• The news from row S

    If you walk up the stairs on the third level of the St. Pete Times Forum, you will find two seats right at the top, looking down the stairs from either side of the center handrail, seats 3 and 4, row S. This was where Beth watched her first live hockey game.

    Her first impression was, “there are a LOT of people here dad.”

    “Yeah, it’s great, nothing like Rays games, is it?”

    On a related note, it was quite a bit louder. It turns out that 20,000 people can make a lot of noise, if they really want to. Throw in a horn and a solid roof to bounce sound off of; and suddenly Beth’s voice isn’t loud enough anymore.

  • Making an impression

    A while back, my wife went to a candle party. For the uninitiated, a candle party is a gathering where middle-aged wives get together to buy candles from a traveling salesperson, picture a Tupperware party with a lot of open flames. Anyhoo, Cheryl was surprised to see Beth’s first grade teacher present. Cheryl was further surprised to learn that Beth’s teacher, two years removed, remembered so many details about Beth.

    “So Cheryl how’s Beth’s aunt from New Orleans?”

    It seems that Beth made an impression, in one way or another. Say what you want about my daughter, but she’s certainly not shy.

  • One more sports metaphor

    There is a cynical side to sports that would be wide enough to orbit a small moon through. It is this ugly side which has a ready answer to a professional athlete’s sudden meteoric rise in production, “It’s a contract year.” The meaning behind this phrase is simple – the player is auditioning for his next contract, because the current one will be over sooner than you can say “show me the money.”

    Now imagine my surprise when I find the good stuff in the employee bathroom this afternoon. This toilet paper was so fine you could buff the paint on your average luxury automobile with it. Yep, pretty sweet eh?

    What gives? That’s right friends, it’s a contract year. The lease is up next year and the management is auditioning for the next one. Finally, our hosts are showing us public service peons a little love. I just wonder why it took so long, re: the nine years we’ve been here so far. Why does it always seem like no one wants to talk until the money is about to walk?