A walk on Saturday morning

I found myself in Concord Center with some time to kill at about 8:30 this morning.

The town isn’t very big, but the center is usually busy. Finding a parking spot during the day can be tough.

But this morning, I got to walk around right before everything started.

Obnoxious? More like perfect!

Since Matt Vasgersian asked during last night’s Cubs-Cardinals broadcast on ESPN, there are absolutely more obnoxious at a ballpark than bachelorette parties.

Rain, for starters.

”Dilly dilly” guy was pretty obnoxious. There’s a reason why we cheered for the usher.

People who won’t stay in their seats and watch the game are pretty bad, although they will be the inspiration for my someday-best-seller “Sit The F*!k Down: A Manifesto For The Ballpark.”

There are other things, but I’ll stop there, and leave you with the thought of a baseball announcer thinking that celebrating one’s upcoming nuptials at a baseball game is “obnoxious”

Whatever happened to Boomer White?

Four years ago, I went to a baseball game on Cape Cod between Falmouth and Orleans.

Even after we moved off Cape Cod, my wife and I would still try to go to a game on the Cape each year, although we live far enough away now that we haven’t gone in a few years.

I wouldn’t have remembered that the game was four years ago today if Facebook hadn’t reminded me, and the game itself wasn’t all that memorable, except for one of the Falmouth players.

Boomer White.

A fun night at the movies

“It’s about to get extra.”

That was what one of the guys behind my wife and I at the pre-premiere screening of “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” last night said right before Cher made her grand entrance. (Anyone who has seen or heard anything about the movie knows Cher’s in it, so I don’t think I’m spoiling anything, although I won’t mention the cameo that go me illogically excited.)

We were there because my wife won free tickets to the screening, and I laughed at the comment and turned around to clap for the guy who made it.

No, ‘normal left-hander’ is not an oxymoron

One of my former college professors posted a link on Facebook titled “Here Are 11 Little Known Facts About Left-Handed People. The Last One Surprised Me!”

She’s left-handed, had a left-handed parent, two left-handed children and a left-handed husband, so finding the right scissors shouldn’t have been hard in that household. I imagine they were handed down like precious family heirlooms.

I can’t claim that, but being left-handed is one of the reasons people look at me funny on the pickleball court. (Yes, I know my forehand is in a weird place, and my shots spin backwards, but everyone is older than me; have they not seen a left-hander before?)

So naturally, I clicked to see how many of these fit me.

The Congressional primary at my front door

Mitt Romney called my wife to wish her a happy birthday in 2012.

Well, not exactly.

It was his (recorded) voice on the call, and it did come on my wife’s birthday, but our former governor was trying to get our vote in the Massachusetts Republican presidential primary.

Appreciating the local Kmart

If you see any news about Kmart these days, it’s probably for one reason.

Filling out ex-Kmart site: Planet Fitness to open in July

Goleta Kmart Closing in October, Paving Way For Target Store

Elko’s Kmart to close

Etc. … etc.

To fries, or not to fries?

As I was trying to spark up the ol’ brain to find something to write about, I came across a list titled “40 really awful writing prompts that no writer should use.”

Of course I read them, and most of them were pretty silly — I don’t have a favorite toenail, and if I did, I probably wouldn’t admit it, much less write about it — but there were a couple that actually seemed a little less stupid.

Such as “Tell the story of a man who must decide whether he wants fries with that.”

Farewell, Chase Utley

With the news that Chase Utley is retiring after this season (excuse me, “Mets tormenter Chase Utley” … you do you, New York Post), I wish I could say my wife and I have a tale of him hitting a big home run or making a tremendous play from the times we saw his Phillies and Dodgers teams.

But I don’t.

What I have is a tale of a T-shirt.

Actually, two T-shirts.

All the jobs I’ve held before

I follow a lot of journalists on Twitter, and one meme that has been making the rounds lately is the “my jobs before journalism” list.

For example, here’s one from Brian Stelter of CNN.