Target Field: Twins vs. Baltimore Orioles

M and I went to Target Field last Thursday night for what would be my first night game of the season, however it was M's 2nd night game as he went earlier in the week. It was a dreary day...cloudy, rainy and chilly. I wore my winter jacket and I was not cold for about the first hour but then the wind picked up a little and with the moisture in the air, we both got chilled and spent some time under the heat lamps watching the game from left field or even the TV monitors. I hope you're not sick of my pictures from Target Field. I know some of them are the same thing over and over again but I am always finding new things to take pictures of and realizing that I keep discovering new things in the stadium that I never have seen before despite touring the place at length. The Twins just couldn't do much and ended up leaving the bases loaded two times during the game. The Twins lost 2-0 in a somewhat boring game.

Anthony LaPanta and Ron Coomer doing Twins Live on FS North before the game. Ron Coomer is sooo nice in person and I think he's cute.

I love this program! I hope for a broken bat every game! This broken bat went into the crowd.

Me staying warm under the heat lamps on the Captain's Deck

Captain Morgan that is!

The rain coming down. Good thing my seats are WAY up there. We're covered from the elements!

Walk for Animals-Success!

First of all, a huge THANK YOU to all that gave me donations for the Animal Humane Society's Walk for Animals. With your help, I raised $310 with online and offline donations.

The walk took place on Saturday, May 1st at the Animal Humane Society's Golden Valley location. M and I usually walk together, just us, with no pets, however Chris joined us this year and brought their English Bulldog, Cosmo with for the walk. Unfortunately, Tanya had to work Saturday morning so she didn't get to come along. Hopefully next year, Tanya!

Bulldogs are not known for their great endurance so a 5 mile walk probably seemed daunting for Cosmo but she did really good. Cosmo has been known to stop walking and lay down where she's at and not move so we were trying to find that balance of whether or not we would have to turn around before the 2.5 mile half-way point, where everyone does a big loop and comes back on the same route. Cosmo looked like she was starting to get a little pooped out around the 2 mile mark so we turned around and instead of a 5 mile walk, Cosmo was able to accomplish 4 miles.

For the past seven years that I have been doing the walk, there is always some out-of-the-ordinary animal that presents itself each year, whether that be a horse, a goat, a wallaby, an iguana or this year, a baboon. He was sitting on his owner's shoulders wearing jeans and a t-shirt. He looked mean, but I think that's just the face they have and later got off the owner's shoulders and walked hand-in-hand with his owner. I wish I would have taken a picture of him but they came by quickly and were gone before I could process in my head, "Hey, that was a baboon wearing clothes."

Some of the other animals out there this year were of course, dogs. There are thousands of dogs out there and it is fun to see all the different kinds. I always get excited when I see one of my favorite dogs, a Pomeranian. If I ever get a dog, this is the kind I probably want or maybe one of the dogs that kind of look like a fox. They are a short hair and have longer pointy ears. Does anyone know what kind of dog that is? One of M's favorite is a Yorkie, which I also think are cute. Besides dogs, we saw a handful of cats. Some just in their owner's arms, others in screened strollers or in cages on a wagon. We also saw some ferrets, which were the same ones we saw last year, rabbits, a guinea pig and heard a bird.

Here are some of the pictures from this year's walk. Again, thank you to all those that donated. If you left a name of your pet when you donated, I made up a name tag for your pet and carried it with me on the walk and whether it was in honor of them or in memory of them.

I walked in honor of:

Tuanis

Schroeder

Cosmo

Teddy, Dulce and Kida

Kessock kittens

Daisy and Diago

Fuzzer

Powder

I walked in memory of:

Keino

Baxter

Eddy

Barlow

Wee Baby

This dog was Bad to the Bone

Chris and Cosmo

I ran into some friends at the walk--Manilath and Michelle or as I call them, Money and Kus

Cosmo found a baby bulldog named Belle

A Shar Pei. I thought he would be soft but he wasn't at all. He was very coarse.

I took this picture because I thought they looked like partners

Wait, someone's not doing this correctly

Cosmo taking a break

One of the water stops for the dogs. This dog got right into this pool and kept turning his body around in the pool. I loved it.

This little puppy was cold so she put him in her shirt

Ferrets-The same ones as last year

I couldn't escape without seeing some clowns. Aaahhh!

This was the softest cat

Craig Ferguson

In our monthly Quest for Comedy, M and I went to see Craig Ferguson on Friday at the State Theater, with no days to spare for the month of April. A comedian by the name of Randy Kagan opened up for him. Craig Ferguson was one of the most polished comedians I have seen. I've seen plenty of comedians and a lot of them do refer to notes sitting on a stool or a chair and Craig did not, as well as telling jokes or stories so well and with much charisma and charm. For those that don't know Craig Ferguson, he is the talk show host of The Late Late Show. If you still don't know who I'm talking about, he was played Drew Carey's boss on The Drew Carey Show. Craig was born and Scotland but became an American within the last couple of years and truly LOVES America. He starts out his TV show with, "It's a great day in America" and he started out his show at the State Theater the same way. Check out his show if you haven't. He is goofy and a little far out but if you like that type of humor, you'll like Craig Ferguson.

Yeasayer

On Tuesday night, M and I went to see the sold-out Yeasayer concert at First Avenue. We bought the tickets back sometime in late 2009 when the show was originally scheduled to be at the Varsity Theater, however it sold out quite quickly and moved to the bigger venue, First Avenue. Both M and I had been looking forward to going to this concert and for the most part, it did not disappoint. I find it very difficult to classify/categorize most music I listen to and so I googled how others described Yeasayer's music and here's what best sums them up:

Spiritual/dreamy/atmospheric/experimental indie electronic/gospel/folk/pop/rock. (Yes, for real)

Both M and I pick and tear apart music in our conversations with each other for the good and the bad and while I won't bore you with the details, we were bothered somewhat by the lead singer's disconnect with the heart and soul of the music and rest of the band, but rather he seemed to be there because he is earning a better paycheck as the days progress and the band becomes more popular. I also thought the band would have been less electronic and more raw, such as using actual instruments instead of pushing a button to create the same sound. I thought of them as being more of a hippy-type band but in actuality, they are not at all. Either way, the show was still great and despite the packed-in-like-sardines feeling you have when you're at a sold-out show at First Ave, it was very enjoyable.

Yeasayer

One of my favorite songs: Wait for the Summer

Here's is one of Yeasayer's most popular songs off the new album:

Farewell, John

I went out with M and his friend John a week ago Friday to celebrate one of John's last nights in Minnesota. We started at Mad Jack's in Vadnais Heights where we had dinner and drinks and Chris met up with us there too. We then went to North St. Paul and went to Roddy's. I had my debut of the new beer, Nordeast, which I really liked. We then went to The Polar to end the night which is always fun because it is a weird experience every time you go there. After that, we surprise attacked M's brother Ray and cousin Chuck at their house just a few blocks away and hung out there for about an hour before coming home. We all had lots of fun together that evening. John has since moved to Seattle for the 2nd time so maybe he'll be back again someday. Good luck to you in Seattle, Johnathon!

My first drink--Moulin Rouge martini-So strong that I only had a few sips

A much better choice

M and John

Chris and me

All the guys back at Ray's house--Ray, John, M, Chuck, Chris

Shaggy

Here's just some of the pictures that just scream "Bachelor Pad"

And finally because we're all safe and don't drink and drive, I had to take a picture of Chris spending the night on our couch just for good times sake.