Call me Tank (no, not really)

(Original title: Phils rocked it in Houston, but with stolen joy from Howard)

So why call me "tank"? I say don't, actually, but my college buddy that accompanied me to the game today insisted that I mention this back-dated college nickname. He seems to think my ability to not have to relieve myself for extended durations is abnormal. "Your tank is bigger than mine" he says, and as such it is the inspiration for my newest nickname. I disagree and think his lack of this ability is not normal, but I also don't think it's worth further attention. (Update: For the record, I drove the five plus hours from Temple, TX to Oklahoma City without stopping for a potty break)


We got up quite early (particularly for a Saturday) for the trip to Houston. We were pretty worried about making it on time with all the potential unknowns. Turns out it was a pretty good idea to have been so early for more than a few reasons.

As there are no interstates that go from Temple to Houston (without going WAY out of the way), we took state highways the whole way. Fortunately, the Texas backroads were kind to us on this day. My previous experiences with said roads were not so pleasant, making today's experience a welcome change.

Getting to the vicinity of the ballpark was not too much of a problem, though we couldn't get as close as would have liked because a parade (Fiestas Patrias) was blocking our way, and we just didn't know the downtown Houston streets well enough to go "off mission" with our route. So we parked in the closest parking garage, had an unexpected inappropriate incident (with something that starts with p and rhymes with corn), fought the parade crowds, walked about four blocks, and there we were. We effectively walked all the way around the park looking for the will call window, but once we found it, it wasn't long before we were in and cooled off thanks to the A/C inside the closed retractable-roof ball park.

Minute Maid Park is an awesome facility. I very much enjoyed my time there. Perhaps my only gripe is that there is no interior upper deck access. We were early enough that we were able to enjoy a full sit-down meal before heading to our (very bad because of the last minute decision) seats in the upper deck. We walked around for longer than what should have been necessary to find a way to get upstairs only to learn that we had to exit the A/C in favor of external ramps that lead to the seemingly less cool upper deck. Even though our seats were up there, the view was nice, as you can see in the pics I posted to the Picasa album (the closer pics were taken from down below near the end of the game).

The game was pretty amazing. The best of both worlds. Six plus innings of pitchers dueling, following by a nice offensive break-out by the Phils to win the game. Myself and the handful of fellow Phillies fans I saw at the park were quite pleased that the Phils performed so well (I was particularly glad my trip was not a lost cause). My one disappointment (with the game) must remain that I didn't officially see Ryan Howard hit a homerun. Technically, I DID see him hit a home run, but it was ruled a double at the time, and that call stood. But the very umpire that made the call later stated that he called it wrong, following a review of the replay video. Grrr. Didn't he know I drove five hundred miles to see that homerun?

After the game we were helped out traffic-wise by the pre-game-ending evacuation of Astros fans. It didn't hurt also that we were parked a few minutes away. By the time we got back to the car and hit the road, we had a real easy time getting around. If only I didn't get a little lost trying to find the highway. But that was short lived and we were back on our way before we knew it. At least until we saw the electronic road signs that read "major accident, [highway] closed ahead". This could have been a devastating event for surprisingly smooth trip up to that point. But we got very fortunate that when we got off the highway to find an alternate route, there were enough signs to get us back on the right road on the other side of the accident.

With the exception of a slight delay as we looked for and acquired something to eat (and ignoring the fact that I nearly smacked our waitress in the butt... on accident of course [those who know me know that I'm a hand-talker]), the remainder of trip back was pretty smooth. I did get two rock chips in my windshield -- a very angering incident -- but that didn't technically impact the overall trip.

I was supposed to drop my friend off at his place and head back to OKC. But after more than 7 hours of driving round trip, quite a bit of walking, and more college reminiscing than you can shake a stick at [read: WAY to much laughing at ourselves], I am zonked, and have opted to stay another night in Temple. Not sure it will prove to be a wise choice, but I just don't see how I can make the five plus hour drive back.