Visit Every MLB Ballpark (Prompt 15)

Prompt:

One Thing Right by Colin Wright

Do your work, and I shall know you. Do your work, and you shall reinforce yourself. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Take a moment, step back from your concerns, and focus on one thing: You have one life to achieve everything you've ever wanted. Sounds simple, but when you really focus on it, let it seep into your consciousness, you realize you only have about 100 years to get every single thing you've ever wanted to do. No second changes. This is your only shot. Suddenly, this means you should have started yesterday. No more waiting for permission or resources to start. Today is the day you make the rest of your life happen. Write down one thing you've always wanted to do and how you will achieve that goal. Don't be afraid to be very specific in how you'll achieve it: once you start achieving, your goals will get bigger and your capability to meet them will grow.

My Response:

To answer this prompt I looked over to my Life List for one of my goals. The first thing I saw was item #1: See a game at all 30 Major League ballparks.

{At Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins}

I love baseball more than any other sport. I love the game, the drama of it, the beer, the hot dogs, the catchers, the 7th inning stretch, the crazy statistics, the feeling of cheering for a hometoen team....everything. I have been to 5 of the 20 MLB ballparks and my goal is to get to the other 25 sometime in this lifetime.

How am I going to make that happen?

1. Prioritize travel in my life.
2. Don't save the hard ones for last! (Hard ones being places that are further away, I don't really want to go to or have somewhat undesirable ballparks - i.e. New York Yankees, Houston Astros, Toronto BlueJays, Florida Marlins)
3. Double up as much as possible! Several major cities have two teams and some parks on the East Coast are pretty close to each other, so whenever possible see two or even three parks in one trip! (Angels/Dodgers, Yankees/Mets, Cubs/White Sox, Oakland/San Francisco)
4. Go visit friends/family who live near ballparks :)

Offers to travel with me, pay for it, or host me in a MLB city near you are welcome.

Different Season, Same Story

Well friends, it happened again. Despite all the things Minnesota sports fans tried to point to: Joe Mauer, Target Field, a stable bullpen, first to clinch, Danny Valencia, home field advantage, etc. we have been swept out the postseason for the second year in a row by the New York Yankees (AKA Minnesota's own personal kryptonite).

Overall:

• It was ugly.
• It was depressing.
• It was embarrassing.
• And now it's over.

And Opening Day seems like forever away.

Until April 1, 2011...best of luck to the Rangers and Rays.

‎"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball.

I'll tell you what I do.

I stare out the window and wait for spring."

[Rogers Hornsby]

The Waiting Is the Hardest Part

The waiting is the hardest part,
Everyday you see one more Yankee,
You take it on faith, you take it to the field,
The waiting is the hardest part.

While reading yesterday's postseason breakdown in the New York Times, one section particularly stuck out to me. Embedded with wisdom from these Tom Petty lyrics, the article mentions that, of the 13 metropolitan areas with teams in the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB, Minneapolis - St. Paul has the longest active streak without a championship. The last time we won a championship? 1991 World Series. I WAS FOUR!

I mean....1991, great. But it's 2010. Minnesota sports fans need something to believe in again - we need a reason to remember why we built a new stadium to brave the elements of April and October in Minnesota. We need a reason to remember why we signed Joe Mauer to the largest contract held by a non-Yankee in all of Major League Baseball. We need a reason to defend our state when we try to claim "No, really, not every sports team in Minnesota chokes when the stakes get high."

That being said, let's get it done tonight Twins. Go out there and show those stinking Yankees that baseball isn't just a game for over-paid and over-rated jerks from the Bronx. After all....we have this little tidbit on our sides:

Two of the last four World Series have been won by teams that opened a new ballpark that season. The 2006 St. Louis Cardinals clinched their championship that October at the new Busch Stadium, and the Yankees won the World Series in 2009 to cap their first season at the new Yankee Stadium.

GO TWINS!

Emails, Ellipticals and ESPN Baseball Today

So...today I was at the gym, running, listening to today's edition of ESPN Baseball Today. Nothing out of the normal, since this is pretty much the definition of my standard Monday night. I have been listening to this podcast almost everyday of the baseball season since I moved to Colombia. There really isn't a better way to keep up on baseball news from around Major League Baseball short of reading every article on ESPN.com.

Therefore, I listen to this podcast, hosted by ESPN New York's Seth Everett and Senior Writer Eric Karabell. I pretty much listen to them banter back and forth about umpire accountability and the league leaders, and - up until recently - waiting with baited breath for any small mention of the underdogs from Minnesota. Sometimes they get in heated debates and every now and then I write into the show with comments, thoughts or questions.

Then this week on Twitter, the stats guy who guest stars on Wednesdays on the show, Mark Simon noticed I was a follower of the show and commented how I am probably the only one in Colombia. He told me to send in my email and he would get it on the show. So...I figured maybe if I was lucky they might read a snip-it of my email on Wednesday.

This is the part where I am at the gym tonight running and I get to minute 22 of today's show

and they say "Next up from Kristin in Cali, Colombia" and I almost fall off the elliptical in my jump for joy. YESSSSSSSS. It was all I could do to contain myself from running over to Kelsi as she was mid-spin class and explaining how awesome this was. (I did however make her listen to it within 30 seconds of walking in the door)

My email was about the Twins postseason - should we be resting players now or aiming for the best record in baseball (i.e. home field advantage). They read the whole thing and made comments! Eric even said I made good points. And Seth commented on how I am friends with him on Twitter. :) My email definitely included some BS-ing....cause you have to be nice if you want your stuff to get read aloud....but overall I am pretty excited about the whole situation!!

If this whole teaching gig doesn't work out in the long run maybe I have a future in sports blogging. (I did win the NFL pool at work last week too!) Who knows?

Until then...I will just be loving the Twins' chances in the postseason and hoping Joe Mauer listens to ESPN and decides he must meet this well-informed fan from Minnesota.

What a fabulous Monday!!

Minnesota - No Matter Where I Roam, You’ll Always Be My Heart, You’ll Always Be My Home

Thirty-six days after I walked through the doors at Hubert H. Humphrey terminal at the Minneapolis – St. Paul airport, I am headed back to Cali, Colombia for my second year of a two-year contract teaching 8th grade math. While I am leaving only a mere eight hours earlier (to the day!) than I did last summer, I feel completely different about it. I am leaving Minnesota knowing that the relationships I have here can stretch across any ocean, mountain range, gulf, or border - after all I have already had a year to test it out. I leave without a sense of anxiety about what Colombia will look like, feel like, be like, etc. I leave with the comfort of knowing I can do this whole teaching thing, and that most days it’s a pretty sweet gig that I usually don’t mind getting out of bed for in the morning. (And a whole summer off only improved my outlook on the teaching profession!) Somewhere along the way I seem to be developing this “It will work out”, “Live in the moment”, “No regrets” attitude and although I definitely have a long ways to go from letting go of my Type A natural stress mentality, things seem to be going pretty well right about now...

Here are some pictures to recap the rest of my summer in Minnesota.

Visiting with my goddaughter Stefanie. Kids grow so fast - I cannot believe how big she is now!! And she carries on entire conversations and its just fabulous. :)

Visit to my college town of La Crosse, Wisconsin where my brother Joe is living for the summer. Nothing like a little Wednesday wing night and a few games of bags!

Grand Ole Creamery with my friend Liz. If you live in Minnesota or ever visit in the summer you should probably go there everyday.

Night game at Target Field!!! Minneapolis skyline + sunset + outdoor baseball + a win against the White Sox!

Father/daughter trip to Al's Breakfast for a some short short WW wally blues. (AKA one giant whole wheat blueberry pancake with walnuts AKA heaven on earth) You should probably go here too. Although expect a wait because there is one counter and 13 stools in the entire place. In fact, this photo captures about 40% of the entire restaurant.

Country themed going away party for my friends Anna and Andy who are moving to Thermopolis, Wyoming so Anna can teach 4th graders how to be awesome.
Visit to Target Field with Alex during his quick 36 hour visit to Minnesota. And the Twins had a walk off win against the White Sox in the ninth. I am going to refer to it as the game of the year, and I was there. WIN.
Pool time with the ladies!
Going away dinner. Mmmmmm pasta.

Saying goodbye to brothers who are 15 and now taller than me and think that makes them cool. (HI D BABES!)

Happy Birthday Joe!

Yes, I celebrated it with my students today. I also may or may not have written it on the white board and outlined it with coordinating red and blue bubble outlines. Whatever, don't judge. He's fabulous, an amazing catcher, a batting champ, a golden glove winner, and a true home grown down-to-earth Minnesota boy. I hope he had a fabulous birthday!! :) Cheers to the Twins being 9-4 on the season so far!

p.s. Speaking of catchers and adorable-ness have you seen our new backup catcher???!?!?!! Don't get me wrong, I miss Mike Redmond....but, Drew Butera, who we got from the NY Mets in 2008 in exchange for a trade involving Luis Castillo, is gorgeous. He made his debut last week when we played the White Sox and based on appearance he will fit in perfectly with the rest of the Twins. Do we have the best looking team in baseball, or what??

Random baseball trivia fact: His father Sal played for the Twins from 1980 to '82 and again in 1987. They are the first father-son combo in Twins history.

outdoor baseball is giving me carpal tunnel

TWINS WIN! The 2010 Home Opener at Target Field, our brand new, more fabulous than fabulous outdoor baseball stadium! In case you haven't figured it out by now I am more than a bit obsessed with Minnesota sports, more specifically the Minnesota Twins, and most specifically your 2010 AL MVP - Joe Mauer.

So great for them to win the home opener - however, I personally struggled with the situation thanks to some fool at Direct TV. According to the Direct TV guide, the game was supposed to be broadcast MLB Extra Innings, which would have meant English speaking announcers from Minnesota. In other words, announcers who were just as excited as I was about this momentous event!

However, after rushing home from school, not only was the game NOT on MLB Extra Innings, but ESPN2 in Spanish had the game BLACKED OUT. There was a huge black square over the screen where my beloved Twins were kicking some Red Sox butt! DISASTER. I freaked out and have had trouble recovering ever since. Well, not to worry, my roomie Hana figured out that the big black square went away whenever the volume button was pressed on the TV. (Yes, I realize this sounds ridiculous, but this is seriously what happened!!)

Basically, what it comes down to is I sat in my living room and watched three innings of baseball while clicking the volume button consistently every 3 seconds or so.

The Twins won and I have carpal tunnel - so I guess you can't win them all. But the Twins just might, so keep watching! :)

Life. Love. Baseball. Music. Twitter.

be a best friend

tell the truth

over use i love you

go to work

do your best

dont out smart your common sense

never let your prayin knees get lazy

and love like crazy

[lee brice, "love like crazy"]

I cannot get this Lee Brice song out of my head this week! Not so much because I am loving anyone person lately (not so much in land of Colombia - zero dateable men), but so many things are just making this week ROCK! In no particular order...

• Had a little phone chat en espanol with a man from Direct TV. He ordered me the MLB Extra Innings package in less than 5 minutes on the phone (a miracle in Colombia). Within an hour we had three glorious channels of all MLB Baseball, all the time. Oh, and it cost $59.000 or $30 USD. FOR. THE SEASON. Colombian cost of living = awesome. The same thing in the States is over $100.
• This means I have watched TWO Twins games this week! During those game Joe, JJ and Justin all hit homers. LOVE seeing JJ Hardy in that MN jersey!

• BUT if I can't watch the Twins? Don't worry, I will still know the result thanks to some genius person who had the insight to set up this helpful and appropriately named website.

http://didthetwinswin.com/

• After a somewhat hesitant start in joining Twitter a few months ago, of course I am now loooooving it. The information in small tidbits is perfect to quickly scroll through, and I can always click on a link if I want more information. Also, even though I am not currently looking for a job, the networking opportunities are awesome! Great people I am enjoying following???

@TeacherJobsMPLS - Staying up to date on the teacher scene in the Twin Cities.

@lonelyplanet - Great travel tips, advice and articles!

@nytimes - Gotta see all the breaking headlines from a reliable source.

@TwinsNow - Self-explanatory :)

... and so many more!

• Going apartment hunting with Kelsi this weekend! I am super excited to live with her next year. Mainly cause right now I feel like half of all commuting time is spent going to see her or do something with her, so living together will really just provide us more time to maximize our awesome-ness together.
• After about 7,000 years of raining my mom FINALLY finished Eclipse! More Twilight fans! Hooray. I seriously need more because my friends in Colombia are starting to mock my love for Twilight and Taylor Lautner. So now my mother is on my side. Hooray! I cannot wait for this movie to come out on the eve of my friend Liz's birthday, a mere 7 days after my return to the US of A!

Jacob Black is my hero. :)

• I used to make fun of my friends Anna and Andy for meeting at Target, then dating, and still returning to the Target food court (properly called, Food Ave, according to Andy) for dates. However, after seeing the sweet pics Anna took on their Target employees only tour of Target Field last week I should probably get over it. Thank God my father has all priorities in line and has secured tickets for at least two Twins games while I am home this summer. I definitely need more since Joe almost never plays day games and I am really psyched to check out the Twins' new home under the lights, but two is a good start.

View from the first level! REAL GRASS! No more of that weird turf business.

LOVE > the scoreboard, the sky, the skyline, the Minnesota icon with a little cartoon "Minnie and Paul" (For the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis)

• Let's just talk about how amazing James Morrison is. No, not Jim Morrison and the Doors, although they rock too. No, James Morrison. Do yourself a favor and listen to the song "Broken Strings" and then listen on repeat for about the next week.

• Talked to all three of my brothers yesterday at different times! They are growing into such amazing guys who I am incredibly proud of - I cannot wait to go home and see them as much as possible this summer. I miss them. all. the. time.
• Taught my students about arc length and area of sectors this week - pretty intense stuff for 8th graders and they rocked it! I thought they were going to freak out about simplifying fractions and using pi but they totally handled it, I am so proud of them!
• Speaking of students - one of my students told me I looked nice today and I said thanks...then he was like yeah, with your curly hair like that you look like a model. Hello self-esteem boost. I love my students sometimes. Mostly after I just had a week long break from them. See me in about 10 days for an update ;)
• MORE info I got from Twitter - Aidan is going to be in the second Sex & the City movie! Yes! Even if I do love Carrie & Big I loved Aidan the whole time he was on the show and he is definitely a welcome presence in the movie!!

I am sure there is more, but for now suffice to say this is a great week in Colombia! Happy Thursday night aka almost Friday aka almost the weekend! Cheers!

Just one more comment...I promise.

"Stop fretting.
Enjoy the best time there's ever been to be a Twins fan."
-Patrick Reusse
This makes it official: Best time ever to be a Twins fan

green beer, green backpacks & (kind of) green mountains

I could just have easily entitled this post "Catch Up" or "Oh yeah, I have a blog", but the green theme seems to be working nicely. I have been quite busy living, but apparently not so busy blogging. Sorry friends. :(

In an effort to fill in some of the gaps from the last week, here are some updates:

• On Wednesday, I did find green beer on St. Patty's Day...or rather my friend Scott made green beer with crappy Colombian beer and food dye, but it was fabulous none-the-less. I celebrated the day with friends, Catie, Scott, Caleb and Angie, and enjoyed the green beer as well as fish and chips. Not quite the same as spending the day in Naples, Florida with my grandpa as I have the past two years, but still a successfully "green" holiday.

• Thursday, we had our annual girls book club. I haven't finished my book from last month yet, because it is really intense and also non-fiction, so hard to get into. However, I did keep that book to finish, as well as bring three more home to keep me occupied until next month. Here are my new titles to read:

Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan

Make Him Look Good by Alisa Valdes - Rodriguez

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Til Death Do Us Part by Ingrid Betancourt

The Heart That Bleeds by Alma Guillermoprieto

• In preparation for our Spring Break trip to the Amazons in less than a week, I bought myself a backpacking backpack that I spotted at Totto on Thursday. Ever since I used my roommate's on my Ciudad Perdida trip I have been wanting one of my own, I just thought they would be difficult to find in Colombia. Turns out they sells them in several places, but I just loved this green one, probably because it matches my hiking shoes & I feel the need to be fabulous even in the jungle. (Or at least camouflaged so insects/snakes/bugs/animals in general do not recognize me enough to eat me) My roommate Hana also bought a new backpack, so we are all set to travel!

• Friday at school we finished up the week by showing the movie Sandlot to the students, since we still only had half the 8th grade class present as a results of the binationals tournament. They loooooooooooved it. Which I knew they would, cause its amazing, but still - so great seeing them enjoy it. Despite going to an international school many of them have not seen "classic" English language movies, so I love sharing movies with them. As a baseball lover, this is definitely one of my all-time favorites - check out this scene for some Sandlot memories - enjoy!

• Friday night I headed over to Caleb & Angie's to catch some of the March Madness games. Caleb streamed them thanks to CBS Sports and we watched them projected on the wall of their apartment thanks to a school projector. I love watching basketball again, and it makes me so excited for baseball this summer! I started a bracket pool at school with 11 other co-workers and I am loving watching the games and keeping track of points. Summary of my bracket so far - thank God I didn't pick Kansas to win it all. Go West Virginia!!
• Saturday - read my book outside & realized you can still get burnt even under cloud cover. Thanks equatorial sun, we are no longer friends.
• Monday - climbed Tres Cruces for the second time; you can read my more detailed account of the first time here. The second was much like the first, but it was Kelsi's first time climbing it, so I am glad I went again! Once again it was very hot, I drank lots of water, but was again stunned with the impressive views of my city.

View of the Tres Cruces (Three Crosses) hike from halfway up.

Hot & sweaty at the top with Hana, Steph, and Kelsi.

P.S. (Did you even think I wasn't going to mention it?!?!?!) THE Minnesota Twins, you know the baseball team I love that is going to contend for the 2010 World Series, yeah that one. Wellllll they signed this guy yesterday, not sure if you have heard of him, but his name is Joseph Patrick Mauer and I sort of love him. Annnnyway, he will be staying in Minnesota thru 2018 for $184 million. LOOOOOOOOVE. One of the top ten largest contracts in the MLB and one of the only ones for a non-NY Yankees player. Hip hip hoooooooray!!!! :) Can't wait to see him play at the new stadium this summer!!

Could he be any more adorable?

(extra)Ordinary Joe

Yessssssssssssss.

It happened.

27 of 28 votes (Keizo Konishi is clearly incompetent in his voting abilities) go to Mr. Joseph Patrick Mauer for the 2009 American League Most Valuable Player.

I. Could. Not. Be. Happier.


Check out his amazingly humble and adorable press conference in Minnesota yesterday by clicking on the picture. :)

Until Monday...cheer for the TWINS!

"He [Gardenhire] always says we will need everybody on the roster to win, and that's the way this team won.

We needed every last guy.''

- Joe Nathan

Friends!

The Twins won!! :) In game 163 of this crazy season we beat Detriot in TWELVE innings to earn ourselves the American League Central Division championship and the right to kick some Yankee butt in the coming days!!! I did get to watch it here, thanks to one supportive Detriot fan with Direct TV :) I loved watching every minute of it; the Dome looked amazing! According to the Star Tribune, last night was the biggest crowd (54,088) in regular season Dome history. Way to go Minnesota!! My parents were there thanks to last minute tickets from a friend, and they said it was a fabulous experience for MN baseball! JEALOUS! Now we play the Yankees starting at 6pm Eastern---get your Homer Hankies out!

Besides cheering on the Twins this week I have been busy with professional development days at school, the last one being today. Tonight I leave for a 5 day vacation to Bogota (capital of Colombia) and then Villa de Leyva (small colonial village about 4 hours from Bogota). I will be traveling with Maggie and friends, and I am looking forward to a break and also getting to see more of Colombia!

So until Monday afternoon you will not hear from me! Therefore, enjoy the weekend and get out to support the best team in baseball :) Let's face it... the Yankees are the worst. Don't believe me? Read the fifty reasons why right here. :)

Happy baseball watching and happy weekend!!

All Comes Down to One...Déjà vu Anyone?

Here we are roughly 365 days later and the story seems much the same. In the last day of baseball's regular season the Minnesota Twins are tied for the American League Central Division with the Detriot Tigers. In 2008, we finished the regular season in a dead lock with the Chicago White Sox and went on to play a one game playoff that I would rather erase from memory than discuss here. (In summary we lost...) In fact, this is the THIRD time in FOUR years that the Twins have been in position to clinch the division title on the last day of the regular season. That alone makes baseball an amazing game. :)

In a shocking turn of events this season, Minnesota has beat the Kansas City Royals twice this weekend while the White Sox have beat the Tigers twice...thus the tie.

As I sat down to write this blog, I thought to myself, "How many of my readers really care about baseball in the way that I do? Is this really what people want to read about when they come to my blog?" I decided probably not, but this is who I am, and this is my blog. :) I can't really pin down a certain time when I really started to get into the Twins. Growing up my family always watched sports and my brothers and I all played softball/baseball, so I guess my love of baseball was sort of engrained. However, it really is an amazing game that I appreciate more and more as I learn about it. Some people say it's too slow (clearly these people have never tried to watch golf, because let's be honest, golf is the worst), but I absolutely love it. There are so many elements and layers to the game, and truly, anything can happen.

If the Twins and Tigers both win or both lose today they will play a one game playoff to take place Tuesday at the Dome. (Not Monday...since you know...the Vikings are playing the Packers @ the Dome. Lame.) I would love to be there today to celebrate the end of the last regular season in the Dome with all my fellow Minnesota sports fans, but I will settle for the amazing memories I have of the Dome so far, for it may not be the nicest field in the major league, but it has always been uniquely ours.

Here's hoping the Twins pull out the win today, the White Sox sweep the TIgers, and Joe Mauer receives yet another batting title. As stated in today's Minneapolis Star Tribune, "I suspect that some of the members of the ‘87 Twins who are part of this weekend’s festivities see a little bit of themselves in what’s happening right now. And we all know how their season turned out." Let's go Twins!!

p.s. Congrats to my lovely & determined friends who ran the Twin Cities 10 mile this morning!!! Were the three of you in the same race group?? Because you finished within two minutes of each other overall... :)