March 31, 2009 - Coaching Baseball

Coach Marc!

Yep, you read it right - I am helping out at Holy Trinity High School with their baseball team. My mom taught at the school, so she put me in touch with the baseball coach Tracy Biggs. Tracy and I played a year of summer ball together and we played against each other many times during High School! He was a great player then, and he is a great coach & person now.

Today the varsity team had a game at MCC, so I stayed with the JV team to throw batting practice. I think I threw about 420 pitches.............yes 420!!!!! Each of the 12 players got 32 hits.....I probably throw about 88% strikes, and foul balls don't count as a hit - so that all together means a lot of pitches. I threw BP last week and could not feel my fingers for a couple days......but I don't feel as sore today;)

One of the kids was having a bad round of BP, so I asked him if the speed was ok.......I asked him if it was too fast or too slow or if he wanted me to make any adjustments. The kid looked at me, shrugged his shoulders and said "ah, its ok".....So I asked him what he wanted differently....... he said "well, can you throw it harder?" (Any of you that have seen me pitch, or have seen me throw, know that harder is not normally a problem.) When he came up for his turn I started throwing normal and asked him "Are you sure you want it harder"....because he was not really hitting me as it was....... and he said "Yes, bring it!"........................ALRIGHT! So i pumped up the speed about 30% and smiled. He watched the first 4 pitches pass by, then took a few late hacks as the ball was hitting the net behind him......so after about 8 pitches his buddies told him maybe he should try to hit at the regular speed. Thank goodness I did not bean him.......then the story would not be as funny;-)

The kids are great and keeping me active - so all is good in Florida!

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March 26, 2009 - Another Alligator Hanging in the Hood!

Another Gator in the Hood!

On my way to baseball practice today I noticed ANOTHER alligator sunning itself on the bank of our neighbors pond. This gator was bigger than the one from yesterday. It has to be at least 8 or 9 feet long!


Here is a different angle. From the other side of the pond, you can see the full profile, but I did not get that picture.

Look at the size of this thing....just hanging out!

On my way home, I noticed it was still sitting in the same spot - but it was sitting with its mouth open. Yeah, teeth and all! I guess it has been a long time since I have been exposed to these things, so it is kinda cool all over again! I remember this little guy when he was only about 3 or 4 feet long and he use to cross the street from pond to pond.............my how he as grown!

Anyone want to come visit?

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March 25, 2009 - "There's a gator in the yard!"

"There is a gator in the yard!"

On my way to the gym this morning, as I am backing out of the garage, I see the Florida Wildlife truck at the end of my drive......but I did not think anything of it because they are all over the Island. I figured they were looking for a gator or snake or something - however by the time they arrive, the animal they are suppose to be searching for is normally gone.

So, as I back down the driveway and on to the street, I glance over to the yard across the street and I see a 7ft gator laying in the yard! Ah, yeah, a huge gator just sitting there! I guess they trapped it this morning because it has been climbing on the bank into peoples yards along the canal. That can be dangerous for small animals and small children. We have been in this house for about 30 years and I don't remember a gator ever taken away. It was just normal for us to see the gators in the water, or sunning on bank........... however today was different as they hauled the gator away.

Here are a couple shots of the gator in the back of the truck...

Here is a picture of his head - just think about the size of a wheel well in the truck - then look a the size of his head next to the wheel well..... Oh yeah, he is laying on top of another gator!

Check out the size of this gator in the back of the truck. The gator is laying diagonal across the back of the truck. It's tail actually reaches the opposite side of the bed and wraps up. You can see it in the lower left hand side of the picture. Imagine a slap across the forehead with that baby!
Keeping the theme of aquatic animals - we decided to try a Brevard County landmark for dinner tonight. We went to the World Famous Dixie Crossroads in Titusville for great seafood. We all had shrimp of some sort and Jenn had a little catfish. Anyway, the food was really good - you should definitely try it some time.

Go Gators!

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March 24, 2009 - Day at the Ball Park!

Hanging with friends at the Astros game in Florida!

Tuesday was a great day! Jenn and I woke up early to work out at the Healthplex. After a great workout, I drove to Osceola to meet up with Shane Hildreth to watch the Astros Spring training game. The 'stros won 8-0, however it was a close game all except for 1 inning. I had a blast hanging with Shane and his client Dan. It was just like old times!

Osceola Stadium looks totally different from when I played there 15 years ago. I guess back in 2005 the stadium got a total facelift............ah, where was that when I was playing!!!! Either way, the stadium looked great and it was nice to be back.

Here is a quick picture from Me, Dan, and Shane outside the front offices.

We had amazing seats! We sat with the players wives, girlfriends, groupies.....right behind home plate. As you can see from the picture, we could see everything! Shane came through big time with these awesome seats!

I like this shot because the ball is still in flight. If you look at the hitter, he is in the load position - right before he was about to swing. The nice thing about these seats is that we could see all the pitches....and the curveballs were NASTY!

This looks like an ordinary baseball bat chair.....sure we have all seen one before........but I bet you have not seen a bat chair like this one. As the story goes.....the chair was made out of a bunch of old baseball bats found in the clubhouse..............
.................however, if you look closely at the second bat from the top, they actually used Roberto Clemente's baseball bat! That is crazy! He was one of the best players of all time. Anyway.....like they say on CSI (Vegas, NYC, & Miami)....... "sometimes things are not as they seem".

We spent a few minutes in the radio booth. The game was being broadcasted on 790KBME in Houston, and on all the Astro Network stations. Milo Hamilton was in the booth along with the other two broadcasters. They have A/C in the booth, so it was a nice pit stop for an inning.

George Bush heard I was going to be at the game, so he made the trip to Florida to watch it with me - pretty neat. The picture above is of all the cars that he and the secret service drove to the game. Well, I don't think George drove, so I guess these are the vehicles that brought him to the game.

Mr. Bush sat down by Drayton in the first row (wearing a blue shirt). He was surrounded by secret service - it was neat watching a bunch of guys wearing sports coats in 90 degree weather talking to their wrist!

I almost feel bad for '41 because he was surrounded by people everywhere he went. It took him 10 minutes to sit down and 10 minutes to leave........what if he had to go to the bathroom? That would suck!!!!

My friend Andrew from High School works for the local newspaper, so he came out to take some shots and to watch the game with us for a few innings. Such a small world! It was fun hanging out for a few innings.

After a day of baseball, a hot dog, quality time with friends, and lots of sunshine the game was over around 4pm. I had a blast spending the day at the park, hanging with Shane, and enjoying baseball!

I sure do miss playing, but there is something to be said about being able to walk after a game:)

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March 22, 2009 - ROAD TRIP!

Road trip to Florida! Written by Jenn Magnone

So, Marc and I continued our 'Journey of a Lifetime' across the U.S. on Monday, driving from Annapolis, MD down to Merritt Island, FL. ROOOAAADDD TTTRRRIIIPPP! =)

We were sad to say goodbye to Dad Magnone and the lovely town of Annapolis but were excited for our next set of adventures literally 'down the road'. I'm not sure how Marc actually managed to get all of our stuff into this rental car, but he did and around 9:30 am on Monday, we were off!

Maddie and Dexter have become expert travelers - at least as it applies to riding in the car. They only attempted to come up front a couple of times before settling in their respective spots in the backseat...we do a good job of giving them a lot of room to move around back there but we try our best not to let them up front, or they will be in our laps the entire way...and 14 hours is a long time to have two dogs in your lap...I'm just sayin'. =)

A packed 'packed' car...

The babies settling in above and below is one of our first signs in Virgina

Passing the Pentagon - it is huge!

This was a huge Phillip Morris office we passed on 95S - all I could think about was how many people in that office must have or are going to have cancer in their life...go figure...

Welcome to North Carolina! Dexter was checking things out...

We ran into MOBY somewhere along the interstate (above)

I caught Dexter 'grooming' his sister in the picture above. Often Maddie will be sound asleep and all of a sudden Dexter will start licking her face and ears and eyes and nose...so cute...she just lays there and acts as if it's the best thing ever...lol.

Back to sleep in the picture above - new positions...haha... Below Dexter is working on getting into something - not sure what be he definitely looks guilty.

Maddie May - sound asleep above - she stayed that way most of the trip... Where as Dexter was roaming around often - the picture below is him trying to sneak over the barrier we have between the back and front seats...nice little peek-a-boo action going on...

Here we are in South Carolina! This is where traffic STOPPED - just a lot of construction which ended up in us losing at least an hour...making the drive a little longer...blah.

Above is this GIANT place called South of the Border...looked like an amusement park of some sort, it was crazy! There were all these signs throughout S. Carolina as we got close to it reminding drivers to stop at South of the Border... We couldn't tell but we think it might be closed down - it sure was desolate......

Somewhere in South Carolina we finally gave in and let the puppies come up - they were whining and begging and crying and really all they wanted was to lay in our laps...so the rest of the ride we were each 'with dog'....

This is where the pictures get bad...the one above is us leave South Carolina and below - 'We're Glad Georgia's On Your Mind' aka Welcome to Georgia... It rained almost the entire way to Florida so between it getting dark and the rain, our pictures started to stink after these...

We finally made it to Florida around - eh - 8:30ish...and were trying to figure out whether we should keep going or stop and snooze for the night. We opted to keep on going...

And I'm SOOOOO glad we did because I got to eat at Krystal's...for those who haven't had this treat, you're missing out! I used to eat there all the time in Mississippi when visiting my family but haven't been back lately and haven't seen a Krystal's in a long time. Sooo - once spotted, we stopped and I chowed down...soooo yummy!

So that was our trip! It took us about 15 hours to get there with a lot of site-seeing along the way... We had a nice time although we both kept talking about how surreal everything in our life has become - I mean if you would have told me three months ago that I'd be on a road trip traveling from New York City to Merritt Island, FL to stay indefinitely, I would have told you that you were crazy! =) Funny how life can change JUST LIKE THAT...but all is well and we're enjoying our time in Florida. We had a fun drive and are happy to be here - will catch you up on our Florida time soon!

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