Attending Outdoor Baseball Games (for Dummies)

Rules for Baseball Game Attendance (for Dummies)

I recently went to a baseball game in Philly and was completely unprepared.  I had no idea we'd be tailgating - it was actually the first time I've ever tailgated.  In fact, I had to interrupt a conversation (this was ~9 years ago...) by some of my co-workers with questions about their tailgating agenda for the afternoon,

Wait a minute.  You're going to get groceries just so you can go tailgating??

Then images of them both behind a steering wheel  creating non-safe driving distances filled my mind.  One of them easily knew what was causing my confusion and bridged my gap.   

Anyway, if this list doesn't help others, at the very least, it will help remind me in the future:

What to Bring to an [Outdoor] Baseball Game (or any other outdoor sporting event):

1. Sunscreen - Especially for your face and forehead.  All pieces of skin that can hit the sun and be cooked - face, arms, legs, neck, hands 
2. White / Light-colored Clothing - I was wearing black because I am constantly defrosting.  Not good.
3. Hat / Visor - This is helpful especially if you forgot sunscreen for your face.  
4. Sunglasses - I think that's a given for summer but some may not - not assuming here... Sunglasses has to be used in combo with sun screen or a hat so you don't get raccoon eyes.  
5. Camera - you should just always have one with you.

OPTIONAL / WHERE NEEDED

• a glove if you're close enough that a ball would come flying at you.
• no glove if you're told to meet at a room because it's more likely than not glassed in
• a chair if you're going to be in an open park

A week later I found out that mine's wasn't the only forehead that peeled - even some of the more experienced sport fans got burned!  This peeling thing only happened to me once before (I think last time was much worse though).  This time I put Vaseline all over my face the 2nd night into this and the next day, it was almost non-noticeable, if not gone...

Vodka Tonic

Vodka Tonic, a photo by Sandra M. Martinez on Flickr.

Today I had a heart-to-heart conversation with my big brother.  I called him when I was in mid-town and he pulled over to the side of the road so that he could focus on our conversation* - I was really giving some serious updates on me.    

We really mirrored some of the same viewpoints we came to in life...talked our experiences.  He really made me feel good.  I wasn't sure what his reaction was going to be, but I needed to talk to him.

To be able to build and maintain, while still growing and learning, a close relationship with family and friends is really a blessing.  I don't think there is ever an end state, which is why the growing piece is so important. 

I don't think it's ever too late either to mend or pick up those relationships that aren't perfect, as long as those efforts are not one-sided and that person's intentions are pure and good.

 

*Disclaimer: All conversations were performed with hands-free devices.  (I personally recommend theBoom and have sold others on this...)  

I came home today and heard this playing on the radio.

Every day that you have left in your life from your Creator...is the opportunity to set the record straight with your soul...

After a long conversation with a friend over the weekend around resentment carried over what other  family and loved ones have done, and its affect on us, makes me believe in a Goodness out there that many of us strive for.  Perhaps it may not be everyone, but we may recognize it in those who strive for it.

I honestly see it in others.  I hope others see it in me as well.

Poetry Slam

When I was a child, I had dreams of becoming a painter and a writer.  I'm not sure what happened to those dreams, but I still do write occasionally.  This past weekend, as I fished through my old bedroom trying to clean up, I stumble upon story books I put together, complete with illustrations.   I think that if I read these stories and they were from my child, I would be worried about me.  It is also apparent I had strong beliefs that seemingly inannimate objects had a life of their own.

A few months prior to this past weekend, I found a notebook of stories I wrote when I was in the 3rd grade - I was 8.  Apparently I liked "swimming bowling and watching T.V."  Mind you, I've never learned how to swim and I was never a very good bowler, though at that age, if it was an excuse to be out of the house, my excitement to do these activities more than likely over-compensated for my lack of talent in doing them.

In high school I recall having a part of our Language Arts curriculum dedicated to poetry.  I remember I loved it and wanted to keep the book but I don't believe that ever happened.  I don't recall really what I read, but 5 or 6 years later in college, the smartest kid in my year at our engineering school, who was also majoring in a liberal arts on top of his Chemical Engineering degree mentioned they were reading works by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and I couldn't help but recall how he wrote The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and broke out into a quote from it that my friend Cini cited to me (stating and laughing about how depressing it was):

Alone, alone, all, all alone,
Alone on a wide wide sea...

Him and his roommate seemed somewhat shocked that I was able to cite this random piece of work by him, but I guess if you were in the conversation and heard her say it, it would have stuck out in your mind too.

Though I loved poetry though, no one really particularly appealed to me.  However, recently (like a few hours ago) a co-worker of mine cited a quote from someone I don't recall if I've ever heard.

“Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, 'It might have been.”
― John Greenleaf Whittier

For some reason, there's some poignancy that is expressed in some writings that I find striking.   The name sounded familiar but I don't recall anything specific I've ever read from this writer.  So I looked him up and found some quotes that I just love - so much that I would check out any books of his writing that may exist the next chance I get.

Here are my favorite so far:

“the joy that you give to others is the joy that comes back to you”

“No longer forward nor behind
I look in hope or fear;
But, grateful, take the good I find,
The best of now and here.”

“Never frown...even when you're sad 'cause you never know when someone's falling in love with your smile.”

― John Greenleaf Whittier

I hope someone out there enjoys them too.  :)

Edible Manhattan

http://www.ediblemanhattan.com

Hudson County Businesses

I was walking around the side streets of Hoboken I struck up conversation of a man who owened (and was selling) his produce store.  Apparently when he opens, everyone is at work and when he closes everyone just comes home.  I asked him why he didn't just change his hours - times are different now - there are no steady market of housewifes spending the family money on the businesses of their neighborhoods.  I myself do spend some of my earnings on business closer to where I work vs. where I live.  

So a part of what I want to start doing, and you can call it my New Years Resolution, is to start buying locally without breaking the bank. 

Here I will list all the places of business I'd like to start supporting:

JERSEY CITY HEIGHTS

Palisade Wine & Liquor

These folks will buy anything you request - the funny thing is that they don't even drink themselves.  They are also planning on opening an organic food store in the area.

HOBOKEN

Paramus Meats

305 1st Street, Hoboken, NJ

I bought pork, bacon, ground beef, and whole chickens here.  The taste and quality of purchasing directly from a butcher is unquestionable.  

The Cheese Store

http://thecheesestorehoboken.com

I bought some gureir and chedder - they will let you sample the cheese if you want to try something new!

 

Send me a note if you know others.  I'm trying to been a good Earth citizen and go for organic, fair trade, etc...