1 year of the best sushi I’ll ever eat and too much alcohol: $2334.18
1 year of tips for our favorite wait staff and bartenders: $872.00
Finding an oasis to escape the misery of Johnstown: Priceless…

I really miss Raw and the Baggy Knee. For those who don’t know, on November 10, 2005, Evans and Davis took me to this little known hole-in-the-wall sushi restaurant named Raw. For them, it was a new discovery (even though Evans had spent years living less than a mile away from it). For me, it would become my first real experience with the Japanese classic. More importantly, for all of us, it would become an oasis in the desert of depression that Johnstown had become for almost all of us – especially Davis, Wesler, and myself.

Here, in this tiny little addition to the bar/restaurant above – The Baggy Knee – is where you would find us two to four days a week in the evening. At first, we went because it was all-you-can-eat for $28, and it was quite a feast. The meal would start out with the most incredible tempura vegetables you’ll ever eat…ever. No, seriously…ever. You would simultaneously get a bowl of either miso soup, or Chef Petrillo’s own version of a hot & sour soup, which was also top-notch.

After that, we’d find ourselves sitting there, staring at three gigantic trays of nigiri sushi, sashimi, and maki-zushi (more like futomaki) wondering what we’d gotten ourselves into. I think the first night that I decided to give it a go at eating raw fish, Davis, Evans, and I consumed the equivalent of 15 rolls of sushi…and we’re talking the largest portions of sushi I may ever encounter. It quickly became my favorite place to go. Not only did it satisfy my seemingly endless hunger, but it was actually great food. This wasn’t some Old Country Buffet crap. This was high-quality grub in seemingly endless supply.

Of course, a restaurant doesn’t become the focus of one’s blog entries by just having good food. Nah, it needs a story. It needs a life.

On probably our 5th trip to Raw, we saw that the bar seats were open, so we opted to sit there. That was the night that everything changed. We were instantly recognized by the owner/chef, Mike Petrillo, from our previous trips. Yes, it’s true. My favorite sushi chef was indeed Italian. Anyway, we sat down and hit it off with the chef. I couldn’t even tell you what we discussed, but I’m sure it involved crazy stories from Chef’s worldly travels, alcohol, and his insane, yet endearing, staff. At the end of the night, a mini wasabi snorting competition started up between one of Chef’s employees, The Kid, and our very own Evans. What ensued was only the type of hilarity that you would have had to have been there for, but I had never laughed so hard in my life, as Evans destroyed the kid. On a single plate sat two large lines of wasabi powder. The Kid went first and snorted a half of a line. Evans, in typical Evans fashion, snorted the first line of wasabi in the blink of an idea…then went and finished The Kid’s line without hesitation. Of course, both of them were hurting and making classic faces of pain, but it was awesome for the rest of us to witness. After that night, there was some weird, newfound respect and friendship between everyone. As we continued to go, Chef would introduce us to the locals that frequented Raw and The Baggy Knee. We met so many people. Some of them were the shadiest people I’ve ever met, but almost everyone we met was real. They were cool with us, we were cool with them, and out of the coexistence came some great stories. Here’s a Cliffs Notes version of the Raw character synopsis:

• There was crazy-ass Spider, who had been bitten by a brown recluse and almost died well before we met him. He had a habit of sleeping with every girl that you might meet in either establishment, and getting the worst tattoos I’ve ever seen. We watched Chef toss an entire bloodline from a yellowfin tuna at Spider’s head. Davis and I even tricked Spider into thinking he had AIDS, and forgot to tell him that it was a joke. The guy was seriously scared. Fortunately, we got to him before he did anything drastic, so he could continue about his merry sexual exploits with little interruption. If there’s a hell, and I end up there, this may very well be the reason. Sorry Spider. Ha ha.
• There was Velore, who lived in the most intriguingly disgusting apartment I’ve ever seen. He introduced Davis and I to a little game called “plate baseball”. I know it’s a popular sport, but for those of you who may not be familiar with it, it involves finding any glass or porcelain object that you can in your house, throwing that object in the air, and hitting the object with a hand axe. He also enjoyed stabbing window screens with broad swords, juggling survival knives, playing NES, throwing shurikens at his bedroom door, and serving us our food at Raw. Oh, and he particularly prided himself on always keeping my tea filled (a nearly impossible task for the common server).
• There was Tommy. This guy was the type of guy you just didn’t want on your bad side. He was incredibly nice to us, but he had a penchant for illegal bladed weapons. Of course, he had a falling out with Chef, and that was the last we saw of him. Greensburg sometimes has a mob-like feel to it.
• There was Gaia. The red-headed hip-hop connoisseur who we would see constantly. We used to fill the jukebox till we were all out of cash to play enough hip-hop to piss off everyone in the bar…especially that lawyer guy, Terry, who would get into jukebox battles with us. He hated our music, so he would pay twice as much for each of his songs to leapfrog our songs with his cheesy, I’m-a-swinger-from-the-70s, music.
• Willis. The only guy I ever met who seriously craved the worm at the bottom of the Mezcal. The self-proclaimed, whitest black guy you’d ever meet, and sadly, the “token” of the bunches of people that we met. Davis and Willis would race to get to the worm way too often for my liver to consider. He was always so bummed to see us because he knew that a long night of drinking was ahead of him. His fist pump when any Wu-Tang Clan song came on the jukebox was also quite classic. “Yeah! That’s my sooong”. He also introduced us to his ultimate craving…the udon noodle bowl.
• Dave Gall. 10-foot giant, bartender, and drummer extraordinaire for Channel Scorpion News. Good guy, all around. Thanks for handing us beers up to the second floor and bypassing the lines during the crazy bar events.
• Coach Mike. He coached lacrosse at some high school in Greensburg, but I think it’s safe to say we’ll always remember the day he made us drink a whole bottle of sweet potato sake. I hope to never, ever, cross another bottle of that. I’m cringing just typing about it.
• Jackie. Jackie was the other bartender at The Baggy Knee. She’s actually the person who got us started drinking at The Baggy Knee. Before the night that she kept making us order Kirin Ichibans, we had never even had a beer at Raw. We started drinking early with her…and we continued for another year. Thanks, Jackie.
• Kim. The first night we hung out with Kim, Scotty G, and Lisa, we all went back to Kim’s for after hours drinking. Davis ended up puking in the most amazing fashion, breaking two bar stools, and passing out. Meanwhile, Wesler, Kim, and I sat around talking all night while waiting for Davis to wake up. We’ll forever wonder why she continued to let us come over and chill there while we sobered up for the long drive back to Johnstown, but whatever. She helped us out a lot. Imagine the DUI’s we avoided by having a place to stay.
• Finally, there was Chef Mike Petrillo. This guy was the best cook I’ve ever known. The food that he served in The Baggy Knee, which was American cuisine, was incredible. The sushi he prepared at Raw was unmatched. On top of his chef skills, his insanity was immeasurable. For example, one night we got dragged out to Clear Waters for jello wrestling. The event was stupid, but Chef decided that he wanted to get into a fight with some guy. As I’m looking at Chef in confusion as he justifies his plan, he attempts to get me pumped up by head-butting me. I was sort of in shock and had to laugh. If that wasn’t crazy enough, he ended up leaving Davis and I stranded at the bar. The next day, he barely remembered doing it, but he hooked me up with grub, so whatever. He also put Spider’s head through the wall once, during one of their nightly battles. It was hilarious watching the two of them attempt to get the better of one another like a Spy vs. Spy cartoon. In the end, though, he was a good guy…at least to us.

We befriended a lot more than that, too. I’m sure I’m forgetting people (Anthony, aka, the Kid, Alan, John Miller, Mike Reese), but the real point was that going to Raw provided us with a ton of great stories and great people. I had never had so much fun, met so many people, and walked away with so many great memories in such a short amount of time. To this day, I’ve never had better sushi. I know a lot of people claimed that they had better sushi here and there, but frankly, I don’t care, nor can I believe it. The food was the best I’ve ever eaten, but even better, was the crowd, the memories, and the friends that we all made. Playing Shimmy Shimmy Ya on the jukebox, listening to the “Greensburg Rap Mix” on the drive down to Greensburg, braving the snow each week to be the only people at Raw during the winter, going to Denny’s at 3 am every night on the way home even though we weren’t hungry, then giving our mozzarella sticks to the old guy who was always there reading the paper. All of it was so much fun, and seriously provided us with a place to distract ourselves from the misery that living in Johnstown had filled us with.

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end. After I moved to Pittsburgh, the trips back to Greensburg slowed down as I attempted to get acquainted with my new surroundings. Chef also went to Europe with his wife (from Prague) for about a month which also limited my chances to go. My last trip to Raw was November 25th, 2006 – just over a year after our first visit. Raw would end up closing due to a lease disagreement, ending a “chapter” in a bunch of lives. Even though Chef has since moved to Charleston, South Carolina it’s funny how often Raw still comes up in conversation. I imagine I’ll be talking about that place, the characters we met, and the food for the rest of my life. One thing I do know, though…I haven’t eaten sushi once and not thought about that place. It was a unique setup, in a unique town…with unique characters. It was most likely a once in a lifetime scenario.

By the way, those figures at the beginning and the dates mentioned are real. My insane collection of receipts – every last one from every purchase I’ve made since I’ve had a bank card – finally found a use. That doesn’t even come close to factoring all of the money that we, as a group, spent in that short year. I’ll/We’ll never get that money or time back, but no one can ever take all the fun we had away, either. Fair trade-off if you ask me…

Ooh baby, I like it Raw…

When your favorite late night snack place happens to sit in the first floor of one of Pittsburgh’s finest hotels, you occasionally run into random people…sometimes you may encounter furries (worth a post if I see them again this year). Other times, you encounter former World Series winning, should-be Hall of Fame baseball players like Dave Parker. There was a bunch of other ex/current Pirates there as well, but the only one that I recognized was Xavier Nady, and I didn’t interact with any of them.

I didn’t realize that this weekend was Pirates Fest, so it never dawned on me that there was a decent chance of seeing “famous” ball players at The Original Fish Market downtown. I know that the Westin downtown is the preferred hotel for visiting teams and other big time visitors, but I go to the OFM so often that I’m oblivious to who comes and goes.

Tonight, I happened to just sit down in an available seat at the bar for some sushi. Younes, our preferred waiter/bartender/friend, was tending the bar, and he told me that the guy I was sitting next to was some “big time Pirate”, but he didn’t know his name. I sat and listened to some guy who worked for ESPN talking to the man next to me, and with a quick wiki search on my phone and some listening, I realized who I was sitting next to. That’s right, ex-Pirate, Dave Parker.

The guy was totally cool. He actually initiated conversation with me asking why I was drinking iced tea and then we started discussing sushi. He asked me where I was from, if I played football (why, I don’t know), and some other small talk stuff. I didn’t want to bother him, so I just sat there and listened to all of the stories about the cities he’d played in, stories about some awesome players, and how he should be in Cooperstown. I just kept to myself unless he talked to me. I didn’t want to be one of those awestruck dorks, like the numerous guys coming up to him.

We did talk about the Furry convention that took place in Pittsburgh last year (and the next 2 upcoming, oh my), and he had never heard of the whole thing, so it was funny trying to explain something so goofy to him. We had some good laughs, but that was about it. He was just a really nice guy with a good sense of humor. Oh, and he’s frickin’ huge.

The other funny thing was that I had my D50 with me because I didn’t want to leave it in the car in the cold, so I was able to get a picture with the man to lessen the blow of not having anything cool for him to autograph.

Rambo was tight. Now, I don’t mean tight as in Shawshank Redemption tight or anything, but it was a great hour-and-a-half of entertainment. That is, if you can stand watching a movie that makes you feel like you should’ve brought a poncho for all the blood. The only thing manlier than this movie is probably Bruce Campbell covering Hungry Like The Wolf. Ha ha.

I can’t really put into words the amount of destruction, un-politically correctness, and raw gore. Some of the over-the-top shock value is up there with Cannibal Holocaust as you see babies being thrown into fires, raping of prisoners, assumed pedophile action, and other insane civil war antics like throwing land mines into water and making prisoners run while betting on which one blows up first. The realistic blood, guts, and flying extremities is done just as well, if not better, than Saving Private Ryan. Some people may get bored counting the deaths, but the movie does a good job mixing up the killing techniques and explores a lot of different ways that bullets can disassemble the human body.

The story is pretty simple, but it’s Rambo. There’s not a lot of heartwarming substance coming at you even if there’s supposed to be a hint of it. It’s just a high body count with a lot of explosions and fun characters. There were a few things that bugged me about the idiot missionaries actually wanting to go into Burma, but whatever. In the end, the point of the movie just isn’t in the story – it’s the entertainment value. Don’t go in expecting anything more than disgusting, yet somehow funny (to me, at least), scenes of violence, big explosions, big guns, thunderous sounds effects, and the unwavering cold stare of John Rambo. I loved it, but only because the entertainment value was definitely worth my money and I know how to go into a movie like this with adjusted expectations.

The one thing that was sort of funny was the crowd – white twenty-something goofballs, some with red cloths tied around their heads as an homage to a certain John Rambo character. They cheered so loud at the beginning that the theater actually sent a little troll worker to yell at everyone, “Attention you young people. If you yell and scream like that again, I’m going to kick all of you out. Enjoy the movie”.  It’s a good thing that the next round of cheering came at the end.

We had a decent night last night at bowling. Our team managed to take 5 of the 7 points against Q and George’s boss, Matt’s team. I guess they didn’t get fired…

I rolled a 175, 166, and 183 on the night for a 175 average. I’m fairly pleased with that since I came into the night with a 164 average and it was my first real night of using my new equipment. I’ve now rolled 8 of my 9 games over my average. The only game that I failed to beat my average was the very first game of the season, when I came in with a 139 and bowled a 130. From there it’s been a steady improvement anchored by consistency. It’s cool to see less erratic bowling, too. Now my average is more of an “honest” average as opposed to my old 180ish average where I’d bowl 220 one game, then 140 the next. I’ve yet to bowl a 200 in this league, though, and it is bugging me.

As far as the new equipment goes, I’m still adjusting, but really like the new stuff. The Anger doesn’t have any unpredictability to it for the way I throw. It carries the majority of the time that I hit the pocket, and gives me a lot of control for my style. I struggled a bit as the lanes dried up because I was hitting way too high with the ball hooking early, but I guess you’ll get that with any ball combined with those conditions.

The only down point of the night was my second game. I came out hot and had a sure shot at 200+, but left 3 opens at the tail end of the game, and my score just died. I think I had 115 in the 5th. Oh well. At least my average will only go up a little, and hopefully I can continue to play close to, and beat, my average as I aim towards a 180 average by league’s end.

I don’t want to spoil anything (but I probably will), so all I can say is Cloverfield absolutely blew my mind. It’s definitely one of the best movies I’ve seen in recent memory, but it’s a movie that a lot of people aren’t going to like.

Yeah, there are a few things that are a bit unbelievable, but nothing is distracting enough to ruin the enjoyment of the movie (camera batteries really last that long?). Spielberg must be pissed that he didn’t do War of the Worlds in the same fashion, because they’re quite similar in a sense, but where this movie succeeds and his failed was that War of the Worlds went off into directions that were too far from its successes. War of the Worlds started off pounding this realistic, well-executed fear into the viewer, but then it became a typical approach to the modern movie.

Cloverfield didn’t stray too far from its successes. It was simply and hour-and-a-half of fear and entertainment. A lot of people complain about the camera work, but it’s perfect (okay, maybe it’s a little ridiculous to think that a guy would continue to worry about filming the ENTIRE catastrophic event, but for whatever reason, it didn’t bother me here). There was a warning at the ticket counter about motion sickness, but I didn’t feel it at all. For me, having the movie shot from the first person was really cool, and highly effective. Maybe I’m just tired of this dolly-perfect camera work every time I go to a movie. Ooh…look at that incredible pan! Ha ha. Screw that. Give this desensitized American something he doesn’t see every day.

Is there an element of Blair Witch at work here with the camera work? I guess, but this is far better than Blair Witch. The characters did a fine job in terms of acting, and in the end, I felt that they were as convincing as they could be for a movie that was this over-the-top.

What the heck is that thing? By now, you know it’s a monster. More times than not, I don’t buy into monster flicks, but again, this time I wasn’t bothered by it. Just like in “The Mist”, the monster(s) aren’t really the focal point of the movie. The focus in the movie is on the way people react to crisis situations. What happens when fear takes over our weak minds?

Here’s my favorite part (SPOILER ALERT!!!), and to get my point across, I sort of have to add a spoiler. Most movies in this genre provide some root of this evil destroying New York, or whatever city happens to be the focal point. Maybe it’s an Alien invasion (War of the Worlds). Maybe it’s a virus (28 Days Later). This movie doesn’t do that…ever. That only aids in the success of maintaining fear. You never find out why this monster is destroying New York. You don’t know what it is, you don’t know where it came from, and we’ll never find that out – at least from solely watching the movie.

You’re just spending an hour-and-a-half in the lives of a few regular people, like you or I, put in the middle of a horrifying experience. The setup lays it out to be that way, and the execution of the entire film maintains that integrity. The characters are fragile, physically and mentally, just like you or I. The characters don’t do anything extraordinary. This isn’t some Americans-always-save-the-day story like Independence Day. This is a well-done, and highly entertaining thrillfest, with  solid special effects, and a simple story of hope and survival. Go check it out to see if they do, in fact, survive. My only recommendation…see it in the theater.

When it’s all said and done, I think Bad Robot – the production company behind that awesome show we call “Lost” – did an excellent job.

Last night was a decent night at league. We snatched up all 7 points (2 for each game and 1 for pin total), and I finished the night with a 168 average (161, 176, 168), which was 8 pins better than my average coming in.

It’s much nicer bowling with the knowledge that each week I can bowl within my average and probably better, thus affecting my team in a positive way. It lessens the frustration a lot. When I started bowling my first league with a 198 average, every night that I failed to get close to that average was extremely frustrating. It also crushed our team’s chances of winning more games.

Anyway, last night I also picked up two new balls (that one’s a comment provoker for Mundis, for sure). Unfortunately, they weren’t drilled before I finished league, so I’ll have to roll sometime before league to see how I do with them. I picked up a Hammer Anger and Brunswick Bugs Bunny Vis-a-ball for my 10-pin shot. Why a cheesy Bugs ball? Well, it was on sale for $40 and it’s only fitting once I get my last name engraved on it. It’s ugly as sin, though, and it’s bright orange hue may blind the older opponents, but if I can pick up 10 pins again, it’ll be worth it. If I would’ve had a plastic ball last night, my scores would’ve been much higher as I left at least 5 10-pins standing with late hooks on my spare shot. We’ll see if things improve next week…

On Saturday, I met up with Alan, Hoover, and some of Alan’s friends to celebrate Alan’s birthday. We hit up Sushi Tomo, which is always delicious, but I will say that I’ve now met two types of fish that I really don’t enjoy as sashimi – mackerel, and albacore. The mackerel was simply nasty and fishy, and the albacore was, well, blah in every way. It was Hoover’s first time at Tomo, and I think he was pretty pleased. Of course, eating sushi brought up conversation of Raw, and the typical overwhelming sense of sadness took over…but it was short-lived, as the night was very young.

We rolled over to Fox & Hound for some brews and shuffleboard, and while it was fun hanging out with the guys, I was totally annoyed with the Fox & Hound. First of all, the playoff game between the Jags & Patriots was getting no love. It was relegated to the crappy TVs, while the mid-season Pens game was on all of the main screens. Now, I really like the Penguins, but this is the NFL playoffs we’re talking about.

On top of the that, Fox & Hound just comes off as a pretentious hangout for those guys who have never left the area and sit around reliving their high school glory days while hitting on women that are far too young to star in their own version of a Viva Viagra commercial.

I won’t even get started on Allegheny County’s new 10% drink tax…at least not in this post. Ugh. That adds up when you’re downing Magic Hats for a few hours.

After we left the North Hills high school reunion bar, all of us rolled over to Alan’s place to keep drinking and play some Xbox. Yep, we haven’t grown up as much as we’d like to think. If I hadn’t been drinking, it would’ve felt like I was in high school or college again, sitting around playing Gran Turismo, Stuntman, or Tony Hawk all night at Mundis’ place.

We started with some Guitar Hero III, then moved on to Halo 3 (which I still hate), and finished with a marathon of Rock Band…with yours truly rocking the drum kit. Ha. Only one of Alan’s friends had played Rock Band before, but the whole group quickly took a liking to it. I’m pretty sure we played for about 5 hours, and at the end of the night/early morning, my theory that Rock Band would be the ultimate get together game was affirmed. Alan was planning on picking it up that day, so I guess we’ll be teaming up on Xbox Live soon enough.

It was awesome to hang out with old friends and finally meet some new ones. Hopefully it doesn’t take another year to see some of those guys.

It was a good first week of bowling league for me. Since I missed the first week of the second half of the season, I had to bowl for average before our league match. George and I arrived early enough that I actually had the opportunity to get my games for average out of the way. I bowled 3 games in about 25 minutes. The result…a 139 average! Ha ha.

Although, that’s an awful average, it’s something that I knew I would improve on. I ended up rolling a 130, 165, and 185 for the night for a 160 average. I’m relatively happy with those number considering that I had to bowl with my two least favorite balls from the Davis collection (but thanks to Davis, I had a ball to roll with in the first place). The conditions were pretty tight for me, and it took some getting used to. Now that I know what to expect, I’ll probably have to purchase a new ball, because the two that I have now just aren’t very reactive on the oily conditions the league puts out.

Regardless, we took 5 of the 7 possible points. It’s a good start, and I’m pretty excited to be bowling again.

I’ve decided to blow $60 a month and join the bowling team of some of my co-workers. It’s going to be my second brush with an organized bowling league and hopefully it goes a little better for me than my last league. Davis and I had joined a PSL league in the fall, and I started that league with a 198 average, which was waaaaaaaaay higher than my real average. I think I ended the league in the 150s or 160s, but my average dropped weekly in that league, and it really killed our team’s chances of winning anything.

I’m pretty fortunate in this league because I’m joining as a replacement for an ex-coworker who left to move to D.C. The team I’m joining is full of players who are possibly worse than I am (no offense Q or George), but who are improving weekly. With the handicap system in full effect, their team has been able to improve while keeping a high handicap. It may anger the old bowlers in the league to be getting beat on scratch scores before the handicap gets added, but I’m pretty excited to join a team that’s getting better instead of a team that’s starting at its plateau. Team Toilet Bowl is the name of my new team, and they won the first half of the league. Hopefully I can bowl well so we can win the second half as well.

Unfortunately, I haven’t touched a bowling ball in months. I’m sure the first night I’ll be the big turd in the toilet bowl, but it’s all for fun.