Busy, Busy

I hit my wall yesterday, and then laughed: I have 5 weeks and 4 days of spring training left! This is day 3! Fortunately, I remembered that this happens every year for the first week or so as I adjust to getting up at 6:30 a.m. instead of 2 p.m., and make the transition. Along the way I've made about 700 delicious mistakes, and my boss has caught every last one of them. Way to prove my aptitude, eh? This too, shall pass...

Yesterday was very busy but a lot of fun. I got to the park about 9 and stayed long enough to talk to the manager at noon before hopping in the car and heading north to St. Pete and Tropicana Field for the Rays' Fan Fest. There were about a million people there, EVERYWHERE, and I got what I needed for a story and left again as quickly as possible.

From there, I drove out to Lakeland to meet Shane for dinner. We've been friends almost 10 years now but only get to hang out once a year if that, so it was great to see him and catch up on everything that's happened in our lives since the last meeting. He sat ever-so-patiently at Starbucks while I typed my stories -- and we even had a celebrity sighting: Jason Beck of MLB.com fame! haha -- and then we went to Beef's for dinner.

It sounds like he's doing well with the Astros so far, which always makes me happy. He's fought so hard to keep playing, it's nice to see another team has picked him up and is treating him well. He's got big news coming up in the offseason -- he's FINALLY getting married! -- so that was exciting to hear about too. All in all, a short but good visit.

I left Lakeland and went into the office to tidy up my stories, and made it to bed by 2ish.

When my alarm went off at 6:30 this morning, I'd never been so disappointed in my life. Trust me on this one, I am NOT a morning person whatsoever. It helped immensely that today was a beautiful day and I had plenty to do. Oh, and God bless whoever made Diet Mt. Dew. I'm not a coffee drinker nor have I ever been, so this caffeine is how I start my day and manage to function. I <3 you, Mountain Dew.

The one beef I have with covering baseball -- and I'm fairly certain that this is the same for pro sport -- is the waiting game. We spend anywhere from 2-4 hours in the locker room each work day, depending on whether it's a regular-season game or spring training workouts, and accomplish very little. Because of the ADD, I get antsy when I have to stand in one place and do nothing (think of the goloden retriever from "Up" ... SQUIRREL!), and no amount of medication helps to stop me from bouncing in place. Luckily, there are about 10 TVs in the clubhouse so I've got something to occupy my time, but it's still the least productive way to spend a day. This is one of the very few instances that I prefer high school to pro: the older they get and the farther they advance in their careers, the longer we have to wait to hold court with them.

Today, I didn't get either guy I was camped out for, due as much in part to my ill-timed trip to the cafeteria with half of our group as it was the manager's meeting. Thankfully I've learned to grab other things while I'm waiting to make up for it just in case. It's a little bit more difficult to have things for advance during the first few days of camp, but this gets infinitely easier as the preseason wears on.

I wrote in the media room at the ballpark until almost 3 before calling it a wash and heading home to shower. A few hours later I'd wrapped up my work and decided to reward myself with a trip to my favorite bar, Linkster's, because tomorrow's my day off. Then I called my boss and before I had time to think, I'd already offered to work tomorrow. That's how crazy baseball makes me, haha.

Sorry for the long, rambling post, I tried to squish two days into one. Once this settles down a bit I'll have more time to make these more entertaining, promise. I'll try to snap some pics tomorrow too, if I remember. For now, it's all about finishing up my soup and sushi and heading to bed so I don't murder anyone when my alarm goes off at 6:30 again. :)

Night, kiddos!

-Sportsgal