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Every year, to celebrate the end of a cold, long, winter of a world with no baseball, my dad and I journey to the state of Florida to see the teams getting ready for the season.

We try to take in 2 games each day, whenever possible. They make for busy days, but they’re a load of fun. Here’s a typical day:

09:30 - big breakfast
11:00 - batting practice and autographs before afternoon game
13:00 - afternoon game
16:00 - afternoon game is over, drive to next city (stop at Wendy’s for supper)
17:00 - batting practice and autographs before evening game
19:00 - evening game
22:00 - evening game is over, drive to next city, collapse at hotel until morning.

It’s an art, really…the thrill of cramming that much baseball into such a small time span. It’s taken us about a decade to really get it down, but now that we have a system, it works so well.

Years ago when we started this, we were in a minority of people who go south for baseball in March. The people we’d meet at the games were snowbirds who were about a month away from moving back to the North for the summer. Though that’s still the case at some places (Lakeland, for example), most of the people we see are in Florida just for baseball.

Here’s where we’ll be this year:
Friday afternoon: Orlando (Astros vs. Braves)
Friday night: Vero Beach (Mets vs. Dodgers)
Saturday afternoon: Lakeland (Dodgers vs. Tigers)
Sunday afternoon: Tampa (Indians vs. Yankees)
Sunday night: Clearwater (old timers’ game at Phillies stadium)
Monday afternoon: Lakeland (Yankees vs. Tigers)

The only down time we have in that trip is Saturday night. There’s a little sports bar pizza place in Clearwater that we love to visit, so we’ll be stopping in there to admire the memorabilia and enjoy the pizza Saturday night.

Will Thursday ever come?…

Don Wildmon and his drones at the AFA must be bored with Target, because they are now pointing a finger at another company in their quest for an America where everything is done Don’s way. This time around, Ford is the bad guy. Don is now summoning the forces on his mailing list to stop buying Ford cars because Ford has been donating money to gay activists.

I’m probably as anti-homo as old Don, but that’s not the point here. Don isn’t encouraging Ford to stop those donations by having concerned customers express dissatisfaction over a marketing decision. Don and the AFA are having Christians gripe and whine to Ford until they get their way (or, rather, until Don gets his way). This looks bad on Christianity from Ford’s perspective (”Christians are just a bunch of whiny babies”), and it looks bad from the gay perspective (”Christians hate us”). There’s a right way and a wrong way to invoke change from a giant like Ford. Whining will get you nowhere.

If you don’t want to buy Ford cars because they donate money to gays, I guess that’s your business. But please don’t go signing that AFA petition just because Don said it was a good idea. It’s not. It’s a very bad idea. And somehow, in his old age, Don has gotten good and bad mixed up. I am assuming he’s got the best of intentions, but he’s really going at this the wrong way.

I’m not in the market for another car right now, but I don’t have to think about which company will get my business next time I need one. Ford’s cars and trucks have proven themselves to be dependable to my family for many, many years; and I’m not going to go buy something else just because Don Wildmon thinks I should.

This is hardly news anymore, but I just haven’t had time to post about it yet. A couple weeks ago, a guy pulled out in front of my wife and caused a little accident. The truck held up pretty well…everybody was ok, and the body of the truck was just fine. It’s all fixed now. I got it back from the body shop earlier this week. A couple people had asked about pictures, so - as promised - here they are.

I spotted this sign hanging on the door of the Georgia State Patrol post where I had to go pick up an accident report.

My wife was in a little wreck recently. I can’t believe it’s almost been 2 weeks. Geico has been handling the claim for me, and unlike the last time I needed their help, they’ve been really cooperative in the matter. I fear I’ll have to file some law suit with the other guy’s insurance (el insurance del los carros) to get full reimbursement for my deductable and other minor expenses. I’ll post before/after pictures sometime soon.

In my last post, I mentioned the Pancake Pantry in Nashville. I won’t go into detail about the “grilled goodness” that I had, but suffice it to say that if I’m ever in Nashville on a morning when you’re in Nashville, let me know and I’ll meet you at the Pancake Pantry. Awesome food.

Last Wednesday I went to Nashville to see 12 of my favorite Square Pegs celebrate the release of “Scarce,” Eric Peters new (totally rockin’) CD. I’m even more excited now than ever about the Square Peg Alliance. Seeing these guys (and gals) together, supporting each other’s work in such a tangible way was thrilling to me. I got introduced to the way cool sound of Katy Bowser, and I’m still in awe of how a simple song like “All Of My Friends” could captivate an audience like that. She has that song up on her myspace page; I don’t know if it’s been recorded yet, but I’ll buy when it does. (and if it’s already been released, somebody tell me where.)

Speaking of MySpace, my post about myspace from months ago has been getting lots of trackback porn spam. I feel like I’m an official blogger now that I’ve got porn spam. So I guess if you’re looking for porn, you might find my site. There’s a thought. (we won’t go there, I promise)

It’s quiet here in Nashville tonight.  It’s almost 1:00 a.m. local time, and the only noise in the house is the squeaking of the rocking chair I’m sitting in.  Tonight was the first Square Peg Alliance show, and it was awesome.  12 of the 13 Pegs were present to celebrate the launch of Eric Peters’ new release “Scarce”.  The other artists only did one song each, but they all did a great job.

Eric played with a full band tonight, which is rare.  Andrew Osenga on electrics and vocals, Cason Cooley on keys, Paul Eckberg on drums, and Brent Milligan (producer of “Scarce”) on bass.  They played about ten or eleven songs together, and each one was just fantastic.  Eric was “on” tonight.  The excitement over the CD release, plus the excitement over the Square Peg Alliance, plus the band, plus the great sound & venue.  It was a special night.

I’m going to head to bed here in just a few minutes, then get up for breakfast with a friend or two at The Pancake Pantry, a place that (I’ve been told) is an amazing “must visit” restaurant here in Nashville.  That should be a lot of fun.  After the breakfast, I’ll be heading back home to squeeze in a few hours of work before 5:00.

My eyelids are heavy, and I’m in need of some rest.  I’ll make sure I comment on The Pancake Pantry tomorrow after I get back home.  mmmmmm….pancakes…