Being an entrepreneur means that you often have to put in pretty long and busy days, but it's a rare day that has as much involvement, excitement, and action as did my Monday June the 4th.
As many of you might recall, June 4th is my son Dimitri's birthday, and although that was
certainly on my mind all day long, we had celebrated his birthday on Saturday the 2nd, so in order to avoid confusing the little kid, we held steadfast to the notion that his birthday was on that day, and not split across two days -- from what my friends tell me, the concept of a split birthday is one a little too abstract for three-year-olds.
Midnight
The day officially began 35,000 feet in the air, probably somewhere over Arizona, as I flew from Ft. Lauderdale to Oakland for a meeting. Thanks to jetBlue's in-flight entertainment, I was able to see the Red Sox play the Yankees while en route, although unfortunately for myself and other Red Sox fans, the Yankees managed a 1-run victory over our favorite team. The flight itself was uneventful apart from the fact that normally I sleep on flights, but due to the baseball game I stayed awake. Oh, that and I was wedged against the window by two larger-than-average individuals sitting next to me. Grumble grumble.
2:00am
I collected my baggage, found the right signs, and took the shuttle to Hertz -- and allow me to state for the record that #1 Club Gold needs to be re-named #872 Club Brass. "You mean your name wasn't on the board
again?" Exactly.
3:00am
Check-in time at the Hyatt, where I connect to their wired internet, figuring incorrectly that it will be faster and more reliable than a wireless connection. When are major hotel chains going to figure out that internet access is as important to people as television, and include it in the price of the room? The bad news is that I was reminded of how bad 14.4kbps modems are, howerver the good news is that the next day they refunded my $9.95 for the service that wasn't.
4:00am
Fire off a print job to the local Kinko---oops I mean FedExKinkos (caps much?) which although incredibly convenient sucks at 14.4. It's actually quite cool how much control you have over a print job using a web browser; they give you print previews and everything. Super cool.
Called the front desk, set a 8:00am wakeup, and went to sleep dreaming about... well... nothing since my brain was pretty fried.
6:00amMy internal clock told me that it was 9am and time to get up, never mind the two hours of sleep. While awake I got a little more work done, and prepped for what we were going to say at the 10:00am meeting with Intel.
9:30am
Met with Dave at a local coffee shop, got a medium hazelnut (my fav) and drove to Intel HQ where I proceeded to spill said coffee all over my suit and bag while getting out of the car. Luckily most of it ended up on the jacket and pants, and not my shirt, so by leaving the jacket behind I almost looked presentable. Almost.
The meeting went well... no details yet as we're waiting to hear back. Fingers crossed.
12:00pmLunch with Dave and our contact at Intel at a nice restaurant in town. We all opted for the burger which was good, although not quite up to the high standard that Gary S. has set for burgers on poker night.
2:00pm
Meetings are over, so head back to the hotel room to work until 6pm when it's checkout time. Got a bunch of work done including some stuff that will hopefully lead to a big Multiply announcement soon. Fingers crossed again.
6:00pmWith no real place to stay (hotel checkout time had passed) and almost six hours to kill before my flight, I figured that I'd just head to the airport to have some dinner and park myself in a terminal and hopefully find a WiFi hotspot with a decent connection (why is that so hard in 2007?)
About halfway to the airport I had a brainwave.... I was headed to the Oakland airport, which I know is pretty close to the Oakland Coliseum (home of the A's), and as it so happens the Red Sox were in town! After negotiating some excruciating traffic I was able to return the rental car (mad props to the Hertz rep who personally drove me back to the terminal after dropping the car), reach the jetBlue counter at 7:15, and convince the rep there to let me check my bag a little early for my flight so that I could head to the stadium.
7:40pm
With the score 1-0 on a David Ortiz home run, I entered the Oakland Coliseum with a field-level ticket and my travel pillow and blanket. I got a hotdog with ketchup, mustard and relish and a Pilsner Urquel and as I sat down in my seat thought to myself "well this sure beats the heck out of waiting at the airport!"
I couldn't help but reflect on how this is really what baseball is supposed to be. Taking an afternoon or evening off to enjoy a few hours of watching your team at the ballpark. I miss not having a local team to root for.
The game was an absolute thriller. From Tavarez' better-than-expected performance, to having to scrape runs together against a dominant A's starter, to the game was full of improbable moments as both teams battled back-and-forth all game long. In the top of the ninth, with the Red Sox down two runs and having managed only four hits all game, things looked pretty bleak.
Ortiz led off with a laser-shot double, but two outs later he seemed destined to be stranded as the Sox failed to bring him home. Jason Varitek came in to pinch-hit and blooped a single over the first baseman, which scored Ortiz!!! Only down by one! Coco Crisp pinch-ran for Varitek, and on the second pitch broke for second just as Embree delivered a pitch to Wily Mo Pena which was shot out of a cannon to the gap, and Crisp was waved around third, trying to score from first on a single! The throw came in as Coco slid into home.... SAFE!!!
The stadium went berserk, as almost 1/3 of the crowd was Red Sox fans. After a long game nobody could believe the score was tied!
The bottom of the ninth was another story however, as the A's quickly loaded the bases with no outs. "Leadoff walks score!" was the cry from A's fans all around me. With the infield drawn in, the score tied, the bases loaded and a full complement of three outs to go for the home team, things looked pretty bleak for our Red Sox.
One strikeout, one double-play, and a near coronary (on my part) later, the Sox had gotten out of the jam and we were headed to extra innings. I could feel my pulse in my throat.
What semblance of a cardiac rhythm I had was again stripped as Dustin Pedroia tried to score on an Ortiz double, only to be thrown out at home by a good relay from the A's defense.
Unfortunately, at that point I had to leave the game to make my flight. Even more unfortunately, the Sox lost in the bottom of the 11th on a walk-off home run.
If one end of the bordom spectrum is waiting for a flight in a terminal, the diametric opposite is a heartwrenching game where you're rooting for your team to win against a hostile crowd. Talk about a turn of events!
MidnightMy day ended just as it began, 35,000 feet in the air on a jetBlue plane watching highlights of a 1-run Red Sox loss on SportsCenter. At least this game was a lot more fun than losing to the Yankees.
