Best and Worst of 2k6

Yes indeed, it's that time of the year when we do our retrospective here at Present Company (and by we I mean me) in an often futile attempt to remember the year that was. This year some photos have been included, for you people who don't like so many words. Brevity: not my strong suite.

Merry Christmas and here's to 2007!

Best Public Speaking: Brandt's best man speech, Paul/Krista wedding August 5, Steven's Point, WI.
Key: incorporating lumberjack, barracuda, nimble, delicious, yeti, pella roja (red head in spanish, according to Jack) and encyclopedia into a speech, without laughing. I believe the sentence “Paul's golf swing looks like a lumberjack trying to fish for barracuda with a toothpick,” was used.

Best Conversion: realizing that I actually like the beach. Converted in May/June at Myrtle Beach, SC with six other ladies in the Maskey's timeshare.
Key: daiquiris and pina coladas from hotel bar while standing in the surf at 11am. And Beth's “I'm in my happy place.”

Best Shopping: Caroline M. Romano buying something like 20 ringtones after drinking most of a magnum of cab sav and claiming it was “retail therapy.” July at the DDH.
Key: I do believe she bought Jessica Simpson. Voluntarily.

Worst Start to Something: New Years on my couch, watching “The Graduate” with Neil and Nathan.
Key: Whooping Cough. That damn whooping cough. As Hatch said, “And Jesus whooped.”

Best Road Trip: Doug, Laurie, Erin, Johnny K and I in a roomy Avalon, from Leesburg to Dayton, OH in a day, Kristina/Joe wedding, June.
Key: Mad Libs (“a juicy breasted nuthatch”?) the nicest rest area EVER, Johnny talking about hating sun roofs, back seat dancing. Trip minutes.

Worst Road Trip: Amy, Erin and I in a Ford Contour with no AC, driving from KY back to Leesburg after the KK/Joe wedding, June.
Key: Did you read the part about the no AC in the humidity of late June? And then that damn gas station didn't sell slurpees.

Best Borrowed Item: driving to Myrtle Beach with Erin and Jenny in the wee hours and stopping at “Pedro's Pleasure Dome” at South of the Border, seeing a sombrero ashtray and stealing it.
Key: that mini pleasure dome sat on the dashboard and didn't move, even around some crazy turns. That thing was solid. It was awesome. It was snuck back in and returned on the way home, as mandated by Erin, a pillar of righteousness. Jenny: “Log truck.”

(Paul, Krista, Brandt, Jack, Seth and I stroll through Madison, WI before the night of the bachelor party)

Best Wedding: I think Paul and Krista edges out the competition, but just barely. Strong showing by KK and Joe and Rachel and Chris too.
Key: (1) it was in Wisconsin. (2) Seth and I eat deep dish in Chicago with a pathological liar we just met (3) Seth and Brandt bury the hatchet. (4) Paul deciding to cuddle with Seth his last night as a bachelor. (5) Setting up the rehearsal dinner tent with Beth and Amelia while the boys were recovering from the bachelor party. (6) Seth being so bad at golf he hit a tree and it bounced back at his face and he caught it (7) The rabid fox wandering around the country club at the reception. (8) Beating 8 guys at carbombs...twice. (9) Brandt's best man speech (see above). (10) dancing in a circle around Paul while he marched in place to “Ring of Fire”.

Best Fest: ODBfest in a monsoon, Old Dominion Brewery, Ashburn, VA in June with Brandt, Rinehart and Caroline. This wins every year.
Key: Well...Rinehart for one. The place was empty. A pocketful of free pogs. Mudfights. Paul and Krista picking us up. Typical ODBfest. Every year since 2003.

Best Reunion: Seeing Liz and Paul after 7 months, Heathrow Airport, London, UK, April.
Key: Nothing was different. Sign of true friends.

Worst Place to Navigate: Bristol, UK.
Key: “Liz, I may kill you if you don't stop driving.”

Best Karaoke Night: Brandt's two-day birthday celebration at Paynes on Friday and the Royal Lee on Saturday, May. I believe that was the last trip to the famed Royal Lee.

Key: Not “getting” to sing “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” with Mark, Paul's version of Cream's “White Room.”(Lewis, Me, Liz, Katie(?) and Paul outside of the hostel where we dropped them)

Best “How Did I Get Here?” Moment: Driving around Bristol, UK after the Iron and Wine show with two random exchange students and a traveling Canadian packed into Liz's two-door Fiesta.
Key: We'd just met them, the drive took as long as the walk would have and the Canadian was singing "The Great Adeventure" by Steven Curtis Chapman

Worst Reality Check: Phone call from my dad at work, February 28.
Key: having to tell my mom and sisters.

Most Productive Week: The week of February 28th.
Key: I apparently like to do a lot when stressed. Finished bed, moved bed, rearranged room three times, dismantled a futon and set it up in another room, regrouted my shower, reorganized book shelves, missed one day of work.

Best Random Place to Stay: Staying with Hatcher's family friends Lily and Kevin, Heburon, KY, June, for the Durrough wedding.
Key: Pool. Billiards. Giant couch. Giant TV. Whole floor to ourselves. Newborn twins. Air hockey. The DC boys. Steve and Joe's “swim trunks”, kababs and brewskies, mowing the lawn and the biggest breakfast ever. Pringles forever.

Worst Roadside Decoration: Right on the highway its Touchdown Jesus, outside of Cincinnati, OH.
Key: We almost drove off the road laughing.

Best Kings Category: “Dance Crazes” with Seth and Caroline before the drive to Chicago/Wisconsin, August at the DDH.
Key: Watching Seth try to do the macarena

Best Gift: Liz's “Gilmore Girls” DVD boxed set that Paul bought on ebay. With Chinese subtitles. Recorded off the TV.
Key: did you catch the part about the subtitles?

Best After the Wedding Moment: The “little get together” at Hatcher's after the Chris/Rachel wedding, Lincoln, VA, August.
Key: “Jeter did you kiss that girl?” Falling asleep on the couch at about 3am, and that was early.

Worst Holiday: St. Patrick's Day.
Key: somehow this is true every year. It's clear God knows I'm not Irish and is punishing me for it. “Dear St. Patrick's Day: On behalf of my friend Sarah Spooner I just wanted to say, She hates you. Love, Erin.”

Best Upgrade: Stewart, the 1999 Toshiba laptop, to Lappy 9000, the sleek new shiny model. With a mouse that works too.
Key: The N, B and Space Bar worked inconsistently. CDs stopped being readable. Windows 98 still sounded futuristic.

Best Freebies: Free Wine for Women on Wednesdays, Tappatinis, Eastern Market, SE DC, all summer.
Key: revolving cast of characters, the Tom Spaul phone call, Abby B. Free wine. Duh.

Best Lists: Unromantic Dictionary/Words to never say on a first date, Awkward places to find oneself half-naked and Songs to not play at a wedding, Myrtle Beach, June.
Key: Reggie and Caroline's PENECILLIN!, “Half-naked? CONGRESS!”, and, of course, any songs about strippers.

Best Job Switch: getting the internship at Windy Gap, late May, finally leaving the Brothers.
Key: I WORK AT WINDY GAP! How crazy is that?

Best/Worst Meal Choice: Eating ham and potato salad at least once a day for an entire week, May at the DDH.
Key: We had food for 30 people at our house and 7 people came. I didn't want the ham to go to waste. Or the 5lb bucket of potato salad. Best text from it: “Spooner? Ham?”

Worst Oversight: No Taps Week Reunion in 2K6.

Key: We have no excuse, but I'm sure there's a way to blame Dylan.(Hatcher and Maskey in the throwes of fistpumping)

Best Fistpumping Moment: Dueling Piano Bar with Sean and the girls, Myrtle Beach, June.
Key: Rinehart's doppelganger, texting Flynny, Pulling request out of halter top (“with $5 cuz boobs is small”), being the loudest girls in the place, getting the whole crowd to waive their arms along with us during “Brown Eyed Girl” as if we were leading club and the guys saying “Do whatever those girls do!”, Sean being overwhelmed.

Best Race: makejoefamous and I trying to beat the incoming freshman at his alma mater in a scavenger hunt...and winning. Lynchburg, VA, August.
Key: the freshman didn't know we were doing the scavenger hunt until we were racing them around the track, trying to find a clue on a goal post.

Best Random Moment When a Whole Room Breaks Into Song Like They Do in Musicals But Never in Real Life: Ellen Troyer's rendition of Peter Cetera's “Glory of Love” on piano when, you guessed, it, everyone (20+ people) starts to sing along as loud as possible. Moldy Family Dinner, Weaverville, NC, October.
Key: She's 8 months pregnant and the song previously played was “Hot Crossed Buns”.

Best Intern Moment: Julie Brandenberger bursting through the door at 11:45pm, yelling, “COME QUICK!”. Weaverville, NC. September.
Key: She accidentally drove a golf cart off a small cliff, and sort of wedged it into a small tree.

Biggest Rip-off: Stonehenge, outside of Sailsbury, UK, April.
Key: Paying something like £6 to stand around an go, “Yup. They are big stones.” Not getting the audio guide was probably a reason the trip was a bust. I mean it's cool and all, but hard to spend more than 10 minutes there.

Worst Setup: Homeowner Steve to Erin, December 2006.
Key: He's a veteran girls fastpitch softball umpire. Minichopper. Mustache. Hockey. 6'3”, 190lbs, age: 33. Dreamy.