Thursday, October 20, 2005

Recapping my Trip to Cooperstown As I mentioned before, I visited the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, last Friday.  The weather was not suited to a visit to the hallowed grounds of our national past-time, as it was a rainy and dreary day.  As you approach the Hall of Fame, you pass down Main Street in Cooperstown.  In keeping with the obvious baseball ties, the shops and restaurants on Main Street all have a baseball theme.  My friends and I even partook in one of them--Doubleday's for a late lunch.  Going to the Hall was fun.  There was a large exhibit of this years inductees just before one enters the hall where the plaques of the various players and coaches are.  The plaques were probably the highlight of my visit.  It was awesome seeing the Orioles who were inducted--Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Jim Palmer, Earl Weaver, and Eddie Murray.  Seeing those players plaques with the classic Oriole bird on their caps was very cool.  I took some photos of them that can be found on this Flickr page.  I walked through some of the exhibits in the Hall as well.  One of the larger exhibits is a baseball history through the years.  The cool part is that it devotes some portion to the winning teams of the period.  I, of course, dwelled on the classic Orioles of the 1960s and 1970s.  At the end of this exhibit, there was a display on the 2004 World Series champion Boston Red Sox.  Included in the display was the infamous bloody sock worn by Curt Schilling--I made sure to take a photo of that.  I wish I could have spent some more time at the Hall, but we were a bit rushed for time, due in part to the parking restrictions in Cooperstown and not wanting to get into Utica too late.  I did make a promise to come back again, though, for the induction of Cal Ripken in 2007.  That is an event that I would love to see.  Of course, I did get a nice souvenir from the Hall as well.  Behold, my celebration of the last good Orioles team I experienced.  r> 9:15:14 AM    comment []  trackback []

Trivial Bits Many thanks to our hosts--Cara and textureslut--for last night's Happy Hour. I have some apologies, though: apologies for not being chatty with everyone last night; apologies to Broad-sheet's friend, David, for talking his ear off about Exchange Server 2003; apologies to Jennetic for not talking nearly enough smack and subsequently making fun of her PDA phone brick; apologies to Mike for getting--oddly enough--Video iPod envy; and apologies for leaving early and missing out on some good conversation with snay and eebmore (who I have not seen in ages) to continue my Irish wake. Last night, our team--More Cowbell--won the last Trivia Night at Sean Bolan's. Congrats to all of the geniuses who were my teammates. The category for the final question was the Cold War. I was most appreciative of the hosts for giving me a category in which my two degrees are heavily based upon. Most of all, bow down and worship the magnitude of my knowledge of inconsequential things. I skipped the gym this morning, as I needed some extra sleep. My Irish wake is wreaking havoc with my sleep. I also am bolting the office early to rendezvous with some of my former colleagues from Maryland to enjoy the U2 concert tonight at the MCI Center. 8:46:26 AM    comment []  trackback []