THE INTERREGNUM

THE INTERREGNUM

Day 3

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Play day is here.  This is the day in between the semi-finals and finals in which nothing specific is scheduled, but all teams’ fans are out either celebrating yesterday’s victory or trying to drown their sorrows.  Last year’s play day was a ton of fun, as it even found us at Banker’s Fieldhouse watching the Pacers host the Heat for Paul George’s return to action from injury.  We are ruling out going to the Thunder-Rockets game, but everything else is on the table.

08:03 – Pepster awakens.

08:52 – Corey awakens.

09:32 – Sinickal awakens.

09:48 – Tony awakens, doesn’t see Doug Christie (Corey), asks Sinickal, “Did you run him off?”

11:02 – After stirring, writing Day 2’s entry and showering, we all remember that it is Opening Day for baseball.  Sinickal asks Doug Christie, “Do you have a Mets jersey you want to wear?”

11:05 – Leave for brunch.

11:11-11:14 – Try to navigate part of Main Street looking for Dunkin Donuts as Sinickal has not had any coffee this entire trip – which in itself is a miracle.  There is some festival that has literally closed every street around the Dunkin Donuts.  We cannot get there.  We try to console Sinickal telling him that they will likely have coffee at the brunch place.

11:23 – We arrive at Rainbow Lodge to meet Pam and Whitney.  We are told that this is “the place” to go if there is an important date, prom, event, or anything. Beautiful looking establishment (lots of wood – it really looks like a lodge).  We hope the food lives up to the hype.

11:26 – Escorted to our table with a stranger already sitting down (not Pam or Whitney).  Turns out her name is Andrea, she is loud, brash and exactly our kind of person.  Pam and Whitney show up after introductions.

11:42 – Sinickal explains the Doug Christie situation to the ladies, with a little less emphasis on the “North Carolina” part of the shirt and more emphasis on the “powder blue” part of the story.  Andrea asks Dough Christie “if his woman’s shirt had darts”.

11:45 – Discussing our brunch entrees and everyone is discussing lunch items.  Sinickal asks if anyone was going to have brunch.  Tony asks, “They have brunch?”  Sinickal explains to him that brunch is on the left side of the menu.  When Tony replies, “I thought that was drinks”, Andrea immediately stated, “I will take the short ribs, shaken, not stirred!”

11:47 –An Earth, Wind and Fire song comes over the speakers, to which Pepster – as he is wont to do – explains to anyone listening that “This is the greatest band of all time and I will fight anyone that says otherwise”.  Sinickal says that Doug Christie’s favorite band is Milli Vanilli.  [Ed. Note – RIP Maurice White]

12:00 – We just remember a story from yesterday, so I will insert it here.  At Dean’s, some girl just clears some space at a really crowded bar so that she can dance and sing – loudly mind you – Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance with Somebody, and notices Doug Christie – who has been frozen out from sitting on the chairs and couches so he remains standing – and tries to get him to dance with her.  Doug Christie refuses.

12:40 – Andrea, an alumna from Texas A & M, and Tony, an alumnus from the University of Texas, bond over their mutual hatred of the University of Oklahoma. Andrea says, in an attempt to dishonor and humiliate Oklahoma, “The only thing in Oklahoma is steers and queers. Wait – I like both of those things”.  Never mind.

12:54 – As we are finishing up with brunch, Andrea asks Pam and Whitney, “Where is the litterbox?”

13:00 – We leave the table and Pam takes us to the bar … TO LOOK AT THE BAR.  Apparently it was one piece of wood carved to look like a river with trout flowing through the middle of the bar.  Sinickal orders everyone a round of mimosas and makes Pam pay for it for assuming that all we would want to do is look at the bar.  (Not too much of a punishment, for brunch mimosas are only $2 apiece).

As an aside, the Rainbow Lodge served really, and I mean really, great brunch.  Since it has a hunting motif, the menu went along with the theme.  Instead of chicken and waffles, they served quail and praline waffles.  Instead of chicken fried steak, they served chicken friend venison.  All really delicious!!!  And much cheaper than we all thought going into it.  We all highly recommend it if you are in Houston.

13:08 – We take our mimosas outside to the deck, which has a few tables, but mostly is a deck next to a small babbling brook which is part of the Houston bayou system.  Tony knocks Sinickal’s entire mimosa off the ledge into the water.

13:32 – The party moves for a bit to Andrea’s.

13:33 – We walk in and her counter just has bowls upon bowls of Easter candy.  Andrea tells us that she doesn’t even eat most of the candy, but they were all on sale this week!

14:11 – Everybody’s Working for the Weekend comes on from Andrea’s playlist.  Somebody asks if it was a band, Pam and Pepster simultaneously state, “No, it’s Loverboy”.  Pepster then continues, “I mean, I have no idea who it was”.

14:12 – Loverboy conversation turns to the 1980’s movie Loverboy, starring Patrick Dempsey.  Pam wanders off into dreamland about “McDreamy/Steamy, whatever”.

14:17 – Pam just starts laughing out of nowhere.  Tells us that “she is still laughing at Tony spilling Sinickal’s mimosa."

14:20 – Pam starts talking about breast discomfort.  Sinickal retorts that he, “Has never found breasts discomfortable”.

14:29 – Pam and Whitney telling a story about Pam’s nephew opening a wine bottle.  It turns out the bottle was a twist-off, and we ask if he tried to use a wine key or a corkscrew.  While saying “No”, Whitney condescendingly mentions “Not far from that, though”.

14:54 – Pam tries to convince Andrea to join her gym so that Pam “wouldn’t be the oldest there”.

14:57 – This reminds Andrea of a recent story of attending church, and greeting the pastor in the reception line after services.  After exchanging pleasantries about the service, the pastor remarks that it was good to see her “silver hair” in church.  Andrea thought “It’s blonde Mother Fucker.”  We aren’t exactly sure if she just thought it, or may have actually said it.

15:07 – We end up discussing that Abby Wambach was arrested for DUI, and are amazed that rich, famous people don’t just Uber or hire a driver.  They can even just pay in “small, unmarked bills”.  We decide that everything in life should be paid in “small, unmarked bills”.  Pepster decides that this could be his fantasy football team name.  Sinickal relays a story from Sammy Davis, Jr. about a time when someone asked Sammy if he had change for a $20.  Sammy told that person “A twenty is change”.

15:23 – Pam returns to talking about breasts and breast discomfort.  Pam says she has discomfort because she has a shelf.  Tony  remarked that she “doesn’t have a shelf, she has a bookcase”.

15:36 – Doug Christie, from the Rhode Island islands, and Tony, from Providence, get into a heated discussion over Providence.  Doug Christie angers Tony by saying, “There is no reason to go to Providence”.  Tony asks Doug Christie, “Have you ever been stabbed?”  Doug Christie answers, “Only once, in Providence.”

15:41 – Andrea, who had been missing from the outdoor patio discussion for what seems like a long time, returns with pink shots for everyone.  When asked what they were, she responds, “I don’t know.  Just an AAA concoction.”  [Editor’s Note – AAA are her initials].

15:41:30 – Shots were delicious.

15:57 – Pam again returns the topic to her breasts.  You don’t normally hear the term “circumferential” in conversation.  We did.

15:58 – Pam tells us that she tried to weigh her breasts one time.

16:31 – After a trip back to the house to freshen up, we walk down to Discovery Park for concerts, activity and maybe some merchandise.  Run into the landlord on our walk and he tells us that it took him 1 ½ hours in line to get into Discovery Park.  Looks like we will not be going into Discovery Park.  Oh well, we can probably hear Flo-Rida and Pitbull from our wanderings downtown.

16:44 – By Minute Maid Stadium [Editor’s Note – the Astros ballpark], we see an establishment called Home Plate.  Feels like a good quick place for a refreshment before we continue our walk – even though we are mostly there. We hear the bartender yell “Last Call”, as a waitress tells us they are closing because they have a private party at 7.  We say, OK, we will just have one drink.  The waitress continues, “But we have to have everyone out of here by 5.”  Again, we say OK, no problem, and try to walk to the bar.  The waitress is more definitive this time.  “We are closed, you cannot have a drink”.  We leave, and begin to hope that the new restaurant that is under construction next door takes all of their business.

16:54 – Sinickal reminds us that he is angry about what just happened.

16:55 – Sinickal is now even angrier.

16:54 – We see the line to get into Discovery Park, and it snakes around about 7 city blocks.  We are definitely not going into Discovery Park tonight.

17:03 – We pop into a couple of the team hotels to look at the merchandise.  The merchandise place at the Four Seasons is horrible.

17:13 – Pop into Tejas Grill and Sports Bar.  We spy a merchandise store just down the interior hall.  Doug Christie goes to check it out.

17:41 – We pay our tab, Doug Christie has yet to return.

17:44 – We head into the merchandise store, and find Doug Christie.  (The store is not that big).  The lady working in the store tells us how much Doug Christie obviously adores Miss North Carolina (not her official title), as he has been texting her pictures of different items to possibly purchase for her.  Sinickal explains the entire situation to her and the lady responds, “He’s not getting any?”

17:47 – Another guy that works in the merchandise store mentions that Doug Christie, “Pays her rent too”.  [Editor’s Note – he doesn’t.  We think.]

18:02 – Given the logistical problems we have been experiencing with food, drink and merchandise lately – and by "we", we mean the City of Houston – Sinickal decides that his “Anger for Houston is rivaling his anger for [Doug Christie]”.

18:19 – Pop into Southern Hospitality for dinner.  It is first-come, first-served for tables, so we sit at an empty table that still needs to be bussed.  After waiting for a couple of minutes the waitress comes over, apologizes, and cleans the table.  She then tells us that “We are kinda busy, right now”.  Sinickal’s cynical response of “Yeah, kind of a big event going on around the city” falls on deaf ears as the waitress explains that they are out of “chips, tortillas, pork, some fish and 4 of their 10 draft beers”, and, that even if she rings in something else they might be out of that too.  We do not order.

18:25 – Enter Bovine and Barley for dinner.

18:26 – Still talking about Southern Hospitality (and Houston in general), “We don’t need to staff up for an event.  We are the 4^th largest city in the country, why would we need to staff up?”  Yes, Sinickal is bitter.

20:46 – After heading home to charge our batteries and change clothes, we are back in Uber and heading to a previously unexplored (by us) part of downtown.  Have we mentioned that we love Uber?

20:51 – Enter Dirt Bar.  Decent crowd, good service, and definitely a unique atmosphere.  The evening is looking up.

20:57 – While in Dirt Bar, Sinickal does some research on MidTown.  Tony asks, “What did you find, Houston sucks?”

21:41 – Lady pushes up to the bar next to us to order a drink.  Apologizes to us (for no reason, really) for being “aggressive”.  Then she apologizes for using a three syllable word in the bar.  Tony drops the term “elocution” but nobody is fazed because he already used it yesterday.  Pepster thinks that since we are in Texas “elocution” should be pronounced “electrocution”.

21:49 – We see that Bartolo Colon enters the Mets game from the bullpen.  He is supposed to have dropped 30 pounds.  Sinickal believes that “It just dropped from his stomach to his ass”.  [Editor’s Note – for some strange reason this is the second consecutive year Bartolo Colon has made an entry during the Final Four.]

21:51 – Discussing the overall unattractiveness of Houston residents and Pepster states, “No wonder Houston rappers are so angry”.

22:03 – Head into the Reserve, continue the mocking of Doug Christie.  Sinickal asks Doug if he was going to “Let her buy you a beeper”.

22:12 – Tony goes through a sneezing fit.  “I think I am allergic to Houston”.

22:20 – Lawyered.

22:38 – We head into Lucky Strike, the bar portion.  Not too many people in here, but easy to get a beer and good service.

22:40 – After Sinickal, Pepster and Tony all order, bartender asks Doug Christie, “Do you want a beer or are you here to sightsee?”

22:46 – The DJ in Lucky Strike is Ms. XClusive.  Let’s just say that D’Angelo Russell [Matt Hopps] would have loved her spinning.

24:12 – Walking toward EADO, and we pass a family of about 8.  One of the mother’s in the group yells out, “Hey, are you guys coaches?”.   Sinickal and Pepster immediately reply, “Yes”.

23:18 – Enter Hearsay on the Green.

23:24 – After ordering a round, we all do a little toast.  Sinickal actually toasts Doug Christie.

23:30 – After Tony points out to Sinickal that he did in fact toast Doug Christie, Sinickal wants it noted that it was completely by accident!

00:02 – Back in EADO and we enter Neil’s Bahr.  A great bar name for nerds like us, especially with secondary and tertiary characters from The Simpsons painted on the outside wall.  We walk in and one television is dedicated to showing The Simpsons and a Duff Beer sign is on the wall.  They have comic book stands, Nintendo games on televisions and ping-pong.  Basically it was a college common room.  We love it.  After ordering a hot sausage from the grill outside, Pepster thinks this is one of his top 10 favorite bars in the country.

00:50 – Little Woodrow’s.  Doug Christie notes that it looks like a pretty good place.  We let him know that if he had arrived on Friday like a normal person he would have already known that.

01:22 – Head back to Lucky’s for our nightcap.  We see a large table of about 8 or 9 people.  Immediately we notice that something looks off as a girl who could only be a young Russian sex slave is hanging around with the rest of the guys who all look about 35.  After feeling sorry for her, we determine that one of the guy’s is her boyfriend and that she isn’t in any real danger.  Situation still looked weird.  [Editor's Note:  We don't actually think she was a young Russian sex slave, but things did look a little uncomfortable].

01:59 – Back at the townhouse for the night.