I'm still here

And I'm still watching baseball.

I just haven't felt like blogging about it, or about much of anything, actually.

I've been really busy the last week or so--I'm on vacation this week, which was very welcome, but had a friend come visit for the first few days of my off time, so spent all last week trying to get my house ready. I've only owned this place since the first of the year, and hadn't quite finished doing things like hanging pictures, buying furnishings, etc. (I knew if I didn't get it done before the season started, that it would end up languishing for a while.)

Anyway, my house isn't finished, but it does at least look like I live here. And my friend and I had a wonderful visit. I dropped her off in Houston yesterday, and had gotten myself tickets to the game as well as the ballpark tour. The tour was fun. I learned some interesting trivia, like it takes about 13 minutes to open (or close) the roof at Minute Maid, and that the Coca Cola company (owners of Minute Maid brand and therefore the name license holder) owns the name license through 2030. It costs about $1000/hour to air-condition the Park when the roof is closed (to a temperature of 75 degrees). The seats right behind home plate are licensed to individual tickets holders for a one-time $20,000 fee per seat, and then sold as season tickets at $375/seat/game (in other words, first year investment of about $50,000). The turf is a type called Seashore Paspalum, which is from Argentina and only requires about 2 hours of sunlight a day, and there is over 6 acres of it on the playing field.

Good tour, good game, yucky crowd--listless, disinterested, booed a lot at the least provocation. Most of my friends could be described similarly right now, I think--I haven't been able to get anyone to go with me to the games this weekend. Some people legitimately have to work, but others are like, "No, I don't want to fight traffic and parking and the crowd and pay $7 for beer." While on the one hand I can relate, I also know those same folks will be vying to join me at any playoff games, should the 'Stros make the postseason.

Makes me feel a bit like the Little Red Hen (and obviously, I need this vacation, as I first put "Chicken Little"--I've mixed metaphors before, but not folktales!).

Anyway. I got a crazy whim and invited folks over for dinner tomorrow night, so now I have lots of stuff to do AGAIN. See ya'!