That Sucker Teed Off on That Like He Knew I Was Gonna Throw a Fastball!

"Foul ball" or "bowel fall", you decide...

Man, what a day! What a great day, that is.

Started out rough... I told Josh that I'd pick him up from his hotel at 9 am Monday morning, and then proceeded to stay up Sunday night until 3 am reading... as I drifted off to sleep, without access to an alarm clock, and with the full knowledge that I cannot get up early on little sleep without help, I prayed... "Lord, I know I don't deserve it, choosing to stay up this late when I have to be out of here by no later than 8:30am, but if you could help a bruthuh out here and help me get up early enough, that would be awesome. Otherwise Josh will be ready and waiting at 9, and I'll still be snoring on the couch..."

Well, God decided to smile on me, and I miraculously woke up at 7:30, without aid of any kind. May not sound like much, but trust me, if you knew the way I worked, you'd know how nearly-impossible that was... so thanks, King!

Well, He smiled on me all day, as it turned out. Our first day of business meetings was remarkably productive, and didn't take as much time as I thought they would. In fact, we took an extended lunch so I could show off La Jolla Shores and the cove a little bit. It was a terrific day, weather-wise. Perfect, actually. We returned to the shop, got more done, then headed downtown to see a Padre game.

We decided to sit in the right field bleachers... here's why...


That's right, they made the Right Field Upper Deck the "All You Can Eat Seats." When we found out that this little suburb of Heaven existed, Josh's exact quote was "You know, I could be talked into that..." We decided to go for it, and it was every bit as wonderful as we had hoped it would be.

Before we went up there, actually, we went into a ground-floor souvenir shop, and they had an exit onto a little protected terrace that was literally right on the field, separated from the left-field corner by just a chain-link fence. Since the Padres were playing Josh's favorite team, the Braves, he got to see a few of them warming up from just about arms-length away. Here's a video...



So we found our seats, remained seated for approximately one second, and then went to get our "All We Can Eat" on...


Good thing we got there an hour early. There was some hard-core eating that needed to be done. We didn't want to be distracted by the game. Here we are, preparing for Round 1. After chatting with the cool people behind the counter, we talked one of them into snapping this pic. By the time the night was done, safely tucked into our stomachs were an assorted array of hot dogs, nachos, popcorn, ice creams and liquid refreshments by the gallon...

We took our seats and settled in...


As you can see, the place was packed... lol, actually, we were practically the only people in the entire All You Can Eat seats... which was fine for us... that meant more food and no lines. It was literally as perfect a night as you could ask for. Sun for about an hour, not too hot, just right. Then after sun down, a perfect temperature for the entire time. A soft breeze now and then to remind us that we weren't actually indoors. Not muggy, not chilly, not uncomfortable at all, in even the slightest measure, the entire time. I know that it seems I'm making a big deal out of it, sorry... it was eerie how perfect it was.

The stadium is so awesome, I was as blown away as Josh was, and I had been there before. It truly is a joy to look around and see all that they have done with the place. A perfect night at a perfect park. Here's the view from our seats later in the game...


Between the two of us, we had both teams covered. Josh a Braves fan, me a Padres fan. Honestly, I didn't care who won, really, I just wanted it to be a fun game with good ball played. Well, I didn't care who won until Josh told me that he's been to 15+ Braves games in his lifetime, at several different stadiums in different cities, and he has never been to a game where the Braves have won. I was kind of floored by that... what are the odds of that type of streak? So I decided to secretly root for the Braves to win, so Josh could break the streak.

So who won? I'll let this next picture show you....


Yup, the Padres won 4 to 2. Oh well... guess the streak is alive. Like the Undertaker's Wrestlemania winning streak, I guess...

The game itself was a fun one to watch... lots of offense. 16 hits between the two clubs. Definitely not a pitcher's duel, lol. We went down to the floor-level store again and watched the last inning from the little terrace on the field again, which was fun. Josh bought a shirt, we left, got in the car, and hopped on the freeway straight away, no fuss at all. Piece of cake.

A perfect end to a perfect day. Very productive at work, some sight-seeing, and a terrific ball game. File that one under "Best Days".

Well, I don't have much more to add. Going to go dive into Best Served Cold again, although I'm starting to have issues with the book that are a bit disappointing. But they are story decisions, not style decisions - the book is still an easy, enjoyable read.

Until tomorrow, remember, Josh, there's no crying in baseball.