In which Pat turns 23

I've got a new phone.. that's the big news of late. I like my old phone better but it just got ridiculous trying to use it.

No, it's not an iPhone :( that didnt quite fit my budget.

Let's see... Sunday was the last game of the homestand, and I was on scoreboard duty since there were no birthday parties during the game. I was cool as a cucumber (I really just used that phrase) this time around and had absolutely no issues until the bottom of the 8th when a connection came loose and the scoreboard itself went blank. Everything was still there on my console, but the wires kind of drape outside the press box and through a window into a neighboring room so once in a while things become a bit less securely connected than they should be. The board came back on and went off again a few more times but there wasnt anything I could do about it... just keep logging the balls, strikes, outs, runs, etc so that when they were showing up out on the board, they were showing up accurately. Running the scoreboard ... I love it. I dont get to hang out with the others during the game or help with any of the promotions, but I do get to actually sit down and focus on what's going on on the field. The scorekeeper, Alan, is a nice guy and we have no problem conversing for 2 1/2 hours.

After we wrapped things up around the park, we were directed to one of the suites where there was lots of food waiting for us. Generally there are extra hot dogs for us after a game but I gave up on those weeks ago. I dont want my summer to be filled with hot dog consumption. They had a good spread for us, though, and we all sort of crammed in and watched Blue Streak on a tv for a while, zoned out, tired after 7 straight days of working. We're a good group, still all getting along peaceably. I'm thankful for that. We're all pretty different so it could have been a lot different. Something that's currently uniting us is the Silly Bandz fad... to varying degrees, we're almost all of us pretty into them... I think the draw is being able to trade with kids because we have the chance to interact with so many kids each game. Mason and Karissa got this going, I think, because I didnt even know about them two weeks ago. Dan and I got some kids to give us one each, and a whole world of trading opened up :) a new way to relate. Now among ourselves we kind of try to see who can get sweet ones. After Sunday's game, a bunch of us were on the field overseeing an autograph session that was taking place with all of the players. These two little boys walk up to me, and Greg was standing by as well, and I ask which Silly Bandz the older one had. After a minute and without a word, the younger one (4 years old?) takes a small football band off his wrist and hands it to me. Then he removed a green Boston Red Sox "B" and gave it to Greg. (You can imagine how immediately jealous this made me... actually, I hope you cant, it's kind of embarrassing.) The B is the best in my book, the best I've seen so far at least. I got a Pat the Patriot band later that night, by chance, so that one has some real value too even if I dont really care that  much about it. Carly brought in several packs for us all and I snagged a Seahorse and a Helicopter.

Yep, I just wrote an exegesis on Silly Bandz. Right.

Monday, Monday, Monday. We split into teams and delivered pocket schedules. It was supposed to be a competition, with the winning team receiving Tuesday off, but of course that's not how it turned out. The team I was on- team Mason Law- won. Of course. I'm a winner :) heh. But considering that we had all just worked 8 days in a row, and have another long homestand coming up starting on Thursday, I figured Tom couldnt possibly only let 4 of us off. Some of us were off today (Team Law plus a couple others) and the rest will be off tomorrow... then it's full force on Thursday for the game. Competition is always fun. I didnt even really need today off to be honest. Nothing much happened... I did chore-ish to-do-ish things. I paid loans, which I'm feeling reallllly good about because I'm about to be completely done with one of them. On top of that, one of the rewards programs that I'm part of through Citibank has racked up enough points for me to put $375 worth towards loans! Awesome! So that feels good... I'll have that check in another month, and by then I will be DONE with that one loan. Woohoo!

Ah, I almost forgot to mention that I decided not to go to church on Sunday. It was a game day, and I'm committed to being at the park this summer... however, it's not more important. It's just very important. Which was why I was pretty excited when I found out that it's ok for me to join the players' chapel time. So that's what I did instead of going to the Vineyard- I joined the guys for a 20 min chapel. We focused on a passage from Genesis and a passage from Matthew. The point that was highlighted was "All that glitters isnt gold". There were 5 other guys there, as well as the one who had come in from an area church to lead. He recognized the Vineyard (I had met him about a week ago and we had chatted in the front office when I was manning the desk) and recalled hearing Pastor Dave speak at Inside Out Soul Fest years ago.

I'm glad to get back to it tomorrow. I'll be working with John 3, John 1, Leo, Max, Alex... I think that's our crew. Should be a fun day, not sure what they'll have for us to do. If we were distributing pocket schedules on Monday then there cant be a whole lot of upkeep type stuff left to finish up for Thursday. I will have some birthday stuff to figure out but most of that is day of game. Maybe we'll get some wiffle ball in. Or I'll get to try out the jousting suits that we use for promotions between innings.



HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAT! I love you, wish I could be around to celebrate! Next time I see you.