Post Season Coma

The season officially ended for us on Sunday. Sunday was an incredibly long and exhausting day. I don't think I was in bed until high near 4 o'clock in the morning. Since then, it's been incredibly surreal. Like time has almost stopped. There are so many hours in the day that I've forgotten about. There's so much time to get things done.

That being said, I've really accomplished absolutely nothing. I read all of The Help





Source: google.com via Kasey on Pinterest


As well as at least like 24 additional hours of sleeping. Now I'm stir crazy because I haven't really had any human interaction in over 48 hours. It's kind of killing me.

The boy left at 2am today for Costa Rica, I won't be seeing him again until October. This is going to be a really long month. I'm ready for the 24th though, when we go to Phoenix. I'm super excited for the Phoenix road trip. I'm even more excited for Thanksgiving, when I get to go home and see family and then go to Atlanta to see my boys whoop up some pathetic Georgia Tech football team. So bring it on September, October, and November!

Is it Monday yet?

All of a sudden everyone wants to come to Rawhide games. It's great, we love when people come to games! However, the season ending on Sunday has caused people to realize they need to redeem all of their special coupons and vouchers. For example, I have FIVE ceremonial first pitches on Sunday (forget about the 107 on Saturday between double header for the world record.)

I'm just grasping for the aspects of the job that make it totallytworth it. The feeling after helping feed those less fortunate at the Visalia Rescue Mission, the little adorable kids who are stoked about meeting a player or their very first ever ball game.


I'm trying to live by this quote Kacey & I saw on the Kirby Puckett bobblehead box:
"He never had a bad day. I don't care how bad things were going on or off the field, Kirby found a way to make you laugh... He was a breath of fresh air in this game." — Frank Thomas

End of the Season Meltdown

We're at this point now, where we've played 63 of our 70 home games. We've surpassed our group sales, BIS (butts-in-seats) goal, and we're already planning a trip to Phoenix & to the Rawhide Wild Wild West Town. We've all but checked out. Rightfully so, we've worked a ton. Luckily, we're rewarded for our hard work and have today off (as well as the rest of the weekend).

I don't even know what regular people do with three day weekends, but my plans are pool all day today, party later tonight, lake all day tomorrow, and absolutely nothing all day Sunday. I am so ready for the offseason, but I know probably three weeks into it, I'll be ready for baseball again.


10 Very, very important things

  1. I finally bought a lamp. I've only needed one for 7 months. 
  2. I'm really looking forward to a second date when we both have the time, even if I have no real plans of staying in Visalia. 
  3. I'm really head over heels in love with Craig Kimbrell, I'm not going to lie about it. He's so freaking precious. 
  4. I'm not purposefully being terrible at keeping in touch, I just have the worst timing and the whole 3 hour time difference doesn't really help either. 
  5. My car payment in August is going to be half of my checking account balance. I will get at least $200 in a paycheck, but that's still $106 less than my car payment. Plus I have to make a student loan payment. This is out of control.
  6. I'm going to stop biting my nails. It's going to happen.
  7. Ava the cat and I are in a fight because she kept me up all night long.
  8. I can't kick this baby fever, and I really have no idea why. 
  9. I really do kind of wish Harry Potter wasn't over.
  10. I legitimately considered quitting baseball to move to Key West and bartend at least 98% of today. 

Whatever you do, please don't ask "What do you do in the offseason?" or "How was your time off while the team was gone?"

Either of hose two questions will irritate anyone who works front office in sports. It's my absolute least favorite question to answer. Do you think promotions just happen? Do you think outfield signs just appear?  Tickets sell themselves? We have to plan every little bit of the game, aside from the actual play. We work in the offseason. Either compiling proof that all of the necessary and sponsored events happened or finding someone to sponsor something similar next year.

We don't get days off because the team does. We don't have all of this leisure time. It's a labor of love. It's a work intensive labor of love.

I hate having to do self evaluations

not because I'm afraid to talk about what I think I should or could do better, but more so because I recognize my faults, all of them, and I'm afraid of either being too hard on myself and seeming to lack confidence, or not being hard enough and seeming arrogant and unwilling to learn. I came here to learn, and I have learned a lot.  I don't want that to be lost in what I want to do with my career and what steps I need to take to get there. I also don't want to seem too desperate to get back to the Braves and the East Coast.

"Off" Days

We work a million hours a week. We see each other constantly. So when we have a break what do we do? Hang out together. Sometimes I just want to get away. Somewhere I don't know anyone, somewhere it's okay for me to just sit and read. Somewhere I don't want to punch everyone. My whole body is fried. This is the part where I would have been better off close to home. This is the part where I could just go spend time with my parents or family and be away from everything work (or school) related. This is the part where a part of me should ask why I even chose baseball, but instead this is the part where I shop to fill the void and remind myself that I love my job. This is the part where I figured out exactly what I want to do, and exactly where I want to be.

Photo by Chris Henstra
Shortly before this was taken, Henstra said "Tipper, I don't want to take Kasey's picture, I only take pictures of pretty girls"

I am the only one who doesn't like day games...

... and who also doesn't like when games go super fast. I'm always pressed for time, sprinting around the ballpark. One homestand in April every game was fast, and I lost 10 lbs. I am a success story for the Reebok RunTone shoes.

Today we had our 2nd annual Candy Drop. Where we drop 700 lbs of candy on the outfield, half of it from a helicopter. It was overwhelming, and I am so glad we only have it once a year. I could not handle that many kids more than once a year. We also either set an attendance record, or came damn near close to it.

That being said, it's rather beautiful to be home watching tv, and bonding with the kitty. I'm about to break into the margaritas and rotel/velveeta dip. I may have graduated college, but I still eat and live like a college student.

I generally don't like alone time either, but today I am completely okay with it. I'm not homesick because I'm going home for a beautiful 48 hours next weekend. I'm not lonely because I think if I see any more of my coworkers I might completely lose my mind. Also I just started our free month trial of Hulu plus so now I can catch up on all of the tv shows we have missed.

Tipper and I watching Fireworks. Photo from the LA Times
Okay, so I might be breaking rules or copyright, but I couldn't find a better way to share this picture. Plus, it's a picture with me in it, so I think I have at least a little bit of rights to it. Or something. This is why I work in sports instead of copyright law.

Soon I will write a real post. Until then, enjoy the picture of Tipps & I watching fireworks.