A Blood Drive and a Stadium Tour

A few weeks back I donated blood because I'm keen on perks, like saving lives. And food. And juice and water. And Washington Nationals tickets. And (another) Nationals tshirt. And a Nationals Park stadium tour. All free, of course. The sticking of needles can be so glamourous. After attending more Nationals games than I care to count, I enjoyed the 'behind the scenes' aspect of the park.

From the press box. The Nationals have the highest press box in Major League Baseball because they wanted to bring the experience to the paying spectators instead of the paid press. So thoughtful.

We toured the Visitors Locker Room, where I pretended to be an Atlanta Brave. The Massage Therapist has a labeled locker of their very own. Precious.

The kitchen in the locker room was stocked. It was like a grocery store with an attached kitchen. There were multiple varieties everything--bread, cereal, granola bars, lunch meat, and beyond. And who knows what gets whipped up in the kitchen before games? The life of a professional athlete is tough.

My apologies. These iPhone photos are of a supremely poor quality. I did not think a camera would be necessary at a blood drive. After five years, consider this an epic Blogger fail. 

We made a few other stops from there before winding up in the visitors dugout. The view from that angle is oh my gosh. How do I get a seat in there when it's time to play ball? The seats from Section 136 no longer seem so stellar.

Our first (or two sets) of free tickets came on June 18 when the Houston Astros were in town. I follow baseball closely and I could not name a single Astro before they arrived. And after watching seven innings, I still could not name an Astro. They are indistinguisly bad. This was also the second time I have left a sporting event early. The temperature before 10:00 pm was still in the 90s with an unkind percentage of humidity; I have never been so uncomfortable.

In eight more weeks I'll return for another donation.