We have some other photos from the holiday season posted on Flickr.

Best wishes to you all.

We liked the seats that we hand-picked based on the list of top 10 seats: Section 101, Row W, Seat 36 and surrounding, the last seats along the left field line, just in front of the “I’ve got it” statue. A good view of the game, easy access to the bathrooms and food, area nearby for the kids to run around, etc.

There was quite a bit of baseball action near us. Several homers, a couple of shots off the wall. One play stood out (in the 4th inning?), where Jackson Melian dove for a line drive, gloved it, dropped it, rolled on top of it, and got up sorta like he caught it. He threw the ball into the infield and someone was called out. I could not tell if the umps thought he caught the ball (he did not, but I may have been one of the few who saw the ball on the ground) or if one of the base runners was confused and was tagged out. After a long discussion, the inning ended.

The non-baseball action was enjoyable regardless of the score, of course. It is a great atmosphere to watch a game. Blaine enjoyed the playground (and playing with some friends from his class at school). The Zooperstars were fun again (we saw them last year, too). Running the bases after the game. And then fireworks.

I posted some photos of our evening on Flickr.

Here are some photos.

It was the first time we had been to the fort when something special was going on. It was a lot of fun. I was surprised how few people were actually there in the morning. It was before the big battle demonstration in the afternoon, so I guess more people show up in the afternoon.

We enjoyed playing double ball with the Native Americans. The patrol was fun: we were in the front so we saw the kidnapping and the British coming around the corner.

A fun way to kick off the summer.

Looks like someone was munching on the cookies and carrots we left out.

Caitie, Rachel and Blaine opening presents.

Stocking time.

Caitie with her Lego house and Falcon hockey jersey.

Rachel with her Irish dancing costume on her American girl doll and her Fashion Designer DS game.

Blaine with his Ben 10 DVD, Lego Star Wars DS game and Lego dump truck.

Karin with her electronic gadgets - digital camera and iPod.

Keith with his Bullwinkle book, DVDs and Pinball PlayStation game. The hockey jersey is from a Blackhawks training camp - with Matt Keith’s name on the back. The glowing stripes in the photo are grey piping on the jersey. It obviously has some sort of reflective material. We will see if he can make the jersey glow when he plays hockey in it (not likely).

Merry Christmas from all of us!

     

The map has a minor error: Dussel becomes Salisbury west of I475. More serious is that it shows Strayer as a major road going from Salisbury (Dussel on their map) all of the way south to Monclova Road. This is half correct.

Strayer is paved between Salisbury and 20A, with The Church on Strayer its largest inhabitant.

But Strayer is a dirt road between 20A and Monclova Road. It is not in good shape, even as dirt roads go. People should not try to get to The Shops at Fallen Timbers via Strayer Road.

Here are the 2 errors in bright red:

Here is my hacked-up improvement to The Blade’s map.

There are other problems with the map, too. I475 has interchanges for Salisbury/Dussel and US24, but not I80/90, US20A or Monclova Road. On the map, all 5 “intersections” are shown the same.

If you want accurate maps to The Shops at Fallen Timbers, try any of these:

• Yahoo! maps
• Google maps
• Mapquest

• Blade article: Educator enters race for House’s 5th District
• Sentinel Tribune: Crowded race

Run, Mark, run!

UPDATE: hollenbaughforcongress.com is now online.

When I returned from my first run, I had to do another right away - this was crunch time for us draft guides. My second of the day was Luca Cunti (Tampa Bay, #75), from Switzerland. Tampa had another pick at #77 but Alexander Killorn was not in attendance - I thought I might have to escort both of them at once because we were so busy. As it turned out, I had to remind people that this was Luca and not Alexander. A few media left, but the college hockey reporters like Paula Weston of USCHO stayed and got great interviews with him: he is considering St. Cloud and Clarkson (I put in a good word for George Roll, of course).

While guiding Luca, BGSU-bound Josh Unice was waiting in line for pictures as well - he was selection #86. I introduced myself - it will be great to watch him develop for the Falcons.

I figured that would be the last of my duties, since the pool of draftees in attendance was growing thin. I think at one point we went 30 picks with nothing to do. I was lucky and got Atlanta’s selection John Albert (#175) - he is from Cleveland and will be attending Ohio State. He did an FSN Ohio interview (but Paula did not show up to cover her future Buckeye).

All 3 were very nice kids. I wish them all the success. It was a privilege to be a part of their big day.

After it was all over, the draft guides got to go on stage for a group photo. That was nice. If you ever get a chance to volunteer for a future NHL draft - do it. The NHL staff are amazing and it will be an experience you will not forget.

Our other job is to escort the draftee’s family to the Founder’ Club so they can meet up with their son after he is done and have family photos taken. I drew two of these assignments: Alex Plante (pick #15, Edmonton) and Max Pacioretty (pick #22, Montreal). I enjoyed both of these assignments because you can visit with the family and share in some of their excitement. Alex’s family seemed quite surprised he went in the first round. Max is headed to the University of Michigan, so I look forward to watching him play when he visits BGSU.

Another benefit of being a volunteer is that you get good seats, in the first few rows, sitting in the same section as many draftees and their families, and being able to watch the team executives eat potato chips and drink bottled water. It is not really that exciting, but at least you are close to the near-action.

Today, Saturday, will be different. No time for Gretzky / Yzerman / Snepsts and other hero-spotting. The picks will come a lot faster and the media attention will not be as high. Instead of escorting 30 picks for 2 hours each, it will be hundreds of draftees on whirlwind tours. Should actually be more fun.

Finally, I made it to the blogger meet-up at the Bud Light Arena Pub and met Drew, Michael, Acid Queen and others. That was fun, even though I am not really an NHL blogger like they are.

Oh yea, I almost-literally ran into an old friend, Jerry York. I was escorting Alex Plante’s family, so I was talking to them instead of watching where I was going. Jerry comes around a corner, walking very fast because he is late to something. I managed to avert a collision, say hello and shake his hand, but I am not sure he even recognized me, it was so fast. So far that has been the best college hockey connection I have made this weekend.