12 Down, 2 To Go

So, it's been a few days since I last posted, and believe it or not, the title refers to the fact that I have now spent 12 weeks here in Boston, with this week and next being my final 2!

The Sox ended the homestand against Oakland with a win on Thursday, and the team went to Baltimore this weekend and completed a sweep of the Orioles. The Red Sox are playing great baseball right now, and with the acquisition of Victor Martinez at the trade deadline, the team really added a great boost of offense to the lineup, hopefully helping us down the stretch against the Yankees and the Rays.

Although the team has been out of town, we've still been pretty busy at the ballpark. This upcoming Wednesday and Thursday Fenway Park will be hosting Paul McCartney and MGMT in a 2 day concert series. I'm really excited about working the show on wednesday night, as I really like MGMT, and seeing Paul McCartney in concert will be very memorable. It's funny to think that just 3 weeks ago I saw him in New York City!

Like the concerts in May, union crews have been working long hours constructing the massive stage and will soon be putting down the temporary Terraplas flooring in the outfield. On Friday night I was at the ballpark from 4 PM until 2:15 AM when crews quit for the night, and last night I was at Fenway from 4 PM until 8:30 and other guys from the crew stayed later until about 10 PM. These hours are fairly easy from a work standpoint, as we just do a lot of small and random jobs while just making sure the playing surface is protected from union workers and equipment.

There was one pretty cool thing that happened Friday night at work. At about 12:30 AM with just my boss Weston and I working the grounds of the park, a security officer approached us telling us that Adam Laroche, a first baseman, had just arrived at the ballpark and was wanting to get into the clubhouse to get his belongings. Adam was traded earlier that day to the Atlanta Braves, and after immediately leaving the Red Sox in Baltimore at the time of the trade, he had just arrived back in Boston and I guess wanted to get a quick start on heading to Atlanta. Unfortunately there wasn't anything we could do for him, as very few people in the ballpark have their own access into the clubhouse. The worst part of it all, he had just been traded from the Pirates right after the All-Star break, and after moving down here, they had just delivered his truck and some other items from Pittsburgh earlier Friday morning to Boston. Poor guy now has to worry with that all over again.

I was able to hang out with some friends from North Carolina this weekend, which was awesome, and as the days get closer to my return home I'm getting more and more excited about being back with friends and family and NC State. However, I've also become pretty fond of Boston over the last 3 months, and leaving this great city won't be incredibly easy.

I'll be back at work in the ballpark at 7:30 AM tomorrow, along with Tuesday, so I am going to head out for the night. Next 2 days shouldn't be too difficult, I imagine it'll be much of the same as in May and the last few days of concert construction.

And one more thing, I wanted to say thank you to Patty for the awesome cookies that you sent me this week. Not only were the cookies delicious (my roommate and I loved them), but it was great to receive a package and know that people are reading the blog and keeping up with me up here. I appreciate it more than you know.

Have a great night everyone, go Red Sox!