They took us out to the ball game

Yesterday afternoon, my team at work went to see the Mariners take on the Kansas City Royals down at Safeco. We'd booked two side-by-side suites, and a wall between the two was removed to make one very large suite. It was super chilly out -- low upper 40s when the game started, and into the low 40s by the time it ended -- so most people stayed in the indoors part of the suite, watching the game on the numerous flat-screens and enjoying the great food and drinks. Being that I really enjoy being at live games, I spent the majority of the game sitting in the seats we had directly outside the suites. They were covered (and the stadium's roof was closed), and I had on several layers of shirts/jackets and fleece blanket, but dang -- it wasn't until halfway from the stadium to the bus stop later that day that my toes finally defrosted. Here's a shot of the inside of the suite(s):


Here's me rocking my M's T-shirt:


And our view of the field from waaay out in right field:


The game itself was a lot of fun. It started out a bit slow, and the score was close through the middle of the game, but then the M's started hitting sacrifice flies left and right (five total, tying an MLB record) and the final score was 11-6 Mariners. Derek was also into the game, and stayed outside as long as I did. We had a fun time putting "curses" on the opposing hitters, mocking Royals players' names (they had a pitcher with the last name "Gobble"), taking funny pictures and groaning over the bad phrases the display folks would flash after a Mariner had a good hit/play (i.e., "When there's a Willie, there's a way" after Willie Bloomquist got a hit).

During the game, Derek came across a J.J. Putz soulpatch (in honor of the M's beloved closer, who is unfortunately on the DL right now); I think they'd been handed out at a previous game. Anyways, we had a riot trying it on and taking pictures. This particular shot had us cracking up for a good three minutes after we saw it:


That's my left hand you see there. I was trying to do a funny self-photo, but I cut myself out of the photo entirely, and instead, it looks like Derek is super strung out with a Nilla wafter on his chin, getting it scratched by some anonymous other strung-out person. I'm still chuckling over the picture a day later.

On a completely different note -- I'm watching "Top Chef" as I type this, and there was just a commercial for the Olive Garden. I know it's not super hip to be a fan of O.G. since it's a chain and all, but man -- I really love their breadsticks and salad!! I shouldn't go around publicizing it, but my entire family actually likes the O.G. and we go there at least once a year to celebrate either my parents' anniversary or one of our birthdays...