a weekend in a new city

I've spent one full week on the job and am drawing a close on my first real weekend out here in the Baltimore area. I experienced a couple new sections of town, enjoyed the perks of working for an NFL team and had some time left over to relax.

On Friday evening, I went out to Red Brick Station on Friday night with a fellow CU grad. It's always good to know there are familiar faces when you're in unfamiliar territory. The microbrews were pretty great, too, particularly their IPA.

The rest of the weekend brought temperatures in the 90s and super-high humidity. That was the setting for Saturday's company-wide family picnic, held on our field at M&T Bank Stadium in downtown Baltimore. One of the items on the menu was fresh Maryland crabs. It's been awhile since I ate seafood that wasn't fresh fish from the Great Lakes.

At any rate, the event was a good chance to spend some time getting to know coworkers a little better outside of a work context. After the picnic, a few of us hopped over to the Federal Hill area of Baltimore and spent the rest of the evening checking out some of the fine establishments around there.

I followed that up with a classically lazy Sunday, watching a movie and some sports while also reading a healthy chunk of my current selection, The Kite Runner. And yes, I realize that book had its heyday of popularity a year or two ago, but I generally wait to read such widespread smash hits. I don't know why; that's just how I do it.

As for my viewing selections, I started with the men's final of the French Open in which Rafael Nadal captured the title for a record-tying fourth consecutive time. Every time I watch Nadal, he just looks more and more dominant. Will he finally break through and take Wimbledon, too?

I followed that up with some Euro 2008 soccer, starting with Croatia's 1-0 win over host Austria and capped by Germany's 2-0 victory over Poland. Needless to say, I am pulling for Germany to win the tournament.

The evening was topped off with my first viewing of No Country for Old Men. (I guess I was keeping with the theme of experiencing widely-acclaimed media well after initial declarations of greatness.) At any rate, I thought it was cinematically stunning, making me wish I had seen it on the big screen. The story was incredibly well-told with sparse dialogue that wasted hardly a word. All of the acting was superb, but Javier Bardiem, in my opinion, stole the show with his portrayal of villain Anton Chigurh.

And so closes the weekend, as another Monday morning is just around the corner.