You had to be there! The 50th Opening Day for the Los Angeles Dodgers. I went with a guy from work and his 20 yo son. We got into the parking lot way early. We parked in the season ticket holder area and spotted the biggest flag I have ever seen. It appeared the be the same flag that was used last year for Opening Day. As we hung around checked out the flag a Dodgers worker guy came over and asked if we were helping with the flag. I said no but it would be cool to help so he said ok – here are some wrist bands, go see that guy over there. Say what? That was easy. We prepped by doing a practice run in the lot. The flag wasn’t too heavy even though it was massive. With probably over 100 people helping it was ok. We split for a break and watched batting practice for a little while and headed off to the RV lot. The rest of the crew from work was rallying hard over there. We got in and got out before we got damaged. I think it’s safe to say that there was going to be some sick people very soon. Anyway, back to the flag. We picked it up around 12:20pm and moved it towards the center field access area. As we lined up and got ready to go on the field Duke Snider pulled up in the passenger seat of a golf cart. There was a load of old-timers at the game. We got the word to roll on to the field. We headed towards the third base line and made a sharp left and headed across the field towards the right field line. I was near the front of the flag – upper right hand area. A B1-B did a flyover and a few moments later we got the queue to pull the flag out. Running backwards we unfurled the behemoth quickly for the national anthem. Once that was over we bunched it back up and moved it off the field just as we brought it out. Once back in the parking lot we found the buckles that hold the flag together and quickly unsnapped a large section enabling it to be placed into large containers for transport. We were in the right place at the right time and got to really get a special look at the stadium from the field.
If you’ve ever wondered if players could hear you when you yell at them from the stands the answer is YES!
If you’re into marketing check this out: http://dack.com/web/bullshit.html.
I swear this is where some marketers get their bullshit that they try to feed me on a daily basis.
It’s about time! Sirius and XM satellite radio companies are merging. This is going to bring Howard Stern MILLIONS of new listeners!!! Rock it.
Yesterday at the Encino Velodrome was a low key time trial event. Various distances were presented. I signed up for the 500 meter and 1000 meter events. My warm up was great and I felt good for the 500. At the starting line I took forever to get my shoes into my pedals. The cleat kept hanging up on one of the straps. Once I got it going I was ready. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO! I went as hard as possible to get the bike moving. Once I settled into the pace I just kept the hammer down. I finished in 40.17 seconds. Since I have never tried a 500 I didn’t know what my time could possibly be. 40.17 isn’t too bad for this early in the season. I used a 50×15 gear which was a tad short for the event but good for this part of the season. My friend Jack ran a low 39 with wheels so I think I can go sub-40 soon.
In the 1000 meter (kilometer) race I knew I had to hold off a bit. My fitness is coming around but hammering 4 laps isn’t in the plan yet. I got off to a good start and then felt my right shoe moving a little bit in the pedal. GRRRR! I thought for sure it was in right. I just kept on going and it didn’t seem to bug me. I am not sure exactly what was wrong but it didn’t feel right. I crushed the first lap pretty hard and then eased off just a hair to save a little juice. On the 3rd lap I gave it a little more and on the 4th lap I crushed it pretty hard for the last 2 turns. 1:27.31 was my finishing time. I had hoped for a 1:25 so that isn’t far away. My aero position needs some tuning plus some aero wheels would help. And my helmet didn’t arrive yet so hopefully later in the season I can get down into the teens with more training and aero equipment.
I managed to get in two good rides this past weekend. Saturday I did up a 46 miler with MarcZ and Justin. We went into the wind out to the poppy reserve and cashed in big time on the return voyage. The headwind beat us down to about 10 mph. On the way back from the reserve we cruised around 33 to 35 mph for miles. It was swweeeeeettttt. Big ring speed – the silence was eerie, we could hear the wind howling off of the power poles, yet we were riding at the speed of the wind so we were in the quiet zone. The buzz of the road was the loudest single sound. Very nice!
My oh my, isn’t the web a wonderful place? Take a stab over here and read up on what is either a killer hoax or one bad ass motherfucker. Uncle Dirty is the new star. NSFW is you work for a prude.