Christine the Curmudgeon

Yesterday, Christine the Curmudgeon went to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats game.  It was a rare weekday afternoon game, and they were having something called “Camp Day/Splash Day”.  Busloads upon busloads of summer camp groups descended upon MerchantsAuto.com Stadium for the event.  The “splash” part was provided by the Manchester Fire Department.  They brought a fire engine and parked it outside the ballpark, and a couple of firefighters with a hose sprayed water down onto a part of the seating area.  This area was clearly marked off as the “Splash Zone”, and they did give warnings when the splashing was to start.

Now you may wonder, WHY would Christine the Curmudgeon knowingly subject herself to this?  Kids running around all over the place?  Well, I love the team, and I wanted to enjoy a rare afternoon game.  And I knew that there was an easy escape:  the Sam Adams Bar & Grill, which is out in left field.  You can go in there and still watch the game.  I will tell you right now if the Sam Adams bar were not there, there’d be no way in hell that I’d go to a game like this.  I would go completely crazy!

Earlier in the season, I had gone to a game where they were busing in school groups, as opposed to camp groups, being that school was in session at the time.  At that game, I think I lasted about 4 or 5 innings in the seats, before I could take no more, and retreated to the Sam bar to watch the rest of the game in relative peace.  So I knew exactly what to expect at this Camp Day thing – a lot of ill-behaved kids running around, getting up every five seconds to go to the concession stands, and generally annoying the crap out of me.

I got there about 45 minutes before the start of the game, and stopped in to visit Sam for a beer.  Another downside about having large groups of kids are longer lines at the concessions.  Even when it’s not Camp Day, whenever I’m in line behind people with kids, they take FOREVER to decide what they want and place their order.  This ballpark does not have any “beer-only” concession stands; there are some small stands that have a couple of types of beer, but they also have a few other things, such as peanuts, soft pretzels, and sodas.  So sometimes I get stuck in line behind gangs of kids there, as well.

So I drank my first Sam Summer of the day at the bar, as I didn’t have to wait in line for it.  Also, I figured that I’d need some fortification for when I did get to the seats, no doubt I’d have to kick kids out of them.  Yes, I said SEATS, I had bought two seats, hoping that Mr. Curmudgeon could somehow sneak out of work and come with me.  But he couldn’t, so I went by myself.

After the National Anthem, I ordered a second beer, paid my tab, and took the beer out to my seats.  Sure enough, two little girls in camp T-shirts were sitting in the seats, so I kicked them out.  I made it quite clear that I was ticketed for BOTH seats.  The camp group that these girls was a part of was sitting in front of me, and one of the adults was complaining about the fact that there were not enough seats foe their group.  They did not like that I dared to show up made it clear that the two seats I kicked the girls out of were mine.  No doubt they bought the cheapest seats and them decided to sit wherever they wanted.  If they had just sat in the actual seats they were ticketed for, it would not have been a problem, now, would it?  Jerks.

None of these people, kids or adults, were watching the game.  The kids kept getting up every five minutes, a bunch of them were in my row, and I had to keep getting up to let them by (I was on the aisle, I always buy aisle seats).  This one woman, who was one of this group’s handlers, spent the entire time fetching food and sodas for the kids.  She was not a camp staffer, she was a parent volunteer trip chaperon.  She did not look like she was having any fun.  She’d probably rather be at home, watching the soaps on her LCD TV. I suspect that some of these kids would also have rather been at home, watching Spongebob or some such crap on TV, as well.

Anyhoo, I finished the beer and got up to get another one.  Since I was by myself and didn’t have Mr. C or anyone else to guard my seat, I draped this small golf towel that I carry in my bag over the back of the seat, as a way to make it clear that I had not left.  I did not want to come back and find kids sitting in my seats again.

I came back with a new beer, and no one was in my seats.  But there were two boys in the seats directly in front of me who were not there before.  I put my beer in the cup holder, and just barely rescued it when the boys started having a “sword fight” with those big foam fingers that every ballpark in the world sells, and one of said foam fingers almost took a dunk into my $5.75 Sam Summer.  I managed to rescue it and not use the cup holder any more.  That’s when I decided that I’d had enough, and as soon as I finished that beer, I was going back to the Sam bar.  I lasted in the seats for only 4 1/2 innings.

It seemed that every adult at this game who did not have kids in tow had the same idea as I did.  It was busy, but not too mobbed, as not every many people take off work to go to a afternoon game in the middle of the week.  They do allow kids in the Sam bar, but no one is going to bring a Hugh Jass group of them in there.  So it’s pretty safe from school and camp groups!

So my day was not ruined, not at all.  Part of it was that I knew what to expect going in, and knew that there was an escape other than having to leave the ballpark in disgust.  There’s this other ballpark, LeLacheur Park, home of the Lowell Spinners.  At this place, it’s like Camp Day every day, ill-behaved kids running around all over the place, and there is no escape except to leave completely.  No Sam Adams Bar & Grill there!  So we just don’t go there anymore.  That ballpark is hell on earth, let me tell you!

Sitting in the Sam with my beer and my hot dogs (why stand in a long-assed line when you can get it served to you at your seat in the bar?), I thought about how lucky I am.  I felt so glad that I do not have to live the life of the woman who did nothing but fetch and deliver food and stuff to those bratty kids.  Unlike her, when  the kids got to be too annoying, I could just get up and leave, and not get thrown in jail or anything.  I was free to go to the Sam bar and have more beer in relative peace.

I was also feeling grateful that I did not have to ride all the way home on a school bus full of these kids.  I got to ride home on the nice, quiet Boston Express Bus.  It’s air-conditioned, has comfy seats, free WiFi, even a restroom in the back.  And no screaming kids.  They have rather strict rules about being quiet and staying in your seat, and not bothering other passengers.  And best of all, I did not have to take one or more of these little monsters home with me.  Mr. Curmudgeon picked me up at the subway station, and we went out for dinner.  And then went home to the Curmudgeon Cats.

Whether you are staunchly child-free, or on the fence about whether or not to reproduce, a visit to Camp Day at the ballpark is a good idea.  For the fence-sitters, it will make you think about things, if this is what you really want your life to be like.  For me, it made me all the more glad that Mr. C had a vasectomy years ago, and reinforced the fact that we have absolutely NO regrets over this choice.

And yes, it is ALWAYS a choice.  ALWAYS.

So Christine the Curmudgeon has heard that the CEO of Spirit Airlines considers luggage to be “not essential” when traveling. (Story here; contains auto-play video)

What is even more of a joke is that by having cheap fares, and then nickel-and-diming people for everything else, Ben Baldanza says that this policy has “allowed many to travel who otherwise simply could not afford to do so.”

But what the hell is the point, if poor people can maybe afford the fare, but not the luggage fees?  Yes, Spirit will let you bring a backpack on board for free, as long as it fits under the seat.  But I’m sure you have noticed that there is not much under-seat room on airplanes these days.  So what are these people supposed to do?  Wear the same thing every day while on vacation?  Or waste half their vacation time doing laundry?  The whole thing is ridiculous!

And how come Southwest can still have cheap fares, yet they still don’t charge for a checked bag or carry-on baggage?  They also do not charge for soft drinks and snacks.  You want booze, you gotta pay for that, but that’s pretty much anywhere.  The fact is, the Spirit people are just greedy.

But think about it – if this jerk says that luggage is non-essential for flying, what will be next?  Will other industries decided that certain things are not necessary, and charge extra for them?  For example, grocery stores charging $5 – 10 to use a cart?  How about having a beer festival that already charges $30-40 to get in, only to find that there is an additional fee for using the restrooms?

Baseball parks could really rake it in.  Buy a hot dog, and when you go to the condiment station, you have to insert money to be able to get mustard, ketchup, relish…even napkins!  Did it rain just before the game?  That’ll be $5 to have an usher dry off your seat for you!    That additional fee to use the restrooms could apply here, too, maybe even charging more if you use toilet paper, soap, and paper towels!

How about mail order companies charging extra if you want protective packaging materials?  Don’t pay it, your stuff will be broken when you get it.  Wanna watch those Netflix DVDs?  Won’t be long before in addition to the monthly fees, you will have to log into the site and pay a fewe before the DVDs you just got in the mail will play.  And so it goes…

Well, if this is the wave of the future, then how come I don’t get to decide what things that other people do to me are “not essential” and charge them for it?  Unsolicited phone calls and door-knocking?  That’ll be $100, please!  Your kids are kicking the back of my seat at the ballpark, on the bus, plane, theater?  That’s going to cost you $50.  Blog comment spammers should have to pay $100 per spam comment.

Hey, if the airlines can get rich by nickel-and-diming people, so should I!

We went to a PawSox game the other day, and they were giving away those eco-tote reusable grocery bags.  They were green and had both a PawSox logo, and a Cox cable company logo (Cox was sponsoring the giveaway).

So Christine the Curmudgeon and The Mister got there early enough, and each got one.  We have a bunch of other bags like this that we got as free giveaways, so we decided to just keep these in the car with the other ones, to use when we go shopping.  We do recycle plastic grocery bags (we use them to dispose of used cat little), but we have so many saved up, we won’t need any more for years.

What shocked us was that when the game was over, many people were leaving them behind!  Some people were even putting them in the garbage!  Why?  If they didn’t want one, they didn’t have to take it.

We didn’t want to pick any out of the garbage, because the garbage can at the end of a game is too gross, but we did pick a few up off the ground and took them with us.  Okay, maybe an eco-tote is not the most exciting ball game giveaway, not like a cap or a jersey or a bobble-head, it’s about as interesting to some people as testosterone cream. I get that. But it’s still a useful item, if you had to buy them at your local grocery stores, they cost a few bucks apiece!

Anyhoo, Mr. Curmudgeon went to the grocery store today, to Shaw’s, on his way home from work.  He brought a couple of these tote bags in with him, yet when he indicated to the cashier that he wanted his stuff to go directly into the tote bags, she ignored him and put it into plastic bags anyway.  Methinks it’s time for another email to Shaw’s, suggesting that they  train their employees on the use of these eco-totes.  Hell, they SELL them there, they are supposed to be trying to encourage people to use them!

Idiots!

Why do TV stations have to break into programming, when it is not necessary to do so?

Christine the Curmudgeon wasn’t feeling well this afternoon, and was trying to watch the CBS soaps.  However, WBZ kept cutting in with weather reports about some thunderstorms and flash flooding that were due to come to the area.

I can see reporting this, but in the past, they’d do a split-screen thing for weather info.  They’d keep the show playing on one side, and show the weather radar on the other, with a ticker running underneath.  But not today!  I had to miss a good deal of  “As The World Turns” due to this, including the last couple of segments at the end, AND the previews for tomorrow.  When the weather cut-in was done, it went to a commercial for some sort of foods that burn fat, then it went to Dr. Phil.

I know I can watch the complete episode online, but this is still very annoying.

What is it with men and whining about being sick?  Christine the Curmudgeon just doesn’t get it – you feel sick, you take some meds for it.  Right?

So why is this simple thing such a Hugh Jass production for Mr. Curmudgeon?

Over the 4th of July weekend, we went up to New Hampshire for a few Fisher Cats games.  On Sunday we went to lunch at this place in Manchester called Cactus Jack’s.  Mr. C ordered the seafood gumbo, which he said was very good, but the spices upset his tummy and made his nose run – apparently his sinuses were dripping into his tummy, which was likely the main cause of the upset.

So I offered him some Sudafed (the real stuff that you have to sign away your life at the pharmacy counter to get, not the crap that you can just pick off the shelf, that doesn’t work).  I told him that it would dry him right up in there, and then he’d feel well enough to go to the ball game that evening.  But he resisted, he swore up and down that this stuff doesn’t work for him, and went on acting like an overgrown baby.  Sheesh, you’d think I was forcing him to reads endless apidexin reviews and such before taking something. What does he have to lose by taking a couple? If they don’t work, they don’t work.  But if they do, then at least he’d feel better and I’d no longer have to hear all the whining.

So he finally agreed to take some.  After lunch, we went to the CVS next door, where I bought some more.  We went back to the hotel, and he started feeling better in about half an hour.  He took some more right before we headed out for the game, and everything was fine.

See?  Was that so hard?