"Don't make me the weird one"

To Maryland and back.

Adam, Luz and I spent our spring break across the country in Maryland. Janet has visited AZ 4 times this year, so we figured it was our turn! Adam and I stayed at The Launching Pad, which is where much of the parte-ing takes place. Mike, Andree, Matt, and Drew were kind enough to take us in for the week. See the Starbucks picture on the wall? - We felt right at home =)

I prolly won't go over minute details from the trip. But how about some of the highlights?

Adam and I had never seen the nation's capital, so spent Sunday afternoon in DC. We visited the WWII Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial and the Korean War Memorial. We took another day trip to Annapolis, and also saw Baltimore.

Monday night we enjoyed fine dining at Mama Lucia's, one of Janet's fav's. The food was delic (pronounced: "de-lish"), but our waitress, Janine, could very well be the worst waitress of all time. She walked up to the table, opened up to her pad and asked what we wanted for dinner. At no point during the meal did she offer to get us anything to drink (thankfully the bussers brought us water). She had a ... visible attitude emanating around her. Her body language, the tone in her voice, and even the words escaping her mouth all indicated that she was ticked off. As the night progressed, things only worsened. Every request we gave her seemed to peeve her off even more. When we finally received our food, Luz's order wasn't to her satisfaction. But when we grabbed Janine to have it remade, she seemed unwilling. While we tried to convince Janine that the order wasn't correct, the manager happened to stop at our booth to check on our evening. Immediately he sensed something wasn't right, and asked about our food. We spent half a breath explaining our situation, when he reached over, grabbed the food, and went off to reorder it. Janine, the dark lady of the land, was defeated. But the night was not over yet. We still had to pay. Everyone paid with cash, except for Adam. Well it turns out that Adam accidentally gave Janine the customer receipt copy. She couldn't care less, and expressed as much, "No, it's okay. That copy will work." Adam tried to explain it as simply as possible, "I don't think you understand. The copy I gave you has an X across it. It's no good." What she did next is worthy of the Annals of Unsatisfactory Service ... she grabbed the check out of Adam's hand, turned, and mumbled so we could all hear her, "OH MY GOSH!" She hurriedly walked off while she moaned and groaned to herself. It was quite the experience. The following morning Janet gave the restaurant a call and explained our situation. We were offered a free meal for our group, though Janine, with all her poofy hair, was nearby to remind us that we knew that she knew it was us that complained about her. Here's how Janine made me feel the second time around:

Curbage - By far, the greatest story of the week involves Janet driving us to Jess' apartment. We were nearly to the apartment when we got stopped by a train. I'm thinking, eh, no big deal, we'll wait till it passes. But that is not at all what was going on in Janet's head. She decided that this would be a good idea to get some gas for her jeep. After she finished refueling, the traffic was still backed up from the train. She pulled up behind a car, also waiting to pull out. Then, suddenly, Janet vears left, drives over the curb onto the grassy knoll (to protect pedestrians, and babies that might be crawling around) and cuts in front of the car that was formerly ahead of us! She then proceeds to squeeze her way out. We are flipping out. "Jaaaneeeet! Oh my goooosh! What was that?!" Yet all the while, Janet acted like her stunt was no big deal =). After some effort of trying to convince me that going over curbs to cut off drivers ahead of you is nothing unusual, I responded to her with, "Janet, don't make me the weird one..." Aaand, the phrase stuck throughout the week. Friends, please, listen to me now. Whereever there is Christian fellowship, continue this story. Continue the statement. May it ever go beyond the borders of Maryland and Arizona =). Oh, and Janet - I still need a picture of the curb =)

I also had the priviledge of having my first SGM experience at Covenant Life. I had a great time that morning. The preaching was excellent - on Stephen's martyrdom. This *points to himself* Reformed Baptist had a grand ol' time.

During the 6 days I was in Maryland, I can honestly say that I made some friends. These are friendships that I hope become longterm. We invaded their lives, and they went out of their way to make us feel welcome. Janet, especially put forth a great deal of effort to ensure that we had a blast. And oh, we did.

Oh! Oh! I almost forgot that I was introduced to "Covenant Life Bucks" - the Starbucks that everyone at Covenant Life hangs out at. It felt like my "3rd place" back home. The coffee tasted the same. Mmhmm. Good times, great oldies.

Been back now five days, and I miss Maryland. I cannot wait to hang out with ya'll again.

Janet: thanks for a good time.

The Guys: you r0x0rz.

Everyone else: w00t.

Pics/vids are posted on my site.

This is Case of Base, signing off.