My supervisor came up to me during work last week and asked if I took any pics yet. I told him I hadn't cause I wanted to be professional about it so...I think I'm bustin out the camera this week at work! lol Life working for Twins is surreal. Following baseball while working at any other job would get you fired...not here baby! The biggest thing I've learned with the baseball business is departments like accounting, information technology, or purchasing operate the same no matter if its a game day or not. Our job is pretty consistent through-out the season while other departments are freakin out on game days. So I guess I'm a hybrid with purchasing/IT which makes me extra consistent. Last Friday I got the job to replace all the network cables in all the suites from a green color to white. Orders from the Prez cause we were not matching. So that means I got to see where all the rich people hang during games. Suits owned by companies like pepsi, general mills, US bank, target, Justin Morneau/Joe Mauer, etc. :)
Another project I did was puting little reminder cards in front of all the phones in the park where theres public access to remind them of a change in the system. That means clubhouses baby!!! So I got to see where the players/umpires/press go!!!! Got to make my official first entrance to a players view of the park through both the home and visitors dugout. Almost felt like I had a 10 million dollar contract there for a bit. You betcha I smelt the air and soaked in the moment. I tell ya...the players have it all in those clubhouses. Unlimited gatorade/candy/snacks, Jacuzzis, work-out room, batting cages, running tunnel for pinch runners, lockers that are way fancy. Justin morneau had a hockey jersey in his. There was a part of the clubhouse where the highest paying fans can look through a glass window and watch players inside. There was a sign underneath the glass for the players to see that says something like act professional because fans can see you. Hilarious. I think the funniest part to all of this was the visitors clubhouse in their vanity area. They got every single brand of shaving cream/shampoo/gel/cologne/soap you can think of lined up on the counter used because they want to please all visitors to their likings. Also I don't know if you knew this but umpires have their own mini clubhouse that is decked out like the players. Even though they earn way less money. The last place I went to was the press box. Pretty sure the press have the best indoor seats in the park. Right behind home plate with tonz of glass in front of them. Amazing. well thats a wrap up for now.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Road-trip Pics
Coors Field
Denver, CO
...represent in-in-out
Kauffman Stadium
Kansas City, MO
Busch Stadium
St. Louis, MO
...view from top of gateway arch
...St. Louis zoo
Peoria, IL
...Charles Lindberch used the road where my great aunt lives as a runway
Wrigley Field
Chicago, IL
Target Field
Minneapolis, MN
Denver, CO
...represent in-in-outKauffman Stadium
Kansas City, MO
Busch Stadium
St. Louis, MO
...view from top of gateway arch
...St. Louis zoo
Peoria, IL
...Charles Lindberch used the road where my great aunt lives as a runwayWrigley Field
Chicago, IL
Target Field
Minneapolis, MN
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Days 1 & 2
First of all...I am not taking pics of where I work at target field until a month or so. I am not a tourist!!! lol. Its a business. But here's a pic a fan took on opening day...get a feel of my work atmosphere.
So first day of work was a day of meeting a ton of people who make the twins organization operate as well as a tour of the brand new humongous Target Field (seats 40,000). I learned quickly that there's just way too many things that go on behind the scenes that fans have no idea about. I got to visit all the departments and go through the tunnels that nobody but twins personnel get to roam. Everywhere but the clubhouse...and they quickly counseled me to stay away from twins players unless I have a specific task to be around them. Hm...being IT I will probably be around them sooner or later. Fix Mauer's Ipod...Well day 1 I got my paperwork and parking all figured out. That probably was the main thing I did. I get free parking downtown which is a sweet grab because most businesses around target field make their employees pay to park. Day 1 got me introduced to the Purchasing department who I will work closely with. My boss pretty much told me that hes pimpin my resume with this position and I responded with absolutely in my mind. I also ate lunch in the "Twins Room" which is basicly 6.75 out of the paycheck and you get an unlimited buffet that is made by our own personel chefs. Basicly the food ballplayers or elite fan goers would receive with their 100 dollar tickets. Legit 1st class lunch. I tell ya...high life. 1st day I also picked up my kicks I had reserved for a month now which are free reebok twins skater looking shoes. so sweet! Also got a twins hankie which is huge for a twins fan. Back when they played at the metrodome they used the white hankies to make the baseballs blend in with the white dome ceiling along with the hankies in the crowd. Make it hard on opposing outfielders to find flyballs.
Day 2. To starts things out I found out from HR that I beat out 1200 applications to get this position as an intern. I am way too lucky. The main accomplishments with day two would be figuring out my job for my 6 month stay, getting my cube, and starting on my first project with IT. So to clear things up with my job description, I am the Purchasing Intern that does IT work for the Purchasing department but also helps out with other IT duties across the ballpark. What I found out was a big reason why they took me in is there are a ton of projects IT needs to do for purchasing but they have no time to do them. So thats where I come in!!! My first project is to manipulate data from Quest phone service and Twin's records so the purchasing department can track how much money is spent on long distance calls for each department. Doing it in excel with a little VBA. nuts. Thank you Bro. Clarke's class at BYUI. Benefits of IT...I get admin passwords for computer access areas as well as access to lots of private information in databases. They probably hired a mormon cause they know they can trust me. Day 2 also was me getting my own personal cubical with a computer, phone, desk, and chair. After I was setup with that I was off to work!!! The first thing I did after settling in was punching holes in a 300 page resource manual to put in a binder. Manual is for cisco systems to learn about their reporting system with the phones. jeez tonz of reading. Something else I learned was I can pretty much attend whatever game I want. All I have to do is stay in the park after work and I'm already passed all security. Just find a seat and enjoy the game :). Sometimes there will even be games going on while Im working. Today the Twins and visiting Indians were taking BP while i was wrappin up the day. Enjoyed some of it through the glass before I took off for institute. well thats it. Everything is way Ok here. Pics will come eventually.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Road-trip
First of all...a little recap on the road trip I went on with my roommate Rhett April 9-16 (spring break essentially).
Rexburg-Denver-Kansas City-St. Louis-Peoria-Chicago-Twin Cities
Total Approx. Mileage: 2184
Denver - Stayed with the Chubbs family who were members I became good friends with on the mission. Visited the Horstmans in Brighton who I lived with for a couple of months. Also visited the Kovanda ranch out in Keensburg where I did a lot of service with farm duties and building an arena for horse gymkhanas. Topped off the night by going to Coors Field for a Rockies-Padres Game. Started out the night up in the nose bleeds but stole some right field foul territory seats up against the wall by the 8th inning. The game actually went 14 innings so we defintely got our moneys worth. Rhett said if Brad Hawpe had 2 homeruns in the game then he would buy Brad Hawpes' jersey. Hawpe hit 2 that night. Very Cold by the way.
Kansas City - Drove 12 hours straight through the night after the Rockies game. Immediately hit up a Royals-Red Sox game at Kauffman stadium. Got 40 dollar seats for 13 bux each. 1st Base line, 40 rows back. Beautiful sunny weather and we had the shade on us. Score! I told Rhett that if Scott Posednik had 2 stolen bases in the game then I will add him to my fantasy baseball team. Pod had 2 stolen bases. Unreal. That night we stayed with some of Rhett's friends when he lived in St. Louis growing up.
St. Louis - Drove 4 hours and met up with Rhett's brother at his apartment. Got all dressed up for the Cardinals home opener against the Astros but could not get any tickets when we got there. We would of forked out like 100 bux each to even come close to getting in to Busch stadium. Instead we looked at some statues outside at a new park and went to the old courthouse. We also went to the gateway arch and I went all the way to the top of it. 613 feet I believe. Took a tram elevator thing to get up that high. Topped off the night by getting some St. Louis style pizza at the original Imo's and got Ted Drewes frozen custard. very satisfying. Stayed at some of Rhett's friends from growing up in St. Louis. The next day Rhett and I had planned to hit up Nauvoo but instead wanted to take a break from traveling so we relaxed all day and watched some little leaguers play ball at night. Next day we made it to a Cards-Astros game at Busch stadium. Started out in the nose bleeds then shifted over to Mac Land but could not get any seats there because a security guy wouldn't let anybody in unless you had a huge McDonald's fry and fake tatoos on your arm lol. Anybody who had a ticket in that section got those two things along with it. At the end of the game we thought of talking to Matt Lindstrom in the Astros Bullpen. If you know your baseball then you would know that Matt played at ricks college in 2002 and got drafted in the MLB. He closed for the marlins last year for a while and now pitches for the Astros. Rhett and I ran down to the bullpen and saw Matt warming up to pitch but could not talk to him (security wouldn't let us). When the game got over Rhett and I yelled at Matt saying ricks college/BYU-Idaho/mission/mormons/etc. but he never looked at us :(. We were yelling a good ways away so maybe didn't hear us. Rhett said he served in sweeden on his mission. That night we drove off to Peoria, IL to stay the night with my great Aunt.
Peoria-Chicago - The original plans were to go out with my great Aunt and see where my grandpa is buried but there wasn't enough time because of the Cubs game we had to catch. So we had a quick chat along with some other relatives of mine and then headed off to chicago. Don't worry!!! I'm going back to peoria and nauvoo while I'm in MN. So when we got to chicago we parked our car and walked to wrigley. On the way this random guy was walking in the opposite direction of us and we scored box seats with him for 5 bux a person. amazing!!! Unbelievable seats. Unbelievable @ wrigley field. about 30 or so rows back in the middle of home and 3rd base. Cubs-Brewers. After the game we drove off to Twin Cities and drove through Milwaukee on the way.
Minneapolis - Final destination where I'm living for the next 6 months. Brooklyn Park, MN. Unpacked my things and took off to the Twins-Royals game. Brand new Target Field just built. People around here are going nuts about this place! We tried getting tickets but only could get 1 for 10 bux. So I let Rhett watch the game while I went to Hard Rock Cafe to watch it at their bar. I have all season to attend so yeah. At the bar I ended up getting hit on by a drunk girl. The next morning Rhett flew to SLC and only I remained to tell the story. Pics from this Road-trip will be up soon..waiting on Rhett to post them on facebook.
Today I read the opening and closing remarks by President Monson at General Conference. At the singles ward in MPLS last sunday, a high counselor challenged all of us to read one of President Monson's talk's from conference the same day and work on a principle from that talk. I ended up reading his talk from sunday morning and chose the the principle of sharing the gospel. I'll share more about it some other time. Well the high counselor also suggested reading the conference talks by this order: first presidency, apostles, and others. So I begin this journey with these two talks today and will share things that stand out to me
President Thomas S. Monson - "Welcome to Conference" and "A Word at Closing"
Quotes
"Once again we call upon the members of the Church to reach out to the new converts or to those making their way back into the Church, to surround them with love and to help them feel at home."
"May we continue to be faithful in performing such ordinances for those who are unable to do so for themselves."
"I urge you to study the messages, to ponder their teachings, and then to apply them in your life."
"My counsel for all of us is to look to the lighthouse of the Lord. There is no fog so dense, no night so dark, no gale so strong, no mariner so lost but what its beacon light can rescue. It beckons through the storms of life. The lighthouse of the Lord sends forth signals readily recognized and never failing."
I mostly focused on the things that the President of the Church asked each of the members to do. Arguably, those probably are the most important or urgent things we should get from conference. 1. Fellowship new converts 2. Perform ordinances at the Temple 3. Study talks from conference in the ensign and apply teachings 4. Look unto Christ in all that we do
My first day of work with the Twins was today but I will post about it tomorrow. I talked to a lot people over the phone about it already and I am poop right now...like need sleep.
Rexburg-Denver-Kansas City-St. Louis-Peoria-Chicago-Twin Cities
Total Approx. Mileage: 2184
Denver - Stayed with the Chubbs family who were members I became good friends with on the mission. Visited the Horstmans in Brighton who I lived with for a couple of months. Also visited the Kovanda ranch out in Keensburg where I did a lot of service with farm duties and building an arena for horse gymkhanas. Topped off the night by going to Coors Field for a Rockies-Padres Game. Started out the night up in the nose bleeds but stole some right field foul territory seats up against the wall by the 8th inning. The game actually went 14 innings so we defintely got our moneys worth. Rhett said if Brad Hawpe had 2 homeruns in the game then he would buy Brad Hawpes' jersey. Hawpe hit 2 that night. Very Cold by the way.
Kansas City - Drove 12 hours straight through the night after the Rockies game. Immediately hit up a Royals-Red Sox game at Kauffman stadium. Got 40 dollar seats for 13 bux each. 1st Base line, 40 rows back. Beautiful sunny weather and we had the shade on us. Score! I told Rhett that if Scott Posednik had 2 stolen bases in the game then I will add him to my fantasy baseball team. Pod had 2 stolen bases. Unreal. That night we stayed with some of Rhett's friends when he lived in St. Louis growing up.
St. Louis - Drove 4 hours and met up with Rhett's brother at his apartment. Got all dressed up for the Cardinals home opener against the Astros but could not get any tickets when we got there. We would of forked out like 100 bux each to even come close to getting in to Busch stadium. Instead we looked at some statues outside at a new park and went to the old courthouse. We also went to the gateway arch and I went all the way to the top of it. 613 feet I believe. Took a tram elevator thing to get up that high. Topped off the night by getting some St. Louis style pizza at the original Imo's and got Ted Drewes frozen custard. very satisfying. Stayed at some of Rhett's friends from growing up in St. Louis. The next day Rhett and I had planned to hit up Nauvoo but instead wanted to take a break from traveling so we relaxed all day and watched some little leaguers play ball at night. Next day we made it to a Cards-Astros game at Busch stadium. Started out in the nose bleeds then shifted over to Mac Land but could not get any seats there because a security guy wouldn't let anybody in unless you had a huge McDonald's fry and fake tatoos on your arm lol. Anybody who had a ticket in that section got those two things along with it. At the end of the game we thought of talking to Matt Lindstrom in the Astros Bullpen. If you know your baseball then you would know that Matt played at ricks college in 2002 and got drafted in the MLB. He closed for the marlins last year for a while and now pitches for the Astros. Rhett and I ran down to the bullpen and saw Matt warming up to pitch but could not talk to him (security wouldn't let us). When the game got over Rhett and I yelled at Matt saying ricks college/BYU-Idaho/mission/mormons/etc. but he never looked at us :(. We were yelling a good ways away so maybe didn't hear us. Rhett said he served in sweeden on his mission. That night we drove off to Peoria, IL to stay the night with my great Aunt.
Peoria-Chicago - The original plans were to go out with my great Aunt and see where my grandpa is buried but there wasn't enough time because of the Cubs game we had to catch. So we had a quick chat along with some other relatives of mine and then headed off to chicago. Don't worry!!! I'm going back to peoria and nauvoo while I'm in MN. So when we got to chicago we parked our car and walked to wrigley. On the way this random guy was walking in the opposite direction of us and we scored box seats with him for 5 bux a person. amazing!!! Unbelievable seats. Unbelievable @ wrigley field. about 30 or so rows back in the middle of home and 3rd base. Cubs-Brewers. After the game we drove off to Twin Cities and drove through Milwaukee on the way.
Minneapolis - Final destination where I'm living for the next 6 months. Brooklyn Park, MN. Unpacked my things and took off to the Twins-Royals game. Brand new Target Field just built. People around here are going nuts about this place! We tried getting tickets but only could get 1 for 10 bux. So I let Rhett watch the game while I went to Hard Rock Cafe to watch it at their bar. I have all season to attend so yeah. At the bar I ended up getting hit on by a drunk girl. The next morning Rhett flew to SLC and only I remained to tell the story. Pics from this Road-trip will be up soon..waiting on Rhett to post them on facebook.
Today I read the opening and closing remarks by President Monson at General Conference. At the singles ward in MPLS last sunday, a high counselor challenged all of us to read one of President Monson's talk's from conference the same day and work on a principle from that talk. I ended up reading his talk from sunday morning and chose the the principle of sharing the gospel. I'll share more about it some other time. Well the high counselor also suggested reading the conference talks by this order: first presidency, apostles, and others. So I begin this journey with these two talks today and will share things that stand out to me
President Thomas S. Monson - "Welcome to Conference" and "A Word at Closing"
Quotes
"Once again we call upon the members of the Church to reach out to the new converts or to those making their way back into the Church, to surround them with love and to help them feel at home."
"May we continue to be faithful in performing such ordinances for those who are unable to do so for themselves."
"I urge you to study the messages, to ponder their teachings, and then to apply them in your life."
"My counsel for all of us is to look to the lighthouse of the Lord. There is no fog so dense, no night so dark, no gale so strong, no mariner so lost but what its beacon light can rescue. It beckons through the storms of life. The lighthouse of the Lord sends forth signals readily recognized and never failing."
I mostly focused on the things that the President of the Church asked each of the members to do. Arguably, those probably are the most important or urgent things we should get from conference. 1. Fellowship new converts 2. Perform ordinances at the Temple 3. Study talks from conference in the ensign and apply teachings 4. Look unto Christ in all that we do
My first day of work with the Twins was today but I will post about it tomorrow. I talked to a lot people over the phone about it already and I am poop right now...like need sleep.
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