Buckeye Blog

Yesterday I took off work and drove to Detroit to see Comerica Park.  The Tigers were playing the Blue Jays at 1pm so I decided last minute to go see stadium #23 on my list!  :)  Unfortunately I had to enter the state of michigan for the first time in my life, but at least it was a short trip haha.  As a bonus, I also drove over to the corner of Trumbull and Michigan Ave to see [what's left of] Tiger Stadium, the historic home of the Tigers from 1912-1999.  Sadly, it is slowly being torn apart and soon will be completely demolished.  It’s too bad it can’t be turned into a museum.

I now have 7 stadiums left to see.  Maybe, just maybe I’ll be able to get to them all by the end of summer 2009.

Today I had quite a unique opportunity.  I was lucky enough to win tickets to watch the Indians vs. Orioles from Deloitte’s dugout suite at Progressive Field!!  I was right at field level, separated from the Orioles’ dugout by glass and from the on-deck circle by protective fencing.  I was so close to the action that I could smell the pine tar and hear the players calling for balls.  Four different people called me to say that they saw me on tv–either drinking wine or laughing with coworkers.  Haha I totally watched this game in STYLE.  Quite an experience! 

I had never really been that into swimming competitions at the Olympics, but that changed last night with the captivating performance by Jason Lezak of the US in the Men’s 4×100m Free Relay.  Comebacks in sports are usually pretty awesome and yesterday was no exception.  The narration by Dan Hicks was top notch too.  I wish I could call sporting events like that.  And the French team virtually guaranteeing victory made for a great storyline and heightened drama.  In a nutshell, this is why I’ve always loved sports. 

I had orginally posted the youtube link to the race here, but it was taken down from the site bc of copyright laws.  Check out NBC’s website for the video. 

Lately it is very slow at work.  I seem to have joined tax at one of the slowest times of the year.  I’m not really complaining though.  Just as long as no one is wondering why I have so few chargeable hours.  Today I also experienced a first at work.  A manager gave me a “fist-bump” lol.  I guess he was excited that I finished some work from him haha. 

In other news, football is baaack!  GO BUCKEYES and GO BROWNS!!!

Today I went to the “businessman’s special” noon baseball game between the Indians and Tigers at Progressive Field.  I could not pass up the opportunity to go since I AM a businessman after all haha.  The ticket was only $8 and Deloitte’s building is within a short walk so it all added up to a nice lunchtime event.  I had just gone to Indians-Tigers games the last two nights as well, and I even got to sit in a suite last night.  It’s definitely been a big baseball week.  Good times for sure!

Dark Knight is a REALLY good movie.  I can’t wait to watch it again tonight.

I like that [in Tax] people don’t care as much about what time I come and go.  I enjoy the freedom.  Having to sign in by a certain time at the SJ office was ridiculous. 

Is it so bad to go to Starbucks every day?

“Save Tonight” by Eagle-Eye Cherry is a cool song.

I think it’s about time to start playing tennis again.  I’ve really missed it since I hurt my foot.  But the pain seems to be gone now.

Going to a driving range might be a fun activity for Sunday.  Can’t hurt to be better at golf…

My credit card bills for the past month are crazy high.  I gotta start saving again from here-on-out.  Getting paychecks again will certainly help.  Of course buying display cases for all of my sports memorabilia will not. 

I had no idea until recently that I was such a big collector.  I need a whole room just for souvenirs.

After 51 days off of work, today I resumed my Deloitte career…at the Cleveland office!  Even though I was about to experience my first day in a new office, I felt a certain amount of familiarity as I went to work this morning.  Maybe it was the sight of the Cleveland Stadiums, the Public Square Monument, or Tower City, but I felt like I had been down this road before.  And knowing how welcoming Clevelanders are, I didn’t have any reason to be nervous about today.

The first order of business when I arrived at the Key Tower (Cleveland’s tallest building and DT’s home) was to…order Starbucks haha.  There’s one on the ground floor which I’m sure I will frequent quite often.  I then met the HR/scheduler, who is much nicer than I thought schedulers were allowed to be haha (San Jose people will get what I’m talking about), and she took me to my desk on the 32^nd floor.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that I’m right next to a window with a great view of Downtown Cleveland!  My favorite view is the one from the office kitchen though, as you can see Cleveland Browns Stadium, the Rock Hall, and Lake Erie (above) almost right up close.  :) 

I then proceeded to decorate my desk with my OSU memorabilia.  :)  It’s not yet decorated as elaborately as the desks of some of the other sports fans in the office, but I’m sure I’ll be able to catch up soon!  I’m also fortunate to be sitting right next to someone who was in my graduating class at OSU.  That was a pleasant surprise.  And speaking of surprises, it turns out this office has a “Fun Committee” that brought an air hockey table, a Wii, free ice cream, and a massage chair to the office lounge.  But even that can’t compare to the promise of occasional free Indians baseball tickets! (the Indians are Deloitte’s client).  I also learned that Indians games are shown on the TV in the lounge area, meaning the days of me having to listen discretely on headphones are now over! 

The rest of the day I was mainly doing administrative work—that is, when I wasn’t marveling at the office’s amenities or taking pictures of the view out the window when no one was looking haha.  This role has the potential to be better than my last role for Deloitte.  And I feel like I’m fulfilling a certain destiny to be working in Downtown Cleveland.  Now all I need is to find the work interesting.  We shall see in the coming weeks…

More pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=136485&l=2b7d0&id=705640598

Just want to thank all the great friends that I made in CA for making my time there fun and memorable.  =)  It truly was very difficult to leave you guys, but FOR SURE you haven’t seen the last of me! 

Below is a link to an album that shows off the great friends that I made.  I tried to get everyone in at least once, but I also realize that there are some cool people that I just never took a picture with.  But we can fix that next time I come back to visit!  

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=3452&l=0267c&id=705640598 

Hard to believe it, but I’m finally back to Columbus—Home of The Ohio State University and quite possibly my favorite place on earth!  :)  So glad to be back! 

Josh and I arrived here after driving 7.5 hours from St. Louis.  We started the day by going to the Union Station Mall in St. Louis and having lunch at the Hard Rock Café.  On the way to Columbus I had an idea and asked Josh to check the sports page to see if the Cincinnati Reds were playing a home game tonight.  Sure enough they were, so I suggested that we make a quick stop-over in Cincy for the game.  I had already been to the Great American Ball Park in 2005 so I had not planned in advance to go to this stadium.  But we went anyway and it worked out well because it was fireworks night at the ballpark!  We ended up seeing a good game and a great fireworks show.  It doesn’t get much better than baseball and the 4^th of July!    

After we left Cincy we encountered a terrible rain storm, but we still made it to Columbus just after midnight.  In all it took me about 2700 miles and 40.5 driving hours to reach Columbus, OH from San Jose, CA.  We’ve still got to drive 2.5 hours to get to Solon tomorrow, but OSU is my home too so this is effectively the conclusion of the long cross-country journey.  I can’t believe I did it!  At times the trip was hard, but seeing my brother and being able to go to 4 stadiums in 4 cities in 3 days made it all worth it!  But I think I’m going to take a break from road trips for a while now!

Happy 4^th of July everyone!

Today my traveling party increased by one as I met up with my brother, Josh, in St. Louis.  We came from different places and by different means of transportation—he flew in from Ohio and I drove over from Kansas—but now we’re reunited at last.

Earlier in the day, before I arrived in St. Louis, I continued along highway 70 East and passed through Manhattan, Topeka, and Lawrence, Kansas; as well as Kansas City and Columbia, Missouri.  It was great to pass through so many cities that I’ve actually heard of.  I stopped in Lawrence to see the University of Kansas’ Allen Fieldhouse and in Kansas City to see the Royals’ Kauffman Stadium—#21 on my list!  It was cool seeing Allen Fieldhouse in the same year in which the Jayhawks won the national championship game (which I witnessed in person).  And seeing Kauffman Stadium turned out to be one of the more exciting stadium visits that I’ve had because I had to sneak past security to get inside haha.

When the day started I had no plan as to how to get into Kauffman Stadium, since the Royals were playing in Baltimore and the ballpark is off limits for tour groups while it is undergoing renovations.  But I still wanted to go to KC and try anyway.  My first attempt to get in involved me pleading with a security guard on the basis that I came all the way from California and didn’t want to leave without a photo.  He ended up letting me inside the left field gate for a distant picture (and was nice enough to give me a batting practice ball that had landed in one of the fountains as a souvenir!), but he did not allow me to go all the way behind home plate like I wanted because he was being watched by a security camera too. 

But I was not about to give up.  I wandered around the perimeter of the ballpark until I found an unlocked gate that was marked as a construction entrance only.  I then proceeded to do what any good baseball stadium enthusiast would do—I made a mad dash through the gate, went behind home plate and snapped a photo, and then ran back to my car lol.  Even though the fountains were not turned on, I still liked what I saw and gave the ballpark a decent ranking of #13.  It does not, however, have the modern stadium amenities necessary to get a higher ranking (the ballpark opened in 1973).

After I picked up Josh at the St. Louis airport we went to the Cardinals-Mets game at Busch Stadium—#22 on my list!  I was VERY impressed with the ballpark and ranked it a strong #4.  The outside is made from beautiful red brick and the backdrop behind center field is highlighted by the Gateway Arch.  The Mississippi River is also visible from certain parks of the ballpark.  More specifics to follow in my facebook album later.  Down to just 8 stadiums remaining now!

And after 8 more hours of driving today, the total for the trip now stands at 33.