Better Days

To make up for the, "Looks like someone's got a case of the Mondays!" (shout out to Office Space) we had a fantastic or I should say I had a fantastic Tuesday. I did attend work in the AM, but that's not the fun part. Carrie was gracious enough to work the afternoon to make enough money for daycare so I could take the afternoon off. I decided I would get some sun and work on my always need to improve golf game and got a round of 18 in with a round of beers on the side. I ended up playing fast enough that I had ample time left over so I decided to play another 9. So yes, I got a whopping 27 holes of golf in, which was more than I had played in the previous two years combined, but it was fun and I scored a par on the last hole. Exciting I know. The last nine holes I ended up finding 5 balls on my way through the course so for a change I left the course with more balls than I started with, which is always a plus.

I made it back home and collected Carrie and Q so we could bring Quentin to his first Rays game (on the outside). This was our first one as a family since we attended pivotal game 7 of the ALCS and watched the Rays win their first ever pennant and World Series berth. The Qster was in the womb, but that counts! Carrie bought us some nice front row seats in the second tier, which is the club section and decidedly less crowded complete with couches and no lines for bathrooms, concessions and the like. That made things a lot easier with Quentin in tow. You should've seen the people's faces we were sitting next to when we brought our 7 suitcases and tried to wedge our gear and selves into those two seats. (Diaper bag, baby Bjorn carrier, bag of peanuts, cracker jacks and sun flower seeds, beer, burgers and waters). Quentin quickly won them over with his award winning smile and Spiegelhoff charm. The ladies were smitten. "We're in!"

We love the Rays. Every time we go to a game we walk out with more loot than we came with. When they stank Carrie and I used to park about 50 yards from the door (front row) and be literally the only ones in the parking lot tailgating. For this, Rays personnel would drive over in a golf cart and give us free hats for being "the best fans there." We'll take it. We once sat in the upper deck next to a woman whose husband was on the board of directors and she gave us several vouchers for free tickets. This time the "Rays' Girls" saw Quentin coming and immediately give him some beads complete with the verbal choking warning before we even got in line for will call to grab our tickets. It's bingo night on Tuesdays, which I am hopelessly addicted to and I don't think I've ever even played bingo before this. So we walk in to gather our bingo cards and Carrie signs up to be a DD. During the 7th inning they draw a name and give away a jersey. Well, of course Q was putting on the charm and so that guy gives Carrie a Rays hat because Quentin and Dad had one so mom needed to match. So here we have just walked in and are up some beads and a baseball cap. (That's the 5th free Rays hat they have given to us at games).

I love the bingo game. They have the baseball scores on the card. For example if there is a 6-4-3 double play that may be a square you can cross of. So me being me, I grab about 30 bingo cards. I'm here to win. Well, everyone sitting around me, including the wifey, is having an amusing laugh at my expense as I try to keep up scoring my 30 cards. That was right up until the point where, BINGO! I won baby. That's right. There may have only been 13,524 fans there on Tuesday night but this one was a winner. So I take my card down to collect what must be a prize worth no less than several thousand dollars and what do I win? The choice between a T-shirt and a cowbell. *Quick history lesson* See the owner of the Rays grew up in Brooklyn and watched the Dodgers. Fans were more reserved than say a person like me complete with megaphone going to games harassing the opposing players so they brought cowbells to make noise and cheer their teams on. He has brought that to Tampa and people bring cowbells and they have cheers "MORE COWBELL!" and the like throughout the game. I very much wanted to go to cowbell give away day earlier this year but couldn't work it into my travel schedule so I dominated bingo and long story short; too late! I won a free cowbell on my birthday. I know after that Monday it's almost too much to believe. Oh, and the Rays hit a two run homer in the 8th to break a tie and win the game. A quick recount; tragically terribly hopeless Monday turns into 27 holes of dominating par golf complete with adult refreshment followed by hot girls hitting on my son, followed by old man hitting on my hot wife ending with dominating bingo performance by one year older middle aged man with resounding late inning heroics by local baseball team. We got home, enjoyed a Captain and hit the sack. 33 in the books folks!

Thanks for all the great wishes, cards and prayers that clearly made Tuesday better than Monday. Here is a pic of Dad and Q gearing up for game day and one of Mom and the shorty at the game.