Sunday afternoon in Wrigleyville

Sunday, June 14. We had tickets for the Cubs-Twins game on Sunday afternoon. This would be my first visit to the "Friendly Confines" since 1991. Sure, Wrigley may be a bit run-down and a challenge to get to, but it's still a great place to see a game.

Home of the Cubs, bay-beeeeee!

We decided to park in a pay parking lot downtown and ride a CTA train out to the game... probably a wise choice considering the horror stories I've read about trying to park within a 5-mile radius of Wrigley during a ball game. Before the game, we met up with Matt's friend Erik at Harry Caray's sports bar. I'm not sure it was even noon yet (and on a Sunday, no less!) but the beer was flowing freely.

Matt, Erik, Whiskey.

M was ready for some baseball.

We could feel the energy just being part of the crowd on Addison Street. This season may end up being a disappointment like all the rest, but there was optimism and excitement in the air. "The Cubs are going to win TODAY"...

Addison St Cubs crowd

first pitch: full stands and full rooftops. Oh, did I mention it was sunny and in the 70s... a GREAT day for a ballgame? Too bad our seats were in the shade... oh well, we had a good view, anyway.

Ted Lilly turned in a quality start, allowing just 2 runs in 7 2/3 innings.

Cubs win! Ryan Theriot batted in the winning run with a bases-loaded single in the bottom of the 9th. Final score..... Cubs 3, Twins 2.

Wrigley Field bleachers and scoreboard.

After the game, we waited in a long line to board a CTA train back to downtown. Then we shot some photos of Amtrak and Metra trains, and headed to Berwyn to meet a friend for dinner. Our vacation was almost over...

Riding the CTA after the Cubs game.

Coming next: a few more trains, a sick kid, and a visit to the Sears Tower. Stay tuned...

WSC

np: the Toadies - "Tyler"

details & dating

Behind the locomotives

Recently, I stopped for a few minutes south of Tower 55 near downtown Fort Worth to watch a Union Pacific freight roll by. With the locomotives heading directly into the sun at solar noon, and a distracting background of freeway overpasses, the resulting photo wasn't much to get excited about. But I had my camera ready all the same, just in case I happened to notice an interesting railroad logo or moniker as the cars rolled past. The phrase, "Sign up now; graffiti contest ends soon" came to mind as I counted no fewer than 15 monikers gracing the sides of the cars.

Wonder what's behind this trio of UP units...

... no less than 15 Paintstik sketches and signatures...

Repeat visitors to this blog will recall that I have discussed freight car monikers (hobo & railway worker drawings on the side of freight cars) before:

July 5, 2008
February 6, 2008
January 10, 2008
December 22, 2007
July 25, 2007

I continue to watch for them and photograph the ones I find interesting, whether I've seen them before or not. As I complete the 13th year of my railroading career and grow increasingly weary of look-alike locomotives on the Class One megasystems, freight car scrawls are something that help me stay interested in going back to the tracks to watch trains.

These days, monikers are attracting something of a cult following among graffiti artists and proponents, many of whom view and respect them as the "original" freight train graffiti, the forerunner of today's proliferation of aerosol spray graf. Witness the following albums on Flickr, for example:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/true2death/sets/72157603840278784/

http://flickr.com/photos/stealw0rker/sets/72157605242646773/

http://flickr.com/photos/seetwist/collections/72157600000655012/

Next time you get stopped at a crossing for an approaching choo-choo, instead of turning your car around and trying to beat it to the next crossing, stick around and watch. You never know what will be behind those locomotives.

Other detail shots...

ACI tag

Chicago & Eastern Illinois buzz-saw

Huh-huh... it says...

Whiskey goes dating

As my recent divorce progressed through its final stages, I began to wonder what kind of women (if any) I'd be able to attract when I began dating again. Chalk it up to low self-esteem and a battered sense of self-worth, but I just could not comprehend the idea of women being attracted to me or wanting to make me a part of their lives. But the combination of my weight loss, a new attitude a new "look", and support from my friends helped to restore my self-confidence to the point that I decided that I was ready. I quickly found that lack of interest was NOT going to be a problem. I also quickly discovered that not everyone who showed an interest was compatible with my wants, needs, and interests. But that's part of the fun of dating and meeting new people, right? Even though I didn't make a romantic connection with everyone I've met, I'm glad that I've made some new friends... at least one of whom holds a job with a certain amount of municipal authority (Pssst... hey, Detective R.W., do you think you could use your "influence" to convince a certain north Texas police department to dismiss my recent speeding ticket?)

A text message representation of my recent dating life. Alas, none of these women would end up being the "right one" for me.

So who is the "right one" for me? Well, I will admit to having met someone I've been spending quite a bit of time with lately. But I don't want to give away ALL my secrets all at once. Keep checking back and you'll learn more soon.

Sports scene

Thanks once again to WBAP's Hal Jay, who keeps Cowboys fans laughing when all we want to do is cry. Hal decided to make "lemondade" out yesterday's "lemon" (the loss to the St Louis Rams) thusly:

"I discovered yesterday that my tv would block a vodka bottle from being thrown through the wall!"

And...

"The local U-Haul dealer is offering a 25% moving discount to anyone who can prove that they're the Cowboys coach."

Well put, my friend... I have a feeling I'll be turning to Hal for some more cheering up during the next few Monday mornings.

Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Rays have made it to the World Series. For those of you who are even more "casual" baseball fans than I am, or for those who just haven't been paying attention, four out of the four (yep -- all of 'em, 100%) expansion teams since 1993 have reached the World Series. This year it's the Rays, last year it was the Rockies, in 2003 the Marlins won the W.S. (and also won it in 1997, their fifth season) and in 2001 it was the D-backs (in just their fourth season).

And what have the Texas Rangers, the poster-boy examples of perpetual mediocrity in the AL West, done for us lately (besides being swept in consecutive divisional playoff series against the Yankees in 1998 and 1999 (and only winning one game against the Yanks in the '96 playoffs)? They've been in Arlington since 1972, are one of only three major league teams to have never played in the World Series, and have never even won a single playoff series. Now that the fourth expansion team of the past 15 years has reached the Series, Texas Rangers fans should be rioting in the streets. At least they have been voting with their wallets... the season attendance totals at "Rangers Ballpark in Arlington" -- below 2 million for the first time since 1995 -- should tell the owners everything they need to know... right?

WSC

np: Moe Bandy - "Roll on, Big Mama"

Sunday baseball, amateur ornithology

Mothers Day baseball

On Sunday, our friend Stephen joined me and Mom and the kids for a baseball game. We saw the Fort Worth Cats (our local minor league team) play the Sioux Falls Canaries. The Cats lost, but we had a good time, and we couldn't have asked for better weather -- sunny, light breeze, mid-70s. Aaahh, Texas in the Spring...

To celebrate Mothers Day, Dodger the Fort Worth Cats' mascot, sprayed Silly String on all the moms in the crowd -- including mine! M gives him a greeting between innings...

7th inning stretch

LaGrave Field is a great place to catch a game...

The downtown skyline as viewed from left field.

M runs the bases after the game...

Earlier in the weekend, M helped me build a block tower. We made sure to use every block...

Careful, she does all her own stunts...

Back porch bird watching

Last year, a family of barn swallows built a nest on our back porch. They were with us for a few months -- long enough to lay eggs, hatch them and raise the babies -- before they left us. This year, they came back and we got to see the process all over again.

The hatchlings were just a few days old in this photo...

They originally had six eggs, but only four survived... two others were blown out of the nest during a storm. Once they hatched, I was amazed by how quickly the birds matured... the timespan from hatching to taking their first flight was only a few weeks. Even more amazing is how they found their way back to the same nest after migrating thousands of miles south and then back again. I wonder if they'll be back next year...

feeding time

Stay tuned... I'll have some railroad stuff coming up in a few days.

WSC

np: Macon Greyson - "Fine line"

(Insert clever title here)

Just a few odds and ends from the past couple weeks...

Hangin' with Whiskey on the weekend

It was "Mullet Night" at the Ft Worth Cats (minor league baseball) on Sunday the 22nd. K and the kids and I enjoyed the game -- and our complimentary mullet wigs.

Sporting our Tennessee Tophats, M and I give a "thumbs up" to the mullet promotion.

We were amazed by how natural this looked on M.

K fashioned a pair of mullet wigs into a Princess Lea 'do.

Oh yeah, there was a baseball game, too... The Cats beat the Pensacola Penguins in dramatic fashion, 7-6 in 10 innings.

***

On Sunday the 29th, the kids joined K and me for a trip to Main Event to help celebrate my friend Lance's 50th birthday. Main Event is a bowling alley that also has Laser Tag and lots of other games. We each bowled two games -- the kids tried their luck without bumpers the first time around. I had trouble hitting my groove, but at least I was consistent-- I bowled a 99 and a 100. And K and I finished the second game with a tie score.

M tries to pick up a spare...

L takes her shot...

Yay! No one's a loser (except both me and K)

Should we talk about the weather...

We made it through July, and the mercury still hasn't hit 100 yet this summer. Who would've thunk it! But National Weather Service data suggests that we may not be out of the woods just yet... there have been several years when the first 100-degree day wasn't recorded until mid- or late August. There have only been two years recorded with NO 100-degree days (1906 and 1973). At any rate, it has been a cool summer, and that's ok with me.

At the movies with The Simpsons

This display at the Fort Worth Cats game helped psych us up for the Simpsons Movie.

I took L to see the Simpsons Movie a few nights ago. It was about what I expected it to be... a decent plot, typical Simpsons gags and writing, and lots of laughs.... which leads me to an interesting observation. Iwas probably one of the oldest guys in the audience. Most of the people in our theater looked to be in their late teens or early 20s. What surprised me was that nobody was really laughing much. I was sitting there chuckling my ass off every 30 seconds, but I had the impression that I was the only one there who thought most of this stuff was really funny. Was the generation behind mine brought up with no sense of humor, or did they just not get most of the jokes? (and it's not like they were that hard to"get".)

At any rate, you'll probably want to see it if you're a fan. I haven't seen that many new episodes of the tv series during the past five years or so... of the ones I have seen, some have been great and others have been pretty lame. But the movie is right up there with the best of the newer episodes.The animation is interesting; with the increasing popularity of CGI computer animation (Toy Story, Shrek., etc) it is refreshing to see a more traditional form of animation on the big screen. And with a bigger screen to work with, the animators were able to add more detail than viewers of the tv series are used to seeing. There are even a few subtle references to some of the earliest episodes of the tv series. Near the end of the movie,when Bart and Homer jump over Springfield Gorge on a motorcycle, watch for the crashed ambulance -- a reference to the "Bart the Daredevil" episode from the second season -- on the far side of the gorge. Check it out, y'all....

Surviving the trade deadline

Well, the Rangers emerged from Tuesday's Major League Baseball trade deadline with a few key names no longer on the roster -- Mark Teixeira gone to Atlanta, Eric Gagne to Boston, and Kenny Lofton to Cleveland. Teixeira was touted as the big name to watch in this year's trades, and the Rangers will definitely miss his bat in the lineup, but I was actually more disappointed to see Gagne leave. Good pitching is damn hard to come by, and I hope the Rangers don't end up regretting letting a quality closer like Gagne get away. As for Teixeira, it became obvious that he didn't want to be here; Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist Gil LeBreton reported that Tex (and his agent) turned down an 8-year, $140 million offer from Rangers owner Tom Hicks. To hell with Tex; Atlanta can have him. Too bad we couldn't figure out a way to add some kind of trade clause where Atlanta had to take back Kevin Millwood also.

Teixeira's last game as a Ranger was Sunday, July 29, which Texas lost (appropriately) to the Royals, 10-0. Here's a shot of his last at-bat.

So the Rangers have pretty much written off the 2007 season (hell, they could have done that by the end of April), and it looks like it's time to start rebuilding for 2008. Then again, they haven't been playing THAT badly during the past couple months... the fact that they have played better than .500 baseball since early in June seems to have gone almost unnoticed. Too bad the season didn't start on June 1. Oh well, like we say every season... "wait til next year."

WSC

np: Robert Earl Keen - Death of Tail Fitzsimmons