Year 3 - Day 209 - July 27

When we took the Duclaw glasses out of the TV room, I had big plans for the shelves. I still do. I just haven't done anything yet. :) The cat took advantage of all the empty space today, and curled up with my Mike Mussina picture and autographed ball.

Moments later, he threw the ball on the ground. Mike came running and saying "No, Moose! No!"

I was very impressed that Mike cared about my ball.

Then he said, "If you're going to throw something, throw the PICTURE!"

Sigh. :)

Year 3 - Day 142 - May 21

I guess because I have baseball on the brain this week, you're getting yet another baseball related post.

This is the sports section at my local JoAnn's. It's been there for about a year or so now. Every single time, until about 3 weeks ago, They had Nationals, Orioles, and Redskins scrapbook kits. The Ravens tag was ALWAYS empty. I searched the internet high and low and couldn't find it. I wanted to use it for Christmas present things last year, but it would sell out the day it hit the shelves, and then the manufacturer wasn't making more because it wasn't football season. About 3 weeks ago, there was Ravens paper there. (I always check, just in case.) I was excited, and bought it.

But today, the ORIOLES peg is empty. CRAZY!

Year 3 - Day 141 - May 20

We went down to DC today for an Orioles/Nationals game. Sadly, the Orioles did not add any more wins to their attempts at reaching .500, but we did get to see Strasburg pitch AND hit a homer. Granted, you don't really want to see the other team's pitcher hit a home run, but it was pretty cool anyway. Their stadium was nice, but ours is of course nicer. :) If we go again, we'll go early so we have time to walk around and see the park. It's way more expensive than an Orioles game. While our seats had a good view (see above), they were $20 and that's as cheap as it gets there. There are tons of tickets available for under that price at Oriole Park. The food was comparable in pricing to Camden Yards, but there wasn't the same variety. We did notice there were some fancier things downstairs but we didn't venture down there. All in all, a very nice day. Even if they lost!

Year 3 - Day 127 - May 6

While I was watching the Orioles game this afternoon (and evening, but more on that later), Brad's posted on Facebook that their "U-Pick" fields were open for picking. I decided to just hop over for 5 minutes or so and pick myself a snack. I got more than half a bowl, just more than 2 quarts, for $3 and change. That's a much more reasonable price than the $4.50 a quart they get for pre-picked berries.

So, the O's game. Before it came on, I got my errands done so that I could be back for the start of the game. They've been playing decently and I thought there might be a chance they'd sweep the Red Sox. After 4 or 5 innings, I headed out to pick my berries. I wasn't gone for long and watched another inning or two while I waited for Mike. We went to drop off the car and stopped by the grocery store to pick a few things up that are on sale this week and came home. Watched another inning or so while we cooked dinner and then ate dinner with the game on since they were well into extra innings at that point. When we cleaned up, the game was STILL ON. The last couple innings were the best, because that's when our 1B/DH came in to pitch. I was just worried about him blowing out an arm (I'm looking at you, Jose Canseco!) but he not only survived, he got the Win. Amazing. It was the craziest baseball game I've ever seen. And it was 6+ hours!!!

Year 3 - Day 117 - April 26

Can you read that? It's Brian Matusz's glove as shown on the Orioles' game tonight. (Thank you DVR, for allowing me to rewind and pause.)

But wait, that script doesn't say Brian Matusz! It says BRADY ANDERSON! I do know that Brian is one of the many Orioles participating in the "Brady Bunch" (a health, strength, and conditioning group from what I understand) so perhaps Brady let him use it? Who knows, but it caught my eye.

Year 3 - Day 97 - April 6

Another great day. We started our day by walking north to the Venetian/Palazzo complex to hunt down the Emeril sports bar. We found it and watched Orioles Opening Day from these couches:

The whole restaurant/bar is made of couches and coffee tables. Well, the main area. There are also tables, cubbies, and private areas that you can grab. Lots of TVs and lots of sports. Of course since it's an Emeril restaurant, it's New Orleans themed bar food. We had a giant pretzel that was pretty good.

After the Orioles won, we headed ALL THE WAY down the street to Mandalay Bay. We were assisted by the Belliago -> Monte Carlo and Excalibur -> Mandalay Bay trams and took a break at the pub in Monte Carlo. Every resort is pretty cool, but there are definite class differences. We felt really poor at some of the places. :) 

I talked Mike into one last happy hour at Sugar Factory. This time I had another smores and he tried a Cinnamon Toast Crunch. 

They actually put cinnamon toast crunch IN the drink just floating there. Then you can eat it just like you would in a bowl of cereal. Hilarious. Only in Vegas!

Another thing that can only be found in Vegas is an old school video game place. We found a place to use our quarters. (Because none of the slot machines take them!!) Mike played Dig Dug for awhile:

While he did that, I lost money playing Centipede. Then, he beat me in Tetris. Talk about embarrassing. That's one of the only games I'm any good at! It was a lot harder to play with a joystick. That's my excuse. ;)

Year 2 - Day 248 - September 6

Tuesday night is class night. Even though the class is 3 hours a week, I'm definitely putting major hours into it. It's fun though, because I'm using my brain in a totally different way. It's exhausting getting home late though.

With this week being the 10 anniversary of 9/11, lots of people will be sharing "Where were you?" stories. However, today's September 6, a much happier day in our city's history.

I prefer to think, where were you on September 6, 1995? Sixteen years ago tonight, Cal broke Lou Gehrig's streak with 2131 consecutive games played. I wasn't there. I was working at Music & Arts until 9, and then raced home. Luckily, the excitement wasn't until the middle of the 5th inning (since the O's were winning, thank you pitcher Mike) and I made it with just a little time to spare. I taped the excitement on both our local sports channel (HTS at the time which has since morphed into MASN) and ESPN. What a wonderful night. I had goosebumps, and I still do when I see footage of Cal's victory lap. In addition to Cal's excitement, the Orioles were SO GOOD back then!

I was however at the game the night before, when he tied the record at 2130. That's one of my few tee shirts that survived the "cut them all up to make a quilt some day" massacre. My now husband was there too, just a couple sections over from where we were sitting!

Year 2 - Day 199 - July 19

I have both been terribly excited and terribly terrified of this day's activity since I came up with the crazy idea. I'm not a huge fan of bridges and I'm not that athletic, so the fact that I wanted to ride a bike up and down some big hills with a big suspension bridge in the middle made me think twice about my sanity! But we did it. The bridge got closer...

And then we were on it and the city was very tiny...

And then we were on the other side in Sausalito.

I thought about buying this shirt, but I didn't.

We cheated & took the ferry back, rather than do the ride in reverse. I was totally ok with that.

Today, I got really smart. I asked at the bike shop for the FLATTEST way back to Union Square. We shaved more than 20 minutes off our walk time from the previous two days. It's just a pain to get back from downtown. It's easy in the morning to hop on the cable car outside our hotel and ride to the wharf or wherever we're going because it's early in the morning and nobody's out yet. But in the afternoon the lines are super long and the cars run on a schedule rather than when they have a full car. Perhaps tomorrow we'll take the bus. Who knows. For dinner, we met one of my oldest friends from summer camp for dinner. We've lived on different coasts for most of the last 10 years, so we don't see each other very often and hadn't hung out since the wedding 3 years ago. He just so happens to work down the street from the baseball stadium, so it worked out well. We finished our night at the Giants/Dodgers game surrounded by people in Panda hats. The Giants won, the game was fun and quick - I always forget how different AL & NL games really are!!

Year 2 - Day 104 - April 15

Once baseball season starts, at least in the beginning before the Orioles completely fall apart, there is always something to watch on TV.  We watch a lot of baseball.  In general, there's a lot of sports on in this house year round, but baseball is the only one we both like! :)  I even got to watch "my" team during my Yankee years because they are on National TV regularly.  I don't follow them as much anymore now that Mike retired, and I'm putting a lot of effort into trying to care about the Orioles this year.  In Buck we trust....

Day 297 - October 24

Lots of sports this weekend! Today we took the Fenway park tour and then hunted down a place with Sunday ticket to watch the ravens game. We finished off the evening with one of my college friends at dinner!

Day 226 - August 14

Earlier today, I drove my mother to the airport for her flight home.  As we were driving, a Prowler passed us before changing lanes and getting in front of us in the slow lane.  It caught my eye because it was silver, and most of those cars are purple.  But then we noticed that the license plate was "ORIOLES."  I am seriously interested in who managed to get that plate.  They've probably had it for a long, long time.

Of course, my mother had never used an iphone and I was driving, so i was just verbalizing directions.  I forgot to mention that you have to hold the phone still after taking the picture.  I can only imagine that movement is the reason for the interesting curve/arc of the picture...

Day 204 - July 23

Tonight we went to the Ironbirds game (our local minor leage team, owned by Cal Ripken.)  The third baseman turned out to be Joe Flacco's brother.  I remembered that the Orioles drafted him, but in baseball there is often a long time between the draft and when you actually see see someone play in Baltimore - and that assumes they don't get traded first.  It's not like football where drafting is like picking a team on the recess field... "I want you.  Go put on a uniform and play." :)

Day 202 - July 21

Today was a long day of travel.  At least we only had to stop at one additional airport on the way home!  Vegas was beautiful and sunny today and we had great views of the strip both landing and taking off.  (My only sadness with San Diego's comfortable weather was that we didn't see much sunshine due to the low clouds that were keeping the heat out.)

This is my one gift to myself (other than the standard ornaments) from the trip.  Last week when I saw the All Star Game, I saw people wearing baseball Mickey Ears and decided that's what I would hunt for.  I was so excited to see 2 pairs left on the (really picked over) All Star Display at the big store in Downtown Disney.  But then I realized they were 20 bucks which is just plain silly for a hat that will get worn once.

But THEN ... I saw Orioles Mickey.  I'm guessing they at one point had these for every team (and I did see a Padres one at the Padres ballpark later in the vacation) but there were only 3 left and each one was Orioles.  Even if the Orioles stink right now, and even if I enjoy following the Yankees and watching real baseball ... I was still an O's fan first! 

They did have me-sized versions of these around, as well.  I saw 2 (Saint Louis and something else?) in Downtown Disney so I imagine they were all over Anaheim or LA like the cows/fish/etc that so many cities have done over the last decade.

Day 199 - July 18

We had great seats at the Padres game today!  Right down the 1st base line on the HR side.  A kid a few rows in front of us caught a HR in the first inning.  Lucky kid. :)  These were the "All you can eat" seats which were TONS cheaper than those seats in Baltimore.  There are fewer food options, but really, it's a baseball game.  The food and drinks are just a bonus.  The people in front of us did not agree.  They were complaining loudly about the food and lack of alcohol.  I don't know why they were so confused - the All You Can Eat menu was clearly explained to us both in signage and verbally by the ticket guy.  But both the mom and the dad were mad that there were onions in the tray with the hot dogs.  I don't like onions on my hot dog either, but I just grabbed one that wasn't slathered in them.  When their kid tried to explain that concept to them, they told the kid he was an idiot (and used much more colorful language than that as well.)  They didn't like that the only drink options were coke, diet, sprite, and water either.  They spent a lot of money on beer and then complained about that.  THey also bought their kid every junk food that walked by that wasn't included (which he ate 3 bites of and then threw on the ground.  I wanted that churro, snow cone, and cotton candy if he didn't!!) :) 

It did not surprise me in the 5th inning when the kid said he had a headache and they went home. 

But other than the crazies, the game was great.  They did a lot more to get people involved - more like the minor league parks do with games and contests.  Everyone in the whole park won 2 free tacos from a local fast food place because one person was able to play the "which hat is the ball under" game.  Not too shabby!

After the game, we meandered around the gaslight district.  We headed to a seafood place for dinner, where Mike started drooling at the thought of a big Tuna steak.  He was sad when dinner arrived and it was more like pan fried fish.  At first, he just assumed he read the description incorrectly and so he ate the dinner and just wasn't thrilled with it.  However, when the bill came, the price was not what he was anticipating either.  It was much, much cheaper.  So he figures the waitress put it in completely wrong, but at that point we had already eaten and it was too late.  At least we didn't pay big bucks for dinner he didn't like!

We rode their Trolley (lite-rail) into and out of the city which was easy to do, but we didn't realize how small the city was.  By the time we had meandered to dinner, we had cut out about half of our trolley ride back to the car.   Seeing all the ComicCon posters up around the city is making me wish we could stay! :)

Day 126 - May 6

I had a meeting today. My 3rd one since last Tuesday, which in my world basically means LOTS of sub plans. Anyway. This meeting, like many I attend, was in a library. I noticed a book on display called "Game Faces - some of the greatest baseball portraits." So of course I spent 5 minutes flipping through. I haven't looked up the copyright date, but judging on the main characters, I'd say it's from the early 2000's. Pedro Martinez was on the cover, there were several shots of Cal & a bunch of (baby!) Jeter and A-Rod. Most of the way through the book, I found it! I knew you couldn't leave him out! Here's Moose! :) Smiling, unlike most pitcher pictures on baseball cards. And wearing the right uniform. ;)

Update: I was right, it's from 2001. 

Day 33 - February 2

My mom works at a used book store in her local library.  People donate old books and people like my mom spend more hours a week volunteering than normal people do getting paid to price and sell the books.

She e-mailed me last week and said she had this book and did I want it.  The way she tells the story, she pulled it out of the box and said "Hey! That's Mike Mussina!"  The other lady pricing books with her was confused at how my mother would possibly know that.  My mom's response?  "The guy has been plastered all over my kid's room for decades." :) 

I'm sure you are as surprised as I am that there is a Mike Mussina book out there that

a) I didn't own
and
b) (worse!) I didn't even know existed!

But now I know.  And now I own it.  It's a story about him and Greg Maddox being old pitchers.  It's too bad it was written when it was, because a year after the horrible season chronicled in the book, Mike had his first 20 win season.