Getting Nasty in the 'Nati

I don't want you to think that I travel every weekend. Sometimes I stay in Arlington and play football, and hang out with my friends. Just common stuff. That being said I am heading to Utah in two weeks and Dallas in a month. I tried to go home this weekend but I had too much work to do, however last week I made a road trip out Cincinnati, OH. My first opportunity to spend any time in the Midwest.

What did I know about Cincinnati? Well I knew it was the home of Nick Lachey and Jerry Springer, the the 49ers beat the Bengals in the Super Bowl twice, you simply could not get Billy Hatcher out in the 1990 World Series, and that Mayor Mark Mallory can not pitch to save his life.



In addition to all this, Cincinnati is the home to one Miss Amber Jensen. I've known Amber for three years, and have been a committed reader of her blog, and occasional G-Chatter. She invited me to her preppy party all those years ago. Amber Jensen is a fantastic, and prolific writer, and has many Facebook friends. Earlier this year Amber and I were in a dinner group together, and our virtual friendship became a real friendship. She was thoughtful enough to invite me and a group of friends out for a weekend visit.

Me and the Princess of the Queen City

Because I am Peter and I accustomed to a certain level of luxury Amber arranged for us to sit in the luxury suite at the Reds game honoring Pete Rose for becoming the Hit King. As soon as Amber extended the invitation, I was in.

I didn't have too much that I wanted to accomplish on my trip other than to have a good time. Besides the game I wanted to try Skyline Chili, which is a Cincinnati Staple.

I don't know if my man Brian Barker still reads Pete Chat. If he doesn't, then it's time to take the diaper off and start reading again. Brian is my old roommate and went to graduate school at the University of Cincinnati. I told him for years that I would come and visit him. I never did. Sorry man. Brian is the first person to tell me about Skyline Five Way Chili. I can't remember what the five ingredients are but it was pretty delicious.

I know this seems strange as generally I have no tolerance for spicy.

Of course this time of year a particular concern is how I will watch the BYU football game. Luckily Casa De Jensen was showing the game and we watched the first half before we left for the baseball game. Things started off well enough, but they sure didn't end well for the Cougs.

Now I have a strict policy that I never wear the gear of a team I don't represent. That being said I wanted to show my spirit for the game so I made sure and wore a read shirt. The ticket had a picture of Eric Davis on it. I once got an Eric Davis foul ball at a Dodger game.

The baseball game itself was really great, sitting in the luxury box, eating chicken wings, making mixed drinks, and having ice cream served on a silver platter. Just the sort of thing a guy like me could get very used to. The Reds were playing the pirates and a terribly depressing fact became apparent to me. I had seen as many Pirate games in person (2) as I have Angels games this year. (Shakes head). The crowd went crazy when Reds fireballing rookie Aroldis Chapman came in and threw 100 mph. The Reds gave up a lead, tied it up and Joey Votto won it in the tenth with a walk off home run. I have two thoughts on that. 1. I guess Kobe Bryant was there because the crowd was chanting MVP. 2. The reds were able to celebrate a walk off home run by their best hitter without breaking his leg. Angels could learn something about this.

After the game Amber took us on a tour of the city and took us to a cool overlook of the river with Kentucky on the other side. Because I am safety aware I made sure to wear a hard hat.

A few extra thoughts on the trip.

• Forget Joey Votto, the real MVP's of the trip were Amber's parents President and Sister Jensen (Nan & Keith) . They were so gracious to open their home to us. Normally I don't meet parents for the first time sans shirt ( I met them at the pool) but at least that got an accurate understanding of who I am.
• Michele gets a special shout out for doing all the driving. She was a champ to drive to and from Arlington. We were assisted by the combined talents of our iPods and Michele's CD collection. Yes we did sing along to the Dirty Dancing soundtrack. Nobody puts Shandi in a corner.
• I read Catching Fire, the second book in the Hunger Games Trilogy. I enjoyed it.
• Chad: Can I get a water cup? Taco Bell Guy: Here you go. 
• Chad: Umm, there's no water. Taco Bell Guy: I figured you'd just take soda.
• I'm turning 30 this year.
• Driving by Columbus I thought, so this is what Stephanie loves so much.
• I think I demonstrated my mastery of pop culture trivia when I was able to recall this young lady.

I have a talent where I can recall pretty well a lot of 80's sitcom theme songs. They almost stumped me with Family Matter's but after a minute or so I was able to recall it. If only I could harness this power and  use it for something productive.

I had a fun time and it made me think that I should invite people to my house to enjoy all that LA has to offer.

Shandi, Natalie, Amber, the Champ, Laura, Brent, Michele, Chad, Nan and Pres.