Half-Eaten Cookies 3.0

Twins rock on both sides of the bay

Jen and I decided to head across the Bay to cheer for our beloved Twinkies tonight.*

*I'm gonna go with Joe Posnanski style notes- I'm inclined to just include a crapload of parenthesis, but would actually prefer foot- or endnotes, (and would love to be able to pull off what Bill Simmons is doing at Grantland), but this seems to be the easiest/least offensive way to do it.

I have to admit, I wasn't necessarily rooting for the Twins tonight. I secretly hoped they'd lose 500-1, to convince Bill Smith to become a seller, rather than buyer, at the trade deadline- trading Denard Span is a bad, bad, bad, bad, bad idea. Of course, it's likely too late to make him change his mind.

The last Twins game we saw together was a bit different than this one.* I had just returned from a crazy old school roadtrip with DiPietro and Hyland that went SF>Mount Dana>LA>Bluewater Lake, NM>Chaco Canyon, NM>Telluride Bluegrass Festival**>oh my god it's snowing and cold and my tent collapsed on me and it's 7 am, time to pack up all our wet gear>18 hour drive to SF. Then, we had a few hours to hang out together, go see the Twins v Giants, and say farewell for a wee bit. Then Jen left for Europe for 3 weeks.

*Can't argue with the results, though- Mrs. Flanagan has seen the Twins score 9 runs twice.

**Whatever you've heard about TBF is false. It's not very fun. Not worth your time. Nothing to see here. Move along.

So, we hopped the BART, destination O.co Coliseum.*

*Worst naming rights ever? I'd take McAfee Coliseum any day. The logo is even worse. Totally ambiguous.

On the train, there was a guy in a Twins jersey, with the name "Faedo" on the back.

Jen: Who's "Faedo?"

Me: Probably that guy.

Jen: What?

Me: I assume he put his own name on the shirt.

Jen: Seriously? Why?

Jon: Never heard of the guy. Now, I'm not saying for certain there wasn't a guy with that name on the Twins at some point...

Turns out she was right. Lenny Faedo was a 1st round draft pick by the Twins in the 70s, and never amounted to much- 529 career big league at bats. We wondered if it was Lenny's nephew/godson/neighbor wearing that jersey. Never had a chance to ask, since the train pulled up to our destination, and we made our way across a Mad Max-esque bridge (complete with high, curved fencing),into the Coliseum. First impression? Lots of concrete. If you've ever been in the Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr Metrodome, you'd recognize the (lack of?) architecture.

We walked around for a bit, which isn't nearly as fun as it is at the Giants', Twins', Moondogs', or Rockies' home parks. Still, fun to wander, scope things out, get denied for a veggie dog (even though it's on the menu), find a Lagunitas IPA at a random spot, interact with incredibly friendly ushers, get a veggie dog, realize that all veggie dogs aren't created equal (if the inside is hot pink, that raises some hot red flags), marvel at all the concrete that must have been poured, imagine what it's like during a Raiders game, etc. Made our way to our seats, which were sublime.

Sublime? That's not even the right word. Exquisite, maybe. Not quite dead-center behind home plate (slighty audience left), and a heckler's yell back. Unfortunately, the only thing that came to mind was to yell "CRICKEY" every time Luke Hughes came to the plate. This banjo-playing version of Crazy George was pretty cool:

 

The one bummer was that we didn't bring a camera- and Droids aren't known for their HQ photos.

But, watching pitches thrown, and at bats taken, from this vantage point, was pretty incredible. Mauer was playing 1B, and made an over-the-shoulder catch (in the infamous Oakland foul territory) that would make Herbie proud. Rickie Weeks' brother* made a backhand stop at 2B, and flipped the ball out of his glove to the SS to start a double play. The intentional walk to Mauer (which made absolute sense, considering the A's were trailing 6-2 in the 8th, and a RHP was on the mound), followed by a 3-run jack that I called, telling everyone around us "Cuddy's gonna pull a rabbit out of his hat"...wow.

*Has anyone ever seen Jemile Weeks and "Snoop" from The Wire in the same room, at the same time? Just asking.

If you would have told me in April that I'd see the Twins in Oakland, and the lineup would be Revere*, Plouffe, Mauer**, Cuddyer, Kubel, Young, Hughes, Tolbert***, and Butera****, I wouldn't have believed you. And I would have surely assumed the end result was a loss.

*As much as I loved the "One if by land/Two if by sea" chant from the bleachers when I saw the Twins in SF, Revere seems like a pretty marginal major league baseball player to me. He's fast, can cover ground in the outfield, and...umm...that's it. Doesn't draw walks, has no power, a noodle arm, and he's shorter than Frodo and Samwise combined+

+Urgh- here's where I wish I had a more organized way to include notes. In any case, Here it is: the final A's pitcher tonight was named Trystan Magnuson. I'm pretty sure I was at his winery in Napa last weekend.

*So, I'm back to the Revere thread here. Apparently Bill Smith (Twins' GM) wants a good reliever, and is considering trading Denard Span for Drew Storen. So, I guess he thinks Revere can fill in for Span adequately. In the immortal words of Jules Winfield, ALLOW ME TO RETORT! Denard Span might be the best Twins leadoff hitter that I've ever seen. End of story. You trade him, and you're left with a 1-2 punch of Ben Revere (lifetime OBP of .287) and...Casilla/Nishioka/Tolbert?

***It was really fun watching Mauer at 1B tonight. He's got range, he's athletic...I've been pretty adamant about leaving him at C, but I think he could be a pretty good defender wherever he plays (Gatorade player of the year at QB, and all). It's not the same as having your best hitter at C, but I'm willing to listen to the argument, at least. If Wilson Ramos is catching. Or, anyone other than Drew Butera, I suppose.

***Matt Tolbert may be my least favorite baseball player of all-time.

****Drew Butera ranks just ahead of Matt Tolbert in the aforementioned list. When his 8th inning double raised his batting average to .176, I gave him a standing O. I don't give a damn about his defense. This isn't 1920. Hell, it ain't even 1990. Catchers gotta hit, dammit.

All in all, a great evening, and a fun baseball game. Here's hoping Bill Smith doesn't foolishy deal Denard Span. His track record is really, really awful so far. The Kevin Mulvey/Jon Rauch trade is the only one I can think of that wasn't a total mistake.

Is this thing on?

Check. Check. Check 1. Sibilance. Sibilance.

Check. Check. Check 2. Sibilance. Sibilance.

I wrote my first blog post back on 2/24/06. (20 days after my wedding. Wow- if you would have asked me, I would have guessed that I had been blogging for years before my wedding...) I wrote pretty consistently on Blogger for a while, then switched over to the hot new blogging platform, Vox (Which has since been buried alive, but fortunately all my rad posts have been magically transported here, to HEC3.0, for posterity's sake). Wrote a lot for a while on Vox, then suddenly lost inspiration. On July 31, 2009, I sensed this, and titled a post "Refueled, and Ready to Rock." Yeah, nice try, Moop. For better or for worse, Facebook caused me to quit blogging.

Third time's a charm? Maybe.

Coincidentally, my very first blog post was a "day in the life of a reference librarian" kind of thing. And now, I'm at the crossroads (wondering WWRJD?).

(At some point, I will figure out how to utilize end/side/footnotes in Typepad, and quit wearing out my () keys. I promise.)

So, when I moved to SF, lots of people asked "What are you gonna do? Switch it up a bit? Try something new?" Sounded like a good idea. Then I got here, and I believed I was going to get a job at the SF Public Library (Destiny, right?). Placed first on their hiring list, and all. Sure, it's a crappy economic situation, and the tea party lunatics have stoked the anti-tax fire, but my faith never wavered. I'm a damn good librarian. Young (relatively speaking), good w/technology, great communication skills, blah blah- I liked my odds, you know?

In my email box this Monday:

The Library received an excessive number of applications in relation to the positions to be filled. We regret to inform you that you were not selected for advancement in the interview process.  However, we would like to express our sincere appreciation for your interest. Best wishes to you in your employment endeavors.

Hm. Time for a change, I guess. I can read the proverbial writing on the wall. Not even a f***ing interview. For a 20-hour position. So, what am I qualified to do? I've been working in libraries for 16 years. I have a graduate degree in library science. But what about my skill set? I'm definitely a people person. Communication skills, both verbally and in writing. I am an analytical fella. Detail-oriented. Ummm...that's about it. Many people have told me that I have a "good voice" (i.e. "radio voice").

I do know that I love working with Excel spreadsheets. Playing around with numbers and formulas. Even dealing with the minutiae is fun, if there's an end goal. And I love writing.

Any ideas?

I Am a Tree

No editorial. Well, a tiny bit, I guess. Turn this up loud- what a great f-ing guitar riff!!!

I Am A Tree

Guided By Voices

Phish - 8/2/09 Red Rocks

Well, I certainly never thought I'd get a chance to see my Favorite Band Of All-Time (F.B.O.A.T.)¹ at Red Rocks again. Although I was reasonably certain that Phish would regroup at some point, I figured they had outgrown that venue for good. When the four shows got announced (after months of rumors swirling) I was pretty giddy. Jen and I were only able to score tickets to one of the four nights- Sunday, the finale. Five years ago, I would have been really upset to not be going to all four of these concerts, but this time, one show was sufficient².

I got off work a half hour early, and Jen picked me up at 4:30. We headed straight to Red Rocks, parked, and found Tim, Justin, and a few other dudes in one of the parking lots. We wasted a good 20 minutes hiking up to the upper south parking lot, when Tim's text message clearly stated they were in the lower south lot. Regardless, we still had time to relax a little bit and have a couple frosty PBRs in the sun, before making the climb up the many, many stairs into the venue³.

Red Rocks has this new way of doing ticketing that's really freaking annoying. They've made the first 24 rows general admission, then rows 25-60 reserved, and 61-69 GA. The rows are just really long bleachers. So there are numbers painted on the top of the bleachers, corresponding to seat numbers. In my opinion, the entire venue should be GA⁴.

Or, I suppose they could make the first 25 rows reserved. But the way it is now is really stupid. Seven of us went in together, and staked out a nice spot in row 42, dead center. Tim and a buddy actually had reserved tickets for that row, but over towards one end. The rest of us had GA tickets. We just crossed our fingers, and hoped we didn't get people coming up to us saying "you're in our seats, bro." By the time the show started, we had 12 people in our group, occupying 7 or 8 seats' worth of real estate. Unlike an arena, though, the rows at Red Rocks are nice and deep. It ended up being a little tight at times, but not bad- just enough room for us to boogie.

Phish took the stage just after 8, and I definitely felt some goosebumps. Though I no longer devote even a fraction of the time I used to in dealing with all things Phish, they're still my F.B.O.A.T. And I thought I might never have a chance to see them again, after ditching out on Coventry⁵.

***It seems prudent to split this post into more than one piece, since it's taking me forever to write it. Next up, the concert.***

ENDNOTES

1. My apologies to David Foster Wallace, but reading Infinite Jest is not simply a leisure activity. He's starting to get deep into my head. Hence, the footnotes.

2. The last time I saw a single Phish show was July 21, 1998, at Desert Sky Pavilion in Phoenix. Between that concert and the Red Rocks show this past Sunday, I saw Phish 29 times, always seeing at least 2 consecutive shows, and seeing as many as 6 in a row.

3. It's always interesting being at a Red Rocks show that features a lot of out-of-town attendees- most of them have to stop fairly often on the deadly stairs up to, and also inside, the venue, their body pleading for oxygen. Red Rocks is located 6200 feet above sea level, and stairs remain a pain in the ass even if you are properly acclimated.

4. Some concerts still are done GA-style, like the upcoming Labor Day weekend Ween show.

5. Jen, Faustino, Freitag, and I had tickets for the infamous "last-ever Phish shows," but we listened to Mike Gordon's plea on the radio, and turned away from the "disaster area," rather than abandoning our rental car on the side of the highway, and hiking in 10 miles in flip flops, in order to camp in 3 feet of mud and water, and listen to what turned out to be really crappily-played music.

Skiing wipeouts

I'm finally cleaning out my photos & videos (my freaking hard drive is full), moving stuff to a backup drive, deleting crappy stuff, etc. I can't believe I never posted this stuff- especially the one of Dom wiping out!

Dom snowboard somersault

Matt- so smooth...until the end

Phish @ Red Rocks tomorrow night

So...Jen and I will be heading to Red Rocks tomorrow, to see PHISH! I haven't been to a Red Rocks show yet this year, and I haven't seen Phish in 5 years. This will be the 38th Phish concert I've attended. More importantly, Phish hasn't played Red Rocks since 1996, over 13 years ago. There was a bit of a problem with all the ticketless hippies who used to follow them from town to town. They basically took over the town of Morrison, police came in, acted a little too aggressively, and things got out of hand. Here's a funny news clip from back then.  The best part is at 0:45, when a kid flees the paddywagon:

Phish Red Rocks 1996 News Report

I was at the first show of the 4-night run in '96, with Eddie Kline, Mike Hyland, Matt DiPietro, and Eric Skaar. Why we drove all the way there from MN, and only saw one show, I'm not sure. I guess I couldn't convince those guys to lay down the cabbage for more than one show...

I planned on writing more about this- what's changed in my life in the nearly 15 years since I first was hooked (pardon the pun), and how the technological/information revolution has changed what it means to be a Phish fan. But, that will have to wait for another post.

Refueled, and ready to rock

Somehow I've transitioned from blogging consistently to not blogging at all.

I don't understand it. It wasn't like I woke up one morning and said "I don't think I'll blog anymore."

I suddenly realize all the things I should have been writing (typing?) about.

...where to begin? I'm gonna see Phish at Red Rocks this Sunday. That's a decent template, methinks.

Male stripper in training

Rockies game- kid keeps taking off his shirt and shaking it

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime\xAE 6.5 or higher is required.

0620092135.jpg

Chief Mountain summit

I never get sick of this view of the Continental Divide

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime\xAE 6.5 or higher is required.

0619091600.jpg

Homemade popovers and banana oatmeal pancakes

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime\xAE 6.5 or higher is required.

0426091203.jpg