This week I'm in Las Vegas exhibiting at the NFPA World Safety Conference and Exposition.

1866 Baseball game at Elysian Fields in Hoboken, NY

A 1744 rhyme entitled "Base-ball."

This week I'm in Cincinnati, which may be home to the oldest professional baseball team, founded in 1863.

Some say the Atlanta Braves are the oldest baseball team, founded as the Boston Red Stocking in 1871. 1871 is when Major League Baseball began.

A 1744 publication in England by John Newbery called A Little Pretty Pocket-Book includes a woodcut of stoolball and a rhyme entitled "Base-ball."

This is the first known instance of the word baseball in print. The book was very popular in England, and was later published in Colonial America in 1762. In 1748, the family of Frederick, Prince of Wales partook in the playing of a baseball-like game. A 1791 bylaw in Pittsfield, Massachusetts bans the playing of baseball within 80 yards of the town meeting house.
Source: Wikipedia

In 1845, the Knickerbocker Club of New York City began using Elysian Fields in Hoboken to play baseball due to the lack of suitable grounds on Manhattan. In 1846, the Knickerbockers played the New York Nine on these grounds in the first organized game between two clubs. A plaque, and baseball diamond street pavings at 11th and Washington Streets commemorate the event. By the 1850s, several Manhattan-based members of the National Association of Base Ball Players were using the grounds as their home field.
Source: Wikipedia

This week I'm in Tucson and Phoenix where it's 111 degrees! Pastey-faced, moldy, rusty Oregonians, like yours truly, wouldn't do well here, I reckon. I'd probably burst into flames if I had to stay much longer than a week.

This week I'm in Chicago and St. Louis. Two more locations with MLB teams.
Dear Bud, when does Portland get theirs?

This week I'm in Great Falls, MT. Whilst visiting in 2006, I visited the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center and snapped some photos.

This week I'm in Dallas and Denver. It's snowing in Denver in May! I'm starting to think that maybe Al Gore is either an idiot or a genius. Care to purchase a carbon credit?
We tried to move to Denver about 10 years ago but it didn't work out. As my lovely-wife-Cynthia says, "It wasn't meant to be."

This week I'm in Anaheim and Fremont. Anaheim is the happiest place on earth, because they have a baseball team. Fremont is soon to be the home of the A's. I'm jealous because California has 5 baseball teams and Oregon has zero. Maybe Bud should consider expansion and promote the Beavers to MLB.

This week I'm in San Antonio with my-lovely-wife-Cynthia attending the annual AFAA Codes Conference. The river walk is interesting though the river itself is disturbing to me because it reminds me of shit river in Subic Bay Phillipines.

This week I'm in Conshohocken, PA at the Montgomery County Fire Academy. Less than a week after my mom passed away, on Monday evening this week, right before midnight, #2 grand daughter, Adrianne, was born. The circle of life right before my very eyes.

Last week I was in Sacramento at the California State Fire Marshal's office. Sadly, my mom passed away while I was away. It has been a tough time for our family and I appreciate all of your heartfelt and kind words.

This week I'm in Houston where the weather is nice. Locals probably think it's rather cold but a high of 73 degrees without rain in March is hot for an Oregonian.

This week I'm in Eugene at the Oregon Building Officials Association Spring Institute presenting NFPA 72-2002. The good news is I can drive to work for a change. The bad news is I have to drive down, present a seminar, and then drive back home for a Portland event on Wednesday morning. It makes for a long day.

This week I'm in Lexington, KY at the Fire Department Training Center, which includes a very interesting museum.

The weather started off cold with a foot of snow but by the time I left it was perfect! A clear and warm 64 degrees.

ET News Issue No. 330 is available. You can subscribe to the weekly newsletter here.

This week I'm in Bremerton. The last time I was here it was July 1976 when we decommissioned and towed the USS Halibut to Bremerton and turned her over to the mothball fleet. The weather is great! It's sunny and warm. Hot really, compared to Minneapolis a couple of weeks ago.

ET News Issue No. 329 is available. You can subscribe to the weekly newsletter here.

This week I'm in warm and sunny Las Vegas to teach a class for Educode.

This beats the frigid weather in Minnepolis last week!

ET News Issue No. 328 is available. You can subscribe to the weekly newsletter here.

This week I'm in Minneapolis where the weather is frigid (high 0, low -10).

Does Al Gore know about this?

ET News Issue No. 323 is available. You can subscribe to the weekly newsletter here.

ET News Issue No. 322 is available. You can subscribe to the weekly newsletter here.

This week I'm in San Diego attending the NFPA 72-2010 SIG-IDS meeting. It ain't Hawai'i, but the weather here is a lot better than home where it's sleet and ice.