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Originally uploaded by akeegangu.

La Gatita Blanca

This is the kitty who lives in my apartment. Her name is Maya and she is very sweet.

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Originally uploaded by akeegangu.

Adam Morrison Look alike!!

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Originally uploaded by akeegangu.

I can't believe they lost. This picture was taken with an Adam Morrison look alike at the bar during happier times. They were up by about 12 at this point. I just can't believe it.

Spring training, the final day

So today was our last day here. It was a great one! we got to the ballpark early, and watched some warm ups on the practice field. That was cool, infielder drills a bit of batting practice and Joe Mauer, up close and personal. Then they wrapped that up and Ron Gardenhire, the Twins Manager came over to the group of fans and we got our picture taken with him this time. Then the players went into the batting cages, which at the Twins facility is right out in the open for everyone to see. Joe Mauer didn't play in the game today so he took some time in the cage. Then when he finished up he came out a door right next to the cages and some little kids yelled for him to come over and sign autographs. So over he and we reaped the benefits of the little kids calling him over. After we got our picture taken with him, we went back over by the cage and watched 3 minor leaguers hitting. One of them even talked to us! We made fun of Bret Boone with him. Amazing!! One of my favorite pasttimes is to make fun of Bret Boone, but to get the opportunity to make fun of him with a fellow ball player, it doesn't get much better than that.
Then we went over, said hello to Danny again, and headed in to the game. Our seats today were right by the Twins bullpen, a familiar location for us--we were right by the Twins bullpen in the lawn in Boston also. We saw all the pitchers warm up, said hello to a few players and the best part: Aaron the bullpen catcher, who we had made eye contact with for the whole 5 games finally acknowledged that we were STILL there and waved to us as he left the game.
The cutest thing of the whole trip though was after the game. We came out of the stadium and over on one of the practice field was Torii Hunter throwing batting practice to 2 of his kids! SOOO cute.
All in all it was a great experience. I have to say the Twins spring training is much more accessible than the Mariners and I like Ft. Myers better than Phoenix. We'll be back next year!!!

Anne, Elizabeth, JOE MAUER!!!!!

This man is a total stud. S-T-U-D, stud.

Anne, Elizabeth, JOE MAUER!!!!!
Originally uploaded by akeegangu.

Anne, Elizabeth, GARDY!!!!

Anne, Elizabeth, GARDY!!!!
Originally uploaded by akeegangu.

Great 2 days!

So the last 2 days have been what spring training is all about! Yesterday we started out the day at the Fort Myers beach. We had an oceanside lunch, some DQ, sat no the beach for awhile, I took a dip and then off we went. We were headed for Sarasota (about 70 miles away from Ft. Myers) to see the Twins take on the Cincinnati Reds. When we got there we walked right up to the ticket counter and bought 2 tickets in the 4th row, right behind the Twins dugout. with the exception of the middle aged men who kept calling each other "cuz" and yapped to us a bit too much, we enjoyed watching the Twins WALLOP the Reds. Then after the game the Twins had to walk right past the stands to get out to their buses (no tunnels to walk though in this stadium) so we said hello to all of them, including Ron Gardenhire--that was a real treat for me. Most all of the players stopped and signed autographs and they were gracious and nice.
Then today, we headed to the Twins' ballpark around 10:30 and went over and checked out the minor leaguers practicing. We spotted the friend Elizabeth made on the flight down here, Danny Vais, #30, a rookie pitcher who has been our joke for the whole trip. Another treat for me, Tom Kelly (former Twins manager) was hanging around helping out and he said hello to us as he walked from one practice field to the other. It was windy today and unfortunately, I was VERY allergic to whatever was being kicked up today and my left eye watered the entire time and swelled way up and I got a few hives, but it was a small price to pay! I have some non-drowsy claritin for tomorrow so I'm all set!
Elizabeth and I are amazing spring training buddies. We decided that no one else would be able to put up with our ridiculousness but together, we're unstoppable!!
Bedtime now, we've got one last game tomorrow, and were going to get there early!

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Originally uploaded by akeegangu.

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Originally uploaded by akeegangu.

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Originally uploaded by akeegangu.

Joe Mauer vs. Los Tigres

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Originally uploaded by akeegangu.

Spring training here I come!

I'm off in about 4 hours for another awesome week at spring training. This year I'm going with my cousin Elizabeth who is just as fanatic about baseball as I am...we always have a great time at games! The weather in Florida is supposed to be between 80-85 every day we're there with a maximum of 20% chance of precipitation on any of the days. It's gonna be nice! We'll send some pictures to the blog of the trip. Go Twins!!

Snow

The snow is back. Booooooooo!
I'm very excited too, my friend Megan who used to work with me at MSNBC.com in Redmond just moved out here to work! so I have another friend. I'm pumped.