Baseball Parks...

I mean in all seriousness the following statement....

      If I were to win the lotto one of the things I would absolutely do is go to every Major League Baseball Park in America (and many of the Minor League ones too)! 

I suppose that's part of the flip comment I frequently make about how Ken married me for beer & baseball :) 

What can I say - I love baseball and so does Ken! So much so that we got engaged at a Spring Training baseball game and ever since have been trying to visit as many parks as we can! One of the beauties of our time here in Annapolis is that there are so many Minor League Parks in the area for us to checkout... I suspect there will be a lot of days where I may kidnap Ken and drag him off to a game for an evening! (Currently I am hoping the weather is good on Monday because if it is we are going to take Guinness to Bark in the Park at the Waldorf Blue Crabs game.)

We want to see all the baseball parks together so our ground rule (different than a ground rule double!) is if we haven't seen it together it doesn't count on the list of parks that we have been to. 

So here's the rundown of what we've seen.

MAJOR LEAGUE STADIUMS

Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs)

Old Yankee Stadium

Shea Stadium (Old Mets Stadium)

Citi Field (Mets New Stadium)

Camden Yards (Baltimore Orioles)

Cellular Field (I still call it Comiskey! Chicago White Sox)

Citizens Bank Park (Phillies Stadium)

Chase Field (Arizona Diamondbacks)

Progressive Field (Cleveland Indians)

Minute Maid Park (Houston Astros)

Nationals Park (Washington Nationals)

MINOR LEAGUE STADIUMS

Norfolk Tide

Bowie Baysox

Frederick Keys

Toledo Mudhens

Portland Sea Dogs

Pensacola Blue Wahoos

... I think I've got them all that we've been to together... hope I didn't miss any..

We've been to a whole bunch of Spring Training Games in Arizona and Florida too as well as 2 different stadiums in Japan but I won't bore you with all those listed :)

Here's a great link to a map of all the baseball parks
http://www.milb.com/milb/info/geographical.jsp

We didn't make it to quite as many this year as we had hoped (stuff just got in the way) so we are already promising to make a better effort next year. Gotta check off those East Coast parks while we're living here! 

Batter Up!

Well Said Ashton... Well Said

Okay I will openly admit that I was never been a big time Ashton Kutcher fan... I didn't dislike him it's just that I wasn't going to rush out and be first in line to see a movie he did because I was such a fan. He's been entertaining so for me he fell into the category of actors that are entertaining enough that I will watch their movies but I'm not necessarily going to pay big bucks to see it at the actual theater.

I must admit... I am now a much bigger fan. I know this video has made the rounds after the Teen Choice Awards but I want to share it as well just in case you didn't see it or if you didn't watch it because you thought "Meh - why would I care what this guy has to say."

He's speaking to a demographic that is so in need of inspiration and a demographic who is so impressionable... I am really impressed with the way he took to heart that what he says has such an impact on these kids. He's frank.... He's honest... He's just a regular guy speaking from the heart and experience.

I love that he points out that he thinks that "Opportunity often looks like Hard Work." And then points out all the menial jobs he's done over his life... so often in today's "Instant Gratification" society many people forget that there's a lot of hard work to get to where you want in life.

"Opportunities Look a Lot Like Work." - Ashton Kutcher

Next quote I love...
"The sexiest thing in the entire world is being really smart." - Ashton Kutcher
YES! I would've thought that by now in society we'd be over the idea that it's not cool to be smart but sadly we're not over that idea. Why would you want to look like the idiot? I don't understand it! Thank you Ashton for reiterating that smart is sexy!!!

He then goes on to talk about how we can all build a life instead of just fitting inside the box that society has created. For those of you who've heard my quote from my talk in Glasgow - "Forget just thinking outside the box - throw the box away!" - you can see why this really resonates with me.

All I can say is pay attention people! This man knows what he's talking about. Heed this advice!
Haven't seen it - well check it out for yourself. Ashton says it much better than I can summarize it... (And I hope that maybe if before you didn't want to watch it now after hearing some of my comments you can't wait to watch it!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNXwKGZHmDc#at=143

Ashton - you have yourself a new big time fan. I will be heading to the theaters to see your movies (and paying the premium to do so) because I believe in supporting those who make a positive difference in this world... And I am a big believer that you have made a hugely positive difference in this world with your speech.

Thank you Ashton

Bon Voyage Scott! But Guinness is NOT Happy About It!

Guinness has become very attached to many of "his mids" and "his Ensigns" but he is especially attached to his best buddy Scott.

Scott & Guinness have definitely had some fun (well at least in one of their minds it was fun) here in Annapolis.

But alas... now it is time for Scott to flee the nest and head out of Annapolis to EOD school. Yesterday we said our "good-byes" for now which were really more "We will see you soon!" because Scott will certainly be stuck seeing us for many many years to come.  Guinness knew something that he didn't like was up and he was very sad to see Scott go (even pouted extensively after Scott left!) so I promised that once Scott is settled into more permanent housing than the BOQ I will bring Guinness out to visit.

Scotty you will be missed here tremendously by all of us but we will see you soon! We wish you lots of luck! Love ya man!!!