2005.07.03 Sunday - Phillies vs Braves              [ Link to Pictures ]

So each day, I woke up early in the morning to move the car and make sure to put money in the meter before any of my roomies woke up or could wake up. Oh man it was a pain in the butt, but a lot better than paying $24 / day. And there was a purpose for this actually. Because when I woke up on Sunday to make sure that I didn't have to put money in the meter, I ran into Woo & Francine who had stayed in the city. They were on their way to church. I was half dressed so I told them I'd meet them there. I showered, dressed up, and walked over to church. I sat in the back of sanctuary and the message was awesome. If you're ever in Philly and looking for a church to attend in downtown Philly, I recommend The Tenth Presbyterian Church. The sermon was given by Dr. Philip G. Ryken and was titled "The Best Seat in the House."

The passage he preached on was Luke 14:1-11 "But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place so that when your host comes he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you..."

Let me take a minute and explain the significance of the message. Before coming to the wedding, a few of us were fairly upset with Woo. He gave us little direction and expected us to just know what to do. He was also grumpy and bitchy about things. So, if he didn't tell us what he wanted, how were we to know what to do, what he expected, what he wanted? We wouldn't. Yet he'd be upset with us and expect us to do certain things... Obviously it's not all his fault, but what the heck, let's just blame him anyways. So, the point of the message was not to take the best seat in the house. To honor those that should be honoring and to take your humble place below. In this, if you deserve the recognition, you will receive it. What it meant to me was to shut up and be humble. Not to grumble under my breath and try to help out graciously. I was helping out, but not graciously and definitely not humbly. Being a close friend's of Woo's I expected some things. I shouldn't have. I should have been more humble and more helpful. This is the job of the servant. And listening to that sermon and the way he preached it was just another reminder of this.

So... enough with the preaching as Woo would say...

We hit up some Cheesesteak's at Pat's King of Steaks for lunch. But to be honest, the cheesesteaks were full of meat, but NO flavor. They weren't that great and the place is nothing more than a tourist stop. The hole-in-the-wall that we hit up on Friday was much better. Flavorful and delicious. So, anyways, after lunch, we said our good-byes to Francine and Woo and went back to the hotel to chill until the Philly ball game.

Phillies, what can I say, they suck. SUCK. 3-0 lead. Blow it and end up losing. Well, the stadium was awesome and the people we sat next to were awesome.

Let me tell you a short story about Mike. So, you know during certain parts of the ballgame, they throw t-shirts up in the crowd. Well, we were seated on the third level up. The first t-shirt the mascot launches lands right in his hands. He juggles the shirt for a solid 5 seconds. Then drops it into the row below us. The moron. BUTTERFINGER's MIKE. You dropped the easiest catch ever. So, to remember the moment, I asked the people who got the shirt if we could borrow it to take a picture. They were oh-so-kind to let us and I snapped this shot of him. Muahahahaha.

But yeah...after the game, getting home was interesting. With 6 of us squeezing into a Mazda 6. I drove so I lucked out and didn't have to sit in the back. Instead, James, Jae, Kevin, and Bobos had to. We also made Bobos put his head down while we were driving. We ended up just dropping off Mike, Jae, and Kevin at the Hilton while James, Bobos, and myself headed back to the Raddison. The three of us were not tired at all so we wanted to find some beer to chill and relax with. But, to our big surprise, there were no drinks anywhere. We'd have to go to a bar and beg them to sell us a 6-pack. I even stopped a policeman to ask him. Sigh.

After stopping at a few places, this one bar let us buy some beers from them. But I wanted some food since I hadn't eaten a lot at the ballpark. So, we went across the street to be harassed by some jerk who said "You can't eat the food here if you got it to go." Well sir, we were putting ketchup and tabasco sauce on the food like I explained. Dumbass. Don't make assumptions, ask first. Sheesh.

So yeah...we gorged then fell asleep.