Saturday, July 8, 2023
Bellmore, NY
Schedule
Breakfast at East Bay Diner in Seaford, NY at 10:15AM
Gaga Ball at Winthrop Avenue School in Bellmore, NY at 11:45AM
Spikeball at Winthrop Avenue School in Bellmore, NY at 12:45PM
Lunch at Panera Bread and Five Guys in Bellmore and Merrick, NY at 2:30PM
Bowling at AMF Wantagh Lanes in Wantagh, NY at 3:45PM
Mini-Golf at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, NY at 6:00PM
Dinner from Phil's Pizzeria & Restaurant, Burrito Mariachi, and Jin Fu Garden, and dessert from Carvel at Eric’s house in Massapequa, NY at 9:30PM
Hanging out (talking) at Eric's house in Massapequa, NY from 10:30PM to 1:00AM
Participants
Dave (26th), Marc (26th), Span (), Brian (), Eugene (), Matt (), Mehr (), Eric (12th), Rolly ()
Photos: Highlights | Complete Set
Videos: Highlights | Complete Set
Anecdotes
Reviews
Planning
Texts
Two sets of votes
Marc reached out to Rolly about making a cameo at the event.
David said that they should try to arrived between 9:00AM and 9:30AM at Marc's house.
Archery Tag was voted in but had to be scrapped in the morning (?) when they found out that it was just a fad and no longer available to play. Had a text vote around lunchtime (?) to decide if they would replace it with bowling or axe throwing, and bowling easily won.
Pre-Breakfast
Mehr arrived first having driven from Harrisburg, PA that morning. He got up at 3:45AM and arrived on Long Island around 7:00AM. To eat some time, he visited his old neighborhood and home in Merrick. Once people started texting, he decided it was okay to go to Marc's house, though Marc was still getting ready when he arrived. Eugene was second, Eric third, Matt fourth, Span fifth and a little later than requested. Brian would miss breakfast due to the amount of time that it would take to take the train in.
Breakfast
Span and Matt checked a bunch of drinks for caffeine levels including Charged Lemonade at Panera (which was much, much higher than Span expected), Rockstar brand, and Bawls brand. Span relayed the story of how he quit his job. The group joked about how much food he eats (part of that due to his physique, part due to his job as a mailman): his first date with his wife (pizza), Marc in the car with Mehr ordering from Wendy's at the drive thru, etc.
Eugene ate food at Marc's house (?) and had only coffee at the restaurant.
Gaga Ball
Game 1 in order of elimination: Eugene, Span, Brian, Mehr, David, Eric, Matt (Span had a chance to catch the ball as Matt hit it out of the pit, but he dropped it), Marc (winner)
Game 2 in order of elimination: Brian, Matt, Span, Eugene, Marc, David, Mehr, Eric (winner)
Game 3 in order of elimination: David, Eugene, Matt, Marc, Brian (David caught the ball and re-entered the game), Span, Mehr, Eric, David (winner)
Game 4 in order of elimination: Span, Brian, Mehr, David, Eric, Matt, Marc (in a spirited finale with Eugene, he fell to the ground and was vulnerable), Eugene (winner)
Spikeball
Used various gimmicks (guess even or odd number, or higher or lower number) to choose who would serve first (serving first was deemed a large disadvantage - need to explain why).
Preliminary Game 1: David and Span served first. Matt and Eric beat David and Span 21-15.
Preliminary Game 2: Mehr and Brian served first. Marc and Eugene beat Mehr and Brian 21-18.
Preliminary Game: 3 David and Span served first. Mehr and Brian beat David and Span 21-14.
Preliminary Game 4: Marc and Eugene served first. Matt and Eric beat Marc and Eugene 21-13.
David and Span were eliminated with a record of 0-2. Matt and Eric got a bye to the final game with a record of 2-0. The other two teams with 1-1 records would play in the semi-final game.
Semi-Final Game: Mehr and Brian served first. Mehr and Brian beat Marc and Eugene 21-18. This was the only game where the team who served first won the game. Rolly showed up towards the end of the game after some Facebook messages with Marc.
Final Game: Mehr and Brian served first. Matt and Eric beat Mehr and Brian 21-19. Rolly said his goodbyes but said he would try to make it to the after dinner activity.
Lunch
Five Guys: Eric, David, Mehr, and Brian
Panera Bread: Marc, Span, Matt, and Eugene: talked about solar panels and retirement. Eugene brought his own food.
Bowling
No strikes until the 9th frame of the first game!, then Marc and Eugene threw back to back strikes. Only Marc got all 10 pins down in one throw during that time, but it was a spare because he had gutter balled his first throw. Big groans for each almost strike followed by a big cheer when the first strike was thrown.
Decided (after the first game because it wasn't spoken about prior to starting bowling) not to make the second game competitive, just for fun.
RESULTS:
Mini-Golf
Matt, Span, Eugene, and Brian did the "easy" course.
Marc, Mehr, Eric, and David did the "hard" course. David presumed that it was a harder course as the first hole required that you sink your ball into a hole that was on a slope of around 45 degrees. Marc looked ahead at future holes and didn't think that they looked all that difficult, and no one ever got more than a 3 on any given hole, so...
All of Mehr, Eric, David, and Marc (in the one group) got at least one hole-in-one, while none of Eugene, Span, Brian, and Matt (in the other group) got one.
RESULTS:
Dinner
Ordered from and picked up food from Burrito Mariachi (Brian), Phil's Pizzeria & Restaurant (David and Matt), and Jin Fu Garden (Eric and Span). Also picked up ice cream from Carvel for David, Eric, and Span. Marc and Eugene brought their own food due to their diets (vegan and lactose intolerance).
Talk about super foods (e.g., Eric said that he makes bowls with chia seeds, etc.). Marc said he eats chia seeds, flax seed meal, and pumpkin seeds almost every day.
Sitcom talk: Everyone Loves Raymond, The King of Queens (amazing chemistry between Kevin James and Leah Remini plus it avoids the trope of the wife always being the one who's right - she gets caught up in the antics), Modern Family
Music talk: Bruce Springstein, Queens of the Stone Age, Dave Grohl: David said that Dave Grohl said that QotSA is the best live band going right now and that it isn't even close. Though David noted that Dave Grohl may be biased as he was their drummer for a spell.
Hanging Out
Any other particular topics that I can remember? Eric mentioned Tom Cruise movies, so Marc said he needs to watch Edge of Tomorrow already. On the topic of superhero movies, Marc said Eric should watch both Spider-Verse movies, and Span wholeheartedly agreed.