Wizarding World of Harry Potter (aka Excellent Life Choices)

Just in case you weren't totally sure if I'm a Harry Potter fan or not... this should pretty much settle it.

Back in late 2011 (oh my god, how was it so long ago????), I was in the middle of my junior year at the University of Miami. Earlier that summer, it was announced that there would be a Harry Potter celebration weekend at the Wizarding World in Universal Studios in Orlando. What's involved in a Harry Potter celebration weekend, you ask? Cast appearances. All sorts of cast appearances. A red carpet, panels, various talk show filmings... So a handful of us took advantage of Miami's relative proximity to Orlando and jumped the hell on that opportunity. 

Our group ended up being a really cool mix of one of my oldest friends, one of my college friends, someone I met while camping out for the Deathly Hallows premiere, and two of their friends that I'd never met before. But we all clicked pretty instantly as a group, and it was fabulous. We also decided on freakishly accurate Marauder-era alter egos for each of us. And since I'm Moony, and Kayla is Tonks... well, I'm a married man.

So anyway, like I mentioned before, there were a whole heck of a lot of cast (and crew!) members there.

We spent a lot of time waiting for panels, but wow, I'd say it was worth it. And then we ended up spending an entire day (literally) waiting in line for the red carpet. Getting prime barrier real estate is WORK, my friends. But again, WORTH IT!

I'm extremely bad at getting pictures with people when barriers are involved. I'm just too small and quiet and not nearly forceful enough, and I've come to accept it. (Thankfully I'm significantly better in one-on-one situations: exhibits A, B and C.) I got a whole lot of autographs, though, so I'm down with that!

Have you noticed our slightly strange outfit choices? Yes, well, we made two sets of matching t-shirts. The pink was for red carpet day, and the other ones were in each of our house colors (which is also where the headbands came from. We each wrote a little house pride saying on our headband, and I cannot tell you how many people complimented me on "every day I'm Hufflin'"). Our shirts were decorated with our Marauder alter-egos, and at one point we had an in-character photo shoot by the castle. You WISH you were on our level.

Just mooning over my wife (pun totally intended).

Sirius does reckless things, James cheers him on, and Remus tries to keep his friends from getting killed. Y'know, the usual. :)

While we weren't busy being 100% awesome, we spent the rest of the time drinking butterbeer, eating in the Three Broomsticks and walking around Hogsmeade.

And can we talk about how flawless Hogwarts is for a second? I'm completely obsessed with it. It's beautiful. Can I live there?

What. a. weekend. It meant an uber-late drive back to Miami on Sunday night, and I got about three minutes of sleep before I had to wake up for class the next day... but not for one second was I sorry. Being a nerd is the most fun thing ever. You should try it! ;)

Miracle Monday: Bob Suter

Well, this week certainly crept up on me far faster than I'd anticipated. If you hadn't already heard, Bob Suter died earlier this month, and it's really weird being all "YAY!" about him when his death is still so fresh. But at the same time, I don't want to be excessively sad. I want to appreciate a truly awesome human being. So let's do it.

FUN FACTS:

+ The Suter name is all but synonymous with hockey in Madison. Bob's dad, Marlowe, was a hockey player back when there were barely organized programs, and Bob grew up with a homemade hockey rink in his backyard (and a tiny one in the garage!). Bob won the state high school championship in 1975. Marlowe founded the Madison Capitals youth program in 1977, a year before Bob won the NCAA national championship with the University of Wisconsin (with fellow Badger Mark Johnson).

+ Off the ice, Bob was a calm, quiet, reserved, humble guy, coming across as gentle and shy. Fellow defender Ken Morrow calls him simple, straightforward and down to earth. On the ice, however, was an entirely different story. His selflessness carried over, but that was about it! His playing style has been described as pugnacious, fearless and aggressive, and he "specialized in mayhem." He was the guy that would fight on behalf of his teammates that weren't as willing to mix it up, and to this day is the University of Wisconsin's leader in all-time penalty minutes. Mike Eruzione nicknamed him Bam Bam for the way he was always knocking people around, and said that Bob was always the first guy to protect you on the ice and you always knew he had your back. He'd go to war for his teammates.

+ Bob's Olympic journey was a bit of an uphill climb, as he broke his ankle several months before Lake Placid. But Herb decided to stick with him, which speaks volumes about the value that Bob contributed. Even though he couldn't play anywhere near full strength by the time the Games rolled around, Herb decided it was worth absorbing the loss of an able-bodied player in order to keep Bob's attitude around. Bob didn't play in the medal round, and with Jack O'Callahan also playing in a limited capacity, Herb was cool with rotating between four defenders instead of the usual six if it meant hanging onto his crazy-passionate guys. (Kind of amazing, if you think about it!) Bob says his favorite Olympic moment was after Mark Johnson got hurt, and Herb "let him loose" to go wreak havoc on the guy that did it. I think that speaks for itself! :)

+ The Los Angeles Kings had drafted Bob into the NHL in 1977, and after the Olympics he decided to turn pro. He played minor league hockey for a few months, but wasn't totally sold on the idea of spending the rest of his life on buses in the minor leagues. He says he was impatient and had other things he wanted to do with his life, so only a few months after the Olympics, he decided to hang up his skates.

+ However, if you thought Bob Suter was done with hockey, you're sadly mistaken! He opened his own store at home in Madison selling hockey equipment, literally within six months of winning Olympic gold. At various points he both coached and managed the Madison Capitals, and was the manager of Capitol Ice Arena. Basically, he was all about bringing hockey to kids and growing the game. And the Suter hockey legacy doesn't stop with Bob: his brother Gary had an extensive NHL career which included a Stanley Cup win and an Olympic silver medal in 2002 (when Herb Brooks was the coach, coincidentally). And Bob's son, Ryan, is himself a huge NHL talent with the Minnesota Wild and a two-time Olympian. Ryan says his dad was so humble that he rarely ever talked about his Olympic accomplishments, and his gold medal was always accessible to be passed around to whoever wanted to see it. Perhaps poetically, Bob was at work at Capitol Ice when he suffered a heart attack and passed away.

I think we can all agree that we lost a great one.

72 Hours In Chicago

Hey there, hi there, ho there! Just a quick update today, as my parents are in town. I'm super excited for a week of being a tourist and eating my mom's cooking and letting my dad take care of my car! (What? When your parents offer to parent, you don't say no.)

Anyway, now that I've been at my job for over a month (omg?!), it's probably time for me to give a few details. Well, I've hopped departments at the USOC and am now doing communications, development and admin duties for SafeSport. It's hugely different than anything I've ever done before, but my boss is really cool (and, like, crazy smart) and it's an opportunity to learn a whole heck of a lot and get out of my comfort zone. And this past week, it also gave me the chance to go to Olympic Assembly!

Assembly is basically a way to keep everybody in the U.S. Olympic family on the same page. There are all sorts of awards given out, and events and panels and such. I wasn't there for any of the really fun stuff (unless you consider insurance and legal stuff to be fun, in which case, power to ya!), but it was so cool to be there and see all these really important people and just sort of be a part of it all.

It also happened to be held in Chicago! If you follow me on Twitter, you'll have been made aware that not only did my hotel room have two beds, but it also had two closets and two bathrooms. And I didn't have a roommate. I didn't know what to do with myself in all that space. Wondering which bathroom you should shower in was an entirely new experience.

The view from my room wasn't too shabby, either.

This is sunrise, not sunset. Work trips are no joke!

Before I took the L to the airport on my last day, I had a lot of extra time. So, instead of killing a few hours by myself in the hotel or the airport, I decided to walk a few blocks down the road and see the Bean!

Guys, can we discuss how GREAT it was to be in a real city again?! I didn't realize how deprived I was until I just wanted to take public transportation and walk absolutely everywhere. I was literally giddy at the thought of walking a few blocks to dinner, and looking at the skyline, and spending an hour on the train... It's an issue. But it was wonderful. Also, I kind of really like Chicago!

And that's it from me for the moment. I have to go clean my bathroom so I can pretend I'm a real adult for the benefit of my parents.

Happy weekend! :)

The Harry Potter Studio Tour

Well, this is the last of my European adventures (for now, at least. I could easily do another several thousand posts about London, which might eventually happen), but we're going out with a bang!

No Harry Potter fan worth their salt could live in London and NOT visit Leavesden Studios, yes? Luckily, I happened to be in London when the studio tour was shiny and new. Like, brand new. Like, not even open yet. So when Tesco (the grocery store) ran a contest to win tickets to the soft opening, I entered... and ended up being one of the winners. Hashtag ballin'! Lorraine won too, so between two of us we had eight tickets (regrettably, we each got different entrance times). So I ended up taking Amanda, Carly and Gerra, each of whom are giant Harry Potter nerds like myself. It was very appropriate.

The studios are completely awesome. Unfortunately there was still some construction going on while I was there (the drawbacks of the soft opening!), but like, I was totally blown away by everything. Sets and costumes and props and models and literally everything. I think I took about a thousand pictures just of the scale model of Hogwarts. And it certainly didn't hurt that there was a butterbeer break in the middle! And, uh, you know I wore my Hufflepuff t-shirt. I'm all about that badger pride!

Sigh. So wonderful.

If you're in the London-ish area, I highly recommend spending an afternoon here. Tickets aren't cheap, but it's an easy train ride out of Euston Station. And, come on, this is a pretty priceless experience!

Have any other of you Potter fans been to Leavesden Studios?