Space Shuttle & The Tampa Yankees

A funny thing happened on the way to watch the shuttle... I think that could be the name of my forthcoming bestseller. One of my Centcom colleagues and native Floridian planned to spend Saturday, May 31st driving to the Atlantic side and catch the Navy SEAL museum at Fort Pierce and then head north to about Melbourne and watch the shuttle launch.

Well, we reached Vero Beach around noon and stopped at Sonny's BBQ where we enjoyed the excellent all-you-can-eat BBQ chicken and pork. After we finished, my buddy popped a nosebleed that wouldn't quit. It was such that I drove him to the nearest hospital, Indian River Medical Center in Vero.

We still had a couple of hours till launch, I figured we would scrap the museum, take care of the nosebleed and head straight for Melbourne. Well, the very understaffed medical staff took FOUR HOURS to get my friend stabilized. Gott im Himmel!!!

The above photo is me standing in front of the lovely Indian River MC about a minute before launch. I decided to step outside and see the launch. Well, Vero Beach is not nearly as close to Cape Canaveral so the photo below shows my view.

We languished another two hours, watching Forrest Gump on cable as the nosebleed had long since corrected. At least I got to see a launch up close in 2007 (see link). The next launch will be a few weeks after I return to the north. Bummer.


At least we got to see a beautiful sunset on Highway 60 en route back to Tampa after our meal and ER experience on the ocean side of Florida.

On Tuesday, June 3rd I scoped out a Tampa Yankees game (Florida State League, A ball) to preview the experience for Jack and the kids when the Brewer A team, Brevard County Manatees visit in July. Here you see the scoreboard of the newly named "Steinbrenner Field."

The Major League New York Yankees train here in Spring, necessitating the bigger stadium.

Above, a Clearwater Thresher (Phillies' A-team) delivers a glove-smacking pitch.

Above, one of the "T-Yanks" scores a hit. Notice the non-crowd behind him. I bought a front-row ticket on the Threshers' dugout a minute after the first pitch. Despite the non-crowd, the vigilant usher made his way down to ask me not to set my game program on the dugout. He was right, I had about 3,500 seats to choose from to rest my program on. :-) HF1

Conspiracy Theories R Us!

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin offered this community event on their website, which was quickly removed on Friday afternoon. [Click the photo for a legible closeup] It's a wonder it ever got on there in the first place. See the archived link more closely here. HF1

I'm Still Here!

It's been a dazzlingly fast week as work at Centcom picked up with some new weekly taskings and my next online grad class that began Monday. Reading & writing by day gives way to the same in the evening. I will submit a more interesting missive this weekend. Have yourself a wonderful weekend and HAPPY SUMMER to all those Shattuck Mariners and friends! HF1

Funny Photo 3: Fenway Park

Whoa! An old-fashioned bench clearing brawl broke out at Fenway between the Rays and Sox today. Here Rays' pitcher James Shields whiffs while trying to pop Boston's CoCo Crisp (Yes, that's his name). Crisp attempted to take out the Rays' 2nd baseman the previous evening with an obnoxious slide. Shields popped Crisp today with a curveball and the rest is history. The events didn't change things for the Rays, who dropped their sixth game at Fenway this year and gave first place in the AL East back to the Red Sox. HF1