The Upstate Life

Monday, February 14, 2005

Not Our Rival, Eh? Edition

Last week went by incredibly slow for some reason, maybe due to the fact I was averaging 6 hours of sleep a night or that spring weather cocktease we endured earlier in the week. Whatever the case may have been, TUL was looking forward to having at least one night to sleep in. After work, my friend L from the Upstate who now resides in the Eastern Shore was in the neighborhood and needed to go to the Apple Store to pick out a new laptop since her '99 desktop PC wasn't cutting it anymore. She went with the 14" iBook, which along with the teacher discount was overall, a pretty affordable deal. The Upstate Life was going to go to a house party out near White Flint that evening with some friends from NY, but since I was already drained from a longass week, I ended up staying in and configuring L's laptop most of the night. Yes I know, nerd alert indeed.

Saturday, in case you didn't already know, was one of the most anticipated college basketball matchups The Upstate Life has been waiting for since Maryland kicked off this season's Midnight Madness. It was Terps vs. Duke, except this time, however, in the friendly confines (at least for MD) of the Comcast Center. TUL had a bunch of his Maryland alumni friends over for the game before going out to celebrate Futter's birthday later that night. I can honestly tell you that this was without a doubt one of the best college basketball games TUL has ever witnessed, right up there alongside with the Terps/UConn Elite 8 classic from the 2002 NCAA Tournament at Syracuse I was so fortunate to have attended. Gilchrist, who was just an assist shy from posting a triple double, played with the ferocity and determination that we really haven't seen since last year's ACC Tournament. Frankly, every Terp on that squad who accumulated minutes Saturday night played very well, Ebekwe especially due to his broken rib and all. Factor that in with Duke's lack of bench and we were able to come out on top with the 99-92 overtime win. Hands down game of the year thus far. Is it March yet?

After the game, we taxied over to Adams Morgan for the night. TUL knew some people in Felix that were having a birthday party for our friend Jess, but we decided to go elsewhere since one of our friends who had tennis shoes on and was denied admittance. Weak. First off, it was a private party so who effing cares what shoes you're wearing. Second, when I'm in a crowded bar I really don't tend to look down at what footwear individuals are wearing. Unless it's Uggs of course, which I'll probably gawk at in disgust the entire time. We wound up going to Crush the majority of the evening, then some other bar I can't recall the name of before getting the obligatory Pizza Mart jumbo slice and taking a cab back to Bethesda. According to Futter, I was apparently complaining in the taxi about how good the pizza was yet how much heartburn I would probably endure the following morning. I have to admit, TUL is pretty impressed with his foresight even at inebriated times. Low and behold, I woke up the next day with a case of ridiculous heartburn.

Sunday I went out and finally got myself a decent TV unit that my former roommate had bought from Ikea that he no longer used anymore. It looks a lot better than the temporary arrangement of two TV carts placed next to each other to house all the components we currently have. Later that night, I went over to R's place to watch Arrested Development and some of the Grammy's. Last night's AD was probably one of the worst episodes I've seen, especially since a bad episode of AD is a very rare occasion. Martin Short's character was a little too over the top for TUL and just wasn't that funny overall. I was however glad to see Green Day walk away with at least one Grammy last night, but Maroon 5 scoring Best New Artist over Franz Ferdinand was a bit of a letdown.

The Upstate Life closes today's edition of the Wrapup with an image of what has been one of the more creative Anti-Duke signs he has seen in awhile. Sure you can sport the F*ck Duke shirts and all, but it takes a real stroke of genius to point out how hideous Shelden Williams really is with the use of a poster board. So best: