Baltimore Ravens: WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!

When the Ravens won the Super Bowl in 2001, I have to admit, I just wasn't a big football fan yet.  I had been into the Stallions a bit, but when the Ravens moved to town, I just followed them with a lazy eye.  During that year's run, my interest picqued a bit, and I followed the playoff run, but while it was great then, it just didn't dawn on me the true feelings of it.  Really, it was freshman year of college that I started REALLY following the games closely.  And with each passing year, it became more and more of a passion...

I could write a novel on what I felt in the past month when it came to the Ravens.  I have to admit, and I told this to Shannon...around the Broncos game, I was basically ready to call it a season.  I loved the way we played in the Giants game and the Colts playoff game, but I could see that the Broncos were this gigantic brick wall ahead of us, and I just didn't know if the jump was going to be enough to scale it.  So I prepared for defeat and...it didn't come.  Instead, I saw the unbelievable miracle that was the win in Denver.  And then the rest (like I said, I could really write a novel, so I'm going to brush it aside) was just amazing.  I had always had in my head, if we won a Super Bowl, I was taking Noah and we were doing the damn victory parade!  I wished I had been into it as much in 2001 to go then, but mostly, I want Noah to have something he can look back on and say "Man, I was THERE!"

So, once the win was in place, we made the preparations.  This time, they did it a little differently.  A parade going from City Hall to the stadium, then a ceremony at the stadium.  So first things first...forget the parade.  I want to see them giving the speeches!  So, parking lots opened at 9, stadium gates at 10.  So, knowing that 200000 people came last time, I planned to get to Light Rail by 9am.  I got there at 9:15, and it was already JAMPACKED.  Crap.  So we parked on a shoulder of the road, like about 75 other cars at that point, and rushed to the Light Rail.  By luck, the first train stopped RIGHT in front of where Noah and I stood, so we rushed in quickly and got him a seat.  As we passed the other stops, it was shocking to see the amount of people at those stations, unable to board because the trains were FULL from the first stop onward.  We got to the stadium at 10:10am, and I was already pretty certain we wouldn't even get in the stadium.  But as I got off...the gates were open, and there were no more lines!  I rushed in, and we found seats in Section 107, lower level!  Perfect.  We had a comfortable setup with the people around us (They were helpful when I had to use the restroom and get Noah water bottles, they made sure our seats weren't taken).

So we got to watch the parade on the jumbotrons.  The parade was delayed, because of the sheer SIZE of the crowd.  How bad was it?  The Ravens busses got stuck in traffic.  On the way to their own parade.  So around 10:45am, Stadium was already nearly full on the lower levels, but Upper level had lots of seats left.  By 11:30, when the parade started, the stadium was basically at capacity.  The crowd was JUMPING.  I mean, every time they showed a highlight, there were thunderous eruptions of cheers and clapping.  And the cheers when John Harbaugh and Steve Bisciotti came out, just to say "we'll be back shortly"???  WOW.  I'm also very glad, side note, that I packed lunch for Noah and myself.  Saved me money and hassle of getting food at the stadium.

Finally, the team arrived.  I have an 8 minute video of the introductions.  Let me just say, blown away.  They had rigged up fireworks at the top of the stadium, plus the usual gameday setup.  So, how great was it that I could have Noah watch Ray Lewis dance at M&T Bank his FINAL time?  With a Lombardi Trophy no doubt.  That one hasn't truly hit me yet, that may be THE moment that he should take away from this.  So, to shorten this up, all the players were introduced and came out.  They had the "key players" give speeches...Ray Lewis, Joe Flacco, Ed Reed (he mainly sung his two tickets to paradise thing), Steve Bisciotti, John Harbaugh (who for the 2nd time in the day, led us in "What's Our Name? RAVENS!" chants).  I also loved that they made sure to give a special shout out to OJ Brigance, who was absolutely BEAMING.  And as they wrapped it up, the little moment that sent me over the edge, was getting to sing "We Are The Champions" with 100k other Raven fans.  Here's the youtube of it: http://youtu.be/WqRUAdvkOx4.

So, getting home.  Of course, this couldn't be all amazing.  I knew Light Rail would be a total cluster f.  I knew that...but if you had told me that after 2.5 hours, I would only have watched 2 trains leave our side?  And for the next hour after that, 3 more arrive FULLY PACKED NO ROOM AT ALL?  wow...It was THAT bad.  Basically, from what I gathered from the MTA worker (Who I felt horrible for, there were some real asshole fans giving him a TON of crap, when it was obvious he was doing his best to try to keep things moving and helpful.), people were simply riding Northbound trains to the turnaround, then using that to get a seat on South bound trains.  So by the time the train got to us, it was still full.  They had ABSOLUTELY no idea when it would clear out.  So thanks to my Dad, he left work, got my Mom's van with a carseat for Noah, and met us at the Science Center to get picked up.  By the time we got to the Light Rail lot, it was STILL full (At 4:30p, 3 hours after the event had ended).

So, that is what happened today.  Did the MTA stuff suck?  Yes.  Did Noah and I have an amazing time doing something that many football fans can only dream of getting?  Absolutely.  Being in that stadium with 100k other fans, being someone who can't go to the games most of the time due to costs...that was AMAZING.

I Have Come to Chew Bubblegum and Catch Rats...and I am all out of bubble gum.

I started out posting my rodent stuff on Facebook, but it has quickly turned into probably the most grueling saga about this house, so it gets a blog post.  This thing is probably the #2 or #3 factor contributing to my bald spot.  It makes me feel so dirty, so ashamed, so frustrated.

So, we had seen signs of mice a year ago or so.  Christmas stuff was eaten into upstairs.  We thought we took care of it by putting out some mouse poison traps, after which we stopped seeing the signs.  About a month ago, while the kids were staying at my parents' house and we were coming back at night from a wedding, we opened to door to see a cockamouse sprint across the floor and out of sight.  It was only then that I realized we had signs of rodents that I just wasn't noticing.  Certain food items we hadn't used had nibble holes in it.  The rabbit food bag was gnawed into.  The food Lucy didn't eat at night would be gone by next morning.  The signs were there, we obviously had a rat.

So, my attack started out simple.  I didn't want to mess with snap traps yet, so I went with two glue boards in our cabinets (After the blinders had been removed, I started HEARING them in the cabinets, so I figured a glue board would trap them).  Before you rush to tell me that those things are the most unethical traps around (which I'd agree with), my strategy was to use oil to release the rodent safely away from the house after it got caught.  Anyway, those did NOTHING.  Even after I baited it with dog kibble, something just ate it off without getting caught.  So those got thrown out quickly.  My next idea was to try "Power Kill" Snap traps.  These aren't as hard to set as old fashioned snap traps, but it's the same mechanism.  Bait pedal releases the snap and...there you have it.  Something TRIGGERED one of my snap traps by the rabbit cage, but didn't get caught.  Now, the other thing was, I couldn't leave those traps out, because it was out in the open.  So I only left it out at night, when everyone was upstairs or in their kennel.  So, after THAT resulted in nothing, I invested in a live trap made by Havahart.  Basically, a big cage with two open ends that once something touches the bait pedal, the ends close up and trap the rodent in for me to deal with later.  Setting that out...STILL NOTHING.

At this point, my first big break came when I had to go down in the basement to start preparing for Hurricane Sandy.  Our basement is an unfinished stone cellar.  We use it for storage, and it's where our hot water heater and boiler is.  So needless to say, we don't have a need to go down there often.  Well, I went down to start clearing out an area for putting stuff in...and that's when I saw them.  Rodents scurrying around trying to hide from me.  I was able to discover the entry point (Two spots in our outside basement door where the wood had rotted/been chewed away), so I set a couple different snap traps around the wall by the door and bought a big wad of steel wool to shove in each of the holes.  After just one night, when I went to check the traps, I had already caught TWO.  My pride was beset with disappointment when I looked at the size of the two and realized these two were small potato rats.  The big one we had seen that started this whole thing, it was still out there.  So I disposed of those two and re-set the traps.

Meanwhile, one night I heard more noises in the kitchen, but couldn't locate anything.  Decided on a whim to setup the Havahart live trap by the dog's food bowl and bait it with kibble (Before, I had used peanut butter on saltines).  Sure enough the next morning, I had one.  Alive.  Which them made me realize...I had no clue where to live release a rat.  I mean, I have protective gear to make sure I don't get bit, and I wasn't about to take the rat out of the trap by hand.  But, you can't release it anywhere near your house or they'll come back.  And I didn't want to release near anyone ELSE's house.  Luckily, I found a remote wooded spot 4.5 miles away from me, no houses within about 1/4 mile or so in any direction.  So there you have it, rat released.  Halloween night, we had some possible tomfoolery with someone banging on the side of our house.  While going to check it out, we caught sight of a big one scurrying in the playroom.  When I went to find it, I found a MASSIVE hole chewed in the floor in the corner behind Noah's dressup closet.  CRAP!  This isn't one or two isolated pests in the basement.  Now we're talking more than 4 and in our CHILDREN'S PLAYROOM!

It was at this point, I decided to call in the big guns and get an exterminator to assist.  I also decided to set the live trap in the playroom overnight.  I caught one again...a little one.  DAMN IT!  So we're up to 4 rats, and still not the big one I'm expecting.  So, released that one and picked out a place to call, but didn't get a chance to until Friday.  By then, my basement snap traps caught TWO more, and STILL not the big one I've been on the lookout for.  So we're up to 6 RATS, with more still there.  You can imagine by now, I am just bashing my head into a wall.

So Regional Pest Management came out Monday and walked around with me, pointing out things we should secure/clean up to reduce rodent activity.  He walked around my basement and pointed out about 10 spots I should trap, then told me I could either pay him $450 to set up those traps, or I could do it myself.  Before I could respond, he hinted to me that since I've seemed to set up traps on my own fine, I probably would want to that that option.  So I paid nothing for the free consultation, and got an idea of where to set my traps.  We had a busy schedule Monday night and Tuesday with visiting Shannon's MoH Erin and then scans and treatment on Tuesday.  So today was first time I could check since Monday.  I caught 3 rats and one mouse/baby rat.  So, for you all counting at home, we are up to 9 RATS and either a baby or a mouse.  #%!$%$#@!!!!!!!!!

So, this is where I'm at.  I now have 7 traps in the basement.  Before I go to bed tonight, I will also have traps on my basement steps outside.  I also am putting 2 snap traps under my kitchen sink (Made the dumb mistake last night of leaving a loaf of bread (in the plastic baggie, sealed) out on my counter.  When I came downstairs this morning, the thing was just about gone except for crumbs.  While doing some cleanup, I discovered most of the loaf in pieces under the kitchen sink.)

So, why did I post this?  Hopefully, not for everyone to judge me.  We've had some issues keeping our house clutter free, but it's not like we leave rotting crap all over the place, or leave food out for rats to feast on.

My thought is:

1. In case anyone else goes through this crap, to give them guidance on my trial and error
2. To share the crazy crap going on in my house
3. In case anyone can provide ME tips and tricks that might work.

That's a Load Off My House's Shoulders (Or Roof?)...

Back in 2007 when we bought our house, we literally did it at the beginning of the housing bubble burst.  When we went to apply for our loan, interest rates had begun to shoot up.  I remember because our mortgage broker at the time said "Ok, so we're going to wait until the last possible minute to file our application so we can try to see if the interest rates go down."  Yeah, that didn't happen, so our primary mortgage went in at 6.25% interest.  Due to the ballooned interest rate, and among other things probably, we also got talked into doing an Interest Only loan with a 10 year Adjustable Rate Mortgage.  That means after 10 years, they can change the interest rate to whatever the current rates are.  In our case, I suppose that wouldn't have gotten worse, but something tells me they'd say "You know what, I think we're not going to adjust this rate..."  The biggest issue really, was at year 10, our payments would BALLOON up about 1000-1500 more per month.  Our broker let us know about this up front, but sort've dismissed it by saying "well, you'll refinance within 10 years, it'll be super easy and really simple".

I'd type LOL, except it really doesn't make me laugh.  I tend to cry a bit more.

So in 2009, when our budget was super tight and we were looking at cutting bills, we said "well, what about refinancing and lowering our mortgage?".  Our first call went to Suntrust, who told us at the time that they COULD get us on a Fixed Rate loan, but our payment would go up 50 or so more per month.  Since this was counter productive to our initial goal, we called more brokers.  One group, which shall remain nameless, told us they could get us into a FHA loan, consolidating both our loans into one, and their initial estimate had me saving $150 per month.  Now around this time, we knew our 2010 payments would be rising, due to taxes on our house increasing and the Escrow account we had being short of the taxes.  We told them this up front, they said it'd be fine, no worries.  So we went along, paid a discounted rate for an appraisal on our house (Negotiated because Shannon knew someone who worked there), and proceeded with applying for this loan.  Now, the whole time they are pushing that we HAVE to get this done before 12/31/2009, because in 2010, the rules won't let them pick and choose their friendly appraiser, they'll have to be assigned an impartial one who won't work with them to "fudge the numbers" to fit their loan estimate.  Hmmm, sounds fishy right?  But they had to do this a little after our appraisal came in, and they said "Alright, everything is on track".  It goes downhill from here.  Suddenly, their estimates kept getting higher and higher.  And they wouldn't even call and let me know first.  I'd get a copy of something that had a new number and when I asked the people I was working with, they'd react "Oh, yeah, so it turns out your Escrow account was short, so we needed to raise your amount owed to cover the shortage".  Yeah, that shortage I had mentioned in our very first call, they had no idea about.  Right.  Well this happened a few more times, and each time we threatened to just back off, and each time I talked to the company owner who PROMISED me, "There numbers are it, we have pulled some strings and this is how much you will pay, period."  At this point, we're at an increase of about 80 dollars.  But they are making promises that with a FHA loan, we can streamline refinance in 6 months, no fees, no nothing, just take the lowest interest rate.  So, I play along and we go to closing on 12/30/99.  The title agent shows up with the papers and we didn't even get through the first one.  The monthly payment had gone up.  Again.  And this time, we're talking an increase of $140 per month.  I called UNCLE.  I told the guy I was sorry for wasting his time, but I was not going to close on this mortgage.  The next day, I got a call from the company saying "Okay, HERE'S what happened, but we will work to get the numbers back to what they were before.  Let's go ahead and close today."  This time, I held firm and said "NO, we are done.  I don't feel comfortable with this at all and I'd rather wait until this Escrow shortage, which appears to be the biggest issue in our refinancing, is repaid."  What I got back justified all the decisions I just made...They called me shortsighted and petty.  Yeah.  The people trying to get my business resorted to insults.  They said I was being petty over a few dollars and I was gambling with my future because I wasn't taking their loan.  They played a sad violin about how much they had done for us and how much we were shoving it back in their faces.  And then after I reiterated I was not comfortable with it, said "We will not have a loan for you in the future, work with someone else".  Side bar to this story, my co-worker's brother owns a different mortgage brokerage which him mom also works for.  He asked her to speak with me and after reviewing the paperwork and story, her take: "I won't tell you not to take this loan, because your current one sucks, but they are absolutely not being truthful about this streamline refinance and the things they are promising you and not things I would bank on."

After that whole ordeal, I filed all the emails away and put refinancing in the very back of my mind.  I didn't have the emotional energy to deal with it.  During this whole thing, Shannon had an ectopic pregnancy which had to be removed, so we were both grieving from that, then to have all this happen on top, I just COULD NOT think about going through it all again...

Then in Summer of this year, Suntrust called us and mentioned that we might qualify for a no-appraisal refinance.  I called them back with every bit of doubt in my mind.  I still felt like "there's going to be a catch, what is this big catch."  The very patient and understanding man I worked with explained that our mortgage backer, Freddie Mac, had only within the past month changed their rules so instead of an appraisal, we could use a home value estimate in place of that.  And all our other conditions fit into the window to make this possible.  I asked him how much it would raise our payments to refinance to a Fixed Rate loan.  He sat in silence for a moment and said "Joe, your payments aren't going to increase, because you are paying SO much interest over the rates now, even if you SHORTEN your loan, you might not pay any more per month".  Of course, the paranoia I have caused me to say "No, this guy is forgetting about this or that, this isn't going to come back like this."  Up until the moment we signed the papers today, I was SURE someone was going to halt this and say "WAIT WAIT, we forgot this about their mortgage, they aren't going to pay less, we need to up their payment!"

But, good ending to the story.  We added 5 more years onto our loan, and end up saving close to $250 per month.  That is gravy on top of the underlying thing:  No more ARM, no more Interest Only, no more STRESSING ABOUT A BALLOON PAYMENT COMING IN 5 YEARS!  I almost got down and kissed the ground after we left the office.  So happy to finally have this done.

And bonus, I got this because of *surprise surprise* a President Obama economic stimulus.  Yes, I do drink the kool-aid. :-)  Probably not one of the controversial programs a lot of conservatives would complain about, but I like that I can show how this program clearly helps my family, who are NOT looking for handouts, to continue paying our mortgage and dig ourselves out.

As a Tough Mudder, I pledge that...I overcome ALL Fears

I probably didn't take Tough Mudder preperation as seriously as I should have.  I barely did strength training the last few months.  I ran a lot, but even then, not as much as I should've.  So it should come as no shock that it kicked my ass, it kicked it hard...

But I survived.  I finished.  I conquered.  I am satisfied.  (Well, mostly, but that will be explained shortly).

Our team was me, Bill, and our cousin Andrew.  It was held at Crumland Farms in Frederick.  In hindsight, there are some logistics about that location that probably setup for a bad experience.  Roads leading up to the farm were not very wide and complimentary of large volumes of traffic.  Hearing reports that MANY runners with later wave times were stuck in traffic for HOURS and missed their run.  So, there's some work needed there.  Luckily, our run time was 8:20, second of the event, so we had to get there early anyway.

The event is designed by a former British Special Forces, and is designed to push you to the brink, both physically and mentally.  On the day, I did the following things:

1. Dove into a dumpster of ice water, having to submerge my head to get to the end
2. Lept over mud trenches
3. Crawled through mud pits with barbed wire 8 inches above
4. Scaled TWO roughly ten foot walls
5. Scaled a pile of hay bales two-high
6. Scaled a MOUNTAIN of hay bales five-high!
7. Carried a log about half a mile, lumberjack style
8. Crawled through a trench full of rocks and pits
9. Jumped off a 15 foot high platform into water
10. Tried bounding over two sets of raised logs (Attempted, slipped, chose to keep moving)
11. Crawled through a pit of water, with electric wires dangling from barbed wire 8 inches above
12. Swam through a lake, ducking three floating barrel rows
13. Scaled two roughly twelve foot walls (Skipped, but I helped 4 or 5 people boost to get them over)
14. Grappled and climbed over 5 mud mountain walls
15. Crawled up and down construction drainage tubes (This was a lot harder than it looked and sounded)
16. Climbed monkey bars, fell in shortly after starting, and swam out
17. Made it halfway across a balance beam, swam out after falling off
18. Attempted to scale a quarter-pipe (My legs were shot at this point, skipped)
19. Sprinted through a field of electric wires
20. Oh yeah, and in doing that, we covered nearly 11 miles.

The end results...My calves began cramping on me around mile 7.  This made me have to walk the last 3 or so miles, as well as hindered a bunch of obstacles.  My quads hurt too.  I scraped the everloving crap out of my knees and elbows.  Physically, I was weak and that disappointed me.  BUT, what impressed me was how I met the mental aspects.  Leading up to this, the ice dumpster, the walls, the electric wire crawl, the electric wire sprint, the monkey bars, and the 15 foot jump...all made me hestitate to do this.  But, i did it!  The only thing I was disappointed there was not being able to try the quarter pipe.  It's tough to finish, but I couldn't even try it.  I was also proud that for both electric wire obstacles, I charged through them.  I got hit at least once in the crawl.  In the sprint, I was doing a Braveheart style thing, so my adrenaline kind've numbed me.  But I think I impressed a number of people who were hesitating.

All in all, Tough Mudder challenged me.  I may not have performed physically superior.  But I finished it.  And that's what it's all about.  Tough Mudder is not a race, but a challenge.  That's in the pledge you say at the beginning.  You are out there to complete the course.  And I did!

And then, the parking thing happened...

So, the parking for this was a big field, on several slopes.  As we were heading back to the cars, we saw storm clouds moving in.  I spent about 30 minutes waiting to get out before the skies opened up.  A severe thunderstorm and downpour...And guess what, that big field turned into a big mud bowl....

EVERYONE got stuck.  Even 4WD vehicles!  And Tough Mudder had no solutions, other than encouraging fellow participants to help push cars out.  After sitting in the traffic for about 3 hours of no moving, I gave up and took Noah with me back to the entrance.  We made sure the car could sit there overnight and called Shannon to pick us up.  My cousin also got his car stuck as well.  We're going to try getting it out with a group of people tomorrow and a pickup truck.  Due to the storms, they had to cancel the last few waves of the day, so Tough Mudder is dealing with PLENTY of complaints now.  Hope they can sort it out.

It was fun.  May not do it again, but maybe.  We'll see, but I know that for one day...I. DID. IT!

*UPDATE* - 9am on Sunday, we returned to the site to try getting the cars out.  They ended up cancelling TM on Sunday due to traffic issues, weather issues, parking issues...lots of issues.  No way that area would've been able to park cars today.  Luckily, between myself, my brother Bill, my Dad, my cousin Andrew, and his friend Simon, we figured out the right steps to drive his Challenger, my Sonata, and then my brother's Dodge Ram out of there.  Even the 4WD Ram had some troubles (didn't have All Terrain tires), but we did it.  45 more cars were still stuck there when we left.

Noah's Big Day at The Yard

Man, I'm setting us up for dissapointment next weekend.  Last weekend, Noah got a Daddy day to go see the Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium.  This weekend, he got another Daddy day to go see the O's game.  At this rate, he's going to expect like, a personal appearance from the Backyardigans next weekend or something...

In any case, I had this day circled on my calendar for the past two months.  I knew Noah really wanted to catch an O's game, and I felt like I really owed him after I got to go for Andy's bachelor party.  So looking around at games, I noticed that today's game vs the Royals was "Kids Run The Bases" day.  Literally, for no cost, no membership, no nothing, any kid 14 and under runs the bases post-game.

Yes.  Yes please.  Yes a MILLION TIMES PLEASE!  I knew that would just make his head explode, so I decided it had to be this game.  But, I did the sneaky thing of not telling him.  That way 1) if he acted up, I could just not do it without a tantrum and 2) if the thing was not setup well, I could just not do it without breaking a promise.  I'm jumping ahead, but the 1st one was blown about 10 minutes into our visit, by a friendly, chatty stadium employee.

In any case, here's how the day went, with things that Noah loved bolded for effect of just how awesome I think the day was for him:

We drove down to catch the Metro down to Baltimore.  We were slated to pickup the Light Rail for the rest of the way to the stadium, but for 3rd time in 3 tries, that train was just super late.  So we walked instead.  Got to the gates and I went to take Noah's picture with the Babe Ruth statue.  Slight problem: I forgot my SD card.  Crap, of course I remembered everything but THE ONE PIECE MY CAMERA NEEDED.  In my luck, the stadium store did hapen to sell 4 GB SD cards, so crisis averted.  Once inside, I bought him a Kid's Program.  While we were figuring out what to do, I noticed outside of Boog's BBQ, sure enough Boog Powell was there, signing autographs.  Noah was heavy before the game on "Can I get another autograph?", and Boog Powell is a pretty notable guy.  So I ask him if he wants one, and of course he does, so voila.  Noah got an autograph and a picture with Boog Powell (which in his head became Paul Boo).  After that, he remembered the Orioles playground we saw last week when walking through Camden Yards, so he went there for some playtime. 

After awhile, we headed back to see if they were doing BP today, which they weren't due to the late game last night.  So we headed to our seats instead.  Along the way, we walked through the statue court which has statues of Jim Palmer, Earl Weaver, Frank Robinson, and as of yesterday, Eddie Murray (Before end of year, they will also unveil Cal Ripken Jr. and Brooks Robinson).  Noah was okay with that, but I got the vibe he didn't care much.  So we sat down and Noah liked our seats.  In as much as it was a seat in a ballpark, and one where he had a "footrest" (Row 1 of Lower Reserve, so just a guard rail in front of us).  At that point, we decided to get food.  He wanted a hamburger, so I got him Gino's.  I decided to get Boog's BBQ, like I usually do.  When we were trying to find a spot to eat, a friendly stadium attendant suggested we head up to the CF perch, which is new this year and I figured it'd be packed, but sure enough there were a few stray seats.  And the view was AWE-SOME.  You could see right down into the bullpens where the starters were warming up.  Same attendant was the one who asked him if he was ready to run the bases.  So, that suprise lasted a bit.  But it helped me to keep him grounded for the whole game.

So, food done, we headed to our seats.  The one thing he didn't like was our seats were in some sun, so his legs kept getting hot.  About two innings in, we got to see Manny Machado smack a home run, and then he got to dance. After that, his tolerance (and mine) was wearing thin, so we decided to take a walk around the stadium.  We went to fan assistance and got him a First Game certificate.  It wasn't really his first, but the usher who said no BP was going that day was friendly and chatted us up and suggested I go get him another one, even if it wasn't really his first game.  So we got that and then we headed back to the playground area.  That was really some sort of kid's central area, because they also had Pitching and T-Ball cages so Noah got to do those.  And then he played on the playground more, of course.  After some time there, we walked back to the seats again to try to finish the game.  We saw Nick Markakis hit a homerun too, so that was pretty neat.  After the top of the 8th inning, Noah was about done with sitting, so we took another walk.  Decided to go ahead and get him a souvenier, and I managed to talk him out of the bat.  He picked a suitable alternative, a big Oriole Bird flag.  We took that and headed towards Gate D for Kids Run The Bases.  While standing around watching the end of the game, a stadium employee took notice of Noah, standing there well behaved and waving his flag, beaming happy.  He walked over and, with my okay, casually slipped him a baseball card.  Ozzie Smith (a little huh? because it's an O's game, but hey, it was pretty neat and Noah LOVES the baseball card now)

We got to see the win and JJ save it, and then I decided to ask where we needed to stand for Kids Run The Bases.  Turns out, you go OUTSIDE the stadium.  And that's when I saw the line...It wrapped from home plate area, down the 3rd base side of the stadium, then across the outfield nearly to Left-Center field.  And that wasn't the end of the line eventually, that's just where we got in line.  But, once they cleared the stadium and set up everything on the field, the line moved rather quick.  They had it setup for maximum efficiency, parents on the left side of the aisle going down, kids on the right.  Kids got onto the diamond at 1B, ran all the way home to where the parents would be waiting, and then all walked out to the 3B side to exit the stadium.  And that kid LOVED running those bases.  Even if about 5 minutes later, he asked me if he ran them.

After that, we waited to catch the Light Rail where Noah got to sit on funny folding seats in the waiting area (yes, that was part that he liked a lot too) .  And then, he got to ride both Light Rail and the Metro home.

So count it...12 things he loved doing today.

Couple side notes:

1. It's worth noting that this is probably the first time in...10-15 years that I've attended a professional sports game (that counted) and the team I was rooting for ended up winning.  I've been to preseason games that the Ravens won, but never a regular season game they've won.  And the last 3-4 O's games I went to, they lost.  So go figure, my losing streak finally ended!

2. Finally got to pickup my tumbler from Andy's Bachelor Party (It was supposed to be the giveaway that night but a vendor issue delayed shipment, so everyone got a coupon to pick one up in July or August instead)

3. I noticed while waiting in line, a service road that went along the stadium.  Up ahead, a Cadillac was sitting there and a guy got out, looked almost like he was a valet.  I saw an older lady get in the passenger seat and it started to drive off.  I made a comment aloud like "I guess they have valet parking here" and wondered if it was a player guest.  Nope, it was Peter Angelos.  And he looks even more villanous in real life.  Kind've sorry I missed seeing him walk to his car.  I can't complain about him for today's experience, everything was really great today.  But that man has just tightened the screws on a baseball team that while frustrating, still holds a very dear candle in my heart.

Ravens Training Camp...at the Stadium

I'm going to preface this by saying...I miss Westminster Training Camp.  It was just a couple blocks from my house, so I could literally walk up whenever I wanted to go, not have to deal with parking, etc.  And get a killer look at my favorite sports team in the world.  I understand why the Ravens chose to move it to their own facility, but I still miss it.

Given that, I took Noah to the public stadium practice yesterday.  We'd tried this in 2010 (Had a flat tire the day before) and 2011 (Shannon had to go to the hospital for a blood clot), so 2012 was the first one we'd been able to do.  This would be our only chance to see the Ravens this year, as I had to choose to skip preseason games due to stuff upcoming in August.  So I was looking to see how good an experience we got.

From Noah's perspective, yesterday was probably like "kid in a candy store with unlimited pocket money" awesome.  We rode the train to get there.  Rode the Metro to get down there, then walked to the Stadium because for the 2nd time in a row, Light Rail was crazy behind.  While walking there, Oriole Park was open so we walked through it.  When we got inside M&T, I beelined for the home bench side (going on a tip from a message board friend who said that side was most likely to get autographs).  We got a group of seats in the 5th row, so I thought we were in good shape to get an autograph.  More on that later.  Anyway, the view of the action was pretty great.  And the Ravens definitley utilized the stadium atmosphere to their benefit.  Jumbotron video montages, loudspeaker announcers, a broadcast team that did various interviews through practice, and the practice itself was 2.5 hours long.

Here's where I'll bitch and moan.  I was really trying to get Noah an autograph of a player.  I said I didn't care which one, I just figured he would explode at the idea of getting any Raven to sign his football.  So at various times during practice, players who had a moment or so off would come over and sign.  A couple guys did so around our section, but by the time you saw the guy coming over, there was a SWARM of people cramming into the section to find any room to get stuff over.  So we never got one that way, and as practice was winding down, I said "I guess I'll just get into the aisle and get as close as I can", figuring that eventually, the people ahead of me would get an autograph and clear out.  After awhile, a stadium official came up and told "the group" that we couldn't stand in the aisle, due to fire marshall rules.  Noah and I moved out.  And then we watched as NOBODY ELSE MOVED A DAMN STEP.  And the guy sat there talking with them for a few minutes, then walked away.  Yeah, great.  Let's give three cheers for people who followed the rules.  So of course, when someone else came over to sign things, we ran over and missed it entirely, due to the people who never moved.  The other thing that screwed us over?  The people at the front were just COLLECTING autographs.  Like, they were trying to get as many Ravens as possible to sign their stuff.  So once someone signed their stuff, they stayed there.  Meaning we never got any closer.

After awhile, I was getting super pissed and just started shouting "4 year old here, wants ANY autograph".  One of the said collectors decided to be decent and handed Noah's football over for me, and back once the autograph was done.  I never even saw the guy who signed it.  So I had to ask who it was.  "Cecil Newton, Cam Newton's brother"

...

Okay, of the 90 people on the Ravens roster, I could probably rattle off about 75 of them.  Cecil Newton was one of the 15 I had no idea was on the roster.  But whatever, I said any autograph and we got one.  After that, I had no desire to wait around any longer so we left.  I know players stayed for a long time signing, and so I bear no ill will to them.

My complaint/suggestion...Ravens, you need to structure the autographs.  At Westminster, you had a specific spot where kids could line up and the players would go right there to sign for them.  Stadium practice should have the same deal.  You don't even need to limit it to kids.  Just have a spot where people can line up after practice, you go in, get an autograph, and then you MOVE THE F%$# ON!  If you want multiple, get back in the damn line.  Yeah, Noah was happy, but imagine how much cooler it would've been if he had SEEN the guy who signed his autograph.

My takeaway for the future...I need to get there earlier, and find ANY front row seat, whatever section/side.  Then just dig in and hold my ground.  The other thing?  I need to remember Noah is only 4.  He's starting to understand this football thing, but again he doesn't really care much about who signs it.  It'd be nice if he saw the guy sign it though.

All in all, it was fun.  But I still miss the close quarters of Westminster and the expanded opportunities to interact with players.

I'm Not a Gourmet Cook, But I Try: Citrus Marinated Grilled Chicken

A little bit late on this recipe, I did it Wednesday night, but had a run that night and just didn't have time until now to throw this up.  With summer upon us, I wanted to find some nice recipes that I can do that have more of a "summer" air to it.  Like, we obviously retire the crockpot stews mostly for summer, so I need something to replace it with.  That line of thinking gave us the previous post's pasta salad, and this recipe, which I found through Food Network's webpage (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/dave-lieberman/grilled-citrus-marinated-chicken-thighs-recipe/index.html).  This one was a pretty big hit with everyone.  Noah liked it, despite hearing it was chicken with OJ, Lemons, and Limes and saying "eeeeeewwww".  Shannon thought it came out good and juicy, which I agreed with.  The citrus flavor was pretty low on it, which was both good and bad...Bad because it was about 20 minutes of prep work to zest and squeeze the fruits, for really no big payoff, but Good because if it was heavy, it might not be liked by a lot of people.  And usually, our grilled chicken is done with no marinade at all, so it comes off pretty charred and dried out.  I'm not sure if it was the use of Chicken Thighs instead of Chicken Breast, or using an EVOO marinade, or what, but I swear these things came off the grill nice and clean, and were really "smooth" to eat.  Also, since we're cooking for kids, we replaced the Cayenne pepper (which may have been too spicy for me even), with...you guessed it, OLD BAY!
Also, I suppose you could do this one without a gas/charcoal grill if you use a Foreman or likewise type of grill (This is directed at you, Andrew Hamilton).  Not sure of the results, but I think it's worthwhile to try it...

Citrus Marinated Grilled Chicken

1.5 lb of chicken thighs (You can up the amount of chicken if you want more servings, or you can try a different cut of chicken)

1 lemon

1 orange

1 lime

1/4 cup of EV Olive Oil

Kosher Salt

Pepper

Old Bay

Sprigs of Thyme


1. Pour EVOO into a baking dish large enough to hold all the chicken in a single layer

2. Zest and Juice the orange, the lemon, and the lime into the EVOO

3. Add in about 10 sprigs of fresh thyme and a couple blasts of Old Bay

4. Season the chicken on both sides with plenty of salt, pepper, and Old Bay

5. Place the chicken in the baking dish, turning a few times to coat both sides well
6. Let the chicken marinade for 30 minutes to a few hours

7. Pre-heat the grill to medium-high heat
8. Once the grill is good and hot, take each piece of chicken out of the marinade, allow the excess marinade juice to drip off for a bit, then place on the grill

9. Grill for about 15 minutes, turning to evenly cook both sides.



Per each piece of chicken (assuming 6 pieces in 1.5 lb):


182 calories


10.5 g fat

3.7 g carbs

21 g protein


Notes:

• I topped this with more Old Bay. It made it more awesomer.
• Side note, it looks like it's definitley time for a new grill.  Already can't use middle burner due to it rusting and falling down, but when I went to pick something up from under the grill, noticed the drip pan has corroded in several places...as in things dripping off the grill can go right down on top of the gas tank.  So, I think that may be my Father's Day gift this year.  We use that grill for so much nowadays, it's practically a necessity!