I'm World Serious

Yes, I still post on this thing. I have just been slightly busy this past week. With what, you ask? I shall tell you...

Last time I blogged, I told you that the fate of my World Series experience was in the hands of beings high above. Alas, I nor any of my constituents(whom I told to sign up) were selected to have the chance to buy tickets. Needless to say, I was disappointed by that revelation. The announcement was made on Tuesday, so for two days I had to hear about everyone else that got tickets, either at work or somewhere else. Keep in mind that at this point, the Astros had gotten into the World Series, so tickets were a hot item, especially in H-town. Then Thursday(Oct. 20th) rolled around, and Jason and I returned to our apartment from work. I had my usual mid-afternoon snack while Jason checked his email. As I am downing my glass of orange juice, I hear from the living room, "DUDE, I got selected for 2nd Chance World Series tickets!!". My response: "HOLY SHIT!" I ran to the living room, and we read over the email no less than 5 times. We would be able to buy the tickets tomorrow(Friday) at 10 am CT. We were pumped. Of course, we already had determined who would get the tickets. I told Jason to register in the first place, so all I asked in return was that I get two of the tickets, one for me and one for Mal. Jason decided to get the 3rd one, and Walker got the last. With that part figured out, we bought the tickets the next day. We got 2 pairs of tickets: one in center field and the other along the 1st base line in the 3rd level.

I told Mal about the ticket situation as soon as Jason and I found out on Thursday. We had discussed that if I got tickets she would fly down. After we had officially procured the seats, the next problem was finding a flight(cheap and efficient) for Mal. After countless hours of searching, Mal was able to find a flight out of Nashville, which was our best plan. Mal was on Fall Break, and Nashville was on her way back to Chattanooga. She had to cut her break short, but we figured it was worth it. She flew out of Nashville on Monday afternoon, and her first stop was Denver. From there(after a 3 hour layover) she flew down to Houston. I picked her up from Bush around 10:30pm.

We had tickets to Tuesday's game, Game 3 of the World Series. It was the first home WS game for Houston, and it was also the first WS game ever in Texas. Needless to say, the city was excited, even being down 2-0 in the series. Hell, even NASA declared Tuesday as Astros Day, and everyone wore their jerseys, shirts, and hats to suppport the team.

I took off work early, around 12:30, and Mal and I went to the surrounding Wal-Marts and Targets in search of Astors shirts. No luck. We then figured they would be selling that stuff around the stadium; we were right. I was able to find a shirt, but none of the vendors had Mal's size, so that was a bummer. Around 3:00(1 hour prior to gates opening)we ate at a local bar&grille right across the stadium. It wasn't packed, as it was still too early. We shared the chicken fajitas. After lunch, we headed back to my car to make signs. We only managed to get one done; it was a target sign for batting practice.

Mal hard at work in our makeship art studio

Mal was ready for batting practice ball-recovery

I took this from across the field. Look for the target sign, and that is Mal. She's right on the front of the upper level, almost all the way to the left side. Click for larger view. Our seats were about 16 rows up from that spot.

Our reward after hours of yelling for a ball to be thrown to us. Note, this doesn't include the 3rd ball we got. I had to give it to these two kids, as I had trampled over them to get the second ball in the picture above.

We got in right as the gates opened. We manged to get two balls from batting practice; one thrown to us by Willy Taveras(Houston) and one from Jose Contreras(Chicago). We were elated.

Then came the game. My dear lord it was epic. It was the longest game EVER in World Series history at 5 hours and 41 minutes. We stayed and cheered the whole time. Unfortunately, Houston lost Game 3 en route to a sweep from the White Sox. Nevertheless, we had a BLAST at the game, and it will be something we'll never forget.

The boys of Baseball Tonight(from L to R, Dan Patrick, Jonathan Kruk, Harold Reynolds, and Hall of Famer Peter Gammons) doing their pre-game thang.

Right in front of the action


Our awesome view of the real action.


Hanging out between innings...


Hey, you gotta eat, right?


Yes, we WERE there.

Although the game was great, it did last 14 innings, causing us to get to bed at THREE in the morning. We had to be up at 4:45 to leave for the airport, so we were quite tired upon awaking. I was able to get Mal to the airport on time, and everything was good. The funny part about this whole thing is that we had already planned on my coming up to Chattanooga the following weekend. As Mal left to get on the plane, we knew we'd see each other the NEXT DAY. That's right. On Thursday night, I got on a direct flight to Chattanooga, where I am currently typing this.

We tweaked my Halloween costume that night, adding some straw here and there. I forgot that I haven't disclosed my costume this year, so I will tell you now. Mallory's favorite movie of all time is The Wizard of Oz, and with that in mind, we are going as Dorothy and Scarecrow to this Halloween party tonight. Mal's roomate had a Dorothy dress available, so she was set from the beginning. I had to thrift store shop a little, but I managed to find what I needed. I'll post pictures of the evening next post. Our costumes kick ass...

In other news....

Dr. Griffin, NASA's administrator, came to JSC to speak on Monday. It was mainly a q&a session, but I did walk away knowing more than when I entered. It was also cool to see this guy in person; I had seen him many times on tv, but never live.

We saw SawII yesterday afternoon. Wow. If you thought the first one pushed the envelope on seat-squirming, hair-raising, makes-you-not-want-to-look graphic events, then this movie takes it to the next level. It was quite entertaining, and the twist at the end was completely unpredictable, which I liked. Expect the 3rd movie to come out next year.

We also went to a haunted house last night. It wasn't the best one I have ever been to, but it was an experience nonetheless. There were so many periods of just walking in the dark, I believed I could have made that haunted house out of my apartment.

The baseball season is officially over, but that doesn't mean the news has to stop. The Sox(the red ones) are definitely in for an eventful offseason. Today, Damon, Mueller, and Millar signed for free agency. Expect the Sox to try and retain Damon, as that will be their priority after getting a new deal worked out with Theo, which should be announced no later than Monday. Manny also asked to be traded, but that is nothing new. He is a 10-5 guy(10 continuous years in the bigs and 5 with one team), so he can deny any trade that is proposed. That will make trading him away a tough task. Timlin was signed for 2006, which is good news. We need at least SOME stability in the latter parts of the game. There are some free agents available this winter, and I have read that some are being sought after by the Sox. Paul Konerko(of the other Sox) will be free, but he has already mentioned that he wants to stay in Chi-town. A.J. Burnett is also on the market, and he could definitely bolster our starting rotation. If we do end up trading Ramirez, don't you worry; we'll definitely get something in return. I even hear that the Sox might pick up Tori Hunter, if and when Damon is traded. He's not a leadoff guy, but he could improve our outfield defense and give us speed on the bases as well as in the outfield.

Well, I think that should catch you all up on my goings-on. Expect lots of Halloween pictures next post.

I'm off to read...

-H