hawing

[sarcasm]What else could it be?![/sarcasm]

Next time you hang with those guys bring a bag of butterscotch hard candies and hand them out. Really sell that grandpa thing! Haha, I was going to say root beer barrels.

The cooler backpack pictured above was literally a prize handed to the winner of a pregame "identify the Brewer" contest on Tuesday night. SO and I looked at each other and said WELL DON'T EVER BRING IT BACK TO THE PARK. I will need to agree to disagree with earlier posts that suggest that my concern is ridiculous. Everyone has their individual annoyances in life. With the Brewers I have remarkably few, which perhaps makes my beef with the increasingly picky and slow inspection of legal personal property stand out. I'll share our experience entering the park Tuesday night. We made good time on the drive and arrived at the 3B gate at 5:05. The "early entry" SSH line was set to open there at 5:10. The line was modest (we've definitely seen it longer at that location on SSH nights) and of course we didn't expect any movement in the line until 5:10...but by 5:20 we had moved about ten feet. In the end, it took us about 20 minutes (2/3 of the "early entry" period) to get in the park. Oddly, the bag inspection itself was short for both me and the SO once we reached the line. Perhaps more notable was that the 3B gate is set up with six metal detectors. The two "express" detectors for people without bags were not open, though seven ballpark employees were standing at those detectors, talking to each other. Even the SSHs without bags were stuck waiting in the glacial line for bag checks. Why? SSHs are supposedly the Brewers' most valued fans. (The validity of that is a whole 'nother kettle of fish, I realize.) Had there been no one at the unused detectors, we would have figured "okay, they're short staffed tonight, things happen." But seeing more than a half dozen employees standing around while we and others waited...did not make for good optics. We're rarely at the SSH early entry line that early, but our SSH seat neighbors on Tuesday said they've seen that exact staffing pattern before. For an organization which prides itself on providing a quality fan experience, the Brewers are lacking in the fan entry department right now, which is right where you'd think they'd want to make a good first impression.

That is a cool idea, but WHOA SWARMING ANTS. I can handle a small number of ants but en masse it's gross. Could you enclose the camera in a ziploc bag, or would that distort the image too much?

A couple of other things: - tomwopat added the link that I forgot to add before lunch. I get that some cities are more likely to be terrorist targets than others, and we've seen before that what's important to, say, New York and Boston often drives what becomes important to MLB. Safety is important, but these particular measures are way more about keeping MLB/individual organizations safe® from litigation, should something go awry at a game. - I agree with JimH5's observations from earlier in the thread: I'm pretty sure the Brewers are done using their "cherish the fans" mantra of a few seasons back, but this does not make me feel cherished, even if it's all MLB's idea. Do not make me feel like I'm the problem for wanting to score games in my own book; bring a soft drink I actually like rather than take in caffeine or sugar that I don't need; having a few doses of Tylenol or a feminine hygiene product (a fact of life for a bunch of fans) on hand in case of need; for wanting to use my camera to take photographs that add to my memories of games; for having a phone charger so our phones are usable on the way home as well as before the game. - I rarely feel unsafe within Miller Park, but the few times I have were related to fans' alcohol consumption, not weapons or terrorism. (Really want to say something snarky about CHC fans here, but I'll take a higher path) - I'm not eager to blow open a big gender debate, but this is likely to affect women more than men, although I recognize that's not the point. But I'm in that group, so I reserve the right to grumble about it a bit. - When I first saw the Brewers' graphic on Monday announcing the changes, I was surprised they're actually giving people until 2020 to adjust and not implementing it immediately. So there's that, I guess.

Bag checkers this year are being much more thorough, to the point where I'm tempted to say "picky." It's across-the-board enough so I'm assuming they've been instructed to be more thorough (whether that started at the MLB level or within MP or with particular gate supervisors). What I bring in has been very consistent for years, so the difference this year is apparent to me. For example: They pick up people's key rings (whether in a bag or not) and inspect them - like pick through the whole thing. I'm guessing people were sneaking/inadvertently bringing in key chain pocketknives. That is just one of the steps that now adds time. It was not a focus point before this season. Some of my encounters with bag checkers have felt almost adversarial. For years I have brought in a mid-size digital camera to capture photos my phone can't get. I have no special lenses. I always have the case unzipped and ready to show at entry. In one security line this spring, the woman checking my bag pulled out the camera, turned to a colleague and asked loudly IS THIS ONE OF THOSE CAMERAS THAT'S TOO BIG? I politely pointed out that I have been using it at games for years. Bag checker's response was THEY CHANGE THE RULES ALL THE TIME. I asked if the rules had changed since Tuesday (our last game prior; it was three days later when I asked this). Checker said YOU NEVER KNOW. Maybe it was the yelling, but the whole time I felt called out and uncomfortable for bringing something in that I knew was within reason. I could say a lot more about this (and maybe I will when time allows), but if they just don't want any bags anymore, they should just come out and say so. If they don't want to deal with carry-in food/drink anymore, just say it. I suggested to the Brewers after the Yelich bobblehead day crowd that they have a giveaway of clear bags or whatever they'd consider acceptable - since heaven knows this fanbase turns out for the free stuff. They are offering free clear bags to SSH customers. Maybe they should expand that to everyone.

Wouldn't the "professional" answer be to contact a balloon/party business in Cali and have them deliver?

Christmas in July, maybe?

Aw, man, I wish the site had been more cooperative during the just completed homestand. The Brewers Community Foundation table had a small stack of those stitch n pitch bags for sale on Friday night ($20, cheaper than the original package plus you didn't have to endure that blowout in person) and I'd have gladly gotten a second one for you, madbad. I didn't see any out for sale by the end of the homestand, but just in case you wanted to look into it, here's the Contact Us page for the BCF: https://www.mlb.com/brewers/foundation/about/contact-us Nothing ventured, nothing gained. There are also some on eBay for a little more $.

This pales in comparison to HiAndTight's city of Milwaukee and sister woes, but now that Apple is about to phase out iTunes (and force people into paying monthly for Apple Music), I'm wondering how I'll retain the thousands of tracks currently in my iTunes account that did not originate as Apple purchases. I know that Kids These Days just stream everything through their phones, but I'm pretty attached to the content on my iPod. My iTunes content is all on an older iMac that I suppose I could just keep for the music files (it's old enough to be upgrade resistant now), but that seems like an unnecessary reason to have an extra desktop sitting around.

This is good and intriguing news, but this thread needs a little more adoration. Like this classic from 2008! http://forum.brewerfan.net/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=12972 Who else remembers the haiku days of Brewerfan lore? And frequent references to Anchorman?

[sarcasm]I for one would like to know how R.J. Swindle's name is being dragged through the mud.[/sarcasm] He wasn't even a Brewer at the same time as Little Ben! (And I didn't realize until I was double checking my memory of RJ's time in Milwaukee that he was on the Phillies' 2008 champion roster.)

I just got paper today as well, debit card would have been easier but oh well. Plus the vouchers are now for $10, which means you have to either save them for bigger-ticket food items or not get change back. That's mildly annoying. Maybe I'll use them for merchandise instead of concessions. Next time I see our rep, I'll try to remember to ask him what went wrong with the debit card plan.

stoutdude's experience notwithstanding, I'm nearly certain that the kind of arrangement turborickey describes (where you can reach out to a particular Brewers employee and get tickets without a service charge) requires a season ticket commitment. I'd guess at least a 20-game commitment, but it's possible a 10-pack would suffice. For someone with whom you have at least an indirect association, Zak Thomas is the ticket rep who offered last year's Brewerfan ticket discount. (I'm guessing the 2018 sales from that angle didn't meet the minimum needed to offer it in 2019.) Zak is at 414-902-4657. At least you might be able to get some of your general questions answered.

I named one of our cats Rob after Rob Deer. We named his brother Frank, which I suppose could be partly due to onetime Brewer Frank Catalanotto, but is also due in part to Frank Kaminsky. They were born in April 2015.

I don't know if this should be obvious, but the meaning of the 9 OF 13 ball-glove plate I see at Miller Park isn't obvious to me.

I never thought I would, but I love projection clocks. We have a La Crosse weather station in our bedroom that projects the time, outdoor temperature, or both alternating, and I hope it never dies because La Crosse doesn't make that model anymore. Having said that, I'm a little tempted by the Sony model SeaBass posted. I'm more of a clock + radio person, though. And I always want to be awakened by the radio rather than a blaring alarm or nature sounds. Edit: Haha, my bad, it does have a radio. I'm intrigued. We'll see. Thanks for the tip, SeaBass!

Probably on the SSH card. The "debit style card" will be mailed separately, though, so I don't think it's on the SSH card. Plus you can get extra SSH cards if you have multiple people using your account. I wonder if we will still be able to use it for $5 at a time. That would make our sum go farther into the year. Guess we'll find out soon! (and since these will apparently arrive in early April, I guess we won't find out in time for the opening series)

Yeah, you can "stack" the discounts.

We opted for hard tickets for the regular season (we did go electronic for the 2018 postseason). I'm Patrick425's age and also not afraid of tech, but I'd like to avoid phone problems - keeping the phones sufficiently juiced for the game + 3 hour round trip is challenging enough. More importantly, I have been saving Brewers ticket stubs since my first game ever in 1983. I jot the score on the back along with anything I think was interesting about the game. I'd been doing this for over 20 years already when my grandpa died. Among his things were a few ticket stubs that also have the score and other tidbits written on the back. So apparently it's genetically prescribed that I do this! (At several 1969 CWS games that were held at County Stadium, he also sat in the same lower grandstand section that our County partial pack was in. Even more coincidental.)

We got our rewards by email sent to the SO around the start of March. We will be meeting Robin Yount, which ought to be sweet, and getting a Hader signed print (no meeting for that). For a few years we had the ticket upgrade vouchers, but we hardly ever used them, so we've bypassed that for a while now. Since we picked our SSH locations, how often would we want to switch anyway? and if we did, we were usually interested in upgrading more than one seat level (which is what the vouchers permit). We have been renewing early enough to get the $25 in food/merchandise vouchers per seat. Since we have two pairs of 20-packs, we get a total of $100 in vouchers. Between that, the SSH discount nights, and the fact that we don't always get food at the ballpark, it's been a while since we paid full price for any food item at the park. I bring water to drink and the SO gets a designated driver soda voucher. Last year we went down Bernie's slide, which was pretty cool and also very brief. The SO (official name on the account) could bring three guests and each guest could slide twice. There were six non-game dates available to us, which we ranked. We didn't return that ranking promptly and got a date in April, along with an assigned time. I think we had 20-30 minutes to sign the waivers and take the slides. Other SSH parties were before and after us. Our slide date was shortly before last year's country concert, so before we slid, we had an interesting birds-eye view of the concert setup, but I would have preferred a birds-eye view of just the field and park. Since we come from Madison, we spent way more time traveling there and back than at the slide itself. In 2017 we opted for the soft drink cups (not realizing we'd get four, which we therefore underutilized) and the family play day. We brought my then-11 year old nephew to the play day. Although the slide was worthwhile, I'd say you get more out of the play day. The outfield is open (not the infield) for playing catch or just running/walking around. The Brewers' bullpen was open (except for the mounds), so I have some great photos of SO and nephew playing catch there, me stretched out on the bullpen bench, the motivational material on the bullpen bulletin board, the contents of the bullpen mini-fridge (Gatorade and Red Bull) and even a shot of the inside of the bullpen restroom, which is unisex. The visitors' dugout was open for wandering around and photo ops. There were also tours of the service level, press box (including the radio booth) and more. We were there for probably 2-3 hours. Although we had a youngster with us, I wouldn't have felt out of place doing the play day without a traditional family, and the play day is an event I would consider selecting again some time.

6TOE or 6TO? 3TO would have meaning too, but it might already be claimed. Edit: All three are available as of a couple of minutes ago, though they replace the O with a zero in each.

When I saw this particular name reveal, my first thought was "ah, getting the masses used to the inevitable."

The SO and I have never done much for Valentine's Day. It's about halfway between our birthdays and I for one see no reason to rev up the gift giving in consecutive months (or for my birthday, an 11 day period). However, SO scheduled his (routine) colonoscopy for today and I'm thinking geez, I don't think we have to double down this hard on our general disinterest in the quasi-holiday.

This is not at all indoor, but in New Glarus (just north of Monroe in southwest Wisconsin) there's a mini golf course with a fake Swiss Alp...with live goats. Swissland Miniature Golf. In case you ever want to say you did mini golfing in relatively close proximity to goats.