Comedy Night

Had a great time at Greg Alexander's Comedy Night. This was a few weeks back, but it was quite an adventure.

Greg Alexander was producing a comedy show to be recorded at Center Stage in Baltimore. One of the comics was the wife of Christopher's assistant basketball coach, so we were happy to go. Turns out plenty of people went to the show, although only two parties were white, the two of us and another foursome. We felt a little out of place.

So we entered the auditorium and carefully found a place on an aisle where we could make an exit, if things got a little uncomfortable. We tried to fit in, tried not to stick out, tried not to be noticed. And things went well. Then Mr. Alexander looked up at the guy behind me and asked how he was enjoying the show. So I kind of rolled my head around a little to hear his answer. Only he wasn't asking the guy behind me, he was asking me. So when I don't respond, he quickly comes back with, "What, is that some kind of gay move?" and apes my semi-head roll. So much for trying not to be noticed.

But it doesn't end there. So I explain that I didn't realize he was asking me, and that I was very much enjoying the show. He decided he wanted to come off the stage and talk to me. Well so maybe getting an aisle seat wasn't the brightest idea. As he comes up the aisle, I stand, ready to greet him with a hand shake. He approaches me with, "Who told you to stand up? Sit down!" (may have thrown in an expletive, I don't recall. So I paused a moment to see if he was going to shake my hand, and when he stood at me with an angry look, I decided maybe I should sit. And as I did, he broke, with a chuckle and I'm just kidding. So I stood and shook his hand.

He asked me a few innocent questions, like who I was there with. Then he put his arm around me, showing me to the audience and said, "Let me ask you something. Have you ever been in a room with this many n***ers?" Wow, there's not a lot of good answers here. Even the lady behind me said, "Don't answer that!" Laura of course was petrified. Did I whisper into the mic, "M F, are you trying to git me killed?" No. Did I shout, "NI**ERS?!?! WHERE?!?!" No. I said, "All I see here is a bunch of good looking people." OK, it doesn't sound like a clever answer, but in his warm up/intro, and between comics, he had commented over a dozen times that we were a really good looking crowd. It got me past the question. And I even got a smattering of applause.


Then he asked me my name. I told him "Robert". The wheels in his head turned for a split second and he said, "Aww, Robert Bupp!!" and proceeded to give me a hug. So I felt a little better. How did he know my name? It turns out I called in to get tickets a day or two earlier, and since it was his production, he answered the phone, and took my name. Maybe I sounded white on the phone, and he put two and two together. So the evening went from interesting if a bit uncomfortable, to quite fun.


The comics were good, and when the coach's wife came on, she gave her shout outs to her parents, and friends, then saw us and yelled "Hey it's Chris's parents!" So by this point we were feeling like we were standing out, but that it was OK. We had a great time.

State Tournament

The 14U Chesapeake Bay Breakers continue to struggle to find the right chemistry on a team with lots of talent and lots of players. This weekend is the State Tournament, which serves as a qualifying tournament for Nationals. Pool play left us with two losses. Nobody thinks we should have lost to the first team. Defense was pretty tight, but offense was slow coming. Final score 38-31, I think.


The second opponent was more formidable. We brought a MUCH better game, and I think we are beginning to see some of the chemistry we'll need to carry us through. Final score 70-69, with the winning bucket scored with under two seconds to go.

Sweet Charity

Nice people are nice. Corinne was given tickets to see Sweet Charity with Molly Ringwald at the Hippodrome, including parking pass and VIP seating. Sounds like the outing went well, but that's for her to say (and I trust she'll post about that herself.) Corinne and a friend on the outing:

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Guten Tag! Corinne inducted to German NHS

Congratulations Corinne!
April 18, Corinne was inducted into Delta Epsilon Phi, the National German Honor Society for High School Students of German. I couldn't attend the induction ceremony, but her mom took some pictures.

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Spring Formal

If you missed Corinne's Spring Formal post I repost a few pics below.

Orioles Errors

You have to be kidding me. Since we were 8, we've been told, DON'T MAKE A BAD PLAY WORSE! and EAT THE BALL! How about this: Orioles commit three errors on one play! Botched fielding at first, bad throw from first to the covering pitcher, and the catcher backing up the throw to first, fields the loose ball and fires to an empty home plate.

And they have trouble getting people to come to these games?

Side note, congrats to Matt Chico on his first ML win pitching for the Nats. Matt is a relative of one of the folks with whom we have a work association.

Workday interruptions

Sometimes the workday winds to a close (or at 5:00 is just getting started) and I wonder what I've done all day. I figure I have an average of 5 minutes between interruptions, and during many parts of the day, I'm sure I go hours with no more than a minute between interruptions. I like to think that most of the interruptions are important, and require my contribution--this raises my perception of my worth: if things can't go on a minute without me, I must be very important!

The reality is that probably half of all the interruptions were 100% unnecessary, usually the result of people preferring to ask me questions rather than ask someone else more intimidating (or farther away), or surprisingly often, rather than actually think for themselves. So I was intrigued by LifeHackers recent post on avoiding workday interruptions. My favorite idea:

From Rustman

To really avoid interruptions, I would chiefly recommend never exhibiting any initiative or displaying any confidence in the work you do because otherwise you can end up being a touchstone for the rest of your workmates lack of skills.

More practically, I've adopted a variation on:

Logging interruptions or drop-bys and secretly keeping track of them, making a trend chart and plan around these high-traffic interruption times with some kind of blocking technique

I try keeping a log. When/Who/Why/Duration. I realize that many of the interruptions are important, so the only reason to "secretly" keep the log is so as not to make the legit interruptions feel like they're doing something wrong. So far, one of the byproducts is that I become more aware that each little thing is an interruption, and somehow it helps me get back on track when the interruption is over. It also has heightened my awareness to the fact that getting up and getting a cup of coffee is, in itself, an interruption, and by its visibility, begs more interruptions.

Any other great ideas?

AAU Basketball: Albright Tournament

4/14 2007 Albright Tournament, Reading, PA
Albright College, 2-game guarantee: First game to establish bracket, then single elimination tournament

4/14	11am	Court 2	Bangor Slate	WON	49-30
4/14	3 pm	Court 2	York Raiders	Lost	---

The initial bracket is in an earlier post, but I didn't feel like updating it with the results this time.

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AAU Basketball: Philly Spring Classic

4/6 - 4/8 2007 Philly Spring Classic, Philadelphia, PA
La Salle University, 3-game guarantee: Pool play and single-elimination tournament

4/7	11am	Court 3	Team Philly	Lost	56-30
4/7	3 pm	Court 2	Coast to Coast	Lost	---
4/7	9 pm	Court 3	Delaware Panthers	Lost	47-19

Like Twin Valley the week before, this was an open tournament; that is, it was not a sanctioned AAU tourney, just an open invitation to come and play. The level of competition was high, but there was evidence that the playing field/court was not level. We played in what was called 14U, and unless Pennsylvania gives driver's licenses to 14 year olds, we suspect not all of our opponents were truly 14 and under. There is no age verification process for this tournament.

Except for a few games that we weren't involved in, the tournament was held in the Tom Gola Arena, where the LaSalle Explorers play Atlantic 10 Basketball. I have never seen this setup before: the arena is about three basketball courts wide, main court in the center and a full-size practice court on either side. The seating is much like what I'm used to seeing at high-schools only taller. When the seats are fully "pushed back", all three courts are exposed. For normal games, the seating is pulled out completely, covering up the practice courts. There is no seating on the ends. And with the seats pushed back and the practice courts exposed, there is no seating anywhere, except folding chairs. I thought it was strange also that the courts were above the entrance by a flight of stairs. Anyone know what was on the main level, and if there was a lower level? Maybe athletic offices?

We were missing our starting center, and for all the games we were short by six inches at every position at each tipoff. Because the third game was not on the schedule at the beginning of the day, we also lost our next two biggest bigs for the final game. When we drove, we got blocked. When we shot, we didn't get rebounds. Given the height difference, we generally held our own on the defensive boards.

I got cheesesteaks at Explorers Den right around the corner--excellent. I assume "Explorers" is a reference to Robert de LaSalle and the LaSalle mascot/team name (Explorers) Took a few pictures, too. As usual, not a lot of action--partly because of the photographer, partly because of the camera. All pictures are captioned, if you don't see the captions, try hitting "Hide Captions" then "Show Captions".

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AAU Basketball, Twin Valley

3/31 -4/1 Twin Valley Tournament, Elverson, PA

3/31	7pm	Court 2	Central Jersey	Won	46-23
3/31	9pm	Court 2	Twin Valley	Won	55-18
4/1	2 pm	Court 2	York Rebels	Won	51-25
4/1	6 pm	Court 1	Schuylkill Vipers	NoPlay	---
4/1	4 pm	Court 2	Unscheduled Add: Galloway	Lost	41-34

There were 6 teams in our pool for this tournament. It was an open tournament, so there was no winner, just a 4-game guarantee. With four games, each team draws every other team in the tournament except one. Our draw had us playing everyone but Galloway. As it turns out, our team and Galloway played at a higher level than the rest of the teams, and we both were on track for 4-0. However, our final opponent, having seen our previous games, decided they didn't want to play us. Arrangements were made for us to play Galloway instead. It really would have been a shame to play the entire tournament, and miss playing the only real competition.

We had them tied 20-20 at half, and were within 3 with a minute to go. Galloway hit a 3 to extend the lead to 6, and we tried to change personnel to bring in three-point shooters, to no avail. Galloway played very well, and took advantage of our weaknesses. Something we can learn from.

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April Church Music

This Sunday, I got to lead the music at church, but I gave up the Communion music to a young guy in the Communicants' class, who provided a beautiful classical piece. The selections (Italics are the piano solos of my choosing):

1. Hosanna, Loud Hosanna


2. I Will enter His Gates (He Has Made Me Glad)


3. Majesty


4. Hosanna


5. We Will Glorify


6. In The Garden*


7. (Doxology)


8. (Communion Music)


9. Alleluia


10. He Is Exalted


11. Blessed Be The Name Of The Lord


12. How Excellent Is Thy Name


13. I Have Decided To Follow Jesus

The choir asked to perform "In The Garden" as Special Music. They seemed to remember me telling them a story about how, growing up, Dad would oblige us to change the radio station, but not until after we heard In The Garden. This put me in an awkward position. For one, I didn't remember telling them that story (It was said I told the entire congregation when Corinne and I sang it a while back). For another, I didn't remember the story, I'm thinking maybe Steph told me just as Corinne and I were deciding on the music. Finally, the choir wanted to do it without any particular rehearsal, and I was of the opinion that the song isn't that easy to do well. Well, we did it, and it was fine. I just played, I didn't sing along.

I'd like to see if I can get them to do "Nearer, My God To Thee" on another Sunday, preferably with a few rehearsals. I think the choir is interested in doing special music every week, and always with no rehearsal. I'm not sure I know how best to discourage that.