As I type this, I'm on my way back from Hartford (Aircards are nice). I usually just book a ticket on Amtrak - one train to New Haven, and then transfer over for a train to Hartford. It is not a particularly easy trip, made even worse on the way back because you have to wait a friggin' HALF HOUR for that transfer (which you don't have to wait for on the way up).

Tonight I came up with a new plan. One that frequently commuters on this trek probably already know. I saw the Metro North sitting across the track. That actually puts me in Grand Central, which is much closer to my apartment than Penn Station (which is where the Amtrak gets in). So I rushed to the station, bought a Metro North ticket, and hopped on the train. I'm now in a less comfortable train that cost me $14.00 to get on. It left 15 minutes before the Amtrak.

I just checked the schedule and it gets into NYC 3 minutes before my original train.

Still, I think I made the right call. It arrives in Grand Central, so that really saves me like 15-20 minutes. And it also saves me a subway or cab ride from Penn. Assuming it is just a subway ride, is 15 minutes of my life worth $12.00? I think so. Hell, clients pay much more than that on a daily basis.

Every now and then I have to go up to Hartford, Connecticut for work. I put the state in there in case you didn't know what state it is located in.

My firm has three offices - NY, DC, and Hartford. One of them doesn't quite fit in that group. Which is it? Its quite the trivia question.

So on these days I get to wake up mad early and catch a 6:55 AM train out of Penn Station. Then I transfer at New Haven, and by 9:30 I'm walking out of the train station in Hartford. At least our office is within walking distance of the station. Of course, from my limited interaction with this city, everything is within walking distance. This place is not that big and not that crowded.

I guess I don't visit other cities that often, so NYC has a way of skewing my expectations.

I am used to hordes of people in my way as I'm walking to work. I typically engage in the walking equivalent of tailgating - its the only way that tourists and other slow-walkers will learn. Well, short of actually running into them. That crosses the line. The line of AWESOME. I'm not there yet, but maybe in another year or two I will be.

I'm staying in a Hilton. It is probably the most expensive cheap hotel I have ever stayed at. The rate is not cheap, but there is no real restaurant (it was like a coffee shop, I had meatloaf and a glass of wine and it set me back like 25 bucks), and the hot water stopped working in the middle of my shower.

What did I have for lunch? There is a food court that is attached to our building. I recognized basically zero of the eateries. Rarely a good sign. Moe's Southwest Grill? Random Asian place? Maybe Mr. Lee's Magic Dumpling Cart will expand into this food court once it establishes domination over the Third Avenue food cart scene. I settled on "Mooyah", which is a Five Guys knock off. When I ordered a burger, the cashier yelled back to the cooks "Mooyah!" It was actually pretty tasty and surpassed expectations.

The only restaurant I recognized in that food court? A Dunkin Donuts. They are EVERYWHERE in Hartford. I think there is one in my bathroom.

This is not to be a total knock on Hartford - it has its upsides. For one, its not as crowded as NYC. Second, its cheaper. Third, there have been zero instances (in any of my trips) where I smell anything as bad as what I smell at least once a week in NYC. But this is really an adjustment. Its like I'm in another country over here.

Another season of bowling completed. Another season of crushing disappointment.

We won the semifinal match against High Rollers pretty handily. I started off game 1 with a hambone (4 strikes) and although I had some issues finding the headpin at the end of that game, I eeked out enough spares to get a 201. New addition to the team Storm had a season high 150 to go with that, Kim had a 129, and we built up a decent lead that we only increased as game 2 went on. We won the match by 100 or so.

In the finals we had to face this team that got a pretty big handicap (35 per game). They were also a team that nobody in the league liked due to general douchebaginess and some very "suspicious" moves in their bowling rotation. In their semifinal match (on the lane next to ours) they got into some heated arguments with Hebrew Hammers. It was safe to say that everyone was rooting for us to win, and it continued like that for the rest of the night. Any time anyone did anything good on our team, there were approximately 10 high fives that had to be given to our own team, High Rollers, and Hebrew Hammers.

Game 1 of the finals started with us bowling like assholes. Open after open after open. Before we knew it, we were down 100 pins or so going into the 8th frame. We looked like we had no hope. But we made a little progress, and we were down 80 or so with only me to go for either team. I had a strike in the 9th. I knew I needed something big to give us any realistic chance in game 2.

First shot in the tenth: Strike. I was pumped.

Second shot in the tenth: STRIKE. I was really really pumped.

Third shot in the tenth: Eight. Good enough, and we were down 40 or so going into the second game, but with some momentum.

Their lead automatically jumped to 75 when their handicap for that game kicked in.

Regardless we fought and kept the pressure on. Well, everyone did except for me. I started game 2 with a HORRENDOUS strike open open open. Yeah, three open frames in a row out of your best bowler when you're trying to rally does not help things. But the opposing side had started to crumble. By the fourth frame, we had erased that game's handicap. And by the eighth frame, we actually had taken a small lead. We had clawed all the way back.

Yada yada yada, we sort of choked, the other team sort of stepped up and did some shady things with their bowling rotation, and we were the first losers yet again.

We were all pretty dismayed. The other teams then consoled us and we all expressed our disdain for the "champions" of our league. We drowned our sorrows in cheesesteaks and PBRs at Shorty's.

There's always next season.

Tonight, Irritable Bowl Syndrome once again goes for a championship.

The first season we didn't make the playoffs.

The second season we made it to the playoffs but lost in the first round.

The third season we made it to the championship, but lost by a heartbreaking 18 pins or so.

The fourth season we made it to the playoffs and got absolutely annihilated by a team in the first round. We play that team again tonight, in the first round.

This time, however, there are a couple key differences:

1) We are the number one seed in the playoffs, although that is more of a mental thing than any substantive advantage

2) We are using theme music for each of us! So when we go up to bowl the first time, we'll have a song that is playing on Kim's ipod / Hello Kitty speaker contraption. It will be just like a baseball player coming to the plate (or a WWE wrestler entering the arena).

What are our songs?

Kim - S&M by Rihanna
Sraddha - On the Floor by Jennifer Lopez feat. Pitbull
Storm - Shipping up to Boston by Dropkick Murphys
Harmit - Sympathy for the Devil by The Rolling Stones
Evan - I Came to Play by Downstait (The Miz WWE theme version)

Of course, I developed a sinus infection over the weekend, so I already have my excuse for poor bowling ready to go.

The Phillies lost last night in one of the worst and most depressing innings I've ever seen out of them. And while it may not show up in the box score that a certain large first baseman was at fault, I attribute the blame 95% to him.

Some commentators have noted that Ryan Howard's defense is much better than in previous years. After all, he has zero errors! But if you know baseball at all, you know errors are a terrible gauge of how good a fielder is. For example, a slow and aging Derek Jeter doesn't get to a ball in the hole. It goes as a single for the batter. It doesn't matter that other shortstops would get the ball in a fairly routine manner.

Raul Ibanez gets to absolutely nothing in left field. He has one error. He is also the worst everyday defensive player in baseball.

Anyway, back to that fateful top of the 11th. The inning started off with a slow roller to first base. Howard lumbered over to it while Herndon covered first. Howard caught the ball and . . . did nothing. He apparently couldn't get the ball out of his glove. It was officially scored as a single for Tyler Colvin. In reality, it should have been an error on Howard.

So the inning continued and more bad things happened. There was a passed ball on Ruiz that was for some reason called a wild pitch. But Herndon rallied and got to two outs, man on second. A chopper was hit to Polanco, he caught it and threw it to first.

It was not a good throw. It was right on line but it bounced about 10 feet in front of Howard. Still, it bounced in a predictable way right into Howard's mid-section. Unfortunately, Howard's glove was not there. It bounced off Howard's stomach and the winning run scored. It was officially scored as an error on Polanco. In reality almost every other first baseman in baseball makes that routine play.

I know, anecdotal evidence. Here is some more. I was watching a game and there was a runner on first. A grounder was hit to Howard. The typical thing would be for a first baseman to throw to second to get the force. Its not an easy throw by any means, as you have the runner to contend with. Howard apparently noted this and instead elected to step on first. No risk of error. But now there is a runner in scoring position. And whoever was on the mound that day probably wondered why. The announcers noted that Howard "does not like to throw."

Some stupid sports talk radio show I was listening to last weekend was talking about trading Ryan Howard. The caller and the host were talking about how crazy it was, as over the last 6 years (combined) he leads the league in HRs and RBIs. What was missing from that debate were two issues.

First, the bulk of those numbers come from 2006-08, where he averaged like 50 homers and an OBP of around .380. It is not 2006-08 anymore. Last year he hit 31 homers and had an OBP of .350.

Second, and more importantly, who on earth would take him? We gave him a $25 million a year extension that hasn't even kicked in yet. That goes for FIVE more years!!!! As a point of reference, Adrian Gonzalez was recently signed by the Red Sox for less money per year. He is also a younger, a better hitter, and a better fielder than Howard.

Sigh. Just thinking about that contract depresses me.

I still remember watching the Allen Iverson retirement story on ESPN. The gist of it was how no NBA team wanted Iverson, so he was retiring. I think Steven A. Smith on Sportscenter (or maybe Wilbon on PTI) was talking about it, then somehow concluded that "Iverson was leaving on his own terms." Which is an amazing analysis if you understand (1) english; and (2) that words have meaning.

Anyway, Iverson had an ill-fated attempt to play basketball in Turkey, and now is trying to come back to the NBA again. Noone wanted him 1 year ago. He couldn't even ball in Turkey. So I guess some team will want him now? Highly dubious.

Don't do it Sixers...

A great tragedy was averted tonight.

I aM mE won Season 6 of America's Best Dance Crew over Iconic Boyz.

Some background - the one show that Kim has successfully got me into is America's Best Dance Crew (ABDC). It started with seeing the Jaberwockeez and how awesome they are. They actually have their own show now in Las Vegas. And with the exception of "We Are Heroes", an all female group that won Season 4 because (my own belief) they are an all female group, every champion from past seasons has been pretty awesome and deserving of the crown.

I've slowly developed a somewhat limited knowledge of "tutting," "crunking," and all the other styles out there. I've also developed a somewhat limited ability to identify a dance crew that sucks. And holy cow, did Iconic Boyz completely suck.

So how did they get to the finals? Well they are all pre-pubescent teens from NJ. So every week they got kid-glove treatment from the judges (except one week where D-Trix said they sucked, which is notable because judges on ABDC rarely say anything negative about a crew), and a ton of votes from America due to their "cuteness." Never mind that saying their names in the same breath as Super Cr3w or Quest Crew should be punishable by a slap.

As this season progressed, Iconic Boyz never faced elimination due to getting enough votes to avoid being in the bottom two. I became more and more angered at the possibility that they could win. Kim and I agreed that the judges would never let it happen. But since Iconic Boyz always got a ton of votes, they never faced elimination. They of course made it to the finals, facing off against our favorite group, I aM mE.

Take a look. Here is probably I aM mE's best performance of the season. And here is... well I don't know what Iconic Boyz' best performance was. But this is fairly indicative of what they do. Basic choriography, no awesome tricks, and a funny fat kid doing stuff.

Kim and I vowed to not watch this show anymore if they won Season 6. But the vote was supposedly the only factor in determining who would win. Would the show let it happen? I mean, they surely had the support of the voters throughout the season - why would it change now?

Well, either through some vote rigging or America finally figuring out that you can't have a group of 11 year old male cheerleaders be America's Best Dance Crew, I aM mE won. Phew. Order has been restored in society.

I've actually started the practice of reading a book before I go to bed (apparently, I don't do enough reading at work). My first completed book? Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain.

I've always liked watching No Reservations on the Travel Channel. For those of you who have never seen it, the premise is simple enough. Anthony Bourdain goes to lots of different countries (or even just cities in the US) and does lots of different things, most of which involve eating. He doesn't seem to like most of the other famous chefs out there like say Rachel Ray or Emeril Lagasse, although as a byproduct of his book, he became a famous chef.

Anwyay, his show is a bit more "real" than traditional food focused show. The show is probably half culture / half food, although of course they are related in most instances. There also is a ton of variety in the food he gets. He may be getting pho from a street cart in Vietnam, or eating food prepared by one of the greatest chefs in the world. In the Rome episode, he actually started off at a restaurant that we ate at three times in a row on our honeymoon. He wouldn't name the restaurant for fear of it becoming overrun with tourists, but that has happened anyway.

The book itself is a very interesting read. It chronicles his assent from random kitchens in the Northeast to the Culinary Institute of America to numerous different restaurants in NYC. All the while he is dealing with drug addiction problems and the trials of working in a kitchen full of difficult personalities, which is the default. This is really the eye opening thing about the book - a glimpse of how kitchens operate and the amount of work that goes into putting that roasted chicken with garlic mashed potatoes on your plate. He describes, among other things, why ordering seafood on particular days is a risky proposition, and why trying to become a chef in the first place is a very tough path to take.

Before reading this book, I would sometimes think: "It would be pretty neat to be a chef. Maybe when I get fired from my job I'll enroll in some form of chef school (despite my aversion to fish)." After reading this I don't think that anymore. But while the book killed that thought, it has made me appreciate much more the amount of skill and work that goes into what ends up in my belly.