Ming & Rob and a White House sub	I divvy up the subby goodness

Sunday I woke up early and although I wasn’t 100% (more like 94%) I was most definitely ready to go to Wildwood. We got Lillian ready for 9:00am mass and headed over. Many of the usualy people who know and love Lillian were there and so was another little baby who seemed to like her.

After mass we began packing and getting a ton of stuff ready for the 2 day trip. A bag for me, a bag for Debbie, a bag for Lillian. The diaper bag, a bag of beach stuff, the baby Einstein gym, the pack n’ play, some food bags, the 50 pack of chips and the 30 count box of Oreo’s and we were set. At around 1:00pm we were ready and left the house…

…and we hit the dreaded Jersey Shore traffic. Oh boy. The influx of New Yorkers and Northern Jerseyites most definitely slowed us down. The stop and go cleared around exit 60 or so and then we moved at a steady pace. We had one stop to make before Wildwood however and that was the to world famous White House Sub Shop in Atlantic City. We decided that we wanted to contribute more this year so that meant bringing the best subs in the world. I headed into the White House while Debbie fed Lillian in the car. I had to return once to grab some cash because I forgot that they don’t take credit cards there. The line was long and slow but after 20 or so minutes my number was called (66) and I placed my order with the White House sandwich wizard. In my mind I placed my order pretty clearly, accurately and in a timely manner, like a guy who’s been there before. The sandwich guy got a bit crossed up however and changed my order just enough to make it more expensive. My original order was for 2 White House regular subs, one with no cheese, peppers on the side and one steak sandwich, peppers on the side. What I got were 2 White House SPECIALS (double meat) and a CHEESEsteak sandwich (meaning Debbie couldn’t eat it.) Ahh well.. Luckily I went back for that extra cash.

Another 40 minutes and we were in Wildwood. I took one of the spots at the Cape Cod and headed up to room 306 where Alex and Jay were unpacking already. After some warm greetings they headed down to the car and helped us unload the stuff. Thank God the Cape Cod put in that elevator last year or else we would have all needed back and arm massages from Kristin.

Jay & Alex	The gang at Juan Pablos	Aunt Debbie’s buns

After we unpacked, Jay, Alex and I changed into our beach wear, grabbed the 3 massive subs and headed over to the Waikiki Motor Inn (this year they dubbed themselves the ‘W’ until the Starwood Group finds out and sues their asses). Mr and Mrs Mihalcik and Robert and David were already down at the beach so we dropped 2 of the subs in the Moore’s room (304) and cut up the cheeseless one for the beach. Then we headed down.

David saw us first and hopped up and made binoculars with his hands to make sure it was indeed us. Mr and Mrs Mihalcik greeted us along with Audrey and Kara and they all went to go see Lillian. Then I broke out the sub. At this point Lillian decided it was time to eat so Debbie took her back along with Mr and Mrs Mihalcik. Before they left I divvied up the sub wrapping up a section for Debbie to take back with her. Everyone one loved it and I assured them that there were two more back at the Waikiki.

I then broke out the football and tossed it with David for awhile. Then Robert came over with a baseball and I broke out the mitts I brought along as we played catch for a good 25 minutes. Ground balls don’t work too good in the sand so we threw a lot of straight throws and fly balls. After catch Robert and David headed up. I was about to leave as well to give Alex and Jay some time alone but they insisted I stay. I ended up telling Alex about my thrilling jury duty experience.

After the beach we hung out in the Mihalcik’s room for a bit (308) and then headed back to the Cape Cod to shower off the beach. Dinner was scheduled at 8:30pm at a place called Juan Pablos (set up by Don’s younger, lazier, stupider brother) so Jay and I watched the first inning of the O’s game until 8:15pm and then we left. By the time we hit the plasma screen at the restaurant they were already down 5-0 and I swear that the top of the first inning was still on. I selfishly suggested that Alex sit across from Jay so she could stare into his eyes over dinner and she did. Had she not moved my back would have been to the TV the entire time.

The food at Juan Pablos was fairly disappointing all around. The salsa honestly tasted like marinara sauce, the chips were overdone and although I didn’t really try anyone else’s dinners, most of them described them as not that great. My appetite was not quite back yet so I just had some black bean and corn soup. By the time we left at around 10:30pm or so Lillian was asleep. Debbie and I took her home while Jay, Alex, David, Robert, Kara and Audrey headed for the boardwalk. Back at the Cape Cod I showered, watched the end of the game and then set up Debbie’s machine so she could dial in via cell phone.

Friday night I felt like complete crap. Before I went to bed I started to feel a bit better so I decided that some food was in order. Debbie grilled up a couple of hot dogs for me along with some baked tots. Probably not the best thing to eat when you’re sick but I ate them and then retreated back to bed. Unfortunately I got to enjoy those dogs a second time as they came back up about 2 hours later. So only did I break my sick streak (2 1/2 years) but my throw up streak as well (1 year maybe?) That was the low point of the night.

Saturday I felt much better but I decided to stay in bed to minimize any damage and so I could decrease any chances of not going to Wildwood. Debbie took great care of me heading out to grab me some un-diet Coke and making sure I was ok. I guess the sure sign that I was sick was when I didn’t even get out of bed to watch the nationally televised Orioles game on TV. A dark day indeed.

Debbie and Lillian began the birthday present barrage while I was in bed. I got the Retrozone NES USB controller, the newest Get Fuzzy book - “Say Cheesy”, a For Better of for Worse book and Lillan gave me a couple Curious George books, a Clifford Touch and Feel book and a 1 year subscription of Highlights (For Kids).

Debbie took a 3-way call from the Mihalcik’s updating them on my condition. I believe it was Mr. and Mrs. Mihalcik and Robert with Jay and Alex and then David conferenced in.

Live from Ming’s bed - it’s Ming’s 7/29/2005 blog post! I started feeling funny at around 5pm today and just way more worn down than I usually am at that time. I attributed that to all the FedEx’s I had to get out before 6pm. Then when I got home I started feeling really, really run down. My head didn’t hurt or anything but I felt like crap and continued feeling like crap as I grabbed some hot dogs at the “Super” A&P for dinner. Before we ate we started bathing Lillian and that’s when I had to go and lie down. I passed out for a bit and then Debbie came to take my temperature. 100.8. Crap - I can’t be sick. I haven’t been sick since January 7th,2003 and I didn’t want to break the streak. plus I have to go to Wildwood on Sunday.

I’ve decided to mentally fight off whatever is affecting me. I think it’s working because I’ve gone down to 99.8 and I just got my appetite back. Pray for Ming!

Today was the first day of the Red Bank sidewalk sale and I saw some good deals. One was too good. They were selling the Moschino Cheap & Chip sandals I bought for Debbie back in April for more than half price. Crap! I also saw some cool Stella McCartney espadrilles was $99 but held off.

Later on I had to get a box from the Stash and against my better judgement I wandered over to Nirvana. I should have known better - the deals were way too good. 1 pair of jeans for $50, 2 for $75 and 3 for $100. Miraculously I held off on the denim but caved on a Ben Sherman and a 7 Diamonds shirt for $35 (for both!). Nice.

Debbie and I took Lillian to the Monmouth Couty Fair - aka a good excuse to eat bad food. The fair was a lot more crowded than it had been in years past so we had to park in an auxilary lot further down. Once we got everything unpacked we bought our tickets and noticed that it was NASCAR night - no wonder it was so packed.

We headed over to the food tent and took a look around to see what they had to offer. Debbie decided that the London Broil sandwich looked good and I half-decided on a gyro. We found a picnic table over by the talent show tent and I waited with a sleeping Lillian as Debbie went to go chase down her sandwich.

While I was waiting a couple of 10-11 year old boys came out to perform their number. One was on piano and the other on guitar and they performed Journey’s “Open Arms.” They actually did a pretty decent job although as one of them started to sing I started to realize that based on the lyrics, these kids had NO CLUE what the hell they were singing about. I could be wrong but at 10-11 years old they probably haven’t yet felt the joy of a love so deep that it caused Steve Perry to write a song like “Open Arms.” Still - when they were done they got huge applause.

Debbie came back and I went over to get my gyro. I decided to take a look at the London Broil again and then I got in line. Those grilled hunks of meat looked too good.

After we downed our sandwiches we had to get some butterfly fries. Best potato invention ever. I topped the fries with salt, vinegar and Old Bay. As I did so I was briefly reminded of the time we got butterfly fries at Six Flags one year and how I doused them with vinegar. Jay almost had a heart attack because I had forgotten about his dislike of sour foods and pickles and vinegar in particular.

The recording on the jury duty answering machine stated that juror’s 276 - 900-something were required to show up again today. I’m right at the beginning end of that with number 382. I’m hoping that if I don’t make the cut today that I won’t have to show up tomorrow.

Today began much like yesterday’s did - show up at 8:00am, badge scan at 8:30am. The only thing missing today was the pep talk we received from a judge yesterday telling us that it would be cool to be selected because you’d be able to see real human drama unfolding before your eyes.

I’ve basically been camped out on the laptop since then, moving a few times to find power outlets and getting up once to grab a diet pepsi. I found out that the free coffee coupons can also be used for 30 cents off anything else. The Diet pepsi came to a grand total of 41 cents. The guy at the cash register seemed to ask a lot of questions such as, “is that a can you have there?” and “this is a dollar you gave me right?” I thought it was a bit weird until I realized that the dude was blind. A blind guy working in a courthouse - just like Matt Murdock! He might be the Freehold version of Daredevil!

I scouted out a possible lunch spot yesterday and I think I might hit it. It’s a sushi place a block down from the place I ate at yesterday, which also coincidentally serves sushi. The joint - Oyako Tso’s has a website here.

There doesn’t seem to be as many laptops here today as yesterday. However I’m not the only one with an Apple today - I just spotted a guy across the room with a 15″ AlBook.

A lot of people are also armed with Harry Potter books I noticed. Most of the ones I see have brown covers on them so I guess it’s not the new one which features a green cover(?)

Lunch was called at 12:10pm just like yesterday. I hopped up the stairs into the burning heat and into the oven that my car has become. I found a great parking spot in a small shopping center and headed over to Oyako’s. Once inside I was seated at the bar and got the familiar Japanese greeting, “Irasshaimase!!!!” from the chef. I ordered up a green tea and was handed a menu. The lunch special which consisted of any two rolls plus miso soup and salad sounded great so I ordered up a fried oyster roll, a spicy yellowtail roll and one crab stick. I don’t know what it is I like so much about those crab sticks - I know it’s fake crab made out of chemicals and entrails but for some reason I love them.

Right after I ordered one of the Asian waitresses came over and asked if I was Korean. I told her I was Chinese and asked her if I looked Korean to which she replied, “yes.” I believe I’ve gotten this before. I don’t really know what the distinguishing feature is - I think it might be the eyes or the forehead. Appearancewise I think most Koreans are pretty well dressed and since I was following the court mandated dress code I don’t think I was too far off from that.

Seconds later I noticed all the staff was speaking Chinese. This follow my theory that because of the awesome markup that sushi has that the Chinese and Koreans has wised up and decided to go into the sushi business figuring that most people couldn’t tell and wouldn’t care anyways. Later the lady who looked like the boss asked if I could speak Chinese and I replied to her that I could… in Chinese. Then the sushi chef asked me, in Chinese, where i was from. I wish I could have had some kind of fancy-ass answer for him but I told him the truth and said I was from the US.

The rolls were very good and the chef put some siracha hot sauce and some Japanese mayo on the plate with the wasabi and ginger. I finished up at about 1pm and headed back to the courthouse.

At 1:50pm I was finally called as a potential juror.

When my name was called I lined up on the left side of the room with the other potential jurors. I made a count of how many were called to determine what kind of case it would be. From that other blog I read, 32 people usually meant a criminal case. 25 were called for this trial so I determined that it was probably a civil case. After riding the elevator to the third floor we were led to Judge English’s court and I found out that I was right about the civil case.

The 25 of us were loaded into the very tiny galley in the office and sat until we were ordered to rise when the Honorable Judge English came in. He then explained that this was a slip-and-fall case between an elderly woman who had slipped on a patch of ice at a strip mall in Freehold back on January 21, 2002. It amazed me that anyone would remember any fine details after 3 1/2 years but whatever. The judge also explained that the case would take 6 days at odd times to accomodate witnesses. Crap! 6 days! If I got picked I would potentially miss Wildwood! I calmed myself by telling myself that I should just tell them that when they asked and I would probably be excused.

8 jurors were called to the jury stand. I was the first one called and sat in seat #1. The lawyers then introduced themselves and the plantiffs and defendants and then the judge then asked us if we knew any of them or had ever been represented by any of them. The he started questioning me specifically asking me where I lived, what I did, who I lived with, if I had ever filed a claim like this or if any member of my family had done the same. None of those were the case so he moved onto the all important question. Would I have any scheduling conflicts? “I have a planned vacation to Wildwood next Monday and Tuesday.” “Next Monday and Tuesday?”, he asked? “Yes, unfortunately”, I answered.

Based on that he excused me right there and then. I grabbed my laptop, left and headed back down to the assembly area.

At 3:30pm they dismissed everyone except a list of people they called out. I was on that list. The people on that list were considered to have served their time and we were done for good. Thank goodness.

On my way out I talked to a couple of Indian women who had also started yesterday and had to go back tomorrow. No idea how I got so lucky.

I decided to hit the Freehold Sam’s Club to look for bulk diapers, giant bottles of Tide and Dreft and a 50 bag pack of chips and Oreo’s for the shore next week. Then it was off to Toys R Us for a football for the shore.

The Momouth County Courthouse did one thing right - the Jury Assembly Room has wireless. Actually the assembly room here isn’t too bad. There are a number of round tables and chairs and I just took a peek at the magazine selection and it’s very well stocked. Macworld, InStyle, Vanity Fair, eWeek. It’s just as good as an airport newstand. There is also a tv going, a bunch of board games (boggle, scarbble, chess,) some puzzles and like me, a number of people have carted along their laptops.

I got here 30 minutes early at around 8:00am and went inside and passed through the metal detector unscathed. The jury room is one flight downstairs. At around 8:30am someone came to the front and spoke into a mic asking us to come forward and have our badges scanned so we could check in. After that it has been a lot of waiting. They did show a 15 minute video about the jury duty process which I moved forward to watch.

The best line in the video - “Contrary to what you see in the movies, it is NOT the jury’s duty to go out and investigate the case.”

Lunch is between 12:30pm and 1:30pm and there is a small cafe at the end of the hall. I also received a coupon for one free coffee.

So far so good. I brought along ‘Seven Samurai’ and ‘L.A. Confidential’ in case it gets reeeally long.

Two jury pools have just been called and I didn’t get selected yet. The waiting continues…

I took a look at the docket list which was posted outside of the waiting room and was shocked to see that a lot of the cases listed Shewsbury Arms Apartments vs. (insert name here). The Shewsbury Arms are the apartments that you pass by before you hit our group of townhouses and I’m wondering what offense the tenants committed to have them enter a court of law. Delinquent rent payments? Destruction of property? Murder? I suppose if I get called onto one of those jury’s I’ll probably be dismissed.

and for those of you who haven’t see the Pauly Shore classes ‘Jury Duty’ this is the synopsis:

“When jobless Tommy Collins discovers that sequestered jurors earn free room and board as well as $5-a-day, he gets himself assigned to a jury in a murder trial. Once there, he does everything he can to prolong the trial and deliberations and make the sequestration more comfortable for himself.”

The $5 dollars a day part is especially funny because that’s what I’m getting paid to be here.

I’m hoping whatever trial I get assigned to goes more like this:

Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Whose gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinburg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago, and you curse the marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That Santiago’s death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And that my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you are entitled to.

At 12:10pm lunch was called and we were excused. Eager to get out of the dungeon I hopped into the car to see what I could find on Main Street in Freehold. I found a parallel space and followed a couple to a swanky looking place with outdoor seating called the Metropolitan Cafe. Before I headed in an older gentleman stopped me when he saw the ‘JUROR’ badge that I forgot I left on and said, “Hey! How much are they paying you to be a juror. $100 a day?” “No sir, I answered. $5 dollars a day.” “Five Dollars! And you can afford to eat at a place like this?”, he replied. “Well, I might be stuck there a long time maybe”, I said before he walked off.

I checked the prices on the menu out front to make sure the prices weren’t as exorbitant as he said they were (they weren’t) and I headed in to get seated. Minutes later the nicely dressed hostess seated me outside and momenats after that I was chowing down on a huge buffalo chicken salad.

After eating I walked up and down Main street a bit and notice a sushi place with a good lunch special (2 rolls plus soup and salad for like 8 bucks) and a Windmill in case I get the urge for huge hot dogs tomorrow.

I got back to the Jury Assembly room at about 1:15pm and saw that the tv was tuned to a reply of the Mets/Rockies game from the night before. I watched for a bit and then moved back to the spot I had before by a power outlet.

And then I waited…. and waited. At 3:10pm they excused us.

I have to go back tomorrow and do this all over again.

Before I went home I stopped at the Freehold Raceway Mall and grabbed a pair of Tsubo shoes from Nordstrom that were on my birthday list. I also stopped at CompUSA to grab some premium semigloss photo paper for the Epson.

Jay called right after the 8th Inning of the Orioles/Rangers game to tell me that he was there. Mr. Mihalcik got tickets and they were able to see the 6 game losing streak broken.

I saw this over at Daily Candy on Friday:

http://www.streetwars.net/

It’s basically a all out assassin game which takes place all over New York City. You are mailed a photo and information on your target and you have a week or so to “kill” them with a water gun. Just part of the fun of living in the city.

I also saw something a few weeks back about a 5 blockwide capture the flag game that takes place every Friday night. You’re allowed to use any means to travel - bike, bus, taxi, rollerblade or foot.

http://www.newmindspace.com/captureNewYork.php

I didn’t get back from Bengies until about 1:30am so I knew I had to make the most of the 4 1/2 hours of sleep I was going to get. The cell phone alarm went off at 6:00am and getting up to trun it off woke me up enough for the whole day. We managed to get jay up and we were off a little past 7:00am. I was so out of it however that I almost ran over Debbie on the way out of Kristin’s driveway as she was putting stuff away in the trunk.

We got to thr B/C lots at about 7:20am and headed over to the number pickup area which was under the warehouse tunnel. I was number 44 and Jay got 280. After we pinned our numbers on I headed over to get a timing chip and then a t-shirt. I thought we were there pretty early but by the time I had hit the t-shirt table the smallest size left was a size large. Oh well.

At around 7:55am we were all hearded into the parking lot and drive way between the warehouse and the Marc train tracks. The starting line had been spray painted on the curb so we had to be back behind that. Jay and I moved more towards the middle of the pack and then we waited.

No national anthem or announcements at this race. After we were all properly lined up they blew the airhorn and the race started. I spent most of the run through the parking lot just jogging and getting infront of people. Jay followed first to my right and then to my left as we passed Kristin and Debbie. Then we turned right and ran down Conway Street towards the Inner Harbor and then anothe right onto Light Street and past the MD Science Center. It then looped back towards the park. At one point we sort of passed the super secret parking lot that we park at for games.

Jay kept up very weel until the halfway point where I started to split off. I felt great for the first two miles or so and then I had to push for the last 3.1. The best part was running back to Camden Yards, under the vehicle tunnel and onto the warning track. The race finished right at dead center on the track. My time was 24:42, slightly better than a few weeks before. I stood over on the track for awhile and waited until Jay came in. We hung out for a bit doing Luis Matos jumps over by the Comcast sign and then we walked the rest of the track and off the field into the stands.

We followed the crowd over to the picnic area and then started loading up on the free stuff. Waters, Cokes, Powerbars. Our food tickets were good for a chicken caesar salad which was being grilled by Outback. Jay and I took our haul over to the picnic table Debbie and Kristin picked out and then left for more. Lee’s ice cream was handing out 3.5oz containers and we got into the line for bagels, chips, bananas and a prize spin from a table set up the the MD lottery. Somewhere along the line Jay managed to pick up a beer.

We sat down to eat and then I went over to check out the awards ceremony. Sadly neither Jay nor I came in the top 3 for our age categories. Then it was time for the random drawing prizes ranging from shirts and toys to Raven’s tickets and the two big prizes - a baseball jersey signed by Don Larsen and a baseball signed by Cal Ripken.

Sadly, despite the pretty good odds we didn’t win anything.

Later on Debbie told me that the people who sat next to us at the picnic tables were bitching about the food saying that “the food at the last race was way better.” I thought that food was the best I’ve had so far post race.

We decided to have lunch at Chipotle but not before we zonked out for a bit. I hadn’t been to a Chipotle in like a year so I thought it was time to go. I got Debbie some chicken tacos and I got a carnitas burrito with black beans and two kinds of salsa.

Back home we watched the rest of the game and then I hopped into the pool. I tried out Kristin’s new float and since it became a bit overcast Debbie brought Lillan out and dipped her feet into the pool.

Kristin told us about a restaurant in Pasadena called ‘Cheeseburger in Paradise’ where all the menu items are named after Jimmy Buffet songs. Since Debbie was exhausted Kristin went and picked it up. I got the namesake burger - ie the Cheeseburger in Paradise and Debbie got a skirt steak wrap without the cheese. Sadly while the food was pretty good the people in the kitchen wasn’t - Debbie’s wrap was smothered in cheese and since Jay and I also got cheeseburgers she had to settle for fries and the ‘big dill pickle’ that cam with my burger.

We left Maryland soonafter and got home at around midnight.

We made plans to take the Camden Yards tour today. Kristin was going to yoga so we made plans to leave at 11am or so and take the noon tour. While Kristin was out I went around Glen Burnie and Pasadena and packed up a few things we needed. The first stop was over to Babies R’ Us to get a baby nail clipper. Lillian has been scratchig her face and a good nail clipping was in order. I picked up a pair that had a built in magnifying glass.

There was a Rugged Wearhouse next to the Babies R’ Us so I hopped in to see if they had any good deals. Sadly there was nothing on the men’s side but on the women’s was a whole rack of James Perse stuff. I picked up a skirt for Debbie that would transition great into fall. Total price - $12.99.

Next I stopped at the Glen Burnie Mall to pick up some underwear at Hechts. I forgot to bring anything I could run in for the race so it was essential.

The last stop was to Dick’s Sporting Goods to see if they had any Under Armour stuff. They were devoid of Mediums so I left and made it back in time to head to Baltimore.

After driving around a bit we found parking on Eutaw street right next to the ballpark. Kristin and Jay went out to buy the tour tickets while we changed Lillian and unpacked the stroller. Kristin told us that the noon tour was sold out but that the 1pm tour was still available so we bought tickets. We had an hour or so to grab some lunch and after a brief debate we decided that the only logical thing to do was to go to the new Five Guys at Harborplace. Jay and I ran ahead so we could place everyones orders. After wandering around the building for a bit we found the Five Guys upstairs and placed our orders. Immediately I noticed that due to the high rent the price were about 50 cents higher than at any of the other Five Guys’. I ordered Debbie a Jr. hamburger with lettuce, tomato, ketchup, pickles and sauteed mushrooms. I decided to go for something different - lettuce, tomatoes, onions, sauteed mushrooms, green pepper, A1 and hot sauce. The green pepper is a highly recommended topping.

Debbie, Lillian and I left early so we could feed her back at the car and then we joined the tour group which met in front of the team store in the warehouse.

The Camden Yards tour is highly recommended and I have a feeling that it is not the last time that I’ll be taking it. The tour guide began with a history of the B&O railroad and warehouse telling us that the warehouse itself was due to be demolished 60 days before they had a decisive meetin to preserve it. Initially they wanted to tear it down because it blocked the view of the inner harbor. We also learned that initially they wanted to build another sterile domed stadium at first because it would be able to house a variety of events. Luckily the head designer wanted to build Oriole Park as a ballpark and not a stadium. It was also she who insisted that the warehouse be preserved.

After walked down Eutaw street we were taken up an elevator to the club level and show the party rooms. This room can be rented out at the cost of $70 per person with a minumim of 75 people. I had thought about booking one of these for my birthday one year until I found out that it would cost over 5 grand. Oh well.

Next we were taken to through the club level lounges and one of the luxury boxes. The lounges can be rented out for receptions and parties and the luxury boxes have a 3-5 year lease on them and range from $100,000 - $300,000 a year depending on their location.

We were then taken past the broadcast booths and to the jumbotron, music and out of town scoreboard control room and then it wasd down one foor to the press box. The press box is actually on open air section of the stadium behind home plate which features electrical outlets for laptops. No air conditioning here - the press gets the same experience as the fans do. The room was walled in drywall and we were pointed over to a hole in the wall where a foul ball was hit earlier in the season.

The next part of the tour was the best - we were taken down to the tunnel, out the entryway behind home plate and over to the Orioles dugout. I had a seat on the padded bench, looked out onto the field and took a photo of Kristin and I on the bullpen phone.

After the dugout we went to the flag court and back to where we started. Before thr tour ended we were given a button and a card featuring Brian Roberts.

Since we were outside the team store we decided to go in. I tried on a hat with the cartoon bird on it and then Debbie sent me away. While I was away I checked out some of the kid offerings and tried on a very cool American League All Star Jersey with Brian Roberts’ name on the back. Before we left I picked up a sweatband with the cartoon bird on it for the race the next day.

Before we left Baltimore I grabbed the gloves out of my trunk and Jay and I played some catch before Debbie told us that it was time to go.

We decided to go to 7:00pm mass instead of 5:00pm mass so we could see Kristin sing. I lied down to take a nap before mass and I think I dozed off for a while. The next thing I know I head Jay placing something on my forehead that felt like on of Lillian’s wet washcloths. Thinking this was weird I tried to take it off and discovered that it didn’t feel like a washcloth at all - for some reason Jay had placed a piece of cappocola that was was eating on my head and now my forehead felt all greasy.

We caught a few minutes of the game before leaving for mass and then we headed over. We noticed that the church was blasting their AC and I was glad that I wore long pants. Kristin sang well although we wished that her mic was turned up a bit more.

Kristin had to stay later to put away the music stands so we went directly to Bengies. Traffic was good right up until we hit the theater. D had ingeniously split the box office line into three so we got in somewhat quickly although we sort of mised the first WB cartoon and the first 25 minutes or so of Herbie. We found an empty spot in Row 5 that I had to back into and we were set. We set up, then waited for Kristin to arrive. We watched the movie for a bit in hopes of seeing the snack bar line diminish a bit and then Kristin and I headed in. I grabbed some chicken tenders, a chicken sandwich for Debbie, fries, onion rings and 2 large diet Cokes. When I got to the register I noticed the cashier writing my order down - I had just gotten hooked up. Awesome!

Herbie actually wasn’t too terrible and I think Lillian enjoyed it as she sat in my lap for a bit and watched it. She was probably thinking, “man, that’s one big TV.”

After Herbie Debbie decided to take Lillian home and feed and out her to bed. I moved the bench back over to where kristin had parked her car but I couldn’t find it at first. I had to call Jay and have him wave me over. I headed up to the projection booth to talk to D and thanked him for the food. Then I headed back to watch ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ with Kristin. Jay decided to snooze and get some rest before the big race.

The movie was pretty good and according to Kristin - very faithful to the book. I think it’s been at least 20 years since I last read it so I couldn’t remember the intricate details. One thing was for sure - the movie really did make you want to eat chocolate, so I hopped over to the snack bar and grabbed some chocolate chip cookies.

After the movie ended we piled everything back into Kristin’s car and left. I snoozed most of the way back.

Debbie and I decided to use the ‘Take Lillian to Maryland while she’s sleeping’ technique again and left for Maryland at about 8:45pm. The car was already gassed up and ready to go and Lillian was clean, fed and bathed. On the way down I had the luxury of listening to the Orioles lose to Tampa Bay in the first game of their 3 game series and then I called Jay to talk about the outcome. Sadly it appears that I ruined the game for him as he had the game paused on TiVo and had not yet seen the top of the 9th inning. Ooops.

We hit Kristin’s at about midnight and saw that Kristin had beat us there after being out for the evening. I noticed that the giant bag of almonds that Jay picked up 3 weeks earlier was still about 75% full so I helped myself to them. I was also informed that Kristin had taken some of Jay’s black bananas and made some baked goods out of them - banana bread and banana chocolate chip cookies. Jay and I dug into these and he introduced me to using cream cheese as a spread on banana bread.

Lillian was put to bed in the pack n’ play and the Areobed was inflated. I spent a bit of time looking up flights from LAX to BWI for Jay and Alex so she could hop over to Wildwood this year and couldn’t find anything that both fit their criteria (Friday red eye flight and Wednesday early departure) and their price range (under $300 preferrably).