As I write this column on Thursday evening (8:55 p.m.) the Mets and Rockies are hitting foul balls about a quarter of a mile to my east. I can see the lights of the field and a bit of the scoreboard from where I sit.
No, I'm not in Bluffton or anywhere even close to the 45817 zip code. I'm not watching the TV screen. Thanks to the World Wide Web, the posting of this column is coming from LaGuardia International Airport, NYC.
Making this even trickier, check out the two stories on the home page (Easter egg hunt, Senior Citizen garage sale), and the photo of Riley Creek, plus the assortment of other stories posted on the Icon since 2 p.m. today. All have been posted via my laptop either in the Dayton airport or here in New York City. I even picked up and posted two classified ads from my e-mail this afternoon.
You see, I'm technically on a business trip. Even so, I can't let the Icon news become stale. When that happens, viewership drops off. Trust me, it does. So, this proves that it really doesn't matter where I sit...on Grove Street, Common Grounds or near where the Mets play the Rockies. The "posting" can goes on. What a relief. I can leave town and eat my cake too, or something like that.
The trick will be: Can I make it back to Bluffton by 10 a.m. on Saturday to videotape the Mennonite Memorial Home-McDonald's Easter egg hunt? Check the Icon You Tube videos around noon and Saturday to learn the answer.
Now for a couple quirky things. At 2 p.m. I was sitting in the Dayton Airport C14 gate with about five other people. It was a pretty empty terminal. Suddenly Louise and Lawrence Matthews walked by. They were headed to a wedding in Denver.
It gets even more interesting. About 30 minutes later Carolyn Gratz sits down in the C14 seating area. Turns out she's on the same flight as me. Heading to New York City to visit her daughter Ashley.
Back to my seat in the nosebleed section of the Met-Rockies game: The only bummer from all this is the free Wi Fi in LaGuardia is pretty much unless. I had to buy 24 hours of Boingo at $7.95 a crack to log on and pull this off. And, you see, I really wanted to pull it off.
In case you're curious, a Big Mac costs $8.95 here. (I passed.) And, I've been warned for the 40th time by some woman in a cool, calm and collected voice over the PA system in Dayton and LaGuardia that it' a no-no to talk to strangers...well, to allow them to give you their baggage.
I can't figure out how she was in Dayton and New York the same day. One more thing. Orange alert.
Hey, I think they're calling my flight. See ya.
