We're still alive!

If anyone is still checking in with the blog . . . thank you for your patience. We're still here. This last week was really busy, and it made it difficult to get anything added to the blog. In fact, we were so busy with the World Baseball Classic that Dawn didn't even get a chance to unpack from her trip last weekend to LA until Friday.

So here's what's been up since we last updated over a week ago:

SATURDAY:
I got up early because I had to go to the showers provided by the RV park, and I wanted to get a good start on the day. Still had to get to Camping World in order to get the stuff we needed, including a pressure relief valve for the water heater. I also wanted to go check out some of the boat racing in Mesa, and eventually perhaps take my boat out to run with those guys. But after my boat sank in Havasu, it was all taken apart and needed a couple hours of work. With all of the other things I needed to get done Saturday, the boat took a backseat. I FIXED the water heater! I also cleaned our black and gray water tanks, did some 'household' cleaning, and a few other things before calling it a day.

SUNDAY
Today was my first assignment for the World Baseball Classic. I had to go to an orientation out at Scottsdale Stadium, and I was supposed to work a "dry run" in media relations for the USA vs. San Francisco Giants exhibition game. It turned out that the Giants PR staff took care of it all, so we were able to just watch the game. I took off after about the 5th inning and came home to work on the boat a little. I later went to the store to come up with something for dinner. I ate 8 homemade tacos for dinner that night . . . and just crashed on the couch watching TV.

MONDAY
While I was at Scottsdale Stadium yesterday, I made fast friends with the guy who was to be my boss during the tournament. He realized my level of experience and expertise and asked me if I would be willing to come out on Monday and help him with a bunch of set up and final preparation. I did, and that started the busiest week we've had since beginning this trip. Later today, Dawn got home from LA, and we almost immediately turned around and went down to Chase Field (the big Major League stadium in town) for our orientation there. Went to dinner at Hard Rock Cafe in Phoenix (just a block from the stadium), and came home to go to bed. We were both exhausted.

TUESDAY
We thought we were exhausted last night . . . Today was the first full day of our work at the tournament. We were required to be at Chase Field by 11 a.m., for a 2 p.m. first pitch, just to be sure everything was in order. While being in charge of the Auxiliary Press Boxes in both right and left field, I got to work with my wife, which was awesome. While there was work to be done, and most of the hours we were on our feet we still got to see Team USA (featuring players like Roger Clemens, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr., and more) beat Mexico 2-0. Later, we finally finished up at Chase Field and made our way over to Scottsdale. Took us an hour and 15 minutes, because of traffic, to make the drive that's normally 25 minutes (according to Mapquest). In Scottsdale, Team Canada had to come from behind in the ninth inning to beat a South Africa team that they should've thumped. We were home by midnight. It was a long day. We went right to bed.

WEDNESDAY
Today was another day like yesterday. Same things happened, but Canada upset the mighty US team at Chase Field and Mexico pounded the young South Africans (they have 10 players who are still in high school, and the country has never produced a major leaguer). It's probably safe to say that South Africa was a sentimental favorite at the tournament because despite knowing they probably couldn't compete with the other teams in the tournament, they still entered and put up a really good fight. We were home and in bed again by midnight.

THURSDAY
Another day of baseball, but it didn't start until we left here at 3 to get to Chase Field for a single game -- there was no game in Scottsdale tonight. We both slept in, and worked on some of the important things we needed to get done before we left. I did a couple of things for a client back home, and stuff like that. Tonight's game at Chase was a big one, as there were about four tiebreakers in place if Mexico beat Canada . . . including one that would have eliminated the USA from advancing to the second round of the tournament. Long story short, Mexico drubbed Canada, and our friends from the north would be eliminated from the tournament if South Africa beat the US on Friday afternoon. Let's just say that wasn't likely . . . not with Roger Clemens as our starting pitcher.

FRIDAY
This was perhaps my busiest day of the week. Dawn decided to stay home, and I couldn't have blamed her. We both knew it was going to be a long day. Doug, my boss at Scottsdale, had asked me to come in at 9 this morning, but I went in at 8, just to be on top of things. Not only that, but in my business, we stick around until the last writer leaves, and we're responsible for all the breakdown and packing of the equipment we'd used all week, once the game is over. First pitch wasn't until 1 p.m., but we wanted to make sure everything was in order because we expected more than 200 media for the USA game. By game time, everything was in order and working perfectly. The game wasn't much of a game. Roger Clemens allowed just one hit in 4 1/3 innings, and was a stud. The USA's offense, on the other hand, was dominant and scored 17 runs in just four innings. Fortunately, international rules allow for a mercy rule that says if a team is up by 15 or more runs after 5 innings, the game will be over. That's what happened today. After the game, while the reporters were writing, myself and one other guy -- my new friend T'Ante -- did all the breakdown and packing. We were done and out of the press box by 7 p.m. T'Ante, Doug and I went out for a few beers afterward, and I took Doug to the airport . . . then headed home, and bed time.

SATURDAY
We both slept in until 10 this morning. I think we both needed it. After we got up and around, we took off for Tucson, where we thought there was a Good Sam "Samboree" for RV'ers. Looked like it would be a fun event, so we wanted to go. Did I mention it started raining . . . HARD . . . overnight? Well, it did . . . and it didn't stop until we got just about all the way to Tucson, where it was VERY windy. Complete with high wind warnings posted by the National Weather Service. While we knew there were supposed to be Good Sam events in Tucson and Casa Grande (halfway between Tucson and Phoenix) today, we decided to try the one in Tucson first. Well, it wasn't there. In fact, there was just about nothing there. On the way back, we stopped at the fairgrounds in Casa Grande, but the event was already done for the day. We kind of felt bad for the people attending the event, because all the rain had made the fairgrounds a muddy mess. We came back to Mesa and went to dinner, then did some grocery shopping and came home to watch a movie on TV. By the way, it was STILL raining. HARD. We kept commenting about how we felt like we were back home in the Northwest. Apparantly, there was snow in the mountians that border the Valley of the Sun to the north, and in North Scottsdale. Not all that far from where we are.

SUNDAY
OK . . . now we're all caught up. When I got up this morning, there was indeed snow atop one of the mountains north of us, that I could see. Interesting. It's gone now, three hours later. And it stopped raining overnight while we were sleeping. Everything seems to be drying out pretty quickly outside. We have a minor leak on the slide out in the living room, and I'll go take a look later today. Might just need to re-caulk something. We'll update later. :)

We both took some pictures this week. I'll post some of mine in a little bit.

Bye for now!