Winter Meetings in Nashville, TN

I spent the week in Nashville, Tennessee covering Major League Baseball's Winter Meetings. The meetings are held each December for all of the major and minor league organizations including their staff of executives and front office members. Its generally held at some of the largest hotels around the country such as Dallas (2005), Orlando (2006), Nashville (2007), and Las Vegas (2008). To the right is a picture from inside the hotel.

This year it was held at the Opryland Hotel and Resort in Nashville. I have attached some photos that XM's events staff took from the events.

Maddie Meets Apple

During Thanksgiving, our golden retriever, Maddie, mistook a green apple for her tennis ball. Tilly took it away, but she always yearned for its return. Once Thanksgiving was over, Tilly let Maddie enjoy her edible "tennis ball." Here's a short video.

Notice how she bites on it from the side just like we would. Of course, we have hands so its a little easier.

Disclaimer: This is 25 seconds you will never get back, but for a dog lover its pure entertainment.

Birthday Wine Tour

While there is no photographic evidence, my birthday was earlier this month. Technically, there is the photo below from a vineyard two days before my birthday. There are supposedly some blurry photos of me opening gifts, but I am not sure those will ever see the light of day on this blog.

Anyway, Tilly and I celebrated over the extended Veteran's Day weekend. On Sunday, we took a drive to Leesburg for some wine tastings. I am always interested in road trips (i.e. Christmas trek to Arkansas) and these tours have wonderful scenery.

Earlier this year, we took a tour of some vineyards in Charlottesville. My favorite was First Colony Winery. I took Tilly there for a Valentine couples chocolate and wine tasting. Its been one of my favorite small vineyards.

Fall Festival 2007

This is a bit belated, but to top off Halloween week our church held a Fall Festival on the final Friday of October to reach out to the community of Falls Church. I was in charge of the entertainment and worked for three months to prepare and coordinate. The event was a large success and the entertainment was definitely a bonus. Brent took video which you can check out.

We had four language churches send their praise bands and we raffled off 17 huge gift baskets which only guests could register for. We had food for 300+ had to order more in the middle of the evening so my guess is we had well over 300 attend. Activities included a large moon bounce and a huge blow up maze. It was a lot of fun and I'm pleased its over! On to the next 18 things.

Halloween on Capitol Hill

You would think holding a hearing on Halloween would be a bad omen, but not this time. We had a very successful hearing in front of the House Small Business Committee to discuss the evils of competitive bidding on October 31st. It's a system that's haunting the homecare industry and threatening access for Medicare patients to services such as oxygen and power wheelchairs, while the government claims it brings prices down. I know you're not really interested in my lobbying rant, but I did want to comment on how much fun a ghoulish day on the Hill could be. Our hearing was scheduled for 2:00 with a break in the middle for the Congressmen to go vote on a tax something or another. We had three members testify- the picture is of me and Alex (in the middle, she's our new GR Manager) working with Georgie. Georgie testified on behalf of our Association and she was fantastic.

Chairman Altmire (D-Pa.), Mr. Gohmert (R-Texas), and Mr. Gonzalez (D-Texas) presided over the hearing and were absolutely a riot. I was told not all hearings will go this well for our industry, but this one was like taking back candy from a junior high kid who shows up at your door twice (like there aren't 200 other apartments in the building to visit- he had to come twice? Really?).

World Series: Game Four - Post Game Celebration

On Sunday, November 28th, the Boston Red Sox defeated the Colorado Rockies in Game Four of the 2007 World Series to win the championship. After the presentation of the trophy and lockerroom festivities, the Red Sox players returned to the field in Denver to celebrate with their loyal fans. I was in the clubhouse during the celebration, but once the it cleared out I headed back up to our broadcast booth. Looking down on the field at the players, I took this video of the players celebrating with the fans. It was taken with my Samsung Blackjack phone, so it is not camcorder quality. It does give you a sense of the remaining Red Sox fans in the stands once the national cameras had gone off.

Christine Clark (1915-2007)

Christine Clark, known as Aunt Tenee to our family, passed away on Thursday. She battled Alzheimers for many years and spent her final years under care in Dallas, Texas. As a child, I remember her coming to Paragould in her large Lincoln Town car or Cadillac. She was always immaculately dressed with beautiful jewelry. She wore many rings and necklaces. At Christmas and other holidays, her Christmas card was one of the favorite items to open.

Throughout my four years at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, I was able to stop and visit Aunt Tenee in Texarkana. One of the last times, we were together was at my graduation from OBU. This was before she moved to Dallas for greater care. She was a cherished member of our family and will be greatly missed. Below is her obituary:

Lillian Christine Clark, 92, formerly of Texarkana, Ark., died Thursday, Oct. 25, 2007, in a Dallas hospital after a lengthy illness.

Mrs. Clark was born Sep. 19, 1915, in Walcott, Ark. She was the owner of Christine’s Beauty Salon and Merle Norman Studio in Paragould, Ark., an instructor of cosmetology, president of the Arkansas State Board of Cosmetology and member of Elks Auxiliary and First United Methodist Church. She was preceded in death by her husband, Jack V. Clark.

Survivors include her sister, Katie Early of Searcy, Ark; and two nieces, Christa Gambill of Searcy and Kathy Goodman of Dallas.

Like my grandfather, we lost her to Alzheimers too soon. The disease has impacted our family as this is the third member of my mother's side to be afflicted with it. You can make a difference. Become an Alzheimer's Champion and learn what you can do to support efforts to find a cure.

Thanksgiving Toasted

Let me tell you the most important thing I have learned about Boston this week: D'Angelo. This a sub shop local to Boston. Here is a brief history from D'Angelo's corporate site:

D’Angelo originally opened its doors as Ma Riva's Sub Shop on March 1, 1967, in Dedham, Massachusetts. The philosophy was simple: put the best quality meats, cheeses and toppings in the freshest breads and serve it friendly and fast.

Over the years, D'Angelo has remained New England’s favorite chain of sandwich shops by keeping it simple. All our Plain Great sandwiches, salads, wraps and pokkets are made to order. Today, the D'Angelo menu includes over 44 sandwiches as well as a variety of hearty soups and fresh-made salads.

Before Game One of the World Series, we went here for dinner. It is about three blocks from Fenway, but I was enticed by a sandwich called Thanksgiving Toasted. The sandwich is thin slices of turkey breast topped with stuffing, cranberry sauce and mayonnaise. All toasted together and served with a side of hot gravy. If you think it sounds like an unreal sandwich than you are correct. It is possibly the best sandwich I have ever had. It was so good that before tonight's Game Two we took time to go back with more staff. I even upsized from the medium to the large sandwich so I could truly test my heart. We ate and purchased five more sandwiches to bring back to the park for more staff. A legend has been created.

It's More of a Prestige Thing

Last night, we did what many married couples of almost five years do. We each saw our own movie. I enjoyed my favorite director Wes Anderson's new film The Darjeeling Limited. Tilly watched Elizabeth: The Golden Age. We discussed seeing Michael Clayton or a special early showing of Dan in Real Life. In the end, we were individually more interested in the other movies, so we decided to go enjoy on our own.

Darjeeling was like all of Wes Anderson's movies (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, Royal Tennenbaums, and Life Aquatic), which is intelligent stories with dry humor spliced with amazing visuals and cinematography. I can't name the number of times I was laughing and smiling throughout. He is the master of subtleties in a film where moments build on top of each other to provide a brief moment of enjoyment that only occurs if you were paying attention. Anderson's style is not for everyone, but they are my favorite. The visual presentation provides a kaleidoscope of colors and rich textures against colorfully dressed characters in deep layers of complexities. To make this short, his films are deftly deep with a keen dry wit. I just realized I may be the only person interested in reading reviews or a short bioptic on Wes Anderson.

The one thing I can say every Anderson movie is known for is my lack of embarrassment at being the only person laughing out loud in the cinema. Anytime I am the only person laughing at the movies, I recall the first time it happened. I was watching the movie Multiplicity with Uncle John and Lisa in Dallas during the summer of 1996. Multiplicity starred Michael Keaton in what many call the movie that killed his career. There is a scene, before the movie veers out of control, where he gets home from work late. As he is changing clothes, he tells his wife, Andie McDowell, about how one of his colleagues was fired today. Thanks to the magic of the internet here is the dialogue from the script:

Keaton: King fired DeGrazzi.

McDowell: You're kidding. Why?

Keaton: He does bad work. But at least he does it slowly.

McDowell: Who will replace him?

Keaton: The guy you sleep with.

McDowell: That's great. It's like a promotion. It's not great?

Keaton: Guess who'll do my job.

McDowell: You're going to do it all?

Keaton: (Nods)

McDowell: Will they give you more money?

Keaton: It's more of a prestige thing. They'll probably give me a plaque or a certificate for being so great.

McDowell: That's ridiculous.

At the point of "It's more of a prestige thing," Uncle John began laughing uncontrollably. Lisa and I laughed along not knowing why. With almost four years out of school, I finally get the joke. I should probably put that line on my desk as it would definitely make me laugh more often than not.

I want to wish my Aunt Kathy a Happy Birthday on Monday. Hope you have a great day.

Dancing at Venice Beach

Every year, I attend a weekend baseball event in Los Angeles. Zac and Carrie Heath moved to the Los Angeles area, presently Santa Monica, so I try to stay an extra day or two and visit. Earlier this year, we went to Venice Beach to check out the scene. I took this video of a man dancing that still makes me laugh. Hope this makes your day.

To answer your question, yes he was dancing in tennis shoes in a roller skating area.

Home for a Few

As Tilly mentioned, I have been out of town for the last week or so. I was covering the National League Championship Series in Phoenix, Arizona and Denver, Colorado. Luckily it was a sweep, so I was able to come home late last night after only about a week on the road. I'll be home until next Tuesday when I'll leave to cover the World Series for the next week and a half or so.

One of the favorite perks about my job is being able to look Tilly squarely in the eye and say, "I really have to watch this game for work." We actually have a rule in the house. If we are about to eat dinner or sit down in the living room, we can only watch a game if its the Atlanta Braves. All other games are prohibited. I think its a good rule. Of course, the Braves were on TBS Superstation all these years nationally, which helped a lot. Next year, they will not be on as much nationally as the channel goes to a Sunday afternoon national game each week. I may have to propose an amendment to the rule. Trust me next year without national coverage, if the Braves are on nationally I'll be watching.

If you are interested in my show blog, go to Baseball Beat: The Blog where there are daily updates before and after Baseball Beat daily. Basically, if you are ever curious about what I was doing this will give you a complete rundown of the day.

Party at Maddie's House

Brent's been traveling for the National League Championship Series this past week so Maddie and I have been hanging out- you know, the girls. Slumber parties, pampering ourselves, working out, the usual. However, Maddie feels that when Brent is gone she must become super dog rather than passive pup who will show a robber where the Christmas china is stored.

The first night, as soon as the TV and lights went off and I was just drifting into beautiful dreams Maddie jumped up into fighter stance and started the low growling while staring at the bedroom door. Well who can sleep through that?! Let alone fall asleep without going out to check the house. She barked a few more times throughout the night and was restless. I got zero sleep!

The second night I thought we had things under control. We'd done the patrol of the house together and locked up and left lights on outside the bedroom. Well Maddie wasn't convinced. She kept checking the door, perking her ears to listen for noises and watching for shadows. I got zero sleep!

After that I had to try new tactics to please Maddie while her hero Brent was out of town. Pary time!! I left all the lights on in the house and the living room TV on. Finally, she was convinced there was a something going on in the living room and thankfully we had decided to let the good times roll without us. I got sleep!

Needless to say we're happy Brent is home, if only for a week.