Third MLB Game in One Week

[On location in Cumberland, Wisconsin]
It’s been a busy time at home this week so far. On Monday morning I took my car over to Rice Lake to get some new front rotors and brake pads installed, because it had been shaking a bit too much for my liking when I braked at freeway speeds. But now it doesn’t seem to shake at all. I’d say it was a reasonable and worthwhile $167, and hopefully will be the last time I ever have to fix the brakes on my car. My odometer’s quickly closing in on 220,000 miles, after all! It should turn that early on my drive back to Penn State next week. I love my 1991 Mazda 626 GT!
On Tuesday afternoon I drove down to the Twin Cities to go to a Twins game with some old friends from Gustavus. It was fun getting to hang out some with Ben, Zach, Jolene, Brendan, Kate & Vicki, all while enjoying some Twins baseball! We Twins fans were all thrilled when we got to the ballpark to see that Torii Hunter was still with the team and that he wasn’t dealt before the trade deadline, and I think he was happy to find himself still in a Minnesota uniform, because he hit a solo homer to left to lead off the 2nd inning, and then hit another ball deep to center field in his next at-bat, only to have the Royals center fielder make a stellar catch, leaping above and reaching over the wall to rob Torii of a 2nd home run on the day. It was a pretty quick game, with Silva turning in a solid performance for the Twins as they went on to a 5-3 victory. I’ve now been to four MLB stadiums this year alone, and this was the third major league game in three cities I attended in a one-week span.
I stayed overnight at Ben, Zach & Jolene’s apartment in southwest Minneapolis, chatting with them for awhile, and then after they all went to work in the morning I drove up to Roseville (crossing the 35W bridge along the way) to meet my old friend Dan Williams for lunch. It was fun to catch up with him and hear what he’s been up to. Then in the evening, after coming back to Cumberland, I went with my parents down to Taylors Falls for Bible study with the folks at Word of Life Church. That’s where I found out about the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in downtown Minneapolis.
Pretty much all day yesterday I was glued to the coverage of the recovery effort, flipping between CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and local channels KARE, KSTP and WCCO. This whole story has been gripping to me, mostly because I’m so familiar with Minneapolis-St Paul, and because I’ve traversed that bridge I don’t know how many times. The official death toll currently stands at 5, with I believe 8 people missing who are presumed dead, according to authorities. While it’s still tragic that anybody died in this disaster, I think it’s miraculous that the death toll won’t presumably be much higher than about a dozen, once the divers are able to recover the bodies from all the cars that are still pinned underwater. When I first saw the pictures of the bridge collapse, I assumed there’d be at least 30-50 fatalities. The stories of heroism and ordinary people dropping everything to do what they could to help out have been encouraging though.
Last night I took a break from the coverage of the 35W bridge collapse coverage to go over to Nathan & Laura’s place in Rice Lake to play Cities & Knights of Catan with them, Mark & Wayne. Even though I never seem to manage to do well, it’s still a fun game. I’m probably even gonna buy the game for myself too, perhaps before I get back to PSU. And maybe the Sauron expansion to the Lord of the Rings board game I have, too. Mmmm, new board games…. Stay tuned! Time for me to go have some more fun!