Stadium List

I've been to a lot of baseball stadiums over the globe now.. Here is a list of the stadiums I've been to:

MLB
Current National League Parks

AT&T Park - San Fransisco Giants

Citi-Field - New York Mets
Busch Stadium - St. Louis Cardinals
Chase Field - Arizona Diamondbacks
Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia Phillies
Coors Field - Colorado Rockies
Dodger Stadium aka Chavez Ravine - Los Angeles Dodgers
Great America Ballpark - Cincinatti Reds
Marlins Park - Miami Marlins
Miller Park - Milwaukee Brewers
Nationals Park - Washington Nationals
Petco Park - San Diego Padres
PNC Park - Pittsburgh Pirates
Turner Field - Atlana Braves

Wrigley Field - Chicago Cubs
Closed National League Parks
Shea Stadium - New York Mets
Sun Life Stadium - Florida Marlins
Stade de Olympique - Montreal Expos
Current American League Parks
Angel Stadium aka Edison International Park - Anaheim Angels

Ballpark at Arlington - Texas Rangers
Comerica Park - Detroit Tigers
Fenway Park - Boston Red Sox
Kauffman Stadium - Kansas City Royals

Minute Maid Park - Houston Astros
Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum - Oakland A's

Oriole Park at Camden Yards - Baltimore Orioles
Progressive Field aka Jacobs Field - Cleveland Indians

Rogers Center - Toronto Blue Jays
SafeCo Field - Seattle Mariners
Tropicana Field - Tampa Bay Rays
US Cellular Field aka New Comiskey Park - Chicago White Sox
Yankee Stadium - New York Yankees
Closed American League Parks
Yankee Stadium - New York Yankees

Minor Leagues
AAA Parks
Durham Bulls Athletic Park - Durham Bulls
McCoy Stadium - Pawtucket Red Sox
Spring Mobile Ballpark - Salt Lake City Bees
AA Parks
Dodd Stadium - Norwich Navigators & CT Defenders
A Parks
Keyspan Park - Brooklyn Cyclones

Japanese League Parks
Seibu Dome aka Goodwill Dome - Seibu Lions
Tokyo Dome - Yomiuri Giants

All in all I've been to 30 Major League Level ballparks around the world. The only one left is Minnesota.

I will update this blog (and change the post date) as I have more to report.

---Updated 8/26/2016

Taco Mac, now serving Tacos!

Spent the week in Atlanta, I'm sitting on the flight home typing this.  So, here's a pro-tip for you..  Don't fly TO Atlanta wearing a Mets jersey!

Last Sunday I went to the Mets game, it's pretty nice flying out of NYC because you can park at the airport and take the shuttle over to the LIRR station which happens to be at Willet's Point.  After the game I took the shuttle back to the airport and jumped on my flight in my David Wright jersey..  Speaking of David Wright; he has spent the last week with the team taking batting and fielding practice!  Hopefully he will begin his official rehab soon.  In other Mets news, wtf is up with trades (that didn't even happen) being announced in the middle of a game while the player in question is playing!?  Flores got a standing ovation from the crowd the other night because they thought he had been traded.  Turns out the trade didn't even happen so it was just a bunch of bull shit for no reason!  I feel really bad for Flores because apparently he didn't even know why the fans were giving him an ovation till he heard people thanking him for his time on the team, wishing him luck in Milwaukee, etc!  It's certainly been an interesting few days in the baseball world, I think this is the most active trading deadline in years..  Oh, and Mejia got suspended for the 'roids again, second time in the same year!?  What a true smeghead!

I think I just remembered why this blog is titled a Tangent in a Tangent..  lol

So..  I get on the flight from NY to ATL and apparently the flight crew was an Atlanta based flight crew, no biggie right?..  At one point I get up to use the bathroom and when I get back there I find they are full, doing what I always do in that situation, I go back to the kitchen/prep area and wait.  This shitbag Atlanta-ian barks "stand there" at me and pointing to the area literally right in front of/blocking the bathroom door, when I move thinking he needed to get by me he slams the curtain closed to the prep area and then walks away with a smug look on his face.

Landed and heading now at National..  Work only allows us to rent from National or Enterprise and only economy cars, I don't like Enterprise because they don't let you pick your own car which is personally a big deal.  With National I've gotten a chance to drive many different types of cars, some good / some bad..  Anyway, I get the car rental place and start looking around the Emerald Isle; not many choices and after looking around for a while I end up taking a SUV/Hybrid vehicle (don't remember the name right now) and heading to the gate.  When I pull up the gate the lady working the booth keeps telling me to pull up till I'm almost touching the mechinical arm, which made the gate line up with my back window!  Now I'm reaching out the window twisting backwards to give her the paperwork..  She then informs me that I am NOT allowed to take a car from the Emerald Isle because I only booked an economy car, I explained that I ALWAYS book economy because it's the only thing my company will allow and that I would have taken an economy car if there were ANY on the lot!  She looks on her computer for a while and finally decides that she'll make "an exception" this time making sure to let me know in the future I can't use the Emerald Isle if I only book economy cars!  Um, smeg off bitch, that's why I'm an Emerald Club member!

So grumpy..  Fuck you Hate-Lanta and fuck your Braves!  America's team my ass!

--

Get to the hotel and am pleasantly reminded how, no matter where I go, Marriott will always treat me right..  I was totally going to say "no matter when you go, Marriott will always treat you right", but then I remembered how rude the Marriott staff was to Lynz in London because she was a girl..

So, me and Lynz went to London to see Fairport Convention..  We flew over the pond for the weekend and stayed at the posh Marriott right near Parliament and the London Eye.  When we got there the employees at Marriott wouldn't even acknowledge her or answer her questions simply because she was female..  I mean like seriously, there was one point where she tried to address them and they turned to me and waited for me to ask the same question..  It was pretty annoying but, there is a part of me that can see it as  humorous looking back at it..  It certainly wasn't humorous to her (or us) at the time.  That was my first time seeing Fairport in England and it was really pretty awesome, when they tour here in America they always play smaller places but when they play there they are at some pretty big places and it was interesting to see that..

Umm... <---look lynz="" nbsp="" p="" s="" there="" three..="">
Back to the present day..  I get to the hotel in Atlanta and am greeting with a smile and the friendly attitude I've come to expect from Marriott, I was also greeted with a bunch of bottles of water..  Apparently a major water main broke and the water was deemed undrinkable, oh and don't brush your teeth with it..  Crap, when did I get back to Mexico..  lol

Not the end of the world since I don't brush my teeth anyway right.. :P

After checking in I decided it was most certainly beer o'clock..

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Off to Taco Mac, yes, wearing my Wright jersey!  As a New Yorker I saw screw you and if you're going to be rude to me for wearing my Mets jersey you can go eat a bag of dicks..  Btw, have you ever heard that Louis CK bit, if not check it out - SO FUNNY!

I sat at the bar, in the stool that would be mine for most of the week, and met two awesome bartenders: E and Natasha. Natasha is from Boston and a total spit-fire of a girl, E is a super friendly guy and both of them really made me feel at home.  E was there every night I went (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday) and Natasha was there every night but Monday.

Sunday night was pretty slow and they were serving everything in plastic cups and plates because they were unable to wash anything due to the water issues which had been going on since Saturday afternoon.  I had the Blue Moon Cinnamon Horchata on Sunday night, it was OMG Amazing!  Looking at the menu I noticed that they now served tacos; I asked about them and was told they just added them to the menu about 4 months ago.  However tempted I was to try them I decided to go with some boneless wings, which were very good..

Yes, I did get the wings later in the week but this story needs to end now, or at least be put on hold because I'm landing..  

Welcome Back... Maybe?

I know I've tried to restart this a few times in the past, and have failed.  I'm going to try again, maybe this time it'll work..  I really do miss typing this up and want to get back to it..

So...

Last week I was in Salt Lake City, all in all it was a good week full of glow in the dark mini-golf, good food, better beer and catching up with some friends from the area...  And an Arts Festival..

I saw a comedy show at the Arts Festival, it was interesting to hear all the Mormon related jokes and jokes about the SLC area in general.  One guy was pretty racist, calling the black people in the crowd "the dark ones" and going on about how their neighbors must be happy they're at the Arts Festival because they can finally relax..  :/  The only really funny bit was one guy talking about being "alone" was a put down minority, I've heard that kind of thing before but he really brought it home saying that the diamond symbol for the car-pool lane was the symbol of his segregation..

The rest of the Arts Festival was pretty cool, but holy crap was stuff expensive!  I saw a bunch of stuff that would have been cool in my yard, but not for those prices..  They did have Unita beer and very good food at the festival, so all in all it was a good time.  Oh, speaking of beer..  One of the other one-liners in the comedy show..  A comedian told a bad joke and the audience was just looking at him instead of laughing..  His come back was "you're staring at me like a Mormon stares at a beer"..  lol

Me and my friend Bill went to a place called Copper Creek which was half way between his house and the hotel.  I got there a few minutes early (I know, shock..) and found that they had the Mets game on the TV!  Score..  :)  I had a steak over a really good mushroom risotto..

In the food porn category..  I went to Squatters Brewery with my friend Kristina and had a wonderful bacon covered meatloaf!  If you're ever in SLC I recommend two places very highly; Gracies and Squatters.  Gracies is a jazz bar which has live music almost every night and some very good food, it's in the same parking lot as Squatters which is a local micro-brew; home of the Polygamy Porter and a few other SLC staples.

...
Other news around the realm?

I no longer own or am affiliated with the running of Future Imperfect.  Future Imperfect closed and Future Imperfect II started.  While I still own the old rules-set for Future Imperfect I am happy to see the 2nd FI alive and running.  I decided to take a small break from the game, which then turned into a long break..  Sorry FI'ers, I wasn't planning to be gone for more than one or two events, if you're reading this and wondering when/if I'll be back; the answer is yes, just not sure when yet.  I actually purchased some new gear for Laal so I will certainly be back at some point.

In the meantime, last year, I started going back to Laire full-time.  I started a new character there and am really loving it.  I still hold to my statement that there is no better LARP than Laire. Just wish it was closer or I could somehow remove the smeggin' traffic on rte 84 through CT!

In September I moved from the castle, I bought a new house here in the quiet corner..  It's not a castle, but I also don't have neighbors..  Well, I have one but there not in the same building..  We share a private wooded road and I have lots of woods (and a river) to call my own..  Home ownership came with three inherited cats..  My mom needed to find a new home for her cats so, with all the new room, I took them in..  Btw - Anyone want a cat?  I'm not kidding..  She is an older cat and is SUPER affectionate, the problem is that she really needs to be an only cat.  She would be fine with dogs, but not-so-much other cats..

"Buy a house, you'll save money" they said...  This winter was ROUGH in terms of snow and bad weather.  I ended up having massive ice dams and had to have a lot of work on my house to fix all the water damage..  Yay, insurance!

Well, that's it for me for now..  Hopefully I'll be back here more often..

Diversion of the Day:

Reflections

It is natural when something in your life changes to reflect on not only that but on things past. Sometimes the answers these reflections bring surprise, sometimes they upset and sometimes they bring happiness.. As I sit and reflect this week I am brought back to a word, a single word spoken in the hallway out of frustration and out of a feeling of resignation. That word can never be changed and that one word caused so much of life to change. Plans, goals, futures, all changed by one word. If I could go back I would try to convince myself to act differently, to fight the tide and to change that word.  Would things be better?  Who knows..  I tend to think so..

I'm sorry for the vagueness of that last paragraph, there are so many feelings to think about, so many people who could be hurt, should I even put this out there in the public forum? Who knows and honestly right now, who cares..  I am a very public person and if someone gets hurt because they know what I mean then I'm sorry, but it's the way I feel, I can't change that and I have to be true to myself..

I got very caught up in the whirlwind of the past few months and I think in doing so I caused great pain, I am sorry to anyone for the pain I may have caused. I try not to regret the decisions of my past, and in general I do a pretty good job. I am sorry I changed plans because of the new developments in my life, I'm sorry that I caused some people to feel unwanted or second best.

In the end I will go on, as they say, "what doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger".. 

I am still planning on moving, but not sure where.  However much I love this apartment the heating bills in the winter are horrible. I am looking in Southern MA, Northern RI and North East CT, the adventure of life is you never know where you'll end up in the end.. 

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Sorry this blog has been a big downer..  In other, happier news, the Mets won four in a row which is their biggest winning streak of the year and, better yet, three of those have come against the Yankees..  :)

I will try to be more upbeat in the next blog..  I realize I need a "sign off tag line", hmm..  If you have any suggestions let me know..  For now, I'll steal this one one more time.  ;)

Good night my lovelies

Anime Boston..

I realize I haven't blogged in almost a month..  I am at Anime Boston this weekend and typing this via my phone while having a beer before bed..

I finally managed to get a cup today so I was able to wear my tng uniform. I can now safely say I understand why they got rid of the jumpsuit uniform after season 1. It bunches up in the front unless you stand really straight and you definitely have to pull it down a lot while sitting.  I did bring my skirt dress in case someone changed thier mind and had shown up..  Maybe I'll convince someone to wear it with me to ConnectiCon in July..  Troi will be there so that would be the perfect opportunity to cosplay her..  :-)

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In other news, me and Kaila are no longer. I am not going to go into details right now but wanted to at least let everyone know in case you didn't already. I might go into further details here later when I'm not typing this via my phone. Then again I might just leave it at that. I was sad when it happened but I certainly feel now that it is for the best. There is no need for condolences.

First Beer = Bud Light?!

Wednesday night I was just about to start a Daily Show and wind down for bed after Serenity when my boss called..  Apparently the instructor in NYC got really sick and couldn't continue class..  I am a person who loves adventure and last minute heroics so off to NY I go.  I say that as if I was super excited to go, but honestly, I was really disappointed, I had dinner plans with Kaila and was planning on going to a concert in Providence with Kevin and Lynz but what am I going to do but make the best of it.. :)

Anyway...  I got up at 4am to make sure to be at class by 9.. I ended up getting into the class right at 9 and connected my PC to the projector and turned everything on, by the time the projector warmed up I had the presentation already in "Slide Show" mode and started with the first module of the day. I was trying hard to stay awake and luckily the students were very interactive keeping me awake and alert, after the module I ended the Slide Show and while loading the next module one of the students said "what superhero is that", it dawned on my what was on my desktop and apparently the look on my face was really funny as I slowly turned to the screen to see Kaila's Harley Quinn picture zoomed in on a 15ft screen!  I just looked at the class and quietly said "that's my girlfriend, she is dressed as Harley Quinn from the Batman comics", one of the students actually said "impressive"... 

Wednesday after class I relaxed a bit in the hotel before going to dinner. Speaking of the hotel, I actually didn't even book the hotel till my lunch break, always an adventure right?  Anyway, I walked around and realized I was heading toward the Perfect Pint, when I got there I noticed the place right next store was an Irish Pub called Dubliner I think, looking at their menu they had very similar food plus they have 40 beers on tap and a roof top seating area so they won..  Well, the food was certainly not as good. At Perfect Pint they have a Pistachio crusted Salmon which is fantastic, at Dubliner they have a Walnut crusted Salmon which was not quite as good.  But, they did have a better beer selection. While I was three people came in and sat next to me, they ordered their drinks and after the guy tasted his he made a comment that beer didn't taste good.  Apparently it was his first beer ever and it was a Bud Light, I couldn't resist telling him the reason it didn't taste good was not because it was beer, but because it was BAD beer. They were from Pakistan and here on holiday, I ended up giving them a long lecture on hops, malts, ales and lagers. His second beer was a Smithwicks (at my suggestion) which he enjoyed a lot better. If you feel you don't like beer make sure you've had all the different types before you make that statement.

I came in this morning and had put the appropriate wallpaper back on my PC, when I turned on the projector all the students were disappointed I had changed it.  One of them asked if I could put it back because the other one "was nicer to look at"..  LOL!

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I have been re-reading a lot of my old blogs and if I do say so, I say some pretty smeggin' insightful stuff..  I recommend going back and reading those old blogs if you haven't before. Yes, I know there is a lot of them and yes a lot of them are food and baseball related, but there are some gems of knowledge in there..  :)

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Oh..  In other news - as if this was small enough to toss at the end of a blog, but, you know, that's how I roll..  :P  I'm moving in with Kaila in August, we will be living in Milford MA..  I am very happy and excited to embark on this new stage of my life and want to shout to the world how happy I am

Only You

"Only you have the answers
But the questions you have to find

Only you know the secrets
But the truth lies deep in your mind

Only you are the answer
You turn the night into day

Only you are the manchild
You are the light and you are the way

Tell me the secrets
I wanna know
Tell me the secrets
I wanna know

only you
Only you are the manchild
You are the light and you are the way

I can't believe this is is true
Why do I listen to you?
If I am all that you say
Why am I still so afraid?

Only you
Only you
Only you

In every age
In every time
A hero is born
As if by a grand design"

--
I am trying to not have this be a blog I only write in when I'm on the road but it seems that when I'm home I never have the time to sit and write. Update from previous blog..  I managed to get the data off my USB stick by jamming "up" into the USB port, I plugged it in and stuck a pen between it and another USB stick to force it "up" and that worked..  :)

My TNG uniform maker had a set back with her back and neck issues so I didn't get it this weekend as planned. I am still hopeful that I will have it by Anime Boston, but, Chrissy, if you're reading this, I am perfectly ok if I don't get it in time..  Your health is much more important to me than wearing a matching uniform with my girl friend..  :)

A few weeks ago I left my really super awesome headset in Denver, I finally got a replacement today. The last few weeks I was using a REAL bad one that I had laying around and it made online teaching a bit of a challenge, the mic would just cut out every once in a while (maybe every 20 mins) and trying to play Traveller last night was causing lovely feedback for everyone but me. I haven't tried the new one yet because I just got it after lecture was done for the day. I am going to try it tomorrow for class and tomorrow night for Serenity.

Back home from KC and the Future

Last day in KC was pretty un-eventful, I got out of class just in time to leave and head to the airport. The KC airport is a pretty small airport for such a big city, they have many security areas around little pockets of gates. Most of the gate areas just have seats and water fountains, the one I was in had a bathroom (single stall) and a restaurant/bar. As I was getting ready for the flight I started to feel a sinus cold coming on which turned into a full blown head cold by the time I landed in Hartford.  :(

I am feeling better now (still not 100%, but getting there), still a bit stuffy and my ears are very "full and painful".  I hate the fact that my ears always get so screwed up when I get head colds but I guess that's the price I pay for having such excellent hearing. 

Saturday I went to FI but ended up leaving early because I kept getting dizzy and was having a real hard time concentrating. The game was great and I have to say everything seems to be happening to me now that I got rid of the Deputy badge. I don't know if it's that I'm more approachable now or if it's just timing..  Anyway, I had an awesome time but I knew if I didn't get lots of rest I would not be able to kick this cold.

I tried on my TNG uniform when I got home and it's looking very good, still no pictures since it's not done. I brought it back to Chrissy and she is going to finish it up for Laire this weekend.

Sunday I went back to FI and another awesome day of role play!

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On a work rant..  I am writing a custom class to be taught to other instructors, unfortunately everything I had done so far was on my USB stick which no longer works..  Gah.. Back to the starting gun on that I guess..  Lesson here, always save your work in at least two locations..  I think I knew that already, but I guess it's something worth learning again..

Obesity has found it's new home.. Kansas City..

I have noticed as I've been walking around that the obesity rate in this area seems to be much higher than I would have expected. Usually when I travel somewhere warmer the people are thiner because they are not "stuck inside" all winter. But here seems to be the reverse, maybe it's the BBQ and lack of veggies on a normal plate. My class this week is at a health insurance company so they try their best to provide "healthy" options in the cafeteria but those lines are generally very short and still not what I would put in the "healthy" category.

I got stuck at work till 5 again today so no museum trip for me, I fly out tomorrow at 5:45 so I told the students I need to leave at 2 so I could make the airport. Of eight students two of them are done with today's labs, two of them are still on Monday's labs and the other four are on Day 3 labs.

After getting out I came back to the hotel and researched food options. I found a "microw-brew" called Landing's Neighborhood Eatery and Micro-Brew which had $5 burger dinners tonight and said they had a wide selection of micro-brews. The burger was good and I had a Boulevard Nitro 7 which was a Belgium Triple, it was good, I know I keep saying beers were "good", that's because nothing has jumped out as awesome. The burger was very good and while I was there a blues band came on and was playing some live music. The band was fun to listen to, I didn't catch their name. I was talking to the girlfriend of the drummer and she was telling me they just got back from NYC where they recorded a few tracks.

After a few songs I had finished my burger and beer so I decided to head back to the hotel, I'm pretty tired and still had to pack for tomorrow's flight.

I am going to head to bed but I wanted to end this with some wise words from a wise friend..

"Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it"

[] []

Time for Buddha to travel? I think so..

I had a VERY good day/night. I will admit today didn't start out great, I woke feeling lonely and was dreading going into work and dealing with my students.. My students did not make the day any better nor did the rain and hail throughout the day, although it was pretty cool to see really large hail chunks falling from the sky..  What did help was an early morning chat with Kaila and a long, really awesome night time chat..  :)

I was hoping my students would be done with labs, or at least leave early enough, so that I could go to the Negro League Museum but I didn't get out of work till almost 5 again and that was because I ended up leaving.  The students are really not taking lab time seriously and are too focused on their normal work projects to be focused on getting their labs done.

Since I didn't get out till then I decided I would just go somewhere, have a few beers and watch the Mets game. I came back to the hotel after work and researched online for a good sports bar, my choice came down to three places; one was a gay bar in downtown, the second was a place called All Star Grill and the third was the Brass Rail. I knew the All Star Grill was closest but they had Karaoke tonight so I figured they wouldn't have TVs open for the game, the gay bar didn't have the MLB package so that left the Brass Rail which did have the MLB package and a pretty good looking menu.

While researching my friend Steve called, I haven't talked to him in a long time and I thought it was funny that he called since I just referenced him in Monday's blog.

Right before I was about to leave I found out the Mets game was snowed out again! The Mets have been snowed out 3 of the last 4 days!? It's spring right? Anyway, I re-thought my dinner plans and eventually decided that the menu at the Brass Rail was good enough to check out.  I had a Rib Eye with Mashed Potatoes and Broccoli, the food was not something worth "writing home about" but it was good, I had a Grass Roots IPA which is from a local KC brewery, it was also not something to "write home about" but it was good. On the way home I realized the All Star Grill is two buildings away from the hotel..  Could have just walked there..

When I got back I called Kaila and talked to her for a long time, I am not going to go into any detail here but I will say it was a very good conversation and I hung up feeling great about "life, the universe and everything". She is flying into MO tomorrow to go to a con, unfortunately it's on the other side of the state from me so although we will be in the same state we won't be able to see each other..

After our conversation I decided that I wanted a drink before bed so I went over to the All Star Grill, as I said it is a few buildings away. I'm glad I didn't go there for dinner, it's a nice place for a drink but I don't know about eating there. I had an Irish Cream Ale from a local KC place which was good, don't know why they call it "Irish" but it reminded me of Harry Potter's butter beer.

I'm off to bed, don't know how much sleep I'm going to get as I'm all amped up still but I'm going to try, at least I don't have to get up at crazy o'clock in the morning for a flight.

Good night everyone, till next time..

13 Places to Eat Before You Die: #13 - Check

I know I said I was going to go to Fud tonight, but after looking at their website today and realizing they don't take credit cards I was a little taken a back.  Apparently they consider themselves "hipster" and taking credit cards is not something they want to do.  Ironically they will take a check? Who takes checks and not credit cards?! Anyway..  The guy at Cafe Gratitude said if I eat meat the best BBQ in KC is Oklahoma Joe's which runs out of a gas station downtown, I spoke with some guys from class and they also highly recommend them so I'm going to check them out. 

Right now, I'm just sitting in the hotel and relaxing for a bit. The Mets and Rockies are attempting to get a game or two in today although the snow removal held the first game up for a while, and it's snowing there now, and is supposed to throughout the night. We shall see, Wright hit two home runs so far in the first game.  :)

I want to vent here about work, but I also don't want this to be a work vent blog so I am just going to say "jeez am I glad today's class is over"..

Anyway, off to dinner..  I say off to dinner, but I'm not going to post this till later tonight as I don't really want two blog entries in the same day. 

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I just got back from Oklahoma Joe's BBQ, as I said earlier, they are in a gas station on the Southern side of Kansas City, the restaurant had a line out the door but I was assured by the guys in front and behind me that it was worth the wait. I waited in line for almost an hour and they were right, it was worth it..  They were featured on Food Network a few years ago and were listed as one of Anthony Bourdain's "13 Places to Eat Before You Die".

1. St. John (London)
2. elBulli (Girona, Spain)
3. The French Laundry (Napa Valley, CA)
4. PerSe (New York City)
5. Sin Juat Eating House (Singapore)
6. Le Bernardin (New York City)
7. Salumi (Seattle)
8. Russ & Daughters (New York City)
9. Katz's Delicatessen (New York City)
10. Etxebarri (Axpe, Spain)
11. Sukiyabashi Jiro (Tokyo)
12. Hot Doug's (Chicago)
13. Oklahoma Joe's Barbecue (Kansas City, Kansas)

Did you know that Kansas City MO is the same city as Kansas City KS? The northern side of the river is in MO, the southern side of the river is in KS. Just an odd thing to share in case you were interested in random bar room trivia, which if you're reading this blog you probably are.

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Apparently cold snowy winter weather causes even more home runs in Colorado than normal..  Mets lost game one but are currently winning game two. Random trivia part, I don't know, lets say two..  ;)  - Mets have hit a home run in every game they have played so far this year, I know there has not been that many games yet, but I thought it was a cool statistic..

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One last thing before I sign off for the night.  I uploaded like 200 pictures to Flickr last night and today, I had not uploaded new pictures since December so go check it out..

Uh, I used to have a "links" section on the left hand side, the link is http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrjax38/sets

Speaking of used to have..  Remember the Flickr widget on this blog, wish that still worked..

Gratitude - in the form of food for the heart and soul..

"Don't lead, I'll wander off bored. Don't follow, I'll get you lost. Stand beside me and help me cause trouble."

:)

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After eating crap the last few days I decided to be healthy today.. Crap = Royal Bacon Blue fries at the game yesterday and Wendy's for dinner. Anyway, Happy Cow to the rescue right? What can I possibly find in KC that's healthy?  You may have heard of Cafe Gratitude from my previous blogs, if not they are a vegan (mostly raw) restaurant from CA. Well, they have one in KC that opened last year!

Tonight's choices:
Drink - Klamath Lake live Algae with Kale, Beet, Celery, Apple and Ginger
Appetizer - Kale with garlic and Pumpkin seeds
Dinner - Hemp seed Pesto bowl with Quinoa, shredded Kale, Tomato and a Brazil Nut Cheese drizzled with Olive Oil and topped with Sprouts

SO GOOD!!

I sat at the bar and ended up talking to a regular customer and one of the waiters for a while. The waiter told me about a few other vegan restaurants in the area including a place called FuD which has vegan BBQ, apparently they entered a BBQ contest without telling anyone it was not meat and won 2nd place! I think I'm going to go there tomorrow night. He also told me about a local beer house that had lots of local beer choices so I went there after dinner. Turns out it is the Flying Saucer which is a beer house from Texas. I recognized it as soon as he put the coaster down..  I actually have a membership there from when I was in Texas with Becca. I had Boulevard's DoubleWide IPA which was very good, not Maharajah good, but really, what is..

Speaking of Becca..  The waiter at Cafe Gratitude told me before he gave me the bill he had to ask me the "question of the day" which was "name a problem in your life that turned into a blessing", I had already seen the question on the black board by the bathroom so I had my answer. I told him that the problem was my ex deciding not to give me another chance and that the blessing is that I was single long enough to re-discover who I am and that life put me in the right spot to meet Kaila..

Who is Kaila?  More on that later..  ;)  Sufficed to say, she is the girl I'm dating now, and she is pretty smeggin' awesome.. I'm not going to "wax poetic" about her here yet, but I will say she is someone who I hope will come up a lot in future blogs..

Back to the matter at hand..  Kansas City reminds me a lot of Pittsburgh, with the winding hilly streets and lots of odd roads and bridges, the difference is this city seems a lot cleaner than Pittsburgh.

Ah, the tangent is back baby...  :D

I showed up for work today and have eight students, seven are local and the eighth is in India via webcam!? The lighting in the room was such that once I started using the white board we had to re-arrange all the furniture so that he could see what I was writing, the downside is the white board is pretty low so while I was not writing the student in India got to watch my crotch while I talked..  LOL! 

The facility here is really cool, they have an outside eating area in the woods next to the cafeteria, it was nice enough today that I got to sit outside with my lunch which is always a win..
I am going to head to bed but I wanted to write a little something before bed..

One last time, as a nod to someone I hold dear..

Good night my lovelies..

Nobody likes the smegging censors, even when they're yourself..

I have started this blog many times over the last few months..  Sometimes it started angry, sometimes it started emo and sometimes it started hopeful. Everytime it started talking about other people and focused on them coming or going from my life. This blog should not be about others, well, as the focus anyway..  After much thought I decided to open this blog with I!

"
I was so frightened
 I almost ran away
 I didn't know that I could do
 Anything I needed to

And then a bolt of lightning
 Hit me on my head
 Then I began to see
 I just needed to believe in me

Now I, I believe in me
 And I, I believe in something more
 Than you can understand
 Yes, I believe in me
 O-ooh and I believe in me
 Ooh yes I believe in something more
 Than you can understand
 Yes, I believe in me

Listen!
 They said I didn't stand a chance
 I wouldn't win no way
 But I've got news for you
 There's nothing I can't do

Ain't no pretending
 Ain't no make believe
 But I've got to be the one
 I gotta do what must be done

And I (I) believe in me
 Whoa-o and I (I) believe in something more
 Than you can understand
 Yes, I believe in me"

I have come to the realization over the last few months that I'm very affected by the moods of those around me, if I surround myself with negative and hopeless people I tend to take that on. I've certainly fallen into that trap over the last few years, never feeling like I was enough, never feeling like things were ok, always looking for something to "fix" things. Being single these last few months has made me realize who I am again, has made me come back to the true me.

Who is that?  I'm the person who wears their heart on their sleeve, who wants everyone to be happy and who tells everyone about everything when they're happy. I've been told many times (even recently) that I should watch what I say to people because it might come off as bragging or gloating or hurtful. When I tell you about something I'm happy about it's because I'm happy and I want to share that happiness with others. I want the same of you, if you're happy with a partner, a meal or just a good day I want to hear it. Hearing about other people's good times makes me happy, even if it has nothing to do with me. I honestly don't understand how people can NOT want to hear about good things, but I guess that's why the news never leads the night with a happy story of someone's success, instead they are focused on all the crap in the world..  Crap begets crap..  Happiness begets happiness. It's the simplest truth of the law of attraction.

I do care too much about people's feelings, because of that I've started censoring myself out of concern that it would hurt if what I said was heard and/or read. I'm sure you can tell if you go back to the beginning of this blog when I was MUCH more open about myself and the world around me. It's time I stopped caring what people think.

"
all of my life
 I've never fit
 but I won't complain and I won't quit
 I am enormous
 get used to it
 everyone tells me I'm too much
 maybe it's just you're not enough for me
 can't you see
 I'm the kind of the woman I'm supposed to be"

OK, I know, woman, what, well, I'm not going to edit lyrics..  ;)  I am reminded of my friend Steve who once said, 'most people hate me, and I'm ok with that because those who like me like me for me'. Well, I also don't think caring about people's feelings is a bad thing, but we don't live in Chile. I will say what I want, regardless of if I'm in a prison or not, I WON'T die if you hear me.

I know there are some people who get this blog auto-emailed to them, if you don't want to be on that list anymore after reading this just send me an email and I will remove you. I'd hate for something I've said to randomly show up in your inbox and piss you off. No, I'm not saying this out of spite or anger, I'm saying this because I really don't want to piss anyone off, but in the same respect I can't censor myself (especially here) because of the few who might get upset.

--
With that said..  Hi everyone..  :)  I'm in Kansas City this week, I flew in yesterday so I could go to a Royals game today, the stadium was VERY nice and it was a very good game (Royals won 3-2 on a walk off hit). The guy sitting next to me was apparently a little aspy (he narrated the entire game to himself including when birds were chirping), I tried talking to him a bit but after a little while realzed it would be better to just let him be in his own little world. I found out that the Negro Leagues were formed in KC and there is a museum downtown, I need to find out when they are open so I can try to go this week.

That's all from me for now.. I might write more later tonight but I wanted to put this out there now before I chicken out, I have to post this before the side of me that says "you know this might upset some people" wins..

Epilogue

As you are probably aware I talk a lot about chapters in life.  I'm beginning to acknowledge that sometimes the book, not just the chapter, needs to end.  I believe this is one of those times..  As I look back I realize that my life has been comprised of at two books, the first one ended in Oct 1995, the second one is coming to an end now.

What does it mean to end a book and not just say it's a new chapter?  When a book ends you can expect that some of the major characters may change, that some characters who were major will now become minor, and some might disappear all together.  Some plot lines may be wrapped up while others might continue but might not be the focus of the next book.  When a chapter of a book ends it's not as major as when the book comes to a close.

As I look back on this last book of my life I have to wonder, am I the hero?  Did I accomplish anything of worth?  Where was the major story arc and did I leave those I've touched in a better place or worse?  Throughout this book I tried to do the right thing and I've tried to help as many people as I could.  I loved, was loved, hurt and caused hurt.  Life is a palindrome? "..it's all about the ups and downs, add 'em all together, cancel each other out.."

Do they really cancel each other out?  Or was there more hurt than good?  Could I have done things differently?  Of course..  Should I have?  Of course not..  Life is where it is for a reason..

Looking forward I wonder what this next book will bring, who will be the major players, who will re-appear from the previous book and in what form?  Can those I hurt forgive me, do I deserve them to?  How does outside influences effect things?  One thing I know is that I can't control any of it, not anymore, I played my cards and now I have to wait to see how the hand turns out.  In the end everything will play out as it should, it might not be what I wanted or what I envisioned but I will deal with however the cards may fall.

Maybe just one more time Mr Jax's luck will shine.  Maybe today is the day the Lord of the Deep and his drowned ones get him..

One thing's for sure, I'm sick of walking the streets of Sydney and trying (sometimes unsuccessfully) not to cry.  I'm sick of wondering what the outcome will be.  Sick of wondering..  Sick of being afraid..

"Well, some take the road to Damascus
Some take the road to hell
I'll take highway one to the evergreens
And everything will turn out well

Bring my courage back now
Would you bring it back to me?
Tired of being afraid of what I can't change
And I want to be living free

I don't want to be a prisoner
Bound in these chains
Slave to my fears
I want to be free again
I want to be free again"

--
This blog is ending now for the foreseeable future, it's been a good ride..  See you in the future?

June 21

I was thinking about uniforms today, why you ask?  Because the Rays released a picture of their new "retro" uniform and I was stunned at the sheer "wow" of it..  I like colored uniforms but only when the color does not feel like a slap in the face.  This new uniform looks like someone took the old Padres uniform pattern and changed the color scheme from brown and yellow to blue and horrid blue, and and yellow..  The only good thing I can say is that I do like the logo on the hat.  It is a "tb" with a sun in the b.  Anyway, without further ado.. 

I wonder if they are trying to compete with the Marlins for worst uniform of the year...  I was looking over some more of the "special" uniforms for 2012.  Apparently someone decided the A's should wear this PoS for a game or two this year?

"oaks"?  Yo' dawg I'm going to see the Oaks..  I guess this one can market well to little leagues?

---
Last night I went to Mullen's sports bar to watch the Mets game.  I had a "Pittsburgh" steak and cheese.  It was chopped steak with mushrooms and provolone served with au jus like a french dip.  It was very tasty, I got chips with it instead of fries and just had a few of them to make sure I could stay under my points for the day.  Even with two beers (Oberon's Bells) I finished the day at 1379 calories.  Oberon's Bells is a summer ale but with hops.  Think maybe a hoppy version of blue moon, it had a citrus undertone with the hops overtone. 

Tonight is going to be another stay local night, I have to get up at 3am so I can get to the airport by 4 for my 6am flight.  Why do I keep booking the crazy early flights?  I think I need to remember why I don't like them..  Oh well, at least I got upgraded on both legs.

Driving to Chicago v. Taking the Train

Yesterday in class we had a discussion on how to get into downtown Chicago.  The general opinion was that driving is actually quicker than the train.  So, looking at Google Maps and the CTA schedules it looked close, maybe even favoring the car..  I decided, what the heck, I'll give it a shot.. 

If it was not for the construction I think the car would have been much faster, with the construction obstacles it took just about the same amount of time the train would have taken.  Time v. Sanity, that is the real question..  Should have taken the train, on the train I could have relaxed and just listened to my book, instead I got to drive in stop and go traffic through one construction area after another..  I will say that the trip back was much quicker.  The other downside of driving was I felt I should leave earlier because I didn't want to leave my car in the Chicago Diner lot and didn't want to pay to park.  Almost all of the street parking in that area is resident parking pass required.

Dinner was certainly tasty, I got the "southern plate" which was setain strips, mac n' cheeze, collards, black eye peas and bacun corn fritters.  See picture on Flickr.  With it I got a class of wine.  My calorie intake for dinner was 881.  That brought my total calorie intake up to 1347, minus my lunch walk brings me well under my calories for the day..  My lunch was the same yesterday and today.  I decided to get a salad and then was disgruntled when I saw how many calories dressing was, the only option - no dressing..  I ended up with spinach, mushrooms, bell peppers, baby corn and chopped up egg.  121 calorie lunch and most of that was the egg. 

I think tonight is going to be a quiet night, I am going to try to find a local sports bar and watch the game/get food. 

--Diversion of the Day

60 MPH Gusts

I told My Fitness Pal I am 150lbs and want to lose 1lb a week, it decided I need to eat 1500 Calories a day.  How did I do yesterday?  1432 Calories consumed, workout (20 minutes on elliptical and 1 set of 25 push ups) takes 204 calories off.  So, grand total was 1228 calories..  Before you ask, yes, 1 set of push ups, I'm a beast..  :P  I'm using the Hundred Push Ups ap on my phone and the first day is the "test" day to determine where in the program you should start.  Because of doing 25 I get to skip weeks 1 and 2, last time I did this the same thing happened and I got real burned out on trying week 3, hopefully I can do better this time.. 

Chicago = Windy City..  Yesterday was comically windy, apparently there were 60 MPH winds yesterday, I didn't know that till I was talking to some students before class today.  All I know is when I went out to find work out clothes I felt I was walking into a wall of wind, I swear if I jumped I would have been blown back..  Speaking of trying to get workout clothes, why is it that even workout pants sized "small" drag on the ground when I wear them?  I went to two different Dicks and Sports Authority, first problem is, apparently not many people want pants in the summer. Sports Authority and the first Dicks had no pants at all, just shorts.  The second Dicks had pants but they were all way to long (Nike, Adidas, Rebook and Under Armor), the shorts were ok but I couldn't justify spending $35+ dollars on shorts for working out.  I decided to just use one of the pairs of shorts I already had with me.  The second Dicks was in a parking lot with Whole Foods so I decided to grab dinner while I was out.  Got sushi and a Norse Legend.

Went back to the hotel, worked out, took a bath and chilled out for the evening.  Plan for tonight is to head into Wrigley Ville.  The Cubs are playing the White Sox but on the South Side so Wrigley Ville should not be super crowded tonight.  I was talking to some students who swear it's quicker to drive than to take the train?  Looking online at Google Maps I just don't believe it, depending on what time I get out I may drive but will probably just end up on the train.

--Diversion of the Day
http://www.redmeat.com/redmeat/2012-05-01/index.html

Draper --> Lisle

Bet you thought I went away again.. Well, I guess I did but not for a long time like last time.. I'm sitting in Chicago this week monitoring another instructor to qualify him for a class.

So, last I wrote I was headed over to Park City in Utah. If you ever find yourself in Draper Utah and want to go to Park City there are two ways to get there, the highway and the "scenic route". I refer you to C.W. McCall's Black Bear Road "you don't have to be crazy to drive that road, but it helps".. Well, who's crazy? This guy... Crazy is driving Big Cottonwood Canyon Road, real crazy is driving it in a piece of shit Chevy economy car..

This road has an average grade of 7.8% with a 15% grade at some points. To say the car had issues climbing it would be an understatement, but hey, you only live once right? The total climb is 4584 feet from the bottom to the top. These numbers I am listing were not known by me *before* the drive, I looked them up afterwards. I was just told it was a beautiful ride, yeah, I was warned I might want to trade my rental in for a 4 wheel drive, but..

I was enjoying the scenery until the rock slide that passed just behind my car, I had the windows open (cause it was early on in the trip and hadn't hit the high altitude temperature drop yet) and heard the "whooshing/grumbling" sound of the rocks and got to see them up close as they past right behind the car. Now I was on high alert and not so much enjoying the views, but on a mission to "conquer" the road. Past the "if light if blinking do not attempt this road without 4 wheel drive" sign, it was not blinking so I continued. Then hit the snow and ice part of the journey, the temperature drop was over 40 degrees, then past the snow? Am I so high I am past the ability to snow? Oh my... Finally as I crest the mountain the road ends!?! Well, the "road" continues as a dirt path down the mountain, no up in the north east a "dirt road" is a much different thing than it is in the mountains. In the east a dirt road is mostly hard pounded dirt/mud/gravel. Up here it was loose sand and rock, the car was fish tailing all over the place and I had to ride the brakes to stay under 15 miles per hour. Two hands on the wheel, foot on the break and thinking I was going to fly off the cliff.. Oh, right, I didn't mention the fact that the entire drive there was a cliff face on the right of the car and NO railings anywhere! Finally made it down and hit the pub for a much needed drink.

After stopping at the pub I went over to Main St for dinner, walked around a bit and I have to admit it is a very pretty area. It's one of those areas that forces the chains to tone down their big signs/big colors/recognizable logos. On one hand I like when places do that because it makes the landscape look more "natural" but in the same respect it's sorta like a freedom of speech issue isn't it?
Well, I went to the place the guys at work recommended. The Elk was good, but the sides were over spiced and it was WAY over priced. Oh well.. Worth the trip anyway.. Off to the fire bar, it was not open yet and I was getting tired so I figured I'd head back to the hotel and check that out next time I'm in Utah.

---
Spent the last two weeks at home, I suppose I have lots to say about that, but this is not the time to go into it. I realize that every time I start to think about blogging about "home life" I go into hiding, so in order to keep this blog active I have decided to keep "home life" out of it. For now I will continue to entertain you with my travel and culinary treats and ask that you forgive me for not talking about home life.

---
So, I started off by talking about being here in Chicago, the flights here were ok. The flight from Hartford to Detroit was good, got upgraded again.. :) We were supposed to board at 3:40, but the arriving flight didn't land till 3:58, even though we boarded late we still managed to take off on time and even landed early. In Detroit however we didn't have such luck, didn't get upgraded, pilot didn't show up on time, missed our take off window and had to sit on the runway in the closed off plane for over an hour. Finally got to Chicago, got my car and headed to hotel. So hungry.. Crap, only thing open is McDonalds.. Ahh, when is eating at McDonalds the right answer? That's a question I was just talking to Lynz about while in the airport in Hartford. The other option is going to a gas station and getting something, drove around for a bit but gave up and got fries..

Speaking of fries, my fat ass is having an issue fitting into my pants, I think it was just a few months ago when I was feeling real proud that I could fit into my old work pants, then something happened.. Not only can I NOT fit into those pants anymore, I can barely fit into my jeans either. I have two pairs of work pants that "fit" if I suck in my gut before buttoning.. Time for fat ass to get back to the gym and to start counting calories again.. At the time of this blog I'm at 151 lbs, I want to get back down to 130-135 but I am not really a big "number" person for weight, the goal is to get my gut to go away. I signed up for myfitnesspal, if you're on there send me your ID so we can be friends on there. I also am going to start doing push ups again, yeah, I know, I've said that before.. But this time I downloaded the app for the phone so it will pester me if I don't do it.

Plan for tonight? Go get some workout clothes, hit the gym at the hotel. Go find something healthy for dinner.. Depending on time line I might go to the Chicago Diner, if not I'll have to find something more local..

-- Diversion of the Day

Utah 2

Apparently my Flickr add-on for my blog no longer works.  I need to investigate that..  I posted over 100 pics to flickr this month so if you haven't been over there you should check it out.  My new phone (Droid 3) can send pictures directly to Flickr so now I don't need to go through the copy to PC process.. 

Back to our regularly (or semi-regularly) scheduled program.. 

Wednesday night after work I spent a few hours looking at online D&D tools before going out for dinner..  Quick tip, don't wait till 8:30 to get dinner in Lehi Utah!  I went to Cabella's because they are open till 9 and the restaurant actually looked pretty good, unfortunately the restaurant is NOT open till 9, they were closed when I got there a little after 8:30.  I decided I need some come of utility device to open bottles (beer and wine) so I decided to look around while I was there since I figured they would have some kind of little camping tool.  They did, but man are they expensive there.  Maybe I need a little Swiss Army Knife, I used to have one but lost it a long time ago, the cheapest thing I found at Cabella's was $50 and I'm not willing to spend that much on it.. I will probably end up buying a little waiter bottle opener at Stop and Shop for a few bucks when I get home.  Now it's about 8:45 so I decide to just go get some Subway, hmm, those closed at 7pm?!  Onto sushi again?  Again you may be asking?  Monday night I got sushi at a place called Koi in Lehi, it was ok..  Well I went over to Koi and it's also closed...  Hrmph..  Running out of options I ended up at a fast food place called JCW, the food was surprisingly good, or maybe I was hungry..  Don't know...  Quote of the night while talking to Lynz about what NOT to say to a Mormon when they ask what comes after life..  "You get reincarnated based on how much of a douche you are, or are not, in this life".  The correct/political answer is of course "I don't worry about what comes after, when I get there I'll figure it out"..  :D

Thursday after class I went into Salt Lake City proper, I parked in a central area and set off on foot with Yelp and Happy Cow as my guides.  Happy Cow was no help, which I guess is not a big surprise and Yelp led me to a brewery called Epic.  It was 5 blocks south and 1 block east of where I parked so I set off.  FYI - Salt Lake City has BIG blocks!  It took about 30 minutes to walk south and as I was walking the area started getting real bad, if it was dark I would not have been walking in that area.  Got to Epic and found out that you can't buy beer there unless you take it to go.  They do offer tastings, but not right now..  So, back to the north..  Went to a bar near my car called Murphy's Irish Bar..  Yes, there is one in every city..  :)  In Salt Lake City all bars need to be under street level in order to serve beer over 4%, so a few steps down I found a selection of wonderful micro brews including a few by Epic..  Asked the barkeep what the best IPA was and she recommended Elephino Double IPA made by Red Rock Brewery in Salt Lake City.  This beer was amazing, I would put it on par with the Maha..

Off to dinner..  I ended up an old polygamist "compound", I don't really know what else to call it.  It had a large main building / mill house and 11 little houses on the land.  It was built for a husband and his 11 wives back in the late 1800s.  Now all the houses were little stores, sewing shops, candy shops, toy store, etc and the main building is a restaurant called Archibalds after the guy who built it all.  I got a steak with shrimp and spinach in it and with sausage gravy over it!  Might not be healthy, but man was it good!

Tonight I'm going to hit Park City, I got a few suggestions from students so it should be a fun night.  Plan - get a beer at the local Park City brewery (yes, it serves it's beer on premise unlike Epic), get an Elk Steak and head over to a fire bar.  Can't stay out too late since I have to leave my hotel at 4am to get my 6am flight..  Sleep is for the weak right?   

-Diversion of the Day

You Tah - The Return of the Blog

I'm just going to pretend I didn't disappear from the blogging world for, um, a long time..  Last blog was July of 2011..  Oh, well, lots happened since then..   If I spend time trying to catch everyone up I will feel overwhelmed by this and do nothing..  So..  On to Utah..

I am in Utah this week, just south of Salt Lake City in Draper.  Actually I was supposed to be in Draper, but due to a mis-click on concur I'm staying in Lehi which is just south of Draper..  I'm about 7 miles away and in a different county, that 7 miles can take an hour to drive which was fun to figure out on Tuesday morning.  I tried to get to work for 8:30 on Tuesday and ended up having to drop off the highway and take back roads to get here a little after 9.  Anyway, I get here Tuesday and find out that not only is lunch not provided but there is no cafeteria either, during the morning briefing I found out that the class needed to leave at 4 because they have a field trip to see a Salt Lake Bees game, would I like to go?  Of course!!

Salt Lake Bees are a minor league team for the Anaheim Angels.  Speaking of the Angels, on my first flight I sat next to a scout for the Angels.  It made for a very interesting conversation about how the scouting process works.  Last season he was responsible for the NL East and was trying to get the Angels to trade for Wright and Murphy.  I'm so glad the Mets put those two on the "do not trade" list last off season.  On the second flight I sat next to a nice Mormon boy who was on his way home from his mission to Detroit, shockingly, he tried to convert me..  I wasn't even in Utah yet and I had the "speech" about Joseph Smith..  :/

I checked into the hotel Monday evening and decided to check out the area.  Well crap, a dry county..  Go north to Draper to find beer, and even that is only less than 4%..  Apparently they can serve stronger stuff in Salt Lake City at breweries, will be finding that out tonight..  Drove up to Draper and grabbed a 6 pack of Hyve honey ale, went back to the hotel to find out the room didn't have a bottle opener.  They have one at the front desk and you can use it as long as you don't mind the dirty looks.. 

We were told that the stadium opened it's doors at 5 (game starts at 6:35) so we left at 4.  Got to the stadium around 4:30 and stood outside till 5:35, I walked around the park with two of my students who were very cool.  It was odd when I asked them if they lived in Utah there whole life and the younger guy says something like 'except for the normal two years', when I was obviously confused he told me that it was his two year mission for god..  Oh man, here we go again with the conversion speech..  It was not as bad as the one on the plane, but still..  Two days, two conversions attempts..  Still holding strong in case you were wondering..  :D

Something I didn't know, apparently if you smoke, drink alcohol or drink caffeine you are not invited to some of the more holy events..  Hmm..  I guess that's one way to push peer pressure.. 

Back to the game..  We went in and walked around the inside of the park, they have a train that drives from the left field corner to the right field corner (behind the wall), I rode the train with one the students..  As you can imagine, I had a great time at the game..  We actually had a suite at the game and food (hot dogs, burgers, pulled pork, chips, salsa, very good bean dip) was included.  Beer however was not, the waitress came out and I ordered a beer which was very scandalas.. One of the students pulled me aside and said he would join me in having a beer but didn't want to be judged by his co-workers, it was ok for me to drink because I would only be here for the one week.  Oh man...  So now you have to hide your drinking from your co-workers for fear of being ostracized..  Hrmph.. 

 - I apparently started writing this too late in the day..  It's quit'en time, heading up to Salt Lake City tonight to see what I can find..

- Diversion of the Day