Books and other stuff I feel like discussing
By education and experience - Accountant with a specialty in taxation. Formerly a CPA (license has lapsed). Masters degree in law of taxation from University of Denver. Now retired. Part time work during baseball season as receptionist & switchboard operator for the Colorado Rockies. This gig feeds my soul in ways I have trouble articulating. One daughter, and four grandchildren. I share the house with two cats; a big goof of a cat called Grinch (named as a joke for his easy going "whatever" disposition); and Lady, a shelter adoptee with a regal bearing and sweet little soprano voice. I would be very bereft if it ever becomes necessary to keep house without a cat.
Read/Post Comments (2)
Coors Field Nugget - one
One of the reasons I started this blog was to gain confidence and experience as a writer - to learn how to encapsulate in writing ideas and events as they affect me, with an eye toward approaching a paying market at some future, unknown date.
I was thinking about this on the way home from work last night and realized that I have a mini-laboratory available to me, full of experiences which are fun to have (sometimes); exasperating to have (sometimes); and which provide fodder for learning to write productively (every time).
So I'll be sharing what I'll call "Coors Field Nuggets" on this blog. There may be times when I won't be able to share everything about an experience because of privacy concerns, but I think much of the time I can harvest enough to make my story worth sharing.
The San Francisco Giants are in town for two games. There's a lot of controversy over Barry Bonds as a player and as a potential holder of the all time home run record. Each time the Giants are in town, we get extra reminders about the security issues presented by a person as controversial as he is. And in the hours immediately after the tragedy at Virginia Tech, we had a heightened level of security briefing. A couple of supervisors told us to call immediately if we felt any need for their help.
So a guy comes in to the main reception area, telling us that he "was with a friend who got ejected, and the cop took his ticket, too, and he needs to go back to the seat to get his personal stuff." Close on his heels comes another guy, saying that HE'S been ejected, and wants to talk to the team's attorney. The last request was easy, the team's attorney doesn't have office hours at 8 pm on Monday evenings. Turns out the two are together, and although they might have originally intended to present two separate events, their early comments to us explaining their individual situations reveal too much, and the jig is up. So we call for the supervisors, who descend en masse, obviously thinking that we have a security threat. Turns out what we've got is two argumentative drunks.
Eventually the police show up, too, and they are ejected for the second time in about an hour and a half. The "personal stuff" they wanted to retrieve was "nothing much, just a bottle of whiskey." (!) Even if they had not been using objectionable language (their extreme profanity was the grounds for the first ejection), had anyone on the staff noticed the whiskey, they would have been escorted out at that point.
Like I mentioned in an earlier blog during December titled "Happy Dance," my stadium assignment puts me in face to face contact with the entire spectrum of human behavior. More often than not, I meet and assist the nicest people in the world. The challenge is to regard those like last night's pair as the exception which proves the rule.
Luckily for me (and I hope for the Rockies) situations like this latest "Coors Field Nugget" don't detract from my delight in my assignment.
Real life has begun. Oh, boy!
I was thinking about this on the way home from work last night and realized that I have a mini-laboratory available to me, full of experiences which are fun to have (sometimes); exasperating to have (sometimes); and which provide fodder for learning to write productively (every time).
So I'll be sharing what I'll call "Coors Field Nuggets" on this blog. There may be times when I won't be able to share everything about an experience because of privacy concerns, but I think much of the time I can harvest enough to make my story worth sharing.
The San Francisco Giants are in town for two games. There's a lot of controversy over Barry Bonds as a player and as a potential holder of the all time home run record. Each time the Giants are in town, we get extra reminders about the security issues presented by a person as controversial as he is. And in the hours immediately after the tragedy at Virginia Tech, we had a heightened level of security briefing. A couple of supervisors told us to call immediately if we felt any need for their help.
So a guy comes in to the main reception area, telling us that he "was with a friend who got ejected, and the cop took his ticket, too, and he needs to go back to the seat to get his personal stuff." Close on his heels comes another guy, saying that HE'S been ejected, and wants to talk to the team's attorney. The last request was easy, the team's attorney doesn't have office hours at 8 pm on Monday evenings. Turns out the two are together, and although they might have originally intended to present two separate events, their early comments to us explaining their individual situations reveal too much, and the jig is up. So we call for the supervisors, who descend en masse, obviously thinking that we have a security threat. Turns out what we've got is two argumentative drunks.
Eventually the police show up, too, and they are ejected for the second time in about an hour and a half. The "personal stuff" they wanted to retrieve was "nothing much, just a bottle of whiskey." (!) Even if they had not been using objectionable language (their extreme profanity was the grounds for the first ejection), had anyone on the staff noticed the whiskey, they would have been escorted out at that point.
Like I mentioned in an earlier blog during December titled "Happy Dance," my stadium assignment puts me in face to face contact with the entire spectrum of human behavior. More often than not, I meet and assist the nicest people in the world. The challenge is to regard those like last night's pair as the exception which proves the rule.
Luckily for me (and I hope for the Rockies) situations like this latest "Coors Field Nugget" don't detract from my delight in my assignment.
Real life has begun. Oh, boy!
Read/Post Comments (2)
Previous Entry :: Next Entry
Back to Top
