WE'RE ENGAGED!!

Thursday, the 20th, we flew in to Denver to spend Xmas in Colorado with Amanda's family. I landed at about 12 am and Amanda picked me up from the airport. We drove down to Colorado Springs and I proposed in the driveway of her parents house.. and she said Yes! It's been a bit of a whirlwind, but hang in there and we'll get to everyone. Thanks for all the kind wishes and support. And now for a picture you've all been waiting for...

Thanksgiving w/Portialicious

This weekend we spent in NJ with the rest oft he Zailer'ss and some Cina's. Portia was there and we had a great time feeding, burping, and playing with her.



She's so delicious!

Since we last met

Since I last wrote it has been of a whirlwind tour. I have started working out in Kansas City again for USDA, and coincidentally, so has Amanda for a small little greeting card company whose name we shall not mention, but rhymes with Ballmark. It has been a fun time as Kansas City has some redeeming qualities about it. Where I stay, Country Club Plaza has plenty of nice restaurants and shopping. Amanda stays in the Westin, which you can't beat the heavenly bed. We have a heated battle going over who has the better accomodations.

I got to see my friend Joe again. We caught up for dinner in Crystal City, some of our old stomping ground. It's great to see Joe and hear his Griswald family stories. We also discussed movies and some of our problem show addictions.

We finally got to go a Maryland football game. It was Amanda's first and only Maryland game of the season, and she baked cookies for the occasion. They were of course delicious. Unfortunately, Clemson spanked us. The weekend after we met up with Brian, Nicole, Mike and Jen for dinner. That was a lot of fun as we had a nice Italian meal at That's Amore.

The next week we spent in Kansas City working away. It was nice that we got to see each other during the week. On November 8th we flew to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. From there, we drove through Alligator alley at midnight to Estero, Florida where my parents just bought a place. Its a beautiful 3 bedroom, 2 bath 1600 square ft condo right on Estero Golf Club between the par 5 7th and par 3 8th. Their lenai faces a pond which is the home to the adorable 5 foot alligator named Cheryl. Friday my dad and I played golf while Amanada ventured over to the outlets that are closer to the place than the grocery store. Friday night we went to dinner with the Newman's (Dory & Andrew, Joe & Marsha, Matt, Rebecca & baby Luke, and Bob & Dianne). It was a great dinner of steak, potatoes and spinach. YUMM! Saturday my dad, Joe and I played golf at Raptor Bay while Amanda did some more shopping and pool-sitting (there is a pool on their street). I played pretty well Saturday, going 43-38 for an 81. Saturday night my parents flew out, which was sad. Amanda and I had a chill night getting dinner and walking around some of the stores at Coconut point. Sunday we flew back to Kansas City and had yet another interesting experience with Air Tran airlines.

We spent another week in Kansas City before coming back to Maryland for a chill weekend. We spent most of the weekend hanging out and running errands. Saturday we had a nice dinner with Marta and Andy at Olezzo in Bethesda. After dinner they came back to our place and we had a couple more drinks and just hung out and talking for awhile.

Sunday we found out Mike and Jen got engaged and we couldn't be happier for them. They are some great people and its always great to see good things happen to great people.

Anyways, thats the last couple of weeks in a nutshell. Hope you enjoyed and see of the new links on the right.

Check out my new haircut!

Try the link on the right for my new haircut. Hilarious. I think I knew like a dozen guys like this in my high school. Hell, Schwimmer probably still drinks with donkeys like this, HA!

Homecoming Weekend

I spent this past week in Kansas City, kicking it at the Residence Inn. I flew back in Thursday and went to the SRA office Friday. A good friend of mine from my ABAP/DLA days, John, is now working on WBSCM so I got to catch up with him for happy hour.

Amanda was back home this weekend in Colorado where it snowed! At University of Maryland it was homecoming as the Terps took on Virginia. I made beef tips and Aaron made jello shots. It was a great time until the terps defense handed the game to UVA in the closing minute of regulation. Total dagger.

Sunday I played golf with Neil at Maryland National (basically my home course). Pretty cool there as some of the guys recognize me and know me by name. I didn't play particularly well as my short game was just terrible. I did have a couple good shots here and there and my driving was pretty solid. Neil played well, shooting a 47 on the back 9. Still a good time, just wish I could have played better.

Coming up this week, work continues to steamroll. I foresee some long days in my future...

4 Weeks in a Nutshell

Well the last 4 weeks have been quite the whirlwind. Let me start with work. We have just entered the detailed design phase of the project and the real fun is about to begin. What does this mean? Well for one it means I will be going to Kansas City and DC a lot more. I have to be in front of the client a lot to get to know their business and how we are going to fit their business into their new software. What else does it mean? Well the nights could get later, and the diet worse, and worst of all, I could not have as much time to blog. But we'll see about that. Anyways, let me work backwards for the last three weekends..

The first weekend we spent in Colorado hanging out. We flew in on a Thursday and went directly to Colorado Springs. Friday we worked from the Springs and had a huge, delic lasagna dinner. Saturday we went up to the mountains which is one of my favorite spots in the lower 48. We went on a bike tour ride in Frisco and stayed in our current favorite town up there, Breckenridge. We had a great time but of course it wasn't long enough!

The next weekend we flew out to Los Angeles to visit Amanda's brother, Alex. We took a couple extra days off, which was nice. We stayed at the West St. Bonaventure which apparently is a pretty famous hotel where several famous movies were filmed, such as Rain Man, Ruthless People, True Lies and In the Line of Fire. If you saw In the Line of Fire, there is a scene at the end where the action is in elevators outside the building. Well, those elevators were the same at the hotel. We flew in Thursday and met up with Alex for dinner. We decided to get sushi and asked the concierge for a good sushi place. He recommended this place called R23. We get directions and roll in to this sketchy looking area of LA, like little China. As we walked up to the restaurant, however, there were bentley's, porsche's and ferrari's in the parking lot. I have been to LA before so I didn't think this was so odd. As we sat down at our table, I noticed a familiar face next to us. It was none other than Make 7 - Up Yours, I sell magazines and fake being a crack addict because I make more money than working in IT, ORLANDO JONES! Pretty crazy, Amanda took a picture of the chair he sat in.



Friday we met up with Alex after his classes and got a quick tour of the campus. It looked very nice as we saw some of the class buildings, the book store, the student center, and the building that holds all the heisman's and national shampionship. Pretty sweet, but of course not as much as a basketball championship like we have at Comcast Arena. We dropped Alex off and went shopping at a mall in Beverly hills. Alex had a soroirty formal Friday night so Amanda and headed to dinner at the chinese restaurant in the Westin. Saturday we had breakfast with Alex and then he had to go to a hockey game in San Jose (where he had 2 assists in a win). Amanda and I went down to Sand diego to go to the zoo and La Jolla. Both were great spots although they left us quite tuckered out. Unforunately, the camera battery died so we don't have any pictures to share from that, but San Diego is a beautiful spot! Sunday we got out and played golf, hitting up a course part of UCLA, in Pasadena. I hung a 76 on the dog track, but I will take it, since it was the first time out in awhile. Alex, did not fair as well, as I think Amanda came close to beating him :). Monday we flew out and it was back to work for another week.. Overall it was a great trip and we will be back there soon. Hopefully next time the bookstore will have better hats!

This past weekend we went up to NJ for little baby Portia's naming ceremoney. In Judaism, this is when the child is given their Hebrew name. The naming ceremony was pretty sweet. They discussed why she got named what she did, both her english and hebrew names, it was very touching. i read a poem Audrey Hephburn wrote. Afterwards i got to feed and burp portia, it was awesome. Definitely a great time as I love to see Portia and the rest of the NJ contingency. Next time we see them will hopefully be in the beginning of November and for Thanksgiving.

Well thats about the last couple weekends. I think I need a break from all the typing. I will post photos on the right once I get them. Thanks for checking in..

Plane Zombie

I could never be a pilot. The moment I get on a plane and start moving, I zonk out. I'm flying to denver right now and I think I was asleep within af mins of pulling way from the gate. It must be something with the motion or theair they pump through here that does it to me. The trick is to wake up before the drink cart skips you. Once they skip you, theres no going back.

If you experience the same, shout back.

Been a long time..

Yea yea yea, I know its been a long time since I last wrote. Much as been going on. Last weekend, we went to our friend's Aaron and Sarah's wedding at the University of Maryland. I was lucky enough to be in the wedding and it was great. The rehearsal dinner was at an Italian place in Bethesda. We had some great food and did some good toasts to Aaron and Sarah. Coincidentally, the Miami Dolphins were staying in our same hotel so we got to see them all walk in. The only people I recognized were Dom Capers (highest paid assistance coach in the nfl) and Trent Green.

Saturday was the wedding and we spent the early part of the day lounging around the apartment, before heading over to campus. We checked into the hotel and started to get ready. I met the wedding party around 4 30 to take pictures. Aaron rented a campus charter bus that drove us around to different campus spots to take pictures. Afterwards we headed to the ceremony, which was really nice.

The reception was huge since they had almost 300 people attend. I had the steak which was pretty tasty. Several drinks and dances later, the night came to an end. All in all, it was a great time and I was very honored to be a part of the event.

This past week I spent in Kansas City as my travel for Dept of Agriculture has just started. Over the next few weeks, I will spend the week in the Kansas City, and then the weekends in Colorado then California, and lastly, NJ. Its going to be a lot of traveling but I'm looking forward to it.

I got it!

After months of speculation and lots of ragging, i have finally been promoted to Manager. Its been a long road, capped off with my Career Counselor being out of the office the past 2 days which meant I had to wait over the weekend. But the wait has been well worth it.

Last weekend my dad came down and we played two rounds of golf, Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday we went up and played my local favorite, Maryland National.  After two weeks off, I had to shake the rust off the front nine and went out with 48.  I finished strong with a 39 on the back for an 87.  Sunday we headed to Northern Maryland to play Mountain Branch.  I think last time we played there in January, the course was in better shape.  I played pretty consistently to a 81.  Sunday night I was visited by Amanda as she missed her connection to Greensboro, which was a pleasant surprise.

This weekend Amanda flew in late Friday and we just got some takeout from Cheesecake Factory and tried to watch a terrible movie called "The Fountain".  I also installed new blinds in the living room.

Saturday I played golf with Neil, but did not play too well.  Amanda spent the day getting her toe nails done and doing some shopping.  Saturday night we went down to Raku in Dupont Circle and filled up on some sushi.  After that, we headed over to Adam's Morgan and had a drink in Reef.  After Reef we headed over to Bourbon to meet up with Sarah and Aaron for Mark Tervokaski's going away party.  We had a good time there but had enough for the night and decided to go home.  

Today we headed to the mall to do some shopping and now we are winding down watching the Giants battle the Ravens in preseason.  I hate injuries.

From Greensboro to Chapel Hill

This past weekend I took the short flight down to North Carolina to visit Amanda in Greensboro. I flew in Thursday and we drove into downtown Greensboro to have a some great sushi.


Friday we worked from Amanda's apartment and then went down to Chapel Hill, to meet her friends from Northwestern Brian and Alexis. They have a great townhouse down there with a super-cute rotwiler-mix dog, Haley. Shortly after we got there, we headed over to Durham to see the Durham Bulls (from Bull Durham) take on the Columbus Clippers (including Evan Langoria). We had a good time at the game, once we moved away from a group of annoying pre-teenage kids.

Saturday we headed over to Raleigh to see my former boss and friend, Neil. We got some cute gifts for Neil's two little girls, Riley and Camryn. Neil took us on a tour of NC State, and downtown Raleigh. They actually have a statue that says "Long live the confederacy" in the square in front of the capitol building. Scary. After that we had a beer and talked awhile more with Neil.

Saturday night Brian and Alexis took us to Top of the Hill, which is a really nice restaurant in Chapel Hill. I had a great tilapia while Amanda had a rigatoni. After dinner we went to a martini bar and I had a great dirty martini, while Amanda got creative with a Kuroyale. Unfortunately this did not turn out to be a Kuroyale and instead was a champagne drink in a martini glass, and a bad one at that. We then headed back to Alexis/Brian's townhouse, but not before grabbing some fruit and sangria at the local Harris Teeter. We polished off a bunch of that while playing some heated games of Cranium and Dance Party. Apparently I am an incredible clay molder.

Sunday we headed back to Greensboro and stopped off to see Bourne Ultimatum, the latest edition of the amensia stricken American James Bond. I think this was about as good as the second Bourne and excellent nonetheless.

After Bourne I packed up and flew out back to DC. It was a great weekend, getting to explore NC, see Amanda's college friends who we always have a great time with, and of course, seeing my girl :).

New Scott Best 76!

While it certainly isn't a course record, Saturday morning I treked up to Frederick and shot a personal best at my favorite Maryland Course, Maryland National by hanging a 76 from the golds. My stats from the day include 32 putts (no 3 putts), 6 of 13 fairways hit, 9 of 18 greens, and a chip in on 18 from 50 feet. Quite an incredible day since I have been working towards this for the last two years. Now, to just keep it up! Of course, my new Callaway FT-5 didn't hurt things either.

Friday night we met up with Amanda's friend Trisha and her fiancee Marcos. We went to a rooftop party at a sweet apartment in DC. It was fun although we were pretty tired and had to leave a little early.

Saturday night we bagged plans to go to the DC Zoo and instead saw Transformers. I have to say, this was pretty good. My boy Shia Lebouf (from The Greatest Game Ever Played) and Meghan Fox were great. The effects were phenomenal and the storyline wasn't half bad. I can't say more in case you haven't seen it.

Sunday Neil got us free tickets to a sweet luxury box at Camden Yards to see the O's play the Yankees. While I hate the Yankees, we really went there to just have a good time. That's definitely what we got as Neil hooked us up with free parking and a stocked fridge of beezos. My buddy Mark from work was there so he stopped up for a couple minutes and we left just before the game ended. Neil also proved his power by getting the DJ to play Baba O'Riley before the 7th inning.

This weekend we'll be in Greensboro/Raleigh to see some friends down there. I'm looking forward to seeing where Amanda works and have some fun!

Announcing Portia Lotus Cina!

Monday, July 16th at approximately 4:00 pm EST Jolie gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Portia Lotus Cina. Portia is 7 lbs 2oz and 19.75".


Today Sean and Jolie took Portia home from the hospital for the first time. Amanda and I visited both the proud parents and the new baby this past weekend and she is a cutie pie! I took several pictures and video so I will post them as soon as possible!

Cho, TGI Blech, Nationals Hang on

Monday I was called out by Joe (or as Philadelphians say, "Cho") for not trying to reschedule our dinner for some time.  While I have thought about reaching out to Joe, I just hadn't taken the time.  Good thing Joe called me out because we turned it around fast and met up last night for dinner at TGI Fridays.  Well, the food could have been better - my sizzling Chicken and Shrimp kept sizzling until I went to sleep some 5 hours later  and Joe's quesedillas apparently had some lasting effect on him until today, but the conversation could not have been better.  Its always a good time to see Joe and catch up with him and last night was no exception.  We kibutzed for a couple hours on a variety of topics including our trip toHawaii, the Grizwald (Ryder) Family trip to Chicago, USDA, DLA, the Lost season finale, HD TV's (shocker!), and even my new swimming routine.  It was a great time and made me miss seeing Joe all the time on CP5 - 10.  Hopefully Joe gets his own blog going soon so we can get a glimpse into his mind for a change.  I will be sure to post a link to his site once it is available.

Today, my career counselor TJ took myself and some of his other counselees out to a Washington Nationals baseball game.  It was a lot of fun to go to a game (TJ got great tickets), see and talk to TJ who I never see now, and to see my friend Nick who I used to work with on DLA.  Nick gave me a lot of gossip and details of whats going on over there.  Between last night and today, I feel like I never left.  

Right now i'm watching Conan from the other night.  I think it must have taped some Leno because Minnie Driver is on and singing.  I think my ears are starting to bleed she's so bad.  I don't think her voice is so bad but the song is terrible and I have no idea what she's even saying.  That reminds me, the other night I heard a Mark Ronson original on Conan and it was pretty good.  I'm going to have to look up some of his stuff.



Mom is a FAN!

Mom is a FAN!  I just talked to my mom tonight on the drive home (took over an hour, DAGGER!), and she told me she loved the blog.  Here is to hoping she continues to read. If you read and you have comments, please leave them below.  Your feedback is always appreciated.

I'm here watching the start of the MLB All-Star game and the tribute to Willie Mays.  Willie may go down as one of the best players of all time, but don't forget that it all started in New York when the Giants were the New York Giants.  It was only years later in 1958 that they moved to San Francisco.  This game would be almost interesting to watch except Barry Bonds has ruined the game for me.  That and the almost excruiciatingly boring pace that baseball has.  

Post July 4th weekend

We had a great weekend. Saturday we spent the day at the Innagural AT&T National Tournament played at Congressional Country Club down the street in Bethesda, MD. We camped out at behind 10th green, 15th Green, 16th tee and 18th fairway. We saw a great deal of golfers, including Olin Browne, Hunter Mahan, Chris Dimarco, Jason Gore, Todd Hamilton (sweaty pants), Rich Beem, Tim Herron, Jim Furyk, Stuart Appleby, KJ Choi, Sean O'Hair, Chris Riley, Notah Begay III and none other than Tiger Woods. We actually got to see Tiger up close and look into his eyes as he walked from 15th green to 16th tee. Amanda claims that he asked her to be his nanny but I have my suspicions. The only unfortunate part was the shuttle bus actually passed by 7501 twice.



On Sunday, we went to the pool, where Scott learned the butterfly. He's really quite good. After the pool, we trooped outside with our trusty cooler-on-wheels (everything should be on wheels, always!) to grill our dinner. We grilled two steaks (they turned out very well!), an onion (the best part of dinner), corn, and potatoes (the weak link of the dinner template). After dinner, we made S'Mores - which are decidedly difficult without an open flame. We met some of Scott's neighbors as well, one of whom was apparently named "Z" - in a clash of realities.


After dinner, we finished up the weekend with the boys from Entourage. So sad to be returning to work tomorrow :(

July 4th

Today is July 4th and we decided to have our friends Aaron and Sarah (and Sarah's sister Beth) over to hang out. We spent a couple hours at the pool and then headed over to the BBQ. Last night we bought a bunch of meat, sausage, and brautwurst from Balducci's (excellent meat department). Aaron and Sarah brought over two racks of ribs so we cooked those as well. We used the charcoal grills out back of the other building in my complex. It started to rain, but luckily Aaron brought his tent so we stayed dry. The tent is actually going to be used for tailgating so it has much more fun to go! We ended the bbq by having some smores and watermellon. You can see the link to the photos on the right!

Tomorrow I have to go back to work (boo!) and probably work Friday as well. If I'm lucky, I won't have to work Saturday, which is when we are planning to go to Tiger Woods' new PGA tournament, the AT&T National, played down the street at Congressional. Definitely looking forward to that.

Pre July 4th

This weekend started off with me having to work late on Friday. As a result, we tried to go to see Live Free or Die Hard and missed it. Oh well - we ended up getting baskin robbins instead.

Saturday I dropped Amanda off to get her hair done and I went for a run. After the run I went for a swim and spent a whole 20 minutes at the pool. At least I can say I made it there once this year. After I picked up Amanda we went down to Georgetown to find the Lacoste for their sale. We couldn't find it, and when I looked on the Google Maps on my phone, it said there was a Lacoste in Friendship Heights. So we went up there and ate at Booeymonger where we saw Bayha and his girl Erin. They also were both going to Chenery and Sean's birthday that night. We headed over to Lacoste and I picked up a new orange shirt.

Saturday Night we met up with Stevens, Jody, Brian and Nicole at Pines of Room. I thought the food could have been better, but everyone else seemed to like it. We went over to Tommy Joe's for a drink afterwards and then headed down to DC for Chenery/Sean's birthdays. The party was at Ultrabar, which was 18 and over for girls, 21+ for guys. We met up with Aaron and Sarah and we actually had more fun than I thought we would.

Sunday I headed out to MD National and played 18. I shot an 84 and didn't hit it terribly, but not particularly well either. I think I had around 32 putts which isn't terrible, but again, not great. I shot a 41 on the back and really blew up after being like 1 over after 5. Oh well.

Up this, July 4th party and AT&T National with Tiger, Phil and the guys!

Living in High Def

So with my High Def TV, aptly named Sonya, I have come to the realization that I'm an HD snob. I no longer can watch anything that isn't in HD. I have 40 movie channels, but I can only watch 2 - HBOHD and MAXHD. I have 250 channels in total and I am only limited to the 20 or so HD.


Best new addition to HD lately, VSGLF. I don't know what it stands for, but Thursdays and Fridays it has golf in HD. G can't even get the SD golf channel for free, he has to pay extra. While I get golf in HD during the week. Sick.

If you come over my house, and turn on Sonya and she's on a SD, you know I wasn't the last one watching. Often, I'll come home all the time, and its on the food network, or USA in SD. That definitely isn't me, its Amanda. She doesn't have the same dedication to the High Def. She definitely has the appreciation, but she doesn't have the will power to only live in a High Def world. Maybe she's better off that way. At least she can take advantage of the 250 channels we get.

6/24

And so the end to a slow weekend. Amanda was in Colorado this weekend so I decided to play some golf (shocker!) Friday I went to a looong happy hour with Aaron at Ri Ra. I'm really loving that place, especially their half and halfs. All their food is money, but this time I decided to get the rueben. It was great, of course.

Saturday I went out to Maryland National to get in 18. I was driving it alright but my irons were not crisp at all. As a result, I struggled to an 88. Sunday I met up with Neil and Mike at Waverly Woods up in Marriottsville, MD. The driving was mediocre but my irons were much more solid. I posted an 82 (40-42) with a 2 birdies on the front 9. Overall, I definitely missed 6-8 putts inside 8 feet. I think my iron play and driving is there, but my putting clearly needs help. My goal is to break 80 consistently, and I think I can get there, but its going to take a bit more work with the flatstick.

Don't forget to see my links on the right. I have our posted Hawaii pics, a link to Sam and Rubina's blog, and a link to Schwimmers.

Father's Day Recap

This weekend we went up to Dirty Jerz for Father's Day. On the way up, we stopped by Philly to see our friends Sam and Rubina. We at ate Buddakan. It was my first time eating there, but everyone else had been there several times. I had the Sea Bass and it was awesome. We also had some great dumplings and salmon pizza.

Saturday we played some golf with G. I didn't play particularly well, shooting 88 on the 6700 yard Pine Barrens golf course. Amanda played and did particularly well. Several holes she had legitimate shots and even a par on number 5! Saturday night Dory and Andrew came up and we bbq'd and ate some good food. We had a great time and even watched our Hawaii videos. Sunday we played golf again and I shot a 83 (41-42). The back 9 I hit all 7 fairways and still could only manage to shoot 42. Dagger. Oh well, I will break 80 on that course, its just a mattter of time.

Weekend Activities

This past weekend Amanda's college friend Trisha came to visit us. She is fresh off a multi-year duty in the Peace Corp stationed in Panama.  Friday we went out to dinner at the Green Papaya in Bethesda which is Vietnamese food.  Saturday we saw Ocean's 13.  I thought it was pretty good - definitely better than the second.  Of course all the bantering between the big stars is always funny.  Pacino was alright but these days I'm not really a fan of him.  He does this wailing bit that really gets annoying.

Sunday, the ladies went to the Zoo while I went and played golf at Maryland National.  I shot 41-42, but just couldn't get it together.  I knew I was playing well enough to shoot in the low 80s but not to break 80 (which has been my goal the last year and a half).  I'm getting closer to breaking it consistently but the only time I've done it is once in Colorado this year.  I'll get there.  I really need to focus on my short game.  I need to get up and down a lot better than I do right now.

Sunday night was the series finale of the Sopranos.  I know many people were disappointed in it, but really I thought it was half decent.  I especially liked when they ran over Leotardo and guy drinking the slurpy turns and pukes.  The ending was fitting, considering David Chase never liked doing something that was expected of him.  Really I didn't think anything more would come of it.  I had a long day today so I'm out.

Mahalo!

Ok so I have a bunch of random blog posts that I need to clean up, but here is the gist of what is going on. We just got back from Hawaii and while we were away our friend Rubina sent me an email about the blog she started. Plus Schwimmer has one and I can't let both of them one-up me so I had to start one. I actually had one of these once but I deleted it. I also used to have the scottlive.net web site but I was getting tired of maintaining it. And nowadays you can store everything that I had on there online anyway. So here is the start of my blog. I'm going to kick it off with a bunch of Hawaii stuff once I get organized. My hope is to use this for photos and video as well as some of my ramblings when I'm not slammed at work. This is the new and improved Scott Live, so I hope you like it. Mahalo for visiting.

New Home for Scott Live

So I decided to bag hosting my website on my address. You can now find it here on blogger. So enjoy!