A discussion Jim and I had in the comments to the previous post led me to start thinking about what Jim and will need to bring on our trip. I’m going to leave out the obvious items (like clothes, money, and a toothbrush so that I can annoy Jim by brushing my teeth in the car, hotel room, and the stadium) that anyone would bring on any trip. So, off the top of my head, here are the items specific to the BRPA 2004 trip that I think Jim and I will need.
1) Our two iPods, including the snug St. Louis Cardinals iPod Cozy that Stacey crocheted me for my birthday.
2) Hostess Fruit Pies, because Doctor Octopus has already shown some interest in our trip, and neither Jim nor I is a superhero, so distracting Doc Ock is our only hope.
3) This collection of old radio shows about baseball, either on CD or on my iPod.
4) This collection of Jack Benny programs, to break up the nonstop radio station jingles coming from Jim’s iPod.
5) My score book, pencils, and a sharpener. Because keeping score is one way to keep sane on a long baseball trip.
6) Several gallons of biodiesel from one of Uptown’s greasy diners, because I’m sure the rental car Jim has booked can run on bio-diesel. Jim wouldn’t let me down that way.
So what else do you think we need?
Original comments…
Jason: -A camera
-Some green, black & teal yarn for Jim to knit himself a Tampa Bay Devil Rays iPod Cozy
-Milk to wash down the Hostess Fruit Pies
-Spider-Man Underoos to further frighten Dr. Octopus away
-A Canada-U.S. translation chart, so you can convert from miles to kilometers and from saying ‘about’ to ‘aboot’
-Hookers
Steve: -Tums (for Jim if he dares tackle the Schmitter)
-American dollar bills (because I hear Windsor has awesome strip clubs and American money is worth more than Canadian Money so you are more likely to be popular with the dancers)
-Stamps (to send postcards because even though digital cameras are cool and make for instant photos its hard to put a blog up on the fridge–don’t forget the address book)
-Peanuts (cheaper outside the park)
sandor: Are either of you bringing a laptop? Or are you planning on doing all your updates from the road through some bootleg blog-by-email set-up? I’d love to see what kind of shorthand l33t-speak you come up with for, say, Albert Pujols.
In addition to a laptop, you’ll need an account with some kind of nationwide ISP, so you can plug in in your hotel room and make a local or toll-free call. That’s how we did it on our trip. The alternative is hoping for either a) free wireless access in stadium (which I hear exists someplace [probably SF] but which use I can’t for the life of me see you condoning) or b) business centers in your hotels or c) extraordinary luck in finding Internet cafes. I actually have an extra, old laptop laying around if you don’t want to bring yours on the road, Levi. You’re welcome to borrow it.
Or are you planning on doing all your road blogging by postcard? I can see that. It’d be a good way to break up the tedium of all those miles: writing the same post over and over and over again on postcards and USPS’ing them to all of your fans.
sandor: Oops. I meant to say “… bootleg blog-by-phone set-up.”
Jim: As far as I’m concerned, we’d love to borrow your extra laptop. My plan was going to involve writing down all the posts longhand while on the trip and then back-dating them when I entered them into Blogger after I got back, then pretending they were there all along.
I happen to be on the Internet via Earthlink, which could not possibly be more of a nationwide ISP (in fact, I’m pretty sure they have numbers in Toronto and Montreal as well). It’s a DSL account that includes 20 hours of free dialup per month, which should be plenty for making posts to this blog, but the amount of time Levi spends looking at Cardinals-related news sites and blogs will have to be carefully rationed.
But I do like the blog-by-postcard idea. Hmm…
Levi: I was planning to bring our laptop, if only for the 9,000 or so songs on it.
But if Stacey thinks she’ll need it while we’re gone, I’ll take you up on your offer.
Toby: Here’s a shot in the dark, Levi – maybe a CAMERA??!!??
Toby
Jeremy: Thanks for posting a link to a website dedicated entirely to Hostess ads in comic books. I blew an entire afternoon at work before I knew what had happened.
Levi: Jer- If you want to waste more time and laugh Coke through your nose, open a can and check out that same guy’s site about the comic Mr. T. and the T-Force. His commentary is a bit obvious, but the T-Force comic itself is hilarious.
spidey: I’m coming on part of your trip, so you needn’t worry about Dr. Octopus until after Detroit. Also, I recommend Hostess Crab Pies. Dr. Octopus loves those.