Liz's Blog #15 ???

So it is my time to blog even though I feel like I have done 15 of these things and it is becoming my monthly English paper, which reminds me how much I do NOT miss homework, tests, or school projects. Although I have always enjoyed learning, the work that came with many classes was not something I enjoyed.

So I spent my last blog comparing softball greats to baseball legends and it appears that it was read by 10 people, 7 of the 10 who were in our office so I guess it was not that exciting of a topic for most people, or maybe, everyone is just waiting for more creative blogs. With that being said I will spend most of this blog updating you on what is going on in this office.

Today, we had three meetings at the office...the meetings were all at 1pm which made it very interesting since we only have 2 conference rooms. Jerrad toughed it out and made use of the copy room/back-up office and since I sit adjacent to that room I heard most of the meeting. I don’t get into too many corporate meetings but I have to say Jerrad is becoming quite the pro. He was thinking on his feet, coming up with new ideas specific to the company needs and was ready to wheel and deal. As the meeting wrapped up, nothing was set in stone but I think Jerrad did a nice job laying the ground work for future meetings.

Also today, Kevin, who is on his first full day back from vacation, had a jammed-pack schedule. He had two school appearances to discuss the reading program and Nick was filled with joy as he was able to wear the mascot custom twice in one day! Kevin also had to run to Madison Computer Works to get his computer; we seem to have bad computer luck in this office. I am personally on my third computer, John, Nick and Kevin are on their second (remember Kevin has only worked here one full year so that is pretty impressive) and Jerrad has gone through so many computers he is using his own personal computer!!! Mike is still on computer number one, but had to get it re-hauled this fall and at that time he had only worked here a week!

John is another one that took a March vacation, just like I did. John is on his second day back from vacation and has been pretty quiet. While he was on vacation to Las Vegas John got married, at least that is what the infamous Facebook has led me to believe. He hasn’t said much about it, but based on the pictures it was a very nice ceremony.

I was in Vegas as well; I met up with some college friends and enjoyed the warm weather, expensive drinks and unlucky tables at The Mirage. I did find some luck at New York New York and Binions so it saved the trip from being a total loss!

While I was on vacation Mike celebrated his 28th birthday... I have yet to ask him what he did, I guess that means I am probably not a very good co-worker. Well, I am going to end this blog so I can ask Mike how his birthday was and add a few more things to Steven’s To-Do-List.

Until next time….

Nick’s Second Post- All Work and No Play...Urban Cowboy? What??

I must say that I am very impressed with all of you who have still managed to get your “Duck Wear” despite our lack of presence in the malls this holiday season. Our sales have been quite phenomenal. “Duck Wear” merchandise is even being shipped to buyers in places such as New Jersey and Arizona. You still have time to order your last minute Christmas gifts if you haven’t done so already. Looking for some help? Please call me at the office (608-246-4277) and I will personally take your order and mail the items! We also have a great ticket special running right now as well. Receive six (6) pint glasses and six (6) tickets (3 for Sun-Wed and 3 for Thu-Sat) in a handcrafted (Thanks Mike) six-pack holder for only $30! Woooooooooooo!!!!!!

So while all of you were digging out of the 6.5 inches of snow we received last week Monday and Tuesday, Vern, Mike and I were working feverishly at the baseball Winter Meetings being held in Las Vegas. We did have a little fun while in the “Sin City” but for the most part we were very focused on the tasks at-hand of planning for next season.

While there we did attend the Minor League Baseball Trade Show, which had hundreds of vendors with all types of products from promotional items, equipment, clothing, amusement rides, and much, much more. I think a few of our favorite ideas we saw were hats by a company named "Twins 47," an amusement ride (something similar you would see at a fair) for the ballpark, a new inflatable game, information regarding pyrotechnic shows, and a heat press to make customized t-shirts at the park. Much like the rest of Vegas there was so much to take in and not enough time in the day to look at everything.

We did manage to squeeze in some time to enjoy ourselves as well. The first night there we were mesmerized by the glowing lights and noises coming from the hotel casino. I told myself going into Vegas that I did not want to spend any money gambling. I fared well the first night and did not spend anything. I cannot say the same for Mike. Ask him sometime about his losses on the first day! We also had to check out one of the places Vern had looked up on-line. If you know Vern at all he has a little "hippy" in him, so naturally I kind of knew what to expect. We ended up visiting a dive bar off the Strip called Double Down. The place was very dark and had a punk motif to boot and also offered a drink called “A*# Juice”, which I was told is a mixture of all sorts of alcohol that did not taste the best. Unfortunately (or better yet, fortunately) I was not brave enough to try one.

Before heading to the meetings on the second day I gave in to my temptations and went down to the casino while Mike and Vern got ready. Needless to say I didn’t fare well on the slots and got down about $40 pretty quick. Next we headed down to the Strip and hit up most of the casinos just as any other tourist would do. As I mentioned before, there is just so much to look at and too much to take in.

During the trip Vern had mentioned he wanted to get a cowboy hat. Well it just so happened the rodeo was in town for their 50^th Anniversary. Let me tell you I have never seen so many cowboys in my entire life! Everywhere you turned all you would see is hats and boots, hats and boots. The hat Vern was looking for was a washed out tattered hat with strings on it. After a few stops in hat shops he couldn’t find anything. I asked him if he was trying to be some type of urban cowboy and why he wanted a hat so badly. I don’t think he took to that very well.

Mike and Vern both saw an ad for an event called “Cowboy Christmas,” which was a huge convention for cowboys to buy everything from hats, boots, jeans, saddles, trailers, lassos and anything else you can stereotype a cowboy to have. Before entering I told Vern it was going to be bad and he wasn’t going to find anything. We walked around in the convention center for all of about 15 minutes and Vern left disappointed (weird!!!) but we did have plenty of laughs.

Later that evening we met up with Curt Carstensen, who works in the Northwoods League office and he drove us around town in his rented car, a “big white Magnum”. We made a few stops at the Rio and another bar outside of town called the Blue Martini. For the most part we took it pretty easy.

So all in all it was a pretty decent trip. And we managed to get a “decent” amount of work done. Here are a few of my likes and dislikes of Vegas.

Likes: Lions at the MGM Grand; Water show at the Bellagio; monorail that takes you up and down the strip; Hard Rock Casino Bar; the fact you can walk up and down the strip with drinks; my amazement that everything is seriously open 24/7.

Dislikes: Seafood buffet at the Rio (way overrated for the price); Coyote Ugly bar in the New York, New York (nothing like the movie); and all the cowboys.

That pretty much sums it up from me. I recommend that everyone go there at least once in their life and spend more than two days because there is just way too much happening!

Have a safe and happy holidays!

Vern Blog #2 - What to do during a long, cold Mallards Baseball off-season

So I’m a day late in my blog posting here…I’ve got a feeling that this won’t be the last time my entry is delayed, but I’ll do all I can to make the wait worth your while. So this is kind of a crazy time of year in the life of a person who works in baseball. We don’t have our 2009 schedule yet, nobody really wants to talk baseball during the holidays & we’re mired almost exactly in the middle of the baseball off-season.

Fortunately this fall has offered me all kinds of ways to keep busy. My 14-month old daughter Chloe has been the big highlight. Already walking for a few months she has turned to new challenges, like how to trick me into holding & entertaining her every moment that we are together. To be clear, I love the attention but I can’t help but be curious how she has become so infatuated with me. My wife Kallie says it is just a phase that all kids go through…but I think it is the start of her struggling through the same thing I am. The complete lack of baseball! I’m sure she is thinking to herself, “I can’t believe it is 72 days until pitchers & catchers report to Spring Training!” It follows that the only rational thing she can do is to latch on to the closest thing she has around the house that will hopefully talk some baseball with her. Keep in mind that in her short time here on earth she has been to at least 60 baseball games (if you count in utero attendance) & it makes sense that she misses the comforting confines of a baseball field. Well I’ve been working on helping her develop some new habits to help get her through this terrible time of year.

One that we’ve focused on is music. Kallie brings her to music class once a week & at night I normally will play some classics to augment what she hears in class. Last week we listened to a lot of Beatles, Rolling Stones, Lorretta Lynn, Stephen Malkmus & others. Her favorite though appears to be a band called Blitzen Trapper that I saw at the High Noon Saloon a few weeks ago. After a pretty impressive show I picked up their CD & the next morning I looked at the CD titled "Furr" & thought to myself “man, did I just waste another $10 bucks on a CD by a band I’ve never heard of & probably never will ever listen to again after I throw it on one time?” To my very pleasant surprise it turned out to be some of the best new music I’ve heard in a long time, kind of a modern mix of Dylan & The Flaming Lips or something along that line. To make it even better whenever we played the CD (which was a lot) Chloe would start dancing all by herself! Good Stuff.

Other than that, Mike, Nick & I are heading to Las Vegas next week for the Baseball Winter Meetings. I have plenty of ideas for off-season moves my Twins should make, but as of the publishing of this blog they had not returned my phone call requesting a meeting with GM Bill Smith to review my concepts. I guess we’ll have to settle on spending most of our time at a pretty impressive trade show where we will hopefully find some great ideas for use during the 2009 season out here at the “Duck Pond.” After we’re done with that I’m not quite sure what we’ll do…is there anything fun to do in Vegas? Please feel free to send us any ideas…I don’t think we’re capable of having any fun there though…at least that is what I’m telling my wife!

Talk to you soon!