Monday, June 13 – Sunday, June 19, 2022
The Week in Starting the Day Off Right!: I whipped up a breakfast casserole to eat off of during the work week. My intention was to make a simple, frittata-esque dish, with just eggs, crumbled sausage, cheese, and sautéed onions. Then I realized I had some kale leftover from last week. In it went. Couldn’t have been more than a heavy handful. Still, every morning when I opened my breakfast container I felt like was living in one of those diets that makes you sneak greens into all your food…except it wasn’t sneaky at all. Kale was front and center! It did taste great, but I had to psyche myself for kale each day. That’s a lot of extra effort for breakfast, imho.
The Week in Sweat: A bit earlier than normal, high temps and high humidity made a visit for a couple days this week. Temperatures in the 90s slow everything down. Everyone wants to talk about how hot it is, and no one wants to move. A walk outside will give you a case of swamp crotch in a matter of minutes. Our AC at work was a little janky one morning, but it revived itself (and us) and we rallied. I like to think of June heatwaves as practice for August. Me and tank tops, fans, icepacks, etc., are ready.
The Week in Cajoling: I was meeting friends for dinner this week on Thursday. They told me they had searched Open Table and there were no openings for six people downtown. No openings! Well, that could not be true. So I picked the restaurant I wanted to go to, Madtree’s Alcove, walked in at about 5:45 and turned on the charm to see if they could possibly squeeze 6 of us in at 7:45. They hemmed and hawed. I cajoled. And…I got us a table. My instincts were right. We had a great dinner!
The Week in Geeking Out: I got to see a concert of Taylor Swift music…sans Taylor Swift. A production company is using local musicians (string quartets) all over the country to perform intimate, candle lit shows, held in small, pretty spaces and featuring music you can’t help but know. Here in Cincinnati, they’ve already had a show of Queen music, and one of Vivaldi, but I was waiting to take my friends’ 16 year old to the Taylor Swift show. The show, and the teenager, did not disappoint. They performed 11 songs, and at the beginning of each one, I got a version of “EEEEEEK!” from the teen. And, to be honest, maybe I eeked a little, too. Super fun.
Oh, and for all you Jewish Mothers out there, they candles were fakes!
The Week in Reds Concessions: I haven’t been able to work as many Reds games as I’d planned in my 2022 Summer Gig at the stadium, and all of my shifts so far have been in a grab and go stand in a spot in the stadium where high end season ticket holders sit. My tips haven’t been great, and I get it. The Reds concession prices are abusive and I was working a virtually self-service stand (I had to check id’s for beer and open the cans). It was still fun.
For this weekend’s homestand, though, they placed me at an adult slushy bar on the main, terrace level. I was actually pouring drinks, and, thankfully, the tips poured in as well. It was a GOOD weekend.
The drinks, like everything in the stadium, are very expensive. Still, there were a few people who came back three and four times, which the cheapskate in me finds astounding. It also amazes me that a few people didn’t have their ids with them. I couldn’t serve them* and I wondered why anyone, in modern America, would go anywhere without an id, not to buy alcohol, but, and this is awful, but to help identification should there be some type of violence. Ugh!
*And I mean, I really can’t. Reds staff monitor alcohol sales closely, and I’m assuming with cameras. When my section buddy walked away to use the restroom, two Reds employees were at the stand helping me within a minute or so. I actually find that reassuring. With the alcohol flowing and the crowd ebbing and flowing, anything can happen.
Heroes of the Day: It’s not all potential gloom at the ballpark. In fact, it’s neat to see how many people love the game and the home team. It’s fun to see the jerseys of the opposing teams, to hear people singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame, and to see people just having a great time. At Sunday’s game a young man, maybe 12, and his grandpa walked by. I knew this because they were wearing matching shirts that said something to the effect of Nick and Grandpa’s 2022 Ballpark tour. They stopped to tell my about their plan to go to all the MLB stadiums this summer, and they are doing it, based out of southern Florida, by motorcycle. Great American Ballpark is their 8th park this summer. Very, very cool.
Nothing Ever Happens on My Street 