ask, I am in no way making fun of her. I think she's amazing. If I were her age, had access to a webcam or video camera, and YouTube had already been invented back then, I would have done the exact same thing.

[See also: nobodys perfect]

Well, that about wraps it up.

And, like I said before, I looove my YouTube, so if any of y'all have any favorite videos... be sure and send them my way!

Cheers

Steel City

Having just come back from my first trip to Pittsburgh, I've learned that the way of life in Western Pennsylvania is pretty strange (to me at least). I'm a Philly girl myself, and seeing the other side of the state in all of its glory kind of overwhelmed me a little bit. Here are the few observations I made while visiting the Steel City (or as natives currently like to call it, the City of Champions). 

1. They looove their ketchup. I'm talking capital L-O-V-E. The kind Nat King Cole writes songs about. They don't know there is such thing as other condiments. I asked for barbeque sauce at a restaurant and the guy looked at me like I was speaking Latin (not to mention gave me the worst evil-eye I've ever been given in my life). The kicker here is: I'm from Chicago. I hate Ketchup. I wouldn't dare say that while I was there, though, because I would not be surprised if the people there would be ready to burn me at the stake if I even dared to think about not liking the salty, tomatoey condiment. 

2. Their baseball stadium is incredible. I'm telling you, great ball parks are wasted on the poor franchises. They have everything there. You like the sausage races at Miller Park? Get this. They have pierogi races. Yup, giant pierogies with baseball caps race around the stadium. You like seeing a cityscape in the background? Well, again, you definitely won't be disappointed. PNC is adjacent to the city of Pittsburgh, so it's in a nice area but you still get to see all the buildings and bridges in the city, as well as the river. Plus, as we all know, the Pirates suck, so there's always an extra ticket if you want to go to a game at the last minute. Not to mention there is literally no bad seat in the entire stadium. 

3. They put fries on their sandwiches. Seriously. We went to the famed Primanti Brothers in downtown Pittsburgh for dinner before we went to a Pirates game. I had a cheesesteak (their best-selling item) and much to my shock received some weird looking french fry and coleslaw sandwich with meat on it. It was so unique that it was actually pretty good. (Not as good as an old fashioned Philly Cheesesteak, though). 

4. Western Pennsylvania is extremely hilly. To get into the city from my roommate's house we had to take this thing called an incline down a decently-sized mountain. The story actually goes that back in the 1800s, workers who lived atop the mountain had no way of getting down into the city, so they built an incline to transport them to and from work everyday. Pretty cool, huh? It was a pretty big culture shock, though, since growing up in the Midwest I'm used to extremely flat land and, subsequently being able to see for miles. I mean, I live a good 40 minutes from Chicago and I can see the Sears tower from my house. Let's just say you can't see for very far in Western Pennsylvania, what with all the mountains, cliffs, and hills. 

5. Homewood is scary. After a day at Kennywood, my directionally-challenged roommate had some problems getting us back to her house and with one mistake while listening to the directions the tom tom gave us, we ended up in a neighborhood in Homewood. A word of advice... don't do it. In the 5 minutes we were there we witnessed a drug-deal, saw people staring at us through their car windows (note: they were hanging out in their parked cars), and almost backed into a dead-end that we soon after realized was occupied by a pretty sketch person who looked like he was smoking something that we had just witnessed being sold mere minutes before. 

Thoughts on the Chicago Olympic Bid

When I first heard about Chicago as a possible bid to get the Olympics back in 2007, I never thought it was possible. I mean, yeah, I love Chicago. In my opinion, Chicago is the best city in the U.S. How could you go wrong with all that history? I mean come on... we've got the Sears Tower, all of the great museums, the Chicago Style hot dogs, the Cubs... and what about that weird looking statue in Millennium Park that everyone and their brother wants to take a picture of their reflection in? 

Back then, before we even got into the final four, as I like to call it, (I apologize, it's the college basketball fan coming out in me) we still had to compete against other huge cities in our own country. We had to get past Houston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. I mean, we're talking Hollywood and History here... in my little 17-year-old, teenage, pessimistic mind, there was no way we were getting past the preliminaries. 

But we did it!

Hah. Well little did I know, that was just the beginning.

L.A. not big enough for ya?

Now we're going up against the REAL Big Dogs. 

Now we're talkin' Madrid, Rio, and, *shudders*, Tokyo.

What could Chicago POSSIBLY have to offer when the other options are:

A. the capital of Spain, and one of the very few major European cities that has not hosted the game. (Yet...)

B. the city that has full political and economic support from its country (since its country has NEVER hosted the games)

C. the favorite. (Been there, done that)

I was at the Taste of Chicago today, so of course there was campaigning going on for the 2016 games.

A lot of it.

There was a huge tent chock-full of promotional items (and don't you all worry, I got my five wristbands in, surprise surprise, blue, black, red, yellow, and green). They had games for kids (where the prizes included, you got it, more promotional items), a petition, a "buzzer" that, if you pressed on it, added another number to the tally of "supporters of the Chicago 2016 Olympics", and the only thing that would really garner any true support, how they were going to transform Chicago into a City of Champions.

After I saw that. I was sold. (Didn't take much, eh?)

No offense to the other cities or anything, but I think we've actually got a shot at this. 

In other words...

Chicago. You've got one more supporter!

For more information, and to see the plan, go take a look at http://www.chicago2016.org.

Ah, mellow music and humidity.

So I'm just sitting here listening to Ray LaMont... well okay scratch that it just changed to Wilco, but nevertheless... I love it. Unfortunately, the humidity is killing me. It's 80 degrees upstairs AND I'm sick so that's equalling a pretty bad feeling.

Luckily the music kind of equals it out and makes me feel, neutral at least. 

Anyhow, I've had a pretty uneventful week as the highlight of it so far has been strawberry picking. Plus it's been storming all week which makes it kind of hard to be outside. (Believe me, when I went to pick strawberries I all but ruined my corduroy TOMS, and yes I realize those weren't the best choice of footwear when it was so muddy.)

Although I've felt pretty bored (not to mention useless) this summer, especially compared to the beyond-busy school year I had, I still can't believe that my birthday is next week. Although I'm glad for it to come, since the day after my birthday it's straight to Pittsburgh to visit my roommate, then back home for less than two weeks and back to Philadelphia, and then only a couple weeks until I go back to school, I'm still a little bit bummed. Time really does go faster and faster when you get older, and I can't seem to wrap my head around the fact that in exactly 9 days I will be TWO DECADES old. 

On the sports front, the Phillies finished off their three-day series with the Bluejays by getting swept. They never fail to make me angry. They are SUCH a good team, and they play so well on the road, but when they come home, it's like they are incapable of the term 'W'. Luckily the Cubs won and didn't get swept by the Sox, otherwise I would have been a lot more upset as far as baseball goes. I still need to choose a Cubs game to go to in July, but I can't figure out if I should go when they play the Brewers or when they play the Braves. I suppose it doesn't really matter, it's fun to go to the game no matter who they're playing (even when they're playing the Pirates, haha). Actually, the funny thing is that I've been to two Pirates games already this year and will be going to one when I'm in Pittsburgh (mostly because the Cubs will be in town). 

But I digress...

The main point of this is, I'm just happy that summer will finally be starting soon. I'll be going to downtown Chicago quite a bit soon for the Taste and to go to the beach (because the weather is FINALLY supposed to be getting better).

I'll be updating :)

Cheers

There's no such thing as blogging...

... because if you think about it, isn't blogging just writing?

Truth.

I feel the need to write because I want to share my life, and maybe not even with other people. See, I've written blogs before, and although I posted about, hmm, maybe 2-6 entries on each of them, I can still look back on them. To me, that's fun. I have a pretty bad memory, and it's great to be able to look back on something like a journal or... a blog. 

I'm going to try something new this time, though. I'm going to try and make this last, at least until summer is over. If I don't update when school starts it's because I'm busy.

Really, really busy.

But, as I said, it is currently summer. And I'm free.

Really, really free.

Now I guess since this is an "introductory blog", I should introduce myself. (If anyone I don't know happens to stumble upon this page).

For starters, my name is Emily. I'm 19, about to be 20 (ew, I don't even want to think about that). I go to school at Marquette and am majoring in Corporate Communication and minoring in Social Welfare & Justice. I'm actually not really sure of what I want to do after I graduate, but with my major there are what seem like endless paths for me to take. I'm from a small town in Illinois. Believe me, after you get out of my neighborhood you find yourself surrounded by cornfields. I'm a huge sports nut and I'm sure I'll be blogging a LOT about sports. Phillies, Cubs, Golden Eagles, Blackhawks, Bears. 'Nuff said. (I know, I know, if you're wondering 'Why the Phillies? You're from Illinois', it's because my Dad was born and raised in Philadelphia and he is the most phanatical Phillies fan I know. He got me into them at a really young age. But don't you worry Chicago-ans, as I stated, I do enjoy the Cubs as well.) 

I also love to read. I have a slight obsession with Jane Austen which has made me a tad bit guilty of being a hopeless romantic. Also, okay confession numero uno... I kinda secretly read silly books that I don't tell anyone about. Examples of this are The Princess Diaries, The Clique, and most recently (don't judge me!) ... Twilight. Although I first read Twilight my junior year of high school, and that was nearly four years ago. So I guess I can take the smallest bit of pride in knowing that I read that silly book before the phenomenon. 

I have a place for everything, and everything needs to be in its place. Let's just say I don't do messy. During the school year, my planner is my life. It would be the one thing I would be lost without (yeah, that's including my phone, my computer, and my credit card, shocker, I know.) 

Well, I'd say that sums me up pretty well.

I'll be in touch :P

Em