Friday, March 14, 2003
"Were you 'D-O' last night?"
"No, I was 'D-I'--- with the blocker."On Friday morning, B and Mark went to check out the fitness center. It wasn't very good. Many of the machines either didn't have much range of motion or didn't lift weights at all. After giving up on the fitness center, the three of us decided to go for a run. Mark had the hardest time with this, and had to turn around a little earlier than Mike and B. After a dip in the pool, we headed out to the beach.
On the way out to the beach, B and Mark were talking while walking on the boardwalk towards the beach. Mark mentioned that there might be snakes in the dunes. Then at the end of the boardwalk, there was a high pitched scream as there was in fact a snake. It was at least four feet long and black. This is a picture of this type of black snake (not the same snake). A guy on the boardwalk asked what type of snake it was. Mark replied with "Black snake."
Some views of Thomas White Stadium, home of the Port St. Lucie Mets
Mark catches some rays, but no baseballs, at the Marlins vs. Mets game.
Speed pitch was a little better at the Mets game. Mark topped out at 71 there. Notice the height of the rest of the kids.
The game featured some good hits by the Marlins. Carl Pavano was decent for the Marlins, but Al Leiter for the Mets had a rough outing. During the later innings, Mike achieved his goal by getting Ivan Rodriguez to sign his bat.
Pudge's autograph on the bat.
Pudge gets into his Mercedes.
No Mets players, only jerseys.
The Baseball Flask.
The Marlins vs. Mets game was the debut of Mark's invention, the baseball flask. It is a drilled out baseball with a capsule inside. The capsule is filled with a spirit of our choosing, vodka in this case. The ball easily gets past the Mets' security guards. This invention provides us with a much needed diversion from the 7th and 8th innings, which seemingly took hours. Five bucks for a beer? Just spike your coke.
After the game, we headed down to Delray Beach to the Residence Inn. Mike got us a room with a balcony and ocean view. The beach was about 200 yards away.
Balcony view in the day and night. B drinks a beer.
We washed up and walked downtown. It was very nice, with many restaurants having outdoor seating.
Stone crabs.
We ate at Peter's Stone Crabs, a seafood restaurant. Brendan and Mark had dishes with seafood mixes in them, and Mike opted for the all-you-can-eat stone crabs. He put down 25 of them. After dinner, we went back to the hotel to pregame it, then went back downtown in search of some nightlife.
"Have a good night." -Guillermo, the girl at the front desk of the Residence Inn, as B and Mark returned from Pete's Stone Crabs. She said this as if we were turning in for the night. We were only started.
Mark ran up to the walk up ATM.
The scam.
We found a cool hangout on the main drag in Delray Beach. It was a bar with both indoor and outdoor areas, and stages in both places with live music. It was crowded when we arrived, and B and Mark searched for a path to the outdoor bar for a beer. We were one row of people behind the bar, and an older woman offered to help us out. She explained how it was tough to get a beer sometimes with the long lines. She took B's money and ordered our beers from the bartender. But it was a two for the price of three scam. The cost of her services was one beer. Ouch. Bad start. We learned a quick lesson.