"I didn't know female baseball fans existed"

I am currently finding myself amidst a pile of papers about 1/2" thick that are surrounding my computer and travelling onto the floor. There are piles here, there, and everywhere. I have been trying to get them sorted out! Three big things have happened as of late:

1. I went to Phoenix for Brewers spring training with Al
2. I found out my roommate is moving out
3. We found out about our Ethiopia grant

Our trip to Phoenix was an absolute BLAST. First of all, can I say that I completely love being in a city? Like, an actual city! I love it. We both arrived at the airport at the exact same time on Friday, ready to watch some baseball! We were shuttled to the car rental center and given a free upgrade to a sporty little Chevy Cobalt. It was a much-enjoyed upgrade from the economy class we originally rented. This is perhaps because the agent felt bad at my complaining because of the $50 charge for being under 25. Did I mention that I'm almost 24 1/2? Did I also mention that I have nothing, absolutely nothing, on my driving record? Gr. I believe it's called ageism - a form of discrimination. And it's frustrating, annoying, unfair, and expensive. Anyways, we were happy with the car.

We headed directly to Maryvale Stadium to check out the Brewers playing the Texas Rangers. Fortunately, they came from behind and won. We had great seats along the first baseline, and our ticket prices included a beer and a T-shirt. Nice. After, we headed to the Super 8 motel (the prostitutes were not out yet...not until 10:00 at night) and checked in. After looking at a Phoenix brochure, we decided to head downtown to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. There was a Phoenix Suns game going on downtown, so things were pretty darn busy. It was a great time, and downtown Phoenix was beautiful. Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel and yes, were in bed by 10:00! We felt a bit old...but we were exhausted.

Saturday, we woke up early and headed to the baseball park at about 10ish after stopping for Subway and a nice refreshing Milwaukee-brewed 12-pack (most of which we ended up leaving for the Super 8 housekeeping staff, but that's neither here nor there). We checked out batting practice, pitching practice, and the young kids baseball camp-type-thing. We bought lawn tickets (only $8!!!). What a deal! It was pretty darn warm out, and since I was still recovering from sunburn from the day before (my fault, I know...), we moved to the shaded part of the bleachers for the last three innings. The Brewers won against the Kansas City Royals. You could definitely tell how the crowd picked up on Saturday though - a lot of Phoenix locals just out enjoying the day. It was pretty cool.

Saturday night, we found ourselves not sure of what to do, but we knew we didn't want to spend the whole time in the hotel. So, we checked out the events and decided to head to Margaritaville for dinner and to the Phoenix Coyotes game. Who are the Phoenix Coyotes, you are asking? Well, we asked ourselves the same thing, until we arrived in the parking lot and saw that everyone was wearing hockey jerseys. My first NHL game! We went to dinner at Margaritaville, thinking the game was at 7. However, after telling the bartender that we were going to the game and we took our merry little time eating our dinners, he kindly informed us that the game had started at 5 (our watches said 6). Hmm...well, we paid quickly and headed out. The cheapest tickets were $28 in the box office (it was an important game apparently), so we bought two tickets off of a scalper for $5 off the ticket price. Good deal. We made it in for the 2nd and 3rd periods. Although they lost, it was still a great time and a good addition to our vacation.

Sunday morning, we woke up at 3:00 to make it to the airport for my early-morning flight. I was hoping to bump my flights all day and keep racking up Delta vouchers, but no luck. In Salt Lake, I had to run to catch my flight to Missoula and thankfully made it with only minutes to spare. Anyways, that sums up my weekend. I made it home and headed to the International Culture and Food Festival at UM with Julia, Lindsay, and Becca. I was exhausted!

Pictures are unfortunately a pain to post on here (yes, they have been the whole time). Try following this link to my photo album on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2188136&l=d969a&id=26716841

Sunday night, I also found out that my roommate is moving out, so there will be big changes around I21. I will spend the next few weeks on my own until Nicole comes home in the beginning of April! Maybe I will be able to get some work done...

We also found out about our grant to Ethiopia today. We got it! Tsk, tsk, tsk...just kidding. It was unfortunate, but at least we'll be able to plan our summers now. We were also sort of dreading the amount of work that trip was going to take, but hey, it was a great learning experience. Now I just have to figure out what I am going to do this summer. Any suggestions? Please tell me....

Good night. Love. Peace.