PERSONAL NEWS: Rivercats Baseball Game AAR (28 June 2007)

.The Sacramento Rivercats baseball team logo.

Hi All,

Well, I made it to my first professional baseball game eve last Thursday evening (28 June 2007) and what a game it was! It went SIXTEEN innings! From my understanding, they normally only go nine. I would have posted this on Friday, but I was sick and didn't do much but sleep off whatever I had on Friday.

Here's my friend Debbie's description of the game. She actually knows something about baseball unlike me.

A hit by Jason Perry, one of the Rivercats payers.

Last night was a very exciting game. We had multiple home runs and at the end of the 9th inning, we were tied with the Fresno Grizzlies 7-7. So into overtime we went. Inning by inning it went on, we went through multiple closing pitchers and finally at 10:30 p.m. my husband & I left for home, but we listened to the game on the radio all the way home and then turned it on in the house and I listened on to the end! The game went to SIXTEEN (16) innings, the longest game in River Cat's history! Unfortunately we lost 8-7 in the 16th at about 11:55 p.m., but I do believe we got our money's worth! Many of our group were shown on the huge TV set out in center field. Susan K. won the raffle prize of a seat cushion and I screamed myself horse watching. Except for the loss, it was a great game! For those who saw it I hope you enjoyed yourself and will come again, and for those who didn't come, you might want to consider going with us next year or sometime during the rest of this season.

Here are my "outsider observations" from the game:

- Baseball can be a pretty boring game to watch at times. I'm glad I came with a group. It made the boring parts easier because we could chat.

- Many fans didn't seem to be watching the game either. Socializing and eating seemed to be the order of the day. Yelling for the home team and actually watching the game were also important, but it seemed like they were less important than socializing.
- My favorite guy to watch was J.J. Furmaniak, who seemed to hit doubles and homers all game. He also had the coolest theme song "She's a maniac," which helped the clueless like me know who was coming to bat.
- The "Peanuts & Crackerjacks" song is fun to sing.
- Baseball has an incredible number of cheers from classic rock songs to the Rebel "charge" we yelled every couple plays or so.
- The game itself was like a three-ring circus with kids singing, adults singing in a contest, hot dogs getting shot out of a machine at us, Frisbees thrown into the audience, baseballs getting tossed to the audience, mascots mock-fighting, and a whole bunch of things that certainly weren't the baseball game itself.
- One-Dollar hot dog and ice cream night was cool. I ate several hot dogs with lots of relish and onions. the other concessions were incredibly high! I didn't touch any of the really expensive vittles and stuck to the one-Dollar deals.

- One should always bring a baseball cap and/or a mitt to a game to catch fly balls with. If you get hit with a baseball tipped off of a bat, you can get a pretty good walloping... even serious injury. I saw a few people get hit... the game is almost gladiatorial in that respect. I could imagine Roman spectators getting thrown to the lions... or, in this case, getting clocked by errant high-speed baseballs.
- It really sucks when a game goes SIXTEEN innings and you have to get up the next morning (...or stay home sick as I did).
- Overall, the game was a good experience although I'm not sure if I'd go again. SIXTEEN innings was a long time to be at a baseball game though!

A special thanks to Patty and JoAnne for giving me a ride over and sharing their garlic fries to me.

And a very special thanks for my friend John G., his wife, and his kids who patiently explained to me what was going on and shared their peanuts with me. They also teased me mercilessly, but it felt good since I was being included. John's wife is a sweetheart.

And, lastly, many thanks to Debbie who organized this whole outing! Thanks, Deb!

Go Rivercats!

For a full write-up of the game, please see this link:
http://www.rivercats.com/news/index.html?article_id=731

For more information about the Rivercats, please see this link:
http://www.rivercats.com/home/

Have a great Monday!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

Notes regarding photos / pictures / videos: These are not all my images and videos. I am using various images and videos from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images and videos under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (if it is indeed an infringement).

GAMING NEWS: A Tale From The New World of Lustria!

.A view from the endless jungles and swamps of Lustria.

Hi All,

My latest gaming enjoyment has come from a Warhammer Fantasy Battles (WHFB) / Mordheim / Warhammer Fantasy Skirmish gaming campaign I’ve been playing with guys from the local DodT club… it’s been a blast. And, of course, we’re only about a year late and a few Dollars short since GW ran their Lustria campaign season AT LEAST a year ago, but what the heck! We’re having a good time! One of the little joys from the campaign has been to read some pretty fantastic short fiction written in the form of battle reports from our campaign.

Here’s a gem that I really enjoyed:

“First Blood: A Story From One Of the Empire’s Conquistadors”
By: Mr. Thomas Foss Esquire the Third

Defender of the Realm, Drinker of Fine Beer & Clown-o-phobe.

It was hot - dreadfully hot. It reminded Captain Jan Carlos Flikker of standing next to the Heretic fires with his mother, back in his homeland of Castillia. Now he was wading through jungles and swamps halfway across the world, scouting for an elector count and trying to earn enough gold to get back his commission and form a new regiment of pistoliers. To do that, you curry favor of the Count - and that means gold and weird stone - and lots of it. And everyone knows that both are flowing out of the New World known as Lustria!

“Captain - we have found some ruins!” called out one of his swordsmen.

Flikker’s small but able scout party, like his own bloodline, was a mix of Castillian and Marienburger soldiers. Hire the best swordsmen and the best marksmen, and you get a war band that can deal with most anything.

As the group of ten soldiers fanned out into the clearing, the scouting party could see two temples, one about the size of a house, the other the size of a small church. Between them in the center was a large rectangular stone pool. It actually looked clean enough to be inviting. One of his three marksmen pointed his musket towards the opposite edge of the jungle. Movement - lots of it.

Like a lancer at full gallop, half dozen brightly colored lizards sprang from the jungle and dove into the pool with barely a splash. To both left and right larger lizard creatures, one with a brilliant red fan crest, bounded and skittered towards the warriors, using the jungle’s edge for cover. With professional ease, Flikker ordered his three gunners to shoot the creatures swimming towards them in the pool, the angle of fire was difficult, affecting no hits. The rest of the party fanned out to both sides, pistols, axes and swords ready.

Franz, one of the champions, was hit by an arrow but it glanced off of his armor and only knocked him down. A hail of small arrows erupted from the pool raining down on a gunner that did not make it to cover in time; he fell with an arrow through his throat.

Two large lizards broke out on the right flank and charged the Castillian swordsmen, who managed to hold them off and return blows. Firing his pistol into the pool at the swarm of small lizards who were the cause of the bow fire, Flikker and two of his heroes ran to the aid of the swordsmen, only to be knocked down and stunned by another hail of arrows. At the same time a swordsman ran his blade clean through a big lizard.

Franz, halberd in hand got the attention of the lizards in the pool by standing alone at the edge and taunting them. The small lizards stopped their firing for a moment and looked up at him, giving the marksmen just enough time to draw bead and drop two of them. Blood started mixing with the water.

On the Left flank, held only by an archer and the champion Carl, who was also knocked down by bow fire, came three man-sized lizards - one of them appearing to cast spells. Before they could get too close, Carl fired his pistol dropping one on the ground with a huge hole it it’s chest. A loud bellow rang from the Lizard with the red crest- his throat expanded into a large ball, reminding Flikker of a frog, or that Nurgling that exploded when he shot it, a few campaigns ago. All the lizards heard it too - and just as quickly as they closed in on the war band, they skittered away and into the jungle, leaving one of their own floating in the pool.

Carl helped revive one of his swordsmen who got clobbered by a large stone club. The hand gunner was not so fortunate, having bled out from the neck wound. After securing the perimeter and chastising one of the marksmen for even asking if the lizards were good eating, Flikker sat down, took off his boots and dangled his feet in the water. “Go search the temple, lads. Anything shiny belongs to us!”

It was going to be a long campaign, but after this skirmish the coffers were much fuller. Now to see about replacements - luckily the army has plenty of hand gunners.

And here’s a short and very probably incomplete list of our players with their armies and “action film” names:

The Dagger Brothers
Aron C. – Vampire Counts
“Ritchie Dagger”
Nils – Beast of Chaos
“Harry Dagger”
Thomas F. – Empire
“Perry Dagger”

The Butz Brothers
John R. – Lizardmen
“Seymour Butz”
Peter G. – Wood Elves
“Harry Butz”
Rob B. - Lizardmen
"Lakshmi Butz"

The Other Brothers
John S. – Slann
“Johnny Sunnyside”
Maksim-Smelchak –
Vampire Counts
“Ezer Shtuyot”
(Hebrew for "What rubbish!")
R-Cap - Skaven
“Mike Rotch”

And the story itself was written by none other than the infamous Thomas Foss, one of the proprietors of Flagship Games, one of the most fun game companies around and the creators of Pirates!, Gunfight! and a number of other well-loved gaming rule sets.

You can learn more about Flagship Games here:
http://www.flagshipgames.com/

Have a great Thursday!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

P.S.
Hi Rod & Karly!

P.S.S.
I’m going to Rivercats baseball game tonight so I’m excited – my first professional baseball game ever! Peanuts and Cracker Jacks and all that!

Notes regarding photos / pictures / videos: These are not all my images and videos. I am using various images and videos from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images and videos under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (if it is indeed an infringement).

PERSONAL NEWS: Going To the Jerusalem of Aviation! (26 March 2007)

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The Air & Space Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC.

Hi Everyone!

Things have been VERY busy lately… have had a number of demanding cases at work presently.

I’ve gotten in a good amount of gaming lately… MWS meeting, gaming adventures with Vynnie of RIF and his posse, boardgaming with my sister’s family, enjoyed “The 300” at a IMAX theatre, and much more! I have links to the MWS gaming club, Vynnie's site Recon In Force (RIF), and many other links on the right side bar.

I thought that this photo was not only a clever Photoshop job, BUT hilarious!

To my knowledge, Hello Kitty, does not manufacture firearms, BUT...

If they did, I'd bet that they'd be this damn CUTE!

I’ve felt guilty about not posting lately, but Life TM is life! I have at least two battle reports with photos coming, a few movie reviews, some book reviews, as well as the rough drafts of several other posts.

The Air & Space Smithsonian Magazine... I subscribed for YEARS!

I also unfortunately missed this past Saturday’s gaming with the guys… something came up. Sorry, Gang!

The Sacramento Rivercats baseball team logo.

I’m also excited that my office is arranging to attend a Rivercats game in April… I hesitate to admit that I have never been to a professional baseball game, majors or minors, and I’m really looking forward to attending a game on Thursdays… apparently they have $1.00 USD hot dog and ice cream specials… Woo Hoo!

For more information about the Rivercats, please see this link:

http://www.rivercats.com/home/

A view from The Air & Space Smithsonian Museum Annex at a Washington DC airport.

On top of that, I’m super excited to have the opportunity to visit The Air & Space Smithstonian Museum next month… really looking forward to that, seeing DC, and visiting a good friend.

For more information about The Air & Space Smithsonian Museum, please see this link:

http://www.nasm.si.edu/

Have a great Monday!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

Notes regarding photos / pictures: These are not all my images. I am using various images from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (if it is indeed an infringement).