GAME 18: STL @ WSN

Date: Thursday, 6/5/08
Time: 7:10PM (ET)

Time of Game: 3:08.

Attendance: 32,357.

Weather: 77° F, Wind 10mph out to Leftfield, Cloudy, No Precipitation.

Winner: WSN, 10-9
Current Home team win record: 15-3
Distance traveled: 6088.81

Another day, another awesome game. God I love baseball. The Nationals came out, bats aflame, and came to a quick 7-0 lead after the first 3 innings. The Nat's starter Redding came out with good stuff, shutting out the Cardinals until Troy Glaus hits a 2-out home run in the 4th going on to spur a 3 run, 2-out rally in the inning. The Nationals continue to string together hits and answer in the bottom of the 4th making the score 8-4 after the fourth. At this point my friends are very impressed, most of them have never seen a Nationals win in this stadium, and the crowd actually seems to be getting into the action. But Washington couldn't have expected The Cardinals to just roll over and die. With a 3 run homer from Worrell (after a Pujols strikeout, ironically) in the 6th then 2 more runs in the 9th, the Cardinals had tied it up, sending the the game into extra innings. But the Nationals' faithful had seen this before, in the first game of the season, March 30, 2008, the first ever game in Nationals Stadium, Ryan Zimmerman hit a walk off home run to beat the Atlanta Braves 3-2, most definitely a shot never to be forgotten by a Nationals fan. In the top of the 10th, the Cardinals seemed to add insult to injury by getting the go-ahead run in with a 2-out home run for a 1-run 10th. The Nationals stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the 10th this time in the shadow of Zimmerman, Elijah Dukes knocking out a 2 run home run to win the game. Magical.

Nationals Stadium is the home of the infamous President's race, featuring George, Abe, Thomas, and poor Teddy. Yes, Teddy Roosevelt is the butt of a cruel, cruel joke during every home game. The tradition of stretches back to the inception of the Nationals the moment they moved from Montreal. Even back in the dismal RFK stadium, the presidents would take their trot around the field in a race to the finish, just one thing, Teddy has NEVER won, not even once. During this game, Teddy took off, shooting ahead of the others, only to be tackled and maimed before he could make it to the finish line. Click on the picture to see it, he's laying on the ground as Abraham Lincoln takes the gold.

Why can't Teddy win!? So asks the creators of the Let Teddy Win blog why must Teddy always find some way to lose? Its awesome to see fans create new traditions for a new team. The Nationals are still struggling to find their following in Washington, DC, but these kind of traditions are a good start. SO LET TEDDY WIN!

I left Long Island City early trying to beat the traffic out of NYC. Having vowed that the wheels of my car would never again touch Manhattan Island, I disobeyed my well-meaning GPS system and snuck out of Queens, hugged the Brooklyn coastline and escaped through Staten Island onto the New Jersey Turnpike, to drive its entire length through the great state of New Jersey for the third and final time as I left New York for my final destination in the North East: Washington, DC.

I was back in the DC area for the 2nd time this trip, the first one being the Baltimore game. This time I picked up my first driving-mate of the trip, Sameer Islam. Sameer had a couple of weeks before he started his Internal Medicine Residency and, being an avid sports fan himself, graciously decided to accompany me as I ventured into the American South and said goodbye to all the familiar faces in the East. Needless to say, he drove the first leg on our way out of DC. I had forgotten what it was like to be a passenger.

I picked up Sameer from a bus stop in Bethesda, we dropped our stuff of at my uncle's house in Tenleytown and rushed to meet up my friends at Capitol South. Dan Perlman and his sister, the former in town to see the latter, and Joe Anzalone all met me at the station before walking towards the stadium.

To look back and actually think that Joe Anzalone and I were enemies at one time just makes me chuckle. I remember days during my first year where he and I most definitely did not get along, especially those awkward times that young people face, pushed into the communal ship of dorm life, and having to strut and establish an identity from whence there was none. We have the silliest relationships those first moments, days, months: trying on hats, some that fit better than others, sometimes we muscle through the crowd to get to the one we think we need, only to find that we've trampled on someone to get there. Its how we deal with those moments that define us. In fact I remember the day that Joe pulled me aside and offered me to use his razor, such an awkward gesture to make up for months of a standoffish strutting and posturing from both sides, but that stupid little gesture turned out to bring out the mature in both of us, leading to a mutual respect and friendship. Now he's turned into someone that embodies the type of mature responsibility that I've always admired. I really appreciate that he made it to this game.

Ruici Tio, Ruth, and Josh all made it to the game. These guys are always the people who go, drop everything, and try it out. They were always fun, always doing something, always moving during college, and I was just happy to ride the coattails of their adventurous spirit and happen to find some of the parts of Chicago I treasure and remember most fondly. Tak was my roommate during my 2nd year of college, and even though he was a 4th year, he really took the time to get to know me and my other fellow housemates. In 2 quarters he made relationships that will last him a lifetime, and I think that speaks more to a man's character than just about anything.

I didn't get to see Nathalie Boittin or Rebecca Louie, and completely forgot to mention the trip to my friend Omid (for which I feel terrible). Major regrets, but it happens, hopefully I catch Becca when she's out in the bay area. Its time to go to the dirty dirty now, and thank god Sameer's with me. Sameer, I couldn't have done it without you.

GAME 17: TOR @ NYY

Date: Wednesday, 6/4/08
Time: 7:05PM (ET)

Time of Game: 2:46.

Attendance: 51,151.

Weather: 70° F, Wind 6mph out to Leftfield, Overcast, Rain.

Winner: NYY, 5-1
Current Home team win record: 14-3
Distance traveled: 5860.91

MASTERFUL, just masterful. Not just Mussina's masterful 5 inning shut out, not just Sumeet's masterful ticket contacts, not just the awesome ticket that commemorates "the last season" in Yankee's stadium, its all of it put together somehow, into one magical experience.

Even though I missed Halliday's 2 run/6 hit performance the day before, I was glad that I was able to catch Mike Mussina's performance this evening. He pitched 6 innings of solid baseball, allowing only one earned run, and only because he tired out and delivered his one walk of the game to Alexis Rios before Scott Rolen doubled him in. Six strike outs, 1 earned run, and one walk, and the set up and close were both flawless. It was a good day to be in Yankees Stadium, one of the few bright spots in their pitching line up anyway. The Jays just could not stop the Yankees' 2-out magic, 4 of their 5 runs coming on 2-out plays. Toronto went on to have a dismal week, losing the series to the Yanks and then another to Baltimore. We exited the stadium basking in the glow of a Yankee's win and whistling to the tune of "New York, New York" sung by Frank Sinatra, traditionally played over the PA when the Yankees win.

As much as we're all compelled to hate the Yankees, their fans and their stadium are certainly something special. Now, let me be clear, when I say that their fan's are "special" I mean the ones that go to the games, the ones in the Bronx, the ones that actually wear their heart on their sleeves and plan to ride the trainwreck that this team is going to become for the next couple of years under the management of Joe Girardi. They're knowledgeable and for any baseball team there's really not a better place to call home. Every inch of that stadium is historic and every seat is great. You can't hope to move the soul of that stadium, you'll only be starting over with the new one.

New York has been awesome every time I've had the pleasure of visiting during this trip. First of all there's Sumeet and DJ, both of which have been the most incredible hosts. What can I say about them to convey everything I feel when I see them? Well, they're the familiar street signs and billboards that you see when you come back home from a foreign place. They're the playground you used to frequent, the street where your friend ran into a mailbox when running to catch the football. They make your blood pressure drop and a smile crack across your lips without even knowing why, and immediately give you hell about your haircut, the stupid shirt you're wearing or why the blog is not up to date. Time stopped and started over again, and we didn't miss anything. They were there for a brief 6 months, and I was lucky enough to time my trip appropriately. You two definitely made some of the trickiest parts of this trip possible.

Then there's Jesson, a fellow aspiring physician, with whom I will never share a professional relationship. Since the first year of college, to the age of 26 our relationship has never, and hopefully will never mature. We're still interested in toilet humor and creeping out who ever's around, and the guy can practically finish my sentences. Even though he lives in NY, he's coming out to catch the last game of the trip on July 4 in LA.

GAME 16: TBR @ BOS

Date: Tuesday, 6/3/08
Time: 7:05PM (ET)

Time of Game: 2:54.

Attendance: 37,823.

Weather: 83° F, Wind 16mph from Left to Right, Night, No Precipitation.

Winner: BOS, 7-2
Current Home team win record: 13-3
Distance traveled: 5645.18

I hate the Red Sox. No, I'm not bitter. Sure, they gave me another home team win. Sure, I have lots of friends in Boston. Sure, the folks at Fenway are AWESOME and allowed me to get a private tour of the stadium. Let me be clear: I hate the Red Sox.

Iwamura starts us off with an improbable home run (his 4th on the season) in the first at bat to start this rollercoaster of a game. The pitching was lights out with moments of mental mistakes which usually came in the form of home runs. In the bottom of the 2nd Mike Lowell hit a 2 run blast to bring home himself and Manny setting afire a volatile home crowd. A crowd subsequently silenced by the indomitable BJ Upton who doubled in the 4th and was brought home by Carlos Pena, tying the game once again for the Rays. The seesaw continued, the Sox scoring a go-ahead run in the bottom of the 4th, and then the rays taking the lead finally in the top of the 6th with Carlos Pena once again bringing in Upton with a 2 run homer to RF. The Sox finally ended the game in the bottom of the 6th scoring 4 runs off of the tired Rays starter, Matt Garza, before the Rays, feebly trying to make up for inaction, put Grant Balfour on the mound to finish the inning. The rest was an excercise in futility for the Rays, the Red Sox know how to close a game.

I want to preface with a little background on how I came to choose this game, what could have been the most momentous game of the season-to-date, yet instead turned out to be terrible in so many ways. In January I was sitting in my living room with a hot cup of coffee, from which fingers of spectral steam reached into the sky only long enough to intertwine and finally become one before disappearing too quickly into oblivion, and my laptop, from which emanated the soft clicks and clacks of absorbed diligence. Everything was slow, everything was paced, methodical, measured yet still meandering. Clearly I was working on the baseball trip schedule, and I had finally arrived at the North East. How would I navigate the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox? How would I skirt the shoals of hype and overbearing arrogance without throwing the whole trip into dire financial turmoil?

The answer shone in an improbably fortunate coincidence of my trip and what promised to be the least desired Red Sox ticket of them all, the Tampa Bay Rays at Boston Red Sox. I bought my tickets just a couple of days after the season started, and it being Fenway, all the tickets were already sold. I had to purchase my tickets from an unofficial ticket broker site where I payed $50, a steal compared to pretty much every other Red Sox game available.

Of course, at this point in the season the ticket turned out to be pretty hot. After leaving the game in Baltimore slightly disheartened by the Red Sox, I suddenly filled my heart with the hope of seeing possibly the greatest game of the whole trip. After the baltimore game (the game I saw) Manny was sitting at 498 home runs, the Red Sox were 1/2 of a game back behind the Rays, and the tension between the two teams was as palpable as the thick humid molasses of Boston air on a June night.

With a song in my heart I hopped the famous turnpike and headed straight for NYC. I had earned myself a couple of days of R & R before heading up to Boston, waiting for the Red Sox to finish up their series with the Orioles before coming back home for the ultimate showdown at Fenway to be king of the AL East. Perhaps I should say I wasn't headed to NYC as much as I was headed to Long Island City. I have come to enjoy that place so much, its got character, cheap bars, and more character, not to mention the findable free parking.

And finish the series they did, but not before deflating the promise and hope from that game. First, Manny hit 500 only 2 games after I left Baltimore. In the news story following the game Manny mentioned how "Especially every time you'd get out of the hotel, everybody would say, 'Hey, when are you going to hit it?'" You know, I wish I had seen Manny outside of his hotel, I'd have told him to COOL OUT, to wait and do it at the biggest game of the season, designated on my calendar as TBR @ BOS on 6/3/2008. Next, the Red Sox decided to lose the last game of the 4 game set to the Orioles leaving Tampa Bay 1.5 games up on the AL East, making the outcome of the game much less momentous. Now, Boston did not even have a chance to take number one. And lastly, Tampa Bay was coming off a series sweep against the White Sox, which just made the whole affair hurt that much more.

Boston is a place where everyone has friends who are young and in transition. I'm convinced that no one lives there, only stages themselves for a liftoff to a life in a much better city. My brother went to school there and I stayed in the geeked out wearhouse where he spent part of his college days. I saw my friend Mara in Boston. She's one of the funniest people I know, and I'd like to think that means a lot (I think we all do). We acted together in Mexico which, though it may never launch me into a carreer in comedy (I was terrible), it introduced me to some of the most creative and wonderful people in my life, eg Mara. She's planning to attend medical school soon, and I hope that she channels all of that creativity and heart into patient care and spreading perspective on the whole ordeal that is medical school to her peers.

On the way up to Boston, I stopped in NYC and picked up Amy Huynh. We've known each other since high school and an improbable friendship between a New Yorker and Lubbockite has persisted through droughts of active communication lasting up to 3 years and distances of 1000s of miles. Its a true friendship and I think we'll always be there to see eachother through the good and the bad. I'm so happy that she was able to be a part of my trip, it means so much to me because this trip is all about people like Amy, and how much I'm amazed to know them. She's planning on attending Harvard Business School soon, and is most definitely going to change the world.

Tessa Gordon has a smile that lights the darkest cave of weary dispair with the luminescence of the sun, always warm, hilarious and infectiously enthusiastic about everything. Strangely enough she had spent the last year in Boston getting her masters and feeling somewhat uninspired, probably for the first time in her life. She still found the time to meet me and warm my heart with that incredible smile. The problem with Boston is that no where can contain Tessa, and New York doesnt deserve her, she's so much bigger so much more than pretty much any place. Keep your head up Tessa and keep changing lives, you do mine, every time I see you, and I cant wait for the next one.

Engineering is a cute profession where the lack of pursuits intellectual is a prerequisite to success. There is no think, only do. My brother and his friend Gautam are amazing people, they do, do and do, and never look back. The wearhouse, Cruft Laboratories, they live in is proof positive of their restless attitude for progress. Boston was a great couple of days because of them, I had a comfortable place to lay my head, and a great laid back atmosphere to spread out and relax. I always feel at home when I go to visit.

GAME 15: BOS @ BAL

Date: Friday, 5/30/08
Time: 7:05PM (ET)

Time of Game: 4:49.

Attendance: 46,199.

Weather: 83° F, Wind 10mph from Left to Right, Night, No Precipitation.

Winner: BOS, 5-2 (13th inning)
Current Home team win record: 12-3
Distance traveled: 5237.06

Comments: The freaking Red Sox do it again. I have yet to see them lose, and this one really seemed like it may have been the one. Manny gets on board due to an error in the 13th, and everything goes down hill from there. A whopping 10 strikeout performance by Josh Beckett, and the Boston relief was perfect as usual. Both teams went through 7 pitchers in this ballgame, well fought until the end by the O's. Manny sat at 499 HRs all night, but everytime he came up to bat the camera flashes from the stadium were beautiful. The Red Sox fans were obnoxious as usual.

GAME 15 IS HALF WAY! This is a momentous game, and though it ended in a home team loss, I got to see my old friends Ruth and Josh, and had a little Five Guys along the way. Made things pretty special.

Camden, or Oriole Park at Camden Yards, has always been a favorite of mine. The red brick and the view out on the Baltimore skyline, make this park a classic. To add to that, they do not allow any vendors to peddle their food/drink in the seats so as not to cloud the experience with loud cat calls and distracting transactions requiring you to pass hot dogs down to the guy at the end of the row. It was an expensive premium game however, we just missed the $4 college night tickets, and even though we paid more than double for our seats we were forced to sit amongst the unruly college crowd.

Ruth was a roommate of mine in college, and is a friend for life. I've always admired her outlook on life, cheerful and enthusiastic. She's always up for baseball and we've spent some great moments together. I have to think that the reason she's so awesome is because as her family took their obligatory cross-country road trip did they listen to country music? Rock and roll? Folk music? NO! They listened to tapes upon tapes of recorded episodes of the hit public radio live broadcast show from the fictional Lake Woebegone. Thats right: "A Prairie Home Companion." Just awesome. She's now working in the field of environmental conservancy, and there's not a more capable, and charismatic person I'd like to have protecting our earth.

Josh is currently doing his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Maryland. The guy has always been brilliant and has a great sense of humor. We played Ultimate Frisbee together in the Chicago Summer League and lived in the same residential house. Josh has also always has that "up for anything," adventurous nature that makes him party to my ridiculous ideas from time to time and we've spent time together going to crazy parts of Chicago and checking out different scenes.

These two kids are making very different things out of their life's work yet fit together well. I hope DC treats them well and that they never lose their collective excitement and enthusiasm for all things crazy and creative.

But that youthful enthusiasm and collegiate intensity can sometimes bleed into stress and disappointment. I've found that work environments in academia are particularly susceptible to this phenomenon. A student comes in with a work ethic of getting things done by deadlines, but scientific/environmental work does not always show results in the exact time frame expected, and often tasks flow onto the to do list at a faster pace than they flow off, new things with more urgency then the projects running in the background.

This uphill trudge while the ground is slowly crumbling underneath is a quicksand, one that catches the student who dives headlong into his task and attacks it with expectations of destroying the task with brute force. Smart are those who meter themselves with some amount of routine and balance. One can never conquer this work in the same way we cram for exams and hammered through problem sets at 2 in the morning. No, work is never ending, and enjoyment should come from the very particulate actions that make up the whole of the product. Only when we integrate our work into our lives will we escape burnout.

The hills are never too far. If you feel the onset of craziness, head for them, then come back with resolve and balance.

GAME 14: LAD @ NYM

Date: Thursday, 5/29/08
Time: 7:05PM (ET)

Time of Game: 3:04.

Attendance: 52,886.

Weather: 76° F, Wind 10mph out to Centerfield, Night, No Precipitation.
Winner: Mets, 8-4
Current Home team win record: 12-2
Distance traveled: 5044.67

Comments: Honestly, I missed 3-4 innings of this game just battling traffic. Manhattan sucks to drive on, and if your GPS ever diverts you through Manhattan to get to Long Island City/Queens, sell your GPS and/or throw it over a bridge. Jeff Kent and Blake DeWitt of the Dodgers tried to keep Joe Torre's new team in the game with two two-run homers, but it wasnt enough to stop the onslaught of the hitting Mets, who marked 13 hits and 8 runs with only 1 home run in the game. Joe Torre coming back to NY made it a packed house.

Tough to find the big sign on the ballpark for this one. We found it eventually, I love the pic with the field sign.

Shea Stadium has not been taken care of very well. The seats hardly even come down without stomping on them, the concrete is rough and the finish has been worn off. I think everyone, including me, will be happy when their new Citi Field opens next year, ready for history to overcome its walls and paint its insides with gooey sentimentality. Hopefully they take care of this stadium a little better. The fans were a bit rude, but they were into the game. They had a wave that went on for what seemed like 2-3 innings! It just kept going around and around the bowl that is Shea. All was exemplified by the french lady from whom I asked the order of the lineup. Surprisingly, she was able to tell me the lineup, following up with an enthusiastic, "GO METS!" Pretty funny coming through in a thick French accent.

A friend from high school, DJ, was able to make it out to the game with me. He is living in Long Island City with another friend from elementary school onwards, Sumeet. Together they both provided such a relaxing and accommodating atmosphere for me to rest and relax. I stop 3 times in New York, and its great to know that I have them to count on.

It seems like everyone I know is pursuing professional degrees at this point. What happened to people working right out of college?

More about NY when I come back for the Yankees game.

GAME 13: COL @ PHI

Date: Wednesday, 5/28/08

Time: 7:05PM ET
Time of Game: 2:48.

Attendance: 39,845.

Weather: 68° F, Wind 6mph in from Leftfield, Night, No Precipitation.
Winner: PHI, 6-1
Current home team win streak after this game: 11-2
Distance traveled: 4949.9 mi

Comments: The Phillies had an efficient game, getting six runs on six hits. Chase Utley, continuing the hot streak, and Jenkins blew a close 1-1 game open in the 5th with two home runs, earing 5 runs and ultimately a win for the 2nd place Philadelphia Phillies. Colorado's Reynolds faced a tough beginning, walking in a run in the first, but eventually settling in until a rocky fifth. Bad managing made it possible for Reynolds to give up a three run homer after walking the first two batters of the inning.

Another beautiful evening and another beautiful park. Citizen's Bank Park is a gorgeous and open, and the outfield wall is low with an unabated view of the skyline as it burns in an orange and red sunset. The liberty bell in right field rings after a home run, the Philly Phanatic boxes unsuspecting fans, and the fans are knowledgeable and rabid. Their team is going places this year, and people are showing up.

My childhood friend Arun drove me to the game and his wife, Sriranjani, was nice enough to attend with me. In fact, I stayed with Arun and his lovely wife in their downtown apartment, situated right in the heart of Philadelphia. Sri was great to go to the game with because she had played softball earlier in life, and understood the game pretty well. We bought $40 tickets behind home plate from scalpers for $20 bucks.

Scalpers are lost after the event actually begins. They make their living off of a fringe market, getting tickets from season ticket holders who cannot go to the game, and selling to the eager at market price. When the event begins the market value drops and now you have the upper hand. The guy approaches us with tickets in hand, and despite the "$40" printed on the ticket, I immediately blurt out, "$15." The scalper writhes in theatric disbelief, a fly stuck on the unjust flypaper of inevitability. He fights back with the pithy retort: "$35!" I confidently and flatly reject his plea with a very dry "$15." Then he starts to crumble, first "$30" then "$25" and eventually "$20" at which point I took him up on his offer. Lesson learned today: don't be afraid of scalpers, they're mostly harmless.

Sriranjani has the fire of an activist in her soul, and I dig it. I have often dabbled in the idea of activism. I find it refreshing and often feel the draw of it in my life. School works in some ways to diminish the raw power of activism. Too often, because of school, I write off injustice thinking that there must be some good reason in the world, that the problem is always driven by some very rational model. Academia works to promote reserved and detached thought, and its well and good, unless through detached thought we let injustice reign, waiting for things to correct themselves.

Arun and I have been friends for as long as I can remember, and the stories and jokes we share are timeless. As of late however we've been unable to see each other, and have lost touch with eachother for a good amount of time. In the meanwhile, as I got to see at his wedding, he has created strong relationships with a number of interesting and intelligent friends, one of which is named Vijay. Not to say that he's any substitute, but I'm glad he carries the same ebullient nature that I seek to maintain. Arun is a fun and sociable person and he draws others of the same ilk to his fire. I think that this was one of the more important stops on the trip, planned especially to rekindle a connection with a valued friend.

On a more sober note, I have on and off been followed news of the Chinese earthquake that ravaged the Sichuan province back on May 12, 2008. The death toll is staggering and many are without homes or shelter of any kind. On may 25th, an aftershock crashed through Qingchuan County causing even more havoc. Now the Chinese government is refusing to give tents to those that were unregistered to live in that part of the country. Madness. The whole thing just makes me cringe. Rules are being used to substitute thought and rational human interests.

GAME 12: PIT @ CIN

Date: Tuesday, 5/27/08
Time: 7:10 PM (ET)
Time of Game: 3:30.

Attendance: 17,964.

Weather: 66° F, Wind 11mph from Left to Right, Overcast, No Precipitation.
Winner: CIN, 9-6
Current home team win streak after this game: 10-2
Distance traveled: 4382.24 mi

Comments: Ken Griffey Jr. stayed at a frustrating 598 HR, Snell pitched a great game for the Pirates but was pulled an inning too late, and both teams totaled for 26 hits in this drawn out hit-fest. It was a battle for the bottom of the NL Central, and was just as exciting as could be expected from two floundering teams, neither of which has much going for them. I went to the game with Leighton's friend from B-school, Brandon.

I want to take a moment to say how thankful I am to the Reds Organization for providing me a set of free tickets. Although the game was not the greatest, its clear that the storied history of the Reds and baseball makes this club appreciate tradition and excitement about the sport.

The Great American Ballpark experience, while tainted by a terrible game, had its highlights. The park has a great view of the Ohio river, and on a nice day it would be very pretty. Our seats were on the upper deck with a great view of the field, and the fans were great, though there were not many of them. I got a Skyline "Cincinnati Chili" dog with everything, chili, onions, and cheese. The Cincinnati chili is a little different, it's runnier and sweet with either chocolate or cinnamon thrown into the mix. Don't know if I am the biggest fan, but it really was not half bad.

I caught the new Indiana Jones movie while I waited for Brandon to get off work. There were parts of pure Spielberg-ian cinematic brilliance, and then parts of National-Treasure-esque buffoon-ery. The movie was way too riddle based. It was a collection of shots that fit the same model: Indiana Jones enters room with sidekick, Indiana Jones stares at wall/ceiling/floor for a good minute while "thinking music" plays in the background, Jones suddenly knows the answer, and they go to the next place.

This formula is, sadly, the predominant one in action/adventure films today. The original Indiana Jones films, however, moved the plot forward through their fighting scenes, and along the way, through a healthy mix of comic-relief, sheer luck, and knowledge of antiquity, Indy makes his way through scores of Nazi-era Germans and backstabbing friends/mercenaries and falls onto the prized artifact, inadvertently leading the bad guys there behind him. The new one has elements of the old model that I love so much, but at the same time relied too much on the new model and special effects.

Brandon works for GE in Cincinnati, apparently the city is home to many Fortune 500 companies. Our conversation makes me realize that everything's negotiable with our generation. None of us feel that we're tied down with the career path determined by our first job, or even our second. I think there's some kind of relationship between my fear of conviction and this general phenomenon, perhaps I'm not the only one whose afraid of losing the perceived dispassionateness of being detached from real belief/faith in an idea. But as I said before, I really think we're just immature for longer before we reach maturity nowadays. I think its because in general more people are staying in school longer, and we're not giving into our gut perceptions and feelings of the world. I think there's something to be said for loyalty, and besides, you can't live an interesting life with clean hands, free from the stink of any kind of real decision. I finally think I'm coming to terms with that.