September 6, 2008

My day started with a phone call. I jumped out of bed, thinking it might be a manager I'm hoping to talk to for a story I'm working on. I didn't recognize the number and tried to clear my throat before answering, but still sounded like I just woke up. It wasn't the manager though, it was a co-worker that lives nearby. He had a flat tire and wanted to know if I had a tire iron. I actually wasn't sure if I did or not, but I said that I did and told him I would be right over. Thankfully I did indeed have one (I would have felt like an idiot knowing that we drove 3,300 miles with spare tire in the trunk but no tire iron). I got over to his apartment complex and helped him change his tire.

After that, I headed home to change clothes because we agreed to go out for lunch (well, breakfast, but let's call it lunch, since it was already 1 p.m.). The whole reason he even went out to his car is because he said he was craving pancakes. We went to a place called Elmo's Diner downtown and it was fantastic. Now I know why it was voted the best place for breakfast in the Durham visitor's guide Cheryl and I picked up at the North Carolina Welcome Center. Good stuff. After that, I took him to Locopops, since it's only about a block away. I was very excited to see that they added a new flavor to the menu...horchata! My friend laughed at me when I pulled out my half-full stamp card.

After that I just came home and chilled for a while before heading out to the Bulls' playoff game. Last night was rained out, so I expected a huge crowd, since it was 87 degrees and clear at game time. I had a feeling that wouldn't be the case when I found a parking spot on the first level just a half hour before the first pitch. I knew it would be even emptier than I imagined when I was able to score a first-row ticket right behind the visitors' dugout. Sure enough, the place was pretty empty. The official attendance is listed at 2,689 (26% capacity), which means a lot of people missed a good game! After fouling off about 10 pitches, Johnny Gomes yanked a home run down the left field line in the bottom of the first, putting the Bulls up, 2-0. That'd be all they needed, as Jeff Niemann pitched seven no-hit innings, finally giving up a double in the eighth, that eventually came around to score. I was excited to see Danny Ray Herrera come out of the Bats' bullpen. Herrera is only 5-foot-7 — probably the shortest pitcher in professional baseball. He was drafted by the Rangers in the 46th round of the '06 draft, but came to the Reds with Edinson Volquez in the Josh Hamilton deal. My die-hard fans (just me?) will recall that I liked Herrera when he was pitching for New Mexico a few years ago.



A crazy thing happened in the fifth inning—the stadium lights went out! I don't know exactly what happened. It wasn't a power outage, because the scoreboard still worked and there were still lights on in the surrounding buildings and the press box, but all the stadium lights were out. It lasted for about 20 minutes and was pretty fun, actually. The Bulls showed an episode of This Week In Baseball on the JumboTron.

When I got home, I Skyped with Cheryl and then messed around with my fake fantasy team. For those keeping tabs, I did eventually pull off the trade that was mentioned last weekend. But by initially backing out, I was able to get a lot better package out of the other owner, so that felt good. It was a prospect deal though, so we'll see how it turns out...

Now I'm eating cereal out of Tupperware and wearing my last pair of clean undies. Looks like I'll be doing dishes and laundry tomorrow while I watch football. Go Hawks!