Steamrollin'

It's always nice when the Diamondbacks come out of a funk, even if it's just for a couple games. After a pitiful showing against the Dodgers (cough-Brandon Lyon-cough), the D-Backs have combined for 11 runs against the Chicago Cubs' 2 over the past two games for two wins. The reason this happens to be especially nice is that the Cubs are in first place in the NL Central while the Diamondbacks needed to be able to prove themselves against a tough team to regain supremacy in the NL West. Well, they did tonight, and we're now one game up on L.A. after they lost to Colorado! We also acquired "Big" John Rauch from the Washington Nats (sorry, Chelsea!) in exchange for rookie player Emilio Bonifacio last night, and he helped close out tonight's gam with two K's and one hit in his DBacks debut! Dare I say "SWEEP" tomorrow? I'm gonna certainly have to put the broom out in preparation!

Customer Service? Please?

Okay, I know I haven't worked forever, and I am not some kind of Uber-experienced manager or anything, but after working for Bashas, Renzi, NAU, Patriot, and UT&T, I like to think I understand that customer service is the most important part of any business. It's also not that difficult to do if you set your attitude right from the get-go that you, as an employee, are there to provide a service for a customer. Why, then, do I still have to deal with rude, uncooperative, and frustrating people when I walk into some businesses? Today my brother was supposed to take our dog down to the vet to get an updated rabies shot, but the women at the desk decided it would be funny to allow him to sit in the store for 45 minutes before telling him that they weren't doing vaccinations until two hours later. That was also when they told him that he couldn't get the vaccination - he's not 18. 45 minutes! So he came back home, and I had to take the dog back to the vet, wait AGAIN to see the vet after having words with the staff, and postpone a job interview in the meantime. Seriously, how hard is it to be up-front with customers instead of having them wait for hours? How hard is it to be nice while you work? All the more reason I should be looking for a job in leadership/professional development. I am good at it.

Making Plans

It's hard making plans with people in Phoenix. Not only is there drive time to worry about from me in East Mesa to Max or Ryan in North Scottsdale or Phoenix, but everyone seems to have a different schedule. That said, we all did wind up having a fun time yesterday. Max and I were planning on having lunch, but it wound up being that we couldn't decide where to go, so I decided to go to the D-Backs game with Ryan instead. We got our tickets down the first-base line near the bullpen amidst a whole bunch of Dodger fans (quite possibly the second worst fans in baseball behind the Yankees). Once there, whom did I spy but my friend Scott sitting five rows in front of us! He was there with his church and some of his family members. After the game, I also got a call from Amber - one of the RAs with whom I worked in Flagstaff, who had also been at the game down near the third-base line. While the game started nicely - with the Diamondbacks scoring three runs in the first inning, and Brandon Webb going 8 innings giving up only one run, in the top of the ninth, Brandon Lyon failed to close out the game, coughing up 5 runs and losing the game for us. It was a very disappointing loss. He just couldn't find the plate at all! After the game, and after we got out of all the post-game traffic, I took Ryan back to his car, went out to Borders to look for another of William Martin's books, but found the store almost ready to close at 6pm. So instead, I went to Half Price Books, and found a copy of Martin's "Cape Cod" - about the Mayflower settlers - that had been mismarked. The copy had been looked over by the store's employees and ended up being much cheaper than it should have been, especially considering the fact that the copy was signed by the author! To close out the night, Scott and I ended up getting some dinner at Applebee's, and chatting for a while. Unfortunately, I can't do that many more times - at least until I find a job, because the tickets, food, and gas were pretty expensive. But nonetheless, it was fun. Now, I'm just chilling at home because my mom started work at her school today and I don't have access to a car at the moment. I've been all over Jobing.com and CareerBuilder.com searching for.... something, but so far, no return phone calls. I did get a letter in the mail from Compass Bank rejecting my application because they had already filled the position for which I applied. But beyond that... nada. I'll try to keep the updates coming.

Another Update

I wish I had something more exciting to write than "the job hunt continues," but alas, that is all that's going on. I'm still working with my dad's company as the semi-time receptionist-slash-general help guy, and socking away all the dinero that I get from that, but also still looking for something more to my tastes. Eventually, I hope to have enough saved up so I can go out to DC. I have faith that if I can get an interview out there, I can get the job. It's just getting my foot in the proverbial door, so to speak, that seems to be the problem at the moment. That's one lesson I wish I'd learned sooner. Rather than spending my money in college, I should have saved it up - at least a couple thousand - so I could have done my job hunting back in May in DC, rather than what looks like November or December. Words of wisdom to pass on to my siblings, I suppose. On the political side of things, I haven't been able to do too much lately, but I'm still pulling for my personal favorites. The early ballots have gone out, I believe, so it's only a matter of time before I'll know who will be running against Mitchell in CD-5, vying for the open seat in CD-1, and who plans to challenge the incumbents for the other Arizona seats. Maybe then there will be a campaign position I can get in on, too - one never knows. With regards to my baseball passion, I was fortunate enough to be able to watch the Home Run Derby on Tuesday where Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers slugged a Derby record 28 homers in round one, and the 2008 All-Star Game, which ended up lasting 4 hours and 50 minutes (a record), had lots of small ball (6 stolen bases, a record) which I like, and lasted 15 innings (tying a record), while both managers emptied their rosters, using every single player available to them during the bout. It would have kept going, too, potentially bringing up JD Drew as the AL pitcher, had it not been for an under-the-tag play at the plate in common AL fashion. I especially enjoyed the 10th and 11th innings where Aaron Cook (Colorado Rockies) pitched out of two huge jams - bases loaded, 0 outs in the tenth, and 2nd and 3rd, 0 outs in the 11th. Drama at its best! Otherwise, I am also reading a new book by William Martin called "The Lost Constitution" - basically, it's historical fiction-meets-Dan Brown about a lost first draft of the United States Constitution which was annotated with the Founding Fathers' original intent behind the Bill of Rights, specifically the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms. The story is split into two parts - first, the story of how the document came to be stolen from its caretaker, William Pike, in 1787, and the efforts throughout history of Revolutionary, Civil War, and other era descendants of William to get it back and publish the Founders' annotations. The second part is that of the modern-day effort of a rare-book hunter to find and acquire the lost Constitution in the midst of a national debate about the repeal of the 2nd Amendment. The thinking is that if this document can be found, it will settle the debate once and for all. So obviously, several factions (not all of them nice) are trying to also get their hands on it. I'm about halfway through so far, and it's a great story. I recommend it to my friends who enjoy the Dan Brown-type treasure hunter adventure stuff, and to those who like the historical fiction aspect as well. After I finish this book, I am going to see if I can find his other novels, Back Bay and Harvard Yard. I suppose this post is long enough for now. I will write more when I have it!