He Knew He Was Right

So here I am at Arrowhead Stadium! This is my third new NFL venue this year, and quite likely the last. When the schedule comes out each year, there are the two-for-one MLB/NFL weekends I try to set up for September, the two-NFL-games-in-one-weekend craziness I likewise try to scheme, but there is also that one team or venue I always seem to have in my sights as the one I must see each autumn. That team this year was the Chiefs. For the past couple of years, I've looked at the schedule to see if I could get to Chiefs and Broncos games the same weekend, but there have been no such alignments of a Sunday game for one and an MNF game for the other with the road trip in between. This being the 50th anniversary of the Chiefs, however, had me ID them as the team to see this year. A bye week for the Giants opened this weekend a bit wider. Dirt cheap airfare clinched this for me. So, this makes 24 teams. Not bad. Not bad at all. I'm 3/4 of the way there now, and I feel fortunate ...

The day before Sandy hit, I did a huge cleanup outside. I moved something like 30 wheelbarrow loads of partially shredded leaves. I passed on all the 1:00 football games and just kept working. My neighbor was out there doing the same cleanup. We knew it could all be for naught, as we had no idea of what was in store. Downed trees seemed quite likely. Well, my mailbox and post were toppled. Other than that, I had a ridiculously small amount of yard cleanup to do. I gathered fallen twigs and branches throughout my yard into the pile shown here. That's it. I did lose power for 62 hours, and with that power loss went my heat and running water. The house had cooled to 54 degrees Thursday morning, before the electricity kicked in, with the furnace and well pump coming to immediate life. Of course, many suffered great losses, my family included. Many, again, family included, lost their utilities for far longer than I did. It's truly depressing on one hand but rather reassuring on...

I've cleared the gutters. I've caulked that leaky window. I've gassed up the chainsaw. I've purchased D batteries and bottled water. I've secured use of my neighbor's pool water for toilet flushing. I've charged up every rechargeable device I have, whether or not I think I'll need that old digital camera, the helmet cam, etc, these next few days. I've pulled out all the old candles I have lying around. I've got my British ales lined up. I've got the charcoal grill prepped and ready to fire up should meats in the freezer start thawing. I've washed my apples, and other produce, and have plenty of nuts and other non-perishables ready. I have enough Halloween candy to nourish me for a few days. I guess that should do it... - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

So here I am at University of Phoenix Stadium. I thought it was hot yesterday, but this is just wrong. I mean, NFL football in 100+ temps? 100-deg colder would be preferable to me. Ok, the game is indoors, but I still had to step outside to get here. Thankfully, the roof will be closed for the game, the awesome spectacle of the roof opening mid-game at Chase last night notwithstanding.   When the NFL schedule was released in April, I was hoping to swing something like this--one trip out west to knock off the last two baseball teams, and get to a Cardinals game the same weekend. The multi-destination ticket cost what I would have expected to pay for a round trip to either San Diego or Phoenix, so don't ever say HKHWR isn't efficient. I meant to note yesterday the number or folks in town for both the Diamondbacks and Cardinals games this weekend. There are plenty. In fact, I'm not even the only nut who preceded these games with a trip to a Padres game. Despite the heat, ...

Soooo here I am at Chase Field! Hooray! HKHWR has done it, parking his butt in a seat at the ballpark of all 30 Major League teams. And, let me first say that...IT IS HOT! Wow! HKHWR doesn't do well in this type of weather, and really is just stymied by temps this high at any time of year, let alone in Autumn. I had noted two or three other weekends where both the Padres and Diamondbacks were home the same weekend, but one of two main reasons I opted for this last weekend of the baseball season was to hopefully avoid some of the famous Arizona heat...no dice. Thankfully, the 10-minute walk from the hotel wasn't too stifling. Going back to the 70s, when I saw my first Yankee game at Shea Stadium (yes, the Yanks called Shea home for a spell in the 70s) to today, I have seen all 30 teams play in 38 or 39 ballparks. It was in 1991 when I first hit the road for a ballgame, first traveling to Baltimore, and then a few weeks later making a day trip to Boston. It wasn't long b...

So here I am at Petco Field. Can you feel the excitement? Have you been checking back here daily or weekly since my post in Minny about the serious progress I'd be making in the first phase of this ballpark craziness? I hope you have. Petco is the ballpark of the penultimate team I've yet to see play at home. I'll hit that last one really soon. I flew into town last night, and I'll be heading out in the morning. Yes, HKHWR is up to his old tricks. It's been a few years already since I've been to San Diego. So, today, I walked around the Gaslamp District for a bit, ferried to Coronado, where I found the Coronado Brewing Company, and now I'm settling in to what brought me to town. I know a bunch of people who have been here, and everyone gives it high marks. I walked around the outside of the ballpark early today, as my jet-lagged self was rather energetic earlier in the day than usual. It is an impressive sight, with a large footprint that doesn't fe...

Wow hey Happy National Punctuation Day to all of you especially my copyediting colleagues blog writers and anyone who gives a hoot about commas colons semi colons and so forth and let me add that while this latest National Whatever Day may not hold the morning appeal of National Coffee Day nor the 5:00 pm excitement of National Beer Day and is certainly not the nutritionist nightmare that is National Cheeseburger Day National Punctuation Day is indeed one to celebrate