Mariner to Yankee

As the Onion’s Jim Anchower once said, “I know it’s been a long time since I’ve rapped to you, but I’ve been more busy than a one-armed wall paper hanger.” Ok, maybe he didn’t say it quite like that, but the fact is, I haven’t updated this Blog in about seven weeks.

Things have happened since then.

What things you may ask? Big things I will answer. For example, I am on a flight from Seattle to New York City right now, probably over Montana or one of the Dakotas. There are a million junior high European kids on this flight and each and every one of them suck. They’re running around, yelling, won’t get the fuck out of the aisles. You know, stupid shit like that. Remind me that if I ever have a kid that’s about to hit that age, to shove him in a closet until he turns 24 or so.

Never was a big fan of being that age or kids of that age. They all suck, doesn’t matter if they’re American, European or Venutian. Just a shitty age all around.

Getting back to PG, that’s program and it’s Eazy – Dre is back, new jack sounds hollow. Shit, sorry about that … slipped into an NWA trance there. Anyhow, Seattle is an interesting little town. The one thing that stuck me was how clean it is; lots of trees, not a lot of litter, very eco-friendly and green. I guess that the biases are true. I landed on Monday at about 1:00 and began to explore the city, which by the way is very walkable.

First stop was the Space Needle. Glad I went but it is overrated as hell. I paid $15 to go ride an elevator and walk around. The view was spectacular, and I’m glad I saw it because I was in Seattle and that’s what you have to do when in that city. Then my coworker Mark and I hit the Pike Open Market. I think that’s what it’s called, it’s the place where they throw fish around. Again, glad I saw it, though I’ll probably never go back.

Monday night we caught the Mariners and Joel Pineraro take on the Toronto Blue Jays and Casey Jansen. The M’s won in a rather forgettable game. Safeco Field is awesome though, probably the best stadium that I’ve ever been to. The sight lines were awesome, it doesn’t look like that there is a bad seat in the house with plenty of elbow room. They had concession stands every 20 feet and of course, beer vendors. That was awesome.

To my surprise the Blue Jays travel well as there were a lot of Toronto fans in the crowd, including one woman wearing a Pat Borders jersey. Not to steal Seinfeld’s riffs, but what is the deal with Pat Borders? When I saw the BJs play in 1994 at the Sky Dome there were a bunch of chicks who screamed for Borders every time he was up, calling him “gorgeous”.

Speaking of BJs, there were these three really hot Blue Jay fans, all dressed alike, that made the trek to support their team and they were constantly holding up a sign proclaiming their love of BJs. There’s just something about a bunch of hot chicks, dressed alike (hair in pig tails, black hats, skirts and tank tops) double fisting and screaming that gets the old heart pumping. Not sure what it is though.

The following day I had to work, but after that I made the pilgrimage to Ebbets Field Flannels. The store is awesome and has been a place that I’ve wanted to see since I bought my first throw back Seattle Bombers football shirt from them in the late 90s. I ended up chatting with the workers and bought myself a cool San Francisco Seals long sleeve jersey.

Following that, I walked a bit more around the city, stopping into a local burger joint called Turf. Great food, just an awesome burger … probably the best I’ve had in years. And they had crinkle cut fries, always a bonus no matter where you are. The best part? The cost was a steal, $5.50 for the entire meal (including drink). If you’re in Seattle and don’t mind a greasy spoon dive, check this place out, I believe it’s on the corner of Second Street and Pike.

As I left Seattle the one thing that stayed with me is the number of homeless people that live in the city. I remember once reading that Seattle and Portland have the highest number of homeless people in the country, but I wasn’t prepared for the amount fo transients that I encountered. They weren’t mean or pushy, but there is a ton of them, yet they mostly keep to themselves. I wonder if this is a problem for civic leaders?

Aside from traveling to exotic cities like Seattle, I’ve been really busy. About two weeks ago, Aly and I made the leap and bought a puppy. It’s party lab, part beagle and his name is Dave. Naturally, he’s named after former Red Sox centerfielder Dave Henderson, whom I’ve always wanted to honor for being responsible for my becoming a baseball fan and in particular a Boston Red Sox fan.

It was his homer in the bottom of Game 5 of the 1986 American League Championship Series against the Angels that got me to realize that a baseball game is never over until the last pitch is thrown. Sounds like a cliché, right? It’s true. And if you don’t believe check out the DVD set of the 2004 ALCS.

Anyway, Dave the dog is doing pretty well. He’s four months old, so he’s still a bit skittish about a lot of things. Loud noises make him jump, he gets freaked when we go for walks on Beacon Street and he still pees in the house. Gradually, he is getting better and becoming more acclimated to his new life. The one problem is that he was originally thought to have kennel cough, but it is becoming apparent that he may have pneumonia.

Aly spoke to the shelter that we got him from, Sterling Rescue, and they agreed to check him out for free. I hope that everything goes well for him, because these coughing fits that he has are killers. Update: I am writing this on the way home from New York now (the batteries on the computer died yesterday) turns out that Dave has pneumonia. He’s in the hospital now and will be there for a few days. Totally sucks.

The New York leg of this trip was uneventful, stayed at a cool hotel, the Marriot Marquis, and now I’m my way home. Aside from that, not much is going on … Jay is considering moving to Hawai’i and leaves in a few weeks. Turns out his buddy runs a restaurant on the island and needs a bartender. He asked Jay to come out, and he’ll pay his airfare, his expenses and will allow him to keep any money he makes for a month. So, that’s going to be awesome for him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he stayed out there for a while. I think that this is going to be really good for him.

And if he stays out long enough, Aly and I will have a place to stay.

Speaking of places to stay, Aly and I went to Atlanta at the beginning of the month to visit John and his family. We didn’t do a hell of a lot, but that was cool. About the only thing that we did was go to Distant Replays where I picked up a 1970 Baltimore Oriole cap and an old school Red Sox t-shirt. We also went to the Georgia Aquarium. Very cool, they had four baby Beluga whales which looked absolutely awesome.

The one weird thing occurred the first night Aly and I were there, we were sleeping in Samantha’s room and I woke up around 4 am. I looked over to my right and I saw what looked like a man standing over the crib, about two feet from my bed. I thought that it was Aly’s dad saying good bye to the baby (they were leaving early that morning) but he said he didn’t go in the room.

The last night we were there, Aly swears that she heard the pitter pattering of kids’ feet in Joey’s room at around 3 am. I’m not sure if it was really anything, but the whole situation was a bit strange. As Ed Saunders would say OO-EEE-OO.

Aside from globetrotting, ghostbusting and adopting dogs the rest of the time has been pretty slow. I threw Aly a surprise party in June and took Kyle to the Sox-Mets game (Sox won).

You may have noticed that I haven’t updated the comic strip in a bit, the reason is because I’m beginning to work on redesigning the site. When will it be done? I’m not sure, I’d like to be finished by September. After that I’m giving the comics thing one more great try and then see where I am. Hopefully things will take off, I have to work hard though.

Ok. Talk to you soon, we’re landing now.