Busy and Fun Weekend

So, I had an extremely busy but also very fun 4th of July weekend.

It started with a full day of work on Friday, one in which I was at the ballpark for about 16 hours. I had a pretty standard day of work, one that involved recovering from past rain and anticipating more rain. One cool thing about the day though was Mariners pitcher Garrett Olsen approached me during the afternoon asking me about going into the Green Monster. We ended up talking for about 10-15 minutes, just shooting the breeze, and he was a really nice guy. About 2-3 hours after I first talked to him I was walking down the 3rd baseline in front of the dugout, and he saw me from about 30-40 feet away and yelled out "Wes! What's up?" So, that was pretty neat. Another thing about having the Mariners in town was getting to see Ken Griffey, Jr. in person. He's a legend, definitely a first ballot hall of famer, and there were times when I was standing just a few inches from him. Also, the Mariners batting practice pitcher and I talked for a while as we were waiting to see if the rain would hit us or pass and I was standing near him, and he was telling me some funny stories about playing minor league baseball in the Indians organization, including when he was in Kinston and was playing Durham. If you want to hear one, let me know. Later that night, after the game, we were about to tarp the infield and before we started, Griffey walked out of the dugout, and started heading toward where we were. He was dressed awesome, wearing some designer jeans, shoes, and shirt, and as he passed I said to him "So you're here to help with the tarp?" and he looked at me, chuckled and said "Shoot, I can't even help my damn team right now!" Haha, it was pretty funny.

Saturday, July 4th was a day game and Olsen, the pitcher I met on Friday started for Seattle. He pitched very well, and the Mariners went on to win. Before the game the American flag that covers the entire Green Monster was unfurled and it was awesome to see, and there was also an amazing flyover with 2 F-16 jets. It was an amazing way to spend the 4th, that's for certain. After the game, and coming home for a quick shower and rest, I went with Phil, Laura, and Kara to the Charles River and watched the incredible Boston fireworks. The show was huge and awesome, no wonder they're nationally televised. I had a great night for the 4th, I loved spending it in this historic American city. And this ended the week, one in which I worked 65 hours at Fenway Park, what a week! By the way, the best part of the 4th of July was that the weather, for once, was perfect!

Sunday was also a nice day with great weather. Before the game, as I was standing along the field while Sox batting practice was going on, a hit ball landed near me. I picked it up, and Jonathan Papelbon, the closer for the Sox, yelled at me to throw it to him. So I did. Well, I was off by a few feet, not too bad I suppose. The game was enjoyable, and aside from the BP incident I just wrote about, it was pretty uneventful. I did get to see some celebrities Sunday, including actors Mike O'Malley and Jeffrey Donovan, from Yes, Dear and Burn Notice respectively, and actor Mark Wahlberg. Yes, I saw Marky Mark at Fenway Park. We actually have his song Good Vibrations as one of the songs we pull tarp to, so seeing him was cool and hilarious at the same time.

Today was a really nice day for me. I didn't have to work until gametime, so I spent some of the day out in Cambridge relaxing around Harvard, and I also got a haircut, one I badly needed. The game tonight was interesting as it was Nomar Garciaparra's first game back at Fenway after having been traded in 2004. He has been with NL teams the last 4 seasons, and is just now making a trip here. The fans loved him, and he was really thrilled to be back I believe.

I think I'm going to go to bed, I have work tomorrow at noon, which although isn't early, we're potentially expecting rain, so it could be an exhausting day. Sorry about the novel I just wrote for you to read, the busy weekend had kept me from updating. Have a great Tuesday everyone, I'll be back tonight!