On Tacking Some Pleasure onto Business
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| Durham Bulls Athletic Park, 2018 |
Gwinnett Stripers (Atlanta Braves) vs.
Durham Bulls (Tampa Bay Rays)
Durham Bulls Athletic Park
International League (AAA)
Durham, NC
5:05 PM
Outside the Game:
By some intangible irony, it was decided to schedule a large, international, multi-partner meeting with my primary client the week I was heading off for vacation. I would be at the client until Tuesday, and then I'd be leaving on my vacation Friday after work. My attendance was made clear to be mandatory.
So, I made the best of it. Having to fly out the Sunday before the meeting, the only options were early in the afternoon or late at night. As the all-day meeting the next day was starting rather early, I didn't want to get there the night before, so I chose the early flight out of Newark Liberty Bald Eagle God Bless America Airport, with the added benefit that I'd be able to catch the Sunday afternoon Durham Bulls game, as well as actually spend some time in the fancy boutique hotel they always put us up in.
This slight silver lining was immediately stepped on by my boss at the time, who decided we needed a rental car for this trip (we didn't), and since I was the only one not getting in late at night, I should be the one to pick it up. sigh
Anyway, the flight wasn't until early afternoon, so I spent Sunday morning cleaning up my apartment for the upcoming trip, as well as doing as much packing as I could given that I was already going away for two days in the middle.
One plus side was that since this was a business trip, I could use the company car service, call ahead for a pickup, and not have to worry about paying. My ride showed up promptly at 11 AM, and I grabbed my ruck sack and had an easy ride to the airport. Given it was Sunday afternoon, I wasn't expecting too much, anyway.
I got through security with no problems and stopped off at a Japanese noodle shop in the terminal for lunch. It was one of the iPad-only restaurants, and I ordered with no problem, but there was an issue on the human end. Apparently, some people called in (it was Father's Day, to be fair), so the people covering had no idea where anything was, and it took forever to get my food. As I had nowhere else to go, it wasn't that much of a problem. Some other patrons trying to catch a flight were less forgiving, however.
As my flights to Raleigh-Durham International are never without incident, it was of little surprise when it was announced this one was delayed. Surprisingly, it turned out to be a short delay, and we were boarded within our on-time window. I shared a row with one guy who also appeared to be traveling for business, and we politely didn't speak a word to each other as we had an uneventful flight down that actually ended up landing a couple of minutes early.
I was off to the car rental, where I picked up our black Chevy Malibu and made the short drive to the hotel in downtown Durham. The 21c Museum where they put us up had valet service, of course, which I took advantage of, as I wasn't paying. I quickly checked in, unpacked all my stuff, and headed off to the game.
It was a short, but hot, walk in the shade to the park, and I arrived just as they were opening the gates, so I was quickly inside and on my way.
After the game, I did the same short walk back in much cooler weather, although I was already soaked with sweat from sitting in the game all afternoon. I ordered some room service, took a shower, got my sweaty clothes sent out for laundry (again, not paying), and then ate dinner and ironed my work clothes for the next two days while watching Westworld on HBO before turning in.
The Stadium & Fans:
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| Home plate to center field, Durham Bulls Athletic Park |
DBAP hadn't changed much since my last visit. Since I was on a business trip, I didn't bring my regular camera with me, although I did snap a few photos with my tablet. I did my usual walk-around, but then kept it to the inside and shade, as it was super hot and humid for this game.
Despite this, and despite that it was Fathers' Day, they still had a decent crowd on hand, and I think the weather had more to do with the empty seats than Fathers' Day. It was pretty damn brutal.
At the Game with Oogie:
The Friday before I left, I finally used the "best available" button on the ticket Website, and I didn't think too much of it when I got a $32 ticket somewhere in the lower deck. It was a business trip. I lived a little.
When I got into the stadium, it turned out my seat was literally the second row behind home plate. When the usher took me to my seat, I was stunned for a minute, and then stunned again as he brushed away the tip I tried to give him. Needless to say, I had a good view of the game.
I walked around before the game and got some food. Because of the heat, I wasn't very hungry, so I only grabbed a BBQ sandwich, but I did grab an extra drink to get me through the game. I was sitting right up front, and there was a family behind me and a couple in front of me. It turned out that the extra drink wasn't enough, because it was hot and humid in the extreme, and the sweat just came pouring out.
Being in such a primo seating area, I assumed there would be concessions, but the water guy didn't show up until the late innings. I flagged him down when he was a row away, and then he promptly skipped my row and never came back. I still hold some animosity towards him to this day.
The Game:
The newly renamed Gwinnett Stripers (nee' Braves) came to North Carolina to face off against the hometown Durham Bulls. Under the hot local sun, the game was laborious, but despite a late rally attempt, the victors walked away with the win.
The Stripers led off the game with a single, but then went in order. Durham also started with a single, but then had a walk before a double-play and a fly-out ended the threat. Gwinnett jumped out in the second with one out where a single up the middle was followed by a booted grounder to short and then a two-out walk to load the bases. A clutch double brought in two runs and staked Gwinnett to an early 2-0 lead. The Bulls only had a walk in the bottom of the inning. The Stripers struck again in the third, getting a run off two singles and a booted grounder by the first baseman to extend their lead to 3-0. Durham went in order in their half.
Gwinnett and the Bulls only had a single in each of their frames in the fourth, while both sides went in order in the fifth. The Stripers had a leadoff walk in the top of the sixth make it home after a wild pitch and another error by the first baseman, leaving them with a 4-0 margin. Durham got some back in the bottom of the inning with a fielder's choice after a single and then a homer to right to close the score to 4-2.
Gwinnett only had a single in the seventh, and the Bulls scattered two for their part in the bottom of the inning. The Stripers went in order in the eighth, but Durham threatened with a one-out single and double before getting two quick outs to leave the score as is. Perhaps exhausted from the heat, both sides went in order in the ninth, leaving the Stripers with the 4-2 final victory.
The Scorecard:
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| Stripers vs. Bulls, 06/17/18. Stripers win, 4-2. |
The scorecard was part of a rare free program at the AAA level. It was a half-tabloid on magazine paper, except for the centerfold scorecard, which was on heavyweight paper. Although it only took up about 75% of the spread, the scorecard wasn't too cramped, even also with the pre-printed diamond in the center.
There was one line for each player, but there was space in the box for replacements. Each batting line ended with a summary, and each inning had inning totals on the bottom. The pitching lines were under the batting lines, and those were a bit more compressed, having only three slots for pitchers, where one team used five. The catcher lines were located next to the pitcher lines. The scorecard itself was printed on a white background, so it left space for notes.
There weren't any really scoring plays of note, although three errors by the Bulls most likely cost them the game. Also of note were the strikeouts, perhaps due to the oppressive heat of the day. There were 21 total. Three players got the Golden Sombrero, and one got one with tassels. I started drawing little sombreros (with tassels as appropriate) on my scorecard for the first time this game. Everyone needs a little bit of whimsy.
The Accommodations:
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| Room service at the 21c Museum Hotel |
I was at the 21c Museum Hotel. This was the hotel that they always put us in when we visited this client. It was an art boutique hotel that was a converted bank. Several locations had been turned into art galleries, including the old vault, and it had a fabulous restaurant as well.
The rooms were similarly up to snuff, with artsy features such as bathroom vanity lights that made shapes on your pupils when you looked in the mirror, and seemingly endless shower stalls. The bed was flanked with all the possible outlets you could imagine, and the closets were stuff with robes and umbrellas and other business-type essentials. There was even a small couch and table to work, and/or get room service.
One of the big "hip" things with the hotel were these giant plastic penguin statues all around the facility that you were allowed to do whatever with. I tried to bring one back to my room as I always did, but I couldn't find out that evening. Perhaps they had all been grabbed before I got there.
On Never-Ending Meetings
Monday, June 18, 2018Durham, NC
Outside the Game:
This day was mostly on all-day meeting on digital processes, so I'll spare you the details. We all met up in the morning, and I told my boss that he had to drive if he wanted to get their alive.
The meeting was fine for what it was. Afterwards, we had a mandatory fun time at a local Mexican restaurant. I stayed as short a time as possible, and at least on that point my boss and I were in alignment. We skedaddled back to the hotel, where everyone went off to do work. I checked up on my emails, but there was nothing I could really do, so I wandered down to the Tabaco Plant area for a little while before giving up due to the heat and heading back to the hotel for the evening. I hit the hay early as we had the same start time the next day, and I also had to check out before we left.
The Accommodations:
I was at the 21c again. I grabbed some more room service that evening (though it was just a sandwich and some of their incredible desserts), and I did find a plastic penguin for my own that evening and spent the evening entertaining him in my room.
On Never Again
Tuesday, June 19, 2018Durham, NC
Outside the Game:
I'll spare the details of the second day of meetings except to say that there was an emergency that I got informed of while I was in the meeting, sitting next to the client that was affected and across the table from the only people who could fix it. So, there was some extra fun stress involved to begin with.
My boss was whining about trying to catch an earlier flight that was his own scheduling problem to begin with, but after our meetings wrapped up, we headed off to the airport, dropped off the rental car, and then went our separate ways for the most part. At the security line, they were trying a new system where a bomb sniffer dog was at the head of the security line and sniffed everyone, and if we passed, we didn't have to take anything out of our bags. Seeing that dog was the last highlight of my day.
As soon as we were through security, delays started coming in. The flight that my boss had been trying to catch hadn't left yet. Everyone was out by an hour, and since we were at the airport early, it only meant longer to wait. I ended up hanging out with two coworkers as we got some food and tried to wait out the delays. They were going back to NY, but I was trying to get back to Newark, much closer to home.
The short delay became a long delay. After several hours, we were grabbing some more food, when there was an update on my flight. After running to see what it was, it turned out after making us wait five hours, they cancelled my flight. I then was in a tizzy trying to get rebooked but kept on running into dead ends. One of my coworkers was able to get in touch with one of the supervisors at home, and I got the contact information for our corporate travel service. After several frustrating attempts, I finally got in touch with someone who understood my request to get me on the next damn flight to anywhere in NY and not try to rebook me on United, which didn't have any flights to NY before Thursday, and that was by way of San Francisco.
I finally secured a very expensive seat on a Delta flight the next day while my phone was running out of power, but then I realized I had nowhere to stay that night. With all the cancelled flights, all the hotel rooms east of Duke were booked solid, and that was only if I could get in touch with United, which had a two-hour phone wait time and no one at their gates.
I called up my account manager for this client who lives down there. She agreed to take me in for the night because that's the kind of person she is, and I grabbed a cab to her house. After introducing me to her husband, daughter, three dogs, and two cats, she got me some water and showed me around her frankly palatial house in the Raleigh suburbs. She got me all set up in her guest room, and I eventually collapsed from the travel stress to the soothing visuals of the fish tank that was in my room.
The Accommodations:
As mentioned, I was in my account manager's guest room, which was easily a thousand times better than sleeping at the airport or getting into a hotel room at 3 AM in the morning.
On Finally Getting Home
Wednesday, June 20, 2018Jersey City, NJ
Outside the Game:
My account manager dropped her kid off at day camp and then took me to the airport. I checked in, got through security, and boarded on time for an uneventful flight to JFK, where I took in the first third of Paddington 2.
Thanks to the mishaps, however, I had to go in straight to work, which I did thanks to the corporate car service, worked the rest of the day, and then went home to collapse.
The Accommodations:
Home, finally.
2018 Stand-Alone
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