* Trip to Fenway Park
* The Clerks II premiere
* The Clerks II LA screening
* The Cinespace events
* The Movies Askew event
* NY Comicon/NY Clerks II screening
* Vulgarthon 2006

The past few years we’ve seen ads around town for something called the Strawberry Fair. We thought maybe Lillian would enjoy it so Debbie checked out the website and it looked pretty cool. Rides, games, fair food, a petting zoo,camel and pony rides. Sounded like fun to me.

We left the house at around 5:45pm after a dip in Lillian’s new pool and then we headed over to the fair, which was held in the parking lot of the Monmouth park racetrack. Parkin was $5 but fair entry was free. Inside we decided to eat first. I saw a stand dipping corn dogs so I got one and then it was time for butterfly fries. Debbie and I also split a gyro and Lillian ate two hot dogs. Gotta love the fair.

After eating we took Lillian to the petting zoo where she enjoyed petting some of the animals. We scoped out the camel rides and the pony rides and decided that the pony rides might be better. We grabbed a $4 ticket and soon Lillian was up on a white horse named Twinkie. I held her on as she held onto the stirrup and we got to go around in a circle about 5 times. I think Lillian enjoyed it.

After the pony ride we headed over to the duck game - the one where you pick a duck and check underneath to see what you win. Lillian won the “small” prize and picked a stuffed flower which she took to bed with her. We then headed over to the little train which she expressed interest in riding. I rode along with her as we circled the track about 3 times.

We were ready to leave after the train ride but Lillian wanted some strawberries and I wasn’t about to say no to the strawberry shortcake they were offering so we got some. It turns out she just really wanted some of the fresh whipped cream.

At every major holiday our community puts together a small event in an effort to have us all gather. They’re funded via our hefty monthly assosciation fee so we’ve decided to take advantage of most of them. For Halloween there was a party and a costume contest (which Lillian won.) For Christmas they had a party and all the kids got a gift. At Easter there was an egg hunt. On Memorial Day a fire truck leads a parade and then there is an outdoor barbecue. This year’s party was scheduled for today so Debbie decorated Lillian’s Big Wheel with streamers and a mylar balloon.

I spent mushc of the morning trying to fix Gallery and I was still working on it when Debbie and Lillian left for the parade. I finally figured out my problem just as I heard the fire truck pass out front so I quickly got dressed and ran out. Good timing as the fire truck was moving at a pretty brisk pace and Debbie was getting tired. I walked Lillian the rest of the way.

The outdoor barbecue got underway a half hour later and featured burgers, Best’s hotdogs, homemade salads, chips and sodas.

We were planning on hitting the Strawberry Fair tonight but we got an invite from our next door neighbors to a barbecue. More burgers and dogs and a friend that Lillian could play with. We couldn’t refuse that.

I was down to one last Orioles ticket voucher and May was coming to an end. Debbie told me that I should use it this week. For some reason I was being wishy-washy about using it today, tomorrow or Friday. I took a look outside and decided that it was way too nice outside not to be at the ballpark. So off I went to Baltimore, leaving the house at around 9:30am.

I left messages with Kristin, Jay and Robert telling them I was coming down to the game. I knew that I had hit Jay too late and Kristin didn’t call back so I was on my own. The drive down was very smooth and as I crossed into Maryland I started thinking about lunch. I decided to hit a Greek restaurant tha I had read about called Samos.

I found free parking down the street from Samos and took a quick walk around Greektown. I passed some more Greek restaurants, a couple bakeries and a cool mural of two people dancing.

I headed into Samos and took a seat and a menu. I quickly ordered a water, a cup of avgolemono and a gyro.

The avgolemono was probably the best that i’ve ever had and the gyro was awesome as well. Moments before my food came Kristin called and told me that she was in PA for the day visiting a factory or something, so no go on lunch or the game. No problem.

After lunch I drove slowly through a bit of traffic over to Lexington Market - parking in the cheap quarter parking that I discovered last time. There I picked up a full pound of Berger’s cookies (Debbie’s only craving so far), 2 $1.25 sodas and a 1/2 pint of fruit salad. I took a stroll around and briefly considered getting some oysters at Faidley’s. Rob replied to my text to ask when the game was starting.

After the market I headed over to the ballpark. My main entrance to the B/C lot was chained off because of the busted ticket machine someone backed into and was out of commission. I turned around and accidently wound up on 95 so i had to turn around and get off and entered through the Lee street entrance. After parking I headed over to the Home Plate gate and hung out with the autograph hounds. Alex Rios signed for a couple people as he walked inside and then a ballplayer came in from the A lot anf signed for absolutely everyone. I didn’t know who he was so I held back. I later learned it was AJ Burnett and he was parking in the A lot instead of cabbing it from the team hotel because his wife lives in the area.

At around 4pm I headed over to cash in my ticket - not before passing AJ Burnett again who was jogging around the outside of the ballpark. Rob texted back and told me that him and Carrie were indeed going to head up. I texted back my seat location and told him I’d see them there. After a bathroom stop at the Days Inn (the Convention Center was closed) I was in line at Gate H. at 5:00pm the gates opened and I was let in.

The crowd was light and the bleachers weren’t too filled. My move today was to hang out in the flag court for the lefties in hopes of catching a ball. I did that for a bit with no luck and then I headed back into the seats for the righties. Soon someone ripped high fly ball into the right center seats. I was there to pick it up as it rolled towards me. Moments later another was hit there and I got that as well. Back in the flag court I had a couple balls fly over my head and into Eutaw Street. The first was nabbed by someone on a bounce off the Warehouse. the second I had a great bead on and was sure I had it, but it bounced behind a vendor booth and was picked up by the vendor himself. Crap.

5:30pm rolled around and I was let into the seating bowl. I hit the O’s dugout first with no luck and then I went to Left field and tried to track down some balls. Not much luck there either. A bit later I noticed a ball had rolled by the wall so I ran over and glove tricked it. As I was reeling in the string I saw a mitt come out of nowhere fly in under it. I looked up and saw that reliever Scott Downs has chucked it over in an effort to try and knock it out. Luckily he missed. I asked him if he wanted the ball back. He replied that since I had taken such a great effort to get it that I should keep it. Another one of the player came over and asked to see the glove trick so I flipped the glove over and showed him the rubber band and Sharpie setup.

Near the end of BP I noticed that left field became infested with a ton of preteen kids screaming for balls. They were crowded over near the bullpen side. I stayed near left center and tried to track down fly balls. Jay called and told me that he was stuck at a 30th borthday party of an old friend or something and wouldn’t be able to make it. No problem. I decided to change position as as I did I noticed an ball just sitting there in a seat. I checked to make sure it didn’t belong to anyone and then I grabbed it.

After BP I made my way near the Jay’s dugout and noticed that pitcher Shaun Marcum was signing so I grabbed by Jays hat and a Sharpie and has him sign it. father down a crowd had gathered. Roy Hallday was signing so I got into that crowd and had him sign one of my snagged baseballs.

After BP I stood in line for the free Designated Driver drinks and then I grabbed some Boogs pit beef before heading to my ticketed seats.

Rob and Carrie arrived near the start of the 2nd inning and we all were able to sit together for the rest of the game which was won by the O’s 5-2. At the end of the 4th we made an Uncle Teddy’s run and I thanks Carrie for reminding me how good those things were.

Other notes:

* Steve Trachsel really is a human rain delay with men on base
* Relish won the hot dog race

After the game I walked Rob and Carrie to the Warehouse parking lot. Then I hung back near the player’s lot while traffic cleared and then I headed home arriving a tad before 1:30am.

I was actually up a minute or two before my 6:15am cell phone alarm went off. As it buzzed I shut it off and then descended the steps of the bunk bed. I tapped Jay in an effort to wake him up and then I hopped in the shower. As I ate a pre-race yogurt, Jay and Alex got ready and we ended up leaving the house at around 7:30am. Debbie snapped this pre-race photo.

Jay drove us down in the TSX. On the way Alex offered me some chocolate chip cookies they had in the car. Sadly they were covered with walnuts so I had to pass. Minutes later Jay pulled into the B/C lot and we were there.

Since we didn’t have anyone to hold our stuff for us (Debbie and Lillian were going to come later) we decided to take everything with us to the signup and then drop it off in the car later. We headed over under the archway by Gate A and picke dup our numbers (55 for me, 452 for Alex and 453 for Jay), timing chips and t-shirts. Luckily we got there when we did because the pile of Small shirts was dwindling. Alex and I scored one each. We stretched for a bit and then Alex debated on whether or not to layer since it was sort of chilly but warming up.

It was getting close to racetime so we headed back to the car. dropped our stuff off and then hit the bathrooms on Eutaw Street. Then we followed the rest of the racers to the parking lot at the east end of the Warehouse and lined up near the middle of the pack. The race began precicely at 8:30am and we were off.

Alex kept claiming that she was a slow starter but she actually led for the first half of the race. I kept pace beside them when I could and fell back a bit when the race lane got narrow. The route was the same one Jay and I took when we race the race two years ago.

The first mile was actually pretty smooth although we had to hop a few puddles because of the rainfall the night before. I did find myself passing the 1st mile marker and saying to myself, “That was a mile? It seemed a lot farther.” There’s a part of the race where the path comes back at you and near the first mile marker I complained about how we were being lapped by the people in front already. Oh well.

I pulled a bit away from Alex and Jay around the halfway point and started to tire as we hit Hamburg Street on the way back to Camden Yards. The best part of the race was running through the service tunnel where the player get to go in and then seeing the light as I entered the field from right field. I looked to my right to get a Nick-Markakis-tracking-a-fly-ball type of viewpoint and then gave it all I had to the finishline. My time was 25:49. Later I found out that I was 11 seconds behind the start line so my actual 5K time was 25:38.

After I finished I waited around for Alex and Jay. Alex came in about 30 seconds after I did and then Jay came in a minute and a half later. We hung out on the Left Field warning track for a good 15-20 minutes marveling at the view and the grass and then we headed over to the picnic area for the food and prizes.

At the picnic area we handed an Outback chicken caesar salad and there were boxes full of bagels, bananas, Utz chips and cheesecorn, peanuts, Powerbars and sodas, water and beer. We all grabbed pretty much one of each and found a place to sit. The prize drawing got underway pretty much as we sat down. They annoucned that there were about 100 prizes to give away so one of us had a pretty good shot at winning something. Minutes after we sat down Alex decided to go and look for Kristin, Debbie and Lillian. just as she left the prize prize number was drawn…

452

That number sounded familiar. I looked at Jay’s number and saw 453. Jay looked at me and said, “That’s Alex.” We looked around for Alex and saw her in the prize area picking up her prize - a Louisville Slugger wood bat with the date and “Oriole Advocates 19th Annual Home Run” on it. In addition to that she received a New Balance prize pack for wearing New Balance shoes. That consisted of a bag, a pilsner glass, 180’s and a bunch of other stuff. Great haul.

Alex and her prize - a $90 Louisville Slugger

A few minutes later Kristin, Debbie and Lillian arrived. I got Kristin a salad and Lillian chowed down on Utz cheesecorn. Lillian then got to work collecting rocks in the picnic area while we watched people win prizes. In addition to the bats there were also tickets to future Oriole games, gift certs to a local running store and other prizes. I was hoping to win some Oriole’s tickets or the grand prize - a baseball signed by Cal but it wasn’t meant to be. What was meant to be was a prize which came in the middle of the drawings. I was sitting on the ground near our picnic table relaxing when I realized that they called my number. I didn’t know what I had won until I got up to the front. a $25 Giant Cift Card. Cool!

I felt bad for Jay because he was the only one who didn’t get a prize, but that will be motivation for him to run next year and win.

After the race I went to see if the ticket offices were open. I wanted to take the Ballpark Tour today and tickets get sold fairly quick. Sadly the ticket offices were closed so we left.

Back at Kristin’s we decided to reward our morning of calorie burning with a trip to Ann’s Dari-Creme. Jay and Alex wanted to come along too so we drove over and ordered a take out order for everyone. Half a double dog with everything for me. Half a plain double for Lillian. Cheesesteak with onions for Debbie. Cheesesteaks for Jay and Kristin. Alex had leftover Romano’s crabcake.

Rob and Carrie arrived around 1:30pm and we spent a few minutes hitting the wiffle ball I got for Easter around. After goofing aroudn with that we took two cars over to Camden yards to see if there were tickets left for the 3:00pm tour. Luckily there was and we were set. After hanging for a bit in the store we waited outside for our tour guide to arrive.

Our tour guide reminded me of an old gym teacher. He carried the keys to the whole ballpark on the keychain mini-bat which he used to point or tap stuff out. He explained some of the history of the park at our start point and then we moved onto the flag court. As we did Lillian decided to throw a fit and didn’t want to leave. I offered to stay back with her and let Debbie take the tour but she told me to go ahead. The tour guide noticed later on when we headed down to dugouts and I explained that they wouldn’t be coming.

My favorite part of these ballpark tours is the dugout and I noticed Rob’s excitement as he checked it out. I took a closer look this time at the plaques and photos on the walls (Earl Weaver and Cal Ripken Sr.) and looked underneath the bench to see if there was a stray ball (no luck, but I did see a can of snuff down there). There was also a signed that said “No pepper playing or flip.” Rob and I wondered what the heck flip was.

After the dugout we went into the underbelly of the stadium and then took an elevator up to the control room and then down to the club level for a look at a suite. The tour ended back out on Eutaw Street and we all recived buttons and Brian Roberts cards.

After the tour Jay and Alex decided to hit mass. the only one they could find that late was a Spanish mass at 6:00pm. Rob and Carrie left to make shrimp tacos. Debbie and I were trying to decide what to do. Leave now or wait until Jay and Alex got back and have dinner with them. Kristin had left to go to play practice. We decided to wait it out. However by 7:25pm when Jay and Alex had returned we decided to leave them a message and head off to the Pho place nearby. Luckily before we got there they called and joined us for some great Pho in Glen Burnie. From there we left for home, reaching shortly after midnight.

Poker actually ended today at a decent hour (about 6:00am) and featured an unusual trip at 2:00am to the Inkwell for grilled chicken wraps. This was a good thing because it meant that I could get a few hours of sleep before our trip to Baltimore. I came home and wahed the smoke out of hair and then slept until 11:30am. Debbie packed up the car and we were off to MD after a gas stop and some Wendy’s. I ended sleeping lightly the whole trip.

We hung out at Kristin’s for a bit before heading to mass at 5:00pm. We were told to go early because it was a crowded mass. After mass we headed over to find a crabcake place I had read about called Romano’s. We swung by and grabbed a carryout menu and then hit Five Guys so that Lillian could get some dinner.

At around 8:00pm Kristin returned and I went to pick up the crabcakes, hoping that they lived up to the good reviews. Jay and Alex were at Kristin’s by the time I had arrived. I started taking the food out of the paper bag and the weight of the crabcakes made them upend the styrofoam box and I dropped them back into the bag. These crabcakes were HUGE. The size of a flattened softball huge. And they weren’t all filler either - they were huge jumbo lump pieces. I had ordered 6 of them hoping that they would feed the five of us and we ended up with almost 2 left over. I wish I had taken a pic.

The Poker gang at The Inkwell - 3:00am May 19, 2007 - West Long Branch

In an effort to use all of the 6 ticket vouchers I had left from the Orioles Holiday 4-pack (times 2) I decided to hit yet another game this week. My original plan was to go on Tuesday to see the Orioles face the Devil Rays and collect an Erik Bedard T-Shirt, but I decided to put it off a day. I figured that the crowds would be smaller the next day and I also figured that the shirt probably wouldn’t fit me.

I called Jay and Alex to see if they would like to go and they said they’d call te next morning and confirm. Those tickets were being put to good use and Jay would be attending his first game in a year and a half.

I left the house shortly after 9am and was on my was after filling up. The weather looked great and there was no traffic - not even through Delaware. As I left Delaware it started to get really cloudy and it got dark enough that I thought it might rain. I tried to imagine a game without batting practice and then I stopped and decided to think positively. Jay called and said that he and Alex were in and then I texted Kristin and asked if she would like to have lunch. She thought that was a great idea. I told her I’d be there around noon.

The ride down to Baltimore was nice and smooth and I did indeed get to Baltimore just before noon. I parked in the Ray Lewis lot and picked up Kristin. She asked me if I wanted to eat at Nacho Mama’s where we found easy parking and easy seating. Kristin ended up ordering some great chicken taquitos and I had some hurricane shrimp and a Natty Boh. The day was starting out great.

After lunch I decided to check out the Broadway Market in Fells Point. I parked easily and checked out the two buildings that make up the parket paying in particular attention to the Polish market which had pierogis and kabanosis. Other that that and a few restaurants there really want much to look at so I took off for the bigger, more livlier Lexington Market.

I circled Lexington Market a few times looking for alternate parking options. The first couple times I’d been there I parked at the attached garage which costs a minimum of $3.00. I ending up finding quarter street parking a block down. Nice. Inside I grabbed a 1/2 pound of Berger’s Cookies, 2 24oz sodas ($2.50) and a 1/2 pint of fruit salad. I also decided to try a Polock Johnny’s Polish sausage with it’s secret “Works” sauce. Not bad - but not as good as Konstants.

I took my haul back to the car and then headed over to the B/C lots to park. It was still really early and I was hoping the stadium parking people would be out. No such luck, so I passed some time circling around. Then I noticed that the lot was actually a dual use lot and I could just take a ticket and enter. So I did later returning to purchase a general ballgame pass.

At the park I hung out with the autograph hounds for bit and watched the Orioles and Devil Rays enter. Few stopped to sign. Later on I grabbed 3 tickets and then I started the wait at Gate H at about 4:00pm. One hour later I was inside.

Batting practice was actually fairly sparse. I didn’t get any ball thrown to me but I was able to grab a couple on bounces in the flag court. My third ball was thrown to me by bullpen catcher Orlando Gomez who was shagging out in Right Center. I love the Oriole bullpen catchers. After the main seating bowl opened I hung out behind the dugout and then went out to Left to try my luck. Not much doing out there but I was getting better at running balls down. I managed to pick up my 4th ball on a miss that landed in a seat next to me.

After BP I headed over tho grab some free Designated Driver drink coupons and then I hung out in the Eutaw Street bleachers for a bit. Jay called a couple times - once to tell me that Alex couldn’t make it and the second time to tell me that he had no cash. After the National Anthem I decided to try my luck at grabbing a foul ball during the game. Came close a couple times but no cigar. Jay called at the top of the 2nd and I went over and met him at Gate H.

Jay was craving a Grille Dog so we grabbed a couple and headed over to Section 67 Row A and watched the game. It was a great pitching duel between Erik Bedard and James Shields. By the time we knew it, the game had gone into extras. Free baseball! Jay was supposed to pick up Alex in DC by 11pm so we hoped that the Orioles would wrap up the win soon. Aubrey Huff decided to comply as he hit a walkoff bomb that was caught by Rudy Arias in the bullpen. Game over.

After the game I walked with jay and bit and then I headed home myself, reaching NJ at just before 1:30am.

A series of signs near Lexington Market