2011 Yankees Universe Special Event

So as a member of the Yankees Universe Fan Club, we were invited to attend a special event.  The special event is a meet and greet with some previous Yankees players from the past.  It was a pretty good event which included field level seats in the outfield.  So for all you fans out there who are members or thinking about joining let me give you a detailed description of our day...

So the event was scheduled for Aug 23, 2011 at 2:30pm.  Now if your from the tri-state area, you'll also know that this was the day of the earthquake.  My wife and I did not feel anything.  Maybe it was because we may have been on the GWB or maybe we were just excited.  Anyway we arrived at around 2-2:15pm. After parking we cross the street and see this long,long,long line. It was from gate 6 to gate number 4.  So if you frequent at the stadium, you realize how long that is.  The line did start moving at exactly 2:30 but moved along slowly.




















We got to the gate around 3:30 received our tickets and passes.  As your walking in, you start to see tables set up with players.  They stated that we should stop at each table take pictures and get autographs.

The first person we met was John Flaherty.  He seemed pretty nice and chatted with people during the signing and pictures.

He seemed to be happy to be there not like the other player mentioned later.  We chatted up a few things.  I asked him if he was calling the game today and he said he was actually off.  Like I said it seemed like wanted to be there.  Would you want to go to your office if you were off??.


After Mr. Flaherty, my wife asked me who was the next guy at the table.  It was hard to tell cause I could not recognize him.  I told my wife that I wasn't sure but we should still get his autograph and take a picture. Can anyone guess who he was?

Finally realized who he was when I read his autograph.  He signed it with number "45".
That's right, Cecil Fielder.  He looked different from the last time I saw him on TV or even the Yankees classic games on YES.  He didn't seem all to happy to be there but he was nice but not as talkative.

Then came the next player.  This was the guy I was excited to meet and take a picture with.  I saw him since we were outside in the heat waiting on line.




















TINO MARTINEZ

 

Tino was really nice.  I told him that it was cool that he hit that homerun during old-timers day. He said that it felt really great to hit one and run around the bases.  I shook hands with him before and left and took this picture.

The last person who was there was Brian Cashman.  I wasn't sure how I felt about this but he to was a nice guy who chats it up.  I wanted to ask him all these questions but I knew he wouldn't answer so I just ask a simple question...Whats next for you?  He just looked at me and smiled.

After Cashman, one of the employees told us what was next.  We can sit in the field level between section 12 and 110 in right field.  So here is my advice.  If you want to try to get more autographs, you are better off trying to get to the front row in section 12.  When we were there David Robertson signed some autographs.  I did not get one cause by the time I went from RF to that side it was already packed.  By the time I got to the bottom he was already done signing.  My plan was to try to get at least one baseball hit or tossed to me.

So while standing in Right Field seats, came close a few times but it was crowded.  I did get a ball tossed to me by Hector Noesi.

Here are some of the autographs I got from that day.

So overall, it was worth the paying for the membership since you get to go to an event and watch a game  plus they give field level seats behind home plate at a different game.

So here is some information you will want.

Parking is a whopping $35 at the parking lot
Get there early so you can be ahead in the line.  Cashman left early and some people only got 2-3 autographs.
Only one food stand is open until the stadium opens at 5pm.
Bring water if its a hot day.  Cause you will be out in the sun while on line.
You are allowed at your sits at 5pm so if your tickets are for left field, start walking towards there so you can try to get a ball from the players before anyone else is there.


Hope this was somewhat informative.

Wow 10 years???

I realized that I have been a Registered Nurse for 10 years now.  Wow 10 years! As I see how far I have come in my career, it amazes me that there are so many things in this field that you are not shown or taught to  you in school.  So for all my friends out there who are new to the nursing world here are few opinions and advices that you will realize one day.

1.  If your doing this for the money, you will realize really quick that you are not paid enough in what you do.  Yeah,  you get overtime if your working in a hospital setting, but still not ENOUGH!  All of my colleagues I graduated with will attest that no matter how many blood transfusions, medications handed out, admissions, suture removals, codes, call bells answered and any other so called "nursing responsibilities" you will not be compensated a salary that you feel is sufficient to what you do.  So if you are in it for the money and you do not enjoy helping people, you will soon find out that nursing may not be for you.

2.  Patients in the book are polite, slight agitated or a bit unpleasant.  Sure most of the time you will have someone who appreciates what you do for them but always remember that for every good patient there are 6 bad ones to follow.  I have dealt with crazy patients that we had to call security every time the call bell rings.  Family drama that you can dragged into just because you end up being off a few days and the other staff does not want to deal with it anymore.  Patients who are "frequent fliers" will try to manipulate you into getting what they want.  As you will see, there are some many other types of patients, just remember that you need to help them so that they can get better and be discharged faster.

3.  Older nurses are not as helpful as they say.  Depending on the nurse, they will pass everything and anything to you so that they do not have to work.  Many believe that just because they have been doing this for so long that they are deserving of this. Don't get me wrong not all older nurses are like this and I'm positive that I will not turn out like this and neither should you.  I have worked with older nurses because I've always been the younger one but I've been lucky to have worked with great nurses. Unfortunately there are a few who are not so great.

4.  In the beginning, always get your Med/Surg, ER, floor experience, or ICU experience.  With this background you get jump into different specialities.  At least do one year of any.  If you start in a speciality area you might be stuck there for the rest of your career.  Always remember that there are so many different specialties and different fields in nursing.

5.  Final advice from this topic is this:  Always remember that you are there for the patients but find a way to leave it behind once you swipe out.  This was difficult for me when I first started.  I always ended up thinking "did I hang this medication, did I do this, did i do that" so I had to find a field in nursing that I loved.

Overall nursing is a great field.  You find self achievement, satisfaction, and hopefully happiness in the field.  There are so many more advices that I can tell you but you will experience it yourself.  So just remember this: there is still alot of things you will learn and hopefully you pass it along when you have been a nurse for 10 years.

Any questions or comments?