Today is Thursday, October 31, 2013 - it's Halloween today. My stats today: 10 minutes of yoga, 10 minutes on the ball and 45 minutes of walking = 2.5 miles for an October total of 65.6 miles. My weight was 166.8 pounds.
My inspirational QUOTE for today from George Saunders: "Err in the direction of kindness."
My THOUGHTS today are that I'm a happy dude. I'm happy that the Boston Red Sox won the World Series. Since taking a tour through Fenway Park in 2012 I've become a Red Sox fan. That tour of Fenway was so interesting because the very knowledgeable tour guide made it that way. That young female guide knew so much about the history of Fenway and the Red Sox. So that's when I decided to become a Red Sox fan. The Red Sox have won three World Series in the last ten years. I think they have conquered "the curse of the Bambino."
I wish I could have been in Boston last night to help the city celebrate. It would've been so much fun.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Pete BLOG: Day 26,632. A tear-jerker story about some 8th grade football players.
Today is Wednesday, October 30, 2013. My stats today: 10 minutes of yoga breathing and stretches, 10 minutes of lifting weights, and 37 minutes of walking = 2.0 miles for an October total of 63.1 miles. My weight again was 166 pounds.
QUOTE for today from Richard Costolo, CEO, Twitter: "Not only can you not plan the impact you're going to have, you often won't recognize it even while you're having it."
My THOUGHTS today are on an email I received from son Brad.
The email was filmed by CBS News - it was the story of what some 8th grade football players did in one of their games at a Middle School in Michigan. On the team was a mentally handicapped teammate who had never scored a touchdown. The kid was also physically much smaller than his teammates. Some of the team leaders decided on their own that they were going to let this handicapped kid score a touchdown - all the other players agreed to go along with the plan. They didn't tell the coaches what their plan was. This is what they did: Even though they could have easily scored the kid carrying the ball ran to the one foot line and deliberately fell down. Then they asked the coaches to let this kid come in and score a touchdown. He came in and scored the touchdown and his teammates carried him off the field on their shoulders. They asked the handicapped kid what it felt like to score a touchdown - he answered with the word - "AWESOME." - with a big smile on his face.
What a neat story and what a testament to the goodness and thoughtfulness of a bunch of 13-14 year-old 8th grade football players. Some of the players were interviewed after the game and I was so impressed with the maturity of these boys. They felt so good about what they had done. One of the players said this good deed changed his way of thinking about life - from being self-centered to thinking about other people and their struggles in life.
I watched it twice and found myself tearing up. If you get a chance you better see it. It will make you good about the young people in America.
QUOTE for today from Richard Costolo, CEO, Twitter: "Not only can you not plan the impact you're going to have, you often won't recognize it even while you're having it."
My THOUGHTS today are on an email I received from son Brad.
The email was filmed by CBS News - it was the story of what some 8th grade football players did in one of their games at a Middle School in Michigan. On the team was a mentally handicapped teammate who had never scored a touchdown. The kid was also physically much smaller than his teammates. Some of the team leaders decided on their own that they were going to let this handicapped kid score a touchdown - all the other players agreed to go along with the plan. They didn't tell the coaches what their plan was. This is what they did: Even though they could have easily scored the kid carrying the ball ran to the one foot line and deliberately fell down. Then they asked the coaches to let this kid come in and score a touchdown. He came in and scored the touchdown and his teammates carried him off the field on their shoulders. They asked the handicapped kid what it felt like to score a touchdown - he answered with the word - "AWESOME." - with a big smile on his face.
What a neat story and what a testament to the goodness and thoughtfulness of a bunch of 13-14 year-old 8th grade football players. Some of the players were interviewed after the game and I was so impressed with the maturity of these boys. They felt so good about what they had done. One of the players said this good deed changed his way of thinking about life - from being self-centered to thinking about other people and their struggles in life.
I watched it twice and found myself tearing up. If you get a chance you better see it. It will make you good about the young people in America.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Pete's BLOG: Day 26,631. The NSA and Spying
Today is Tuesday, October 29, 2013. My stats today: 10 minutes of yoga, 10 minutes on the ball and 45 minutes of walking = 2.5 miles for an October total of 61.1 miles. My weight was 166 pounds.
My inspirational QUOTE today is from Ben Bernanke: "Nobody likes to fail, but failure is an essential part of life and of learning. If your uniform isn't dirty, you haven't been in the game."
My THOUGHTS today have to do with the NSA spying on Americans and foreign leaders like Angela Merkel, the leader of Germany .
There is lots of blame flying around about President Obama and the NSA spying. Who is to blame and when did it start? From what I can gather on the internet we started spying on our fellow Americans and foreign leaders when, after 9/11/01, the Patriot Act was passed when George W. Bush was President. The info on the internet said the NSA was given permission under the Patriot Act to intercept phone calls and emails on American citizens and foreigners all in the name of fighting terrorism. The internet also said the NSA has been monitoring Angela Merkel's phone messages since 2002, three years before she became leader of Germany. Why? I don't know. The sad thing is the NSA has continued to spy under the Obama Administration just like it did under George W. Bush.
Anyway, I hope Obama does something about this? It is not a good way to treat your friends.
We can thank the deceased Osama bin Laden for this mess.
My inspirational QUOTE today is from Ben Bernanke: "Nobody likes to fail, but failure is an essential part of life and of learning. If your uniform isn't dirty, you haven't been in the game."
My THOUGHTS today have to do with the NSA spying on Americans and foreign leaders like Angela Merkel, the leader of Germany .
There is lots of blame flying around about President Obama and the NSA spying. Who is to blame and when did it start? From what I can gather on the internet we started spying on our fellow Americans and foreign leaders when, after 9/11/01, the Patriot Act was passed when George W. Bush was President. The info on the internet said the NSA was given permission under the Patriot Act to intercept phone calls and emails on American citizens and foreigners all in the name of fighting terrorism. The internet also said the NSA has been monitoring Angela Merkel's phone messages since 2002, three years before she became leader of Germany. Why? I don't know. The sad thing is the NSA has continued to spy under the Obama Administration just like it did under George W. Bush.
Anyway, I hope Obama does something about this? It is not a good way to treat your friends.
We can thank the deceased Osama bin Laden for this mess.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Pete;s BLOG-Day 26,630. GOP and Obamacare
Today is Monday, October 28, 2013. My stats today: 10 minutes of yoga, 10 minutes of lifting weights and 46 minutes of walking = 2.5 miles for an October total of 57.6 miles. My weight was 166.0 pounds. I'm still trying to lose the 10 pounds I gained on the baseball trip. When I left on the trip I was 162.0 pounds. I want to lose 2-4 more pounds for sure.
Quote from Barbara Walters: "My biggest regret-and I regret it every day, yet I don't do anything about it-is that I've never kept a diary." It has been said that one of the biggest regrets people have in life is not the things they did do but the things they didn't do.
My THOUGHTS today have to do with Obamacare and the GOP attitude toward it.
With Texas Ted Cruz leading the way and the TEA PARTY members following along like a bunch of sheep we have witnessed a government shutdown and a 100% effort to defund and destroy ObamaCare. This whole scenario has raised some questions for me. Here are 11 of them:
1. Why do you opponents of ObamaCare not want health care for every American?
Every American over 65 has Medicare so why shouldn't every American have it.
2. Do you believe ObamaCare is socialism? If you answered yes then please do not take advantage of Medicare at age 65 - because that is truly socialism - in other words it is government run health care.
3. Do you ObamaCare haters know that The Affordable Care Act was copied after a Republican idea that was implemented in Massachusetts in 2006? The governor of Massachusetts at the time was a Republican - his name was Mitt Romney. He was proud as a peacock that he was the governor of the FIRST state in the union to implement universal health care.
4. Did you know that RomneyCare is working in Massachusetts? Like ObamaCare they had a rocky start also with computer glitches, etc.
5.,Under ObamaCare insurance companies can no longer refuse to cover people with pre-existing conditions. Are you for or against this?
6. Do you think it is a good idea that under Obamacare parents can now cover their kids until age 26 and preventive care like mammograms and colonoscopies are free?
7. I find it hypocritical that Congressional Tea Party members are calling for the resignation of Kathleen Sibelius? (Secretary of Health and Human Services). She didn't cause the computer glitches. In 2006 when the Republican-sponsored Part D Prescription Drug Program was launched there were all kinds of glitches and delays and confusion. Some of these same congressional conservatives said at that time that we can expect this kind of problem when launching a new health care program. It took over a year to get things straightened out. ObamaCare is more complicated than the Part D Drug Plan - so I suspect it will take more than a year to get it rolling. Do you agree or disagree that these conservative members of Congress are displaying hypocrisy at its best?
8. By the way, there were many problems enrolling people in Social Security in 1935 and the same for Medicare in 1965. Do you conservatives want to get rid of these two socialist programs?
9. From January of 2003 to January of 2007 the Republicans had total control of the federal government - this included the presidency, the House of Representatives and the Senate. Why didn't Republicans pass a comprehensive health care bill for the American people when they had total control?
10. If you hate ObamaCare so much what would be the Republican plan for universal health care in Americans?
11. Many of the most conservative Republicans in the U.S. claim to be good Christians. I'm a Christian also but I truly believe that the Jesus I worship would want health care for all Americans. So tell me, what would the Jesus you worship do about health care in America?
Quote from Barbara Walters: "My biggest regret-and I regret it every day, yet I don't do anything about it-is that I've never kept a diary." It has been said that one of the biggest regrets people have in life is not the things they did do but the things they didn't do.
My THOUGHTS today have to do with Obamacare and the GOP attitude toward it.
With Texas Ted Cruz leading the way and the TEA PARTY members following along like a bunch of sheep we have witnessed a government shutdown and a 100% effort to defund and destroy ObamaCare. This whole scenario has raised some questions for me. Here are 11 of them:
1. Why do you opponents of ObamaCare not want health care for every American?
Every American over 65 has Medicare so why shouldn't every American have it.
2. Do you believe ObamaCare is socialism? If you answered yes then please do not take advantage of Medicare at age 65 - because that is truly socialism - in other words it is government run health care.
3. Do you ObamaCare haters know that The Affordable Care Act was copied after a Republican idea that was implemented in Massachusetts in 2006? The governor of Massachusetts at the time was a Republican - his name was Mitt Romney. He was proud as a peacock that he was the governor of the FIRST state in the union to implement universal health care.
4. Did you know that RomneyCare is working in Massachusetts? Like ObamaCare they had a rocky start also with computer glitches, etc.
5.,Under ObamaCare insurance companies can no longer refuse to cover people with pre-existing conditions. Are you for or against this?
6. Do you think it is a good idea that under Obamacare parents can now cover their kids until age 26 and preventive care like mammograms and colonoscopies are free?
7. I find it hypocritical that Congressional Tea Party members are calling for the resignation of Kathleen Sibelius? (Secretary of Health and Human Services). She didn't cause the computer glitches. In 2006 when the Republican-sponsored Part D Prescription Drug Program was launched there were all kinds of glitches and delays and confusion. Some of these same congressional conservatives said at that time that we can expect this kind of problem when launching a new health care program. It took over a year to get things straightened out. ObamaCare is more complicated than the Part D Drug Plan - so I suspect it will take more than a year to get it rolling. Do you agree or disagree that these conservative members of Congress are displaying hypocrisy at its best?
8. By the way, there were many problems enrolling people in Social Security in 1935 and the same for Medicare in 1965. Do you conservatives want to get rid of these two socialist programs?
9. From January of 2003 to January of 2007 the Republicans had total control of the federal government - this included the presidency, the House of Representatives and the Senate. Why didn't Republicans pass a comprehensive health care bill for the American people when they had total control?
10. If you hate ObamaCare so much what would be the Republican plan for universal health care in Americans?
11. Many of the most conservative Republicans in the U.S. claim to be good Christians. I'm a Christian also but I truly believe that the Jesus I worship would want health care for all Americans. So tell me, what would the Jesus you worship do about health care in America?
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Day 16 and 17: Major League Baseball Trip.
DATE: Monday, September 16, 2013. Day 16 and 17.
LOCATION: Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, and Kaufman Stadium in Kansas City, home of the Royals and our 10th and final major league baseball stadium.
All three of us wanted to go to the Truman Library in Independence. Rusty agreed - he took us to the Library. It was a fabulous way to spend the next three hours. World War II was over and the Cold War was just beginning. Truman had to make many tough decisions. A few of them were: how to handle the striking railroad workers; how to save Greece and Turkey from falling to the communists; how to respond to the North Korean invasion of South Korea; how to handle the Republican controlled Congress from 1947 to 1949 that opposed everything he tried and wanted to do; how to integrate the military; how to respond to the communist takeover of China in 1949; how to respond to Soviet blockade of Berlin in 1948; how to win the presidency in 1948 against Tom Dewey; plus many other things.
But one decision that was easy for Harry to make was how to respond to Paul Hume, the music critic who had unkind words to say about his daughter Margaret's singing ability. Margaret Truman was trying to make a career with her singing. She gave a concert on December 6, 1950 and Mr. Hume had some pretty nasty words to say about her singing. Here is Mr. Hume's review on Margaret's singing that night.
Miss Truman is a unique American phenomenon with a pleasant voice of little size and fair quality. She cannot sing very well, is flat a good deal of the time, more last night than at any time we have heard her in past years. She has not improved in the years we have heard her. She still cannot sing with anything approaching professional finish.
Harry read those comments and that was more he could take. Nobody was going to criticize his daughter and get by with it. He got extremely mad and decided he would write a letter to Mr. Hume and let him know that, as Margaret's father, he was not going to put up with it. What follows is the letter Harry wrote to Mr. Hume.
Mr. Hume:
I've just read your lousy review of Margaret's concert. I've come to the conclusion that you are an "eight ulcer man on four ulcer pay."
It seems to me that you are a frustrated old man who wishes he could have been successful. When you write such poppy-cock as was in the back section of the paper you work for it shows conclusively what you're off the beam and at least four of your ulcers are at work.
Some day I hope to meet you. When that happens you'll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes, and perhaps a supporter below.
Pegler, a gutter snipe, is a gentleman alongside you. I hope you'll accept that statement as a worse insult than a reflection on your ancestry.
\
H.S.T.
When it hit the papers the response was quite favorable for Harry. A lot of people knew exactly how he felt - that any father would feel the same way if some body did that to their daughter. Anyway, the original letter is not at the library. Being it was sent to Mr. Hume it was the property of Mr. Hume. Hume sold the letter in 1951 for $3,500 to the Malcolm Forbes Estate where it hung in the family's NY corporate art galleries. In 2002 the letter was purchased by the Harlan Crow Library, a private library at the Highland Park, Texas, estate of Harlan Crow, a real estate businessman.
Monday night we went to Kaufman Park, home of the Royals. Royals won 7-1. It is a fabulous stadium with geysers in center field. a huge scoreboard, a huge concourse with many restrooms, many vendors, a miniature ball field for little kids to play on, and a museum displaying the history of baseball in Kansas City. The museum guide was dressed in a baseball uniform from the 1860s-1870s - he was so interesting and really knew his baseball. They had a big section on the history of the Negro Leagues and the famous Kansas City Monarchs. Some of the best baseball players ever played there but never made it to the major leagues because of the color barrier. Thank God for Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson in 1947.
This was our last baseball stadium - it was number 10. Except for Wrigley in Chicago all the other nine stadiums were built in the last twenty years - they are all wonderful baseball parks. They all get mostly As or A+s from me for being fan friendly.
Our stadiums included: Milwaukee, Cubs, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Yankees, Phillies, NY Mets, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Kansas City. I'm so glad Brad called in May and said, "I've got a month long baseball trip on my BUCKET LIST. I've got the time now that I'm in between jobs so Dad, what do you think?" I said, "I'm in, but not for a month - two to three weeks would be better." Being my brother John is a big baseball fan we decided to call him to see if he would like to join us. He gave an emphatic YES. So Brad got all the tickets ordered online plus he had all the hotels booked online also except for Manhattan, John did those.
The three of us made memories to last for whatever time we have left on this earth. To make matters better for me Ruth Ann was all for it. We had never been separated for 17 days in our 53 years together. Thank You Ruth Ann.
Day 17: Major League Baseball Trip. Day 17.
We left Rusty and Angie's home in Overland Park in midmorning and drove to Anamosa. We had stayed at Rusty and Angie's home for three nights. They were perfect hosts and I thank them so much for their hospitality. It was a pleasure to spend three days with them. We got home at 4 PM. John left at 5 for his five hour trip to his home in St. Peter, MN. All three of could now scratch the Major League Baseball Trip off our BUCKET LIST.
LOCATION: Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, and Kaufman Stadium in Kansas City, home of the Royals and our 10th and final major league baseball stadium.
All three of us wanted to go to the Truman Library in Independence. Rusty agreed - he took us to the Library. It was a fabulous way to spend the next three hours. World War II was over and the Cold War was just beginning. Truman had to make many tough decisions. A few of them were: how to handle the striking railroad workers; how to save Greece and Turkey from falling to the communists; how to respond to the North Korean invasion of South Korea; how to handle the Republican controlled Congress from 1947 to 1949 that opposed everything he tried and wanted to do; how to integrate the military; how to respond to the communist takeover of China in 1949; how to respond to Soviet blockade of Berlin in 1948; how to win the presidency in 1948 against Tom Dewey; plus many other things.
But one decision that was easy for Harry to make was how to respond to Paul Hume, the music critic who had unkind words to say about his daughter Margaret's singing ability. Margaret Truman was trying to make a career with her singing. She gave a concert on December 6, 1950 and Mr. Hume had some pretty nasty words to say about her singing. Here is Mr. Hume's review on Margaret's singing that night.
Miss Truman is a unique American phenomenon with a pleasant voice of little size and fair quality. She cannot sing very well, is flat a good deal of the time, more last night than at any time we have heard her in past years. She has not improved in the years we have heard her. She still cannot sing with anything approaching professional finish.
Harry read those comments and that was more he could take. Nobody was going to criticize his daughter and get by with it. He got extremely mad and decided he would write a letter to Mr. Hume and let him know that, as Margaret's father, he was not going to put up with it. What follows is the letter Harry wrote to Mr. Hume.
Mr. Hume:
I've just read your lousy review of Margaret's concert. I've come to the conclusion that you are an "eight ulcer man on four ulcer pay."
It seems to me that you are a frustrated old man who wishes he could have been successful. When you write such poppy-cock as was in the back section of the paper you work for it shows conclusively what you're off the beam and at least four of your ulcers are at work.
Some day I hope to meet you. When that happens you'll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes, and perhaps a supporter below.
Pegler, a gutter snipe, is a gentleman alongside you. I hope you'll accept that statement as a worse insult than a reflection on your ancestry.
\
H.S.T.
When it hit the papers the response was quite favorable for Harry. A lot of people knew exactly how he felt - that any father would feel the same way if some body did that to their daughter. Anyway, the original letter is not at the library. Being it was sent to Mr. Hume it was the property of Mr. Hume. Hume sold the letter in 1951 for $3,500 to the Malcolm Forbes Estate where it hung in the family's NY corporate art galleries. In 2002 the letter was purchased by the Harlan Crow Library, a private library at the Highland Park, Texas, estate of Harlan Crow, a real estate businessman.
Monday night we went to Kaufman Park, home of the Royals. Royals won 7-1. It is a fabulous stadium with geysers in center field. a huge scoreboard, a huge concourse with many restrooms, many vendors, a miniature ball field for little kids to play on, and a museum displaying the history of baseball in Kansas City. The museum guide was dressed in a baseball uniform from the 1860s-1870s - he was so interesting and really knew his baseball. They had a big section on the history of the Negro Leagues and the famous Kansas City Monarchs. Some of the best baseball players ever played there but never made it to the major leagues because of the color barrier. Thank God for Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson in 1947.
This was our last baseball stadium - it was number 10. Except for Wrigley in Chicago all the other nine stadiums were built in the last twenty years - they are all wonderful baseball parks. They all get mostly As or A+s from me for being fan friendly.
Our stadiums included: Milwaukee, Cubs, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Yankees, Phillies, NY Mets, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Kansas City. I'm so glad Brad called in May and said, "I've got a month long baseball trip on my BUCKET LIST. I've got the time now that I'm in between jobs so Dad, what do you think?" I said, "I'm in, but not for a month - two to three weeks would be better." Being my brother John is a big baseball fan we decided to call him to see if he would like to join us. He gave an emphatic YES. So Brad got all the tickets ordered online plus he had all the hotels booked online also except for Manhattan, John did those.
The three of us made memories to last for whatever time we have left on this earth. To make matters better for me Ruth Ann was all for it. We had never been separated for 17 days in our 53 years together. Thank You Ruth Ann.
Day 17: Major League Baseball Trip. Day 17.
We left Rusty and Angie's home in Overland Park in midmorning and drove to Anamosa. We had stayed at Rusty and Angie's home for three nights. They were perfect hosts and I thank them so much for their hospitality. It was a pleasure to spend three days with them. We got home at 4 PM. John left at 5 for his five hour trip to his home in St. Peter, MN. All three of could now scratch the Major League Baseball Trip off our BUCKET LIST.
Monday, October 14, 2013
Day 13, 14 and 15: Major League Baseball Trip.
DATE: Friday, September 13, 2013. Day 13.
LOCATION: We left Pittsburgh at 8 AM and drove 681 miles to Anamosa. We saw a lot of corn and soybean fields as we drove through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa. It took us 12 hours - we stayed in Anamosa. Ruth Ann was happy to see us.
DATE: Saturday, September 14, 2013. Day 14.
LOCATION" Anamosa to Overland Park, Kansas.
We left Anamosa at 9 AM and headed to Overland Park, Kansas, which is a suburb to the west of Kansas City. Our destination was the home of Rusty and Angie Russell Rusty was a good friend of Brad's from their UP People Days in the 1980s. We arrived at 2:30 - we spent the day watching football in Rusty's Man Cave. Iowa beat Iowa State 27-24 and Alabama beat Texas A&M. Angie had a wonderful dinner prepared for us. She had two of my favorites - Iowa chops and broccoli salad. They have a beautiful home in a very nice neighborhood of Overland Park.
DATE: Sunday, September 15, 2013. Day 15.
LOCATION: Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Chiefs.
Rusty and his brothers have four season tickets to the Chiefs. He excluded his family this time and let Brad, John and me use them. We got to Arrowhead at 8:30 and set up the tailgating stuff. I started visiting with the couple next to us. The conversation went like this:
Pete: Where are you from?
Neighbors: Iowa.
Pete: What city or town?
Neighbors: Anamosa.
Pete: I can't believe it. I'm from Anamosa also. My name is Pete Bungum.
Neighbors: Oh, my gosh. Your granddaughter Alexandra and our daughter Kelly are the best of friends. When Alexandra was an exchange student in 2008-2009 they became best friends. Alex was at our home many times.
Pete: Brad, get over here, There is somebody here that you know and want to talk to you. (And the conversation continued....)
It is really is a small world sometimes. There were 76,000 fans and thousands of cars at the game. What are the odds that something like this could happen? They are mighty slim. Their names are Linda and Neal Vaughn. She is the principal at the Middle School and he works for the Iowa Department of Agriculture. The reason they were at the game is their son works for the Chiefs, doing video stuff.
The Chiefs beat the Cowboys 17-16. The stadium was solid red - it looked like everybody had a Chiefs red jersey to wear. I was impressed with the enthusiasm of the fans. They were really into it. The Chiefs only won two games last year and now they are 6-0. Why the difference? As Rusty explained: "We got a new coach (Andy Reid from the Eagles) and a new quarterback (Alex Smith from the 49'ers). That's the difference." Rusty was ready to give up his season tickets after last year. But he said if they get a new coach and a new quarterback he'd give it another year. They did, so Rusty kept his season tickets.
After the game John and I wondered through the Chiefs Museum inside Arrowhead. Of course, I wanted to the see the head statue of Eddie Podolak, the former HAWKEYE AND CHIEFS RUNNING BACK from the 1970s. I saw it. Eddie now does the color commentary for Hawkeye games with play-by-play guy Gary Dolphin.
LOCATION: We left Pittsburgh at 8 AM and drove 681 miles to Anamosa. We saw a lot of corn and soybean fields as we drove through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa. It took us 12 hours - we stayed in Anamosa. Ruth Ann was happy to see us.
DATE: Saturday, September 14, 2013. Day 14.
LOCATION" Anamosa to Overland Park, Kansas.
We left Anamosa at 9 AM and headed to Overland Park, Kansas, which is a suburb to the west of Kansas City. Our destination was the home of Rusty and Angie Russell Rusty was a good friend of Brad's from their UP People Days in the 1980s. We arrived at 2:30 - we spent the day watching football in Rusty's Man Cave. Iowa beat Iowa State 27-24 and Alabama beat Texas A&M. Angie had a wonderful dinner prepared for us. She had two of my favorites - Iowa chops and broccoli salad. They have a beautiful home in a very nice neighborhood of Overland Park.
DATE: Sunday, September 15, 2013. Day 15.
LOCATION: Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Chiefs.
Rusty and his brothers have four season tickets to the Chiefs. He excluded his family this time and let Brad, John and me use them. We got to Arrowhead at 8:30 and set up the tailgating stuff. I started visiting with the couple next to us. The conversation went like this:
Pete: Where are you from?
Neighbors: Iowa.
Pete: What city or town?
Neighbors: Anamosa.
Pete: I can't believe it. I'm from Anamosa also. My name is Pete Bungum.
Neighbors: Oh, my gosh. Your granddaughter Alexandra and our daughter Kelly are the best of friends. When Alexandra was an exchange student in 2008-2009 they became best friends. Alex was at our home many times.
Pete: Brad, get over here, There is somebody here that you know and want to talk to you. (And the conversation continued....)
It is really is a small world sometimes. There were 76,000 fans and thousands of cars at the game. What are the odds that something like this could happen? They are mighty slim. Their names are Linda and Neal Vaughn. She is the principal at the Middle School and he works for the Iowa Department of Agriculture. The reason they were at the game is their son works for the Chiefs, doing video stuff.
The Chiefs beat the Cowboys 17-16. The stadium was solid red - it looked like everybody had a Chiefs red jersey to wear. I was impressed with the enthusiasm of the fans. They were really into it. The Chiefs only won two games last year and now they are 6-0. Why the difference? As Rusty explained: "We got a new coach (Andy Reid from the Eagles) and a new quarterback (Alex Smith from the 49'ers). That's the difference." Rusty was ready to give up his season tickets after last year. But he said if they get a new coach and a new quarterback he'd give it another year. They did, so Rusty kept his season tickets.
After the game John and I wondered through the Chiefs Museum inside Arrowhead. Of course, I wanted to the see the head statue of Eddie Podolak, the former HAWKEYE AND CHIEFS RUNNING BACK from the 1970s. I saw it. Eddie now does the color commentary for Hawkeye games with play-by-play guy Gary Dolphin.
Day 12: Major League Baseball Trip.
DATE: Thursday, September 12, 2013. Day 12.
LOCATION: Pittsburgh's History Museum and PNC Park, home of the Pirates.
I got up at 7:30 and took a 1.5 mile walk down Penn Ave. I decided to try my "Good Morning" routine and see if I could get any Pittsburghers to say "Good Morning" in return, (at least more than the folks in Manhattan.) The results were good. I tried 10 people and 9 of them responded with a "Good Morning" in return. That was a 90% return compared with 0% in Manhattan. A few smiled when I said "Good Morning" but at least they responded. There was only one who stared straight ahead. He was probably a transplant from Manhattan.
We ate at the hotel and then went across the street to Pittsburgh's History Museum. We were there from 11:15 to 3:30. It is a fabulous museum exploring the history of Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania. There was not enough time to see it all so we had to choose. All three of us chose to see the sports section which concentrated on the Pirates and Steelers. They had a statue of Franco Harris making the "immaculate reception" in the AFC Championship against the Oakland Raiders in 1971. And another one of Bill Mazeroski jumping onto home plate after he had hit the winning home run against the Yankees in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series. Another interesting display was a map showing all the Division I quarterbacks and NFL quarterbacks that have come out of the Pittsburgh area. There are a lot - like over 50. All three of us are big sports fans so what an enjoyable time we had in the sports section.
I wanted to see the section on H.J. Heinz. So I spent over an hour there. Very interesting. It was quite a story of rags to riches. By the way, John Kerry is married to the widow of Senator Heinz who was killed in a plane crash in the 1980s. Anybody who goes to Pittsburgh should spend some time at this museum. It is fantastic.
At 5 PM we called a cab to take us to PNC Park. We ate at the bar/grille owned by Jerome Bettis, the great Steelers running back. It is right across the street from the stadium. I tried a local beer and didn't like it. After that I went back to my Bud Light or Miller Lite. One thing of interest was that the men's restroom was right behind the reception desk. When I was at the urinal I looked up into this glass window in front of me and I could see everybody in the restaurant. When I went out I looked at this glass window from the outside to see if people could see into the rest room and watch a bunch of men peeing. Obviously, they couldn't - the mirror was black so nothing could be seen. I bet more than one man has thought while peeing, "Can those people see me, I can see them."
The Pirates beat the Cubs 3-1. The crowd was very enthusiastic because this was the first time since 1991 that the Pirates had a chance at making the National League play-offs. They did make it but got beat out by the Cardinals - 3 games to 2 games.
Billie Bob doesn't live to far from Pittsburgh. I was thinking when the fans were all excited if Billie Bob would have gotten excited and cheered. I doubt it because that would have taken some energy plus he wouldn't have been sitting in his recliner.
PNC Park deserves all As' or A+s for my five criteria. Price of beer is a B.
The same can said for Citizens Bank Park, home of the Phillies. And their beer price gets a B also.
LOCATION: Pittsburgh's History Museum and PNC Park, home of the Pirates.
I got up at 7:30 and took a 1.5 mile walk down Penn Ave. I decided to try my "Good Morning" routine and see if I could get any Pittsburghers to say "Good Morning" in return, (at least more than the folks in Manhattan.) The results were good. I tried 10 people and 9 of them responded with a "Good Morning" in return. That was a 90% return compared with 0% in Manhattan. A few smiled when I said "Good Morning" but at least they responded. There was only one who stared straight ahead. He was probably a transplant from Manhattan.
We ate at the hotel and then went across the street to Pittsburgh's History Museum. We were there from 11:15 to 3:30. It is a fabulous museum exploring the history of Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania. There was not enough time to see it all so we had to choose. All three of us chose to see the sports section which concentrated on the Pirates and Steelers. They had a statue of Franco Harris making the "immaculate reception" in the AFC Championship against the Oakland Raiders in 1971. And another one of Bill Mazeroski jumping onto home plate after he had hit the winning home run against the Yankees in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series. Another interesting display was a map showing all the Division I quarterbacks and NFL quarterbacks that have come out of the Pittsburgh area. There are a lot - like over 50. All three of us are big sports fans so what an enjoyable time we had in the sports section.
I wanted to see the section on H.J. Heinz. So I spent over an hour there. Very interesting. It was quite a story of rags to riches. By the way, John Kerry is married to the widow of Senator Heinz who was killed in a plane crash in the 1980s. Anybody who goes to Pittsburgh should spend some time at this museum. It is fantastic.
At 5 PM we called a cab to take us to PNC Park. We ate at the bar/grille owned by Jerome Bettis, the great Steelers running back. It is right across the street from the stadium. I tried a local beer and didn't like it. After that I went back to my Bud Light or Miller Lite. One thing of interest was that the men's restroom was right behind the reception desk. When I was at the urinal I looked up into this glass window in front of me and I could see everybody in the restaurant. When I went out I looked at this glass window from the outside to see if people could see into the rest room and watch a bunch of men peeing. Obviously, they couldn't - the mirror was black so nothing could be seen. I bet more than one man has thought while peeing, "Can those people see me, I can see them."
The Pirates beat the Cubs 3-1. The crowd was very enthusiastic because this was the first time since 1991 that the Pirates had a chance at making the National League play-offs. They did make it but got beat out by the Cardinals - 3 games to 2 games.
Billie Bob doesn't live to far from Pittsburgh. I was thinking when the fans were all excited if Billie Bob would have gotten excited and cheered. I doubt it because that would have taken some energy plus he wouldn't have been sitting in his recliner.
PNC Park deserves all As' or A+s for my five criteria. Price of beer is a B.
The same can said for Citizens Bank Park, home of the Phillies. And their beer price gets a B also.
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Day 11, Major League Baseball Trip.
DATE: Wednesday, September 11, 2013. Day 11.
LOCATION: Baltimore to West Virginia to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
I got up at 7:30 AM and took a walk past Camden Yards Stadium and kept walking until I got to M & T Bank Stadium, home of the Ravens. It was only an extra block. M&T stands for Manufacturer's and Traders Bank. I asked some workers there where the Ravens practiced and they said they practiced in a facility several miles northeast of Baltimore named Owings Mills. I wanted to see them practice because Marshall Yanda, the right guard for the Ravens, is a former student of mine from my seventh grade class of 1997. When I got back to the hotel I told Brad and John where they practiced and we decided we would drive out and see if we could watch them practice - and I might be able to see Marshall. So I called the Ravens office and talked to a secretary - I told her I was one of Marshall's old teachers and I was wondering if it might be possible for me to see him. She said she couldn't say but she would be willing to take a message and give it to him. I told her to write, " Hi Marshall, this is Mr. Bungum, your old seventh grade geography teacher. If possible I'd like to see you this morning and give you a little ANAD quiz. She laughed and I said Marshall will know what ANAD is."
So we checked our bags and headed out to Owings Mills. Thanks to GPS we easily found it. After driving down a secluded road we came to the Ravens practice facility. But we were stopped by a little building with horizontal poles blocking off any vehicles from entering the property. We pushed a button on the outside of the building and a guy answered. John says "I was wondering if we could see the Ravens practice." The guy says, "This is private property and there is no admittance." So that was it - no admittance meant we were out of luck. If Marshall did get my message he probably didn't want to take that ANAD quiz.
At the game the night before there were cops all over the place. I asked four cops at the stadium how many cops were on the force in Baltimore? I got four different answers: 1,400, 3400, 2700, and 3,000. I guess nobody knows, the cops don't anyway.
As we were checking out of the hotel this morning John asked one of the bellhops, "How many cops in Baltimore?" He answered, "Not enough."
Then John said, 'Half of your police force must have been on duty at the Oriole game last night."
The bellhop answered, "Either there or at Dunkin Donuts." That was good for a laugh.
We left Owings Mills and headed for Pittsburgh. We drove through Maryland, part of West Virginia and onto Pittsburgh We arrived at 5PM. We checked into the Hampton Inn, a half mile or more from PNC Park, home of the Pirates. All three of us were tired so we ordered pizza from Dominoes and ate in the room.
LOCATION: Baltimore to West Virginia to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
I got up at 7:30 AM and took a walk past Camden Yards Stadium and kept walking until I got to M & T Bank Stadium, home of the Ravens. It was only an extra block. M&T stands for Manufacturer's and Traders Bank. I asked some workers there where the Ravens practiced and they said they practiced in a facility several miles northeast of Baltimore named Owings Mills. I wanted to see them practice because Marshall Yanda, the right guard for the Ravens, is a former student of mine from my seventh grade class of 1997. When I got back to the hotel I told Brad and John where they practiced and we decided we would drive out and see if we could watch them practice - and I might be able to see Marshall. So I called the Ravens office and talked to a secretary - I told her I was one of Marshall's old teachers and I was wondering if it might be possible for me to see him. She said she couldn't say but she would be willing to take a message and give it to him. I told her to write, " Hi Marshall, this is Mr. Bungum, your old seventh grade geography teacher. If possible I'd like to see you this morning and give you a little ANAD quiz. She laughed and I said Marshall will know what ANAD is."
So we checked our bags and headed out to Owings Mills. Thanks to GPS we easily found it. After driving down a secluded road we came to the Ravens practice facility. But we were stopped by a little building with horizontal poles blocking off any vehicles from entering the property. We pushed a button on the outside of the building and a guy answered. John says "I was wondering if we could see the Ravens practice." The guy says, "This is private property and there is no admittance." So that was it - no admittance meant we were out of luck. If Marshall did get my message he probably didn't want to take that ANAD quiz.
At the game the night before there were cops all over the place. I asked four cops at the stadium how many cops were on the force in Baltimore? I got four different answers: 1,400, 3400, 2700, and 3,000. I guess nobody knows, the cops don't anyway.
As we were checking out of the hotel this morning John asked one of the bellhops, "How many cops in Baltimore?" He answered, "Not enough."
Then John said, 'Half of your police force must have been on duty at the Oriole game last night."
The bellhop answered, "Either there or at Dunkin Donuts." That was good for a laugh.
We left Owings Mills and headed for Pittsburgh. We drove through Maryland, part of West Virginia and onto Pittsburgh We arrived at 5PM. We checked into the Hampton Inn, a half mile or more from PNC Park, home of the Pirates. All three of us were tired so we ordered pizza from Dominoes and ate in the room.
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Day 10: Major League Baseball Trip.
DATE: Tuesday, September 10, 2013. Day 10.
LOCATION: Manhattan to Baltimore, home of the Orioles.
After spending five nights in Manhattan we left for Baltimore at 8:30 AM. We arrived in Baltimore at 2:30 - checked into the Hilton, located right next to the Orioles and Ravens stadiums. We could see both stadiums from our window. Brad did a good job of lining up the hotels. John did the Manhattan stay with his time-share membership but Brad did all the rest. We were hungry so we went across the street to Frank and Nic's West End Grille. The server suggested we try a local brew called New-Bo. It was only $4.00 for a 16 oz draw. (This was more like Anamosa prices.) We all tried one and it was pretty good stuff. The food was great.
We walked to the stadium at 6:45. The stadium was called "Camden Yards" when built 15-20 years ago but now it is called "Oriole Stadium at Camden Yards." Camden Yards refers to the warehouse area that this once was. In fact, there is a huge ten story restored warehouse right next to Oriole Stadium. The bottom floor is now full of restaurants and gift shops.
The Orioles played the Yankees - Yankees won 7-5. Mariano Reveira pitched the 8th and 9th innings. Alex Rodriquez did play and didn't get booed like he dud at other stadiums.
We met a lot of interesting people that night. Here they are:
- The first bunch were three guys from Duluth, Minnesota. One of them was a marine who was stationed near by. The other two were friends visiting him. The guy named Paul told us his grandparents had a restaurant in Duluth. They were famous citywide in Duluth for their for pasta sausage recipe. When they died only three family members knew the secret ingredients in the recipe - and that is all that still know it today. Paul is one of the three and once a year he and the other two will make this pasta sausage, advertise it and sell it all over Duluth. People in Duluth still remember it and want some every year. Interesting story.
- Brad wore his Hawkeye shirt and cap and I wore my Hawkeye cap. As a result we were stopped by a couple from Winthrop and Jesup, Iowa. Had a nice visit with them. Then two other guys saw our Hawkeye stuff and they stopped and talked to us. It was a father and son-in law from Denison, Iowa. It was another great visit. It's fun to talk to people from Iowa. They are some of the best. IT'S GREAT TO BE A HAWKEYE.
- At the game we sat by three guys from Lousiana, all three were Yankee fans. They were in Baltimore on a business trip. Their company made boots for the Coast Guard. One guy said he became a Yankee fan as a young kid when his Grandpa made him listen to Yankee games on the radio. He said he had no choice in the matter. His Grandpa was a diehard Yankee fan and his grandson was going to be one also. And he was a Yankee fan. He said his Grandpa would be happy.
- This next guy was not so friendly. Brad walked down the steps to the infield to get some close-up photos of Mariano Revira. When walking back up the steps some idiot sees his Hawkeye stuff and hollers to Brad, "SIT DOWN HAWKEYE." Brad said he ignored the idiot.
- One of the beer vendors saw Brad's Hawkeye stuff and says to Brad, "How many counties in Iowa?" Brad said "99." The vendor said, "You are correct."
The next time the same vendor sees Brad he says, "Only 8 states have more than 80 counties." Brad got a kick out of the guy.
- One of the fun things we saw during the game was the "kiss cam." When a couple saw themselves on camera they had to kiss. The fans loved it, especially when one guy kissed his wife and he put his hand on her right boob. That was good for a big laugh.
- After the game we went back to Frank and Nic's West End Grille. We met Tim and Jeff - two more Yankee fans. We visited for over an hour and found out they were civilian MPs for the Department of Defense. We remarked there sure a lot of Yankee fans at the game for being in Baltimore. They said that is pretty normal as they referred to "Oriole Stadium at Camden Yards" as " YANKEE STADIUM SOUTH."
These two guys were good friends. In a couple of weeks Tim was getting married for the third time. Jeff was going to be his best man. Tim was going to have another bachelor party. Jeff said he had been to all three of Tim's bachelor parties and it would be the third time he had been Tim's best man. That was good for some hearty laughs.
- Our server was a gal named Kate. She was an Ohio girl and a graduate of Ohio University, (not THE Ohio State) She was doing HR work for a firm in Baltimore. The firm was just bought by Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids. She was worried about losing her job because of the takeover. So Brad gave her the name and email of LeAnn First, who works at Rockwell. LeAnn is a former student of mine, a graduate of Anamosa High School and is pretty high up in the company. Brad had talked business with her one other time when he was home and thought that a little personal connection like this might help Kate's chances of keeping her job. Brad told her to contact LeAnn at Rockwell in Cedar Rapids and tell her she had met us and visited with us. He said, "Kate, it can't hurt anything."
It was a fun night in Baltimore.
-;
LOCATION: Manhattan to Baltimore, home of the Orioles.
After spending five nights in Manhattan we left for Baltimore at 8:30 AM. We arrived in Baltimore at 2:30 - checked into the Hilton, located right next to the Orioles and Ravens stadiums. We could see both stadiums from our window. Brad did a good job of lining up the hotels. John did the Manhattan stay with his time-share membership but Brad did all the rest. We were hungry so we went across the street to Frank and Nic's West End Grille. The server suggested we try a local brew called New-Bo. It was only $4.00 for a 16 oz draw. (This was more like Anamosa prices.) We all tried one and it was pretty good stuff. The food was great.
We walked to the stadium at 6:45. The stadium was called "Camden Yards" when built 15-20 years ago but now it is called "Oriole Stadium at Camden Yards." Camden Yards refers to the warehouse area that this once was. In fact, there is a huge ten story restored warehouse right next to Oriole Stadium. The bottom floor is now full of restaurants and gift shops.
The Orioles played the Yankees - Yankees won 7-5. Mariano Reveira pitched the 8th and 9th innings. Alex Rodriquez did play and didn't get booed like he dud at other stadiums.
We met a lot of interesting people that night. Here they are:
- The first bunch were three guys from Duluth, Minnesota. One of them was a marine who was stationed near by. The other two were friends visiting him. The guy named Paul told us his grandparents had a restaurant in Duluth. They were famous citywide in Duluth for their for pasta sausage recipe. When they died only three family members knew the secret ingredients in the recipe - and that is all that still know it today. Paul is one of the three and once a year he and the other two will make this pasta sausage, advertise it and sell it all over Duluth. People in Duluth still remember it and want some every year. Interesting story.
- Brad wore his Hawkeye shirt and cap and I wore my Hawkeye cap. As a result we were stopped by a couple from Winthrop and Jesup, Iowa. Had a nice visit with them. Then two other guys saw our Hawkeye stuff and they stopped and talked to us. It was a father and son-in law from Denison, Iowa. It was another great visit. It's fun to talk to people from Iowa. They are some of the best. IT'S GREAT TO BE A HAWKEYE.
- At the game we sat by three guys from Lousiana, all three were Yankee fans. They were in Baltimore on a business trip. Their company made boots for the Coast Guard. One guy said he became a Yankee fan as a young kid when his Grandpa made him listen to Yankee games on the radio. He said he had no choice in the matter. His Grandpa was a diehard Yankee fan and his grandson was going to be one also. And he was a Yankee fan. He said his Grandpa would be happy.
- This next guy was not so friendly. Brad walked down the steps to the infield to get some close-up photos of Mariano Revira. When walking back up the steps some idiot sees his Hawkeye stuff and hollers to Brad, "SIT DOWN HAWKEYE." Brad said he ignored the idiot.
- One of the beer vendors saw Brad's Hawkeye stuff and says to Brad, "How many counties in Iowa?" Brad said "99." The vendor said, "You are correct."
The next time the same vendor sees Brad he says, "Only 8 states have more than 80 counties." Brad got a kick out of the guy.
- One of the fun things we saw during the game was the "kiss cam." When a couple saw themselves on camera they had to kiss. The fans loved it, especially when one guy kissed his wife and he put his hand on her right boob. That was good for a big laugh.
- After the game we went back to Frank and Nic's West End Grille. We met Tim and Jeff - two more Yankee fans. We visited for over an hour and found out they were civilian MPs for the Department of Defense. We remarked there sure a lot of Yankee fans at the game for being in Baltimore. They said that is pretty normal as they referred to "Oriole Stadium at Camden Yards" as " YANKEE STADIUM SOUTH."
These two guys were good friends. In a couple of weeks Tim was getting married for the third time. Jeff was going to be his best man. Tim was going to have another bachelor party. Jeff said he had been to all three of Tim's bachelor parties and it would be the third time he had been Tim's best man. That was good for some hearty laughs.
- Our server was a gal named Kate. She was an Ohio girl and a graduate of Ohio University, (not THE Ohio State) She was doing HR work for a firm in Baltimore. The firm was just bought by Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids. She was worried about losing her job because of the takeover. So Brad gave her the name and email of LeAnn First, who works at Rockwell. LeAnn is a former student of mine, a graduate of Anamosa High School and is pretty high up in the company. Brad had talked business with her one other time when he was home and thought that a little personal connection like this might help Kate's chances of keeping her job. Brad told her to contact LeAnn at Rockwell in Cedar Rapids and tell her she had met us and visited with us. He said, "Kate, it can't hurt anything."
It was a fun night in Baltimore.
-;
Friday, October 11, 2013
Day 9: Major League Baseball Trip
DATE: Monday, September 9, 2013. Day 9.
LOCATION: Manhattan and Citi Park, home of the Mets.
We got up at 5:15 AM in order to get to the NBC TODAY SHOW by 6:30 . We walked to NBC studios, it was about a mile. I was really excited as I watch it every morning. It was on my Bucket List to go to the TODAY SHOW once in my lifetime. When we got there Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie were already in there chairs. Natalie Morales and Al Roker showed up about 6:45. It was so interesting to see what happens when they are not on camera or they are on commercial break. For instance, the make-up people come up to the four of them and dust their faces again with make-up and Natalie and Savannah get more lipstick put on plus their hair is combed again. And Al got up and walked the fence line talking to the visitors, unfortunately I was not in the right position. Another thing that was interesting was Natalie and Savannah had blankets over their legs which were hidden by the desk - it was chilly that morning, They do not read their lines from a written script in front of them - instead they read their lines from the autoscript cameras they are staring into. We got to see Dr. Oz being interviewed plus comedian Steve Harvey. There was a man and a woman who were the producers and giving the orders. They gave the countdown starting with 60 seconds, to 30 seconds, to 15 to 10 to 5 and to zero = You're on. Brad and I tried hard to get on camera. Brad was more successful than I was. Brad's friend, Rusty in Kansas City, said he saw Brad several times and me a couple of times. Ruth Ann did not see Brad or me. It was so interesting. Seeing the TODAY SHOW was was one of the highlights of my 17 days.
Later in the morning we began our tour of Manhattan Tour on one of the double-decker buses you see on TV. We toured lower Manhattan in the morning and upper Manhattan in the afternoon. Some of the highlights we saw were:
- penthouses, condos, and apartments that were rented or owned by the rich and famous such as: Jackie Kennedy, Seinfeld, Frank Sinatra, Dale Carnegie, the Vanderbilts, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Paris Hilton. The guide said Paris moved to LA because it was easier to spell. The guide said rents ran from $5,000 a month to as high as $40,000 a month.
- Other sites were: Norman Vincent Peale's church, Madison Square Garden, Soho, Greenwich Village, Battery Park, Chinatown, Little Italy, United Nations, Guggenheim Museum, Museum of Natural History, Central Park (it is really big), Harlem (we learned Harlem is a Dutch word. They settled it first in the 1600s and named the settlement New Haarlem, after a town in the Netherlands), the famous Apollo Theater in Harlem, Columbia University (this is where Lou Gehrig went to school), John Lennon's apartment and assassination site, Empire State Building, and then we went by Wall St, again, Ground Zero and One World Center, Statue of Liberty plus many other interesting sites. It cost $55.00 plus I gave a $5.00 tip to the two guides - it was worth every penny.
We got back to the hotel by 4:30 . We walked to the subway, about 4 blocks away and went to Citi Park, home of the Mets. The highlight was in the subway when we happened to sit by an Italian guy. He was in his 50s, a salesman by profession, a devout NY Giants fan, a big time gambler and a big big big loudmouth. But he was a funny guy. The Giants had lost to the Dallas Cowboys the day before and he let us know he didn't like Tony Romo, the Cowboys quarterback. He kept calling him Tony HOMO. He said he was a bigtime gambler and had played $5,000 a hand at the blackjack tables. He would go to casinos with $60,000 to gamble with. He said he had been married three times and said his wives didn't like his issues with other chicks. But he did admit they were all good housekeepers - all three wives got to keep the houses. We had some good laughs listening to this guy.
Citi Field is great. It deserves in an A to A+ in all of my rankings - from restrooms to wide steps to railings to friendly workers to wide concourses to a B for the price of beer (I'm still going by Anamosa prices). Wesley took the train and subway from McGuire Air Force Base to join us again. I think Wesley really enjoyed his three visits with Grandpa Pete (age 72), Great Uncle John (age 70), and Uncle Brad (age 52) - even if he is only 22 years old. He was a delight to have with us.
One friendly employee was Anne, who was working by the bullpens in centerfield. We were walking around the concourse and wanted to get close to the bullpens and watch the pitchers warm up. At first, she said we couldn't walk down and look over the railing. But then we told her about our baseball trip - she loved the story and that's when she relented,. She opened the gate and said "go ahead." So we watched the Mets pitchers warm up. That was very nice. I say Thank You Anne.
The Mets played the Washington Nationals, often times called the Nats. The Nats won by a score of 9-1 on a one-hitter by a pitcher named Geo.
LOCATION: Manhattan and Citi Park, home of the Mets.
We got up at 5:15 AM in order to get to the NBC TODAY SHOW by 6:30 . We walked to NBC studios, it was about a mile. I was really excited as I watch it every morning. It was on my Bucket List to go to the TODAY SHOW once in my lifetime. When we got there Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie were already in there chairs. Natalie Morales and Al Roker showed up about 6:45. It was so interesting to see what happens when they are not on camera or they are on commercial break. For instance, the make-up people come up to the four of them and dust their faces again with make-up and Natalie and Savannah get more lipstick put on plus their hair is combed again. And Al got up and walked the fence line talking to the visitors, unfortunately I was not in the right position. Another thing that was interesting was Natalie and Savannah had blankets over their legs which were hidden by the desk - it was chilly that morning, They do not read their lines from a written script in front of them - instead they read their lines from the autoscript cameras they are staring into. We got to see Dr. Oz being interviewed plus comedian Steve Harvey. There was a man and a woman who were the producers and giving the orders. They gave the countdown starting with 60 seconds, to 30 seconds, to 15 to 10 to 5 and to zero = You're on. Brad and I tried hard to get on camera. Brad was more successful than I was. Brad's friend, Rusty in Kansas City, said he saw Brad several times and me a couple of times. Ruth Ann did not see Brad or me. It was so interesting. Seeing the TODAY SHOW was was one of the highlights of my 17 days.
Later in the morning we began our tour of Manhattan Tour on one of the double-decker buses you see on TV. We toured lower Manhattan in the morning and upper Manhattan in the afternoon. Some of the highlights we saw were:
- penthouses, condos, and apartments that were rented or owned by the rich and famous such as: Jackie Kennedy, Seinfeld, Frank Sinatra, Dale Carnegie, the Vanderbilts, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Paris Hilton. The guide said Paris moved to LA because it was easier to spell. The guide said rents ran from $5,000 a month to as high as $40,000 a month.
- Other sites were: Norman Vincent Peale's church, Madison Square Garden, Soho, Greenwich Village, Battery Park, Chinatown, Little Italy, United Nations, Guggenheim Museum, Museum of Natural History, Central Park (it is really big), Harlem (we learned Harlem is a Dutch word. They settled it first in the 1600s and named the settlement New Haarlem, after a town in the Netherlands), the famous Apollo Theater in Harlem, Columbia University (this is where Lou Gehrig went to school), John Lennon's apartment and assassination site, Empire State Building, and then we went by Wall St, again, Ground Zero and One World Center, Statue of Liberty plus many other interesting sites. It cost $55.00 plus I gave a $5.00 tip to the two guides - it was worth every penny.
We got back to the hotel by 4:30 . We walked to the subway, about 4 blocks away and went to Citi Park, home of the Mets. The highlight was in the subway when we happened to sit by an Italian guy. He was in his 50s, a salesman by profession, a devout NY Giants fan, a big time gambler and a big big big loudmouth. But he was a funny guy. The Giants had lost to the Dallas Cowboys the day before and he let us know he didn't like Tony Romo, the Cowboys quarterback. He kept calling him Tony HOMO. He said he was a bigtime gambler and had played $5,000 a hand at the blackjack tables. He would go to casinos with $60,000 to gamble with. He said he had been married three times and said his wives didn't like his issues with other chicks. But he did admit they were all good housekeepers - all three wives got to keep the houses. We had some good laughs listening to this guy.
Citi Field is great. It deserves in an A to A+ in all of my rankings - from restrooms to wide steps to railings to friendly workers to wide concourses to a B for the price of beer (I'm still going by Anamosa prices). Wesley took the train and subway from McGuire Air Force Base to join us again. I think Wesley really enjoyed his three visits with Grandpa Pete (age 72), Great Uncle John (age 70), and Uncle Brad (age 52) - even if he is only 22 years old. He was a delight to have with us.
One friendly employee was Anne, who was working by the bullpens in centerfield. We were walking around the concourse and wanted to get close to the bullpens and watch the pitchers warm up. At first, she said we couldn't walk down and look over the railing. But then we told her about our baseball trip - she loved the story and that's when she relented,. She opened the gate and said "go ahead." So we watched the Mets pitchers warm up. That was very nice. I say Thank You Anne.
The Mets played the Washington Nationals, often times called the Nats. The Nats won by a score of 9-1 on a one-hitter by a pitcher named Geo.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Day 8: Major League Baseball Trip.
DATE: Sunday, September 8, 2013. Day 8.
LOCATION: Manhattan to Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park, home of the Phillies.
Citizens Bank Park was our sixth stadium on our 17 day tour. We left Manhattan at 9:30 to drive to Philadelphia to see the Phillies play the Braves (Phillies won 3-2). We stopped at a gas station/convenience store in New Jersey to pick up grandson Wesley. He had driven there from his Air Force base, only 10 miles away. We had a good parking spot as the porta-potty was only 10 steps from the front bumper of our car. Our next door neighbors were from the area. They were four guys, around 60, who had been life long friends. In fact, three of them earned their Eagle Scout awards together. We visited with them for an hour and as game time approached the one guy says, "It's now time for some power drinking." So the four of them guzzled their Heinekens and Coronas and headed for the staduim. The were fun to talk to. They said they usually went to one Eagles game a year. The Eagles stadium (named Lincoln Financial Field) was right next to the Phillies Stadium. In fact the same parking lots are used for each stadium.
At the game I met Jim and Meg - all three of us were standing in the concourse - we started talking and our conversation lasted for over an hour. Jim and Meg were from the area and were big fans of the Phillies. He was a retired UPS driver while Meg was still working for FedEx. They had traveled a lot and recommended two tours they thought Ruth Ann and I would like. One was the NAPA Valley Wine Tour in California - the other was the Jack Daniels Whiskey Tour in Tennessee. They were also a fun couple. Talking and meeting new people is one of my favorite activities.
After the game all of us were hungry. I told Wesley that I wanted to have a PHILLY CHEESE STEAK SANDWICH as I had never had one before. He said he knew just where to go because this place had the best tasting sandwiches in Philadelphia. He directed Brad to TONY LUKE'S. There was a big crowd so we had to wait but it was worth it. A Phillie Cheese Steak Sandwich consists of a big hoagie style bun with lots and lots of thin sliced beef and cheese. They are huge and they are delicious. Mine was so big I could only eat half. I finished the other half at bedtime.
On thing we all noticed about New Jersey is that you cannot pump your own gas. You will be fined if you do. There are attendants on duty at every station and they must fill your tank. The only reason we could think of why New Jersey does this is that it provides jobs and maybe there is a safety factor involved.
LOCATION: Manhattan to Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park, home of the Phillies.
Citizens Bank Park was our sixth stadium on our 17 day tour. We left Manhattan at 9:30 to drive to Philadelphia to see the Phillies play the Braves (Phillies won 3-2). We stopped at a gas station/convenience store in New Jersey to pick up grandson Wesley. He had driven there from his Air Force base, only 10 miles away. We had a good parking spot as the porta-potty was only 10 steps from the front bumper of our car. Our next door neighbors were from the area. They were four guys, around 60, who had been life long friends. In fact, three of them earned their Eagle Scout awards together. We visited with them for an hour and as game time approached the one guy says, "It's now time for some power drinking." So the four of them guzzled their Heinekens and Coronas and headed for the staduim. The were fun to talk to. They said they usually went to one Eagles game a year. The Eagles stadium (named Lincoln Financial Field) was right next to the Phillies Stadium. In fact the same parking lots are used for each stadium.
At the game I met Jim and Meg - all three of us were standing in the concourse - we started talking and our conversation lasted for over an hour. Jim and Meg were from the area and were big fans of the Phillies. He was a retired UPS driver while Meg was still working for FedEx. They had traveled a lot and recommended two tours they thought Ruth Ann and I would like. One was the NAPA Valley Wine Tour in California - the other was the Jack Daniels Whiskey Tour in Tennessee. They were also a fun couple. Talking and meeting new people is one of my favorite activities.
After the game all of us were hungry. I told Wesley that I wanted to have a PHILLY CHEESE STEAK SANDWICH as I had never had one before. He said he knew just where to go because this place had the best tasting sandwiches in Philadelphia. He directed Brad to TONY LUKE'S. There was a big crowd so we had to wait but it was worth it. A Phillie Cheese Steak Sandwich consists of a big hoagie style bun with lots and lots of thin sliced beef and cheese. They are huge and they are delicious. Mine was so big I could only eat half. I finished the other half at bedtime.
On thing we all noticed about New Jersey is that you cannot pump your own gas. You will be fined if you do. There are attendants on duty at every station and they must fill your tank. The only reason we could think of why New Jersey does this is that it provides jobs and maybe there is a safety factor involved.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Part II of Day 7: Major League Bseball Trip
DATE: Saturday, September 7, 2013. Part II of Day 7.
LOCATION: Jack Doyle's Irish Pub on 235th Street in Manhattan.
After our afternoon visit to Ground Zero and Wall Street we took the subway back to our hotel and went across the street to our favorite hang-out - Jack Doyle's Irish Pub. That evening we watched the Oklahoma - West Virginia football game. The pub was having a party for the West Virginia fans in the area so it was packed with their fans. We met a couple of interesting people - here are their stories.
Brad and I had on Hawkeye caps. One guy came up to us named Jim and said he was from New Jersey and a student at Rutgers University. Jim was a former construction worker but had gone back to school to become an attorney and spend his life defending the unions in America. He had recognized our Hawkeye caps and that is why he wanted to talk to us. He knew a lot about Hawkeye football because one of his high school classmates had played defensive tackle for the Hawks from 2009 to 2011. The players name is Mike Daniels. Mike was not only was in the same school but he was a neighbor also. He said Mike was a nice and friendly guy and always talked to him. Mike is now playing for the Green Bay Packers. Jim said he knew all about the Iowa-Iowa State rivalry and the Hawkeye rivalry with Minnesota. Jim was a fun guy to talk to. Brad wore a Hawkeye cap and shirt on most of the trip which led to several conversations with complete strangers. One guy on Times Square walked by Brad and, "GO HAWKS." All I can say is 'It's great to be a Hawkeye."
There were lots of West Virginia people in the Pub. One lady standing by John was listening to him talk. That's when she asked John, " Are you from Ireland." John said, "No, I'm from Minnesota. Do you know where Minnesota is." She said, "No, I don't." Then John asked if she knew about the Great Lakes. Minnesota is west of the Great Lakes She said, "I've heard about the Great Lakes. I think I've heard of Lake Michigan." Then she said "You're really a long ways from home." John said she finally left when she realized how stupid she was sounding. Later, when John was telling us about this conversation we decided she was a geography major from the University of West Virginia. Sometimes, I just shake my head at the level of ignorance about people from the eastern states.
Then there is John, the psychological warfare expert. He first started talking to Brad and Brad managed to escape and he comes to me. He said he was in the military and taught psychological warfare tactics to soldiers just out of boot camp. He said psychological warfare was learning how to mess with the minds of the enemy - such as playing loud music, using threats, sleep deprivation, etc. By teaching this to the troops he was making America and the world a better place to live.
He claimed to have been in Iraq twice and Afghanistan once. He should have been dead many times due to IEDs, mortars, and rockets but was lucky to get only minor shrapnel wounds. I talked to him for an hour - I should say I mainly listened. Anyway, he told me, "You are really a man of great wisdom." I think he said that because I let him talk and didn't disagree with him.
Then we went outside and talked so he could have a cigarette. He was trying to quit because he said cigarettes were $13.00 a pack in NYC so he had bought one of these electronic cigarettes which he had figured out to cost him only .13 cents each time he smoked it instead of .76 cents for a real cigarette. But he said "I carry real cigarettes just in case." The funny thing is he had two packs of real cigarettes in his pocket and he smoked 2-3 real cigarettes outside.
Then he told me he had a girlfriend and they had a 4-year-boy. His famous words to me were, "We really get along great except we fight a lot." He said they got in a fight last week and she left and went back to West Virginia. He said, "I haven't decided if I want her back." So, being the man of wisdom that I am I said, "Do you think she wants to come back to you?" He told me, "I didn't think you'd say something like that."
I said "John, there are two sides to everything and she definitely has her side ." He said, "That is so true and that is why you are such a MAN OF WISDOM."
Then he said he had to go inside to meet some friends. So he walks by my brother John and says to him, "Your brother has a lot of wisdom. I've been trying to draw as much wisdom out of him as I can."
So the next time any of you readers see me or email me please address me as follows, "The Wise One" or "The Man of Great Wisdom."
LOCATION: Jack Doyle's Irish Pub on 235th Street in Manhattan.
After our afternoon visit to Ground Zero and Wall Street we took the subway back to our hotel and went across the street to our favorite hang-out - Jack Doyle's Irish Pub. That evening we watched the Oklahoma - West Virginia football game. The pub was having a party for the West Virginia fans in the area so it was packed with their fans. We met a couple of interesting people - here are their stories.
Brad and I had on Hawkeye caps. One guy came up to us named Jim and said he was from New Jersey and a student at Rutgers University. Jim was a former construction worker but had gone back to school to become an attorney and spend his life defending the unions in America. He had recognized our Hawkeye caps and that is why he wanted to talk to us. He knew a lot about Hawkeye football because one of his high school classmates had played defensive tackle for the Hawks from 2009 to 2011. The players name is Mike Daniels. Mike was not only was in the same school but he was a neighbor also. He said Mike was a nice and friendly guy and always talked to him. Mike is now playing for the Green Bay Packers. Jim said he knew all about the Iowa-Iowa State rivalry and the Hawkeye rivalry with Minnesota. Jim was a fun guy to talk to. Brad wore a Hawkeye cap and shirt on most of the trip which led to several conversations with complete strangers. One guy on Times Square walked by Brad and, "GO HAWKS." All I can say is 'It's great to be a Hawkeye."
There were lots of West Virginia people in the Pub. One lady standing by John was listening to him talk. That's when she asked John, " Are you from Ireland." John said, "No, I'm from Minnesota. Do you know where Minnesota is." She said, "No, I don't." Then John asked if she knew about the Great Lakes. Minnesota is west of the Great Lakes She said, "I've heard about the Great Lakes. I think I've heard of Lake Michigan." Then she said "You're really a long ways from home." John said she finally left when she realized how stupid she was sounding. Later, when John was telling us about this conversation we decided she was a geography major from the University of West Virginia. Sometimes, I just shake my head at the level of ignorance about people from the eastern states.
Then there is John, the psychological warfare expert. He first started talking to Brad and Brad managed to escape and he comes to me. He said he was in the military and taught psychological warfare tactics to soldiers just out of boot camp. He said psychological warfare was learning how to mess with the minds of the enemy - such as playing loud music, using threats, sleep deprivation, etc. By teaching this to the troops he was making America and the world a better place to live.
He claimed to have been in Iraq twice and Afghanistan once. He should have been dead many times due to IEDs, mortars, and rockets but was lucky to get only minor shrapnel wounds. I talked to him for an hour - I should say I mainly listened. Anyway, he told me, "You are really a man of great wisdom." I think he said that because I let him talk and didn't disagree with him.
Then we went outside and talked so he could have a cigarette. He was trying to quit because he said cigarettes were $13.00 a pack in NYC so he had bought one of these electronic cigarettes which he had figured out to cost him only .13 cents each time he smoked it instead of .76 cents for a real cigarette. But he said "I carry real cigarettes just in case." The funny thing is he had two packs of real cigarettes in his pocket and he smoked 2-3 real cigarettes outside.
Then he told me he had a girlfriend and they had a 4-year-boy. His famous words to me were, "We really get along great except we fight a lot." He said they got in a fight last week and she left and went back to West Virginia. He said, "I haven't decided if I want her back." So, being the man of wisdom that I am I said, "Do you think she wants to come back to you?" He told me, "I didn't think you'd say something like that."
I said "John, there are two sides to everything and she definitely has her side ." He said, "That is so true and that is why you are such a MAN OF WISDOM."
Then he said he had to go inside to meet some friends. So he walks by my brother John and says to him, "Your brother has a lot of wisdom. I've been trying to draw as much wisdom out of him as I can."
So the next time any of you readers see me or email me please address me as follows, "The Wise One" or "The Man of Great Wisdom."
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Part I of Day 7: Major League Baseball Trip.
DATE: Saturday, September 7, 2013. Day 7.
LOCATION: All day in Manhattan. I'm only doing Part I of Day 7 in this post.
Today was a fun day of sightseeing - no ball games today. We had breakfast at the hotel and went across the street in late morning to Jack Doyle's Irish Pub to watch the Hawkeyes play SW Missouri State. Our bartender was a young lady named Nicoby. We told her we were from Iowa and Minnesota and wanted to watch the Hawks play football. She said "I think I can find it for you" - and she did. And then to our surprise she says, "I'm from Nebraska and spent a year at the U of Iowa and then finished my studies at the U of Nebraska. My degree is in marketing. I had a job in marketing out here but didn't like it so I'm doing what I like which is working in a bar." It was a nice surprise to hear her say she was from the Midwest. The Hawks won the game 28-14. She said housing was very expensive in Manhattan - that's why she had three roommates. I think she said the rent was around $2800.00 a month so they each had to come up with $700.00 plus splitting the utilities. Grandson Wesley was with us and I had the feeling that she kind of had an eye on Wesley. She chatted with Wes about his Air Force career. I told Wes, "I think she's hitting on you." He kind of chuckled but didn't disagree. Brother John had gotten his PHD from Nebraska in the early 1970s. He asked Nicoby if she knew anything about Chesterfields Bar in Lincoln. John and his buddies used to go there all the time. She didn't but she her Dad might - so she texted him in Lincoln and asked him. Her Dad responded and said that it was a favorite bar for him also in the 1970s. John really had good memories about his time spent at Chesterfields.
After the Hawk game we took the subway to Ground Zero to see the new tower and the two memorials pools already built. The two pools have the names of all the people who lost their lives at the North Tower, the South Tower, the Pentagon, and the passengers in the four planes, including the one in Pennsylvania. The names are all engraved on top of the marble walls surrounding the two pools. The two pools are located almost exactly where the north and south towers were located. I was very anxious to examine the names of those killed at the Pentagon as a former seventh grade student of mine was killed there. I found the name of Craig Amundson, the student I had in the late 1980s. Craig's dad was a pharmacist in Anamosa before moving to Missouri in the late 1990s. I remember Craig as a good student, pretty quiet but a kid who always did his work and never complained. He was in the U.S. Army and was doing graphic design work at the Pentagon. What a shame for an innocent 30-year-old man, married with two little kids to be killed in the prime of his life by a bunch of terrorists. And the same can be said for the other 3,000 people kllled that day. A month after 9/11 a memorial service was held in Anamosa for Craig at the courthouse. His parents came from Missouri. The new tower being built is nearing completion - it is huge.
After ground zero we walked to Wall Street. Highlights were seeing the bull and his big balls - John and I had our picture taken at the back of the bull with each of us holding onto one of his balls. A few of the other famous things we saw were the N.Y. Stock Exchange, the Donald Trump building, the federal building where George Washington took the presidential oath of office in 1789....plus many others.
At the memorial pools we talked to a volunteer who was there to answer questions and give directions, etc. He was an interesting guy to talk to. He was a principal of a private school located on the upper west side of Manhattan - this is where many of the rich and famous live. He said his school had 650 students and tuition was $40,000 a year. (that's $26,000,000 a year the school takes in). His rent was $6,000 a month to live in that area. He said 100% of his students go on to college with 40% going to Ivy League schools. I asked him if he would tell us the names of some of the kids at the school who were from the rich and famous. He said "No, I won't. but there are a lot."
Can you imagine what his salary is for one year? His rent alone is $6,000 a month which amounts to $72.000 a year. Do you think he's a little better compensated than Iowa/Minnesota principals? Talking to this guy is one of the reasons this trip was so interesting - all 3 of us have curious minds, like to talk to people, like to ask questions, and learn new things.
This Part I of Day 7. I'll do Part II of Day 7 in my next post.
LOCATION: All day in Manhattan. I'm only doing Part I of Day 7 in this post.
Today was a fun day of sightseeing - no ball games today. We had breakfast at the hotel and went across the street in late morning to Jack Doyle's Irish Pub to watch the Hawkeyes play SW Missouri State. Our bartender was a young lady named Nicoby. We told her we were from Iowa and Minnesota and wanted to watch the Hawks play football. She said "I think I can find it for you" - and she did. And then to our surprise she says, "I'm from Nebraska and spent a year at the U of Iowa and then finished my studies at the U of Nebraska. My degree is in marketing. I had a job in marketing out here but didn't like it so I'm doing what I like which is working in a bar." It was a nice surprise to hear her say she was from the Midwest. The Hawks won the game 28-14. She said housing was very expensive in Manhattan - that's why she had three roommates. I think she said the rent was around $2800.00 a month so they each had to come up with $700.00 plus splitting the utilities. Grandson Wesley was with us and I had the feeling that she kind of had an eye on Wesley. She chatted with Wes about his Air Force career. I told Wes, "I think she's hitting on you." He kind of chuckled but didn't disagree. Brother John had gotten his PHD from Nebraska in the early 1970s. He asked Nicoby if she knew anything about Chesterfields Bar in Lincoln. John and his buddies used to go there all the time. She didn't but she her Dad might - so she texted him in Lincoln and asked him. Her Dad responded and said that it was a favorite bar for him also in the 1970s. John really had good memories about his time spent at Chesterfields.
After the Hawk game we took the subway to Ground Zero to see the new tower and the two memorials pools already built. The two pools have the names of all the people who lost their lives at the North Tower, the South Tower, the Pentagon, and the passengers in the four planes, including the one in Pennsylvania. The names are all engraved on top of the marble walls surrounding the two pools. The two pools are located almost exactly where the north and south towers were located. I was very anxious to examine the names of those killed at the Pentagon as a former seventh grade student of mine was killed there. I found the name of Craig Amundson, the student I had in the late 1980s. Craig's dad was a pharmacist in Anamosa before moving to Missouri in the late 1990s. I remember Craig as a good student, pretty quiet but a kid who always did his work and never complained. He was in the U.S. Army and was doing graphic design work at the Pentagon. What a shame for an innocent 30-year-old man, married with two little kids to be killed in the prime of his life by a bunch of terrorists. And the same can be said for the other 3,000 people kllled that day. A month after 9/11 a memorial service was held in Anamosa for Craig at the courthouse. His parents came from Missouri. The new tower being built is nearing completion - it is huge.
After ground zero we walked to Wall Street. Highlights were seeing the bull and his big balls - John and I had our picture taken at the back of the bull with each of us holding onto one of his balls. A few of the other famous things we saw were the N.Y. Stock Exchange, the Donald Trump building, the federal building where George Washington took the presidential oath of office in 1789....plus many others.
At the memorial pools we talked to a volunteer who was there to answer questions and give directions, etc. He was an interesting guy to talk to. He was a principal of a private school located on the upper west side of Manhattan - this is where many of the rich and famous live. He said his school had 650 students and tuition was $40,000 a year. (that's $26,000,000 a year the school takes in). His rent was $6,000 a month to live in that area. He said 100% of his students go on to college with 40% going to Ivy League schools. I asked him if he would tell us the names of some of the kids at the school who were from the rich and famous. He said "No, I won't. but there are a lot."
Can you imagine what his salary is for one year? His rent alone is $6,000 a month which amounts to $72.000 a year. Do you think he's a little better compensated than Iowa/Minnesota principals? Talking to this guy is one of the reasons this trip was so interesting - all 3 of us have curious minds, like to talk to people, like to ask questions, and learn new things.
This Part I of Day 7. I'll do Part II of Day 7 in my next post.
Friday, October 4, 2013
Day 6: Major League Baseball Trip.
DATE: Friday, September 6, 2013. Day 6.
LOCATION: 235 5th Street, Manhattan, Times Square and Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.
I got up at 9 AM and took a walk by myself. Macy's Department Store was about two blocks away so I went in and did some looking. You notice I said looking because the prices were a little more than I wanted to pay. I was drawn to the neckties - they looked great - I was thinking I might buy one and be able to say to my friends at church when having our Sunday morning coffee, "Hey, look at the nice necktie I bought at Macy's in Manhattan." Well, I changed my mind when I looked at the price - the cheapies were $50.00 a tie and the more expensive ones were on sale for $65.00 (regular price = $85.00). So, no tie from Macy's for Pete.
While walking I decided to see if I could get at least one person to say "Good Morning". The first person I said "Good Morning" to looked at me like I was nuts. He never responded and just kept walking. Then I tried a lady and I got the same response from her. I tried another woman and she just stared straight ahead and kept walking. I concluded my little experiment was not really working so I gave up. I was zero for three and the odds were not in my favor so I hung it up and said "To hell with you Manhattan people" Manhattan folks are definitely not as friendly as Iowa or Minnesota people.
John, Brad, Karen and I went to Jack Doyle's for breakfast. Then we all strolled 4-5 blocks to Times Square. Karen had to leave by 1:30 and catch a taxi to the airport as she was flying back to Boston. We ate at another Irish Pub. One thing you notice about Manhattan that is very different from Anamosa or Cedar Rapids is the great diversity of people and the hundreds of different language you hear. And it seems like everybody is in a hurry - they walk as fast as they can and it seems like they are all late to wherever they are going.
Some of the things we saw that afternoon were: ABC News headquarters; where the ball is dropped on New Year's Eve; the live theater section on Broadway (some shows now being performed were Annie, Kinky Boots, Pippin, Lion King, Chicago and many others); Empire State Building; and the Naked Cowboy. The Naked Cowboy is a guy in tight underwear type shorts playing his guitar and singing - of course he stops when someone wants a photo - for a price, of course. Really, the shorts is all he has on except for a hat and boots.
\In midafternoon we walked back to the hotel. At around 5 PM we got on the subway to go to Yankee Stadium. Brad figured out how to access tickets on the automated ticket machines. (Thank God he figured it out as I don't think John or I could've done it). The cost was only $2.50 each - a bargain and a lot cheaper than a taxi. We got to Yankee in the Bronx about 5:30. The stadium is unbelievable. We saw the Yankees play the Boston Red Sox. The Yanks were leading 8-3 when the Sox tied it up in the 6th inning. The Sox went on to win 13-5. We did get to see Mariano Reviera pitch and Alex Rodriquez play. I got ID'd when trying to buy a beer. I kind of laughed at her and she said "I have to do this - even though you do like you're 39." When done with my ID she said "I was wrong, you're only 23.
Grandson Wesley joined us in the 4th inning. He is in the Air Force stationed at Fort Dix Army /Macquire Air Force Base in New Jersey. He loves baseball and wanted to join us for some games. He stayed overnight with us on an air mattress we had brought along. After the game we took the subway back to 35th street - ate at a another Irish Pub and didn't get to bed until 2:30 AM. I'm not used to 2:30 bedtimes anymore - at my age of 72 a 9:30 bedtime time feels good to me. It was a fun day.
My rankings for Yankee Stadium:
1. restrooms A
2. wide/deep steps A+
3. railings A+
4.friendly help A
5, wide concourses A+ (you can walk the concourse all around the stadium)
6. price of beer B (I base my lower grades for beer compared to Iowa prices)
LOCATION: 235 5th Street, Manhattan, Times Square and Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.
I got up at 9 AM and took a walk by myself. Macy's Department Store was about two blocks away so I went in and did some looking. You notice I said looking because the prices were a little more than I wanted to pay. I was drawn to the neckties - they looked great - I was thinking I might buy one and be able to say to my friends at church when having our Sunday morning coffee, "Hey, look at the nice necktie I bought at Macy's in Manhattan." Well, I changed my mind when I looked at the price - the cheapies were $50.00 a tie and the more expensive ones were on sale for $65.00 (regular price = $85.00). So, no tie from Macy's for Pete.
While walking I decided to see if I could get at least one person to say "Good Morning". The first person I said "Good Morning" to looked at me like I was nuts. He never responded and just kept walking. Then I tried a lady and I got the same response from her. I tried another woman and she just stared straight ahead and kept walking. I concluded my little experiment was not really working so I gave up. I was zero for three and the odds were not in my favor so I hung it up and said "To hell with you Manhattan people" Manhattan folks are definitely not as friendly as Iowa or Minnesota people.
John, Brad, Karen and I went to Jack Doyle's for breakfast. Then we all strolled 4-5 blocks to Times Square. Karen had to leave by 1:30 and catch a taxi to the airport as she was flying back to Boston. We ate at another Irish Pub. One thing you notice about Manhattan that is very different from Anamosa or Cedar Rapids is the great diversity of people and the hundreds of different language you hear. And it seems like everybody is in a hurry - they walk as fast as they can and it seems like they are all late to wherever they are going.
Some of the things we saw that afternoon were: ABC News headquarters; where the ball is dropped on New Year's Eve; the live theater section on Broadway (some shows now being performed were Annie, Kinky Boots, Pippin, Lion King, Chicago and many others); Empire State Building; and the Naked Cowboy. The Naked Cowboy is a guy in tight underwear type shorts playing his guitar and singing - of course he stops when someone wants a photo - for a price, of course. Really, the shorts is all he has on except for a hat and boots.
\In midafternoon we walked back to the hotel. At around 5 PM we got on the subway to go to Yankee Stadium. Brad figured out how to access tickets on the automated ticket machines. (Thank God he figured it out as I don't think John or I could've done it). The cost was only $2.50 each - a bargain and a lot cheaper than a taxi. We got to Yankee in the Bronx about 5:30. The stadium is unbelievable. We saw the Yankees play the Boston Red Sox. The Yanks were leading 8-3 when the Sox tied it up in the 6th inning. The Sox went on to win 13-5. We did get to see Mariano Reviera pitch and Alex Rodriquez play. I got ID'd when trying to buy a beer. I kind of laughed at her and she said "I have to do this - even though you do like you're 39." When done with my ID she said "I was wrong, you're only 23.
Grandson Wesley joined us in the 4th inning. He is in the Air Force stationed at Fort Dix Army /Macquire Air Force Base in New Jersey. He loves baseball and wanted to join us for some games. He stayed overnight with us on an air mattress we had brought along. After the game we took the subway back to 35th street - ate at a another Irish Pub and didn't get to bed until 2:30 AM. I'm not used to 2:30 bedtimes anymore - at my age of 72 a 9:30 bedtime time feels good to me. It was a fun day.
My rankings for Yankee Stadium:
1. restrooms A
2. wide/deep steps A+
3. railings A+
4.friendly help A
5, wide concourses A+ (you can walk the concourse all around the stadium)
6. price of beer B (I base my lower grades for beer compared to Iowa prices)
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Day 5: Major League Baseball Trip
DATE: Thursday, September 6, 2013. Day 5.
LOCATION: From Cleveland to 235 35th Street, Manhattan, New York City
Today was a travel day - no baseball game. We left Cleveland at 8 AM and drove all day on I-80 across Pennsylvania to NY City. At 12:30 we stopped in a little town named Snow Fall, PA to get gas, food and beer. We wanted to stock up on beer as we felt it would be a lot more expensive in NYC. Pennsylvania has some weird and different laws in regard to selling alcoholic beverages. You can only get beer in one building and you have to go to another building to get wine or hard liquor. We finally found the beer store - it was an old garage. The garage was full of cases and 12 packs of beer - cold or warm. The price for a 30 pack of Busch Light was $21.00 - the same as what I pay at Wal-Mart in Anamosa.
Anyway, we had a good laugh when we left with our purchases. Greeting us when we walked in the beer garage was a 35-40 year-old-man sitting in his recliner with a sleeveless sweat shirt, his arms up and around the back of his head, armpits on display with 6 inch long hair, his big gut hanging low and legs spread. He looked to be a smelly mass of cells. He didn't look too ambitious as he never moved nor did he offer to help us find what we wanted. He just sat there. The lady at the cash register looked a little more with it. She was nice and could talk - she apologized for the credit card machine not working so we had to pay cash. We asked where the wine/liquor store was - she directed us down the street - Brad wanted to buy some wine. When we got there it was closed. I guess they aren't very serious about making money from wine or liquor.
After getting gas and food we took off and started talking about the beer guy sitting in his garage.. Brad suggested we nickname him Billy Bob. We kind of felt that he probably moved off his recliner a couple times a year - most likely for deer hunting and pheasant hunting. We brought up Billy Bob's name many times on the rest of our trip. As the days rolled by we kept wondering if Billy Bob had moved off his recliner. And we wondered how Billy Bob would've handled NYC.
We arrived on the outskirts of NYC in midafternoon. Brad and John were the navigators (along with the GPS). They decided that the best way to get into Manhattan was to take the Lincoln Tunnel instead of the George Washington Bridge. It took us close 45-60 minutes to get through the Tunnel - it was rush hour and traffic was heavy. John had used his time share points to get us a hotel in downtown Manhattan - it was the Wingate Hotel (by Windham) located at 235 35th street. It was about 4-5 blocks from Times Square. We finally found it about 5:30 - unloaded our stuff - got to our room. John asked where he had to park the car so he followed their directions and drove several blocks to a parking ramp. When he returned we were all ready to enjoy our first night in the BIG APPLE.
We were lucky because across the street was an establishment named "JACK DOYLE'S IRISH PUB." Brad had arranged to meet one of his ex-colleagues at Jack's Pub. Her name was Karen and she was from Boston. She was in Manhattan training some French employees of Loreal Cosmetics. They had been sent to NYC from France to work for Loreal - she was training them on how to adjust to American culture and American ways of doing business. We had a wonderful evening with Karen - she is a delightful person, very intelligent, good sense of humor, asks questions instead of talking all the time and actually listens when you answer - she makes you feel good just to be around her.
The price of food and beer at Jack Doyle's was very reasonable - maybe not Anamosa prices but comparable to Cedar Rapids. John and I went back to the hotel at 11:15. We left Brad and Karen there and I guess they closed the place down. John and I stayed outside the hotel and had a smoke. That's when we met Andrew and Liz from Australia. They were taking a 3-month trip around the U.S. Very interesting people - he gave me his email address. I haven't contacted them yet.
John and I hit the sack about 12:30. I was excited about the next 5 days. Our presence at Jack Doyle's Irish Pub would be a daily ritual over the next four days.
DATE: Thursday, September 6, 2013. Day 5.
LOCATION: From Cleveland to 235 35th Street, Manhattan, New York City
Today was a travel day - no baseball game. We left Cleveland at 8 AM and drove all day on I-80 across Pennsylvania to NY City. At 12:30 we stopped in a little town named Snow Fall, PA to get gas, food and beer. We wanted to stock up on beer as we felt it would be a lot more expensive in NYC. Pennsylvania has some weird and different laws in regard to selling alcoholic beverages. You can only get beer in one building and you have to go to another building to get wine or hard liquor. We finally found the beer store - it was an old garage. The garage was full of cases and 12 packs of beer - cold or warm. The price for a 30 pack of Busch Light was $21.00 - the same as what I pay at Wal-Mart in Anamosa.
Anyway, we had a good laugh when we left with our purchases. Greeting us when we walked in the beer garage was a 35-40 year-old-man sitting in his recliner with a sleeveless sweat shirt, his arms up and around the back of his head, armpits on display with 6 inch long hair, his big gut hanging low and legs spread. He looked to be a smelly mass of cells. He didn't look too ambitious as he never moved nor did he offer to help us find what we wanted. He just sat there. The lady at the cash register looked a little more with it. She was nice and could talk - she apologized for the credit card machine not working so we had to pay cash. We asked where the wine/liquor store was - she directed us down the street - Brad wanted to buy some wine. When we got there it was closed. I guess they aren't very serious about making money from wine or liquor.
After getting gas and food we took off and started talking about the beer guy sitting in his garage.. Brad suggested we nickname him Billy Bob. We kind of felt that he probably moved off his recliner a couple times a year - most likely for deer hunting and pheasant hunting. We brought up Billy Bob's name many times on the rest of our trip. As the days rolled by we kept wondering if Billy Bob had moved off his recliner. And we wondered how Billy Bob would've handled NYC.
We arrived on the outskirts of NYC in midafternoon. Brad and John were the navigators (along with the GPS). They decided that the best way to get into Manhattan was to take the Lincoln Tunnel instead of the George Washington Bridge. It took us close 45-60 minutes to get through the Tunnel - it was rush hour and traffic was heavy. John had used his time share points to get us a hotel in downtown Manhattan - it was the Wingate Hotel (by Windham) located at 235 35th street. It was about 4-5 blocks from Times Square. We finally found it about 5:30 - unloaded our stuff - got to our room. John asked where he had to park the car so he followed their directions and drove several blocks to a parking ramp. When he returned we were all ready to enjoy our first night in the BIG APPLE.
We were lucky because across the street was an establishment named "JACK DOYLE'S IRISH PUB." Brad had arranged to meet one of his ex-colleagues at Jack's Pub. Her name was Karen and she was from Boston. She was in Manhattan training some French employees of Loreal Cosmetics. They had been sent to NYC from France to work for Loreal - she was training them on how to adjust to American culture and American ways of doing business. We had a wonderful evening with Karen - she is a delightful person, very intelligent, good sense of humor, asks questions instead of talking all the time and actually listens when you answer - she makes you feel good just to be around her.
The price of food and beer at Jack Doyle's was very reasonable - maybe not Anamosa prices but comparable to Cedar Rapids. John and I went back to the hotel at 11:15. We left Brad and Karen there and I guess they closed the place down. John and I stayed outside the hotel and had a smoke. That's when we met Andrew and Liz from Australia. They were taking a 3-month trip around the U.S. Very interesting people - he gave me his email address. I haven't contacted them yet.
John and I hit the sack about 12:30. I was excited about the next 5 days. Our presence at Jack Doyle's Irish Pub would be a daily ritual over the next four days.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Day 4: Major League Baseball Trip
DATE: Wednesday, September 4, 2013. Day 4.
LOCATION: Cincinnati to the Hilton Garden Inn in Cleveland.
We ate breakfast at the Embassy Suites in Cincy and by 10:30 we were on the road to Cleveland to visit our fourth stadium. We arrived at the Hilton Garden Inn around 3:30 - the Hilton is located right next to Progressive Field, home of the Cleveland Indians. In fact, we could see the stadium from our hotel window. We went to Progressive Field at 6 P:M - walked around the stadium concourse and viewed many of the posters and statues of famous Indians. We spent the most time viewing the Bob Feller stuff. Why? BECAUSE BOB FELLER IS AN IOWA BOY. IN 1936 he signed with the Indians as a 17-year-old right out of his Van Meter, Iowa, High School. He was in his prime when, unfortunately, World War II started and he spent probably the most productive four years of his baseball career in the military from 1942 to 1945. He came back in 1946 and pitched another ten years retiring in the mid 1950s.
At Progressive Field we were treated as if we were VIPs. Brad's Boston friend, Dave Eaton, was born and raised in Cleveland. Dave's dad had had a very successful public relations firm and was well acquainted and very influential with the movers and shakers of Cleveland. His dad was on some kind of board with the Indians and always had club seats with Mr. Jacobs, the owner of the Indians. His dad passed away several years ago but Dave has taken his place on this Indians board. Anyway, when Brad told Dave we were going to be in Cleveland for an Indians game Dave told him, "I'll take care of things." So Dave got us tickets for the club section which meant we got to eat in the club restaurant - the food was free and delicious. However, we had to buy our own booze. All three of us marveled at the brown sugared sweet potatoes plus the chicken, thin sliced beef and vegetable salad. John liked it so much he had two humungous helpings of everything plus ice cream and peanuts. I did have two helpings of the sweet potatoes plus ice cream. And I did have a slice of pizza in the later innings. It is pretty easy to figure out why I gained 10 pounds on this trip. And it is also pretty easy to figure out why brother John is a little heavier than his brother Pete.
Our seats were in the club section where only club members can sit - I felt pretty special - like a VIP is supposed to feel - I guess. We saw the Indians win the game by beating Baltimore.
My Rankings of Progressive Field. I don't think the stadium is over 20 years old. I'm adding "wide concourses" to my ranking system because they make it so much easier to walk to the concession stands, the restrooms and getting into and out of a stadium.
1. restrooms - A
2. wide and deep steps - A+
3. railings - A+
4. friendly help - A
5. wide concourses - A
6. price of beer - B
Miller Park would get an A+ for wide concourses.
Wrigley would get an F for wide concourses.
Great American in Cincy would get an A+ for wide concourses.
LOCATION: Cincinnati to the Hilton Garden Inn in Cleveland.
We ate breakfast at the Embassy Suites in Cincy and by 10:30 we were on the road to Cleveland to visit our fourth stadium. We arrived at the Hilton Garden Inn around 3:30 - the Hilton is located right next to Progressive Field, home of the Cleveland Indians. In fact, we could see the stadium from our hotel window. We went to Progressive Field at 6 P:M - walked around the stadium concourse and viewed many of the posters and statues of famous Indians. We spent the most time viewing the Bob Feller stuff. Why? BECAUSE BOB FELLER IS AN IOWA BOY. IN 1936 he signed with the Indians as a 17-year-old right out of his Van Meter, Iowa, High School. He was in his prime when, unfortunately, World War II started and he spent probably the most productive four years of his baseball career in the military from 1942 to 1945. He came back in 1946 and pitched another ten years retiring in the mid 1950s.
At Progressive Field we were treated as if we were VIPs. Brad's Boston friend, Dave Eaton, was born and raised in Cleveland. Dave's dad had had a very successful public relations firm and was well acquainted and very influential with the movers and shakers of Cleveland. His dad was on some kind of board with the Indians and always had club seats with Mr. Jacobs, the owner of the Indians. His dad passed away several years ago but Dave has taken his place on this Indians board. Anyway, when Brad told Dave we were going to be in Cleveland for an Indians game Dave told him, "I'll take care of things." So Dave got us tickets for the club section which meant we got to eat in the club restaurant - the food was free and delicious. However, we had to buy our own booze. All three of us marveled at the brown sugared sweet potatoes plus the chicken, thin sliced beef and vegetable salad. John liked it so much he had two humungous helpings of everything plus ice cream and peanuts. I did have two helpings of the sweet potatoes plus ice cream. And I did have a slice of pizza in the later innings. It is pretty easy to figure out why I gained 10 pounds on this trip. And it is also pretty easy to figure out why brother John is a little heavier than his brother Pete.
Our seats were in the club section where only club members can sit - I felt pretty special - like a VIP is supposed to feel - I guess. We saw the Indians win the game by beating Baltimore.
My Rankings of Progressive Field. I don't think the stadium is over 20 years old. I'm adding "wide concourses" to my ranking system because they make it so much easier to walk to the concession stands, the restrooms and getting into and out of a stadium.
1. restrooms - A
2. wide and deep steps - A+
3. railings - A+
4. friendly help - A
5. wide concourses - A
6. price of beer - B
Miller Park would get an A+ for wide concourses.
Wrigley would get an F for wide concourses.
Great American in Cincy would get an A+ for wide concourses.
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Day 3: Major League Baseball Trip
DATE: Tuesday, September 3, 2013. Day 3.
LOCATION: Chicago to Covington, Kentucky - right across the Ohio River from Cincinnati Red's GREAT AMERICAN BALL PARK.
I arose at 6:30 AM and took a short walk along Chicago's Lake Shore Drive. We had breakfast at the Majestic Hotel and left for Cincinnati around 8AM. We stopped a little south of Indianapolis and had something to eat at Wendy's. At 3:05 PM we arrived at the Embassy Suites in Covington, Kentucky - it is a huge and beautiful hotel. At 4:30 PM we had snacks and a couple of beers at the Embassy Suites - they always have free food and drinks from 4 - 7 PM.
About 6 PM we crossed over the Ohio River by walking across the rather long Covington-Cincinnati Bridge. We got to the ball park about 6:30 and checked out the many posters and statues of great Red players from the past. The game was a close one with the Red's beating the Cardinals 1-0. I talked to one of the ushers on duty. He was an African-American who worked all the Red games - except for Sundays. I asked him what his hours were - he said they had to be at the stadium 1 1/2 hours before game time and were guaranteed at least five hours, regardless of the length of the game. They got paid by the hour, but he didn't say how much. The stadium price for a 16 ounce draft was $8.25.
The NFL Bengal Paul Brown Stadium is about 200 yards west of the Red's park. I asked the usher if he worked the Bengal games on Sundays. He said, "No way, the Bengal fans tailgate for hours before the game and come into the stadium drunk. And I don't want to deal with those drunk people. They're too drunk for me to handle."
After the game we ate at an outdoor bar/grill called "Jefferson Social." Our server was a young gal named Lauren from Covington. She was a fun gal and had a perfect personality for being a server. She told us it was "Taco Tuesday" so we could get small tacos for $2.00 each and 16 ounce drafts for only $3.50. (That's $5.00 less than in the stadium). So all three of us indulged in 3-4 tacos a piece and 16 ounce drafts.
We had to walk back to the Embassy Suites by crossing the bridge again - it seemed a lot longer going back. John and I were walking together and paid no attention when we were over and we just kept walking. Brad had to holler at us as he was wondering where in the hell we were going. I guess, the attention spans of a 70 and 72 year old aren't what they used to be.
I decided to rank the stadiums from A to F based on the following criteria.
1. plenty of and easy access to restrooms
2.wider and deep steps to make it easier for older folks to walk up and down.
3.railings for older folks to hang on to in order to steady their balance.
4.friendly and helpful employees.
5.price of beer.
Miller Park in Milwaukee got the following grades.
1 = A+ 2. = C 3. = 4. A+ 5. B
Wrigley Field grades.
1. D 2. C 3. C 4. A 5. B
Great American Park in Cincinnati.
1. A 2. A 3. A+ 4. A- 5. B
LOCATION: Chicago to Covington, Kentucky - right across the Ohio River from Cincinnati Red's GREAT AMERICAN BALL PARK.
I arose at 6:30 AM and took a short walk along Chicago's Lake Shore Drive. We had breakfast at the Majestic Hotel and left for Cincinnati around 8AM. We stopped a little south of Indianapolis and had something to eat at Wendy's. At 3:05 PM we arrived at the Embassy Suites in Covington, Kentucky - it is a huge and beautiful hotel. At 4:30 PM we had snacks and a couple of beers at the Embassy Suites - they always have free food and drinks from 4 - 7 PM.
About 6 PM we crossed over the Ohio River by walking across the rather long Covington-Cincinnati Bridge. We got to the ball park about 6:30 and checked out the many posters and statues of great Red players from the past. The game was a close one with the Red's beating the Cardinals 1-0. I talked to one of the ushers on duty. He was an African-American who worked all the Red games - except for Sundays. I asked him what his hours were - he said they had to be at the stadium 1 1/2 hours before game time and were guaranteed at least five hours, regardless of the length of the game. They got paid by the hour, but he didn't say how much. The stadium price for a 16 ounce draft was $8.25.
The NFL Bengal Paul Brown Stadium is about 200 yards west of the Red's park. I asked the usher if he worked the Bengal games on Sundays. He said, "No way, the Bengal fans tailgate for hours before the game and come into the stadium drunk. And I don't want to deal with those drunk people. They're too drunk for me to handle."
After the game we ate at an outdoor bar/grill called "Jefferson Social." Our server was a young gal named Lauren from Covington. She was a fun gal and had a perfect personality for being a server. She told us it was "Taco Tuesday" so we could get small tacos for $2.00 each and 16 ounce drafts for only $3.50. (That's $5.00 less than in the stadium). So all three of us indulged in 3-4 tacos a piece and 16 ounce drafts.
We had to walk back to the Embassy Suites by crossing the bridge again - it seemed a lot longer going back. John and I were walking together and paid no attention when we were over and we just kept walking. Brad had to holler at us as he was wondering where in the hell we were going. I guess, the attention spans of a 70 and 72 year old aren't what they used to be.
I decided to rank the stadiums from A to F based on the following criteria.
1. plenty of and easy access to restrooms
2.wider and deep steps to make it easier for older folks to walk up and down.
3.railings for older folks to hang on to in order to steady their balance.
4.friendly and helpful employees.
5.price of beer.
Miller Park in Milwaukee got the following grades.
1 = A+ 2. = C 3. = 4. A+ 5. B
Wrigley Field grades.
1. D 2. C 3. C 4. A 5. B
Great American Park in Cincinnati.
1. A 2. A 3. A+ 4. A- 5. B
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