Personal Attention

It is true.  We have only eight followers and most of them are people Melvin and I know personally.  Nevertheless, attending a game yesterday with Lea means I have gone to the ballpark with roughly two-thirds of our beloved followers.  How many blogs can claim that level of personal attention?

Ryan and I have been to several Brooklyn Cyclones games over the years and made a Fourth of July weekend jaunt to Pennsylvania in 2008.  Norton Jutland joined Melvin and me for our Southwest trip last year.  I have also seen the Mets with those guys.

Robin and I have seen too many teams to list, most notably a 2004 tour of the Omaha and Kansas City Royals, Tulsa Drillers, Oklahoma RedHawks, Wichita Wranglers and Kansas City T-Bones.
T-Bone is also one of our followers and we caught a Mets double-header last summer.

The first of Daniel Murphy's two home runs, in the fourth inning.

Lea and I saw the Mets decimate the Cubs in a classic afternoon game at Wrigley Field.  The contest looked pretty much over after the Mets scored six in the top of fifth, making it 10-1.  But then the visiting team did it again in the following frame, powered by Scott Hairston's grand slam off Cubs reliever Casey Coleman.  Both are third-generation major leaguers, incidentally.  The team scored its 17th run two innings later, you know, just for insurance.
Box Score

Packing for Los Angeles

After the relatively quick game, Lea and I headed over to Vines on Clark, one of the many, many, many eating and drinking establishments around the ballpark.  The garlicky hummus didn't spoil our appetite for Scallops Palak Bhajee at Melvin and Watson's apartment later.  Good times with good friends.

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The next day I headed south to the former planned company town of Pullman, Illinois, now part of the City of Chicago.  A couple weeks ago I read Stanley Buder's, Pullman: An Experiment In Industrial Order and Community Planning, and I wanted to see what it looked like a century after it was privatized.

The Bay Front Apartments were also known as "honeymoon row" because
their compact size and low rent made them attractive to young couples.

The circa 1880 buildings are in various states of repair, with renovations of various degrees of historical sensitivity.  Nevertheless, I am surprised the homes are as affordable as they are—I saw three properties for sale, ranging from $80-120 per square foot—and there isn't more gentrification.

My breakfast and lunch in route to and from Pullman were disappointing. At Old Fashioned Donuts in Roseland, I ordered the most elaborate item on display, a glazed apple fritter with walnuts that, at nine inches in diameter, could have fed a family of four. Although most reviews (chowhound, yelp) sing the praises of this baked treat, I found it way too sweet, with not many apples.

Later, at Calument Fisheries, I made the opposite mistake.  I should have gotten some smoked fish, but instead ordered the fish dinner, perch and under-cooked french fries.  Oh well, practice run; our trip south and then west begins in earnest tomorrow.