IT'S SPRING... FINALLY!

What a wonderful break from New York's winter weather... Five days in Tampa, with the good company of some of our legal tech denizens in Rays-ville. (Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's no longer the toothy, gritty DEVIL Rays, it's just plain bland Rays. Somebody ought to fire THAT marketer...)

Sunday, it was a road trip to the land o' the Pirates, in Brandenton - about an hour south of Tampa, over spectacular blue waters and a 5.5 mile gorgeous bridge, the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which is very aptly named.  (Here's the NY Times architecture review).  According to wikipedia, it's the world's longest bridge with a cable-stayed main span. (Photo courtesy of Bridgeworld.net).

Anyway, trusty Garmin "Jill" kinda tilted once we got to Brandenton. She (nuvi 200) is good, but not perfect, and kept insisting on sending us to an area of town decidedly more devoted to chihuaha dogs and beer than to beisbol. It was an interesting scenic tour, but we quickly defaulted to the tried-and-true "ask a gas station dude" method, and with his directions, finally found the charming McKechnie Field at 1611 9th street WEST (not east, as Jill insisted on sending us).

Anyway -- the "we" in this case being the intrepid Teri "Jersey Girl" McCarron (of Minnesota's McCarron Advanced Computing Services Inc.) and her boyfriend Teddy Lindgren, who shows great bravery going out in public with us when Teri and I are bedecked in Yankees-wear.

We absolutely loved McKenchnie Field. Alan Byrd sums it up in his Florida Spring Training guidebook: 'Everything seems to be a little better here than at most Spring Training sites. The grass is greener, the people friendlier, the stadium prettier and the atmospher livelier." He says it's because just about everybody at the facility is a volunteer -- and baseball and the Pirates "are woven into the fabric of the town." The local boosters raised the bucks to renovate the stadium, and they run it. It's beyond charming.

Teri is so enthusiastic, she makes me look like a wall flower, and she soon was engaged to the Parrott, or was it Mike the Super Beer man (above)? Who knows! But EVERYBODY has fun when Teri's at a game. Even Doug Mientkiewicz waved at us from right field -- and then after the game, shook Jersey Girl's hand and signed my cap after we urged him to come back to the Bronx. (Cashman was with him and grinned at our suggestion).

It was a balmy, wonderful afternoon, and the perfect way to spend an Easter Sunday. Who cares that just about none of the superstars players were on the lineup card, and the boys lost, it was a complete hoot.

Monday, it was back to Legends Field, for a chilly night game that was a slug-fest win for the Yanks. Joining ALM's Mike Medwig (left) et moi was Denise Malivuk, (right) marketing manager, and her colleague Tracey McSheffrey, (middle) of Hudson Legal. Two delightful women, they updated us on the activities of their international company (with operations in the U.S., Europe and Asia). Hudson places attorneys, paralegals and legal support professionals, in both permanent and temp posts. It targets both corporate law departments and outside counsel -- and has been particularly active in the emerging area of e-discovery, specializing in large-scale lit matters, antitrust reviews, goverment investigations, and other matters that are document intensive.

Denise and I had a fascinating conversation about how EDD is changing the career terrain, especially for lit support folks. (I'll be speaking on that topic next month at ALM's Paralegal conference in NYC).

Tuesday, we wrapped up our 2008 adventure with a trip to Winter Haven, to Cleveland turf (although they probably are moving to Arizona next year) at the Chain of Lakes Park complex - about 70 minutes east of Tampa. Another charming stadium, (although we won't talk about how poorly organized and congested the parking situation was).

It was terrific to spend time with David Bailey, president of DocuLex (right) and Tim Nissen (left) the company's marketing czar. The company recently sold its Discovery Cracker product to CT (to the CT Summation unit), and has decided to focus on document management as its "core competency." We had a great time learning about its operation, until it was time to head back west. Oh yeah, they lost.

Now it's time to head north -- with my newly-autographed hat (The Parrott, the beerman, the bullpen catcher, and Dougie, who we want back in the Bronx), new and renewed friendships  -- and just a hint of a sunburn. Spring Training has been great, but now it's time for the games that count.

Monday! Opening Day! Whoopeeee! Let's go YANKEES.

As always, click on images to enlarge. Photo album here.