Short & Sweet

Because its never bad to hear it....

"Rejoice in the Lord Always, I shall say it again: Rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your request known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

Phil 4: 4-7

"Consider it all Joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance."

James 1: 2-3

Thats all I got. And I love it.

-Phil

Finally Some Purchases

*My New Shoes. Haha.

Hey.

Woke up this morning and went to work at 9. I had one of those nights where you wake up at like 5am completely refreshed, look at your clock, and realize you have 3 more hours of sleep left. Soo great! Didn't do all that much at work because of the wet conditions, STILL! So sick of rain, not sick of the temps, just the rain! Got off work at 1 and came home. Took a shower and laid around for awhile as it was still pretty gloomy out.

We went out at 6 or so and got some chinese food. For some reason, I was craaaaving it like no other. It was quite good. Laura had to stop by the Apple store so I gladly accepted and Wes and I went too. She went to buy something for her iPod. Did she get it? No. But oh, I ended up walking out of there with 2 new things. A new spray for my computer, and a keyboard protector so I don't get it dirty from working. It is white you know. After eating we went to a shoe store. I've been wanting to buy some new running shoes for doing athletic type things--not just running. I'm rather picky about things and shoes are no different. I found these really cool shoes there and looked at them for like 5 mins before asking to try them on. Come to find out, the only sizes left were 9 1/2 and 10. Both my sizes. They were the official shoe of the Boston Marathon this year and only 800 of them were made. Tried them on, fell in love and bought them. Thats a picture of them up there. Pretty colorful, huh? :)

Thats my day. Soon and very soon until mi familia is here. I'm so excited.

Just a quick thing I just remembered. Wes and I are laughing/talking about it now. But one of my favorite things about Fenway and the games are when Jonathan Papelbon (the Red Sox closer) comes in to the game in the late innings. They play the song "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" every time! Oh, and they play it SOOOOO LOUD! The start of it, has like 2 notes that sound something similar to like the Jaws tone. Whenever the crowd hears those 2 notes, they seriously just erupt into cheer. Its one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Then the announcer announces his name at the same point in the song every time as well. Family, I really hope you get to experience that. Its amazing.

Awesome. Hope you're Mondays were great. Wow. The Cardinals really lost 10-0 to the Giants. Sweet.

over and out,

Phil

B b b b b rowniesssss.

Hey.

As you know I went into work this morning at 1am. Not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. The wedding reception didn't get over until like 2:30 so the first hour and a half was spent waiting for it to end. Probably one of the coolest wedding receptions I've ever seen. I'll tell you all more in person, but for starters--Mr Henry had Maroon 5 as the band. Pretty legit, people. Oh and a fellow Missourian was there--Mr. Carl Edwards himself. When it finally ended we helped carry center pieces, tables, chairs and table tops to trucks waiting outside on the street. We picked up a little bit of the flooring but with the huge tent still there, we couldn't take up too much of it. Time flew by and before I knew it, it was 6am and we were out of there. We stopped at Dunkin Donuts on our way home, got my usual 2 D-nuts and then went straight to bed. I slept till about 1:30 or so and then ate some lunch with the roomate and did some work on my computer. We made brownies this evening which was greaaaat, and reminded me of the Nut House--as I would make brownies for my roomates once every 2 weeks or so. Oh how they love me for that.

I gotta be at work tomorrow at 9am. I hope I can sleep. Last time I did an overnight shift, I didn't sleep well the night before...:-/

1 week and a half until family coooomes!

butch-congrats. ;) (not you mom, the other butch)

will- glad you had fun sir. :)

dad- wish i could teach you how to use your iPhone.

most def put icing on the brownies,

Phil

Weddings All Around

Hey--

Heres what happened today, June 27. Ate lunch here, did some laundry and worked out this morning/afternoon. Took a shower and then went shopping with Wes. I don't really know why I even call it shopping anymore. I hardly ever buy anything. I don't know if its b/c I'm cheap or just not finding the "right" stuff. I think a combination of both? Yesss. With us being so close to the park we were asked to go in at 6 today to remove the mound and home plate tarps in order for the "guests" of tonights event to play on the field if they liked. The owner of the Red Sox, Mr. John Henry got married today and was having his reception at the ball park. Pretty sweet gig. We have to go in tonight at 1am to help take down things and get the field back in playing order. The field looked great tonight. After being away from it for 2 days it was great to see it looking healthy again!

Thats the extent of my day.

Congratulations Tory and Hilary on getting married. Sorry I couldn't be there!! Wish you guys the best!

see you,

Phil

Friday.

Hey.

Day off today. Woke up late and took a shower. Ate some lunch here and then watched TV this afternoon. It was nice this morning then clouded up and rained this afternoon. Got some dinner in the early evening and hung with some friends a bit. Wes and I walked to Boston University near the Charles River and walked around there for a good hour or so. Found a real nice grocery store there and a few other places. Came back home for a little bit and then went to Newbury St. A few friends from the dorm have been begging us to come out with them since we got here. Since we have a few days off, we went to a bar with them and had a beer and danced a bit. It was wicked crowded and hot. Nice, fun bar though. Its so great here in Boston because they don't allow you to smoke inside so you don't have to worry about wearing something you don't want to get smelly. I loved it. We got some funny looks as we were like some of the only guys dancing. Its whatever.

We just got back a few minutes ago, and will probably head to bed for the night. It was fun to get out of the room and have some fun tonight. The warm, humid weather made me really miss Missouri and the people in it. I really do miss you guys, hope you're well!! :)

got hit on by a gay man tonight,

Phil

Suuuuuuun!

Whats up,

Went to work bright and EARLY at 6 this morning. Stood and watched for a while as workers set up a huge circus like tent in right field. Like I said, there's a certain event going on this weekend, which is why the tent is necessary. We weren't sure if we were going to be able to do the work we were planning on doing to the infield today or not, because of the rainy weather. We ended up being able to and so the process went. I didn't do all of these things but this is what took place. We had to do the work because of small film of Turface that had built up on the surface of the skin. This happened when we were constantly taking off and putting on turface due to the wet weather. We needed to go in there and till it up to make it a fresh surface again. So we first had to remove all the existing pro red turface from the skin. This took a little while, as there was A LOT on there. After that tillers were brought in and the skin surface was tilled up. Another piece of equipment was brought through and mixed up the dirt even more. A lazer grader was then brought in and the skin got leveled off. After that a roller was brought out and used to firm the skin up nicely. Turface was put on at a smaller rate and then rolled again. After on there it was then cocoa matted to look good as new!! Thats a quick way of explaining an 11 hour day of work.

Like I said, I didn't do all of that. Just when they were starting the tilling process my boss told me to hop on a mower and mow the outfield. The grass was pretty long (3 1/2") so we had to bag it. That meant that I had to use an old Simplicity riding mower (one you would use on your own yard about 10 years ago). Needless to say, not the greatest mower in the world. He told me I had to be lazer beam straight, and well, I wasn't. I was all over the place with that mower, as it was tough to keep steady. Not to make excuses, but everyone said that it was hard to control, so I didn't feel as bad. I ended up just mowing arcs instead of straight lines. It looked okay, but will just be covered up by a sweet pattern in a few days anyways. But I did get to mow--so that was fun. Thats really all I did the rest of the day, because I had to empty the bagger every 2 passes...so long!

It was wicked nice here today and I think its suppose to continue to be nice. Lets keep our fingers crossed anyways. No celebrities today...oh well. Ate dinner at a really good pizza place near Fenway. I have the next two days off before I go back on Sunday. On my way back from work I got asked where the nearest bar was. Im happy to say I was able to inform the guy where they were. Never thought I'd be able to give directions in Boston. :) The weekend is almost here, hang in there!!!

missing M. Jackson already,

Phil

Face to Face with a Moobie Star

Hey all.

Went to work at 10 today, did some organizing and other small jobs as it was STILL raining. The infield skin had puddles all over it, so we had to punch holes in those spots with big steel bars. Hoping it would help soak up the water a little faster. They are putting a big circus tent in right field tonight and putting terra plas flooring down again for an event. Not sure if it will be the whole field or not. Either way, I still have to go in at 6 AM. :( Sadness.

During the work today I crossed paths with who? Oh, just actor Ben Affleck. He was a lot shorter in person but looks the same. Walked by him a couple times, and drove a cart passed him the others. Apparently he will be shooting a movie there in August, so I guess he was there scoping things out. Pretty cool to see him with out a billion cameras around and protectors. Just another guy really.

Thats about all for today. Better get a good night sleep and then head to work early tomorrow. Friday I have off though!! Hope you all are grrrrreat. I miss you.

siiiick of mice,

Phil

Still, yes still, Raining in Boston

As the title says, it is still wet and rainy here in Boston. Haven't seen the sun in a few days--sad day! Its not all bad though, as its only about 65 degrees. Apparently its hotter than poop in Missouri. Sorry friends. :/ I went back to work today after a day off on Monday. Stopped in at Dunkin Donuts and got my usual 2 donuts to go. I really really hope that by the end of the summer they'll know me so well that they'll have it ready when I get there. Hmm. :D I worked on Home Plate today with another guy. Believe it or not, there is a lot more work than one would think. The holes from where the batters/catcher stand were nicely patched but the area around that and sort of to the side about a foot off was just awful. The infield mixture around these areas was pretty low creating low spots shaped in a big "U" all the way around the box. We had to patch all of that and then paint/fix the lines for the batters box. After that I did some clean up work and then was gone by 1:30. Vice President Joe Biden was apparently coming to Fenway today for something. I really have no idea why, but they had bomb squad dogs sniffing out the place and made us put stickers on all of our bags.

Spent the rest of the day around the room, as it was too rainy to do much of anything else. :/ I have more days off between now and next Friday, so I hope the weather will be nice for that! We're going to see a movie tonight--"The Proposal" apparently its funny. We'll see about that. Hope you all had a great Tuesday, it seems like these weeks just keep flying by. 2 Weeks till I get to see my family--so excited.

love to wear my chacos on a rainy day,

Phil

D d d day Off.

Hey,

Had the day off today. Slept pretty late since it was raining ALL day long. Finally went out around 3 and got something to eat and did a little shopping. Got a pretty cool new jacket. Came back home and sat around for a while and then went out with El and Laura. We went to the North Part of town. Its REALLY REALLY neat up there with lots of little shops and such. Aunt Liz and U Richard you'd love it, as it is predominantly Italian shops and restaurants. We ate at a small little Italian restaurant. Pretty good! After that we got ice cream and continued walking around there. Family--found some cool places up there that we will go to when you come.

It's back to work for me tomorrow. Not quite sure whats going on this week but it will be great none the less. Hope everyone had a great monday, and that it wasn't rainy like it was here!!

the mouse is back--but surrounded by trappppss,

Phil

A Great End to a Long Wet Home Stand

Hey. Exciting blog today!

So the weather like changed drastically and all those showers we were supposed to get last night, never came. All the thunderstorms and showers we were supposed to get today came as only mist and drizzle. So we were able to have a game!! Got to work at 7 and took the tarp off and worked on the field a bit. I cleaned all the peanut shells and sunflower seeds off the warning track while others were assigned different tasks. When we got the field game ready we put the tarp back on until right before the game when we took it off and got the field ready again for the game.

Today was pretty exciting as I got to sit in the runway with my boss and 3 other guys. The runway is the space in between the Sox dugout and the Sox locker room. We have to sit there during rainy games just in case we are called out onto the field to do mound work or plate work. Turns out we didn't have to do any of that, so I got to sit just outside the Sox dugout for the game. Not a bad seat eh? Watched as Wakefield would pace around in between innings then go sit down on a chair and watch the game from a TV. After David Ortiz (big papi) hit his hr he came down and gave us all high fives and said "yeah bitches!!" haha. Listened to Pedroia and Youkilis cuss up a storm after striking out or doing something wrong. Pretty crazy. Exciting day none the less. The Sox won in walk off fashion today as Nick Green hit a solo hr to lead off the bottom of the ninth. They won 6-5.

I have the day off tomorrow and then back at it on Tuesday. Hope all you Fathers had a great day today.

Dad-Love you, and Happy Fathers Day again!

Family-Miss you a lot.

Julie and Russ-congrats on the new baby to come! Boy number 4? Perhaps?? :)

"What difference does it make, as long as in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is being proclaimed? And in that I rejoice." -Phil 1: 18

shower luffa is turning red/orange from the Fenway dirt,

Phil

TBS

Game is on TBS today (Sunday) at 1:35 ET. Watch for me. If they even play :)

Happy Fathers Day Popps! Love you.

Phil

Uno Mas!

Heyyyyy,

After a nice morning to sleep in, I was energized and ready for another day at the park. I did laundry last night and left my clothes in the drier over night. I have clean socks now!! Lots of them. Our crew room smelt sooo gross today. With 25+ guys soaking wet, and sweaty you could see where it would get gross. Right? I went into work today thinking it was going to rain starting at game time, which meant we'd have to pull the tarp out. I can say with a smile on my face that it didn't rain all game! Oh, and the game was 2 hours and 10 minutes long. 10x faster than minor league ball. Soooo great! Got asked by a few Braves players if it was going to rain tonight--we always have to say I don't know. Its what we do. It was a good game tonight! The Sox won again!

My fingers feel a bit better. Apparently we're not the only room who has mice. Others have said they have them too. Sketchy!! I have to be in tomorrow pretty early and then the day off on Monday. I think after the game tomorrow we may go out to the North end with some friends and eat dinner there. We're supposed to have showers all day tomorrow, which leads me to believe we won't be playing. But who knows. I've come to realize that old saying of "you're in missouri, the weather can change anytime" applies to any place in the world. I just never was in another state long enough to realize it. True story.

Well good night. Happy early Fathers Day Popps, and all the dads. I miss you.

Ste-happy birthday! Kees Kees.

1 2 3 4 Uno Dos Tres Cuatro,

Phil

I'm Baaaaaack!

Im sorry, I'm sorry.

After a 12.5 hour day at the park yesterday I arrived back home at 12 am and went straight to bed since I had to be up in 6 hours. Heres how yesterday (June 18th) went down.

Got to the park at 11 and it started to rain around 1 or so? We did a lot of work in the morning in order to be prepared for the game if we were going to be able to play. The weather reports all afternoon/evening were calling for rain all night and not stopping till the next day. Oh but no, there was a window from about 7-9 that we had to squeeze the game in! I understand, you gotta do what you gotta do. Apparently Fenway loses 1 mil or so every time a game gets postponed. Thats legit. So it was pretty hectic before the game as always, people running around trying to get the infield dry enough and safe enough to play. The game started and of course moved slow. We got to the 5th and it started to rain steady. In the top of the 6th it started to really come down and the umpires called for us to get the tarp and bring it on the field. Last time we did this, we got more cheers than boos. This time, I don't remember hearing a cheer--all boos. Oh well. We got the tarp on and in place and then sat in the dugout. Oh, no big deal- sat next to Hanley Ramirez. I remember him saying--"man i just want to get out of here so i can go get drunk". Nice Hanley. I wanted to tell him to play better since I picked him first for my fantasy team, but I didn't have the guts. When I was pulling the tarp out my fingers got caught in it and pretty well ripped my middle fingernail up but not off. Hurt sooo bad---but is feeling better now. Who would've thought grounds keeping would entail this much blood, sweat and tears. The rain didnt stop and we ended up sitting in the dugout for 2 hours waiting for them to just call it. Finally at 11:30 they decided to call it.

Today I was at the park at 7 am. We didn't get started on things until 8, as the rain was still coming down. It ended up staying around until about 1 or 2. When that happens you have to fix and prep things part by part. With the rain still coming down, we couldn't just take the tarp off and fix the field--had to do baseline by baseline, homeplate, mound. The rain finally stopped for a bit, and we worked hard to get it in playing condition as others set up for batting practice. During the Sox BP it started to drizzle a bit, and about 5 minutes later it was POURING! There we were AGAIN, pushing that stupid tarp onto the field. By this time we were dead tired, felt like we couldn't go any more, but we did. 15 Minutes later the rain finally stopped for the night and we took it off, and again worked hard to get the field in tip top condition. We even got a glimpse of the sun during this. Dinner was provided for us tonight which was nice! I stayed and worked the game and drug the field in the 3, 5, 7 inning. I was spent after that and didn't have much energy to do much else. Today I went through 3 pairs of socks and 2 shoes. Thank God, I had extras!! Doing some laundry tonight, since I don't go in until 2 tomorrow. Yay for sleeping in!

Sorry again for not updating. I hope you understand. :)

Ben and Bethany--Congrats on getting married. Love you guys and can't wait to see you when I get back!

my father is getting an iPhone?,

Phil

500

Happy 500 consecutive sellout days at Fenway Park day!

So, if you read my blog yesterday then you are well aware of this pattern that we had to put in the outfield today. If you aren't aware, go read!! First things first. We had a friendly visitor last night while we were sleeping. Some way some how a mouse was in or near our trash can last night. We ended up scaring it off so no biggy. I hope it doesn't come back though...nothing worse than having something else crawling around in bed with you.

Got to work today at 10 and started right away on the 500. We first had to find a center point and go from there. After that we started measuring and flagging off the numbers. Our boss then basically traced along the flags with a mower a couple of times and then we took the flags up. Other tools used to do this were rakes, water pressure--hose, heavy rollers, you can use brooms and so forth. My boss told me to get a mower and start working on the last zero. I went back and forth lots of times until it was "burned" in nicely. After I did a bit of work on the zero I moved over to the five and mowed where we were able too. It takes a lot of time and work--more than most people think. I'll try to post some pics on here as soon as I get a hold of a couple. All in all it looks pretty good. It could look better but we only had so much time to do it. To an ordinary fan, it looks amazing. To me it looks just alright.

Really thats about all I did today. Stayed till game time and then left when the game started. Busy but quick day really. It was beautiful here again and it looks like that will be the last of the nice weather for a few days. Apparently its supposed to rain tomorrow, Friday and Saturday. Yay long days at the ballpark!!

Pretty tired so I'm gonna end this for today. Hope you're weeks are going amazing so far. Its half over! You can make it :)

many times sleepy,

Phil

"The Feeshies Hurt Mah Eyes!!"

Hey-O,

SO I woke up this morning to the sound of 2 girls making donuts in the kitchen. Our room is connected to the community kitchen and only a door separates the two. Of course I sleep by the door and pretty much wake up anytime anyone goes in there. The girls were talking way too loud for 8:00 am and I wasn't sooo happy. I got over it though. Went to work at 12 today and did a lot of the same things. We have been rolling in the pattern the last two days so that it will "pop" a little more when on TV and for the fans at the stadium. While I was doing this my boss asked if I could come in tomorrow a little earlier to work on a logo that we'll be putting in centerfield. Not sure what it is yet, probably a number or something. I have experience doing it though, as I put an "STL" and a Texas League Logo in at Hammons Field. I'm anxious to see what and how he's planning on having us do it here.

I stayed for Pregame and then left shortly after that for the day. I wanted to get some laundry done but the stupid quarter machine wouldn't work. :( Oh well. It was fun to see the Marlins today. The team is really young, so I'm sure for most of them it was their first time being at Fenway since they're in the NL. They took an extra bp earlier this afternoon to get used to playing balls off the Green Monsta. I threw a batting practice ball to one of the fans who said she dropped it. Normally I would never do that and know never to do that but I guess I just wasn't thinking? My boss was even out on the field, and my 3rd boss told me that if he would have seen me I would have gotten in trouble. I guess you're supposed to let the players give them the balls or something--lame. Rule broken at Fenway Park--Number 1.

Field looks great, keep an eye on highlights of tomorrows game, as you might see the logo we are going to put in. It's not there yet though so don't go looking yet. Hope you're Tuesdays were great. Miss you guys all a lot, and excited to see some of you soon!!!

Ellen.

not missing the hot, humid days of Missouri,

Phil

Milk

-Myself on the bridge. Charles river below.

-MIT Dome.

-Just a sign in Boston

-Me. Wes (roomate). New friend Laura.

-New Friends Nicole and Laura. They didn't want to show their faces.

So,

I love milk. Always have, always will. Is there a difference in milk, as far as brands go? Raised in Jefferson City, I only drank Central Dairy milk. There was always another choice though. The same is true in Springfield too. In Boston, nothing is different. Here, "Hoods" is the milk of choice. I've yet to drink it because it cost a little more. Every time I go to buy milk I think if there is a difference or not? It all comes from a cow, right? I don't know. Sorry for that 30 seconds of your life I just waisted. Sorry, you can't have it back. :D

Last night right after I blogged and after I ate my delicious pb&j for dinner, a couple new friends stopped by to hang out and then invited us to go on a walk with them. They just couldn't believe that we hadn't been to some places, and were practically dragging us to go with them. I can't help it--I work 6 days a week. :-/ We walked through Boston University, and to the banks of the Charles River. We walked a pretty long way along the Charles before crossing it to Cambridge, MA. We stopped at MIT and walked around a bit on their campus. Pictures from the night are all up there. Ha, the girls are really funny and its so great to finally know some other people around here!!

Today I went to work at 9 and pretty much did things I always tell you about. Please let me know if you don't want to consistently hear about the same things. Its what my job entails though, a lot of just redoing everything you did the day before and the many days before that. Nothing too terribly exciting happened at work. I'm not sure if you guys remember but last year they played an NHL hockey game at Wrigley Field in Chicago. They started this a couple years back I guess and will continue this year, at Fenway. They haven't officially announced it yet, so you guys are just that much cooler now that you know. A few NHL guys came in today to look at some things and I guess to figure out some things for a press conference. Probably for later on in the week when they "officially" announce its location.

Its back to work tomorrow at 12 for a game against the Braves I think. Maybe the Marlins. One of those two. Hope everyones Monday was great. The weather is beautiful here. Its 59 degrees now and sunny. The high for the week is 75. Aaaamazing.

smells a refill on my dd card soon,

Phil

Last Day off for Awhile

Boys and Girls,

Hey. Hows everyones weekend? Great? Anything amazing happening in your lives? If so, would love to hear on a comment or something. No pressure though--I understand, blogs are a big deal. :D Mine has been great! Having 3 days off in a row has been great and good to catch up on some sleep! Washed my sheets yesterday after having them on there since I got here. I figured it was a good idea to put some clean ones on there. Last night stayed in and watch some baseball, and some movies that were on TV. Mean Girls? Maybe. What? No we didn't watch Mean Girls....:-/

Today I woke up and was in an exercising mood. Here at the dorm we have a pretty decent work out room in the basement. I just stuck to my trusty ole P90x workout routine and did push ups, pullups and sit ups. It felt nice to work out. After that I took a shower and we went downtown to walk around and do a bit of shopping. Bought some souvenirs for a few people back home. Its hard to decide who you will buy things for, and who you wont? How do you do that? I have no idea. Tonight will be a pretty chill night as well. I have to work at 9 tomorrow. It should be a pretty lax day and I shouldn't work too long. The Marlins and Braves head into town this week for a 6 game home stand. After that we have a week and a half off again. Our boss asked us to come to his house and do some mulching for him earlier last week. I think we're probably going to get around to doing that as soon as the team leaves for the road again.

Sorry my blogging schedule has been off. I haven't had too much to talk about lately, so I never know when to write in it. As games start again, I'll update it in the evenings. Have a great week everyone!

was attacked for change by a homeless man inside the mall while eating today,

(he attacked every other single person in there too)

"Rejoice in the Lord, ALWAYS. I shall say it again, Rejoice!"

-Philippians 4:4

Phil

Weekend Off!

Hi

So no work all weekend long! Yesterday I slept in pretty late as I was tired from last week. Most of the day was spent lounging and waiting for it to quit raining. It finally stopped around 1 or 2 and then was a gorgeous evening/night. We went to the prudential center to eat. On our way back we ran into one of our co workers and stopped at a local Sports Bar right across the street from Fenway and watched Game 7 of the Stanley Cup. Go Penguins! Ryan Kelly--glad you got your wish. Congrats sir.

Like I said, it was a nice night. Not cold like the previous days. Its supposed to be nice today and tomorrow also, so thats exciting. I have no idea what I will do, probably just some more exploring of the city. Nice to have the weekend off though! Red Sox won last night in extras. Yankees won on a pop up by A-Rod which turned into a 2 run error by the Mets 2nd baseman. Nicely done.

Wellp, hope you all are great. I'll keep you updated as always. :)

love,

Phil

Pap and the Boys Save the Day

So today the weather forecast was rain, rain, rain--all day. This was just a forecast mind you. It didn't start raining until about 9:00 pm. It did sprinkle a few times throughout the day, but nothing worth telling you about. This morning I had to clean up the warning track, all the way around. It was filthy with peanut shells, trash, and sunflower seeds. After that I worked on the mound again and made it look nice. When I got finished with that I went out to the bullpens and did the exact same thing to them as I did to the mound. Here lately there have been these 2 hawks flying around the stadium. Biiig hawks. One of them landed on a camera that sits in between the 2 bullpens in right field. Me and another guy stayed as far away as possible, as that thing could've ripped out my eye balls with its massive talons in seconds. It finally left, and back to work we went. After that me and another guy got these small rollers that weighed soooo much. We had to roll the pattern that was in the infield so that it would "pop" more. No easy task, as we had to set down and pick up the little thing numerous times! This same tool is used to help put the socks into the infield that some of you may have seen. Also a mower. After that I went on lunch and was starving by then. We did odds and ends until dinner time and then the game started at 7:10.

SO the yankees and sox have this tradition that when they play each other they like to stretch it out and make it like a 4 hour game or so. It reminds me of springfield and having long games. Rain started to come down in about the 6th or 7th inning. The sox were down 3-1 in the 7th and went into the 8th with the same burden. With rain falling down even harder now the sox score 3 in the 8th and lead 4-3 going into the 9th. With the team going on the road, I guess it wasn't necessary for us to put the tarp on, so they continued to play through the rain. Jonathan Papelbon (the closer) came on in the 9th for the save. They love him here....so nuts. End up winning 4-3 and swept the Yankees. They have yet to beat us this year, which is pretty awesome. Was good to see some of those big namers again today. Worked a 16 hour day so I'm dead tired.

I have the next 3 days off---amaaaazing. Not sure what I'm going to do, but I'm excited to figure that out. Hope you all have a great Friday, and that your Thursdays were just as good.

Peace.

"do the chickens have large talons?",

Phil

ESPN GAME!

Hey friends,

Rather tired today, so this may be short. Lo siento.

Went to work today again at 7am. Was assigned to the pitchers mound and home plate right off the bat. Made the mound look balln' and did the same for home plate. It was a nationally televised game, so I was on my hands and knees picking up pea size pieces of clay. Crazy. After that me and another guy worked on painting the foul lines. I think I've told you about the lines before and how we paint them before the game, and then right before the game we just sweep them off. It was my first time painting them today, so I did something new! That was cool. While doing that the ESPN fellas came to the infield and calculated the strike zone for ESPN's "K-Zone". K-Zone is a graphic they use to show viewers where the pitch was in relation to a "normal" strike zone. I was unaware that they had to re-calculate it for each ballpark. Not sure exactly how they do it.

Mike Lowell (3rd Baseman) brought his son to the park today and they played around on the field. His son was maybe three or four years old, and most definitely rocking a "Pedroia" jersey. He would pitch balls to Mike and then Mike would hit them while his son would yell and look on in awe. Cute kid. My last job consisted of dragging the warning track in foul territory. In short--A LONG WAY! Just before I was finished I heard someone stumbling down the stairs and onto the field. Good Ole Peter Gammons trotted onto the field in a black trench coat. Had I wanted to, and I did, I could've given him a high five. Buuuut, I didn't. Lame, I know :/

After that, my day was over. 8 hours in the books. The rest of my day was spent napping and hanging out with a few new friends here at the dorm. Cool, cool people. Tomorrow will be crazy. Its literally supposed to rain all day. No joke. Not going to be fun. Not even sure if they'll play to be honest, but we'll see. After tomorrow I'll have Fri, Sat, Sun off. Oh thank heavens!! Better get to bed. The weeks almost over, you can do it!! :D :D

Awesome, I'm out.

loves blogging for you all,

Phil

Dem Yankees

Oh hello.

It was a cool, "drizzily" day here in Boston. Went into work at 7:00 am. It didn't start raining until about 10:00 am. It rained off and on till about 12:30. We then took the tarp off, dumped it and used blowers to blow all the turface that stuck to the bottom of it. Not a necessary thing in my opinion but it does make the tarp lighter and less of a mess. Nothing really had been done on the field all morning b/c of the rain so we had to work fast at getting the field mowed, and prepped for batting practice. It was hectic and felt a little bit like a game, with no one in the stands. We eventually got it all set up for batting practice and then did small jobs to keep busy until dinner time. Those of us allowed to eat dinner, got dressed and went and ate. Pretty good dinner tonight except for the fact that my slice of meat was still bleeding. Don't get me wrong, I like roast beef, just not when it creates a pool of blood on my plate. Either way--it was free!

After that we all went on the field and waited for the rain/mist to calm a bit. When our boss gave us the cue all 25 or so of us got onto the tarp and pulled it off. By this time the fans were there and we only had about 30 minutes until game time. We got everything done on time and the field didn't look bad considering the conditions. Amidst all of that, my boss told me to go do some work on the left field foul line. The left field foul line was where the yankees were. I ran over there, looking up I made eye contact with Derek Jeter as he played catch right in front of me, got some sort of look from A-Rod and watched Hideki Matsui do sprints in left field. It was pretty great to see those guys play and perform live. I've always wanted to see the yankees play, and to do it that close was great!

I'll say it again--tomorrows game is on ESPN. It sounds like it is still supposed to rain which stiiiiinks. Oh well. Keep an eye out for me. 8 - 7 ct. Sox won tonight, so thats great! Pretty tired after a 14 1/2 day, so I'm gonna peace out for the night. Hope your Tuesday's were aaaaawesome!

its not right that I can still see my breath on June 9,

Phil

iPhone 3G S Released

*Apple store, D-Town Boston.

*Fountain in D-Town Boston.

*The big tall one is the Prudential Center

*D-Town Boston

Soo,

We got to sleep in this morning which was aaaaamazing. I hung out here till about 2 or so. I ate my left over chicken strips for lunch and just relaxed and watched some TV. I got pretty bored after doing that for awhile so Wes and I decided to go downtown and look around and do whatev. We went to the post office so he could send a shirt to someone and then walked to the mall surrounding the Prudential Center. Found some stores in/nearby there. Took a few pictures, as you might have seen on facebook or right up there. I didn't buy anything, but I found some things that I will buy when I go back.

We decided to eat my favorite--Wendy's, for dinner. I hadn't eaten there in like a month. Thats too long. Sad that it costs 1.29 for a Jr Bacon Cheeseburger here though. While walking around Wes told me he just found out that Apple released the newest iPhone today. Apparently the older 3G is only $100 now, and the new one is $200. Mom, Dad--its time. :) Pleaaase? No time for that now. Sorry.

Supposed to get rain the next like 3 days. Awesome--just when the yankees come in to town. We'll see how it goes. With rain comes the tarp and that means we gotta put it on tonight. Were about to go in about 20 minutes to put it on. After that I think we may go see a movie with some of the guys. In at 7 tomorrow morning!

Like I said before. The games should be on some sort of National TV one of the days. They play Tues, Wed, Thurs all at 7:10 et. I could make an appearance, we'll see!

Happy Monday to you all, its almost over :)

first day wearing chacos in boston and loved it,

Phil

Summer Sun at Fenway

Que pasa,

After having a 5:30 start time on Saturday, getting up this morning at 6:10 wasn't too great. Either way, I did it. I started off by patching the mound and fixing whatever needed to be fixed. This didn't take too long, and after that I helped out with cleaning up out back, setting up for bp and setting up and taking down other things. We got a nice brunch again at around 11:00 or so. After eating we headed out to the field and watched as Texas finished their batting practice. We did as usual and took down screens, stanchions, fungo mats, and the big cage. It was pretty hot out today (83 or so), and its always hotter on the field, especially by the monster. Excuse me--"monsta". Had to hold the hose for the boss as he gave the infield a little more water than normal due to the sunny, warm conditions.

I stayed at the park till the 4th inning and with no rain in the picture my boss said we could leave. Its funny to think 8 hours is a short day. But really, it did feel like a shorter day. It was a good day at the park, and am off tomorrow! Its supposed to rain so I'm not sure what we'll do for our day off. P90x? Perhaps. Wes and I went to Longhorns tonight as a treat to ourselves. It was good, and nice to have a good meal :) Mom, they don't do justice to your cooking though.

While I'm thinking about it--the Yankees are in town this week for 3 days. ESPN usually covers the series pretty well, so keep an eye out for a game or two on ESPN. You may very well see me on national television as it is supposed to rain. We'll see :) Remember--red shoes. Hope your weekends were great!!

Perrrrrrrrfect,

Phil

Flirting With A Perfect Game

Good Evening,

Hope everyone is having a spectacular weekend thus far! Last night the Sox lost to the Texas Rangers, so you better believe they came back tonight with some fire in their eyes. I went into work today at 5:30. That was my first time reporting to work at that time, and Yawkey Way was just ridiculous. For a split second I thought I might be late for work, even though I was 1 minute away at 5:15 (that crowded!). I ended up finding a gap, pushed myself through the myriad of people and showed the all powerful/mighty Redsox ID. Did the usual in setting up for the game and all other pre-game duties. It was a gorgeous night here in Boston. Game temperature was 61 degrees I think.

John Lester, one of my favorite if not favorite player, was pitching for the Sox tonight. He is a great pitcher and threw a no-hitter a couple years back for the Sox. He was throwing a perfect game through 4 innings and thats when I started to think about it. How great would it be if I could witness a perfect game in my lifetime? Pretty great! Anyways he ended up pitching a no hitter into the 7th inning with one out, and then Michael Young hit a double to left center. He immediately got a standing ovation while pitching. Big Papi homered tonight and too got a standing O. They seriously love that guy here, its amazing. Lester ended up pitching a complete game with right around 100 pitches. Great game, and got me 17 points for my fantasy team--ow ow!

Tonight I got to drag the infield with the cocoa mat. It was my first night doing that so that was fun. I drug every game in Springfield, so that really wasn't new to me. Just in a different place and doing it in front of lots more people. The Red Shoes made their debut tonight. So that was fun, although I stick out like a sore thumb now. And it will be easy for my boss to tell that its me, not sure if thats a good or bad thing. :-/ During the 9th inning a fan apparently hated the 2nd basement for the Rangers, Ian Kinsler. He kept saying "iiiiiaaaaaaan!" Apparently he thought it would make him do worse?? Anyways, this guy seriously stood up and said that for a good 5 minutes. Guy ends up getting kicked out of the game in the top of the ninth with 2 outs to go. Hilarious.

Thats about the extent of my day here in Boston. Mark & Suey--not sure if you'll read this. But--I ate a Smart Choice frozen dinner today. It was amaaaaaazing. Seriously. Love and miss you all.

Ste--thanks for our talk today. kees kees :)

watched an old man sing "Sweet Caroline" with out looking at the words on the jumbo tron,

Phil

National Donut Day!

Ahoy Mattees-

Hey guys. So yea, as the title implies, it was most def National Donut Day. Dunkin Donuts did a special where if you bought a drink you got a free donut. Listen to this--I didn't even goo!!! And I call myself a dd fan. I shouldn't even be aloud to say dd. Sorry :/ Went to work at 10 today. I was able to sleep in about 2 hours longer than the previous two days, so that was very nice. Rain was in the forecast from about 4-12am. A few things got pushed up so we had to set up for that. I didn't really do anything different today that I can think of. The Texas Rangers are in town for the weekend. It was cool to see all of those guys. I was close to Michael Young (3b), Ian Kinsler (2b), Hank Blaylock (DH) and a few other notable players. Had dinner at the park today. Taco Bar! Mark, you would've loved it. We had to take it back to our room and eat it, so I wasn't able to bring Ice Cream back with me. Bummer. It started to rain lightly while the Red Sox were taking BP and continued to rain at that pace till about oh 10:30. It was more of an annoying rain than anything. Not enough to get the tarp out, but still wet enough to keep the infield skin pretty wet. Today was my first game that I was actually assigned to a job during the game. I was assigned to raking the spot where the 2b stands before the draggers got to it. This meant I had to use my lightning fast speed and get there in a hurry. We were short one guy, so I had to do the SS spot as well. It ended up being fine, and it was a thrill to run out onto the field as thousands looked on. We did that 3 times during the game, and just sat and watched the rest of the time. After the game, we did it again, and then I patched home plate and went home for the day. This is the 3rd week that I've gotten 40+ hours, so thats pretty awesome. I honestly didn't think I'd be working so much, but its good to gain the experience.

Before the game I was whipping down the foul line down the right field line by Peskies Pole. As I was doing it, I heard a voice of a little kid say, "hey can i have that rag when you're done?" I said no, b/c we aren't allowed to do things like that. Wish I could, but I can't.

It's off to bed now. Sleep in day tomorrow, as I don't go in until 5:30! Hope you all had a great week and that you all will have a great weekend!

finally got a grounds crew sweatshirt that fits...aka not a 2xl,

Phil

Sod, Insta-Grass...A groundskeepers Best Friend

*Just a 2 turkeys outside our room, they're here all the time!


Ow Ow,

Ni Hao. It's allllmost Friday! Get excited. Hope you all had a great Thursday! Mine was pretty great, I must say. Woke up at 6:30, went to work at 7:30. Laid some freshly cut KB (kentucky bluegrass) sod in left field. Why in left field? Oh, because Jason Bay--the Sox Left fielder--has a habit of brushing his feet in one place as he stands there between pitches. So we have to replace a 4 ft x 12 ft piece of turf after every home stand. It's okay, they're pros. They can do

as they please. We got 3 rolls of sod. Not small rolls, pretty big ones. The soil was still wet which made the rolls weigh 6 to 700 lbs. Lets just say it would've been nice to have some sort of machinery to pick the rolls up. Instead we did it the old fashion way. I have muscles--just not big ones. :) I got designated as the tarp re-arranger instead of lifting. After that me and another guy took plugs from the other roles of sod and replaced some spots in the outfield where a weed was starting to grow. After that, my day was pretty much complete. It was definitely nice to have the afternoon off! We went downtown again and did some shopping. Feel pretty comfortable now about where I am when I'm down there. I feel like there are still places out there though that are waiting for me to see. I got paid last night and have more money coming from my previous weeks working! Pretty excited about that!

Tomorrow the Rangers come to Boston for 3 games. I will go in tomorrow at 10, as it is supposed to rain tomorrow afternoon here in Boston. According to the "forecast" its not supposed to stop until like 5 am on Saturday. We might get rained out tomorrow--who knows. I just go with it, whatever happens happens. Awesome. Thanks for reading. You guys are great and I like you a lot.

Happy Friday, make it a good one tomorrow :)

Pete--congrats on the new job, so awesome!

Dad--when you come, maybe bring your gun. According to the picture above, they like Boston? :)

already memorizing lines that the tour guys say on a day to day basis,

-such as--"we don't pronounce monster with the "r" the "r" is silent, so like monsta. Just like there is no pee in the water! what do you mean there is no pee in water. you're trying to tell me theres no pee in the water!"

Phil

I have nothing creative to put here today

Helloo-

I had some trouble falling asleep last night. Not sure why. Went to bed pretty early, as we had to be up early for work. Ended up not falling asleep till probably 12:30 or 1. As for my day at work. Pretty uneventful. Organized a lot of things (thank you mom for teaching me how to organize things well), and watered the grass.

I know--boring day. I'm sorry :/. Things will get better this weekend, I'm sure of it! Im scheduled to work two games this weekend, so I'm excited for that. Other than that--just working right now. Haven't had the time really to site see. One of the guys today mentioned the beach. I always forget how close I am to the coast. Hopefully I'll get to that beach soon though. Ah!!

Hope you all had a great Wednesday.

loving the not so humid weather in the northeast,

Phil

Short Day

Heyy,

Nothing too much for todays blog. Worked for 4 hours, doing odds and ends around the park. Some of the padding in the outfield got hit by some equipment and ripped last weekend. We had to replace that, and then I painted it with trademark "Fenway Green" paint. Can't buy that color of paint anywhere anytime. Honestly, that was the extent of my day at work.

Last night we went to see "UP" in 3D at a local theatre. If you haven't seen it--you should. It's great. Still pretty tired from the other night. Gotta be in tomorrow at 7:30 am. Not particularly stoked about that. My neck has been hurting me--i don't know why. I thought it might have something to do with the crappy pillow I was sleeping on. Pretty weird though, I wish it would feel better.

Sorry, thats all I got today. Hopefully I'll have more for you in the days to come. Miss everybody!

my boss called me Rembrandt twice today at work, why?,

Phil

Mom. Fenway called. They wanted to know if I wanted to spend the night.

Sooooooo Taguchi comes to the plate. (haha, hello to you Sam and Kara)

Anways, yesterday Phish had a concert at Fenway. Really know nothing about Phish, never listened to their music, don't even know what the band members look like. I was told by lots of people though, that they bring along with them a very interesting group of fans. They didn't lie. I was spotted at a different location this time, one where I couldn't really see the stage or the stadium, at all. But, I did get to see the fans. One guy came up to me and wanted to know my life story basically, and he told me his. Could hardly talk he was so drunk. I don't know if I believe most of the things he told me. He did say that Fenway Park had one of the "shittiest" infields in all of baseball. But that it wasn't our fault b/c it just doesn't get too much sun. This guy is ridiculous. Call me old fashioned but you know ones infield is not shitty when you send a guy to walk around and pick up pea sized rocks from the infield skin. Cmon. Cmon!! As for the other fans, I'll sum up the whole concert in a few words: Rainy, stinky, dreads, chacos, dresses, guys in dresses, pirates, tired/drunk eyes from about 97% of the fans, weed smelling, glow sticks, $500 for my redsox grounds crew sweat shirt (didn't sell it to the guy), high fives, burlap, arguments, and an awful show.

After the show a few of us were lined up to stay over night until 6 this morning. We pretty much just helped them take the floor back up. 13 hours later, I was dead tired, eyes were heavy and the only thing I was thinking about was my bed. And the dd I was about to eat. Those, by the way, were the best tasting ones yet. Ate those on my walk home, washed my hands, and fell asleep until about 1:15. Probably go to bed early tonight and then gotta work at 12 tomorrow.

Nice to start off the week with 13 hours though. Happy June 1st to everyone. Hope its a great month for you all. Can't wait to see my family in about a month!! Hopefully I'll have a few days off in between then to explore more, so I'll know of stuff to do when they get here.

you stay classy, blog readers,

Phil