Yesterday, I did a round train trip to New York City, leaving home before 6 a.m. and returning home after 1 at night.

Today, we left D.C. in the evening and drove, apparently along with everyone else in the mid-Atlantic, north for the weekend. At least we had a baseball game to listen to. (Go, Nats!) We’re going to celebrate Dad’s birthday, Rudi’s going to do a bike ride, and then we’ll get back in the car and return home Sunday evening.

So, I guess I’d better get to sleep!

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. I went on a work trip to New York City today and wrapped up my day there with dinner with two dear friends from college.

2. My long-time volleyball team is reaching the end of our season, so we went out for an evening of drinks and laughter at a local bar.

3. At the zoo, Nicole and I took Juliet into the Ape House. We saw baby gorillas and orangutans, but even more fun was when a big gorilla plopped itself down right in front of us.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

Have I ever shared here how much I hate the intentional walk? I think it’s a particularly overused action in contemporary baseball. You want to skip a batter? Pitch around him. He hits it anyway? Them’s the breaks!

It particularly grates me when it’s done to load the bases, and I don’t care how many Sabremetrics guys want to tell me that it’s a savvy move when there are no outs and a hot batter is at the plate. You intentionally walk the bases in that situation and you deserve to have a grand slam smacked against you.

Because eventually, that next batter is going to get really tired of being deemed the lesser threat. And he’s going to demonstrate that he, too, can make the clutch move. And, honestly, extra innings in the final game of a playoff series is a really great time to make such a statement.

Thanks, Howie Kendrick, for channeling all the dismissiveness the Dodgers showed you and smacking that baseball back toward the D.C. crowd who’s waiting to buy you a beer when you get home.

Let’s go, Nationals! St. Louis, we’re coming for you next!

The weather has been comfortable here in D.C., but we’re lacking the sunshine that would make the outdoors in October absolutely perfect. My outdoor volleyball league is down to its two final weeks, and I’m hoping that tomorrow’s weather is cool and sunny and filled with winning. As such, here is one of my favorite upbeat songs by Katrina & The Waves, perfect for bopping around the house while you’re getting pumped for the start of the day or the start of a game:

I wasn’t especially interested in this week’s bookish Top Ten Tuesday topic, so I decided instead to share the films I’m most excited about coming out during the fall season:

1. Charlie’s Angels: Girl Power!
2. The Current War: Edison, Tesla, and Westinghouse race to determine the future of electricity!
3. The Addams Family: An animated version of a cartoonish family voiced by a superstar cast!
4. The Good Liar: Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren!
5. Last Christmas: A holiday romance? Yes, please!
6. The Aeronauts: Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones in a balloon in the 1860s!
7. Harriet: I mean, it’s about Harriet Tubman!
8. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: A Fred Rogers biopic!
9. Knives Out: An Agatha Christie-style whodunit!
10. Ford v Ferrari: Fast cars!

How about you? Are there any movies on your radar for the next couple of months?

I would show you photos of our weekend, but it pretty much either involved sleeping off allergies on the couch or hanging out with a small young lady whose parents would prefer I not share her photo publicly.

Friday evening, we spent an hour at the local coffeeshop gathering the last of the daylight before heading back to our friends’ hotel for Chinese food and beers and homemade cookies.

Saturday was spent vegging, although I did manage to get a load of laundry done.

Today, Rudi and I hit the farmers market early on and then met up with John, Nicole, and Juliet for a trip to the zoo. We learned that zebras are very aggressive, saw baby gorillas and orangutans, and admired a false gharial’s teeth and toenails. We had a delicious al fresco dinner before spending the last of the waning daylight at the playground.

Rudi and I returned home just in time to watch the Nationals’ give up the go-ahead runs (we quickly turned off the tv, but the damage was done) in the third game of the NLDS playoffs. Fingers are crossed for a better outcome Tuesday.

And with that, the moon has set on yet another lovely weekend. Back to the workweek grind!