work today was alright, it seemed to go by pretty fast. i figured that i’d try to go to the o’s game today to try to get a cal ripken 2131 commemorative bobblehead at his hall-of-fame sendoff they were having so i brought a change of shoes, my orioles shirt and hat with me to work.

i figured i’d go park at the north linthicum lightrail station since that way i could take any trains that were leaving the game, but the only issue was that the station was about 25 minutes away from work. well, it was an issue when i was working until 6 with games starting at 7, but i figured that since i get off of work now at 5:30 that it’d be a lot easier.

first, though, i had to stop and get gas for my car. that finished at 5:35. then i was stuck in traffic on 95… i eventually made it to the station with plenty of time, but because it was cal ripken’s hall-of-fame sendoff + bobblehead night + $8 bargain night the entire parking lot was filled. people were parking outside of the lot along the shoulder. i almost did that too, but the cars were parked like this:

*fire hydrant* [car] [<- no parking] [car] [car] [car] [car] [car]

no room for me to park on the right, and there was already a car parked illegally to the left. crap! ok, then i’ll go park at the bwi station.

the bwi station has only a few dozen parking spaces, and those were all filled. i thought there was a space when i looped around one part of the lot, but then i pulled back into the lot and saw it was a no-parking zone. hrm. ok, guess i’ll go park in glen burnie.

the glen burnie station had a few dozen spaces available, so i parked my car, changed my shoes and shirt and ran to the train. the lines for passes for the light rail were long, and there was some random guy there (who didn’t work for the transportation authority but was just encouraging folks) who kept counting down the minutes until departure. he was trying to convince people to just have one person put in $40 for 12 tickets, and then have everybody pay that person in order to speed the process up. when it got down to “t-minus 1 minute”, the guy said “all aboard! good luck niggas and bitches!” and ran on to the train. i got my ticket just after that and almost missed the train but the driver allowed myself and a few other folks to push the button to open the doors and board.

usually for things like bargain night they set up a mobile kiosk where it’s same-day cash-only tickets. i ran up to it with cash in hand to get my $8 bargain seat but the guy running the kiosk had just sold his last two tickets to two people leaving his stand at that exact moment, so i had to go stand in the long-ass line for tickets. even then the only $8 bargain-night seats available were “limited view” so i ended up with a railing blocking my view horizontally and the foul pole blocking my view vertically, but it wasn’t too bad… i had a clear view of all the bases, at least.

they had given out all of the bobbleheads by the time i got there, though. sadness! there were only 20,000 or 25,000 available, and the attendance was something like 42,600. i heard later that those things went fast. i saw one guy leaving the park just because he got his bobblehead. BOO. some fan he is!

i got there just in time to see cal ripken give a nice speech and thank folks like earl weaver and eddie murray for helping him out when he was starting, and the orioles awarded cal with $1 million for the cal ripken foundation. they drove cal around the park so he could toss baseballs to the fans in the stands. when he got to the left field he got out of the car and threw one all the way up into the club-level seats, and at the right-field bleachers he threw one so hard it hit the jumbotron and bounced back down into the stands.

the national anthem was played by some 6-year-old on the trumpet, and it was pretty impressive for a 6-year-old playing the trumpet.

after the first inning i went to the cash machine to get some funds, and after i had some money i figured i’d stop and get a natty boh and a hot dog. the cart that had natty bohs before didn’t have them this time, and though they had miller genuine draft on tap they had just run out of it by the time i got there. i figured i’d settle for a hot dog and a soda instead, but after i got my soda some guy took the last two hot dogs at the stand and they weren’t going to get more for 10+ minutes. by this time the entire 2nd inning was over so i went back to my seat. later i got my hot dog from a different stand.

i also figured i’d try to get a copy of the orioles magazine since it apparently had tips on going to cooperstown and something like that might come in handy for me this weekend. i went to the gift stand near my seat but they had already run out. seems like that was the trend for the day.

the o’s ended up winning at least: 3-0, and 2 of our runs were bases-loaded walks. plus it was nice to be at an o’s game with a lot of enthusiastic fans (opening day is sold out like tonight’s game almost was, but a lot of those folks are stuffy corporate-types, and red sox / yankees games also sell out but get a lot of fans rooting for those teams instead… i guess there’s no big tampa bay contingent in baltimore…).

in more geeky news, i’m tempted to try my epic anime music video idea (stueypark, zenmetsu and i used to make AMVs) of “akira” + pink floyd’s “dark side of the moon”. i swear this idea is going to taunt me forever. but it’d be so EPIC!

…then again, there’s the even more ridiculously epic idea i got at work a day or two ago which would just kill me. i’ve got some ideas for it that would be 100% chuckles, but man this project would just kick my ass. if i actually managed to make this, i think i deserve a medal AND cookies. let’s just say it’s even more ridiculous than using “the cockpit” (parts 1, 2 and 3) to “clang clang clang went the trolley”!