The View from Arizona

Diamondbacks Twitter Feeds

2012-01-16T01:50:00.002-07:00

I had someone ask me the other day for a list of the DBacks' Twitter feeds I follow, which is now quite longer than when I last posted a list back in February 2011 here.

This is the current list of Diamondbacks players, staff, former players, and newsfeeds I like:

Current Players and Prospects
@CY24_7 - Chris Young, Dbacks center fielder
@JUS10UP10 - Justin Upton, DBacks right fielder
@seanpburroughs - Sean Burroughs, Dbacks AAA/MLB infielder
@RRoberts14 - Ryan Roberts, DBacks third baseman
@DHern_30 - David Hernandez, DBacks pitcher
@J_saundo - Joe Saunders, DBacks pitcher
@bradziegler - Brad Ziegler, DBacks pitcher
@blummer27 - Geoff Blum, DBacks infielder
@DHuddy41 - Daniel Hudson, DBacks pitcher
@zach_duke - Zach Duke, DBacks pitcher
@wademiley36 - Wade Miley, DBacks AAA/MLB pitcher
@BarryEnright54 - Barry Enright, DBacks pitcher
@JR_Brad - J.R. Bradley, Class-A South Bend pitcher
@KeithCantwell - Keith Cantwell, Class-A South Bend pitcher
@RobbyRow_12 - Robby Rowland, Rookie Missoula pitcher
@ArchieBradley7 - Archie Bradley, Rookie Missoula pitcher
@helmet2222 - Matt Helm, Class-A South Bend infielder
@BauerOutage - Trevor Bauer, Class-AA Mobile pitcher
@CharlesBrewerAZ - Charles Brewer, Class-AA Mobile pitcher
@TylerSkaggs23 - Tyler Skaggs, Class-AA Mobile pitcher
@cowings - Chris Owings, Class-A+ Visalia shortstop

Former Players
@JarrodBParker - Jarrod Parker, former DBacks prospect (traded to Athletics 2011)
@MicahOwings - Micah Owings, former DBacks pitcher (non-tendered 2011)
@stevefinley - Steve Finley, former DBacks outfielder (retired)
@orlandohudson - Orlando Hudson, former DBacks second baseman (San Diego Padres 2011)

Mascot
@DbacksBaxter - D. Baxter, The most fan-friendly mascot in sports!

Front Office, News, and Other Misc. Accounts
@DHallDBacks - Derrick Hall, President and CEO of the Arizona Diamondbacks
@dbacks - Official Twitter account for the Arizona Diamondbacks
@dbacksbooth - Official Twitter account for the Diamondbacks broadcast booth (Mark Grace and Daron Sutton)
@DbacksInsider - Official Twitter account for the DBacks Insider Magazine (Director of Publications Josh Greene)
@DbacksProspects - Official Twitter Account for the DBacks Prospects' MLBlog
@jimyers2 - Jim Myers, Diamondbacks Communications Coordinator
@ShaunRachau - Shaun Rachau, DBacks Vice President of Communications
@jewisdbacks - Jason Lewis, Senior Producer for Fox Sports Arizona's DBacks coverage
@TaraTrzinski - Tara Trzinski, Manager of Community Programs for the Diamondbacks
@AZSnakepit - The AZ Snakepit fan site and news account
@JackMagruder - Jack Magruder, FoxSportsArizona.com DBacks beat writer
@nickpiecoro - Nick Piecoro, Arizona Republic DBacks beat writer
@tscore_dbacks - DBacks realtime game updates (not officially affiliated with the team)
@ScoutDbacks - DBacks minor league scouting information
@SteveGilbertMLB - MLB Dbacks writer

The list keeps growing every time I run across more DBacks players and staff that I can follow, and doesn't take into account the multitude of other fans I follow on Twitter! I encourage everyone using Twitter with an interest in the Diamondbacks to follow the above people!

Iowa 2012

2012-01-04T00:20:00.004-07:00

Photo Finish in Iowa Caucuses - Just a Handful of Votes Separates Romney and Santorum for Victory in Iowa

Tonight, the first salvo in the war for the 2012 Republican Presidential Nomination was fired in the midwest state of Iowa between seven candidates who, by most accounts, are a very lackluster Republican field, and for whom the only thing they have going for them is that President Barack Obama is failing to shine worse than they are. As an interesting tidbit, the Iowa caucuses tonight came down to an historical photo finish between Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney. The 1936 South Dakota primary was previously the closest primary-season vote in United States history, but that was broken tonight as just a handful of votes separated first and second place tonight - just 8 votes, to be exact! No one in Iowa can claim that a single vote doesn't matter anymore! Let's meet the candidates, in the order that they finished in the Iowa caucuses (vote totals are the final numbers from CNN as of 12:40am on January 4th):

First place: Mitt Romney - 30,015 votes
The former governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney is also a former business leader and private sector guru and 2002 Winter Olympics organizer. Romney may well be considered the front-runner for the Republican nomination, Iowa's caucuses notwithstanding. However, he faces uphill battles as a Mormon (as it is uncertain how the Christian coalition would coalesce around him as a nominee) and has a reputation as a "flip-flopper." As Governor of a liberal state from 2003-2007, Romney passed a version of a single-payer healthcare system, then in 2011, began to criticize "ObamaCare," the very similar healthcare law passed by the Obama administration. Nonetheless, without a strong showing by Ron Paul in New Hampshire and South Carolina and the continuation of Santorum's current success, Romney is likely still the presumptive nominee for the GOP.

Second place: Rick Santorum - 30,007 votes
A former Senator from Pennsylvania who served two terms, he is well-known for hyper-Christian stances on social issues, from arguing for the teaching of intelligent design in public schools to extremely strict views on gay rights and marriage issues. Santorum was projected to do well in Iowa, where his Evangelical Christian viewpoints play well in the Bible Belt middle of the state. The question for him remains whether or not the rest of the country can get behind a candidate who projects no affability on economic issues or foreign policy issues. If this election cycle were about social issues, Santorum would be more noticeable a candidate, but in a race about the economy, I foresee Santorum being shifted to the side when the real primary races get going.

Third place: Ron Paul - 26,219 votes
Ron Paul is the representative for the 14th Congressional District of Texas in the US House of Representatives, and is known as a hyperconservative (to the point of being a Libertarian) candidate on pretty much every issue. Paul is a fan of diminishing the influence of the US government, getting rid of government agencies, returning to the gold standard for the economy, pulling US troops out of bases around the world, advocating a policy of US isolationism, and other things that might sound nice to Tea Party folks but which would never actually happen if he were to become president. Despite a healthy and well-oiled grassroots machine to help him, Paul is generally viewed as too extreme to actually win against Obama in a general election. It remains to be seen if his supporters (generally younger voters) would actually turn out to support him in the remaining primaries.

Fourth place: Newt Gingrich - 16,251 votes
Gingrich was the former Speaker of the US House of Representatives in the 1990s, and has worked closely with Congress as a consultant in the years since. Famed mostly for his "Contract with America" in 1994, Gingrich is a candidate who carries a lot of baggage. On social issues he has little solid ground to stand on, having been divorced three times and having had an affair with a House staffer as Speaker. On fiscal issues, Gingrich is extremely knowledgeable, but his brash personality and his routine tongue-lashings of the media and the other candidates makes him a toxic person to face off against Obama in a general election.

Fifth place: Rick Perry - 12,604 votes
The current Governor of the State of Texas, Perry is a George Bush-esque neoconservative who might have had a chance at putting up a fight against Mitt Romney in the primaries if not for a series of mistakes in debate performances, the most famous of which being the 53-second mangling of his attempt to remember the names of three government agencies culminating in the now-epic "Oops" moment that seems to have overrun his entire message. Tonight, instead of heading to South Carolina as planned after coming in 5th place in Iowa, Perry announced that he would be heading to Texas instead to "re-evaluate" his campaign. Generally, this has been taken by the reporters covering Iowa as the first step toward Perry's announcement that he will be withdrawing from the campaign trail.

Sixth place: Michelle Bachmann - 6,073 votes
Congresswoman Bachmann from the 6th District of Minnesota garnered only about 5% of the vote from Iowa, a surprisingly low vote total for her campaign. She is a staunch Tea Party member, having founded the Tea Party Coalition in the House of Representatives in 2010. She is viewed currently as extremely likely to be the next to drop out of the race after the poor showing tonight.

Seventh place: Jon Huntsman - 745 votes
Huntsman, the former Ambassador to China, did not campaign in Iowa at all in favor of heading straight to New Hampshire to prepare there. He garnered under 800 votes tonight, and while he is perhaps the most levelheaded conservative candidate, he is not viewed as a real contender. He would need a heck of a strong showing in New Hampshire to have any hope of keeping his campaign alive.

Occupy Wall Street EVICTED

2011-11-15T08:41:00.001-07:00

This morning at 1am New York time, the protesters in Zuccotti Park at the Occupy Wall Street movement were evicted in a surprise police raid. Approximately 200 were arrested, and the park is being cleared of all their trash, tents, generators, and other assorted stuff - much of it will be stored at a sanitation department garage in the city and will be able to be picked up by protesters later.

But that's not the most interesting part (though I am happy to hear that police finally got their act together and started enforcing the law). The most interesting part is that at about 6:30am EST, Judge Lucy Billings issued a temporary restraining order AGAINST New York's position that when the park reopens after cleaning, protesters will be allowed back into the park, but without camping equipment (sleeping bags, generators, tents). There is a hearing taking place right now (11:30am EST) to determine if the injunction will be upheld, but in the meantime, police have barricaded the park and are not allowing anyone inside.

The reason behind the raid is a string of "Lord of the Flies"-esque behaviors that have been popping up in the tent city (and other similar tent city protests across the country) in which people are getting sick (tuberculosis at Occupy Atlanta), getting hurt (an EMS worker in New York), being put in dangerous situations (rape and sexual assaults in numerous protest camps) and getting killed (suicide in Occupy Oakland). These makeshift cities are becoming slums and ghettos and are dangerous not only to the health and safety of the protesters, but restrict the free use of the parks by non-Occupy citizens and endanger the safety and health of people in the area. Last month, Occupy protesters shut down the Brooklyn Bridge, preventing the flow of traffic for a short time.

UPDATE 12:11 EST
This morning at some point, Trinity Church offered some of its land up for protesters to use while the Zuccotti Park legal issue is under way. Despite the court order to allow protesters to re-occupy the park, police still are barricading the area and not allowing protesters to return. This may be because the judge who issued the order, Lucy Billings, has been forced to recuse herself from hearing arguments on the TRO. It's a very interesting situation. I'm watching the live streams from the protesters right now online, and will keep updating this blog with major new developments.

UPDATE 2:04pm EST
Apparently Occupy Wall Street is not the only Occupy protest group being affected today by raids. Multiple sources report that San Diego, Portland, Berkeley, and now the Occupy Phoenix group are currently being raided by police as well. Arrests are being made in all locations, and camping gear is being tossed out. Just goes to show that squatting in public parks isn't okay for the homeless, and it isn't okay for protesters. Apparently Canadian Occupy protesters are also being evicted, but since it's Canada, no one cares. (Just kidding Canada... you're like a little cousin. We care on Christmas and birthdays.)

UPDATE 10:32am EST 11/16/2011
My final update on this post. At approximately 5pm New York time, the new judge assigned to hear and rule on the Occupy Wall Street protester's demand to be allowed to camp in Zuccotti Park ruled against OWS. He said in his decision that the OWS protesters did not show sufficient cause to prevent him from keeping park rules enforced. Protesters were allowed to return to the park beginning around 7pm EST, but were not allowed to bring in tents, sleeping bags, or large bags or backpacks. People who were lying down and trying to sleep in the park were woken up and removed. Interestingly, all of the live streaming video which has been active for two months now has been shut down for OWS on both LiveStream and UStream, and the Occupy channels are now replaying video of the eviction in lieu of live broadcasting. I believe this may be because there are now so few protesters actually back in the park that the OWS leadership no longer wishes to show the broken protest right now. In other areas, Occupy Berkeley protesters retook their squatting area with more sleeping bags and tents (to the delight of corporate tent- and sleeping bag-makers), vowing to remain steadfast. Occupy Phoenix raids turned out to be no more than catch-and-release efforts for people who were sleeping in the park, and a few tents and things got removed as "abandoned" property. Other cities also got crackdowns, but as of this morning, there was no major news that I found about any of them. Oh, and Canada: evictions, crackdown, something, something. (We love you, Canada! Really!)

OWS has vowed to try to reimagine their protest strategy. I read one article talking about how protesters were getting so much more concerned with maintaining their camp that their political agenda was falling by the wayside and their message was being lost. Perhaps this will, as Mayor Michael Bloomberg put it, force protesters to "occupy [Zuccotti Park] with the power of their ideas" as opposed to their tents. We shall see.

Happy Halloween 2011!

2011-10-31T09:50:00.005-07:00

I didn't get a chance to do all the fun Halloween stuff I wanted thanks to being sick for the past few weeks (yes, weeks.... it sucks). But I wanted to wish everyone out there who reads this a very happy Halloween! I hope you all have fun tonight and stay extra safe!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Why I'm NOT Part of the 99%

2011-10-18T09:51:00.004-07:00

You've all heard it, you've all seen it. For the past month at the time of this post, the Occupy Wall Street movement has been staged in New York, and it has spread not only to cities around the United States, but also to cities around the world. I've been reading up a lot on the protests lately to find out where I stand on not only the issues, but in relation to the political philosophy which binds these people together.

To put it bluntly, I'm frustrated and I'm angry with politics and with politicians, but not in the same way as the Occupy protesters. They call themselves a part of the "99%" - that caste of people who don't make millions of dollars a year, who don't own stock options, who don't get big bonuses, who don't have titles like "CEO" and "President" and "Chairman." They feel like all their grievances are the fault of corporations and big businesses, that the government is letting them down by not redistributing wealth to give the poor an equal share of this country's money. They're named after the statistic which says that the top 1% of wage-earners gets all the breaks in this life, while the rest of the population gets stuck in the mud.

I know how they feel, and it's part of why I'm torn. I have essentially been unemployed for the past three-plus years. I have had jobs during that time, but they're nothing to hang my hat on and call a career: summer jobs, part-time minimum wage employment, seasonal stuff, and two-and-a-half years substitute teaching. I was part of the group of people who had reached a threshold where they stopped looking for work because the economy prevented it; where businesses turned their noses up at our resumes because they screamed "unemployed;" and where I barely had enough money to do anything, let alone pay back my student loans from my college degree or pay my fair share of rent at my parents' house.

On the one hand, I should be just as fed up and frustrated with the lack of the government to fix the economy. I should feel like risky investment with my (albeit few) tax dollars is an improper use of funds, and I should be extremely mad about government spending money it doesn't have on grandiose projects like universal healthcare when people like me can't afford basic necessities without putting ourselves in extreme debt. I get that, I really do. But I'm not part of the 99%; nor am I a one-percenter. To call myself a part of their group would be to admit that what they're doing is right. That the Occupy [Name of City] protests actually are akin to the sit-ins of the 1960s and the American Revolutionary War and the desire to get America out of Vietnam. It's not.

I went to these protests, like I blogged about a few days ago. I saw who these protesters are and watched them mill around with their signs, chant about how the economy sucks, and try to get petitions signed for this agenda or that. These protesters are the same stereotype that people always associate with a liberal agenda: people flashing peace signs, wearing tie-dye, waving rainbow flags, displaying Che Guevara and pot leaves on their t-shirts, studded with piercings and inked with tattoos. They are the old hippies from the 60s and 70s, living out the reincarnation of the Vietnam-era protests, the middle-aged who remember how cool it was when the Berlin Wall came tumbling down, and the young, who believe that emulating the stereotype from years gone by will somehow give their grievances meaning.

The Occupy group is disparate and they are hateful. The amount of vitriol spewed even at the "peaceful" Phoenix protest against the government, the president (and former President Bush), conservatives, liberals, police, militia, banks, the Fed, Jan Brewer, Congress, Sen. Pearce, etc. is just wrong for getting a message across. They seem to think that they operate in a vacuum - that by shouting at the moon, they'll affect changes in policy. It's not true. The Occupy group, if you ask them, will tell you that they are the epitome of "democracy in action." Democracy is more than just being the loudest in the room. It's a complex system with laws, rules, judges, elections, political parties, and lots and lots of boring activities which test the foundations of the patience and civility required by those processes.

I am not part of the so-called 99% because I believe that to effect changes - real, meaningful changes - in the way our system works, you have to work within the system. It takes dedication, principles and morals, an ability to see beyond the black-and-white of decision-making, and patience. A whole metric ton of patience. Change doesn't happen overnight, and it doesn't happen because a few aimless people decide to yell at the world for their problems in life down the barrel of a loudspeaker. This era requires, even demands, that discourse to get anything done be civil and that it be crafted carefully. Citizens need to stand up, not to scream and shout and bash whatever they disagree with, but to play a real part in the process of democracy. To bring new ideas to the table, not chant away that we want to banish the old ones. Only then will this democracy upheld in word but not in spirit that the Occupy protesters hold so dear be truly fulfilled.

2011 MLB Playoff Updates 3

2011-10-16T20:57:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the 2011 National League Champion St. Louis Cardinals!

Instead of making one hyper-long post about the ALCS and the NLCS, my Update #2 post was exclusively about the ALCS and this one is about the NLCS between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers. Much like the Texas-Detroit series, which the Texas Rangers won on Saturday night, this series was also an epic battle between two very evenly-matched teams.

Game one in Milwaukee's Miller Park was a back-and-forth affair until the Brew Crew put things away with a six-run fifth inning thanks to a two-run double from Ryan Braun, who also homered in the game, and homers from Prince Fielder and Yuniesky Betancourt. Jamie Garcia went just four innings for the Cardinals, giving up six of their nine runs, as the Brewers won the game 9-6.

In game two, the Cardinals got mad, then solved the mysteries of Miller Park. Albert Pujols led the team with three doubles and a line-drive home run to left, and the 6-7-8 hitters in the lineup went 6-for-14 with three runs scored and five RBI. Rickie Weeks and Prince Fielder homered in all of the Brewers three runs, but the 12-3 victory by the Cardinals could not be overcome.

Taking the series to St. Louis and the beautiful Busch Stadium, where game three saw the Redbirds put up four runs in the first inning thanks to a trifecta of doubles by Jon Jay, Albert Pujols, and David Freese. An RBI single in the second by Yuniesky Betancourt followed by a sac fly to right by Yovani Gallardo, and then a Mark Kotsay homer in the third put three runs on the board for Milwaukee, but both bullpens performed spotless work in the 6th through 9th innings. The Cardinals held on to beat the Brewers 4-3.

Five doubles by the Brewers in the middle innings of game four gave them a four-to-two advantage as Randy Wolf went seven innings and struck out six, giving up two runs. Francisco Rodriguez and John Axford closed out the game as the Cardinals were limited to eight hits. David Freese picked up another two hits for the Cards, but it wasn't enough as they lost 4-2.

With the Series tied, the ALCS became just a best-of-three situation, and the Cardinals made the most of it in game five. Taking advantage of the worst defensive play in at least a decade (errors by Jerry Hairston, Rickie Weeks, Yuniesky Betancourt, and Johnny Estrada) including Weeks' third error this series, the Cardinals picked up five runs - just two earned - off of Brewers started Zack Greinke in 5 2/3 innings. Pitching for the second time in the championship series, Jaime Garcia went into the fifth inning and gave up just a single run. The Cardinals bullpen held the lead, giving up only two hits and one walk over the final 4 1/3 innings of the game as the Cardinals took the hammer in the 7-1 victory.

Game six was a must-win situation for the Brewers, but they failed to capitalize. The Cardinals were off to a rocket-fast start in inning number one as David Freese hit a three-run home run to put them up 4-0. A Rafael Furcal solo homer in the second, an Albert Pujols homer in the third, and a two-run single by Allen Craig gave the Cardinals added insurance. Another error by Jerry Hairston didn't help matters, and the Cardinals won the game - and the National League Championship - by a final score of 12-6.

The Occupy Phoenix Protests

2011-10-15T15:23:00.001-07:00

So by now, most people with an inkling of what's going on in the country will have at least heard of the "Occupy Wall Street" movement in New York. Some of them may even know that the protests have spread into several other major cities, including Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, Portland, Seattle, and now Phoenix. Yesterday, Occupy Phoenix protesters marched through the heart of downtown Phoenix, stopping at the different bank buildings there (Wells Fargo, Chase, Bank of America) and the 12 News/Arizona Republic building. There were, according to local news reports, about 200 people at the march.

Today, a larger protest is currently being held at the Cesar Chavez Plaza in Phoenix. I stopped by there for about two hours this afternoon to see for myself what all the talk is about. First off, the protests attracted a good couple thousand people, and the demographics were mildly surprising. I noticed moms bringing their children (even babies, despite the heat of the day), old former hippies wearing tie-dye shirts (and before you question my use of the term hippies, he had written it himself on his sign), plenty of twenty-something college students with ASU hats, militia members dressed in camouflage fatigues, new agers with "legalize hemp" signs, men in business suits, guys in Guy Fawkes masks (the "V for Vendetta" mask) with anarchist symbols all over, a couple Uncle Sams, a handful of Tea Party protesters wearing three-pointed hats and beating drums, a group of people dressed as cows ("Join our moooovement"), a man playing the bagpipes, and then of course a few regular normal people. Plenty of the people out there were white, but a sizable chunk were also Hispanic, many of whom wore buttons or clothing or carried signs against Joe Arpaio and in favor of legalizing illegal immigration.

As for signage itself, the sky was basically the limit. I saw signs against "corporate welfare," against banks, against Bush, for marijuana, against the Federal Reserve, for legalizing illegal immigrants, against Obama, for peace, against war, for giving money back to the people, and against bailouts. Plenty of them used the "I am the 99%" phraseology. Plenty more had dollar signs ("Stop Worshipping $" comes to mind). Most of the signs were handheld, but there were two (just two) larger banners. One was for the legalization of marijuana (and it was poorly done... black on dark green doesn't show up well) and the other said "Bush and Obama are War Criminals." I never thought I'd see both of them on one sign like that, that's for sure.

The one thing I didn't see was a significant use of the "Occupy" or "Occupy Phoenix" term. In fact, only one sign that I noticed had the word "Occupy" actually on it. That kind of an important distinction because unlike the Tea Party, who all come together under the name, this movement does not seem to be either as organized or as capable of long-term stability as a political force. When I looked at the crowd, I got the sense that I was seeing the ASU Mall during Rush Week. Lots of different groups all in the same place, united for the moment by virtue of being part of the Rush Week festivities, but ultimately with different goals and leadership.

For the hour and a half I immersed myself in trying to figure out the crowd and make mental notes to share here, the crowd was relatively peaceful. There were a large number of Phoenix Police officers there to make sure the crowd didn't get out of control or spill out into the streets (like a few, um, misguided people tried to do). There were cop vehicles everywhere I must have counted at least twenty within a one-block radius, and several more driving around. I also saw at least two plainclothes officers inside the crowd itself, looking for trouble. In one section of the plaza, a large crowd was gathered in a semi-circle, and people kept taking turns chanting and railing against this or that, and the crowd kept repeating catchphrases back to them. In other parts of the plaza, people tried getting cars to honk at their signs, or just basically treated this like a party. There was music (drums and guitars and bagpipes), dancing (the cows were having a blast), and plenty of people brought food and drink. I envisioned a bit of a mini, politically-charged Woodstock, though that might just be my imagination running rampant.

All told, it will be interesting to see how far this goes in Phoenix over the next few days. Someone mentioned and I overheard that some of the protesters had slept in the plaza Friday night, and due to the number of bedrolls I saw people carrying, I would assume that at least some will try to do it again tonight. The movement should be an interesting one to watch. They've put together a "General Assembly" in New York to come up with a platform for their movement, though I anticipate their ability to put together a coherent list of goals for the group to appease all those competing demographics to be slow if not impossible to manage. Ultimately, I see this group being a hot topic for a little while, then blowing over.

2011 MLB Playoff Updates 2

2011-10-13T16:45:00.002-07:00

Congratulations to the 2011 American League Champion Texas Rangers!

This post is my little recap of the 2011 American League and National League Championship Serieses. Yes, serieses. I was going to go with "serii" but that sounded slightly less stupid than using serieses. And using "series" to describe a plural number of serieses just feels weird to me. And because no one ever comments on this blog, I know I won't get grammar haters berating me about it. So ha.

Anyway, over the past several days I've been watching all the MLB ALCS and NLCS games. The American League features the powerhouse Texas Rangers against the powerhouse Detroit Tigers. People expected a firecracker series between the two, and they haven't been disappointed, even though none of the games has been particularly high-scoring. The featured player of the series? Mother Nature.

Game one featured Justin Verlander giving up three early runs to Texas, then being forced to leave after a pair of rain delays in the fifth inning. The Rangers bullpen shut down the Tigers' offense after the delays (a combined two hours, thirty minutes), limiting them to just one hit. It was a 3-2 Texas win.

If you ask the Rangers, they "Cruz-ed" to victory in game two 7 to 3 after Nelson Cruz crushed a two-run home run in the 11th inning after Cruz had tied up the game in the 7th inning with another homer. Game two was originally to happen the night after game one, but was postponed due to the threat of rain. Ironically, no rain actually fall at the stadium the whole time the game was supposed to be played. But hey, a little delay never hurt anything... that walk-off shot? It was a grand slam - the first postseason walk-off grand slammer ever! The Rangers jumped on a plane for Detroit when this one ended at 12:03am local time.

Game three showcased pitching more than hitting, although there was plenty of that, too, in the 5-2 Tigers victory. Doug Fister totally shut down the Texas offense over 7 1/3 innings, allowing just two runs on seven hits (six singles and a double). After a quick first-inning Texas run, Fister worked his magic while the Tigers clubbed three solo homers and put up runs in the 4th-7th innings for a total of five.

By a score of 7 to 3 (again), the Rangers got the hammer in the ALCS by tagging the untouchable Jose Valverde for four runs in the top of the 11th inning of game four, giving him a loss on a Mike Napoli go-ahead single, but blown open by a Nelson Cruz three-run bomb. The Rangers showcased not just the big hits, but also their fielding and defensive skills, as Nelson Cruz threw out Miguel Cabrera at home trying to score the go-ahead run on a short right-field hit in the 8th, and Napoli threw out Austin Jackson trying to steal a base in the 10th.

With a 3-1 deficit in the Series going into Game 5, the Tigers knew they had a lot of ground to cover to win a World Series berth, but they rose to the task. In the 6th and 7th innings, with the score tied 2-2, the Tigers put up five runs on something I've never seen nor scored before. In the sixth, with no one out, the leadoff hitter in Ryan Raburn singled to left. Then Miguel Cabrera doubled him in immediately after. Victor Martinez followed that up with a triple, and Delmon Young homered to deep left-center field. The Tigers basically hit for a natural cycle (a 1B, 2B, 3B, and HR in that order) as a team. Kind of cool. Justin Verlander also set a new career high pitch count (133 pitches over 7 1/3 innings), giving up four runs. The Tigers send the Series back to Texas with a 7-5 win.

On Saturday night, the Texas Rangers defeated the Detroit Tigers 15-5 to advance to the 2011 World Series! It was an exciting, high-scoring game that saw the Tigers jump out to an early 2-0 lead. But in the 3rd inning, the Rangers pounced and never looked back, scoring NINE runs on four walks, four singles, two doubles, and a couple of fielder's choices off of four Detroit pitchers. After that, while three solo home runs put the Tigers at a total of five runs for the game, the Rangers tacked on six more runs, including Nelson Cruz's record-breaking sixth home run (the record was most home runs in a single postseason series), topping Ken Griffey Jr., Reggie Jackson, and Chase Utley. Cruz also broke the record for most RBI in a single series with 13, and he was named ALCS MVP. The Texas Rangers take on either the St. Louis Cardinals or the Milwaukee Brewers pending the final game (or two if needed) of the NLCS. Congratulations, Texas!

2011 MLB Playoff Update 1

2011-10-06T20:42:00.001-07:00

Well, my playoff predictions are already looking bad....

I predicted the Rays to beat the Rangers, and the Diamondbacks to beat the Brewers. I also predicted the Phillies to whoop the Cardinals, and the Tigers to cream the Yankees.

UPDATE 1: So far, in four games, the Texas Rangers have defeated the Tampa Bay Rays. It was a pretty exciting series which saw the Rangers win games two, three, and four, taking both Rays home games and one of two at the Ballpark at Arlington. In game one, the phenom rookie Matt Moore stymied the Texas offense, and actually shut them out over seven innings, 9-0. In game two, the Rangers answered back in a back-and-forth contest, capitalizing on a five-run fourth inning and a big late homer by Mitch Moreland. Game three was the least exciting contest of the series, as Texas outlasted the Rays 4-3, and in game four, Adrian Beltre smacked a record-tying three home runs (tying Reggie Jackson and others) as the Rangers clinched the series 4-3.

UPDATE 2: The Detroit Tigers beat the New York Yankees in a wacky five-game series to clinch their half of the American League Division Series. A Robinson Cano grand slam in game one allowed the Yankees to trounce Detroit 9-3, but the Tigers answered back with victories in games two and three. Game two saw former Diamondbacks pitcher Max Scherzer hold a no-hitter for six innings to beat the Bronx Bombers 5-3, and a Verlander-Sabathia rematch saw the potential AL MVP win 5-4 over the pinstripes in game three. The Yankees victory in the must-win game four 10-1 gave them a record victory - their largest margin of victory in an ALDS in franchise history - to force game five. Game five, which just ended tonight, saw Ivan Nova go just two innings before being removed due to forearm tightness. The Tigers got out to an early lead on back-to-back home runs in the first, and held off a late comeback to win 3-2!

UPDATE 3: The Phillies and Cardinals also got forced into a game five situation on Wednesday, as the Cards' David Freese smacked a huge 2-run home run to center field. Game one of that series saw the Phillies rout the Cardinals 11-6. Game two was a Redbirds come-from-behind victory to win 5-4 against Cliff Lee, and game three was a low scoring affair which saw pinch hitter Ben Francisco launch a three-run bomb to lead the Phillies to victory 3-2. Game five was yet another incredible matchup between former Cy Young winners Roy Halladay and Chris Carpenter. In a 1-0 shutout, the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Phillies. Chris Carpenter pitched a complete game shutout, and Roy Halladay went 8 innings and gave up just the one run. An epic defeat of the Phillies team won, ironically, by pitching.

UPDATE 4: In the Arizona Diamondbacks and Milwaukee Brewers series, the Brewers took a two-games-to-none lead as they swept the DBacks at Miller Park 4-1 and 9-4 in the first two games. But a magical game three featuring a huge, game-opening grand slam by Paul Goldschmidt - just the fourth rookie to hit a slam in the postseason, and the first Diamondbacks player to ever do it - gave the DBacks life 8-1. A game four in which Chris Young hit two homers and Ryan "Tatman" Roberts launched the Snakes' fourth grand slam in as many consecutive home games (another record) led the Diamondbacks to force a game five 10-6. Game five was a tight, nerve-wracking, extra-inning game where the Brewers finally beat the Diamondbacks 3-2 in the tenth, capped off by a postgame interview which featured Nyjer "Tony Plush" Morgan screaming at the top of his lungs into a live television camera "F*** YEAH! F*** YEAH!" Classy, Brew Crew, classy.

Thus, the Championship Series will feature:
The Detroit Tigers vs. the Texas Rangers (Go Tigers)
The St. Louis Cardinals vs. the Milwaukee Brewers (Go Cardinals)

Terra Nova

2011-10-01T21:57:00.002-07:00

A few months back, I saw a promo for a new show coming out this September called "Terra Nova." If you remember the premise, a group of people travels 85 million years into the past to escape the polluted, dying Earth and start a new life. I just finished watching the pilot episode, and wanted to critique the show.

I'll try not to post anything too spoiler-ish, so this post can be read by everyone who's not seen the show yet.

First up, the plot basically starts out with Earth completely polluted to the point that people have to wear re-breathers to walk outside, families are limited to no more than two children to conserve oxygen, and simple things like the sun and the moon cannot be seen through thick smog clouds. Plant life is all but gone. A group of scientists has, however, discovered a rift in the space-time continuum which can enable people to travel back to the time of the dinosaurs - though it is a one-way trip exclusively - and slowly, small groups are making "pilgrimages" to the settlement established in this new timeframe, called "Terra Nova."

The show follows a family as they are selected to join the tenth pilgrimage: Jim Shannon, a cop and the father; Elizabeth Shannon, Jim's wife and a trauma surgeon who was selected for the pilgrimage based on her qualifications; Josh Shannon, their angsty teen son; Maddy Shannon, their brilliant-but-in-a-nerdy-way daughter; and Zoe Shannon, their third child. Third child? But they were only allowed to have two children! Yup. It's a plot twist. Get over it.

The Terra Nova compound is a giant ring surrounding a large tract of farmland. Though the show hasn't gotten into specifics much, it has a medical area, a command center, solar and wind power stations, and a while bunch of very tall gates designed to keep out the dinosaurs. But Terra Nova is not without its flaws. The kids there like to sneak outside the gates, there is a sect of people called Sixers who came through on the sixth pilgrimage who separated and created their own compound somewhere (and who act very much like raiders), and of course there are security problems.

I won't delve much more into things than I already have about the storyline itself. I think you should go watch the pilot for yourself. What I will say is that the show has its good points and its things it should improve upon. The plot itself is compelling. There are some twists and turns, and there are mysteries to be solved throughout the course of the season (mysterious rock carvings, anyone?) in much the same way that "LOST" had. So if you were a fan of that show, as I was, you should give "Terra Nova" a chance. The show also has a semi-Jurassic Park feel. Yes, I know it's horrifyingly cliche to compare every film product with dinosaurs with "Jurassic Park," but seriously, that movie set the standard for dino films. There are big gentle dinos like the Allosaurs with their long necks, dinos like velociraptors called "Slashers," and big T-rex looking things that they call "Carnosaurs."

On the weaker end of the show, for one thing, I had a hard time getting past some of the CG. A good show nowadays is one in which you don't go "oh, man, that's totally a fake whatever-it-is." That is to say that even if something is CG, the viewer doesn't notice it. In "Terra Nova," I noticed it. Another flaw has to do with the characters. Now, this is a new show, with good characters. Jason O'Mara, who plays Jim Shannon, has had appearances on "Band of Brothers," "Grey's Anatomy," "CSI:Miami," and "Life on Mars," to name a few. But Shelley Conn, Landon Liboiron, Naomi Scott, and Alana Mansour (the other four family members) haven't been in a lot of mainstream stuff before, and their acting skills were weak. Liboiron, who plays Josh Shannon, is a VERY stereotypical "you-can't-tell-me-what-to-do" angsty teenager, very cliche. The Maddy character could be interesting if they develop her right, and the characters of Elizabeth and Zoe are really tabula rasa for this show... they could end up being enjoyable or very, very flat. Among the other major characters are Allison Miller, playing Syke (an odd pun, perhaps?), and Stephen Lang (of Avatar fame, among many, many other things) playing the Terra Nova Commander Nathaniel Taylor. Both of these characters are intriguing, and I will be interested to see how they develop. Major potential.

Overall, I liked the pilot. I think the show has some good potential, though I could definitely see it turning into something a lot like "LOST." That might be good, since "LOST" was very popular, but it might turn away a lot of viewers who didn't like that shows multitude of twists and turns and non-explanations.

Do yourself a favor. Take an 90 minutes and watch the pilot, then let me know what you think in the comments box.

A Wild Wild Card Night

2011-09-28T21:31:00.000-07:00

As if this season of baseball wasn't crazy and insane enough, the final day of the regular season saw a total of eight games which had playoff implications, and most of them were absolutely incredible!

First off, in the American League, the Yankees, Rangers, and Tigers had already locked up their divisions, but the Boston Red Sox were trying to avoid missing the playoffs after a miserable September which saw them lose 20 of their 28 games. At the same time, the Rays were trying to at least get to a playoff game by beating the Yankees, who have the best AL record this year. The Rangers and Tigers were each trying to gain home field advantage and the number two seed in the AL against the Angels and Indians, respectively.

In the National League, the Braves and Cardinals were tied for the Wild Card spot, and a win by one and a loss by the other would seal the deal for one of them. Milwaukee and Arizona were vying for the right to not face the Phillies with home field advantage.

Here's how the night went down. First, the matchups:

Yankees-Rays
Red Sox-Orioles
Rangers-Angels
Indians-Tigers
Phillies-Braves
Pirates-Brewers
Cardinals-Astros
Diamondbacks-Dodgers

The games started out quickly enough. The Yankees took a seven-run advantage over the Rays, while the Rangers handily beat the Angels, rendering the Detroit game meaningless. When the Cardinals beat the Astros, it became a must-win situation for the Braves, and when Milwaukee beat Pittsburgh soon after that, the Diamondbacks knew they were going to open on the road.

But then the Rays tied the Yankees with a six-run eighth inning and a solo homer in the bottom of the ninth. Boston and the Orioles emerged from a rain delay with Boston on top by one in the 7th, and a 3-3 stalemate ensued in Atlanta. The Yankees-Rays game and the Phillies-Braves games both headed to extra innings, with the Wild Card hopefuls fighting with every tool in their arsenals for the chance to play postseason baseball. It was exciting.

Just a few minutes ago, the Baltimore Orioles tied their game in the bottom of the ninth inning against Boston on a Nolan Reimold ground rule double, and then won it on a walk-off Robert Andino RBI single. The Red Sox needed a Yankees win to force a playoff.

The Atlanta Braves gave up a run to the Phillies in the 13th inning of their game, and the Phillies shut them out in the bottom of the frame, ending their playoff dreams this year. This locked up the NLDS matchups.

And just moments ago, Evan Longoria hit a game-winning, playoff-making, walk-off home run in the bottom of the 12th inning against the New York Yankees to give them the AL Wild Card, locking up the ALDS matchups.

No one would have ever thought the Rays had a chance this year, but they came back from several games down to Boston to win it, and the Cardinals completed a similar wild run. This day of baseball has been simply amazing!

The playoff picture is set.

ALDS A: Detroit Tigers vs. New York Yankees
ALDS B: Tampa Bay Rays vs. Texas Rangers
NLDS A: St. Louis Cardinals vs. Philadelphia Phillies
NLDS B: Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Milwaukee Brewers

Thus, my playoff predictions this year will be as follows:

ALCS: Tampa Bay Rays vs. Detroit Tigers
NLCS: Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Philadelphia Phillies

World Series: Detroit Tigers vs. Arizona Diamondbacks

WS Winner: The Arizona Diamondbacks in 6 games

Yes, I'm biased. Deal with it! Haha... GO DBACKS!

My 32nd Game of the Year

2011-09-28T00:59:00.003-07:00

Tonight I went to - where else? - Chase Field for my 32nd and final regular-season game of the year to watch the Arizona Diamondbacks take on the Los Angeles Dodgers. I've blown my previous high of 15 games in a season out of the water in 2011 thanks to all the tickets I've been given or won from the Diamondbacks organization, the Diamondbacks Foundation, Fry's Food, and now from right fielder Justin Upton himself!

That's right, I won a four-pack of tickets to tonight's game on Twitter from @realjustinupton, who was giving away tickets yesterday. Imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning and had a direct message from Upton telling me I'd won! It was very cool.

I ended up taking Scott to the game with me, but we had two unusable tickets because no one else could go. We got there early enough to be first in line to get in when the non-season ticket holder gates all opened, and while Scott went to the team shop to get a shirt and hat, I went to left field in an attempt to catch a ball or two. I was wholly unsuccessful, though I did get Clayton Kershaw's attention and he glared at me. Funny story. Kershaw robbed a couple DBacks fans of a ball hit at the wall, and a guy 20 feet to might right yelled at him "You suck, Kershaw." Kershaw turned around, asked who said it, and the guy said "I did." So Kershaw proceeded to wind up for a really hard throw of the ball he'd just caught right at that guy. He didn't do it obviously, but he came off as a wimpy little you-know-what. So one of the next balls that was hit was a homer, which Kershaw also chased to the wall right below where I was standing. I yelled out at him, "I don't think you're tall enough to rob a fan of that one, Kershaw," which prompted him to glare at me a moment. I glared back. He went and moved to center field to shag balls after that. Probable Cy Young Award winner for 2011 or not, Clayton Kershaw is a jerk. Period.

Anyway, after BP, we had some time to kill, so we wandered to our seats in right field, then just before game time, we got some popcorn and chatted throughout the first six innings of the game. It was a 0-0 deadlock, with phenom Jarrod Parker (@JarrodBParker) pitching in his first ever big league game, and doing really well. He got pulled after 5 2/3 innings with a pitch count of around 75, but he was obviously getting tired, and he did a great job in his debut!

Eventually, the Dodgers scored a run on a Dee Gordon single in the 7th, but the Diamondbacks came right back to tie it in the bottom of the inning on a long Lyle Overbay double, scoring Chris Young.

Fast forward to the top of the 10th inning... score still tied at 1-1. Micah Owings came in to pitch and promptly gave up a double, then made a throwing error to score the runner on a fielder's choice, then a single and a fielding error on Chris Young, a groundout advancing the runner, a single, a walk, and a triple, and just like that, it was a 6-1 Diamondbacks deficit. By that time, most of the crowd had left, thanks to both the time and the circumstances, but Scott and I stayed. (Okay, in all fairness, I kind of made Scott stay... he wanted to leave in the 8th inning.)

By the way, that triple I mentioned was a clanger off the wall which Justin Upton tried to chase down. The ball hit the wall, ricocheted hard, and hit Upton in the left temple. Upton, recovering from a mild concussion after being beaned by Tim Lincecum the other night, was obviously hurt, but still found enough strength and clarity of mind to get the ball back in before squatting on the ground and waiting for medical help. He was removed from the game as a precaution, but initial reports said he would be all right. Scott and I were literally RIGHT THERE when it happened, and it definitely sounded painful. In the screen grab below, Upton had just been hit by the ball, and he's below the "S" in the State Farm sign. The ball is to the right of his head below the "a" and Scott and I were sitting in the yellow circle.

I really hope Justin's going to be okay. Two head injuries in a lifetime would be two too many but a pair in a week is excessive. I did hear tell that he had a headache but felt all right, but obviously I wish him well anyway. I was extremely impressed at his strength of will to stay composed after the ricochet and get the ball back in to the infield. He saved a potential inside the park home run and held the runner to just a triple. If it were me, I might have said screw the run and just laid down on the grass. Upton's the man.

In the bottom of the 10th, everyone thought the club would be just going through the motions. After all, down by 5 with three outs remaining, at 10:30pm in a game that technically doesn't really matter aside from keeping you in the race for home field advantage in the NLDS.... It would have been easy to just say screw it. Indeed, Willie Bloomquist and Gerardo Parra quickly grounded out. With two outs, Cole Gillespie, who came in for Upton, singled to the first baseman and beat the throw. Miguel Montero smacked on up the middle, and Chris Young walked. Bases loaded, two out. A fielding error on the Dodger third baseman Aaron Miles allowed a run to score, leaving the bases loaded again during John McDonald's at-bat. After a pitching change, Aaron Hill walked, driving in another run, which left the Diamondbacks down by three runs with the bases loaded and Ryan Roberts coming to bat. Roberts had had an 0-for-4 night at the plate with two strikeouts. But you can't keep him or this team down... on the very first pitch he saw at 9:26pm he connected, sending a scorching line drive to deep left field, and over the wall!

A WALK-OFF GRAND SLAM FOR RYAN ROBERTS! That's the first walk-off grand slam for the Diamondbacks organization since May, 2000, and only the fourth time it has ever been done in extra innings EVER (including once by Babe Ruth)!

Ryan Roberts had said that if he were ever to hit a walk-off home run, he'd do the Kirk Gibson fist pump from the 1988 World Series... you know the one. And he did... it was awesome! (I'm not kidding... you MUST click this link to watch the video: http://www.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=19748777&partnerId=aw-5143649194975279678-996) Immediately after the game, Roberts (@RRoberts14) tweeted to his followers, "Thanku [sic] to everyone for sticking around and having that moment with me! Wow wow wow!"

It truly was incredible. It was without a doubt the best moment of the year for this club. It makes you believe that this really, truly, might just be our year again.

Champions!

2011-09-27T00:00:00.003-07:00

The Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday delivered the knockout blow to the San Francisco Giants and became the 2011 National League West Division Champions!

Down 1-0 going into the bottom of the 7th inning, first baseman Paul Goldschmidt walked, then was driven all the way around to score by a Chris Young double. After an intentional walk to Gerardo Parra with just one out, new shortstop John McDonald popped to first base, and Geoff Blum, pinch hitting for starter Joe Saunders, struck out looking.

David Hernandez relieved Saunders, and got Justin Christian to fly out to right field before allowing a single to Jeff Keppinger. Emmanuel Burriss came in to pinch run and did move to second base on a wild pitch, but key strikeouts to both Carlos Beltran and Brett Pill kept the score tied.

In the bottom of the eighth, third baseman Ryan Roberts (AKA "Tatman") smoked a 1-0 double to left field to lead off. Second baseman Aaron Hill sacrifice bunted to the pitcher to move Tatman to third base. Wisely, the Giants allowed their starter, Matt Cain, to intentionally walk Arizona's most dangerous power hitter, right fielder Justin Upton, before removing him in favor of lefty reliever Javier Lopez. Lopez faced just a single batter and threw only a single pitch, getting catcher Miguel Montero to fly out to shallow center field, not allowing the run to score from third. But with two outs, two runners on base, and a 1-2 count, Goldschmidt hit a shrieking line-drive into the right-field corner: his first career triple scoring two runs and giving the D-backs a two run advantage. Young's strikeout ended the inning, but not before the damage was done.

Tension filled the stadium as the air crackled with excitement and anticipation. Cheering partially gave way to thunderous silence as no one wanted to jinx the team by speaking the unspeakable: the Diamondbacks were about to go from worst in 2010 to first in 2011. Eventually, the sounds of "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC amplified the atmosphere in the stadium... J.J. Putz, the closer, and he of the 45 saves this season for Arizona, came in from the bullpen.

Putz's first challenger was Mark DeRosa, and Putz fell behind him with two early balls. The third pitch was a bloopy liner to center field. The tying run was coming to the plate in the form of the extremely dangerous and tough to strike out pinch hitter Pablo "Panda" Sandoval, relieving Andres Torres, who had pinch run for Brandon Belt, while Brandon Crawford pinch ran for DeRosa. Perhaps it was fate, or nerves, or the consequences of the inevitable... or maybe Putz was just mad about the single... but the un-K-able Panda was struck out swinging on a mere four pitches. On the very next pitch, a long fly out to center field eliminated Orlando Cabrera, and the Giants were left with but one out to play with, down by two runs. Eli Whiteside, the catcher, came to the plate, and on strike one, Crawford moved to second. Defensive indifference. His run didn't matter. All that did matter was getting out Whiteside. Strike two. The fans climbed to their feet, yelling JJ's name, whistling, and ready for the celebrations that were inevitable. Ball one. A collective groan, but then even louder cheering, as if the fans themselves could will the strikeout just by sheer volume. Another pitch... a foul ball. With a 1-2 count, and the decibel level inside Chase Field rivaling that of the inside of a jet engine at peak operation, Putz threw pitch number five home... a shallow pop to center field... caught by Chris Young!

Putz picked up Montero as Young gave a leap of ecstasy and the team rushed the field to celebrate. The Arizona Diamondbacks had just won the National League West Division, usurping the title from the once-champion San Francisco Giants, for the first time since 2007. Nothing that night could have been sweeter than the taste of champagne sprayed from dozens of bottles, nor more exciting from the fan's perspective than watching the team rush the pool in right field, jumping over the right field fence to splash into the cool water.

The team has a tough road to go: if they win home field advantage, they face the Atlanta Braves, against whom they have gone 3-3 this year. If they fail to gain that advantage, they face the Philadelphia Phillies, against whom they are also 3-3 this year. Arizona has among its young stars a potential Cy Young Award Winner (Ian Kennedy), a potential MVP (Justin Upton), a guy who was never supposed to make the team (Ryan Roberts), a complete turnaround (Sean Burroughs), the possible Rookie of the Year (Paul Goldschmidt), the unquestionable Manager of the Year (Kirk Gibson), three potential Gold Glove outfielders (Chris Young, Gerardo Parra, and Upton), a possible Silver Slugger pitcher (Daniel Hudson), and two of the best shutdown relievers in the game (David Hernandez and J.J. Putz), not to mention two possible Executives of the Year (Kevin Towers and Derrick Hall). Not too bad for a team the pundits predicted would be lucky to make it out of the cellar again this year. Rebuilding be damned.

Will we win the Series this year, the tenth anniversary of the improbable 2001 World Series against the Yankees? From this team, anything is within the realm of possibility. All I know is that it will be incredibly fun to watch!

Go DBacks!

2011 MLB Postseason

2011-09-21T23:27:00.002-07:00

Every year, I do a post about the makeup of the 2011 postseason picture for baseball, and this year is no exception... with one exception. The Diamondbacks are back in contention for the first time since 2007! A win over the San Francisco Giants at any time this weekend, or any combination of two Diamondbacks wins, two Giants losses, or one of each within the next six games seals the deal and makes the DBacks 2011 National League West champions!

To answer the obvious question, yes, yes, YES I have already bought my tickets to the National League Division Series here in Phoenix should we make it. That all being said, here's the current postseason picture:

American League:
East: The New York Yankees clinched the AL East crown for the 17th time tonight with their win over the Tampa Bay Rays. Obviously the Yankees are always a tough opponent, but that the AL East was only won with six games to spare says a lot about the rest of the field. The Yankees haven't been themselves since losing to the Diamondbacks in 2001... can they pull off win number 28 this year?

Central: The Detroit Tigers ran away with the Central this year, and with Verlander as their ace, they remain a very tough opponent. Their hitting is good, their pitching is stellar, and they have all the tools to make a run for the title.

West: The Texas Rangers lead the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim by 5 games going into the final stretch, and their magic number is 3. The Rangers have seven games left to play, but three of those are against the Angels, so the Halos aren't quite out of it just yet.

Wild Card: The Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are all still in contention. Currently it's the BoSox atop the field, but just by 2 1/2 games over both competitors. With the magic number for Boston set at 5, there's no guarantee yet that they're going to make it. Recently, the Rays have really been on a roll, and I wouldn't count them out.

National League:
East: The Phillies locked up the majors' best record - and the NL East - a long time ago. They have been everything this year that all the pundits predicted. They look primed to recapture their 2009 title, and with Halladay and Lee leading the way, followed by a killer offense, it'll take determination to stop them. However, they also have a target the size of the Twins' stadium on their backs, so a determined team with something to prove definitely has a shot.

Central: The Milwaukee Brewers hold the hammer over the St. Louis Cardinals, who have been streaking lately trying to play catch-up. The Brew Crew's magic number is 3, and their schedule has them set against the Marlins and the Pirates to close out the year. I'd feel confident in saying they can probably get three wins out of the deal to put the Cards to bed.

West: Like I mentioned above, the DBacks magic number is now 2 over the San Francisco Giants. The Giants come to Phoenix this weekend for a three-game set, and anything but a sweep of the Snakes gives the title to Arizona. Despite exceptional pitching, I don't think Brian Wilson's team is going to be able to "Book it!" this year!

Wild Card: The Atlanta Braves currently hold a 1 1/2-game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals and a 3 1/2-game lead over the San Francisco Giants. The Cardinals face the Cubs this weekend in what is sure to be an emotionally-charged set as they try to take over the Wild Card lead, if not the NL Central, and the Giants play the Diamondbacks for their fight to remain in contention. The Braves take on the Nationals, followed by the Phillies, so this is by no means locked up yet for any of the three teams.

If the postseason started today, the picture would look like this:

ALDS:
Rangers @ Yankees
Red Sox @ Tigers

NLDS:
Diamondbacks @ Phillies
Braves @ Brewers

Frankly, I can't even make good predictions yet because the Wild Card races are so tight (it will come down to the wire in the NL, I think), so I'll hold off until next week. But just looking at the matchups, the Diamondbacks and Phillies would be fun to see - hopefully the underdog team that wasn't supposed to make it out of the cellar this year can play Daniel to the Philly Goliath - and the Tigers and Red Sox matchup would be a good one as well. If the Rangers could trounce the Yankees in a matchup from the 2010 NLCS, it would be nice to see them try for another World Series berth.

All-in-all, unless we get Yankees-Phillies again this year, the postseason should be a fun one to watch! Personally, I'm rooting for a Diamondbacks-Tigers World Series (or perhaps a rematch of 2001....)!

2011 Fantasy Baseball RESULTS

2011-09-18T23:04:00.000-07:00

Several months ago, at the start of the regular season, I posted my 2011 Fantasy Baseball lineup and mentioned that if I could get in the top half of places at the end, I'd be happy. This is the original lineup:

IF: David Wright
IF: Buster Posey
IF: Rafael Furcal
IF: Gordon Beckham
OF: Hunter Pence
OF: Jay Bruce
OF Chris Young (Arizona)
UTIL: Joe Mauer
UTIL: Carlos Quentin
SP: Roy Halladay
SP: Matt Cain
RP: Chris Perez
RP: Ryan Franklin
P: Shaun Marcum
P: Jaime Garcia
B: Angel Pagan
B: Coco Crisp
B: CJ Wilson

Well, I'm happy to say that not only did I make it into the top 6 (out of 12 players), I also took home the trophy for 1st place! The season officially ended today, and I won! This is the championship team:

IF: David Wright
IF: Ryan Roberts
IF: Gaby Sanchez
IF: Kelly Johnson
OF: Jay Bruce
OF: Hunter Pence
OF: Chris Young
UTIL: Matt Weiters
UTIL: Carlos Quentin
OF: Ichiro Suzuki
SP: Jaime Garcia
SP: CJ Wilson
SP: Roy Halladay
SP: Matt Cain
SP: Shaun Marcum
SP: Ian Kennedy
RP: Chris Perez
RP: Ryan Madson

Nine of my 18 players stayed with me all year; the other nine were lost due to injury (Posey), or just were underperforming so I replaced them.

Now I can add this to my list of "credentials:" "2011 Yahoo Fantasy Baseball Champion." Woot.

Neglect!

2011-09-16T16:15:00.000-07:00

Hello friends. Sadly, I have been neglecting my blog more frequently than is normal. I'm juggling a bunch of stuff right now while getting settled into my apartment, so it's been hectic the last few months. I'm going to try to do better!

As for the apartment, well, it feels like home a bit more now. I have had to pay rent and Internet bills (gasp!), so I'm getting the full experience.... And trust me, spending $700-plus on rent for the first time is a bit of a shock to the system when you haven't paid for very much that's that expensive before! But we have a nice setup. My brother's got a nice television which is HD-capable, and we've been watching the Diamondbacks games here. We also have a couch and a recliner, as well as our computers, a desk, and the other normal amenities. The place is not cluttered with stuff, though. It's just right.

Aside from that, obviously lately I've continued to go to my Diamondbacks games. In addition to the weekend games I got from the DBacks Scholarship, I also had a great time about three weeks ago with Scott, Travis, and Matt watching batting practice from the field behind the batting cage. It was a vastly different experience than watching from the stands, especially in the outfield where I like to be to try to catch baseballs.

(From left to right, that's Matt, Scott, Travis, and me.)

We got to meet Ryan Roberts, who signed a couple baseballs for us, and we had a generally good time. Roberts, by the way, sounds nothing like you would expect. It was weird, in a good way.

The week after that, I took my friends Nate and Ryan to another game where I got to spend an inning in the Diamondbacks' broadcast booth alongside Mark Grace and Daron Sutton. I was allowed to bring only one of them, so Ryan went with me. THAT WAS AWESOME! At the third inning of the game, we went up through the press corridors, which apparently not many fans get to do (my passes were special as a raffle prize from the Diamondbacks Foundation) and got to stand in a little area to the left of the broadcasters while they called the game. Between the top and the bottom of the third, while there was a commercial break, they both came and shook our hands and asked where we were from and how we liked what the Diamondbacks were doing this season. Mark Grace also signed two baseballs for us. It was just unspeakably cool... I'll probably never have another chance to do that again! Here... photos:

First, a view of the field from the press box. I'd be perfectly fine having this view every day....

Next, a photo of the booth itself. The people in the photo are (closest to me) the broadcasters' statistician and scorer on the very right of the photo, then Daron Sutton and Mark Grace sitting, and a broadcast crew member behind them. In the next booth over, you can see Greg Schulte and Tom Candiotti, who do the radio broadcasts!

Did anyone notice what Mark Grace was doing in the above photo? That's right.... signing my baseball!

The wall we were standing next to in the booth was a veritable who's who of celebrities, former players, part-owners... all the cool people who had been up there for interviews. We saw, notably, Luis Gonzalez' autograph and Billy Crystal's signature (he was once a part-owner of the Diamondbacks).

The booth is on the second level of the stadium so this is mostly just a shot of the stadium, the baseball writers' area, and the stands, but I think it turned out nicely.

Of course, it wouldn't have been complete without the obligatory photo with Mark Grace and the two of us.... And Mark was kind enough to pose with us quickly during the inning break!

That may very well qualify as the coolest thing I have ever been able to do at Chase Field. Right up there with winning all my tickets this year, and getting to go to the All-Star festivities! Right now, obviously, the DBacks are in the thick of protecting their seven game lead in the division over the Giants. It was so cool to be able to do, see, and interact with the players, broadcasters, and staff when the games really matter. There was a certain extra electricity about everything, which I don't think would have been as pervasive if I'd gotten to do all this stuff, say, last year when the team performed very poorly.

Since I'm on the topic of stuff that's been going on, last night I also attended the LD-15 meeting for the Republican Party. It was held at AZGOP headquarters, which is currently in the process of being rennovated. This was my first LD-15 meeting, and most of the people there was quite kind. They seemed a bit desperate for new precinct committeemen, going out of their way to twist my arm a bit about it, but I attribute that to a sense of needing more support in the heavily Democratic district. They had a trio of candidate speakers there last night. First was Susan Bitter-Smith, the Central Arizona Project president who is now running for Corporation Commission. She last ran for Congressional District 5 against multiple opponents and lost a couple years ago. In 2006, she also ran for CD-5, and I had a negative incident happen with her campaign, when, according to the information I have, someone who was involved somehow with her campaign slandered me and defamed my character. Last night, she did recognize me, but I didn't tell her from where.

The next speaker was one of the former Phoenix mayoral candidates, whom I was unfamiliar with, having just moved into the area. She was throwing her support behind Wes Gullett, who is in a runoff against Democrat Mike Stanton. I know little about either candidate right now, but I wasn't surprised to see the Republican candidate endorse the Republican... it's not as if she would have endorsed the Democrat.

The final speaker of the evening was Clair Van Steenwyk, also known as Van the Radio Man, a conservative/Christian radio host in the valley who has decided to run for US Senate against Jeff Flake and Wil Cardon. This guy was, to put it mildly, hyperconservative. A staunch, almost Libertarian, Tea Party member, Van Steenwyk acted last night more like a bitter, angry old man than a candidate for Senate. He denounced the GOP as being too accepting of people that weren't committed to repealing anything that wasn't explicitly in the US Constitution, and basically called anyone that didn't see things his "blunt" way a RINO (Republican In Name Only). I was offended by him, and it usually takes a lot for me to be offended by a politician. He called Flake and Cardon out for saying that they would "bury" his campaign, and he accused them of "buying the seat."

I want it formally said, right here, that I do not support this man for US Senate. I do not think he has the right demeanor, the right ideas, or the right ideology for the job of representing Arizona's interests in Congress. Sorry, Tea Party, but this level of extremism and hatred for members of our own party MUST STOP. I'm very tired of other Arizona Republicans thinking I'm an inferior conservative because I don't support this level of hyperrepublicanism.

That brings me up-to-date now. This weekend, I'm celebrating a birthday with some friends (Scott's daughter is turning one year old, and they're having a get together), and I may see a movie. I'm looking forward to checking out Contagion and getting wigged out by how easy it would be to spread a virus uncontrollably. Luckily, our movie theatre here is close to the grocery store, so I can buy lots of Purell when I get out.

Apartment

2011-08-25T19:31:00.000-07:00

This week, I did something brand new to me: I got my first apartment, with my brother as my roommate. We moved in between Tuesday and Wednesday, and are currently in the process of unpacking and getting stuff settled.

The apartment is nice, and we're located in a decent part of southeastern Phoenix. The moving process itself was relatively painless, albeit hot, since we've had excessive heat warnings all week. Our apartment is not too energy efficient, so it's tough to cool it down, but it's not awful right now. We're trying hard to use as little electricity as we can to save money, but I have a feeling that our first SRP bill will still be high.

This type of being on my own is much different than being in my dorm as an undergrad. It's still sharing a building with a bunch of strangers, but this time I can't walk to the Union and get food with my meal plan. And my fan is squeaky and it's giving me a headache.

I'm not sure I like being on my own yet, but I assume that if and when I can find a job out here, it'll get better.

On the plus side of things, I did get my final grades for my Ethics class and my Preservation class from this summer: two A's which keeps my 4.0 GPA intact! I have now completed five classes out of the required twelve, and I'm almost halfway done with my Master's with a great GPA! Hopefully this will help me get a decent job soon!

Politics by the Pool

2011-08-14T22:14:00.001-07:00

This past Thursday, I had the unique opportunity to attend an event sponsored by the "Startup Statesmen," an Arizona group of younger conservatives in the east valley (for those of you who do not live in Arizona, that would be the eastern part of the Phoenix metro area encompassing the Gilbert-Mesa-Chandler-Fountain Hills sort of area; also Congressional District 6). Their mission, according to their Facebook page, is "to encourage young conservatives to use their voice and send their vote." Presumably for conservative candidates, I would guess.

Anyway, this event - Politics by the Pool - was to be for young conservatives to gather and network for the purpose of getting my generation of political leaders engaged for the 2012 election season. There was a live band, Rocketeer, from the local area, some snacks, a television playing the first GOP presidential candidate debate, and a pool for anyone who wanted to swim, all at a very nice house belonging to the guy who set the event up. Congressman Jeff Flake, the current Congressional District 6 Republican running for the seat soon to be vacated by Senator Jon Kyl, and Kirk Adams, the former Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives who resigned to run for Congressman Flake's seat, were both in attendance to give speeches and mingle with the crowds. Also there, providing support to the candidates and encouraging people to "like" the candidates on Facebook, were Alan Soelberg, the current 1st Vice Chairman of the LD-19 GOP, and Chad Heywood, who has worked for both candidates.

I arrived at the house just after 7:30pm and there were plenty of cars lining the street for the people who were already there. I was wearing my NAU College Republicans t-shirt, and to my sad dismay, no one else was wearing anything GOP-related. Because I've been out of politics for a while now, save my going to a meeting now and then, I really didn't know anyone. However, I did arrange to meet a couple friends there, so I waited for them to get there so I wouldn't be the odd man out. In the meantime, I chatted with Alan, who was working the crowds getting them "signed in" for the event - code for getting names and email addresses for future listservs - and encouraging them to "like" Facebook pages.

Shortly thereafter, I met one of Alan's associates who was working the crowds outside on the patio: Dave Johnson, the man I formerly mentioned as Plaid Jacket Man in THIS POST about the LD-19 GOP election meeting. He had, at that time, been shouting about the rules and voting procedures that he felt had been violated by the establishment leadership at the meeting. It was nice to finally officially meet him, although I am not too sure he was happy when I told him I was the blogger who had written about the incident. He is a very vocal supporter of Kirk Adams, however, and I ended up discussing my views about the candidates and some issues for a few minutes before he got pulled away by another matter.

After that, the band started up, and while they sounded good, they were also very loud, so I went back into the house with my friends Nate and Kevin, who had shown up by then to chat and catch up. One of their mutual friends, Jeff, a government teacher in Mesa, also got into the conversation and we really did end up having a good time for a while (despite having a hard time hearing one another over the din). When Congressman Flake arrived, he remembered me and said hello. I asked him how my sister's artwork looked in his DC office, and he said it was great and that she is very talented. Kirk Adams also recognized me and we exchanged hellos as I introduced him to my friends.

Around 9:00 or 9:30pm, everyone was asked to gather out in the backyard for speeches by Congressman Flake and Fmr. Speaker Adams. I was really expecting a little more - kind of an overview of the political landscape and some views on how young people could actually work on being involved in significant capacities in 2012. I suppose I was expecting too much, though. Congressman Flake was up first, and thanked everyone for being there, making a joke about being asked to take off his shirt to go swimming ("It didn't work out too well for Anthony Weiner," he quipped), and then made some quick remarks about how the country's debt and spending levels will be the burden of our generation and that's why it's important for us to get more involved. Congressman Flake gave way to Kirk Adams, who also made some very brief remarks about 2012. All the "speeches" were over in under 10 minutes.

Afterward, Kevin had to go, so Jeff, Nate, and I went back indoors and chatted for a while again about baseball and politics. Just after 10:30pm, we realized that we were among the last stragglers there, so we broke up our little party and returned to our cars and home.

I suppose in retrospect most of the people there already knew one another through church or through political channels. I would guess most of them attend the same Mormon churches or are precinct committeemen. I did feel like an outsider there; no one volunteered to introduce themselves to me or to see who I was. Not that I'm all that worried, because I'm moving out of LD-19 in a week, so I'll be in a new district and not interacting with LD-19 people on a regular basis any longer (though I still intend to keep in touch when possible).

Preservation Class - Sunday Edition

2011-07-24T18:10:00.000-07:00

Hello, loyal readers! Once again, I am blogging to you from Tucson, Arizona in preparation for my Preservation summer class, which begins tomorrow. It should be a long week; those of you who've read this blog for a while know I was down here for another class in January to kick off my Master's degree in Information Resources and Library Science. Since that time, I've finished one full semester (two courses) and maintained my 4.0 GPA, which even earned me a $1,500 scholarship from the school for each of the next two semesters.

This summer, I've been doing work for my Ethics class (really, more like an overview of ethical theories... maybe they should change the title...) and gearing up for this 5-day intensive course on preservation of books, papers, photographs, film, etc. It starts tomorrow from 8am to 5pm, and should be pretty hardcore. But I'm definitely looking forward to it. We get a field trip to a different preservation department around the city of Tucson each day, and on Wednesday we get to make our own books! Our field trips shake out like this:

Monday: University of Arizona Library Special Collections (I got to tour the Special Collections Dept. in January when I was here, but this should be more in-depth)
Tuesday: Arizona Historical Society Library, Archives and History Museum (I also toured this in January)
Wednesday: Center for Creative Photography
Thursday: University of Arizona State Museum Conservation Section
Friday: Photographic Works

In addition, I have to come up with one Ethics assignment by Sunday, a topic for my code of ethics project by Friday, and a topic for my final preservation paper by the end of the week. So yeah, I'll be mildly busy. My professor should be pretty cool, though. He is the head of the Preservation Department at the University of Utah, and I've heard tell that he is a master bookbinder. Part of his introduction to class was to ask us to bring some of our old damaged books for us to look at and discuss the preservation aspects of maintaining them. I've got several, including a 1909 Kansas Manual of Patriotic Instruction (which is like a lesson plan book for teachers back then in how to promote patriotism in the classroom), a 1915 copy of Robert's Rules of Order, and a set of Bibles which are family heirlooms, the oldest of which is a 1792 Latin Bible owned by my great-great-great grandfather (or so I have been able to figure out) which is in very poor condition. Hopefully I can get some advice on keeping it from deteriorating further.

One of the other cool things about being in Tucson this week, is that there are thunderstorms and rain forecast for my entire stay here, with temperatures in the mid-to-high 90s! Cloudy and cooler? Yes, please! As I type, I can hear the thunder rolling outside my hotel room.

If I'm not horrifyingly busy later in the week, I'll update how class is going, but don't get your hopes up. That might not be until after I get back home on Friday.

2011 All-Star Sunday

2011-07-11T20:23:00.000-07:00

Owing to the fact that the Major League Baseball All-Star Game is being played in Phoenix at my home park, Chase Field, this year, of course I couldn't pass up the chance to attend at least part of the festivities. And thanks to the Arizona Diamondbacks and Fry's Food Stores, I got my tickets to the XM All-Star Futures Game and the Celebrity Legends Softball Game for free when I won them last month as the Fry's VIP Rewards winner during a Diamondbacks home game.

I was really expecting a lot of people to attend the event, so I started my day early, and I arrived at the ballpark at 9:30am (paying the $20 parking fee) to be among the first in line. Well, apparently everyone else did NOT have the same idea. I was first in line without any problems, and the second fan overall to be in line (the first being another season ticket holder who'd been there about 30 minutes before me). And thus began the waiting. The gates were supposed to open at 1:00pm according to the time on the ticket, but we got a lot of conflicting information. Some people said 11am, some said noon, and one guy insisted it was 2pm. I was just glad I brought a book to read (James Rollins' "Deep Fathom").

Eventually, around noon, the lines started to fill in, and by 1:00pm, there were hundreds of people waiting to get in. In each line, a security guard waited to check everyone's bags. I chatted with my line's guard, Jeffery, for the final 20 minutes of waiting, and he responded by checking my bag early so I could run right in and try to catch a Futures Game commemorative baseball. Thanks to him, I was indeed the very first fan allowed into Chase Field. I slowed long enough to grab a Taco Bell lanyard/ticket holder giveaway, and then ran (literally) to left field in the hopes of finding an Easter Egg or two (baseballs that are waiting to be picked up).

There were a few people milling around down there already who had early entry - family of the kids who got to snag balls on the field, I assume - and there were no baseballs to be found. I knew my best chance would be to try to out-reach people for long fly balls or toss-ups, so I stood in the left-field power alley right up in the first row. A couple home runs went out of the park as the left-field stands quickly filled up, but nothing came toward me. Eventually, though, a ground rule double bounced just over the cut of the grass on the warning track and right at me. I stretched out... and some guy on my left whacked my arm and made me botch the catch. There was no way HE was going to snag the ball, but in his haste to try, he screwed me up. I turned to him and mock-angry said "Really?!" He just smiled and said sorry, and it was all good.

A few short moments later, wunderkind prospect Bryce Harper stepped up to bat and let loose a long, high fly ball right at me and I just knew I was the only one capable of catching it. The ball was going to hit a couple feet below the top of the wall, and both guys on my left and right were too short to stretch for it. I got in position, stetched WAYYY down the wall, and the ball landed in the webbing of my glove and sno-coned in there. I had it! I pulled my arm up.... and the dude to my left decided to fight me for it, and he knocked it out of my glove with his!

For some reason, I wasn't angry. I just smirked at the guy, and I knew he was excited, trying to go for a souvenier, same as me. Jarred Cosart, the Phillies prospect starting pitcher, saw me get robbed of both balls, and I held up my hands to him in a gesture of "how about a little help?" He gave me the slightest shake of the head, pointed at me, and threw me that ball that had jostled free of my glove. The guy on my left tried for it again, but this time I boxed him out, out-stretched him, and made the catch! It was a really nice baseball with a great commemorative logo. So thanks for the help, Jarred!

A few more balls came my way, none over the wall, and several of them were thrown into the crowd. I didn't ask for any of them because I didn't want to take any away from the other fans who wanted to catch a souvenier. I resolved to only try for one if it was hit to me. About five minutes after my Bryce Harper ball, a line-drive home run came my way off the bat of Diamondbacks phenom Paul Goldschmidt. Again, I knew I could outstretch the people near me for the catch, and I did just that! The two biggest names at the Futures game, and I caught baseballs from each of them (with some assistance... heh)!

After that, I got the feeling that my luck had run out. I abandoned my spot to head out and see if I could get an autograph from Harper, Cubs' prospect Matt Szczur, or Goldschmidt. I don't think any other baseballs went to my spot, but I can't be sure. Eventually, BP ended, and I tried to get an autograph, but I got totally snubbed by Goldschmidt, and there was no possibility of my getting near Harper. Szczur was equally hard to get to. I gave it a good shot, but I just couldn't get close enough, so I abandoned trying. I was kind of dehydrated and hungry (five hours of sitting in the heat and trying to catch baseballs will do that to you), so I roamed around to left field again and got a gigantic DBacks' Double Fatburger and Fries. If you haven't tried one of these amazing creations of beef and cheese and toppings and wedge-cut fries, you must simply fly out to Chase Field and do so!

I took my dinner to my seat in the lower level down the left-field line under the awnings (and right in the path of a big A/C unit!) and ate, cooled down, and rehydrated. It was fun watching the autograph hounds crush one another in their quests to get resellable autographs of the biggest prospects, and I was glad I didn't push my luck by becoming one of them. (Really, I only wanted the Goldschmidt autograph for my collection; the others were for friends that I said I'd get if the possibility presented itself.)

At about 2:45pm, all the announcements started welcoming fans to Chase Field, announcing the lineups and coaches, the first pitch, the National Anthem, etc. I was rehydrating and trying to stave off a headache at that moment (which I get when I need water), so I was kind of lightheaded. When the game started, though, I was fully in the moment. Bryce Harper started off in left field, and went 0-for-4...

(((As I type this, I'm watching the Home Run Derby, where it's Robinson Cano versus Adrian Gonzalez for the title, and I just watched Zack Hample, the man who's caught over 5,000 baseballs at major league stadiums across the country, and whose blog I follow daily - http://snaggingbaseballs.mlblogs.com/ - catch a Robinson Cano home run in pursuit of winning the Derby!)))

... Paul Goldschmidt also went 0-for-4 with a strikeout, but a pair of doubles by A's prospect Grant Green and a homer by Jason Kipnis sealed the 4-to-6 USA victory over the World team. Tyler Skaggs, the DBacks' pitcher started the game with a one-hit, no run inning, and my new favorite non-Diamondback prospect Jarred Cosart picked up the victory for Team USA!

After the game, Grant Green was named MVP, going 2-for-2 with two doubles, a run scored, and an RBI. He did a great job... both of his doubles were line shots into the gaps. He definitely didn't get cheated. When the presentation of the MVP award was completed, there was about a thirty-minute intermission while the grounds crew set up the field for the Celebrity Legends Softball Game, headlined by Luis Gonzalez, Mark Grace, Rollie Fingers (God, I love that moustache!), Mike Piazza, Jennie Finch, Jordin Sparks, Nick Jonas, Fred Lynn, Steve Garvey, Chord Overstreet, Erin Andrews, and other celebrity names from all over the place. Gonzo made a leaping catch at the wall to rob Rollie Fingers of a homer, and Rickey Henderson did homer over the shortened outfield wall to start the game. A late addition to the game saw Matt Williams get to hit, and when soccer star Carlos Bocanegra stepped up to bat, everyone on the National League side crowded in front of the plate soccer wall style, covering their crotches. If you're a soccer fan, you get the reference. I thought it was hilarious! At one point, despite it being a slow-pitch game, Finch threw a wide fast pitch which went to the backstop. There was a little mock shouting (this was scripted, I'm sure), and the umpire "warned" both benches. The game was all for the fans' enjoyment, and they totally succeeded. I was laughing the whole time!

The National League ended up winning 5-3. Frankly, the Celebrity game was more fun for me than the Futures Game. It was awesome. When all was over, I hung around a few minutes, then left. I snagged an official All-Star Game program for $15 on the way out as my one souvenier (well, aside from the baseballs, I guess), and made my way back to my car, then home. It was awesome. I haven't had as much fun at a baseball game since the Yankees-DBacks game last season!

Financial Aid - Done and Done

2011-06-28T15:34:00.000-07:00

I suppose I could make this post into another epic story, but I won't. The last couple months I have had some real issues getting my financial aid taken care of for my summer classes. Apparently, my financial aid form got misfiled or something, and so I wound up with $3400 in past due tuition balances and no financial aid to cover it all. After a very long, drawn out battle with U of A's financial aid department (think the 6-race battle from "The Hobbit"), I finally can announce that it's all sorted out. (Yay!)

That means that I'll be getting a $2600 loan refund after the amount that I've accepted to pay for tuition, which will help pay for my 5-day course in Tucson next month for my Preservation class. I'm looking forward to that course, which will explore the history of bookmaking and some of the techniques and issues involved with trying to preserve information for future generations. I checked into the syllabus, and it looks like it'll really be a fun class, if not work-intensive.

Right now, I'm enrolled in (and about halfway through) my Ethic for Information Professionals class which is examining ethical theories and applying them to LIS (library and information science) issues, like porn in libraries, fines and fees, PATRIOT Act requirements, etc. It's all kind of stuff I have heard of before, but a more in-depth study. Not uninteresting, but so far I'm not seeing how the class is beneficial to my studies. At least the professor is much more organized than my last one, which is very nice.

Also, aside from school, I have a couple fun updates: Dad, Scott, Scott's dad, and I all had a great time at the Father's Day game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Chicago White Sox at Chase Field! We sat one row behind the D-backs' dugout, and though there were no foul balls and the D-backs lost the game, we enjoyed the time spent and I even got the warm-up ball from the first three innings from 1st base coach Eric Young after the top of the third! I'll post some photos from the game soon.

No word back from Iron Mountain, Inc. yet. Still job hunting.

Tonight one of my favorite authors, James Rollins, who wrote Subterranean, Deep Fathom, Map of Bones, and a whole host of other awesome suspense/action novels is coming to The Poisoned Pen bookstore in Scottsdale, AZ tonight to sign copies of his newest novel, The Devil Colony. It came out a week or so ago, and Rollins is on a book tour to promote it! I am so happy I found out about it in time to go tonight! If you're also going to be there, and want to meet me, the fabulous author of this blog, say hi! (I'm kidding... my ego's not THAT big!)

Anonymous Help

2011-06-26T19:32:00.002-07:00

Hey out there in Bloggerland... Been a while since my last post, and I have NEWS! Earlier today, some anonymous baseball fan posted a comment on my post from February 16, 2010 about the four autographs I could not figure out on this Team USA-signed baseball from the 1998 Japan All-Star Series:

Remember? I had four signatures on that ball I simply could not figure out, and my not-too-awful research skills were fruitless in providing me with any help. I wrote to Major League Baseball, Japan professional baseball, baseball research groups, and got no help with that year's team rosters or information on that series of games AT ALL. But now, thanks to my anonymous friend, I can announce that I know who three of those four signatures are from!

Cookie Rojas:

Leo Mazzone:

Rich Dauer:

This signature still eludes me... there is speculation it's from Manny Ramirez or Chan Ho Park, but after I compared it with online exemplars from those two players, I seriously doubt either one of them signed this:

UPDATE: Speculation abounds that this may be Mike Jackson's (Michael Ray "Mike" Jackson) autograph. I have evidence that he did pitch in relief for Team USA in 1998 as the set-up man for Trevor Hoffman, but I cannot find a decent exemplar auto of Jackson to compare this one to. Anyone have a good photo out there?

DOUBLE UPDATE: I have received definitive proof that this autograph is indeed Mike Jackson's:

If you know whose signature this is and can provide proof, I will be greatly in your debt!

All told, this means that the signatures on this baseball are of the following players:

Manager Mike "The Human Rain Delay" Hargrove

Pitching Coach Leo Mazzone

Coach Cookie Rojas

Coach Rich Dauer

Sammy Sosa

Carlos Delgado

Rick Helling

Trevor Hoffman*

Greg Vaughn

Dan Plesac

Javy Lopez

Tom "Flash" Gordon

Kevin Millwood

BJ Surhoff

Billy Wagner

Jason Kendall

Garret Anderson

Nomar Garciaparra*

Jason Giambi

Devon White

Curt Schilling*

Brett Tomko

Damion Easley

Al Leiter

Jamie Moyer

Andruw Jones

UPDATED: and Mike Jackson

Thanks to all who helped me figure this one out! It took 18 months, and it's very satisfying to have a definitive resolution!

Iron Mountain

2011-06-09T12:16:00.000-07:00

There are so many things I could be blogging about today, but that I am not going to. Anthony Weiner's Twitter "scandal," the wildfires burning in my home state of Arizona and devastating the wilderness between Hannigan Meadow and Greer, the recent incredibleness of the Diamondbacks (and their current 3-game losing streak), or my school summer financial aid runaround stupidity would all be poignant topics for this blog. I shall resist those temptations today.

Instead, I want to post an update of my recent job searching experiences. The backstory: my brother's lease on his apartment at his college is up in July, so he needs to find a new place. I want to move into an apartment as his roommate so we can split rent. Win-win situation. All I need is the job so I can pay for an apartment, so on Tuesday I went out to the area around where we want to live to pound the pavement and collect applications.

However, after the first few locations I stopped at all told me that I needed to fill out applications from their websites online, I came up with a new plan. I started from the apartments we'd looked at and went up to a couple miles north, south, east, and west of there and wrote down the name of every business that I would care to work at in order to be able to come home and just fill out a plethora of applications all at once. I found that, among other things, there are six banks, five hotels, a CVS, a Walgreens, a Target, a Fry's, a Costco, a military complex, a public relations firm, a Harkins, a Wal-Mart, an IHOP, an Applebee's, at least 15 lawyer's offices, four CPAs, and a slew of other places I don't remember off the top of my head. Oh yeah, and a little place called "Iron Mountain, Inc."

If you've never heard of Iron Mountain, Inc. before, I wouldn't be surprised. My readers on this blog tend not to be the type of people who would use their services yet. From their website: "Iron Mountain is a world leader in information management services, assisting more than 140,000 organizations in 39 countries on five continents with storing, protecting and managing their information." The company is a Fortune 500 corporation traded on the New York Stock Exchange (and doing pretty well from the start of the company's shares on the NYSE). Here's a short list of services that Iron Mountain offers: document managing solutions, digital archiving, online backup, records management and storage, secure shredding, data backup and recovery, records management compliance, and film/sound archiving.

Sound familiar? My information science master's program is all about preparing us for work "concerned with the analysis, collection, classification, manipulation, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information" (from the Wikipedia definition of Information Science). Add in the classes I plan to take in archivism (document storage, care, and preservation and digital information storage and preservation), and this company is something of a match made in Heaven! And within walking distance of these apartments!

So Tuesday night I searched their job listings, and found three positions I feel qualified for in their warehouse (two openings for "Records Center Specialists" and one for a part-time "Operations Service Specialist/Warehouse") which I promptly applied for. I wrote a tailored cover letter and everything! Suffice it to say that I would really love to get a job there... it would be ideal for my degree, for the experience I would get from it, and it would be close to "home" if we got that apartment. Now begins the waiting game while I fill out other applications. I hope they call!

Karma

2011-06-06T17:26:00.000-07:00

Karma: the mystical nature of the Universe that provides cosmic balance between good and bad. I guess it's something along the lines of Yin and Yang, but either way, I seem to notice it from time to time. You see, I've always been what one might call "lucky." I tend to be that guy who enters contests and raffles and then actually wins them. But then in a show of cosmic karma, I also am that guy who's been essentially unemployed for three years.

This is how my weekend went. Friday morning I got up with every intention of going job hunting in Phoenix near a place my brother and I would like to share an apartment. I got up, showered and shaved, put on my job huntin' clothes (slacks and a nice polo shirt), and went upstairs to print out a few copies of my resume. Sadly, sometime over the course of the past 36 hours, my father's computer (the only one in the house with a printer) had utterly crashed. I'm talking total annihilation of anything on the hard drive. It was an annoyance to be sure, but I figured it was workable. After messing with the computer for about a half-hour, I gave up trying to fix it, and decided to go to the library to print my copies out. It wouldn't be nice paper, but for retail it was at least something.

So I drove to the library, went in, and I couldn't get on the computers. Apparently I had a fine from my sister borrowing my library card and then failing to return her books on time. The system locked me out until I paid the fine (and renewed the card, which they are now making people do annually). I was... how do I say this... displeased(?) at having to shell out $30 in fines and fees just to print out 10 copies, but I needed the resume, so I did it. Finally, I got on one of the computers and opened my email. I had emailed the file I needed to myself for convenience. But wouldn't you know it? The library for some reason could not download my file from my email to the computer so I could open it! At this point, I was becoming frustrated. I'm not an IT guy or a troubleshooter. I didn't know what was wrong, but I also wasn't yet willing to give up with one more option left to try. I opened the resume file in Google Docs. It came up as a picture file, and to be able to print it as a document, I first needed to enable it for editing. I clicked "Edit", and guess what? "This file cannot be opened for editing on the Library computers." AAARRRGGGHHH!!!

Now I was finally officially unhappy. My only final resort was to print the file as a photo directly from the Google Docs screen, which I did. It cost me $0.20 per page for a total of $2.00 for ten copies. I assumed there'd be a web address at the bottom of the page, but I didn't care. It was manageable. When the printouts came through, they looked AWFUL. The type was miniscule, blurry from being printed as a photo, and the margins were all screwed up. I calmly shut down my computer terminal, took my copies, and went back to my car. And I lost it. Something as simple as printing out my resume should not be that hard to do. All my financial worries and job-hunting stress came rushing out of me as I sat in the car in the library parking lot. At first I was laughing at myself almost hysterically at the absurdity of the situation, and then I was unable to hold back a few tears as my muscles tensed up.

I was done for the rest of the day. I went back home, and immediately went down to my room where I contemplated the insanity of the situation and how much I was surprised that such a small thing as not being able to make a few printouts had caused my depression. Looking back on it, it still seems absurd. To get me out of my funk, my parents suggested I tag along with my siblings, who were going to see "X-Men: First Class." I accepted, but despite losing myself in the movie for a couple hours, when I got out of the theatre, I didn't feel all that much better. (The movie was so-so, but I think if I saw it again when I was feeling better, it would be a better movie.)

Saturday, I had my tickets for the Diamondbacks game. I slept in for a while, so I missed going to my card shop like I usually do on Saturdays, but I used my time productively when I did get up, finishing a poster for the game, and getting ready. While I had invited Ryan to join me, he was unable to come (something about work being more important than hanging out with me... haha) and so I went alone to the game. I got there about 2:00pm via the light rail, and was somewhere around 30th in line as a season ticket holder. I like going there early and getting in early (and yes, I am a season ticket holder this year) so I can try to snag baseballs during batting practice.

When you first enter the stadium, the one thing every "ballhawk" does first is check the outfield seats for "Easter eggs" - balls that are just sitting there from BP before the stadium opens. If you're not first in line for this, you can kind of kiss finding an Easter egg goodbye. But even at 30th or so in line, I managed to find one that the 20 or so other people in the outfield roaming the seats had missed just sitting in the 20th row of one of the left field sections. I gave out a little "woohoo!" when I found it, and tucked it in my backpack for safekeeping. About 5 minutes later, a high fly ball came and landed on the warning track right in front of a guy in a red shirt, bounced up at him, and when he missed it, I was right there to make the catch for my second baseball of the day. Another moment later, a high home run ball came my way. I ran towards it, but I knew I wouldn't be able to get there in time. Thankfully for me, the ball clanked off another fan and bounded my way, and I was able to snag it. That was a new personal record for me: 3 baseballs at one game! Sadly though, that was all I got. I really wanted to go for five, and I had a chance on one other ball, but I ended batting practice with just the three, one of which I gave to a little kid with a glove who didn't get anything (and whose mom was very nice to me while I was running around trying not to get in her way as she was taking pictures of the kid). He seemed happy to get a ball, and the mom thanked me. (I like being nice...!)

Apparently, karma wasn't satisfied with making up for my really crappy Friday with 3 baseballs during BP though, because in the 3rd inning break of the game, I won big time! The Diamondbacks do a "Fry's VIP Rewards Giveaway" at that time during the game, and one lucky fan who holds up their Fry's rewards card gets picked by the DBacks' event staff to win a prize. Well, I grabbed my card, stood up and waved like an idiot, and immediately saw a guy with a camera streaking down into my section. A "Rally-Back" (one of the gorgeous DBacks' in-game entertainers) came and stood beside me and pointed at me as if to say "is this the guy?" At that point, I knew I was the winner! They showed me on the scoreboard, and gave me two tickets to All-Star Sunday (the XM Futures Game and Celebrity Softball Game) next month! I was so stoked I couldn't even finish scoring the game - I was texting people and updating Facebook and Twitter.... Social media user that I am.... Haha. It was awesome, and for the rest of the game, I kind of just sat there watching the action with a goofy grin on my face. Ah, karma.

Apparently, though, karma decided I was TOO happy about that, because I also got a ticket on the way home. But not for speeding (as I am sometimes wont to do), and not for aggressive driving, broken taillights, cracked windshield, or any of the other things people normally get pulled over for. No, I got a ticket for "failure to dim headlights." I was driving on a very dark road (no streetlights), and some moron blinded me with his brights. I flicked mine to get him to turn them down, but he didn't. So I flicked them again, a bit longer, and he still didn't respond. I could not see the road ahead of me, and I also could not see the Sheriff's officer behind Mr. Bright Lights who turned around and pulled me over and cited me for "getting into a headlight jousting match with oncoming traffic." I have no tickets on my driving record, nor any other infractions, but he wouldn't give me warning. I believe the ticket is kind of bogus, to be honest, and I'll go to court and explain the situation. Hopefully I can get it dismissed. If not, c'est la vie. It's karma.

Catching Up

2011-05-22T22:48:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have missed my blog posts, I apologize for the long break. Since my last post on April 6th, I've been exceptionally busy. This post serves to catch up some of the things I've been doing over the past nearly-two months.

First, I've been attending a lot of baseball games. As I may have previously mentioned, I was awarded the weekend 28-game Season Ticket Scholarship package from the Arizona Diamondbacks this season, and so every home weekend, I've been out at Chase Field with various friends and family watching the games. I've even caught a grand total of three BP baseballs (on the fly!), and have been having a marvelous time. It's kind of fun how some of the players and ushers recognize me now when I walk by... Barry Enright, the starting pitcher who was recently sent back into the minor leagues, used to give me a nod and a greeting when I'd see him during batting practice, and he hooked me up with a baseball or two. Cool stuff.

On the job front, school is coming to a close now, so my substitute teaching gig is on hold for another three months, which means I need summer employment (I'd love full-time employment, but I need a summer job at the very least). Sadly, I've become one of those unemployed thousands who basically completely stopped looking for work. I tend to get really bad anxiety from job searching these days, which I'm not trying to use as an excuse. It's just the reaction I'm having from the many resumes I've had disappear into black holes in peoples' offices and inboxes. So I'm working hard to get over that so I can start trying to find a decent job soon. It's not very easy. (I seriously don't recommend having panic/anxiety attacks. They're not really very fun.)

But speaking of school, I've now finished my first semester as a distance learning student for my Master's degree at UA. This is the biggest reason I've been so busy (and so unwilling to do much writing). I completed one class with a twenty page research paper which took me about 20 hours of writing and research to complete over a total of four days. That one was a killer. The other final project I did was a comprehensive annotated bibliography of digital government resources for middle school science teachers. I had to find resources which corresponded to the Arizona Science Standards and which were affiliated with federal or state government agencies, and then write a couple short paragraphs analyzing them. Plus discussion board postings, other papers, and the like, and I hope you'll all understand why I needed a break from writing.

In mid-April, my little sister was the runner up in the Arizona CD-6 Congressional Art Competition. She received a certificate from our congressman, Jeff Flake, and her art will be displayed in the congressman's Washington, DC office for one year. In the following photo, the congressman is presenting my sister with her certificate, and her art, a drawing resembling a stained glass window entitled "Kaleidoscope" is on the left. It was a nice little ceremony, and one of my sister's friends won the first prize in the competition (her artwork will be displayed in the tunnels underneath the DC Capitol Building complex for one year, and she and her parents get free plane tickets to go there for the unveiling).

Other than all that, I've been taking advantage of the nice weather the last eight weeks, though it's now getting to be actually hot, so I won't get to do any more hiking for a few months. And I've been trying to relax and de-stress. Hopefully I'll be able to find some kind of job soon, which would be a huge load off my chest.

I leave you all with an interesting video sent to me by CD-6 Member At-Large Paul Brierley. I wrote about talking to him after an LD-19 meeting in January during which we discussed youth involvement in Arizona Republican politics. He recently attended the inaugural class for the Arizona Civic Leadership Academy put on by the Flinn Foundation. It's a nonpartisan training class for up-and-coming leaders in Arizona politics focusing on helping shape leaders who will put Arizona, rather than partisan ideologies, first when analyzing and making policy decisions for the state. I'm going to try to learn more about this academy class, but in theory it sounds like a great idea. If you are also interested, this link goes to the Arizona Public Media video interview featuring the directors of the program, Paul Brierley, and several guest analysts from local media (Arizona Week Episode 19): http://originals.azpm.org/azweek/

Opening Week of Baseball

2011-04-06T22:31:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to baseball season, fans! Week one of the 2011 season has been a topsy-turvy, eventful, oddity-filled slugfest.

I've been watching a lot of games thus far, and plenty of out-of-market games thanks to the MLB Network Extra Innings package preview that goes on until this Sunday. A little Yankees-Tigers-Orioles-Twins-Giants-Dodgers-Cardinals-Mets kind of action. It's been awesome!

Of course, I've been watching the Diamondbacks the most. We have played five games, and had one "snow-out" of the DBacks-Rockies game earlier this week. And after one time through the Diamondbacks rotation, we stand at 2 wins, 3 losses. Opening Day in Colorado, the Diamondbacks fielded Ian Kennedy on the mound against Ubaldo Jimenez in a wild extra-inning affair. Gerardo Parra ended up scoring the winning run on a wild pitch in the 11th inning after the Rockies had tied it on a wild throw on a dropped third strike from Miguel Montero and a couple odd plays. I saw something I have never before seen during a Diamondbacks game (though I'm sure it's happened before): a fan interference call on a pop foul down the third base line which was (purportedly) touched by a fan before Gerardo Parra could make a play on it. I say purported because I think we caught a bit of a break there, but I'll take it.

In the second game versus the Rockies, Daniel Hudson allowed three runs over 6 innings and took a loss as the team couldn't put together any offense for him against Jorge de la Rosa. Same deal with game four (game three having been snowed out) as a Willie Bloomquist leadoff home run made everyone think we would have a great offensive game, but sadly Joe Saunders had to take a tough loss as he allowed two runs over 6 innings including a solo homer to Alfonso Soriano, and the Diamondbacks went into a hitting drought the rest of the night.

Game five showcased my guy Barry Enright (@BarryEnright54 on Twitter) taking on Andrew Cashner of the Cubbies. After a really strong Spring, Enright showed a mortal side allowing four of the Cubs' six runs over 6 innings on just 7 hits. He got off the hook for the loss, though, as the Diamondbacks tied the game up in the top of the seventh on a monster 2-out, 2-RBI single by Bloomquist (having a stupendous year thus far). Sam Demel, unfortunately, allowed two runs in the bottom of the frame, and despite a ninth-inning rally, the Snakes lost 5-6.

Today's game was the best of the season to this point by far. The Diamondbacks started out slow defensively... with two incredible diving catches to open the bottom of the first by 2011 All-Star Chris Young (too soon, Arizona?). The first, a full-out snowcone catch to his left was just snared out of midair and looked awesome. The second, all of one pitch later, tailed and dove down and away from Young as he ranged again to his left and scooped the ball inches off the grass. We might just want to call this the Chris Young Game of the Year right here. In the third inning, Young, again, with the bat this time, his a bloop single out to centerfielder Marlon Byrd of the Cubs, who tried to pull a C.Y. and dive for the ball, but it scooted an inch out of reach and wound up rolling into center. Young had a stand-up triple, but Alfonso Soriano booted the ball and allowed Chris Young to score what was termed a "Little League home run." If I were the Official Scorer, I'd have given Chris the Inside the Park Homer, but alas, a triple and error will have to suffice.

Fast forward to the bottom of the 4th inning: Tyler Colvin hits a BOMB out to deep left-center field which the wind blowing in helps to just barely keep in the park. Chris Young, again, ran out and jumped into the bricks of the wall making a third incredible catch to rob a double. In the top of the fifth, Young at bat again also hit a long, tailing fly ball to deep left field which the wind, like Colvin's, helped to just barely keep in the park. Unlike Colvin's, however, Soriano booted Young's fly ball and allowed Chris to reach third base with a double and an error. Armando Galarraga got his first win as a Diamonback, allowing four runs over 7 innings and doing just better than Ryan Dempster, who surrendered five runs over the same amount of time. JJ Putz, the new Diamondbacks closer, also picked up his second save, but the true hero of the night pitching-wise might just be Juan Gutierrez, who, despite loading the bases in the 8th inning on a fielder's choice, a single, and a walk, got Tyler Colvin to ground out, scoring one run, and then got a HUGE strikeout of Alfonso Soriano with runners at second and third (the tying runs).

Overall, yes, the DBacks are 2-3 with a losing record going into their first homestand. But there are glimmers of rebuilding success. The bullpen is looking much improved. You expect that over the course of 162 games the bullpen is inevitably going to blow a few saves, but you also expect the big strikeouts and double plays from time to time too. JJ Putz looks great as the closer thus far, and reliever Kam Mickolio (Mick-OH-lie-OH) has been tremendous so far. Willie Bloomquist, the replacement for the injured Stephen Drew, has hit in all five games so far, and of course, Young's defense today was a huge enjoyment for me. Some things you won't see in a box score: the Diamondbacks are playing much more aggressively than last year, something certainly attributable to Manager Kirk Gibson's new attitude for the team. Justin Upton has been fired up (even having a few words at one point with the equally fiery Miguel Montero), Bloomquist has stolen five bases to open the season (contributing to a total of eight by the team), and the competition for playing time by players like Miranda, Branyan, Nady, Roberts, and Bloomquist has been exciting to watch. Stephen Drew may not get hs job back if Willie keeps on hitting and stealing bases like he has been!

We also have a few areas where we need to work on some things movng forward. A big part of the Spring was spent on executing better pickoff plays - and the club has put on quite a few attempts in these first five games. Snap throws to first or second have been particularly poorly executed, at one point leading to a winning run against the Cubs in game one of that series. The "daylight play" whereby the shortstop sneaks in behind a runner at second seems to be a particular favorite of Bloomquist, but doing so causes him to vacate his position and opens a big hole through the left side of the infield. It should be used sparingly. Also, the Diamondbacks are a notoriously streaky club when it comes to both hitting and pitching. Once through the rotation, energy levels have been high, and pitchers have been executing pitches, but that needs to continue. Armando Galarraga, while he pitched well enough today, also was pretty wild at times. His strikes were exceptional, but his balls were seemingly in random spots. Need to watch that. Barry Enright, too, had a tough first outing, but that might just be first-start jitters. I expect good stuff from him this year if he can keep the ball down.

Overall, I give this first road trip a C+ grade. We played well enough to essentially split the trip, but we also made a few sloppy errors. Our saving grace was a few (possibly blown) calls that went our way, but we cannot and should not count on those the remainder of the season. The hitting is above average right now, and if we can get the right timely hits with runners in scoring position like in today's game, we'll be a force. Likewise with pitching: the right combination of control and proper fundamental defense behind us, and we'll be back to winning in no time.

2011 Diamondbacks Roster

2011-03-23T11:02:00.000-07:00

As Spring Training finally winds to a close with the first games of the 2011 regular season coming on March 31st, here's a look at the 2011 Arizona Diamondbacks roster. There are few spots remaining that have remained unfilled until now.

Pitcher:
Ian Kennedy was announced as the 2011 Opening Day starter on April 1st against the Rockies in Denver, to be followed by Daniel Hudson, Joe Saunders, and Barry Enright, who was just told he'd be in the rotation a couple days ago. I personally am happy to see that. Barry had a great spring and deserved the #4 spot. The number 5 spot in the rotation is still up for grabs between Aaron Heilman and Armando Galarraga. It would have also included Zach Duke, but since he broke a couple bones in his hand last week, he's going to be out for at least 8 weeks. I assume the final rotation spot will go to Armando.

Relief Pitchers:
Led by JJ Putz as our closer, we'll have a mildly different bullpen than last year. Juan Gutierrez is likely to be the 8th inning setup guy, and Esmerling Vazquez is back for another season, as is Jordan Norberto. Some of the new names in reliever spots are Kam Mickolio (mick-oh-lie-oh), David Hernandez, Sam Demel, Joe Paterson, and Brian Sweeney. Okay, yes, some of them pitched a little last year, but for all intents and purposes, these are "new" guys.

Catcher:
The ever-popular Diamondback Miguel Montero will be the everyday catcher for the club, but this year he is supplemented by the veteran Henry Blanco, who I can see being one of the clubhouse leaders. John Hester is the 3rd stringer again this year.

1st Base:
This is the up-for-grabs position to end all up-for-grabs positions. Juan Miranda is making quite a case for himself to start at first this year with flashy defense backed up by solid offense. He's no Mark Grace, perhaps, but he's still young. If the Diamondbacks decide to go with a power bat, they might choose Russell "The Muscle" Branyan, whom they acquired in the offseason. His defense is sloppier than Miranda's, though it seems to be improving as Spring goes on, but boy can he hit. Think Mark Reynolds-style long balls. Unfortunately, that also kind of comes with high strikeout totals. The third option, which I don't expect the club to choose, is to start Brandon Allen at first. To me, Allen is more of a utility guy who will get shifted around to various positions this year when guys need a rest day.

2nd Base:
This position belongs to Kelly Johnson, who will look to build upon a decent 2010 season and maybe hit a few more long balls.

3rd Base:
With Mark Reynolds gone to the Orioles, this position is kind of open, too. Melvin Mora and Geoff Blum are likely to be the number one and two choices for the hot corner. If it's me, I go with the better defense of Mora, backed up by Blum on the bench to pinch hit.

Shortstop:
Stephen Drew. Nothing more to say.

Outfield:
The X-Man, Xavier Nady, is likely to start in left field, backed up by perpetual fan favorite Gerardo Parra, who made some great plays out there last year and will probably be the roving outfielder for the Diamondbacks, moving around to cover if anyone gets injured or needs a day off. Center belongs, once again, to All-Star Chris Young, and right goes once again to All-Star Justin Upton. (Is it too early for me to call All-Stars for 2011?)

Bench:
Of those I haven't mentioned, Willie Bloomquist (outfield), Ryan Roberts (2nd Base), and Tony Abreu (Ultility) are likely to be on the bench this year as depth for the Diamondbacks' infield and outfield.

This is, of course, a major rebuilding year for the Diamondbacks. I'd love to honestly say that they'll win the World Series this year, and while any team can come together at any time and click, I'll be very happy with a third place (or higher) finish in the NL West - above the Dodgers and Padres, below the Giants and Rockies.

Arizona Diamondbacks Spring Training 2011

2011-03-16T17:12:00.001-07:00

Every once in a while, I like to do one of those "by the numbers" types of posts where I showcase how the Diamondbacks are doing numbers-wise. With Spring Training about half over, my team has a 5-16 win-loss record, the worst in all of baseball right now (and as I write this, we're losing to the Angels 9-7 at Salt River Fields today). Even with our .238 win percentage, just below the Florida Marlins, Los Angeles Dodgers, and New York Yankees, I believe there is cause for some optimism. First, no team ever plays in the regular season the way they do in Spring Training (except perhaps the Pirates). Historically, while the worst teams in the spring don't really end up making the playoffs, they also do better than anticipated, so there's that to look forward to.

But by the numbers, Arizona shouldn't really necessarily have such a poor record. We have the 5th best batting average at .290 in the majors with 213 hits (4th), 43 doubles, a triple, and 28 home runs (#1 in the majors) in 814 plate appearances. We've also taken 59 walks and stolen 13 bases. Granted, we've also been caught stealing 11 times, but it's better to be aggressive and get thrown out than to sit back and not be aggressive and roll into a bunch of double plays. (Here's looking at you, Tigers, Braves, Rangers, Marlins, and Cubs, who have combined to ground into 95 double plays and stolen a combined 35 bases.)

Now, while our hitting is there (thanks in part to some big hits from the prospects in our organization like Colin Cowgill and Paul Goldschmidt), our pitching is shaky at best. Our club's team ERA is a rather dismal 5.67, second only to the Cubs' 5.73 as the worst. Breaking that number down, Our starting pitching is kind of shaky, with Barry Enright (2.25 ERA) and Daniel Hudson (3.48 ERA) leading the way. Our other potential starters are perhaps not quite ready for Opening Day yet as Ian Kennedy and Zach Duke each have 7.88 ERAs (and Duke took a liner off his pitching hand the other night, breaking two bones, so he'll be sidelined for a few weeks), Armando Galarraga and Aaron Heilman - each vying for the #5 spot on the team - have 8.18 and 5.15 ERAs respectively, and our workhorse Joe Saunders from last year's Dan Haren deal is sporting a 15.88 ERA. Ouch. That's 10 runs on 13 hits in 5.2 innings over 3 starts.

And again, we have problems with the bullpen guys. Gutierrez is getting hit very hard, and Micah Owings and Mike Hampton both have high ERAs. However, I am encouraged by the numbers from Sam Demel (a 1.50 ERA with 7 K's in 6.0 innings, Leyson Septimo (a 2.25 ERA in 4 innings), and the 1.93 ERA of lefty Jordan Norberto. Some other numbers: we're 3rd in earned runs allowed as a team with 115, above average in walks issued (67), and have a team 1.55 WHIP - tied for the second highest in baseball. Showcasing our pitchers' wildness, we are also #1 in wild pitches with 19 and balks with 4, and are tied for 2nd with 26 stolen bases against. Finally, some of the more exotic pitching numbers: pitches per inning pitched (P/IP) is 8.36, and hits against per 9 innings (H/9) is 10.64. Not great.

But to speak ill of only the pitching staff would be irresponsible. Our fielding leaves something to be desired as well. In today's game against the Angels, Chris Young booted a ball out in center field for a single and a 3-base error, allowing a runner and the batter to score. Overall, in 182.2 innings and 805 total chances, we've made 26 errors (3rd most behind the Cubs and Padres), and our fielding percentage is .969, tied for 23rd in the majors. On the plus side, we've turned 20 successful double plays (15th) and achieved 575 putouts (2nd). However, our DER (a statistical rating called the Defensive Efficiency Rating, measuring the rate at which balls put into play by the offense are converted into outs by the defense) is a very low .6722, the lowest in all of baseball.

I love my Diamondbacks, but I am again concerned that poor pitching from our relievers combined with high strikeout totals (we've whiffed 145 times so far, second in baseball) combined with sloppy play on defense could again spell C-E-L-L-A-R for the team come September. This is the third "rebuilding" year in a row now for the Diamondbacks, and I think fans of the club deserve to see results. Fortunately, with a real manager at the helm in Kirk Gibson, a plethora of solid big league managers surrounding our players, and plenty of young, raw talent, something is eventually going to click that will catapult the team back into greatness.

"The Baseball" by Zack Hample

2011-03-09T10:40:00.000-07:00

As a baseball fan, if you've never heard of Zack Hample before, you might want to check him out. The world record holder for the most baseballs caught/snagged at major league games, a prolific blogger, and an enormous fan of the game of baseball has written a new book on the history of the little white sphere we fans adore, even obsess over. It is called, appropriately, "The Baseball: Stunts, Scandals, and Secrets Beneath the Stitches," and it released yesterday.

Of course, with gift card in hand, I had to go pick up my copy at Barnes and Noble yesterday in Tempe. I follow Zack's blog rather regularly, and over the past few months, he's been writing about all the steps and work that goes into writing a book like this - from the hours and hours of research to the editing to the feeling of satisfaction over the completion of the product. It was awesome to feel like I was a part of the process by reading about it (especially with my recent decision to become a library science Master's candidate and this is what I've been studying in part) and to be able to hold the end result.

After picking it up for the B&N price of $15 plus tax, I went to Paradise Bakery and got a cookie and an iced tea and sat outside in the gorgeous 72-degree sunshine to read for a while. The book reads quickly, though my personal reading style for books I'm excited about is to go through it faster than normal the first pass, then read it slower a second time to get everything out of it. But still, I was able to finish the paperback in a few short hours.

Zack breaks the book into three distinct parts: the ball in the news and popular culture, the history of the baseball itself, and a guide for how to catch a baseball one's self at a game. Now, I won't rewrite the book here, but there were a few cool things I wanted to point out to give my readers a taste of the flavor of this biography. I found it very interesting that of all the games in all the stadiums, over all the years that baseball has been played, there is only one record of a fan dying as a result of a foul ball. Considering all the flap in recent years about broken bats and the need for spectator safety, just once did a fan die from the ball itself: a 14-year-old names Alan Fish in 1970 at Dodger Stadium. Indeed, only once has a player ever died from injuries on the field as well: Ray Chapman in 1920 when he was hit in the head with a spitball.

I also found interesting the rich (and sometimes colorful) history of the ball itself. When most of us think about the baseball, a white sphere with red stitches and a couple printed logos on the side comes to mind. We never think about how it has changed since the sport's inception in the mid-1800s, or the controversial past it has had. While reading, it seemed to me like every other year into the mid-1900's, there was some kind of controversy about the ball being too juiced (to easy to hit for distance and even worse to try to field) or too dead (like hitting a beanbag with a Whiffle ball bat). The back-and-forth tug of war over the simple things like the makeup of the cork/rubber core, the way the string and yarn was wound over that core, the height of the stitches, and even the color (red balls were used for a while, and early balls were so stained after a game that they were impossible for the batters to see them) caused huge swings in the early statistics of the game. The different leagues and commissioners commissioned highly scientific studies of the materials and makeup of baseballs - even as far up as 2007 - to try to standardize the game and make it fair.

In the third part, Zack Hample uses his own experiences, building on his previous books ("How to Snag Major League Baseballs" and "Watching Baseball Smarter") to show fans where to stand (never DIRECTLY behind home plate!), what to wear (the visiting team's colors work well), and even how to ask (use "please!"). Even in the most crowded arenas, those tips cut the odds of catching a ball. I should know - I've tried them, and last year I got my first foul ball at a game (from Marlon Byrd), several BP balls, and a couple good tossups (one from Cy Young Award Winner Tim Lincecum). And this year, like I mentioned in my prior post, I caught my first two BP home run balls on the fly (including the first ever at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale, AZ)!

I strongly encourage my friends in the baseball community to pick up a copy of this book. Its light style, paired with subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) humor, attention to detail, and all the new, condensed information about the most instrumental part of America's pastime makes it not only an easy read, but a wonderful biography as well.

2011 Fantasy Baseball

2011-03-06T23:58:00.001-07:00

I'm a huge glutton for punishment.... Last week I signed up to play fantasy baseball again through Yahoo with a group of Arizona sportswriters and fans from The Poor Sports, an Arizona sports blog/website covering the Suns, Coyotes, Cardinals, Diamondbacks, and college teams. I was invited to check it out by the site's developers through Facebook, where I assume they saw all my DBacks posts and knew I was a fan. Cool site. I'm looking forward to seeing where they go with it; check it out if you get some free time.

Anyway, we did our draft this morning, and my team looks like this (we have four infield spots, three outfield spots, two utility spots, two starting pitchers, two relievers, two non-preferential pitching spots, and three bench players):
IF: David Wright
IF: Buster Posey
IF: Rafael Furcal
IF: Gordon Beckham
OF: Hunter Pence
OF: Jay Bruce
OF Chris Young (Arizona)
UTIL: Joe Mauer
UTIL: Carlos Quentin
SP: Roy Halladay
SP: Matt Cain
RP: Chris Perez
RP: Ryan Franklin
P: Shaun Marcum
P: Jaime Garcia
B: Angel Pagan
B: Coco Crisp
B: CJ Wilson

From this list, I can see I have a pretty deep hitting staff. Wright, Posey, Mauer, and Young should all be good for double-digit home run seasons, lots of RBIs, and a few stolen bases. They typically hit for average, and don't strike out a ton. Both Quentin and Pence are good for about 25 home runs a season, and both hit in the hgh .280-ish average range. A weak spot is Furcal, who is among the elite shortstops, but has had a hard time staying healthy and getting more than 500 plate appearances the last two years. He's a bit of a risk, but if he can stay strong, he'll help my team.

Of the pitchers, you really can't go wrong with a 1-2 punch of Cy Young winner Roy Halladay (and perpetual 20+ game winner) and the defending World Champion San Francisco Giants' Matt Cain. Shaun Marcum has a 3.85 career ERA and a wimming record, and Jaime Garcia had a stellar year in 2010 with the Cardinals, winning 13 games with a sub-3.00 ERA. If he can do that again in 2011.... yeah! Rounding it out, CJ Wilson won 15 games for Texas last year, Chris Perez pitched 63 innings as a reliever last year and maintained a 1.71 ERA with a 1.08 WHIP (very good numbers) for the Indians, and Ryan Franklin of St. Louis has racked up 65 saves in two years and had a 1.03 WHIP in 65 innings in 2010.

Overall, I am pretty happy with the lineup I've got. There's enough in there that I can make a decent trade if I need to for another solid outfielder in the first third of the season and still maintain depth and lots of talent. Considering I've been in last place, second to last place, and 6th of 12 the past three seasons in fantasy play, I'm hoping this time I can improve and be top 4 of 14 this year! Only time will tell, but I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Inaugural Game at Salt River Fields

2011-03-01T11:43:00.001-07:00

Happy March, all! Sadly, to start out the month, I've caught a nasty little stomach bug - I won't go into details, but suffice it to say it's not fun. However, that means I have time for blogging, and I have an good, exciting post today all about my trip to the inaugural game at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick between the co-owners of the stadium, the designated visitors the Colorado Rockies and the designated home team the Arizona Diamondbacks!

In order to get there very early to stand in line and potentially snag some baseballs during batting practice, I woke up at 7am on Saturday morning - if you know me, that's VERY early for me on a Saturday! - and got out the door by 7:30am with my jacket, glove, backpack, sunscreen, baseballs for autographs, pens, and my D-Backs' garb. I was halfway to the stadium when I remembered the one thing I forgot. Take another look at that list above, and see if you can figure out it. Ready, go.

Yeah, totally forgot my ticket to get in. Go me. So I had to turn around and go back home and get it. Thankfully, I still made it to SRF by 8:30am, parked, and wandered up to the centerfield gates to stand in what I assumed would be a long line for the inaugural game. When I got up there, though, there were ony two other people standing there, both Rockies fans. After a moment, I realized I actually recognized one of the two: a guy in a big floppy hat and a Rockies pinstriped jersey with the phrase "Rockpile Ranter" on the back: he is a very well-known blogger on MLBlogs who runs "The Rockpile Rant" all about the team in majestic purple, named Don (he goes by "D" on the blog).

A prolific photographer with a really nice camera and lots of insights about the Rockies, D had come down from Colorado specifically for this game to take lots of pictures of the new facilities and to watch the game. He, and his friend Robert, were there really early in the morning on little sleep just to be fans #1 and #2 into the ballpark on inaugural day. (Yes, I was DBacks fan #1 and #3 overall after the gates were opened!) I strongly urge baseball fans of all types to check out D's blog, The Rockpile Rant and check out his pictures. The one's of Saturday's game that he took are not quite up on his blog yet, but his other posts are well-worth reading, especially from October and November, 2007 when the Rox went to the World Series against the Boston Red Sox.

The Rockpile Rant, a top-10 MLBlog.

Anyway, the three of us chatted for a while out there about the stadium, snagging baseballs, the two teams we love, and had a mild debate about Tampa, Florida. (And yes, Don, the Rockies were in the Series in 2007. I was wrong!) Eventually, other people showed up whom I at least recognized, if not knew outright, including my friends Anya and April, two huge DBacks and Rockies fans who are well-known around the stadium for their photos and interaction with the players. Suffice it to say that those two hours before the gates were opened were very fun for me!

Eventually, at 10:32am, the security personnel opened the centerfield gates (and only the centerfield gates, which is how I know I was fan #3 into the stadium), and we all got our tickets scanned and were able to run in and view the park. It's gorgeous! Before first pitch, I stayed out on the center field berm, the largest in Spring Training, trying to catch baseballs during batting practice for the Rockies. I ended up catching two, and almost getting three more. The first was actually a very special baseball - I caught, on the fly, the first BP home run EVER at Salt River Fields off the bat of the Rockies' infielder Chris Nelson! I saw it the whole way off the bat, shaded to my left, and caught it about six inches over top of the wall just off the left side of my body. I was honestly surprised to have caught it on the fly, since I have never done that before, and I celebrated as the fans around me cheered and yelled congratulations. It was awesome. 20 minutes later, I caught my second ball, but I don't know who hit it. I also caught that one on the fly in much the same manner as the first, and at the suggestion of one of the guys I'd been chatting with out there, I gave it to a little DBacks fan who was trying to get a tossup from the Rockies.

The ones I missed include one that went about one centimeter over top of my glove and into the glove of the guy behind me, one that bounced and I tried to grab in a scrum and missed, and another that I overran. But hey, I'm getting better, and I did catch that "historic" BP ball!

Eventually, BP ended, and I took my seat in section 212, directly behind home plate. It was perhaps the best seat in the entire stadium - 29 rows up from the field itself, directly behind the plate, one section away from Derrick Hall and Luis Gonzalez's sections... it was awesome! We didn't have to wait long for the game to begin, with an introduction to Salt River Fields on Spring Training baseball's largest video screen and first pitches by the President and Vice President of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and by Diamondbacks' President Derrick Hall (actually, he let his daughter throw) on behalf of former Rockies President Keli McGregor, who died of a virus which stopped his heart before the stadium had been completed. Then, the Salt River Elementary School performed the National Anthem accompanied by an (admittedly mistimed) flyover by five old-school biplanes from Stearman A/C.

The game itself, which I scored in my Spring Training program, was quite good. Both starters, Joe Saunders for Arizona and Ubaldo Jimenez for the Rockies, pitched two solid scoreless innings to start the game. The Diamondbacks took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on a solo home run just inside the left field foul pole by second baseman Kelly Johnson, but the Rox scored 7 unanswered runs between the fourth and seventh innings, including three RBI doubles from Hector Gomez, Ryan Spilborghs, and Mike Jacobs. A sacrifice bunt by Willy Tavaras backfired when catcher John Hester committed a throwing error which allowed a run to score, too.

Going into the bottom of the ninth, loads of people had left the ballpark on the assumption that the Rockies had the game in the bag, but a walk and two singles with one out put us down by four, 7-3. A wild pitch and a walk loaded the bases for Tony Abreu, who hit a sacrifice fly, scoring AJ Pollack. The next batter, Paul Goldschmidt, whacked a really nice-sounding home run into the right field berm seating, scoring three runs and tying the game! The crowd, including me, went completely nuts and I came close to blowing out my voice yelling and high-fiving the DBacks fans around me. Then David Winfre reached first, and Hester reached on a throwing error, awarding him second base and Winfree third. We were 90 feet from victory, and... Cody Ransom grounded out to send the game to extra innings. Sadly, that was to be the end of things, as Charlie Blackmon of Colorado hit the winning home run, and the Diamondbacks failed to tally. The final score was 8-7 Rockies in 10 innings.

It was a phenomenal game, a wonderful day, I made some history (even if I'm really the only one for whom it matters), and I had an awesome time! There's 31 days left until opening day, so I encourage everyone reading this to check out Salt River Fields and watch either the DBacks or Rockies this year!

Spring Training

2011-02-25T22:44:00.000-07:00

If any of you have been wondering where I've been the past few weeks while my blog has sat unloved, wonder no more! I've been busy with Spring Training goodness here in the Cactus League! Two weeks ago, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies opened their new facility for the first time to the public for the pitchers' and catchers' reporting date and the first spring workouts of 2011. Since that day (and including it), I've been out for five or six days worth of sun, green grass, watching drills, catching homers, and seeking autographs.

First off, Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, the new DBacks-Rockies joint Spring Training complex, is absolutely amazing! I was out at the Diamondbacks' side (obviously) on that first day with about 20 other people, and I was stunned to see how open and accessable it is for fans! Walking into the gates to get to the clubhouse and practice fields, there aren't even fences around the practice infields, meaning fans can watch and get photos of players without having to squeeze their camera lenses in between chain links, and around the big full fields, there's so little "foul territory" that you feel like you're right there getting ready to cut off a relay throw from left! Each morning, players enter from the player parking lot down the same walkway that fans use to get in, and they do morning stretching and runs behind a row of short barricades. After they finish, many of them are in the habit of signing a few autographs for fans and taking photos before heading out for their daily drills.

Why, just during the few days I've been there, I have obtained autographs from 45 different players and coaches on a pair of baseballs - including Matt Williams, Luis Gonzalez, Barry Enright, Justin Upton, Jarrod Parker, Chris Young, and Paul Goldschmidt, just to name a few. Some players have been nicer about it than others. For instance, Barry Enright, one of our starting pitchers last year who is competing to be in the rotation this year, has taken the time every day to pose for photos and sign for fans. He's been the kind of fan-friendly person every player should be. Similarly, I have considered Justin Upton, our right fielder, to be somewhat hard to get an autograph from and I was totally surprised to see him being so kind to DBacks fans; he signed for every person out there on Tuesday, for something like 30 minutes after practice! One of the hardest people I've tried getting an autograph from, catcher Miguel Montero, even signed a ball for me, for which I was very grateful. Chris Young even stopped for a few autographs for some of the kids out there before he had to run off. He made it clear to everyone that he'd only be signing for the kids, but I tried asking anyway. I said, "Hey, how about one for a big kid too?" Chris gave me a wry smile, signed my ball, and said that he liked the way I said that.

Some of the other funny moments include a light moment with Manager Kirk Gibson. The very first day, I made friends with the security guy (Mike) who guards the path into the Diamondbacks clubhouse and makes sure no one gets through without a pass. Gibby came up and started quizzing Mike on what to do if someone tried to get in ("You throw 'em out!" said Gibby with a smile). Another time I kind of got in trouble. I was standing outside the fence during catcher batting practice. Coach Charles Nagy threw me a baseball while he was shagging in the outfield, but moments later when he had run to the other end of right field, a ball bounded up and stopped about one inch inside the gate right where it opened. My impulses got the better of me, and I reached for the ball, but the coach standing in the infield collecting the balls yelled toward me that "you can't keep that one.... Throw it back!" Oops! I totally didn't mean to seem like I was trying to steal a ball, so I immediately pushed the gate open a couple more feet and lobbed a throw back in to him. Slightly embarrassing? Yeah, but no one said anything to me after that, so no harm no foul.... Gotta remember to keep my hands to myself. That ball landed just perfectly for me to pick it up though!

I also met Arizona superfan Susan - who knows every player and coach and is friends with all of them! She can always be heard cheering on the team, even in the loudest of stadium crowds, and her "Great job, gentlemen! Best in a million universes!" chants are recognized by everyone! I kind of tried to shade her for my first couple days there, talking with her about the team and about her love of the team. I learned who was fun to talk to and some stories about the players I would never have gotten otherwise! Always pays to say hi to people!

Barry Enright also recognized me from Twitter and from FanFest. I introduced myself there as @DBacks08 when I got a photo with him, then saw him again when I obtained his autograph. When I showed up just a couple days later at Salt River Fields, he smiled and gave me a nod. I've been cheering for him all week, and I hope he makes it into the rotation again this year, even though he has some stiff competition from Zach Duke and Armando Galarraga.

As a final note to this post, I have finally begun using Twitter on a regular basis, primarily for getting tweets from Diamondbacks players and news on the team. More and more Diamondbacks are getting profiles on there, and I encourage my readers with Twitter to follow them:
Barry Enright: @BarryEnright54
Clay Zavada: @Clayzavada35
Wade Miley: @wade_miley33
JJ Putz: @jjp2012
Justin Upton: @realjustinupton
Baxter: @DBacksBaxter
Mark Grace and Daron Sutton: @DBacksbooth
Official Diamondbacks News: @dbacks
My Twitter: @DBacks08

I'll post some of my Spring Training pictures as soon as I can find the cable to connect the camera to the computer. Until then, I'll be hitting up the first ever game at Salt River Fields, the Diamondbacks vs. the Rockies, tomorrow at 1:00pm! It'll be televised, and I'll be sitting behind home plate, so look for me on TV, or come say hi in section 212 (mention the blog so I know who you are)!

Vita Combibo

2011-02-07T21:58:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I have such anxiety about job hunting.... It's almost oxymoronic. I'm pretty good when I get into a job interview, but actually doing the job hunting part and sending out resumes and slogging through hundreds of job board posts that don't apply to my skills is just so hard for me. And that in and of itself is ironic: I love slogging through government documents, Congressional Record pages, microfiche stacks, and thick tomes of numbers and stats. I can quote baseball statistics and obscure facts from Jeopardy, and I am a skilled debater on political issues, but I cannot bring myself to wade through employment listings looking for jobs I can apply for.

Employers who Google search my name will come upon this blog and wonder why in the Hell someone who can actually write coherent sentences isn't employed yet. It's because I just can't do job hunting. I don't get it either... it's just the way it is for me right now.

So employers out there who do Google me, know this: you give me the interview and hire me, and I will not let you down. I work efficiently, hard, and honestly. I'm loyal to a fault, expressive, authentic, and mature. I'm serious, moral, behaviorally appropriate, and I take pride in a job well done. You won't find many candidates quite like that out there. Give me a chance in a real, honest-to-goodness, salaried job that lets me use my unique talents, and I will not disappoint you.

I know not many people actually read this blog unless I use some keywords like "Jeff Flake" or "Arizona State Legislature" or "Arizona Diamondbacks," but I hope this reaches those people whom I need to hear it.

AZGOP State Committee Update

2011-01-22T15:42:00.002-07:00

As mentioned in my last post, today is the Arizona Republican Party state committee meeting where new state party officers are being elected. In the effort to follow the "action" today without my ability to be there, I am using a new medium: Twitter. In following the live updates, I have learned that the following have been elected thus far (with giant thanks to Twitter user @azcapitoltimes for information):

Treasurer: Tim Lee

Secretary: Linda White

Chairman: Tom Morrissey

Resolution #1 also passed, authorizing the state to make the Arizona Republican Party primary closed. More info on this later.

Also going on today is the Arizona Democratic Party state caucus, where they too are electing officers for their state party. Currently, as I write this, voting for the new AZDem Chairman is underway between Rodney Glassman and Andrei Chernei.

AZGOP live Twitter updates: http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23azgop

AZDEM live Twitter updates: http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23azdem

UPDATE 4:27pm: Andrei Cherny was just elected Chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party, and Harriet Young was elected AZDEM 1st Vice Chair.

January LD-19 Meeting

2011-01-21T10:30:00.000-07:00

Last night was a fun night for me. I went to the AZ LD-19 Republican Party meeting, at which all the candidates for the statewide AZGOP offices were speaking. For those of you unfamiliar with the state party, or who aren't Republicans, this Saturday is the AZGOP convention where elections will be held for the new Chairman, Treasurer, Secretary, at-large members, etc. The former Chairman, Randy Pullen, decided not to seek re-election after losing his bid to be a state committman a couple months ago, and in the last few weeks, the list of candidates has whittled down for one reason or another to just three: Tom Morrisey, Marty Hermanson, and Ron Carmichael. But I get ahead of myself.

Because of the importance of this meeting and the desire to get as many people in as possible to hear the candidates, the LD-19 meeting was actually a combination LDs 18, 19, 21, and 22 meeting, and about 200 people or so (rough estimate) showed up. And because of a scheduling conflict, the meeting had to be held outdoors in the ampitheatre area of the Mesa Community College Red Mountain campus. They had plenty of chairs set up clustered around a few big propane heaters, which helped, but by the end of the meeting I was indeed cold.

I started out by talking to a few people that I recognized from other places/meetings, such as former CD-6 candidate Jeff Smith (whom I endorsed through this blog in August last year - and who surprisingly remembered my name), LD19 1st Vice Chairman Alan Soelberg, LD19 Chairman Wayne Gardner, and several precinct committeemen and non-pc's like myself.

At 7pm, Chairman Gardner started the meeting with an introduction of all the public officials there, and while I will inevitably miss someone in my recollections, some of the familiar faces included AZ Speaker of the House Kirk Adams, Rep. Justin Olson (whose job I interviewed for at the Arizona Tax Research Association), Sen. Rich Crandall, and the Chairmen of LD7 and 21. Sorry if I missed you and you were there - correct me in my comments below!

Because of the time constraints of having so many politicians and candidates who wanted to speak at this meeting, each person was very strictly timed. Each public official was given exactly one minute to speak, and almost all of them stuck to those limits. Our legislative officials in LD19 spoke with their one minute speeches on the bills that were proposed or passed through the House yesterday and how those would positively impact the state. Others talked about the need to continue to commit to conservatism and repeal "Obamacare," and others discussed other issues. Sadly with the volume of speakers, I won't go into as much detail about everyone as I usually do in this blog.

After our elected officials, candidates for the state party were given chances to speak, followed by a Q&A session after each office's group of candidates. First, the six candidates for the CD-6 at-large seats (basically representatives from the congressional district to the state party) got one minute to speak about their candidacy. It's incredible how much information a person can fit into one minute if they really try! Personally, I was most struck by a man named Paul Brierley for the CD-6 At-Large seat, whose list of credentials is impressive (current LD21 chairman, former Graham County Chairman, 15-year precinct committeeman, several endorsements from well-respected Republican leaders) and who was one of the more eloquent and practiced speakers up there. After the meeting he and I also had a few minutes to talk about my question for the Chairman candidates (you'll hear about that shortly), and he seems like the kind of person who would be an exceptional representative for this district.

After At-large candidates, the Secretary and Treaurer candidates each also got one minute to speak - there were two people for each position - and they discussed their experience within the party and with bookkeeping. Among the notables was Pat Oldroyd for Secretary, the immediate past chairwoman of LD19, who also received an award in the form of an elephant statuette for her hard work and service to LD19 last night. Needless to say, she would seem to have quite a few locked-up votes from this district for her election.

Finally, the three Chairman candidates each received four minutes to speak. Mr. Morrissey spoke on the need of the party to fundraise more effectively and to better manage the AZGOP's "brand" for 2012. Mr. Carmichael spoke on his credentials and endorsements and how his experience makes him the best candidate for the job. Mr Hermanson was represented by one of his campaign staff because he was at another event somewhere else in the valley, but that aide talked about Hermanson's credentials and personality, and how his work with the party in other aspects made him qualified to be Chairman.

As an aside, I found it interesting how very vastly different the three mens' personalities were. Marty Hermanson's aide was fairly young and energetic, and he most certainly had public speaking experience as a motivational speaker somewhere because during the Q&A I swear he prefaced every answer with "That's a great question, thank you for asking it" or some variation. Ron Carmichael, a man shorter in stature than the others, had a certain fire about him that could have seemed standoffish if you didn't speak to him personally. He seems to be the one in it for an ideological reason to advance conservative values in the state, which I find satisfying. Tom Morrissey, running as a write-in candidate for the position, is a bit like my uncle - cracking jokes with every turn, a little "nerdy," and quick to jump on a topic. His slogan, "I have a plan," was backed up by his telling us what his plans were, but I can't see him running the party efficiently.

After the three men spoke, there was time for a brief Q&A session. I was the second person to ask a question, and the first to request an answer from all three candidates. My question was, in paraphrasing, "since the conservative and Republican youth groups (Young Republicans, College Republicans) have been traditionally ignored by the AZGOP in years past, how do you plan to support such groups as Chairman?"

While both Mr. Morrissey and Mr. Hermanson's aides talked about the need of the party to be more inclusive of young people and how important it was to get the next generation of youths involved, only Ron Carmichael actually gave me a promise: if elected, he intends to put members of the Young Republicans and the College Republicans, etc, on his Executive Board as ad hoc members. In this way, the youth groups would be both represented at the state party level and would be able to share our ideas and better interface with the AZGOP. That alone would be a fantastic first step for youth groups in the state, and I appreciated very much how frank Mr. Carmichael was in answering that question.

After the conclusion of the meeting, I had several people, including a few elected officials and candidates, come up and thank me for asking that question (and ask my opinion on whose answer I liked best!). That was unexpected, but gratifying to know that my question on behalf of the next generation of Republicans was well-received. I talked at length with people like Chairman Gardner and Mr. Brierley for almost an hour under the space heaters about my involvement in LD19 and some of my ideas about improving interface with young people.

At the end of the day, I'd say it was a successful night all around. Sadly, because I am not a state committeeman, I do not get to cast votes for the AZGOP officials this Saturday. However, I can still make a couple endorsements from this small blog and hope they help others with their decisions: I support and endorse Ron Carmichael for AZGOP Chairman, Pat Oldroyd for AZGOP Secretary, and Paul Brierley for CD-6 At-Large Representative. Good luck!

Betelgeuse

2011-01-20T17:10:00.000-07:00

So I'm reading the news online today, and all of a sudden I stumble upon an article claiming that there is the possibility that by 2012 (really, any day now) the state Betelgeuse (pronounced Beetlejuice) could go supernova. According to a Dr. Brad Carter from Queensland, Australia, this could be kind of interesting for multiple reasons.

First, Betelgeuse (in the constellation of Orion) is one of the brightest stars in the sky, and it's explosion could cause us to see dual suns in the sky for a period of up to a couple weeks. Theoretically, this might also produce a no-nighttime effect during that time.

Second, when a massive star dies, it can either collapse and turn into a relatively harmless brown star or explode. If it explodes, such a large star might create a neutron star with enormous density and a strong gravitational pull, or it might create a black hole. Considering Betelgeuse is only 1300 light-years away from Earth, this could be interesting.

I'm no expert on astronomy, but it's an interesting article nonetheless. Check it out at http://www.news.com.au/technology/sci-tech/tatooines-twin-suns-coming-to-a-planet-near-you-just-as-soon-as-betelgeuse-explodes/story-fn5fsgyc-1225991009247

Happy Civil Rights Day!

2011-01-17T19:13:00.000-07:00

Happy Civil Rights Day, everyone!

My new classes really also get going today with "week 1" of readings and discussion board assignments. I just finished putting up a post last night on libraries' intgration of government services in emergency situations. You really don't think about how the public library interfaces with so many government services. Libraries have tax forms and help, banks of computers for people who need them to file government claims, and in 2006 were used as a referral point for people to file for Medicare Part B. In Florida, after hurricanes, libraries hand out food and water, serve as emergency meeting points and town halls, and their computers allow people to let their families in other areas know that they're all right. Interesting stuff.

Anyway...

Today I got up to go out and watch my sister perform at the Mesa Civil Rights Parade with her junior high band. The parade is an annual thing, goes about 2 1/2 blocks in the downtown area, and lasts roughly 20-30 minutes. Nothing special, but it was fun to get out and do something different. Plus, I got free breakfast and lunch outta the deal...!

Later this afternoon, I took an hour-long hike by the Salt River. It was about 75 degrees out and sunny, and absolutely perfect for a hike. The trail was nothing fancy - more like a tunnel through the trees to a sandy area about a quarter-mile from parking - but it was nice to get out and enjoy the weather.

Also, all my assignments except my issues paper (on "The Effect of Electronic Record-keeping on US Government Documents) have been graded. I need a 42% on that paper to get an A in the class. Needless to say, I anticipate acing the course. 4.0 GPA still intact... through one class, anyway!

Before I forget, I also bought my ticket to the first ever Spring Training game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies at the brand-spankin'-new Salt River Fields in south Scottsdale! I splurged and bought a nice seat directly behind home plate, nine rows back of the concourse (about 29 rows from the field). Cost me more than I usually spend on a ticket, but I think this one will be special enough to be worth it!

Countdown to Spring Training: 27 days to pitchers and catchers reporting (39 days to the first Cactus League game)!

Can y'all tell I'm EXCITED for baseball season to start again?!?! I've been wasting away splitting my time between football, basketball, and hockey for 3 months!

I'm Busy

2011-01-11T23:21:00.000-07:00

That's a good thing!

I've neglected my blog a considerable amount over the last month because I've had so much to do, but I finally have some time to catch up right now.

First, of course, I just got back on Sunday from Tucson and U of A where I was completing IRLS 504, my first class on the way to get my Master's degree in Library Science. It was a really intense week. So much so that I didn't get past "day one" on my online blogging adventure to blog from Tucson. We were in class lectures on everything from archives to website development, from HTML to ethics, and from metadata to searching techniques and tips for up to 14 hours per day, including multiple hours of study and help time. It was exhausting, but well worth all the effort. I now know what courses to focus on for my degree. I know I don't want to be a public librarian, but I think I would like special librarianship or archives.

I have to write up a paper by Saturday on "Paper versus Electronic Recordkeeping in Government Archives" and a reflection on how the IRLS504 class went. I might post the reflection here if it turns out well.

Obviously, of course, I was also in Tucson for the Saturday morning shooting of Rep. Giffords, and the massacre of 6 people at a Safeway grocery store down there. It was odd to be in the area. You always hear of it happening somewhere else, but being four miles away from the scene just feels weird. I first learned about it when I got out of my final exam, walked with a couple friends to Gentle Ben's restaurant for a victory lunch, and saw it on a TV over the bar there. All I saw of the headline was "Congresswoman Shot" and then eventually realized it was Gabrielle Giffords from right around the corner. All through lunch I was getting updates from friends and Twitter on the situation. It was surreal when the news stations began saying Giffords was dead, but as time passed they retracted that statement.

That night, I watched the news with fervor, not really because there was more information, but because it was history in the making. The next morning, before driving back home, I went to the University of Arizona Medical Center and spent half an hour paying my respects to the six fatalities and fourteen other victims. The lone street surrounding the hospital was flanked on both sides with every major and minor news outlets' trucks - FOX, ABC, CBS, 3TV - and I was even approached by someone who said she was from Japanese news media for my "reaction" to the event. Cameras were everywhere, and, somewhat disrespectfully, cameramen were sticking their equipment in every face there to capture photos. One woman with a little dog garnered multiple photos as she adjusted rosaries around the photographs of Giffords and Judge Roll. After that, I visited the Safeway site... morbid curiousity, I suppose... where the scene was taped off. I watched the cops for a bit while having a cup of coffee across the street (breakfast), and eventually left and drove home.

It will be interesting to see what comes out in the Loughner trial later on this year. Thankfully, the latest news I heard said that Rep. Giffords is projected to make a solid recovery, is breathing on her own, and may regain much of her former ability. Thank God for that news!

To less tragic news: I am typing this post on my brand new laptop! I finally went out and bought one today with my extra student loan money so I can use it for college. It's a HP Pavilion DM4 with a 620MB hard drive, 4GB of RAM memory, a 14" screen, fingerprint reader built-in, 4G-capable WiFi, and HDMI capability. It was on sale, so I got it for the right price, and I am so far really happy with the purchase!

Not sure what else I want to say right now, so I'll sign off for the night, but I hope to be back to a more regular posting schedule soon. Classes start Thursday, so there's that which might screw my plans up, but I'll give it a try!

My Statement on Giffords' Shooting

2011-01-08T15:02:00.000-07:00

I know this is a very quick post, and I will absolutely have more later, but this is my initial thought on today's shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords at a constituent event in Tucson, Arizona this morning (where I am right now):

It is abhorrent to think that in this day and age people still believe that violent political outbursts are in any way morally justifiable. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' shooting today, not to mention the shooting of Judge Roll, Giffords' aides, and innocent bystanders, is a national tragedy. I am praying for the woundeds' safe recovery, and for the families of the dead.

Blogging from Tucson - SIRLS Day 1

2011-01-02T20:26:00.002-07:00

Merry Christmas!

Happy New Year!

Yes, I know I've slacked a little bit, but I hope my readers will forgive me. I've been really busy with my first class for my Master's degree. From 12/20 to 1/1/11, I had over 650 pages of readings to do, five assignments to set up, and getting ready for my weeklong stay in Tucson for the face-to-face part of the class. That's where I am blogging from tonight: my hotel room in Tucson, AZ, while I watch/listen to the Seahawks-Rams football game.

I arrived here last night, and class started this morning at 8:30am. And quite literally, I haven't stopped working until about 7:00pm. We had lecture from 8:30am-3:45pm solid (with two semi-breaks and an hour for lunch), then worked in groups until 5:00pm. I've learned an overview of "what is a library" and associated topics, and I've learned basic HTML coding for one of my assignments (to create a very basic webpage from HTML code). And by the way, I have decided now that HTML coding is really not that much fun, if fairly straightforward. Overall, the class is pretty well-structured, but there are parts that just aren't well-explained. This HTML thing, for example. I can copy what the instructor does just fine, but I want to know what "bgcolor" is or what "a href" means. I'm hoping the remainder of the class won't be so generalized.

My hotel room is nice... it's a studio room about as big as my dorm room in Taylor Hall at NAU. It has a small bathroom, a double bed, a table and chair, and a kitchenette with a microwave, fridge, sink, and stovetop. For a weekly rate of $27.99 per night, I kind of expected a dump, but the room is very clean (VERY clean!) and well-maintained. No bugs, no dust, and everything works (including the heater, appliances, and bathroom stuff). I'd totally stay here again! It's like my own little apartment. Even the bed is relatively comfortable. It's a very firm mattress, but it works.

Tomorrow morning I have to go buy a CatCard school ID and a parking pass for the week, since the offices were closed for New Year's weekend. Good logistics right there (note: sarcasm). That will require me to be at the parking office at 8am and quickly get to class on the other side of campus by 8:30. Then during my lunch break I have to go buy a "CatCard." Why during lunch hour? Bad planning. C'est la vie, I suppose.

Anyway, I'm going to relax and watch the rest of the third quarter of this football game. I'm not invested in it, but I am watching much more football this season than ever before. All my friends like football, so I feel I should know something about it. Same with hockey.I watched the 2011 Winter Classic last night between the Washington Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Penguins (whom I have decided are "my team" because I like their mascot) lost 3-1, but the game was pretty exciting.

Good night, web people... more tomorrow.

Recent Happenings

2010-12-18T16:29:00.000-07:00

Because of my busy schedule the last couple weeks, I have been unable to make regular updates as I had hoped during the holidays. I hope my loyal readers will forgive me! This post is a quick synopsis of everything that's been going on of late. I'll get back to regular posting soon.

My 25th birthday was November 29th. I had a nice dinner with my folks, and the following Saturday got together with a couple friends (Ryan and Travis) for dinner at Red Robin. It was a very good time. Ryan and I discussed politics; Travis and I talked sports (and he educated me on the NHL's point systems and schedules). Ryan and Travis... two very different people, so I don't know how much they'd have had to chat between themselves about, but I appreciate them both coming! Ryan also got me a gift of Karl Rove's biography "Courage and Consequences," which is next on my list to read.

I start graduate school at the University of Arizona on Monday, and I finally got my reading list and assignments list for the next four weeks. I have over 500 pages to read by January 2nd, study questions to do, a web page to set up, and an interview with an information professional to conduct. I set up my interview with Kevin McCarthy, the gentleman who interviewed my in June for a research analyst position at the Arizona Tax Research Association. Kevin seemed like the absolutely best fit for my project, and I really appreciate the half-hour of time he is giving me this Tuesday. On the flip side, my textbook for the class hasn't arrived in the mail yet, so I'm getting worried I may not have it in time to do all of my readings to the best of my ability.

I have a job interview set up on Wednesday morning for a library page position at my local library. The position is minimum wage, and 19 hours per week, but it would be great for my resume and for me to see the inner workings of the library system. Especially since I'm getting my Master's in Library Science! A job like this would also enable me to continue substitute teaching on the days I don't work, and the hours for the library are such that it wouldn't interfere much, if at all, with my normal schedule of activities.

Today was the Christmas party at my local sports card shop, Hot Corner Sports Cards. Every Saturday, they host an auction of cards for people to bid on. I've gotten some very good deals there in the past. Today, part of the auction included pieces of memorabilia as "mystery items" for the holiday. The first one was a dual autographed, game-worn Arizona Diamondbacks batting helmet (from a Spring Training game, I believe) signed by Brandon Webb and Mark Reynolds. It's PRETTY! I'll post a photo soon, I hope. Gonna look really spiffy on my wall with my other Mark Reynolds stuff!

I'll be back tomorrow (maybe!) with a post on some interesting recent developments in politics and in baseball. There's some wacky stuff happening in the DBacks' organization and in Congress with Don't Ask Don't Tell being repealed, tax compromise packages, and Tea Party stuff.

Happy Thanksgiving, 2010!

2010-11-25T18:03:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post on Thanksgiving Day... I am very thankful for:

- My family (who have helped me out so much the past two-plus years)
- My friends (who help keep me sane)
- My blog and my readers (my outlet for creativity and staying active)
- Baseball (my de-stressor)
- My new school, the University of Arizona (for accepting me and giving me a new goal to strive for)
- Our overseas troops and local law enforcement
- My Republican friends and acquaintances, and even a few Democrats (haha... y'all know who you are!)

I trust and hope all my readers are now sitting down to enjoy a fantastic turkey dinner with all the trimmings, to enjoy the company of close family and dear friends. We've postponed our celebration to tomorrow evening because mom is sick today and we decided it would be in all our best interests if we could celebrate and eat when she's feeling better. So I'm still looking forward to turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, homemade applesauce, green bean casserole, pumpkin and cranberry breads, pumpkin pie, apple pie, and sparkling apple cider tomorrow!

A Happy Thanksgiving to all! Thanks for helping make my blog successful this year!

"Here's to absent friends, and to those who are here now." - President Josiah Bartlet (The West Wing)

AZ LD-19 GOP Election Meeting

2010-11-20T22:27:00.000-07:00

Thursday evening was the annual election meeting for the Arizona Legislative District 19 Republican Party, and like any election, it was not without its fair share of drama. I'll start at the beginning.

I learned about the meeting by actively trying to find out when my legislative district meets, as I would love to be able to get back involved with the Republican Party out here. I haven't been an actively productive political person since 2008. Though I have helped at a variety of events (campaign walks, lit drops, sign posting, working the polls, etc.) as longer readers will know, it's not something I've been doing consistently, and I want to get back into it.

So anyway, I showed up at the meeting time of 6:30pm to signs posted on the doors of the Red Mountain Community College multipurpose room declaring that tonight's election was occurring. One man was campaigning outside for his write-in bid to be Chairman of the LD named Wayne Gardner, and he welcomed me and asked me to remember to write him in when I voted. I told him I wasn't voting since I was not a "precinct committeeman" and was only here to observe. More after the jump break:

A quick note... the general structure of the Republican Party goes something like this: the Republican National Committee is made up of an executive board (headed by Michael Steele) and many National Commiteemen. These NCs are representatives of each state elected by SCs. SCs are State Committeemen, elected by PCs as representatives of the various precincts in each state. PCs are Precinct Committeemen who represent Republicans living in each precinct (and there are more than 4,000 precincts in Arizona alone). Each PC in Arizona represents roughly 125 registered Republicans. Each SC represents something like 5 PCs, and each NC represents several SCs. Confused? Me too.

Basically, the job of a PC is to do all the grassroots volunteerism in the Republican Party - phone calls on behalf of candidates, door-to-door walks, lit drops, sign posting, etc. - and they get a title other than "glorified volunteer." Once a year, PCs meet to vote for State Committeemen. SCs manage PCs, and they get to vote once a year on proposed AZGOP rule changes and for National Committeemen. National Committeemen are basically the House of Representatives for all Republicans at the national level. They help create the party platform and do a bunch of other things I'm not gonna go into here.

Okay, so anyway, got into the meeting and introduced myself to a couple of the people in charge. They thanked me for coming, told me to stay involved, was I interested in becoming a PC?, and so forth. I noted only two people there whom I knew, Chad from Congressman Flake's campaign and Brett Mecum, Executive Director of the AZGOP. I said a quick hello to Chad and found a decent seat from which to watch people. I chatted with a few folks, but mostly just watched events play out, trying to get a feel for everything.

Overall, about 200 people showed up, and about 180 of them were Precinct Committeemen, in my very general estimate. Several younger adults also were there, helping Mr. Gardner with his write-in campaign (I think Chad was one such person, and not there in any official capacity). Most of the PCs were actually a lot older folks, 50's and up. Kinda made me a bit disappointed that I was likely the youngest one in the room at 25. Many people were obviously Tea Party Patriots, attendees of the East Valley Tea Party meetings. I could tell this from their shirts and snippets of conversation that floated across the room.

It was a strange dynamic. I'm not a Tea Party supporter, so it was a bit uncomfortable being in a room full of them. I'm more of a realistic Republican, I suppose, and I view the Tea Party people as being more idealistic - not a bad thing, but also not my way of thinking. On the other hand, I was informed by the Chairwoman when I was speaking to her that this meeting was one of the largest turnouts for an election they'd ever had, so it's certainly good people are getting involved. I'm not sure how I feel about it.

About 7pm, they started their "meeting" which was really nothing more than a vote by acclaimation on a rule that voting would end at 7:40pm sharp and a series of courtesy "nominations from the floor" for each office being elected. This is where chaos began to take root. The people in the back of the room were voting and talking, so it was difficult at best to hear the nominations. The microphone was (apparently) causing some voters to not be able to concentrate and mark their ballots (though I find this farcical, it will be important in a moment).

To be perfectly frank, the election system was a completely dysfunctional process. They had three different blocs of nominees for one position, based upon when and in what manner the person had submitted their name for consideration - via email, on paper, before the deadline, after the deadline - and candidates were being considered for multiple offices via write-in, so some ballots were spoiled but were not able to be reissued. A few folks had multiple proxies, so had to fill out multiple ballots. You had to mark 99 separate X's for 99 separate SC spots, not including the time spent writing in names. There was only one ballot box for 180 people, and no semblance of a line to stand in.... Just completely chaotic.

During the voting time, Randy Pullen was supposed to be a guest speaker, but his schedule had been mistaken and he was in San Diego instead, so Brett Mecum, Gary Pierce of the Corporation Commission, and one guy from the Maricopa County GOP board filled in instead.

Come 7:40pm, the Chairwoman had called out that anyone in line would be allowed to cast their ballots, but some of the voters used that time to hold up the line for some unknown reason, some were still filling out proxy ballots, and there was general disarray. By 8:00pm, the people in charge finally said that the ballot box was closed. Those people in line (who were intentionally holding everything up) would not be able to cast their ballots. Well, let me tell you. This did not... NOT... sit well with most of the people there. A man in a plaid jacket got up and started screaming at the election board that he was in line and he had to be given time to complete his ballots, as the chairwoman had said he would. The election overseers told him that he'd had his chance to cast his votes, but instead held up the lines and as a result he would be unable to cast his votes. Big dramatic moment, filled with ranting by Plaid Jacket Man and his compatriots (whom I believe were affiliated with Wayne Gardner), before finally they brought the ballot box back out and let him stuff his ballots in there, along with one other guy who had a bazillion proxies.

Cue another 30 minutes of speeches by various PCs on how everyone should be ashamed of how they acted, peace, love, and good wishes, and one old guy who went on a rant about how the young people never show up to anything and now they expect to come here and vote (and GET OFF MY LAWN!!!).... I told him where he could go stick his offensive comments, by the way.

Finally, after a while, people calmed down and went about their merry discussions with their neighbors and friends. I continued to observe people, and got a chance to speak with Tom Husband, the Executive Director of the Maricopa County GOP board. Nice guy... we had a good conversation.

Finally, the board announced the tally of the votes for the LD-19 Executive Board at 11pm. I don't remember all the names, but the write-in candidate, Wayne Gardner did indeed win for Chairman. If Plaid Jacket Man and his companion were indeed holding up the line on Mr. Gardner's behalf, then it's very possible that their proxy votes were what pushed him over the edge in the very close race. I found that interesting. I was tired by this point, so I said a quick congratulations to Chairman Gardner, then slipped out to my car to go home.

Honestly, this little election meeting reminded me of the good ol' days in the NAU College Republicans, when I was a naive, egotistical moron. It was SO important to me (and most of the other people in the organization) to win board seats that we sacrificed our principles and our good names in the process. Even after I got out of college, that mentality stuck with me, and hurt my ability to connect with some of the Republicans in the state party. I look back on those days as a really good learning experience, which I have not fully grasped yet, I realize, and I think to myself that this LD meeting reminded me a lot of that. I'm not so sure I want to be a Precinct Committeeman and get back into partisan politics if it's going to be like that.

Yet another good learning experience.

For a video clip on YouTube of dramatic Plaid Jacket Man and one of his partners, click HERE.
For a link to another blog description of the drama, click HERE.

Christmas is Coming!

2010-11-19T12:13:00.001-07:00

KEZ 99.9FM has started playing Christmas music today!!! I don't think I could be happier... I LOVE Chrismas music!!!

That is all.

Changing of the Guard

2010-11-18T17:00:00.000-07:00

I was informed this morning by a friend that according to the Arizona Capitol Times, Arizona Republican Party Chairman Randy Pullen has not been re-elected as a state committeeman, and thus according to AZGOP rules, cannot remain Chairman. Chairman Pullen, who has served two terms and would have been seeking a third this time around, could still be appointed a state committeeman by LD-11 Chairman Warren Whitney (whom I am not familiar with), but "sources" say it's unlikely that Whitney would do that.

Pullen, who has served as the Treasurer of the Republican National Committee the past term, was ousted because, according to the Sonoran Alliance blog, "he is viewed as untrustworthy and ineffective by the grassroots in the party." I have met Chairman Pullen a handful of times and was once invited to work with him and Executive Director Brett Mecum as a phone banking coordinator during the 2008 elections, but I would say that I echo that sentiment. I think it's time for new blood in the Arizona Republican Party.

As far as I am aware, at this time only one person has announced a candidacy for filling Pullen's spot: Marty Hermanson, Chairman of the Pinal County Republican Committee. Hermanson has the support of Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, who is getting a lot of support and attention in Arizona right now, so that will likely help bolster Hermanson's bid.

It's not much of a shock that Pullen will be out after this year ends, as he never did play nicely in Arizona politics with either John McCain or Jon Kyl, and many Republicans found his leadership ineffective and aloof. With the recent GOP sweep of the state's offices in the midterms, it shouldn't be too hard to find someone new.

First Annual Guys' Camping Trip

2010-11-16T11:04:00.000-07:00

This weekend, I was invited to kick off my friends' first hopefully annual guys' camping trip. Scott and Travis set it all up, and all told, seven people came, so it was a roaring success!

We drove up in three groups on Friday/Saturday: Scott, his brother Chris, and I in the first group; Travis, a mutual friend's brother CJ, and Travis' sister's boyfriend Jesse in the second group; and Scott's father the following morning. My group was responsible for hauling up all the gear, setting up the tents, and essentially making camp. It was due to be very cold (28 degrees or so), so we all packed heavy clothing and lots of socks and sweaters.

We got up to our campsite near Christopher Creek an hour north of Payson about 3:30pm Friday (or thereabouts). It was a secluded little area near the See Canyon Trailhead, and despite a mild slope, pretty much perfect for camping. Sadly, my camera decided not to work, so I don't have any photos to share. We unpacked the truck and within about 90 minutes to 2 hours we had established camp and set up both enormous tents in two nice areas.

By 6pm, the second group had arrived, just as darkness was rapidly descending on the area. It got very cold very quick, and the experienced campers in the group made a roaring bonfire in the camp's fire pit. I should at this time point out that I have been camping perhaps once in about a decade. I'm not a "camper" by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, I am kind of a wuss, with my four sweaters, three pairs of socks, headgear, gloves, and heavy jeans trying to stay warm in a climate less than 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

Anyway, we got the fire roaring and that helped a lot, cooked up some hot dogs and chili for dinner (yum!), and played Risk in one of the tents for a while as entertainment. When we tired of that (and thank goodness, because I was about to lose), we used the guys' pellet guns to hit cans off the surrounding rocks. After a while, with sleep encroaching on us, we hit the sack. I slept poorly, a function of a rock jutting into my side and the extreme cold. Though, to be fair, I was well-covered, and the cold wasn't as bad as I expected.

Unfortunately, the cold that did enter my sleeping bag and chill me throughout the night exascerbated a mild touch of some ailment my sister had given me - she'd had a roaring flu just before I left - and by the next morning, I had uncontrollable shakes, exhaustion, and pretty bad nausea. I couldn't sit or stand without my stomach aching. I ended up lying in the tent all day napping until finally in mid-afternoon someone must have seen how bad I looked without getting better and asked if I wanted to just go home.

I felt really bad leaving my friends behind, but I knew they'd also have more fun without me if I was sick. I'm not the kind of person to ask to go home; I'd rather tough it out and make the best of it for my amigos, but in this case, I was also worried about how I'd fare with another night in the upper 20s (ah, gotta love possible pneumonia) and with helping to pack up the camp and not be able to pull my weight the next morning. I decided to take Scott's dad up on his offer to drive me back instead of worry.

It's probably good that I did, because I was sick on Sunday and Monday with stomach pain and a nasty headache. Not to mention recovering from the soreness of sleeping on rocks.

Although my weekend was cut short, I had a good time while I was there that first night. I hope and trust that my friends had as good a time without me as with, and big thanks to Scott's dad for ruining his own weekend taking me back home. Here's to the second annual camping trip in the hopes that it's both warmer and less germy.

Geocoins

2010-11-11T16:10:00.001-07:00

In the spirit of camping this weekend, and geocaching along the way, I have decided to create my own personal "geocoins" that I will attempt to track on this blog.

If you have found one of my geocoins, congratulations! I hope you had as much fun in finding it as I did in creating it and placing it! I ask that you please "log" the find using my comments section below so I can "track" the movements of my coins. Please provide me with the "tracking number" on the reverse of the coin, tell me where you found it and when, where you've released it and when, and any other fun comments about your adventures!

For my non-caching friends, please visit my prior blog posts on geocaching HERE and HERE. Geocoins are metal coins (no monetary value, sorry!) that are embossed with a tracking number and design from the owner that fellow cachers find, log, and then release into a new cache for others to find. My geocaching handle is "TimeTraveler09" and I have decided to make my own geocoins because they're actually kind of expensive, and I don't have much disposable income at the moment. Here's my design:

The front is an hourglass enclosed by a rectangular holder. The hash marks around the circumference represent the hours on the face of a clock, and the TT 09 stands for "TimeTraveler09" - my geocaching name. The reverse says "TFTC! [Thanks for the Cache!] Pass me on!" and gives the web address for this specific post. Underneath that (which I have skillfully cropped out!) is a tracking number unique to each coin. I have the list of numbers and where I placed them so I can keep apprised of where each one goes.

What do you think?

#1608 - Found by cacher vegas5701 at "Alice's Wonderland" (GC1RJRM) 11/23/2010

The Suspension of Keith Olbermann

2010-11-07T22:29:00.000-07:00

Keith Olbermann, MSNBC journalist and host of the show "Countdown with Keith Olbermann," was suspended "indefinitely" this past Friday following a report that he had donated a total of $7,200 to three Democratic candidates during this election cycle: Jack Conway for the Kentucky Senate, Raul Grijalva of Arizona's 7th district, and Gabrielle Giffords of the Arizona 7th.

Olbermann has been a sportscaster for ESPN's "SportsCenter" and "SportsNight," Fox Sports Net's anchor for sports shows and baseball coverage, NBC sports anchor, and on-again-off-again MSNBC host since 1997, and an avid blogger (I read his MLBlog "Baseball Nerd" at http://keitholbermann.mlblogs.com/ with regularity). He was initially suspended for violating MSNBC's rules on political donations. Those rules, put in place after the 2006 elections cycles, currently allow donations with the approval of the President of NBC News, but Olbermann never sought or received such permissions.

I say initially suspended because if you read the headlines (anywhere but MSNBC.com, which has no mention of this newsworthy topic anywhere), The Huffington Post is calling Olbermann's time off without pay for Friday's and Monday's "Countdown" episodes "the shortest suspension in the world." As of tonight, Olbermann is to be reinstated for Tuesday's "Countdown" - officially because according to Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC, "After several days of deliberation and discussion, I have determined that suspending Keith through and including Monday night's program is an appropriate punishment for his violation of our policy. We look forward to having him back on the air Tuesday night."

Unofficially, MSNBC executives may have been bowing to outside pressures by competing news agencies and the public. Olbermann's recent Twitter tweet, "Greetings from exile!" garnered him a mass following of support, and a Progressive Change Campaign Committee petition to put Olbermann back on air garnered over 300,000 electronic signatures as of this writing (including mine). CNN's Eliot Spitzer called the suspension "rediculous" and "silly," frequent MSNBC guest Dan Choi boycotted the network, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) criticized MSNBC for their decision, and even the Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol (a conservative, by the way) called on Republicans "of the world" to "Keep Keith!"

Personally, I agree that even if Olbermann did violate an MSNBC "rule," I believe that personal donations in politics are akin to free speech. Anyone should be allowed to make them without fear of reprisal from one's bosses or another entity. In Olbermann's case, such donations wouldn't make me think he had some sort of agenda. He's a well-known liberal pundit, and his donations to three Democrats in very tight races isn't exactly at the top of the "Most Surprising Things of 2010" list. I'm glad they're putting him back on the air. If the media themselves are being silenced over political donations, what hope do the rest of us have?

Softball Tournament Fall 2010

2010-11-06T22:56:00.000-07:00

The fall, 2010 softball leagues are now officially over for my team with the conclusion of our playoff run this evening. The single-elimination tournament for our league's eight teams would have meant we needed to win three consecutive games to take a title in the C-league. Sadly, we were eliminated early by losing our only game. But it was perhaps the best game of the entire year!

We were playing Celebration Church, the red team that we'd won one game and lost one game against during the regular season. We expected a barnburner for the tiebreaker and it didn't disappoint. We started off slowly, and in the second inning the score stood 0-6, them, thanks to a few good hits. In the third inning, we got back two runs, and picked up four more over the next three innings, but by the top of the seventh and final inning, we still trailed 6-10. Somewhere in there, I think the fourth or fifth inning, I had a play at the plate on a runner trying to score an inside the park home run on a really well hit ball to left-center. The throw to our shortstop, Caleb, was perfect, and Caleb's throw to me at the plate was spot on. I made the catch and tagged the runner out by about three steps up the line! Another play at the plate resulted in a poorly thrown ball that I wouldn't have made an out on, but to my credit, I blocked the ball in the dirt, and prevented a run from scoring by sticking with it.

Bang, bang, bang, and darned if we didn't score four runs that seventh frame to tie the score! Despite some confusion from the scorekeeper and umpire (they mistakenly only counted three of the runs until we corrected them - during which time the red team was prematurely celebrating), we sent the game into extra innings. This eighth inning - the only extra-inning game of the season for us - as a tiebreaker inning starts off with a runner already on second base, to help speed the game along. Tragically, we scored only that one run in the eighth, but we thought it could be enough if we could hold them.

Bottom of the eighth: runner on second, no outs. Batter 1 flew out to center field, but thanks to a baserunning error where he didn't tag and advance to third, he was stranded on second. Batter 2 hit a single to center, which scored the runner on second, and retied the game. The batter-runner advanced to second on a throw to me at the plate, but there was no play. Batter three fouled out. With 2 outs, runner at second, batter 4 hit a short single to shortstop. The throw to first was misplayed, and the runner at second advanced to third. Our first baseman tried to throw him out, but could not. The catch at third was also misplayed, and the runner continued home. I got the throw from third and tagged the runner OUT by a half step, but his slide into my glove jostled the ball out, and he was safe when I dropped it.

After the play, I walked away for a moment, kind of ticked that I'd not held the ball and had lost the game for us, but I quickly got over it and congratulated the other team. Their coach came up to me personally and shook my hand, clapped me on the back and told me I'd done a great job, which really made me feel good. I told him they'd been spot on the whole night, and that I was glad to have played in such a good game.

Looking back on it, I might have been able to better hold onto the ball, but with the literal split second I had to snag it and make a tag, it would have been hard for anyone. I was a little sad that my glove had been the final straw that cost us the game, but considering our come-from-behind inning to tie the game and my other contributions at the plate and behind it, there's no way I can complain.

I went 2-for-4 this game. My first at-bat resulted in a flyout to left/left-center, and my third at-bat I struck out looking, but in my second AB I hit a Texas leaguer to left that probably should have been caught, but someone wasn't communicating properly and it dropped in there. And in my final trip to the plate, I hit a scorcher to short which was bobbled, then misthrown to first and went out of bounds, which got me awarded second base automatically. Woot!

I can't wait to try to improve next year! Our spring season begins early January! Thanks to my teammates for helping me out and playing hard. Tough loss tonight, but a solid season overall.

Thoughts on the 2010 Election

2010-11-03T15:00:00.001-07:00

Last night, I was fortunate enough to be able to get out to not one, but two election watching parties. The Democratic Party was at the Phoenix Wyndham hotel, and the Republican Party was across the street at the Hyatt. They were very different atmospheres.

As most people who read the blogosphere and news will now know, Republicans have retaken control of the House of Representatives with gains pushing 65 seats - a major upset. To compare, the Newt Gingrich-led Republican upset of 1994 (with the "Contract with America") resulted in a 54-seat gain for the GOP, and the 2006 Democratic landslides only resulted in a 31-seat gain for them. The 2010 elections represented the largest gain by one party over another since the 1938 elections in which the Democrats lost 81 seats to Republicans and minor parties in the wake of several New Deal policies.

In the Senate, the GOP gained a net of 6 seats to bring the Senate to 51 Democrats, 2 Independents, and 47 Republicans (I count Murkowski in AK as a Republican, and Democrat Patty Murray as a victor in WA in this assessment, though neither has yet been declared a winner as of this writing).

In Arizona, voters swept the state government for the Republicans, with every statewide office going red. Governor Jan Brewer, Secretary of State Ken Bennett, Treasurer-elect Doug Ducey, Corporation Commissioners Brenda Burns and Gary Pierce, Superintendent of Public Instruction-elect John Huppenthal, and State Mine Inspector Joe Hart all won their elections by comfortable margins. As of this writing, Attorney General-elect Tom Horne has declared victory over Felicia Rotellini, though she has not yet conceded. The AP has called the race for Horne, but several thousand early ballots remain uncounted yet.

As for the propositions, for which my predictions garnered this blog a lot of viewers and comments, Prop. 106 (Healthcare) has passed, as has Prop. 107 (Affirmative Action). Props. 109, 110, 111, and 112 (Right to Hunt and Fish, Land Trusts, Lieutenant Governor, and Initiative Filing Deadlines) have all failed (though 110 and 112 are still very close, and could change). Prop. 113 on Secret Ballots has passed by a wide margin, but Prop. 203 (Medical Marijuana) looks likely to fail by a very slim margin, and both 301 and 302 (on revenue restructuring) have failed.

And thank you, City of Mesa voters! You have approved Prop. 420 to help build a new Cubs Spring Training complex! Yay!

Finally, in the State Legislature, if I've done my math correctly, and assuming there are no weird changes, Republicans should hold 40 seats in the House and 21 seats in the Senate, both of which are the 2/3 majorities commonly known as "supermajorities." Politically speaking, Republicans should have no problem passing almost any bill into law in this state now that they control the Governor's office and have supermajorities in both chambers of the Legislature.

As for the parties, I'll be putting up another post soon with my experiences on those, including a few pictures I took.

The Pre-Election Landscape

2010-11-01T08:53:00.000-07:00

If you have not mailed in your early ballots yet... DON'T! The deadline to mail them in was Oct. 29th, and if you stick them in the mail today, they will not be counted! That being said, you can drop early ballots off at ANY polling place (doesn't have to be your own... just anywhere you see the big "VOTE HERE" sign) tomorrow from 6am-7pm. If you mailed your ballots in AFTER the deadline and are worried about your vote not being received in time or counted, you can go to your polling place (and yes, it must be YOUR polling place) tomorrow and ask to vote a "provisional ballot." You cannot be denied this right, just bring your proper identification with you (picture ID works best with your most current address on it). If you have any problems or questions, contact the Arizona Secretary of State's election offices or your local County Recorder's Office. That information can be found at http://www.azsos.gov/ on the "Elections" page.

Okay, now that my words of warning are out of the way, it is time to take a good hard look at the pre-election political landscape. I've done a lot of statewide posts recently, and all signs point to a close election in CD-1, CD-3, CD-5, CD-7, and CD-8. Republicans may win big here, and will certainly retain many of the statewide offices, such as Governor and Secretary of State.

Nationally, Republicans are poised to capture upwards of 40, perhaps 50 or more, seats in the House of Representatives, and will make it a lot closer in the Senate with pickups of around 7-9 seats. The way the Congress currently looks is 255 Dems-178 Reps in the House, 59 Dems-41 Reps in the Senate. And as of this morning, the polls are indicating that the House is going to be 168-224 to the GOP with 43 tossup districts. It only takes 218 votes to lead, so all indications point to a big Republican landslide there this year. The Senate is much closer, with http://www.realclearpolitics.com/ saying that it's looking like 48-45 to the Democrats with 7 tossups. I'm thinking it'll end up 52-48 blue.

Another interesting angle is the Tea Party, which nationally was the talk of everyone from the political analysts to the kitchen-table moms and dads. It was supposed to be this big, enormous, Libertarian-ish movement capturing the votes of the politically disenfranchised and the grassroots activists, but it seems that in reality, Tea Party campaigns aren't really faring much better than regular old established Republican campaigns, and while many candidates are claiming Tea Party morals, support, and ideals, in reality few are actually associated with the movement itself. I predict that after this election, when the GOP takes the House, the Tea Party movement will be forgotten as just another fad of the last decade.

WHAT TO WATCH ON ELECTION DAY:
1. Exit polling. Due to better security of exit polling data, there won't be many of those cryptic "Senator X is pulling ahead in the exit polls" before about 5pm Eastern time. So for those of us in Arizona, come about 2:15pm, we'll start seeing the very first accurate exit polls for the East Coast. Disregard most of everything before that, especially if you're watching the major news networks, whose only goal is to get you to watch their network over their competitor.

2. The weather! It might sound crazy, but when it rains/snows, less people turn out to vote. Who knew?! Fortunately for almost everyone, http://www.weather.com/ is showing that most of the country will stay relatively dry and clear tomorrow. The exceptions being snow showers in Washington state which could accumulate up to a foot of snow over the next 48 hours, and 1-5" of rain in the Louisiana-Arkansas-Mississippi-east Texas area. No big problems, though, so although turnout in Louisiana could be lower than expected, it shouldn't affect the big picture.

3. Turnout. Speaking of turnout, it's usually really low in midterm elections - under 40%. Anything higher probably means Democrats are turning out in higher numbers, and that could mean a few surprises throughout the night. The demographic information will be important as well and could point out the winners before anything else. If reports show 18-29-year-olds turning out in greater than 10% numbers, Democrats might have a less-than-awful night. Conversely, if we're seeing more than 50% of the voters as over-50, Republicans likely will make huge gains.

4. 3pm and 4pm. The first polls close in parts of Indiana and eastern Kentucky at 6pm EST (3pm for Arizona). 4pm marks the first major round of poll closings on the East Coast. In IN/KY, three "bellweathers" marking close contests could show how the night'll turn out for the political parties, as the IN-2, IN-9, and KY-6 contests are close ones between moderate candidates. Also, the KY Senate race being called in favor of Rand Paul (R) by a wide margin could have people huffing about the Tea Party impact.

Either way, sit down with your families and watch the results pour in. Talk to your kids about what's going on, how to interpret the results, what it means for the country, and such. Or do what I did and print out blank maps of your state's Congressional or legislative districts and as the returns roll in, color them red/blue/green/yellow for the different political parties! Should be a very fun night!

Softball Games 11-14

2010-10-30T21:27:00.000-07:00

As some of my astute readers might have noticed, I didn't post a separate post for last Saturday's softball games. Partially because I was busy/tired and partially because we lost both games. Badly. Badly enough that the first game didn't last more than 30 minutes, called because of the mercy rules.

No more info to be had there. I went 2-for-4 total in both games, both singles, and I was stranded on base both times. I also had a couple chances on plays at the plate, but I missed a catch and a couple throws were wide so I couldn't make the plays even if I'd had a chance. Blah.

But this week was better. In fact, we won both games - the final two games of the "regular season." I still didn't make any plays at the plate, but I'd like to think my shouting and words of encouragement helped boost morale! I also went 3-for-7 hitting, a couple singles and a single/fielder's choice which turned into two bases via a rundown between third and home plate.

Thus, my Fall Season stats overall:
- Actively made/assisted 8 outs at home plate.
- 1 error (missed catch)
- 23-for-47 hitting, a .489 batting average

Next weekend is the C-League tournament, so I'm hoping that we can have a good showing. If I remember last year's tournament, it was single-elimination, and our team was the first out of contention. I'd rather play a couple good games this time around!

Also, as an addition to this post: Rangers won tonight's Game 3 of the World Series in Texas, so they're on their way to catching the Giants, who won both Game 1 and Game 2 by rediculous scores. Go Rangers!

Rangers-Giants World Series

2010-10-24T18:39:00.000-07:00

Last night, the San Francisco Giants clinched their first World Series berth since 2002 over the Philadelphia Phillies in a... weird... game. This came a day after the Texas Rangers clinched their first-ever trip to the Fall Classic in their franchise's history (Nolan Ryan is proud!) over the "vampiric" New York Yankees.

So, while my playoff predictions have turned out to be a bust, I think a Rangers-Giants World Series should be huge for Major League Baseball! Two teams we almost never see in the championship series, both vying for their franchise's first World Series title. Yes, I know the NEW YORK Giants of pre-1958 fame won World Series rings, but since the team's move to San Francisco in '58, they have not won a title, and have only been to the World Series 4 times. The Rangers have never won, so this should be exciting. All the more so because of how they got there. Texas came out of nowhere to win the AL West by a more-than-comfortable margin, and San Francisco won their race on the last day of the regular season. Both teams are also giant-killers, having bested their league's strongest opponents in the Phillies and Yankees.

With players like Tim "The Freak" Lincecum and Pablo "Kung Fu Panda" Sandoval up against Cliff "Never Lost a Playoff Game" Lee and Josh Hamilton, the 2010 World Series should be one to remember!

(By the way, GO RANGERS!)

Bobblehead Collection

2010-10-23T15:41:00.000-07:00

Today, I found a garage sale with a woman who was a big baseball fan (D-Backs in particular) and who was selling off some of her bobbleheads and assorted memorabilia from her rather extensive collection. I picked up eight new figures, only one of which was a "stadium giveaway," but since they were of nice quality, I didn't mind. They look great with my others, don't you think?

Softball Games 9/10

2010-10-18T21:31:00.000-07:00

Okay, a short interlude from the very good conversations I've been having on the Arizona ballot propositions and candidates. I would like to thank everyone who's visited and commented on my recommendations. I appreciate the chance to help support my choices and get new information on the ones I don't support. Also, in case any of you stats majors out there are interested, my 2010 Arizona Ballot Propositions Recommendations post is now my all-time single highest viewed page here on "The View From Arizona." So yeah, thanks!

Anyway, this post is just a quick update on my softball games on Saturday for the very few of you waiting on the edge of your seats for info. Our games were at 2:30pm this time around due to scheduling conflicts with the fields, so it was a semi-hot 90 degrees at game time. In game one, we picked up another W thanks to some sloppy defense by our opponents and our immensely fast lineup. Who knew younger people could run faster than older people?! Ha.... I ended up with two hits in four at-bats thanks to a bloop single into shallow center field and a botched fly ball in left. Both times I made it no farther than first base, though, so my contributions at the plate were limited. But behind the plate I had four chances for outs, all on pop flies, none on plays at the plate involving runners. I made two of the four plays myself, strangely by tipping both into the air on fouls straight back to me, then catching the balls on their way back to earth. Might have looked funny to a bystander, with me bobbling them a couple times before landing them, but it got the job done! The other two were pop flies right in front of the plate that I could have gotten, but I gave way to another infielder who had a better chance. We got all four outs. Woot!

Game two was a much closer contest because we were tied or within a run or two all game, and ended up losing by four runs. I think our defense was hot and tired, and combined with above-average defense by our opponents and some timely hitting on their part, they took the victory. I went one-for-four in this game, with a good, high pop fly, two grounders to short, and a zinging double down the left-field line, which I was proud of myself for keeping fair. I also had about three chances at home, one more pop up to me like the prior game which I caught, and two chances on runners at home which I missed. All told, not a horrible game, but a loss is a loss.

My stats, updated to this point:
- Actively made or assisted making 8 outs at home.
- 1 error on a missed catch.
- 3-for-8 this week, so 18-for-36 overall, a .500 average.

Expanded Coverage: Prop. 203

2010-10-15T18:29:00.000-07:00

Again, because of some good comments below on my prior Ballot Proposition Recommendations post, I have decided to expound on Prop. 107 (post below) and Prop. 203 (relating to medical marijuana).

Prop. 203 creates a new regulatory system for the distribution and oversight of medical marijuana for patients with a prescription from a physician for certain types of specific ailments, such as chronic pain. The new regulations would be governed by the Arizona Department of Health Services.

The Confusion: A couple commenters on my blog, or since they are anonymous it might be just one, called me naive on the subject of pain management via marijuana and that I was attempting to mislead people into thinking it was more harmful than it might be. That argument was supplemented by the statement that prescription drugs are, in some cases, as or more addictive than marijuana, and that no one ever died from smoking it (though, considering a research study published in the BMJ medical journal showed that persons driving after using marijuana was twice as likely to be involved in fatal car crashes as "sober" people, I would challenge that).

What I Found Out: The federal Food and Drug Administration released results in 2006 of their study on the medicinal uses of cannabis and the risk-reward factor in using it as a prescription drug to treat ailments. It says that marijuana is a schedule 1 drug (the most restrictive category) because of three criteria: it has a high potential for abuse, has no currently proven acceptable medical use, and has a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision. Scientific studies by the FDA and other Department of Health and Human Services agencies found that "no sound scientific studies supported medical use of marijuana for treatment in the United States, and no animal or human data supported the safety or efficacy of marijuana for general medical use."

AZ FactCheck on http://www.azcentral.com/ similarly reports that the US Drug Enforcement Agency, American Cancer Society, American Glaucoma Society, and National Multiple Sclerosis Society all state on their respective websites that medical marijuana may provide some benefits to patients with chronic illnesses, but that there are also negative effects that go along with those benefits. All but the DEA cite the need for better research before openly allowing medical marijuana. In addition, the Drug Enforcement Agency states that medical marijuana - or at least the part of it that helps manage pain called THC (the "active ingredient" in marijuana) - already exists in pill form called Marinol. While this pill has the same benefits as actually smoking the plants, it may also have negative side effects.

The argument really boils down to this, now that I know that pill-form marijuana exists and is approved by the FDA: proponents of 203 want to SMOKE pot. If this issue were really about the medicinal value of the plant, there already exist pain management medications and weight loss and appetite stimulants (like Marinol). While such pain meds like Vicodin or Oxycontin do have the potential to be addictive, they are much more controllable than marijuana, which has a high potential and probability for abuse by both prescribed users and non-prescribed users. Considering the valid FDA and DEA claims that marijuana's benefits do not at this time outweigh the potential negative effects of the drug, the only conclusion I can reach is that medical marijuana (the plant) is not an appropriate narcotic to use for medicinal purposes.

The Bottom Line: Medical marijuana provides little reward for potentially greater risk. Regardless of the passage of Prop 203, the federal government will continue to pursue and prosecute individuals using marijuana. Also, considering how hard it is to make something harmful illegal versus making something legal, if marijuana is found to have a negative impact on the state, it will be really difficult to repeal Prop. 203 in the future to fix the problem. Better to just vote no and leave this drug a Schedule 1 Controlled Substance, illegal in the country and in the State of Arizona.

Expanded Coverage: Prop. 107

2010-10-15T17:51:00.000-07:00

Because I have had a few very good comments on my 2010 Proposition Recommendations, I have decided to expound a little on one of the more controversial ones: Prop. 107 (relating to affirmative action programs).

Proposition 107 is the so-called "anti-discrimination" constitutional amendment for the State of Arizona and its cities, towns, universities, community colleges, and other governmental entities. It basically says that in issues of public employment, public education, and public contracting, no one can be given preferential treatment on the basis of sex, race, color, ethnicity, or national origin.

The Confusion: My commenters have been interested in knowing whether or not Prop. 107 would hurt programs like WISE (Women in Science and Engineering), Upward Bound (giving scholarships to first-generation college students), or foundations that provide grants to (among other things) women for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathmatics) professional fields.

What I Found Out: I referenced a few different sources in trying to answer this question of exactly how programs would be affected. One was the AZCentral.com FactCheck section, which attempts to answer whether statements made about candidates or about these propositions are true or false (or somewhere in between). I also found a couple news articles about the implementation of very similar laws passed in California, Michigan, and Washington. What I found out was that only programs which are state-run or state-sponsored could (not necessarily would) be affected. Privately funded groups, like a foundation that provides scholarships to only women, only Hispanics, or only Chinese students (as examples) would NOT be affected by Prop. 107's implementation.

A program like Upward Bound, which gives grants and scholarships to first-generation college students without basing the application process or the decision-making process on race, color, national origin, or sex would also not likely be affected by this amendment. Because first-generation college students could include white male English students just as much as it could include black female Mexican students, the program is not in violation of anything.

Programs like WISE at ASU and UA exist in California, Washington, and Michigan and provide money for women (or minority groups) going into certain fields in order to promote continued diversity within those fields. In all three other states, their WISE-equivalent programs were not overly affected by the passage of the similar anti-preferential treatment laws. Those that might have been terminated by the law usually just expanded their applications processes to include both males and females, or all races instead of just one. WISE could still exist, and it could still actively target women, but if a male student applied to the program, he would need to be given equal consideration under the law. The other possibility is that programs like WISE, which is operated by the universities and state, could simply be privatized. That way, there would be no problem with the state sponsoring the preferential program.

Bottom Line: Voting yes on Prop. 107 DOES end preferential "quotas" in public hiring, education, and works to turn back the practice of reverse discrimination, which is becoming a factor in some aspects of state-sponsored programs. Now that many racial groups and both sexes are much, much more equal than they were 30 or 40 years ago, preferences for women are starting to hurt men, and preferences for minorities are beginning to hurt non-minorities (especially in Arizona, where Caucasians are no longer the majority race in the state). We might have a few kinks to work out if implementing the law raises problems that weren't foreseeable, but it's a good basis for making everyone truly equal in the state.

2010 Candidate Recommendations

2010-10-13T16:10:00.000-07:00

The time has come... with early ballots out to voters and just 20 days remaining until the results come pouring in, we as Arizonans and citizens of the United States have a lot of tough choices to make regarding who will serve our communities in the next couple years and beyond. The following are my recommendations for the Arizona races:

United States Senate: John McCain
While I have never been a die-hard supporter of our incumbent senator, his opponents in this race lack the experience I am looking for in a US Senator. John McCain does, and his next six years in office should be much improved now that he has said he will no longer seek election to the presidency in 2012.

US Rep. District 6: Jeff Flake
I supported his challenger in the primary because I wanted a change in my district, but in the general election, Jeff Flake outshines all of his opposition exponentially in terms of how he approaches his representation of the 6th district. He will work hard for Mesa and Gilbert, and he deserves two more years to try to turn things around in Congress.

Governor: Jan Brewer
Brewer has been controversial over her support of SB1070, and if it weren't for that, she might be neck-and-neck with her opponent. Just the same, Brewer is willing to fight for this state against even her own party against tough odds to try to improve Arizona. I support that mentality.

Secretary of State: Ken Bennett
A tireless leader for many years, Ken Bennett's reelection to the #2 position in the state is virtually assured and vitally important. I can't wait to see him run for Governor in a few more years.

Attorney General: Felecia Rotellini
Rotellini was not my first choice for the AG spot, but she will bring an attitude of "can-do" to the position against her opponents obstructionism.

State Treasurer: Andrei Cherney
With promises to conduct audits of state systems, I believe an overhaul of Arizona's failing government infrastucture is necessary to help us rebuild the state stronger than before the recession. Cherney is the best bet in my opinion for the job.

Superintendent of Public Instruction: John Huppenthal
After reading both candidates' statements, I believe in Huppenthal's ideology of improving teacher merit pay and making sure teachers are actually working in sustainable environments. A substitute teacher myself, while his opponent may be a parent and teacher, sometimes you need a political mind for a political position, and Huppenthal should get results.

State Mine Inspector: Joe Hart
The incumbent Hart has done a great job for many years now, and deserves reelection to this post, which garners little attention at the ballot box or media, but is important to the State of Arizona.

Corporation Commissioner: Gary Pierce and Brenda Burns
The two I supported in the Republican primary election, I haven't changed my mind: Burns and Pierce will work to aid small business and promote healthy and sustainable business practices in the Arizona corporate market.

Maricopa County Attorney: Bill Montgomery
Virtually running alone, Montgomery is a respectable candidate with a long-term vision for making Maricopa County a safer place. His proven record of stopping crimes and his ability to work with all levels of local law enforcement make him the ideal candidate to fill the county's top legal spot.

Central Arizona Water Conservation District (vote for 5):
Tim Bray, Jim Holway, Karl Kohlhoff, Mark Lewis, and Sid Wilson
These five candidates have backgrounds and experience in dealing with water issues and conservation issues, all prerequisites for serving on this board. These five candidates, two of whom are incumbents to the board, are most likely to be able to continue to make smart decisions on how to manage our water usage into the foreseeable future.

Maricopa County Community College District: Jerry Walker
State Senator LD-19: Rich Crandall
State Rep. LD-19: Kirk Adams, Justin Olson
Clerk of the Superior Court: Christopher Rike
Justice of the Peace (East Mesa): Mark Chiles
Constable (East Mesa): William Taylor
Mesa Unified School District #4 (vote for two): Dave Lane, Michelle Udall
Judges (vote to keep all EXCEPT): Barker, Irvine, Aceto, Barton, Bassett, Bergin, Brotherton, Fenzel, Foster, Grant, Heilman, Hicks, Pineda, Reinstein

This is only my recommended guide for voters based upon my own opinions of the candidates and their positions after doing my own, independent research on each person. If my candidate choices match up with yours, awesome. I encourage each person to do their own checking of the candidates and come up with their own lists. Good luck to the candidates!

2010 Arizona Ballot Proposition Recommendations

2010-10-12T13:57:00.002-07:00

Ever wondered how and why we have all those confusing ballot propositions ever couple years? Not only are they usually strangely worded, but what's up with not numbering them consecutively? 101, 304, 425.... Never makes much sense. Well, here's the gist. Propositions are the result of either the state government wanting to change something with Arizona's laws or Constitution, or the public wanting to do so. And to accomplish this, we classify propositions according to four criteria: (read more after the beak jump!)

100's: Propositions numbered in the 100's are for all Constitutional amendments, regardless of who initiates them. For example, the 2006 campaigns featured the high-profile Prop. 107 - the amendment to restrict marriages in Arizona to one man, one woman.

200's: When a citizen or non-governmental group proposes a change to create or amend a state statute, it is numbered in the 200's. The 2008 Proposition 200, for example, which changed the way payday loan companies operate in Arizona and set caps on lender fees, was started by an initiative petition that gathered enough signatures to make it onto the ballot.

300's: Like the 200's, propositions in the 300's column are state statute changes which are initiated by the Arizona State Legislature. Only one such measure was on the 2008 ballot: a proposed recommendation to increase legislative officials' salaries by $6,000 per year.

400's: Any local matters are numbered in the 400's, and might include spending decisions for cities, like this year's Mesa Prop. 420 to spend $84 million to keep the Chicago Cubs in the city.

This year, voters will have the opportunity to decide on 10 statewide propositions and a few local ones. I have read through all the for and against arguments of each, and I present to you here my recommendations on this year's proposals:

Prop. 106: The Healthcare Choice Amendment
Recommendation: VOTE NO
This proposed amendment to the Arizona Constitution prohibits any rule or law from compelling a person to participate in a health care system, prohibits any law from fining someone for not having health insurance, and would not affect healthcare options, services covered or not covered, or worker's compensation. Sounds good, but the only reason for this amendment is as a direct challenge to the Patient Protection and Affordability Act (AKA "Obamacare"). Realistically speaking, all this proposed amendment would do is succumb the state to another lawsuit over tenth amendment rights versus the federal government's assumed right to regulate healthcare via the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. It wouldn't help fix any problems with the current healthcare system. It wouldn't cover more Arizonans who can't afford healthcare, and it wouldn't help the state financially in any way. We need solutions, not blockades of things we don't like. Vote no on this poorly written and poorly conceived proposition.

Prop. 107: Anti-Preferential Treatment
Recommendation: VOTE YES
This proposed amendment to the Arizona State Constitution would add in the requirement that no preferential treatment of any individual on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in any pulic employment, education, or contracting setting. That includes the state, cities, towns, counties, universities, community colleges, etc. The reason for this proposition is to combat the now-increasing problem of "reverse discrimination" whereby minority candidates for positions and programs are chosen over non-minority candidates in order to fill quotas or maintain racial or sex-related "diversity" in that program. But, it also says that if federal money is involved, the state will not be prohibited from something that might conflict with this amendment in order to obtain that money. I'm voting yes on this one because the time has now come for our generation to start acting like race and sex really ARE equal, without quotas and "diversity" movements having to force us together to say that we are.

Prop. 109: Right to Hunt and Fish
Recommendation: VOTE YES
This amendment would vest sole lawmaking and regulatory functions over hunting and fishing in Arizona with the Arizona State Legislature, and enumerates the right to hunt and fish to all citizens of the state. Voting yes on Prop. 109 maintains a tradition in Arizona that plays both a vital role in wildlife management and entertainment/tourism for the state.

Prop. 110: Fixing Land Trust Projects
Recommendation: VOTE YES
In the 1930's Congress amended a law called the Enabling Act to allow Arizona to sell, lease, or place restrictions on state trust lands, which are a vital part of Arizona's economy. Unfortunately, the state never amended the Arizona Constitution to reflect those changes, and a lawsuit which made its way to the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that such an amendment needs to be passed to continue to allow Arizona to operate these trust lands as they have been doing. Not passing 110 would be irresponsible and would really hurt the state. Vote yes!

Prop. 111: Creation of a Lieutenant Governor/Party Ticket Voting
Recommendation: VOTE NO
Currently, the citizens of Arizona are allowed to vote separately for a Governor and a Secretary of State. This proposed constitutional amendment changes the title of the Secretary of State to "Lieutenant Governor" and changes the way Arizona voters choose their two highest elected officials. Rather than voting separately for a Governor and Secretary of State, who could potentially be of two different parties, Prop. 111 makes it so that during the PRIMARY ELECTION ONLY, voters would select a gubernatorial candidate of their party and a Lieutenant Governor candidate of their party, and then for the General Election, would cast a vote for only the Governor, with that vote counting for both the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of the same party. It takes away a voter's right to elect officers of different parties. Imagine if Jan Brewer were leading polls for Governor, but a Democrat were leading for Secretary of State. If Brewer were to win Governor, that Democratic SoS candidate would automatically lose because of this new system. This is a very badly conceived law, and ultimately takes away some of the rights of the voter to have elected officers of differing parties. I STRONGLY urge a NO vote on Prop. 111.

Prop. 112: Filing Deadlines for Initiative Petitions
Recommendation: VOTE YES
This proposed amendment simply moves up the filing deadline for initiative petitions to six months prior to the date of the election from four months prior. It gives the Secretary of State's offices additional time to properly verify signatures on those petitions. As someone who used to collect candidate signatures, and who understands how this would benefit both the SoS's office and the voters, I recommend a yes vote on 112.

Prop. 113: Secret Ballots
Recomendation: VOTE YES
Prop. 113 would guarantee the right to vote a secret ballot in any any all elections or referendums for employee representation. Some union representatives wish to take away this right in order to know which employees are voting against union-approved candidates. Since the right to a secret ballot is a fundamental part of the American political process, enumerating this in the Arizona constitution is just a smart thing to do to ensure that right is never denied to anyone.

Prop. 203: Medical Marijuana
Recommendation: VOTE NO
Prop. 203 creates a whole new Arizona bureaucracy to deal with the dispensation, cultivation, and registration of allowing a currently illegal narcotic to assist patients with certain types of illnesses and to manage pain. In reading the text of this proposed new law, which takes up 10 pages of the Arizona Ballot Proposition Guide, I find that it is so wide-reaching that parts of it could be interpreted to allow the smoking of marijuana any time, any place. Considering that in many places around the country, marijuana is still illegal (including Arizona), and that the medical benefits of the drug have never been fully tested or evaluated by an independent regulatory agency, and that the psychological effects of the drug are debilitating in the short term to any user, this proposition is a complete waste of Arizona money and time. There's a reason it's illegal, people! Vote NO!

Prop. 301: Reverting Land Conservation Fund Money to the Arizona General Fund
Recommendation: VOTE NO
Prop. 301 would revert the balance of money in the Arizona Land Conservation Fund to the Arizona general fund in order to award grants for start trust land projects or conservation management projects. The problem is, the Land Conservation Fund does a great job in keeping Arizona's many, many natural wonders open to the public, secure, and beautiful. Considering how easy it is accounting-wise for the Legislature to reappropriate any money in the General Fund for other purposes (like getting us out of recession), and how much tourism in our natural features is important to the state, it only makes sense to keep the LCF intact.

Prop. 302: Reverting Early Childhood Education Money to the Arizona General Fund
Recommendation: VOTE YES
This final statewide ballot proposition would terminate the Arizona Early Childhood Development and Health Board and revert the balance of funds in the ECDH fund to the Arizona General Fund. It would also revert the tax revenue from the $0.80/pack tobacco tax into the general fund. As I see it, the ECDH fund really hasn't helped fulfil its mission of improving childhood education, school testing scores, or children's health standards. It has been a failed program, and while it was good to attempt it, the time has come for the State of Arizona to get rid of it and try something new. Vote YES on this proposition.

City of Mesa Prop. 420: Keeping the Cubs
Recommendation: VOTE YES!!!!!
The City of Mesa also has one proposition that is very important to me this year. Prop. 420 authorizes the expenditure by the City of Mesa for at least $84 million to purchase land and build a new baseball stadium and surrounding city-controlled developments for the Chicago Cubs franchise. It might seem a little odd, considering considering the Diamondbacks are our team, but for Spring Training, the Cubs have been Arizona's, not to mention Mesa's, top dogs for decades. According to some stats I've read, the Cubs can generate upwards of $100 million in a single Spring Training season for the city, and tourism typically skyrockets around here (meaning revenue to hotels, restaurants, ticket sales, etc) during March and April. I have met people that fly out for two weeks at a time from Chicago, Seattle, San Diego, Texas, or elsewhere just for the Arizona Cactus League events. Top that off with the Cubs agreeing to help find a team to replace them in Hohokam Park (the currently largest Spring Training stadium in Arizona), and this is a no-brainer. The Cubs are part of Arizona's traditions, a huge revenue spike in the spring, and a tourism attraction. Voting no would be irresponsible and ignorant of all the Cubs generate for our city! VOTE YES ON 420!!!!!

I am happy to field questions about these propositions, and my candidate voting recommendations will be forthcoming this week. Feel free to leave comments or to contact me!

2010 Postseason Update 2

2010-10-12T12:52:00.000-07:00

Well, with one final game tonight left to decide the remaining NLDS Champion, I thought I'd go ahead and recap the Division Series games now and compare my predictions. On October 1st, with a couple days remaining in the regular season, I predicted the Phillies over the Reds, Giants over the Braves, Yankees over their rivals (in this case, the Twins), and the Rays over their rivals (the Rangers).

How'd I do so far?

The Philadelphia Phillies won their series over the Reds three games to none, 4-0, 7-4, and 2-0, with the 4-0 game being Roy Halladay's second no-hitter of the 2010 season, and just the second ever no-hitter in the postseason! Congrats, Doc!

The San Francisco Giants won their series in four games over the Braves, winning games 1, 3, and 4. The finals scores of each game were SF 1-ATL 0, SF 4-ATL 5, SF 3-ATL 2, and SF 3-ATL 2. But the most interesting factoid of the series is the record-setting number of errors by Brooks Conrad (ATL), who committed three errors in game 3 of the series to lose it for the Braves, and four overall. The Braves made 7 total errors in what is now retiring Manager Bobby Cox's last series in baseball.

The New York Yankees won their series over the Twins three games to none, 6-4, 5-2, and 6-1. Considering the Twins came into the series having won one postseason game against the Yankees in 10 years, it wasn't a far stretch to think who would win. The Yankees have now won nine consecutive games in the postseason versus the Twins, and have swept them in the ALDS three times in a row.

The Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers are currently tied at two games apiece as of this writing, with Game 5 tonight at 8pm EST for all the marbles. Texas won both the first two games at Tropicana Field, 5-1 and 6-0, but lost both games at their home Ballpark at Arlington 6-3 and 5-2. Tonight's game is not only win-or-go-home for one team, it's going to be interesting to see which team steps up their game. The Rangers have to be favored considering they already beat the Rays at home twice in this series. They seem comfortable playing there. Yet the Rays just beat the Rangers twice in Texas, which has to be both a blow to the Rangers and a momentum swing for the Rays. Either way, it's Cliff Lee (never lost a playoff game) versus Cy Young candidate David Price tonight!

If the Rays win tonight, I'm 4-for-4 in playoff predictions this year! I've already predicted the Yankees over the Rays/Rangers and the Phillies over the Giants in the ALCS/NLCS matchups. But note that the Yankees don't have home-field advantage against either the Rays or Rangers, so you still never know what could happen! Watch for another update as the 2010 MLB Postseason continues!

Softball Games 7/8

2010-10-10T09:36:00.000-07:00

Because of a gigantic wall of dust rolling across the valley last weekend, our softball team got a week off when the games were called due to visibility issues and lightning/rain. We'll be making them up later on in the season. Yesterday's games were in pretty much perfect weather, and we were matched up very nicely with a pair of teams. Both games were quite close, and we ended up winning the first game and losing the second game.

The first game we started off ahead and never lost the lead, but our opponents were within a couple runs of us the whole time. Thanks to some timely defence from our outfield (including two running backhanded catches on "Texas League" fly balls) and solid infield play, we won the game. I made two catches on pop flies at the plate, which really are not that easy to do. You have to look up while running (not hit the umpire, runner, or bats), track the ball, not run into the fences, and then actually catch and hold the ball (which nearly always involves a basket catch - not a very stable situation). I did it three times - twice for outs and once as a foul ball hit the fence and bounced back at me. Woot. I also went two-for-four on two singles and scored one run for our team. My other two at-bats were both lineouts to the shortstop, which I was all right with because I at least squared up the ball both times. I just had the unfortunate luck to hit it right at someone.

Game two opened against another solid team, but this one was a back-and-forth kind of contest. We were first down 3-0, then up 5-3, then down 10-5, then up 11-10, then tied at 11, then finally ended up losing it in the last inning by 4 runs 15-11. We made a couple miscues, though nothing really major, and had some good defensive moments and some bad defensive moments. One play in particular that keeps running through my mind is my only play at the plate that game. With runners on first and second, the batter hit a long fly ball to right field, which went over the head of our fielder. Both runners scored, and by the time the ball got back to me, the batter-runner was barrelling in from third. He slid, and I tagged him (very hard... sorry!) on the head. He was called safe. It was a really close play, and for my life I cannot feel that the umpire was wrong... I think he was safe on the play. Darn it. Anyway, I did again go two-for-four with two singles, a flyout to left field, and another lineout to third.

Thus, my "stats" so far: I have actively made or assisted five outs at home plate (two tags, two popouts, and one assisted tag play), without - in my humble opinion - making an error yet. I was 4-for-8 this weekend, and that should bring me to 15-for-28 on the season, a .536 batting average. Yay! Over .500!

2010 MLB Playoff Update

2010-10-03T16:14:00.000-07:00

The season is finally over, and the last teams standing are celebrating with champagne. Here's the final victory list:

American League:
East: Tampa Bay Rays (96-66)
Central: Minnesota Twins (94-68)
West: Texas Rangers (90-72)
Wild Card: New York Yankees (95-67)

National League:
East: Philadelphia Phillies (97-65)
Central: Cincinnati Reds (91-71)
West: San Francisco Giants (92-70)
Wild Card: Atlanta Braves (91-71)

This means the playoffs will differ slightly from what I said in my last post.
ALDS 1: Texas Rangers vs. Tampa Bay Rays
ALDS 2: New York Yankees vs. Minnesota Twins
NLDS 1: Cincinnati Reds vs. Philadelphia Phillies
NLDS 2: Atlanta Braves vs. San Francisco Giants

Watch for more updates!

2010 MLB Postseason

2010-10-01T19:40:00.000-07:00

The regular season might just be decided by the end of this night, as only two playoff-bound teams are left to be chosen and only two pennants awarded. As I predicted on September 14, the following races have been won:

AL West: Texas Rangers
AL Central: Minnesota Twins

NL Central: Cincinnati Reds
NL East: Philadelphia Phillies

The American League also features both the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees making the cut, but only one of them will win the AL East division; the other will be the AL Wild Card winner.

The NL West comes down to tonight's game between the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants. The Padres must sweep all three games in this final series to force a one-game playoff for the victory. If the Giants can win any of the next three games (four if a tie is forced), they move on. Also, if the Padres happen to lose two games out of the final three, or if the Atlanta Braves win two, the Braves will become the NL Wild Card winners. Currently, the Braves are losing, so if the Padres can win one tonight, they'll still have a shot at the Wild Card. If the Padres win two and lose one, and the Braves win one and lose two, they will end up in a tie and force a playoff for the Wild Card. Confused yet? Basically all you need to know is that if the Padres have a snowball's chance in the the underworld of making the playoffs, they need to win the series against the Giants. Otherwise, kiss it goodbye 'til next year.

So, what does this mean for the playoff structure? Here's how the postseason will shake out:

ALDS 1: Texas Rangers vs. New York Yankees
ALDS 2: Tampa Bay Rays vs. Minnesota Twins
NLDS 1: Cincinnati Reds vs. Philadelphia Phillies
NLDS 2: Atlanta Braves vs. San Francisco Giants

Assuming this is how it all shakes out and nothing wild or crazy happens with the Padres or the final standings, I therefore predict the Yankees will beat the Rangers, Twins will beat the Rays, Phillies over Reds, and the Giants over the Braves.

ALCS: Tampa Bay Rays vs. New York Yankees
NLCS: San Francisco Giants vs. Philadelphia Phillies

If this is truly the case, the Yankees will trounce the Rays in four games, and the Phillies will again beat the Giants in 6 games.

World Series: New York Yankees vs. Philadelphia Phillies

The Yankees will win their 28th World Championship. Yeah, I know... I don't like it either. That's just what will happen.

ACCEPTED!

2010-09-30T11:55:00.000-07:00

Last night via email I found out that I have been accepted to the School of Information Resources and Library Science (SIRLS) at the University of Arizona in Tucson. As I wrote in my post, "Directions Pt. 2" on August 30, I intend to pursue my MA in IRLS beginning this December 20.

Because I've been fielding congratulatory emails and texts wondering when I'm moving to Tucson, I wish to clear up a couple things. First, thank you to everyone who has been supportive of my decision to go back to school - many of my friends and my family members were instrumental in my making the choice to continue my education, and without people like my folks and my close friends, I might not have done so alone.

I will not be moving to Tucson for this degree. I mean, I could, but I'm not. The degree is offered completely online, save for a 7-day face-to-face introductory course at the Tucson campus. I will for the foreseeable future be working from my home in the Phoenix area in order to save a little money on housing and such until I can get on my feet financially. That said, I do intend to start seriously job hunting in the Tucson area in case something pops up that would be beneficial to me.

Technically, I am still waiting right now to hear from the Graduate College whether I am formally accepted to the University of Arizona, but I expect that will not be a problem since I have now been admitted to the SIRLS program. After that, registration for classes takes place in November, followed by my SIRLS 504 Intro class December 20-January 11, 2011. The 7-day Tucson portion of that class is scheduled for January 2-8. After completion of that course, I start a 12 credit hour regimen of classes in information technologies, librarianship, resource management, etc for the next two to three years, again, all in online classes unless I choose to move to Tucson. Practically, for me this likely means two courses per semester for six academic semesters.

The "sub"-program I am going to be working on is the "Information Professional" program, which will prepare me for research, database management, and information management. It involves four "core" classes: the program intro in Tucson, Research Methods, Organization of Information, and Ethics, and then 8 more classes with titles such as Government Information, User Interface and Website Design, Database Development and Management, Digital Libraries, Business Information Resources, Information Seeking Behaviors, and Online Searching. I also have options to complete an internship for credits and to write a thesis for credits.

On a much more serious note, though, I've been trying to figure out how to support both Northern Arizona University (the Lumberjacks) and the University of Arizona (the Wildcats) at the same time.... I think I'm going to have to go with "LumberCat" because "WildJacks" just sounds silly...!

Softball Games 5/6

2010-09-26T17:17:00.000-07:00

Our lean, mean Green Machine team won both of our games this Saturday, edging out our opponents in close contests. Our first game was a two-run victory for us in which I went 2-for-3 with two singles and managed one play at the plate out of three or so chances. Our opponents matched up well with us, and it made for an exciting game - we were ahead, then behind, then ahead, then behind, and finally pulled ahead and closed out the game soundly for the W.

In game two, I played against a real major leaguer. No, seriously! Apparently Russ Ortiz, the former pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks (2005-2006) was playing shortstop for the other team. I didn't recognize him during the game, but afterwards was told that's who we were playing against. Ortiz was in the Major Leagues from 1998 until early this year, battling injuries since his time with the Diamondbacks and bounced around between a few clubs before deciding to finally retire from the Dodgers organization this year. How very cool to be able to say I played against a former MLB player! (And even cooler that our team won in a great game!)

Game two was all about our offense. I was able to go 3-for-4 with two singles and a triple (helped by a throwing error and a fielder's choice play at home) My other at bat was a strikeout via foul balls (in softball you get two strikes, and if you foul out on the third strike it counts as a strikeout). But I made good solid contact on my other hits and even laced one single nicely into left field over Ortiz's head. I didn't have a lot of work at the plate - no real plays to speak of, but I did hold a couple runners on third well enough that they didn't score. Going into the final frame, our team was up 17 to 5, with the other team needing 12 runs to tie. They ended up getting 6 runs in the bottom of that inning, but a nice pop fly to third base ended the game with our victory! Caleb, our left fielder, had everyone buzzing with his speed and defense out there, and our pair of first basemen made some excellent digs on solid throws from 2nd and shortstop.

Oh, and we all now also have nicknames from the movie "Top Gun." Maverick, Slider, Cougar, Ghost Rider, and the like. I'm Merlin.

Winter Softball 2010

2010-09-20T13:02:00.000-07:00

As some of you might know, I signed up to play softball this year for the winter league with my church group. I got the chance to play in a couple of games as a fill-in for missing players last year, and decided to sign up to play the whole season this time around. Because this is my blog and I like writing about it, I'll be posting weekly updates on our league and my personal stats in the hopes that I can build on them as the season progresses.

So far, we've played four games - two last weekend and two this past Saturday night. Frankly, the first two games we played we were really not very good. And by that I mean bad, and in part it was my fault. Sadly, to get a copy of the 2010 American Softball Association rules, by which our league plays, you have to be a dues-paying ASA member, so I'm not as read-up on all the rules as I should be. Those first two games, I did get three hits (two singles and a single/error that left me on second base). However, I didn't know that if I wasn't touching the base when the ball is pitched, I could be called out... so yeah, I kind of killed a rally there. Not a mistake I'll make again, though, that's for sure. In the second game that night, I was the third base coach with two on, no one out when our batter lined to second base (though I still believe that ball hit the ground) and both runners were doubled off their bases for a triple play... not easy to do in softball. Needless to say, we lost both games.

This past Saturday, our first game was a close contest for the first five innings, but we made a ton of late errors (mostly throwing errors when people tried turning double plays) and ended up losing by a much less close score than we should have. I had one opportunity to make a play at the plate when our shortstop threw the ball into me and I tagged the runner out by about a half-a-step, but the force of him running into my arm jarred the ball loose from my glove, and when I fell backwards, it popped out of my glove. (I tweaked my shoulder nicely on that one too!) Not really any blame to assign there other than I need to try my best to keep two hands on the ball. It was a hard play. I did go 1-for-3 that game with a single that turned into a double play with the next batter. In the other two at-bats I lined out to shortstop and grounded out in that direction.

The second game we played we won 17-3, and I went 2-for-4 with two singles and a run scored, grounding out in my other two plate appearances. We broke it open early with 7 runs scored in the first frame, and thanks to some good pitching and a lot of pop flies, we held the opponents to just one run over 4 innings. I made two plays in this game. The first was on a slow roller down the first base line which I quickly ran over and grabbed and threw to first. Thankfully, the runner slowed and never actually touched the first base bag, otherwise he was definitely safe. I think he assumed he was out. I'm not complaining. The second play was a relay from center field to shortstop to home plate in which the throw beat the runner home by three steps and I caught it cleanly. The runner stopped running and clearly thought about trying to get back to third, but he tried to dance around me instead when I ran up to tag him, and I got him cleanly in between third base and home. Our team's "fans" cheered when I nabbed him (which was really quite a nice feeling!) and I made sure to give the love back to our shortstop Caleb for the perfect relay throw!

I'm still a bit sore from the games, especially my shoulder from the collision at the plate and my back from being a tall overweight person, but it was definitely fun to win a game, so I'll live with it. We are now 1-3 on the season, and I'm 6-for-13 in hitting (a .462 average). If I were an objective scorekeeper I'd say I've made no errors yet. Still waiting on my first home run (ha ha)!

Cubs' Colvin Impaled by Broken Bat

2010-09-19T16:27:00.000-07:00

During the second inning of today's Cubs-Marlins game, the Chicago Cubs' Tyler Colvin - a very promising rookie outfielder - was impaled in the upper torso by a broken bat while he was running home from third base. I suppose "impaled" is a little melodramatic, but Colvin was struck in the chest just below his left collarbone, puncturing his skin and taking him out of the game to go to the hospital. There, doctors performed a "pneumothorax" procedure (a procedure to prevent air that has entered the chest wall from causing damage to the lungs and prevent a collapsed lung from occurring), and the Cubs have said that Colvin is done for the remainder of the season.

For video, check out this link to MLB.com: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100919&content_id=14847072&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb

NOTE: There's no blood or anything, but this is still not a video for the squeamish... it looks like it hurt.

Obviously, baseball cannot completely prevent injuries from occurring to fans, players, umpires, or other people entirely - it comes with the territory of the game - but it does raise the debate over maple versus ash bats again in the sport. For the last few years, it has been conclusively shown that maple bats, when they break, tend to shatter and send pieces flying all over the field or into/near fan seating areas. Ash bats, on the other hand, being made of a softer wood, tend to crack, but not shatter. That said, many players prefer maple bats because the denser, harder wood has less "give" on the baseball when it is hit, and can produce more power and a farther hit ball.

Cubs catcher Wellington Castillo was using a maple bat to hit when it cracked at the handle and sent the javelin top half into Tyler Colvin, who didn't see it coming as he was watching the ball dump into left field. Over the last few years, the debate has raged about whether or not Major League Baseball and Commissioner Bud Selig should ban maple bats from being used to play, a campaign that Diamondbacks fans like me hear often whenever a maple bat shatters and sends shards onto the field from announcer Mark Grace. Opponents of such a ban can use stats to make a point, though: of the thousands and thousands of at-bats in which maple bats have been used, few have resulted in the type of explosion of wood that would cause injury, and far, far fewer have actually caused injury. Colvin's accident was just that: a freak accident. There's not really any need to overreact and start banning things because of one incident.

Frankly, with all the technology out there, I have heard of a company that was testing a material like a thin film (I guess somewhat akin to safety glass film for windows) that would wrap around the barrel of the bat down to the knob and help prevent a bat break which could result in splintering. MLB at one point was checking its effectiveness and testing to see if it would have an adverse effect on the game or the ball. If it works, that sounds like an effective compromise to me. Because while I agree that maple bats may indeed pose a risk that is unnecessary and detrimental to the game, we as fans - and those who make the decisions on this stuff - should also remember that this really was a freak accident and not go ballistic.

I'd love to hear from my readers on this: what do you think? Ban maple bats or let the game continue as is or something else?

Jeter, Cheater, Pumpkin Eater?

2010-09-16T21:35:00.000-07:00

Watch the following video of Derek Jeter selling a hit-by-pitch to the home plate umpire, even though the ball clearly hits his bat -not his elbow - in the replays:

A little extra hay against the New York Yankees shortstop is being made right now with this video about whether or not the shortstop cheated. Here's the situation: top of the 7th, no one on and one out. The first pitch by (former Arizona Diamondbacks closer) the Tampa Bay Rays' Chad Qualls comes in tight to Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter who (rightly) spins out away from the ball. The ball, according to replays, actually hit the know of the bat, square on the end, and as it connects, Jeter grabs at his elbow, drops his bat, and grimaces in mock pain. The umpire, convinced by this rather impressive acting, announces a hit by pitch and awards Jeter first base. The Yankees' trainers come out to check on Jeter (who sells it all the way to first) and Rays manager Maddon comes out to argue. To their credit, the umpires did huddle up at second base to confer on the call, but no one saw it as anything other than a hit batter.

Now, don't get me wrong: I dislike the Yankees just as much as the next true American patriot (sorry, Yankees fans!), but Jeter really didn't do anything wrong. Selling the hit-by-pitch is just as much a part of baseball as anything else. Seriously, what did you want the guy to do? Tell the umpire that the ball DIDN'T hit the bat and that he wanted another chance to strike out? When you look at the video in real time, it happens so fast that it's impossible to tell whether the ball strikes his bat or his arm - I can't blame the umps for missing it.

But all you fans out there who decry this as cheating... it's not. And it really wouldn't be such a big deal if Jeter's HBP didn't end up resulting in a 2-run homer that inning by a later batter. But considering the Rays won the game, it makes little difference now. Also, after the game, Jeter admitted that the ball didn't actually hit him - adding more fuel to the "he cheated!" speculators. I dunno about all of you, but I find it really hard to criticize a guy for doing what I would expact any member of my team to do in the same situation.

Good acting, Derek.... just don't do it against my Diamondbacks next time we meet!

Races Heating Up

2010-09-14T10:15:00.000-07:00

I love this time of the year when I get to talk about two types of interesting races, political and baseball, in competing posts! This post is about the baseball races, which looked pretty solid all of a couple weeks ago, but have started to really become tense for a few teams who stand on the cusp of making the playoffs.

Back on August 11th, I posted some analyses about the various NL and AL races. Here's an update:

1. The Texas Rangers will win the AL West. Big surprise. They were 8 games up on the Angels three weeks ago, and they're still 8 games up on Oakland at this point.

2. The Minnesota Twins lead the Chicago White Sox by 6.0 games, but they play each other in a three-game set kicking off today before finishing the season against other teams. It's a long shot that the White Sox could come back from this deficit, but still possible if the Twins choke down the stretch. That said, the Twins get to play Oakland, Detroit, Cleveland, Kansas City, Boston, and Toronto to round out the year, so I'm betting they don't lose a lot of games from here on out.

3. The New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays will each make the playoffs. All that's left to decide in the AL East races is who wins the division and who gets the Wild Card berth. Both teams are up on the 2nd place Boston Red Sox in both categories by 7.0-7.5 games, and they're not going to give up that lead. Currently as of this writing, Tampa Bay leads New York by 1/2 a game, but the pair get to play each other 6 more times before the season's end, so either one could win the division at this point. (Here's hoping it's the Rays!)

4. The Cincinnati Reds will win the NL Central with a 7.0 game lead over their heated rivals the St. Louis Cardinals. Earlier in the season (okay, just a couple/three weeks back) the two teams literally beat one another up over this race, and obviously the Reds whooped up on the Cards since.

5. Either the Atlanta Braves or the Philadelphia Phillies will win the NL East. The pair are separated by just a game with about 18 left to play. Considering they play six more games against one another before the end of the year, with the final three games in October being a showdown, this race is currently "too close to call." I can say that aside from one another, the Braves and the Phillies both play their division rival Mets, Nationals, and Marlins in every remaining game, so if ever there was a race built for a spoiler alert, this would be it.

6. In the yet-again-too-close-to-call NL West, the San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, and Colorado Rockies all have a shot at making the playoffs. The first-place Padres and third-place Rockies are separated in the standings by a mere 2.5 games. This up from a 2.5-game lead by San Diego over San Fran and a 7.0-game lead by San Diego over Colorado three weeks ago. In that time frame, the Padres had a losing streak of ten straight games while the Rockies had a 10-game winning streak. The Giants, likewise, have held in a steady second place. It's a three way tossup right now, but the red-hot Rockies have to be considered a major threat to win it all even from third place with yet another steamrolling September run at the pennant.

So here's how it should look for the playoffs, keeping in mind that the team with the best record plays the Wild Card team, unless that team is from the same division. Then the 2nd place team plays the third place team or Wild Card team. These are just potential matchups based on my assumption that not a lot will change between now and October 4th.

NL Division Series:
Padres/Giants/Rockies (3rd place) vs. Phillies/Braves (1st place)
Braves/Phillies (Wild Card) vs. Reds (2nd place)

AL Division Series:
Rangers (3rd place) vs. Rays/Yankees (1st place)
Rays/Yankees (Wild Card) vs. Twins (2nd place)

2010 Midterm Update

2010-09-10T20:59:00.000-07:00

All throughout today, I've been having fun reading polling data in some of the Arizona races for the 2010 midterms in November. It's starting to get really interesting in a few different races, and I thought I'd share a few viewpoints with my loyal readers.

First, nationally speaking, if the election were to be held today, most of the spreads I've seen have the Senate split 49-49 with 2 too close to determine, and have the House split 218-217 in favor of the Democrats. This represents a major shift in public perception of politics and of Congress (and, further, of the President) over just the last two years. Consider for a moment that in 2006 the Democrats took overwhelming control of the House and Senate, and in 2008 completed the trifecta by winning the White House. In fact, the Democratic Party had a 59-40-1 supermajority (with the one Independent caucusing with the Democrats) in the Senate just two years back. Now, projections indicate that they will lose at least 8 seats. In the House, the Democratic Party currently holds a 255-178 advantage with 2 vacancies, but Republicans are being projected to gain around 35 seats this year to even the score.

Why the shift? I believe it is a combination of the anti-incumbency movement sweeping the nation combined with a distaste for the recent policies pushed forth by the Democratic Congress. A failing economy combined with a massive, flawed stimulus has left a very bitter taste in the mouths of the Independents who voted anti-Republican in 2006 and who got swept up in Obamania in '08.

For me, it's very evident in Arizona, where four of the top contested races in the country are going on right now: Arizona's 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 8th congressional districts.

CD-01 pits first-term Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick against challenger Dr. Paul Gosar, a northern Arizona dentist and Arizona Dental Association leader in governmental affairs. The most recent poll done for this race was completed back on August 29, 11 days ago, and shows Gosar leading Kirkpatrick 47% to 41%, despite 54% of respondents saying that they had never heard of Gosar. Considering all the attention that the Kirkpatrick campaign gave to Rusty Bowers in the primary election even though Bowers wasn't likely to win the nomination, Gosar stands a decent chance to unseat Kirkpatrick this cycle.

CD-03 is closely watched this election because it's the seat being vacated this year by Republican John Shadegg. Even though I haven't read any polls on the matchup of Republican Ben Quayle, son of former VP Dan Quayle, versus Democrat John Hulburd, most places expect the seat to remain solidly in the GOP column after November 2nd.

CD-05 intrigues me most of all the Arizona races right now because David Schweikert (R) is currently polling ahead of Harry Mitchell (D) 50-44% according to an American Action Forum/Ayers poll I found on http://www.realclearpolitics.com/. The 400-likely-voter sample of people in the Tempe, Scottsdale, and Fountain Hills areas seems to indicate both that the economy/unemployment/jobs is far and away the #1 issue in the district (as opposed to 7% answering illegal immigration and healthcare) and that voters in CD-5 distrust Mitchell to be able to lead in fixing that problem. Indeed Mitchell's favorable/unfavorable rating is 42%/46% - within the margin of error by 0.9% but also not exactly good for him.

CD-08 also lists good numbers for the Republican candidate Jesse Kelly over incumbent Gabrielle Giffords - a deadlock 46-46%. As in CD-5, voters listed the economy as their #1 issue and have unfavorable opinions of Giffords and her politics.

There is a good possibility that the GOP could gain all four of these seats back (okay, in the case of CD-3 it'd be a hold) during this election cycle and return the state to a 6 Republican, 2 Democrat red state again (currently we sit as a 3 Republican, 5 Democrat blue/purple state since 2006). A lot of that probably has to do with the popular SB1070 immigration law, which many Republican candidates this year have been very quick to support and defend against the Obama administration lawsuits and Democratic "boycotts" which have been threatening the Arizona economy. Combine the bad economy with the stupid lawsuit from Obama and a multi-billion-dollar "stimulus" package that hasn't done much of anything yet, and it's not hard to see why anyone would vote in favor of the Democratic status quo this year.

The other interesting polling data I saw today was on the Arizona gubernatorial race - Brewer vs. Goddard - in which Brewer leads Goddard by 60% to 38%, up from 57-38 two weeks ago, and which has continued rising since the last poll showing Goddard ahead was conducted back in early May, 2010. Again, this one is no surprise: it's all because Brewer is riding the SB1070 wave, and even despite her, shall we say, pitiable debate performance against the current Attorney General she's projected to cruise to victory in the next 8 weeks.

"Directions" Pt. 2

2010-08-30T12:27:00.000-07:00

Way back in the olden days, and I'm talking 2004 here, I graduated high school and was chosen to give one of three student speeches at commencement. No, I wasn't valedictorian or salutatorian; my speech was just a class representative student speech. I had to interview for it, give it in front of a panel of teachers and the principal, and make revisions before mine was chosen out of a pool of applicant candidates.

That year, I was the "vice-president" to my good friend Scott of the "Skyline High School Literary Arts Club," and we produced a student literary magazine filled with short stories, art, poetry, and such. I wrote a poem and the magazine's foreward, a piece I entitled "Directions." My speech was modeled directly after that foreward:

Life is like a cyclone - ideas, concepts, trials (and errors), and a whole lot of luck - thrown into a swirling vortex of people and places that are ever-changing. At times, it seems as though I get so turned around by the winds of change and the sands of time that I don't realize what direction I am traveling afterwards.

Ah, directions. Mind you, all of them are grand - North, South, East, and West; even combinations of the four. However, the best sort of places to go are those without names. Directions that are based on a value system of decisions that allow you to choose the sidewalk you get to walk on. Our teachers, our parents, our friends, and our other, higher powers all help to place us on the right path, keep us from hitting the cars should we fall off the curb, and keep our moral compasses handy....

For the class of 2004, many of us will be moving in vastly different directions - from college to the armed services to stright into the workforce. For virtually all of us, our parents will be gone, our friends spread North, South, East, and West, and our teachers (who knew us all by name) will be a lonely summer's time back in the opposite direction.

This... is dedicated to all those who have helped to guide us through more than seventeen years, twelve grades, heartbreaks, arguments, good times and bad, our strays from the moral path of life, and our towering achievements.

Today, I am take pride in a new direction I have chosen to pursue for my life. I sent off my application to graduate school at the University of Arizona's School of Information Resources and Library Science, where I intend (upon my admission) to pursue my Master's degree as an Information Professional for eventual work as a research analyst.

Lately I realized that my "moral compass" was spinning without finding true North, due to my lack of success in job-hunting, my guilt for being a burden to my parents, and my other indiscretions. I re-read this foreward and speech and realized I had been traveling in the wrong direction for my life. I was afraid of racking up more debt by going back to school, even though I knew I needed to in order to obtain my goals.

Thus, about a month ago I made a decision that I am not only excited about, but proud of, and I began to put together my grad school application: transcripts, financial aid documents, resume, residency forms, immunization records, letters of recommendation from my NAU RHD when I was an RA and from my teacher colleague at one of the schools I sub for, and most importantly my statement of introduction. (And I would be a huge jerk if I didn't mention that Scott, Ryan, and my parents helped me proof it and improve it immensely!)

That package of documents - the sum total of my life's work to this point - got sent off this morning and should make it to U of A by tomorrow noon (thanks to Express Mail!) just under the application deadline!

Two quotes I like on directions:

What comes first, the compass or the clock? Before one can truly manage time (the clock), it is important to know where you are going, what your priorities and goals are, in which direction you are headed (the compass). Where you are headed is more important than how fast you are going. Rather than always focusing on what's urgent, learn to focus on what is really important. - Anonymous

May we be fearless... from friends and enemies...from known and unknown ... from night and day...May all the directions be our allies. - Atharva Veda

Poll Working

2010-08-26T22:21:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in my last post that I had been a poll worker for the election on Tuesday, and I gave a short summary of how that went. So for this post, I thought I'd explore the topic a bit more in-depth.

The tale begins over two months ago.... I signed up online at the elections poll worker signup website to work at the polls. My information was to be forwarded to recruiters who would call people in each precinct to find enough workers. Well, I waited.... And I waited.... And I continued to wait until I got bored with waiting. I re-entered my information on the website, called the Maricopa County Recorder's Office and spoke with someone there, and finally got fed up with not being given the courtesy of a phone call. So I wrote Secretary of State Ken Bennett an email, which I am sure someone on his staff read. It went much like this: "Dear Mr. Secretary: My name is Andrew M. and I have helped out on your campaigns in the past and met you a few times at various events. I doubt you remember me. I am looking to become a poll worker for this primary election and have as-yet not been called by any of these recruiters for the positions. Can your office please forward my information to whomever needs it to get this process rolling?"

And the next day, I got an email and a phone call from recruiters. Ta-da!

Anyway, I was asked in my little phone interview to be a Judge for my precinct up in Mesa. That basically entails doing whatever is asked of me by the Inspector - the leader of operations for the precinct. I readily agreed, and signed up for a two-hour training session at the local library the next week. That training focused on learning the equipment, getting a very general overview of the various forms and operations associated with the polls, and getting a lecture on being nondiscriminatory toward "persons with disabilities."

Last Tuesday, I got a call from my Inspector letting me know about the Monday evening set-up meeting the day before the primary. We needed to meet at 5:00pm at the polling location and get everything ready to go for the election. That included setting up the machines, charging backup batteries, posting information notices, and putting together the voting booth stands. Nothing major, and it took about one hour. I met my co-workers for the first time there: all older women and all extremely nice. Our Inspector was Ruby, a first-time poll worker like me, and we worked together to get everything on her sheet done (Inspectors have many more tasks than the others). The other three women - Bev, Deborah, and Barbara - were all either Judges or Clerks. We also shared the location with the precinct next to ours, so the six people working there were also setting up their identical equipment at the same time we were.

The next morning, I woke up at 4:50am, jumped in the shower for a few minutes, got dressed, packed my lunch, and was out the door by 5:20am. It took me all of 3 minutes to get the the Baptist Church where our precinct polling place was located. I arrived before anyone else, and a couple minutes before Tony, the gentleman from the other precinct who had the keys to the doors. Our immediate task, as everyone else showed up by 5:30am, was to put out the signs directing people to the polls, put up the remaining outside flyers, set up the 75-foot electioneering limit, and turn everything on. It took a half hour, and at exactly 6:00am sharp, I got to yell out the door "Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye! The polls are now open!"

Let me paint a picture real quick. The church annex where we were was a thirty by thirty-foot square, with the altar area encompassing one-fourth of the room divided from the rest of the room by partitions. The result was an L-shaped expanse of empty floor. Coming through the doors, you were immediately faced by those partitions, to the left, down that part of the "L" was our precinct's equipment, and down the right side was the other precinct. Lining the partitions and the end walls of the L were plastic and metal voting booths with white "privacy screens" around them made of PVC plastic. Each screen had a "voting instructions" paper taped to it showing the voters how to mark their ballots. Down each side of the L, each precinct got three wooden folding tables which we set up to have three separate functions: the first was for checking in and showing IDs and signing the poll registers; the second held all the different ballots (REP, DEM, LBT, GRN, Nonpartisan - each in two variations depending whether you were in the City of Mesa or on county land); and the third was for provisional ballots and disabled voter sign-ins. Next to the far tables, the disabled voter touchscreen voting machine was set up. It's a big blue box set atop four aluminum legs with a big LCD screen raised to the vertical position surrounded by a black privacy screen. Attached to the screen is a big printer which records the voter's choices. Next to that, the Insight machine was set up. This is a big blue tub topped by an electronic scanner whch scans each ballot as it is cast and records each vote. The front of the scanner has an electric readout which shows how many ballots have been cast. The remainder of the room was empty space.

Throughout the day, there are basically four jobs for the pollworkers to focus on. First, two people check IDs, find the voters in the poll register, and have them sign in. A third person hands the voter their ballot and explains what to do with it. A fourth person stands at the Insight machine and hands the voter an "I Voted Today" sticker as they cast their ballot (the most important part!). The Inspector directs traffic for the most part, and the final person mans the "Provisional Ballot" table. Provisional ballots are used when a voter is not in the register but is registered in the precinct with proper ID, if the voter fails to bring proper ID to the polls, or needs a regular ballot if they did not fill out their early ballot. I ended up doing a little of each job, though I focused on the provisional table and manning the Insight (we were short one person, so I did both). I liked the provisional table mostly because it is all about problem solving. Can't find your precinct? Go to the provisional table! Didn't bring the right IDs? Talk to the provisional table guy! Got an early ballot but forgot to mail it? Come see me! Basically, anyone who wasn't on the register and ready to go got to come see me so I could figure out what was up with them. It was fun and challenging.

So anyway, at 6am the polls opened to much fanfare and a huge line of people... just kidding. The people who did come trickled in very slowly all day. There were 30-40 minute periods of utterly no one and groups of two or three at a time occasionally. We were open from 6am to 7pm, and our precinct recorded 79 votes and 10 provisional ballots. I did get several people who came to the provisional table who were in the wrong place, so I got to figure out where to send them. Maybe another 30 people. We also had about 100 or so people come in and drop off early ballots in their signed, sealed original envelopes. The other precinct with us recorded 110 votes, a few early ballots, and a couple of provisionals as well. All told, somewhere around 230 ballots were actually cast between both our precincts and we had around 330-350 people come in during our 13-hour shift. That's about 26 people per hour entering the building and 17 ballots per hour being cast. Like I said, there were periods of boredom.

But we all did amuse ourselves, talking about out lives - I got asked about grad school, NAU, my future plans, etc. - reading the manuals and trying to figure out election-related things like voter challenges, and such. Everyone brought some sort of reading material. Several magazines, and a few novels (James Patterson, I saw). I brought two novels and an electronic card game. I tried reading the books, but I wasn't into it, though I did play a few rounds of the game.

The whole day, everyone was very friendly who came in to cast a vote. We only had two people who were a bit miffed, mainly because they'd been shuttled around to a bunch of different places trying to find the right polling location. One gentleman in particular came to me at the provisional table having been to three places already. This was the fourth. He was unhappy that he wasn't on our roster either, and rightly so. The other precincts should have found him on the maps and confirmed his correct polling location. After conferring with my maps for a few minutes and having him point out exactly where his house was located, we finally found the right precinct and got him on his way correctly.

At 6:00pm, I went outside with Jon, the Marshal from the other precinct to yell that there was one hour left until the polls closed. Then at 6:30pm, 6:45pm, and 6:59pm, we did the same thing as the winds picked up and we saw a wall of water go crashing through the neighborhoods to our west. At 7:00pm, I yelled that the polls were now closed. There was no one in line, so we immediately began to pack up the equipment and seal and certify the ballots and registers. Immediately after the polls close, there is a very strict procedure that the Inspector and two Judges have to go through, so I took part in that. Here's a quick rundown:

1. Immediately (for real, immediately!) the totals tape from the Insight, the memory disk from the Insight, and the memory disk from the Edge (disabled) machine go into a pink bubble pack, which is sealed and which goes into a clear Official Bag, sealed with an official seal, signed across the seal onto the bag by three people, and resealed again with a tamper-evident seal. That pink bag is immediately taken by one poll worker to the collection site. Within about 10 minutes of the polls closing, it was out the door.

2. The printer from the Edge machine is taken and bagged and tamper-evident zip-tie sealed. Same with the Edge card activator.

3. The voted ballots are all taken out of the Insight tub and placed into a black canvas bag, which is itself tamper-evident zip-tie sealed. Unused ballots are placed back into the tub along with all the nonessential equipment and supplies (pens, flag, signs, etc), and the tub is locked.

4. Used tamper-evident seals (from the memory packs and from the initial set-up of the machines), along with the poll registers, rosters, poll worker payroll sheets, provisional information books, machine lock keys, and other things are placed into a yellow canvas bag, which is, again, zip-tied shut.

5. Official seals are used to seal the tubs containing the provisional ballots and early ballots dropped off at the precinct.

6. The tubs, along with the printer, black and yellow bags, and a couple other items are then driven down to the collection area by two members of differing parties - in our case, the Republican Inspector and a Democrat Judge. There, they are taken by elections officials and forwarded to the Maricopa County Recorder's Office, which counts the ballots and checks the provisionals and early ballots.

Long process? Not really. We were done in one hour flat and out the door on the way home by 8:00pm. It was really a good time working at the polls, though, overall. It was long, sometimes tedious, and sometimes boring, but we got paid about $100 for the day and if it were busier (which I expect the general election will) it would have been great! The only thing it needs is more young people working... don't get me wrong, my team was awesome and very cohesive, but it seems to me that if youths wanted to get active in the political process in some way, this would be perfect!

As for the future, I plan on potentially being the Inspector for the general election for the precinct. Having assisted Ruby, I feel confident I know enough of the procedures to make it run just as smoothly as this time around. I can definitely handle the added responsibility, and Ruby said she'd rather not do it next time. So yeah.

Yay for elections!

Primary Election Results

2010-08-25T08:53:00.001-07:00

In case you missed it: the Arizona primary election was held yesterday, and voters had to decide on many worthy candidates (and a few dopes) to represent the different parties in the November general election. In my humble opinion, the primary election is more important than the general election because it gives the public the chance to cast ballots for those people who really represent their interests, rather than just voting for the Republican because they don't like the Democrat or vice-versa as in the general election. Looking at a GOP or Democratic primary closely and digesting the numbers can really provide a slice of how that party in that area thinks.

I was working the polls in my precinct all day yesterday, so I didn't get a chance to see any results until very late last night and this morning. Here is a rundown of each of the races as they will appear in November:

U.S. Senator:
John McCain (R)
Rodney Glassman (D)
Jerry Joslyn (G)
David Nolan (L)

House CD-1:
Ann Kirkpatrick (D)
Paul Gosar (R)

House CD-2:
John Thrasher (D)
Powell Gammill (L)
Trent Franks (R)

House CD-3:
Jon Hulburd (D)
Michael Shoen (L)
Ben Quayle (R)

House CD-4:
Ed Pastor (D)
Rebecca DeWitt (G)
Joe Cobb (L)
Janet Contreras (R)

House CD-5:
Harry Mitchell (D)
Nick Coons (L)
David Schweikert (R)

House CD-6:
Rebecca Schneider (D)
Jeff Flake (R)

House CD-7:
Raul Grijalva (D)
George Keane (L)
Ruth McClung (R)

House CD-8:
Gabrielle Giffords (D)
Steven Stoltz (L)
Jesse Kelly (R)

Governor:
Jan Brewer (R)
Terry Goddard (D)
Larry Gist (G)
Barry Hess (L)

Secretary of State:
Ken Bennett (R)
Chris Deschene (D)

Attorney General:
Felicia Rotellini OR David Lujan (D) (Too close to call)
Andrew Thomas OR Tom Horne (R) (Too close to call)

State Treasurer:
Andrei Cherney (D)
Doug Ducey (R)

State Superintendent of Public Instruction:
Penny Kotterman (D)
John Huppenthal (R)

Mine Inspector:
Manuel Cruz (D)
Joe Hart (R)

Corporation Commissioners:
David Bradley (D)
Jorge Garcia (D)
Brenda Burns (R)
Gary Pierce (R)

LD-19 Senator:
Rich Crandall (R)

LD-19 Representatives:
Kirk Adams (R)
Justin Olson (R)

Maricopa County Attorney:
Bill Montgomery (R)

The only real surprises for me in the results of the primary election are that Doug Ducey won the Republican Treasurer's primary by such a large margin over his competition, that the Attorney General's race is too close to call (as of this writing, Tom Horne leads Andrew Thomas by a meager 363 votes with a few precincts as-yet unreported), and that the McCain-Hayworth race wasn't really close at all. (I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by that, though.)

Other than that, I expected Ben Quayle to win in CD-3, Gosar in CD-1, and Flake in CD-6. Brewer's and Goddard's wins in the gubernatorial race were expected, as were most of the other statewide races. I did suppose Paton would win over Kelly in CD-8 which didn't occur, and I predicted that Schweikert would lose to Ward in CD-5, which also was incorrect. Although in retrospect, Schweikert's win is not at all surprising given the amount of campaigning he did.

As for working the polls, I had a lot of fun, even though only about 100 people showed up for my precinct. It was very slow all day long, except for the half-hour setup in the morning (at 5:30am) and the 90 minutes between 6:30pm (30 minutes to polls closing) and 8:00pm when we finished packing everything up. I was a "Judge" for the election, meaning I got the task of assisting the Inspector with all of her duties. It was mildly confusing putting every seal and sticker in the right place to comply with elections requirements, but we got it all done without incident, and there weren't any problems all night long. The people there were impressed with how well I did and how much I knew about the elections process, and said they were going to recommend me to be the Inspector for the November general election (a job with a lot of responsibilities). We'll see!

Congrats to all who won, sorry to all who lost and put on a great campaign (such as Jeff Smith, who lost to Jeff Flake in the CD-6 primary).

On a final note, congrats to Dustin Cox, an old high school friend of mine who put on a good campaign for State Representative in the Tucson area LD-27 but lost to Sally Ann Gonzales in that Democratic primary. Dustin came in fourth of eight candidates in the very crowded primary, and captured 2,507 (unofficial total) votes as of this writing (942 behind Gonzalez). You did well, Dustin! I was rooting for you.

Elimination

2010-08-11T22:08:00.001-07:00

Recently, I've done a succession of long-winded posts on politics and the upcoming election, and while that topic is most definitely an inportant one for the future of Arizona, there is something equally as important (to me) going on: baseball. We're only about 2 weeks away now from the first of the statistical "eliminations" of teams from potentially making it to the playoff races this October, and I wanted to break down where things stand.

First, a little terminology refresher: every year baseball statisticians calculate something known as the "elimination number" for every team. This is the number of wins for the first-place team in the division plus the number of losses for the team in question needed to mathematically eliminate them from the possibility of winning a division spot or wild card spot in the playoffs.

An example: in the American League East, the New York Yankees currently lead the division with a record of 70 wins, 43 losses (113 games played total). The Baltimore Orioles have a record of 40-74 (114 games played total). Since there are 162 games in a season, there are just 49 games for the Yankees left to play (48 for the Orioles). If the Yankees lose every game from here on out, and the Orioles win every game from here on out, the Yankees would end up with a record of 70-92, and the Orioles would end up with a record of 88-74. That's a difference of 18 wins. Thus, if the Yankees are to eliminate the Orioles from the possibility of winning the AL East, the Yankees must win 19 games. 19 is therefore the Orioles "elimination number." (Alternately, if Baltimore LOSES 19 more games, the effect would be the same, and they would be eliminated. Also alternately, if the Yankees wins plus Orioles losses over the next several games add up to 19, the Orioles are eliminated.)

Here are the current standings, as of August 10th:
American League East
New York Yankees: 70-43 - E# not applicable
Tampa Bay Rays: 69-45 - E# 48, 1.5 games behind
Boston Red Sox: 66-49 - E# 44, 5 games behind
Toronto Blue Jays: 59-54 - E# 39, 11 games behind
Baltimore Orioles: 40-74 - E#19, 30.5 games behind

Analysis:
In the AL East, the likely winners of the division stand to be the Yankees or Rays, depending on how the two teams are able to play the last month and a half of the season. Surely, the Yankees are always a formidable opponent going into September, and the Rays may just have to settle for winning the Wild Card in the American League this year. Don't count out the Red Sox as well, even though they've been wracked with injuries to almost all of their key players this year. The fact that they're still just five back doesn't preclude a big final push if they can get lucky. The Blue Jays and Orioles are pretty much done for this year.

American League Central
Chicago White Sox: 64-50, E# not applicable
Minnesota Twins: 64-50, E# not applicable
Detroit Tigers: 55-59, E# 40, 9 games behind
Cleveland Indians: 47-67, E# 32, 17 games behind
Kansas City Royals: 47-67, E# 32, 17 games behind

Analysis:
Among the closest races right now is the White Sox-Twins rivalry for the AL Central division. Both teams have been rolling all year, and both have an equally good chance of making the playoffs, but only one will. Given that they'll be playing each other in seven more games this year, and against division rivals like the Tigers and Royals two or more weeks out of September, this race will come down to the wire, I think. I'm still betting on the Twins to take it down, though.

American League West
Texas Rangers: 65-48, E# not applicable
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: 59-57, E# 41, 7.5 games behind
Oakland Athletics: 57-56, E# 42, 8 games behind
Seattle Mariners: 44-71, E# 27, 22 games behind

Analysis:
This race is something of a runaway for the Rangers, and barring some sort of nuclear meltdown by them or a miracle in Los Angeles, they'll take the pennant. And not for nothing, either. They've played great baseball this year and certainly have a shot to make it to the Series.

National League East
Atlanta Braves: 66-48, E# not applicable
Philadelphia Phillies: 63-50, E# 47, 2.5 games behind
Florida Marlins: 56-56, E# 41, 9 games behind
New York Mets: 56-57, E# 40, 9.5 games behind
Washington Nationals: 49-65, E# 32, 17 games behind

Analysis:
Again, it's a two-horse kind of race in the NL East, with the Braves just up on the ever-dangerous Phillies. And with Chase Utley set to come off the DL, you never know how the Phillies may take off. They were everyone's pick again to re-repeat at the World Series, you know. That said, The Braves put up a very solid lineup and pitching staff against their challengers, with rookie Jason Heyward leading the way. But considering they face the last-place Nationals and Pirates and sub-.500 game winning Mets and Marlins a combined total of 20 games in September, they certainly get the chance to pad their stats by playoff time. I'd love to say I predict the Phillies to recapture the pennant, but I'm seeing the signs point to the Braves here. Phils have a real shot at the Wild Card, though, so don't count them out.

National League Central
St. Louis Cardinals: 64-49, E# not applicable
Cincinnati Reds: 64-51, E# 48, 1 game behind
Milwaukee Brewers: 53-62, E# 37, 12 games behind
Chicago Cubs: 48-65, E# 34, 16 games behind
Houston Astros: 48-65, E# 34, 16 games behind
Pittsburgh Pirates: 39-73, E# 26, 24.5 games behind

Analysis:
The most contentious race right now belongs to the Cards-Reds rivalry in this division. After the Reds' Brandon Phillips mouthed off about the Cardinals, the two teams met with fisticuffs in the first inning of last night's game. Tonight, the Cardinals answered back, completing a sweep of the Reds and taking over sole possession of first place in the NL Central. Considering the schedules these two teams have, they only meet up once in September, but the Cardinals seem to have the tougher schedule. I'm counting on the Reds to pull things back together and make a final push for the pennant.

National League West
San Diego Padres: 65-46, E# not applicable
San Francisco Giants: 64-50, E# 48, 2.5 games behind
Colorado Rockies: 59-54, E# 44, 7 games behind
Los Angeles Dodgers: 59-55, E# 43, 7.5 games behind
Arizona Diamondbacks: 46-69, E# 29, 21 games behind

Analysis:
Ah, the NL West... bastion of close, close playoff races the last few years, and this one is no exception. The Rockies and Dodgers have slipped a bit of late, but 7 or 8 games back is still semi-doable, especially in this league. The Padres own the NL's second-best record (to the Braves) and have been the surprise of the year in all of baseball. There's really no reason they shouldn't win the division without a lot of trouble, but given the Rockies' recent propensity for late-season comebacks and the Giants being behind a mere 2.5 games, nothing's a given yet. Except that the Diamondbacks are out of it, that is.... Yeah.

I expect that the Yankees, Twins, Rangers, and White Sox will make the AL playoffs, while the Braves, Reds, Padres, and Cardinals will fill out the NL. It should then be a Yankees-Rangers ALCS versus a Padres-Braves NLCS, with the World Series being Yankees against Padres. Yankees win (again) in 5 games. Just my 2-cent predictions.

My Candidate Endorsements

2010-08-09T15:42:00.000-07:00

As a voter in Arizona congressional district 6 and legislative district 19, as a common-sense person and conservative, and as a politically-minded individual, I do my best every two years to thoroughly analyze and digest statements from the many, many candidates that I have a choice over which to vote. And don't get me wrong, there are LOTS of candidates. In some ways that is what makes the primary elections process more important to the understanding of the mindset of the common voter than anything else or in the general election. People are free to cast ballots for those who best support them, even if that candidate has little chance of making it to the November ballot.

In making my choices, I look for a few key factors: first, an incumbent's voting record. It's all well-and-good to talk a big game in front of a town hall meeting or on one's website, but if an incumbent has voted on key bills in a manner inconsistent with my values and wishes as a constituent, it might just be time for a change. Second, candidate stances on issues. Candidates make a lot of statements during the course of a campaign, and while it's nice to say that one is a "principled conservative," sometimes the facts in their past don't point to that. I try to read as much as possible about any given candidate and how they have responded to questions about their views on a variety of issues. Finally, face-to-face interaction, if possible. I like to get out to actual events and speak to the candidates directly. If I have major questions, I ask them, and if I don't, I try to get a feel for the person behind the yard sign. Some people are phony, and they come off that way in person, even if they look genuine on paper.

With all that being said, I feel qualified in my assessments of the candidates to endorse the following candidates for public office in the 2010 Republican primary election:

United States Senate: John McCain (John McCain for US Senate)
As I've made clear on here more than once, I cannot and will not support J.D. Hayworth for the Senate seat. He's disingenuous, both in his voting record and in his speeches, with who he claims to be - a "true" conservative with values. While it's also true I've never been gung ho for McCain in my lifetime, I feel that he is the better option for this race.

U.S. House of Representatives, AZ Congressional District 6: Jeff Smith (Jeff Smith for Congress)
This is a tough one for me personally, because I have friends in both campaigns, and I believe both candidates to be good and honorable people. Two years ago, I worked in conjunction with Congressman Flake's campaign and helped in getting him re-elected. That being said, I feel that Jeff Smith would bring a new outlook to Arizona's 6th district that has been lacking in the past couple years. A focus on bringing the problems of CD-6 to the halls of Congress, and of helping solve Arizona's big problems at the federal level. Jeff Flake has been reactionary over the past couple years; Jeff Smith wants to be more proactive. I support Smith in this endeavor.

Governor: Dean Martin (Vote Dean Martin) (Jan Brewer for Governor)
Yes, I know Martin has basically ended his campaign, and that Jan Brewer will be the Republican nominee for re-election. However, Martin's name remains on the ballot, and as such, I still endorse him for the top spot in Arizona. That said, I will still endorse and support Jan Brewer for Governor in the general election.

Secretary of State: Ken Bennett (Bennett Arizona)
I supported Ken Bennett as a State Senator, and I support him again in the Sec. of State's spot this year. A gifted mind, teacher, and legislator, Bennett is not only the logical choice for the GOP nomination, he's also the only one on the ballot.

Attorney General: Andrew Thomas (Thomas for Attorney General)
Despite controversy among both candidates, Tom Horne is the wrong guy for the Attorney General's job. Thus, I endorse and support Andrew Thomas.

State Treasurer: Thayer Verschoor (Verschoor - The AZ Treasurer)
I have only had the opportunity to speak to Verschoor a couple brief times at events, but he strikes me as the type of person who understands the job before him as State Treasurer. I am supporting him over his opponents, including the CEO of Cold Stone Creamery, because of that. In talking with his Republican opponents, many of them seem like they think the Treasurer's job will be easy - or they are just trying to seem too confident that they'll handle the position well. Verschoor seems to know what the role is and how much work needs to go into fixing our state's budgetary problems. He therefore has my endorsement.

Superintendent of Public Instruction: John Huppenthal (John Huppenthal 2010)
The one race I haven't been able to meet the candidates at some point in the past, I still choose John Huppenthal for the position. I support his announced positions for performance pay for teachers, and for his expansion of charter school enrollment in Arizona. I also appreciate his track record in the Arizona State Senate, within which he has been a member for the last six years.

State Mine Inspector: Joe Hart (Hart for Mine Inspector)
Mr. Hart is currently the only Republican on the ballot, and has been for the last couple election cycles. That should by no means take away from the fact that he has done a good job in the position for years now, and deserves reelection.

Corporation Commissioner (vote for two): Brenda Burns and Gary Pierce (Burns for CC, Pierce for CC)
Of the three on the ballot, Burns and Pierce are by far highly qualified for the positions on the Commission this year. Burns has a great track record with keeping taxes responsibly low, and Pierce has done a very good job in my book as one of the current commissioners with solving problems relating to utilities management.

LD-19 State Senator: Rich Crandall (Rich Crandall)
I supported Crandall even before James Molina dropped out of the race, and I continue to do so now.

LD-19 State Representatives (vote for two): Kirk Adams and Justin Olson (Elect Kirk Adams, Vote Justin Olson)
Again, I helped in Kirk Adams' race in 2008 at the same time I was helping Jeff Flake, and I feel that he remains a good leader for the House of Representatives. I would like to see more effort this year put into balancing the Arizona budget, and Kirk Adams is the type of principled conservative person who is most likely to affect that change. Justin Olson, a newcomer to the races this year, is the former research analyst for the Arizona Tax Research Association and would represent my interests well in the State House.

By no means is this "guide" meant to be anything more than that - a guide. My picks are based on my personal interactions with the candidates and my research into their voting records and their comments on various issues. I encourage everyone to do their own research and find out what candidate is right or wrong for YOUR interests in each office. Please take the time to examine the campaign websites for the candidates I have chosen above, and for all the others who are running.

Congressional Races in Arizona

2010-08-04T16:56:00.001-07:00

Currently, the State of Arizona has a makeup of two Republican senators and 3 Republican/5 Democratic House members. This post will analyze each of the nine federal races in Arizona through both the primaries and general election:

Arizona CD-1
Incumbent: Ann Kirkpatrick (D)
Challengers: Bradley Beauchamp (R), Rusty Bowers (R), Paul Gosar (R), Sydney Hay (R), Joe Jaraczewski (R), Jon Jensen (R), Steve Mehta (R), Thomas Zaleski (R)
Analysis: Obviously as you can see above, this race is being tightly contested by the Republicans, and there is a likelihood that they could win in November to incumbent Kirkpatrick who will be the Democratic nominee, considering she's running unopposed. Arizona's first district has typically trended Republican over the past several elections. The wave of anti-Republican sentiment in 2008 hit the first district hard - exascerbated by an investigation (and ultimately, indictment) of then-Congressman Rick Renzi. Kirkpatrick won by 50,000 votes or so in 2008, but there is no reason to think that voters wouldn't vote Republican again in the district. Of the GOP primary challengers, Sydney Hay has name recognition from her campaign in '08, in which she lost to Kirkpatrick, and former AZ Senate Majority Leader Bowers, attorney and teacher Beauchamp, and dentist Gosar have been campaigning hard for the seat. In my opinion, Rusty Bowers may have the best shot at defeating Kirkpatrick in the general, but it's likely to be Hay or Beauchamp to win the primary.

Read More: CD-2

Arizona CD-2
Incumbent: Trent Franks (R)
Challengers: Charles Black (R), John Thrasher (D), Powell Gammill (L)
Analysis: A very safe seat for the incumbent, Franks is not likely to be unseated in the primary by his challenger, businessman Charles Black, and is equally unlikely to lose to the man against whom he won in 2006 and 2008, John Thrasher. Count this one a lock for another Franks victory.

Arizona CD-3
Incumbent: John Shadegg (R - Retiring)
Challengers: Bob Branch (R), Sam Crump (R), Pamela Gorman (R), LeAnn Hull (R), Steve Moak (R), Paulina Morris (R), Vernon Parker (R), Ben Quayle (R), Jim Waring (R), Ed Winkler (R), John Hulbard (D), Leonard Clark (G), Michael Shoen (L)
Analysis: Perhaps the most interesting race in Arizona because of the high-profile names involved, even though CD-3 itself will most likely stay a Republican stronghold for years to come. The only Democrat, Hulbard, will face one of several equally well-known candidates in the general election: Ben Quayle, the son of ex-US Vice President Dan Quayle; former candidate for AZ Governor and Mayor of Paradise Valley Vernon Parker; State Senator and former Representative Pamela Gorman; and State Representative Sam Crump, among others. By far, the best-funded and most well-known of this high-profile group is Quayle, who is both well-received in the district and has plenty of cash on hand. I expect him to win in the primary and in the general. Look for him to be on the rosters of Congress in 2011.

Arizona CD-4
Incumbent: Ed Pastor (D)
Challengers: Janet Contreras (R), Joe Penalosa (R), Rebecca DeWitt (G), Joe Cobb (L)
Analysis: A strong safe seat for the Democrats in Arizona, Ed Pastor has a couple Republican challengers vying in the primary and trying to capitalize on mild anti-Democrat sentiments in 2010. Neither one really stands a chance against the 5-term incumbent.

Arizona CD-5
Incumbent: Harry Mitchell (D)
Challengers: Susan Bitter-Smith (R), Lee Gentry (R), David Schweikert (R), Jim Ward (R), Chris Salvino (R), Mark Spinks (R), Nick Coons (L)
Analysis: Another interesting Arizona race all around. After now-Senatorial candidate J.D. Hayworth lost the seat in 2006 to Mitchell, Republicans have been trying to win it back. Bitter-Smith, Gentry, and Schweikert were all 2008 candidates back for another round, but the real person to watch is businessman Jim Ward, whose capital in the race combined with his successful business endeavors with places like LucasFilm are combining to make him the likely primary winner this time around. Because CD-5 is a well-known swing district, he stands a chance of defeating the very well-liked Mitchell in the typical GOP stronghold of Tempe, Arizona.

Arizona CD-6
Incumbent: Jeff Flake (R)
Challengers: Jeff Smith (R), Rebecca Schneider (D), Richard Grayson (G)
Analysis: Flake, a 5-term congressman - four of which were for CD-6 - is the type of candidate who usually doesn't have to campaign because no one challenges him. This year, however, businessman Jeff Smith is giving Flake his first GOP opponent. While Flake is still very likely to win the primary and general elections easily as he has for eight years, Smith may do better than expected. He's been hammering Flake on his poor cap-and-trade bill, his denouncing of popular SB1070, his lack of attention to issues beyond earmarks, and his 2000 campaign promise to not remain in Congress more than three terms. Flake will win, but in future elections he might start picking up more challengers.

Arizona CD-7
Incumbent: Raul Grijalva (D)
Challengers: Christopher Flowers (R), Ruth McClung (R), Terry Myers (R), Joseph Sweeney (R), Robert Wilson (R), Andrew Ibarra (L), George Keane (L), Harley Meyer (I)
Analysis: Grijalva is typically another Democrat with a very safe seat, but with all the flap this year about SB1070, this one has a very small chance of being a surprise. Grijalva initiated calls for other states to boycott Arizona over the immigration law, and voters aren't soon likely to forget that sort of treason against the state. Of the Republican primary candidates, three are businessmen, one is a rocket scientist (literally), and one is a contractor. Even with the distaste for Grijalva fresh in GOP voters' minds, there may not be a big enough name this cycle to remove him from office. I suspect he'll be there in 2011.

Arizona CD-8
Incumbent: Gabrielle Giffords (D)
Challengers: Andy Goss (R), Jesse Kelly (R), Brian Miller (R), Jonathan Paton (R), Jay Quick (R), Steve Stoltz (L)
Analysis: Giffords won in, again, the anti-Republican wave of 2006 after the retirement of long-term Republican Jim Kolbe. However, the district itself typically trends Democrat, so there is a good chance Giffords will retain her seat. That being said, of the five GOP challengers in the primary, four - Goss, Kelly, Miller, and Paton - are Iraq or Afghanistan war veterans and of them, Kelly and Paton are very popular, Paton being a former state Representative and former state Senator. With the border debate shifting foci onto national security, Paton's background might give him an edge in the primary and in the general. At the moment, I would say this district leans toward re-electing Giffords, but might be too close to call right now.

Candidate Reviews

2010-08-02T14:18:00.000-07:00

A while back, I promised to give reviews on the candidates vying for this year's primary elections. Well, sadly, I never got to that, but I feel compelled to provide a rundown of the various races and top-tier candidates here.

Governor:
Janice K. "Jan" Brewer (Republican) - Brewer is the current Governor of the State of Arizona and has been since 2008 when former Governor Janet Napolitano was appointed to head the US Dept. of Homeland Security. Since taking office, she has attempted to fend off a huge statewide financial crisis with a temporary 1% sales tax increase, signed controversial SB 1070 into law and is currently fending off a federal government lawsuit against it. However, her promises to create jobs in the state and to reduce state spending have faltered. Still, despite the controversy around the country (and world) over immigration, she is likely to win re-election in November.
Dean Martin (Republican) - Current Treasurer of the State of Arizona, has "indefinitely suspended" his campaign but will remain on the ballot.
Buz Mills (Republican) - Entrepreneur, has also suspended his campaign but will remain on the ballot.
Terry Goddard (Democrat) - Current Attorney General of Arizona who is term limited at the end of this year. His office during the past year "recovered or seized more than $267 million," from lawsuits. His campaign website regards job creation as "Job One" for the new governor.
Other candidates: Ronald Cavanaugh (LIB), Larry Gist (GRN), Barry Hess (LIB), Matthew Jette (REP), Bruce Olsen (LIB), Alvin Yount (LIB)

Read more after the jump:

Race analysis:
Brewer is the GOP candidate likely to win, and Goddard is the only Democrat in the race, thus this will likely be the matchup in the general election. The Arizona gubernatorial race is dominated by two current hot-topic subjects: immigration and the economy. Because of SB1070, which has a majority of support among Arizona (citizen) residents, Brewer is likely to beat Goddard in November - given that Brewer signed SB1070 into law and has been running on the issue heavily since a few months ago. Goddard, on the other hand, withdrew himself from defending Arizona against the federal lawsuit on the issue, and voters will remember that.

Secretary of State:
Ken Bennett (Republican) - The only Republican in this race, Ken Bennett has been the Secretary of State for the last two years, after having been elevated to the position by Brewer after she assumed the governorship. Prior to this, Bennett was President of the Arizona State Senate, and he currently maintains a huge lead over any other candidate in the race. He will likely win against either Democratic challenger in a landslide come November.
Other candidates: Chris Deschene (DEM), Sam Wercinski (DEM)

Attorney General:
Andrew Thomas (Republican) - With Goddard term-limited, Thomas is an obvious choice to replace him. His past record as Assistant Attorney General and Maricopa County Attorney, along with his endorsement list including Sheriff Joe Arpaio make him a formidable opponent to anyone. However, despite his natural ability to ride the current immigration-focused political climate, Thomas is being investigated by both the FBI for unethical behavior and by an independent investigator appointed by the Arizona Supreme Court for ethics violations. It could hurt him if the public starts actually paying attention.
Tom Horne (Republican) - Current State Superintendent of Public Education and a former Arizona Special Assistant Attorney General. Horne is one of those candidates you either like a lot, or really dislike a lot. Talking with teachers, almost all of them unanimously agree that Horne has been a poor Superintendent - and his controversial record on "cultural studies" programs in the Tucson Unified School District seems to follow that sentiment.
David Lujan (Democrat) - Current Arizona House of Representatives Minority Leader and a former AZ Special Asst. AG like both Horne and Thomas. Much of his time in these roles was spent focused on child abuse cases and domestic violence, and in the House he authored laws on identity theft and violent crime prevention. Republicans dislike him because of his far left philosophies, and his lack of a record on border protection could end up costing him a nomination.
Other candidates: Felicia Rotellini (DEM), Vince Rabago (DEM)

Race analysis:
Because of immigration being the hot-button issue right now, I expect Thomas to get the nod for the Republicans, despite the investigations against him. David Lujan is likely to get the nomination for the Democrats, if only because he has higher name recognition statewide. Depending on the level of negative campaigning these two do will determine the outcome of the general election, but I would rather see Thomas in there than Lujan, personally.

State Treasurer:
Doug Ducey (Republican): CEO of Cold Stone Creamery. He touts himself mostly as a "businessman, not a politician" in an attempt to ride the wave of anti-incumbent sentiments associated with the Tea Party Movement. While he was quite successful in the private sector, when this author attempted to talk with his campaign staff on his public sector plans in the State Treasurer's role, they balked at the questions. Thus, I question his ability to lead the state out of recession with just a background in ice cream.
Thayer Verschoor (Republican): State Representative from LD-22 (Gilbert). Endorsed by Sheriff Arpaio and lauded by the Arizona Federation of Taxpayers, Goldwater Institute, PAChyderm Coalition, Americans for Prosperity, and Arizona Right to Life. Verschoor has an impressive conservative record, and he will be very hard to beat.
Other candidates: Ted Carpenter (REP), Andrei Cherny (DEM), Barbara Leff (REP)

Race Analysis:
As I mentioned, Verschoor is an impressive conservative Republican, and is well-received by almost everyone in his district and in the House of Representatives. It remains to be seen if his name carries out statewide, but I still expect him to beat Ducey in the primaries. If he does, he'll easily beat Democratic nominee Cherny in the general.

Superintendent of Public Instruction:
Republicans: Margaret Dugan, John Huppenthal, Beth Price
Democrats: Penny Kotterman, Jason Williams

Race Analysis:
With Horne leaving to pursue the Attorney General's spot, in my opinion the Republican nominee will be the well-known John Huppenthal, though one should not count out the current Deputy Superintendent of the Arizona Dept. of Education Margaret Dugan. The Democratic nominee is likely to be 2006 nominee Jason Williams, and the Republican will likely beat out the Democrat in the general.

Corporation Commissioner (vote for 2):
Republicans: Brenda Burns, Barry Wong, Gary Pierce
Democrats: Renz Jennings, Jorge Garcia, David Bradley

Race Analysis:
Burns and Pierce have been running together since day one of the campaign season for these seats, and are both much more well known than any of the Democratic candidates. I expect them both to win not only the primaries but also the general election.

Overall, this election season in Arizona should be rather straightforward for all the races with the exception of the Attorney General's race. Republicans, as they usually do, will win a majority of the seats for the different statewide offices. In the AZ House and Senate, Republicans will maintain their majorities in both houses. Stay tuned for a review of the US Congressional and US Senate races coming soon.

John McCain Town Hall in Mesa

2010-07-30T14:47:00.001-07:00

A couple days ago, a robocall from Senator John McCain invited me to a town hall he was hosting at Las Sendas Elementary School for this morning at 10:00am. Since that happens to be just a mile or so down the road from me, I decided to go and see what he had to say. I have to say that I'm pleased that I did.

I arrived at the school early, because I wasn't sure whether or not there would be a lot of people in attendance. At Congressman Jeff Flake's town hall back in August, 2009, so many people attended that they were not all allowed inside the gymnasium where it was held. I stood outside for an hour or so until they let more people in. This time though, I was by far the first person there and no one else showed up until about 9am. The meeting was held in the school's media center, a place I remember well as a member of the inaugural class of kids there back in 1996-97.

Instead of waiting outside, I "snuck" in and talked with the campaign staffers for a while. Pretty soon, the room filled up with what I would estimate as about 100 people. There were also members of the press there - a reporter from a local paper, a man from a TV station with a camera, and a man from the St. Petersburg (Florida!) Times. I was also asked to write myself down as "press" because I introduced myself as a local blogger. Cool.

At 10am, Senator McCain was introduced into the room by Arizona Speaker of the House Kirk Adams, who represents this district. I helped out on his and Congressman Flake's campaigns back in 2008 as some of my longer readers might remember. I still think the guy does a good job at the legislature, and I'm looking forward to voting for him again as soon as my mail-in ballot comes. Also in attendance was LD-19 Representative Rich Crandall, whom I mentioned in an earlier post as one of the people I'd contacted about helping him with his campaign signs. He's running (now) unopposed in LD-19 for the State Senate, now that his opponent James Molina has backed out of the race.

Senator McCain began the one-hour town hall with about 15 minutes of introductory information about the state of various projects in the Senate and in Arizona, including the fact that the budget deficit at the federal level is projected to be $1.4 trillion dollars. The two ways to decrease this, according to the Senator, are to firstly repeal Obamacare and to amend the Constitution to say that the federal budget must be balanced every fiscal year. This "Balanced Budget Amendment" would, in theory, work on the same principle as the Arizona legislative requirement to have a balanced budget. As he was explaining this, however, I couldn't help but wonder how they'd get around the problem that Arizona has had these last two or three years where the legislature borrows money from future debts to pay for current debts - the "rollover" system. For example, to pay for FY2010 expenditures like public schools and jails and healthcare (AHCCCS), the legislature borrows money from FY2011. Thus, FY2010 is paid for while FY2011 has double expenditures. Confusing....

The senator also mentioned that the F-35 fighter jet and associated training programs will be coming to Luke Air Force Base, creating 8,000 jobs out there and bringing a $2.2 billion "economic input" for Arizona.

In addition, to combat the problem of overspending in government, Senator McCain got really fired up talking about how he and Senator Jon Kyl would not support any legislation in the Senate that is not paid for. The recent proposal to bring troops and resources to the Arizona border was passed by Congress but was not paid for by Congress, even though the McCain plan for this resources package would have paid for it with excess stimulus funds and not placed the burden on the state. In the near future, he said, also be on the lookout for a McCain-Coburn (that's Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma - the same one who wanted to get of rid of political science funding in a blog post I did in October, 2009).

After this (which took about 15 minutes), Senator McCain opened up the room for questions, acknowledging a veteran in uniform by allowing him to ask the first one (he declined except to thank McCain for his service). Here are the more interesting questions and responses (paraphrased for length):

Phil from Gold Canyon: The biggest threat to the USA is big government. In the near future, not only will government be spending themselves to death, but it will also be perpetrating voter fraud and intimidation. How do we stop this from happening?
Senator McCain: Big government is indeed a threat to the country. That's why the Tea Party is important - Tea Party activists, and other concerned members of the community should be present at every polling location on Election Day reporting any instances of voter fraud or voter intimidation.

Dean: How do you respond to television ads running recently that attack your record on immigration reform, specifically that you are for amnesty?
Senator McCain: I don't support amnesty. Amnesty is granting someone a free pass, when in reality we should be penalizing those who broke the law. We need to secure the borders FIRST, though, before anything else. The problem is only being compounded by the rise of violence on the border thanks to violent drug cartels. Because of all this, Arizona's SB1070 is really a symptom of the broken border, not the cause.

Ron: Thanks for your pristine record on anti-abortion bills. How much money do we give annually to the UN, and couldn't that be better spent?
Senator McCain: I'm proud to be a pro-life member of Congress. As for the UN, President Bush stopped giving them money for a while, but President Obama's administration has reinstated that policy. I'm not sure how much exactly, but it's a lot.

After those questions, two older gentlemen talked about their unemployment (one of them even handed the Senator a copy of his resume) and the lack of jobs for qualified individuals. Senator McCain responded to them by saying he was sorry about their unemployment status (and promised to pass around the guy's resume for him!) and discussed the need for reduced taxes on small businesses to stimulate them to hire more people. Specifically a "payroll-tax holiday" or a straight up reduction of those taxes would incentivize hiring.

At this point, I felt I needed to speak up for the younger generation - these were all people in their 40s or greater - so I said this to Senator McCain as my comment/question: "I'm Andrew Meeusen, live just up the road, and I'm sorry to have to jump on the bandwagon here, but I've also been jobless for two years right out of college into the worst recession in my lifetime. I want to work, but there just aren't many jobs right now for entry level workers. I've contacted your offices, Speaker Adams' office, and talked to Rich Crandall. What proposals are out there right now to protect jobs for entry level workers?"

Senator McCain responded with more information about small businesses hiring entry level workers, because that industry is the one which hires most entry level staff. He also let Speaker Adams answer the question on the state level to me. Speaker Adams referred me to look at the Arizona Economy and Job Recovery Act (H.B. 2250) which does the following according to http://www.azleg.gov/:

HB 2250 establishes a new Arizona Job Training Program (AJTP), the Arizona Opportunity Fund (AOF), and the Arizona Quality Jobs Program (AQJP); restructures Enterprise Zones into a statewide Arizona Enterprise Development Program (AEDP) and expands the type of businesses that qualify for tax incentives under the AEDP; reduces the Class 1 property assessment ratio from 20% to 15% over five years beginning in TY 2012; phases out the state equalization assistance property tax over three years beginning in TY 2011; decreases the corporate income tax rate from 6.968% to 5% over four years beginning in TY 2011; increases the corporate sales factor from 80% to 100% over two years beginning in TY 2015; and lowers the individual income tax rate by 10% over four years beginning in TY 2011.

I'm planning on reading it in depth later - I haven't done more than a cursory read of it thus far, so I'll get back with my take on it at a later date.

After a couple other questions, the event ended and I was able to get an autograph from Senator McCain on a 2009 Topps Chrome Heritage card featuring him smiling at an election party. It's a nice looking card and may be the only one out there which has his signature! I also exchanged information with a few people also looking to network, and talked to some people about my resume for future prospective job opportunities. I don't know if a lot will ultimately come out of it, but it's definitely good for getting out there and seeing what's what.

All-in-all, it was nice to speak to Speaker Adams again, and it was very good to hear Senator McCain speak. I've never been to one of his events before, save for his election night concession speech back in 2008. He's much more likeable in person than the few soundbites that the news gives of him. I count myself still on the fence about whom to vote for in the primaries, but having more information from Senator McCain certainly helps. I have now met all the Republican Senate candidates for this primary election.

More to come in the near future about the primaries. 'Til then.

Thoughts on Etc

2010-07-18T17:27:00.001-07:00

I figured I'd put up a new post today, but I don't know much what I want to write about, so these are a variety of random thoughts for your reading enjoyment:

First, Thursday through Sunday of this week, I'll be housesitting for a friend of my mom's in lovely Prescott, Arizona. She has a house with an amazing view of the city to one side, and of Thumb Butte to another side, and I'll be there relaxing in the pines while I watch the house-cabin and take care of her two dogs. I am looking forward to going to Half Price Books tomorrow or Tuesday and picking out some new reading material for the trip! Sadly, I don't really have any remaining friends in the Prescott area, so I won't have anyone to hang with if I do get bored up there, but I figure as long as there are pine trees and cooler temps, I may try to find some local geocaches and peruse the old shops in downtown while I'm there.

The Arizona Diamondbacks are back to playing now that the All-Star break has ended, and have promptly been swept (again!) by the NL West-leading San Diego Padres. We lost game one 1-12, game two 5-8, and today's game three by 4-6. There were two bases loaded walks issued by DBacks' pitchers, one bases-loaded hit-by-pitch, a run-scoring error by Mark Reynolds, a run-scoring wild pitch by Edwin Jackson, and overall poor defense and a lack of desire to win by the Diamondbacks. The only time I saw any animation from anyone during the series is when Evereth Cabrera of the Padres was picked off third base by Montero/Reynolds in today's game. Cabrera took a cheap shot on Reynolds and intentionally kicked him in the face after a rough tag for the out, but Reynolds responded with a half swing at Cabrera, prompting the benches to clear and Cabrera to run away like a little girl. Cabrera was then ejected for the cheap shot. Me, personally, I'm still waiting for the big brawl everyone knows is coming soon out of the Diamondbacks.

On the job front, I'm still trying to apply for purposeful jobs, though I shy away from jobs involving "closing," "marketing," "indoor/outdoor sales," and food service. I'm still trying to get to a point where I can find some good research or entry-level management jobs to apply for, but sadly with the economy, those are still few and far between. (If you are reading this, and have a political PAYING job, something in research, or something similar you need filled, I would sure love to hear about it!) I will, concordently, be doing more substitute teaching this year to get some pocket change while I look for something with more permanence.

I finished a really good book two days ago called "Too Far From Home" by Chris Jones. It's the story of the three astronauts who were stranded in orbit aboard the International Space Station after the Colombia shuttle disaster, how they coped with the situation, their experiences aboard station, and ultimately, how they got home. It's a somewhat dense book, and certainly not a quick read, but Jones' masterful prose combined with easy-to-understand technical details on the ISS and the shuttles alongside the emotional stories of the three men, their families, and the people at NASA and in Russia's Star City trying to bring them home, it's a book well-worth the time. I recommend it highly.

Anyway, I'll post something about the times in Prescott when I get back. Until then, loyal readers!

No Job

2010-07-09T15:08:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago, I got an interview with the Arizona Tax Research Association, my first formal interview post-college, and for a group that I liked and actually wanted to work for. The job they were filling was a research analyst position, someone to crunch numbers and produce publications about tax policy in the state of Arizona.

I'll admit, I was nervous going into the interview because I had been jobless for such a long time and didn't really know what to expect. I was interviewed by Kevin McCarthy, ATRA's director, and overall I thought it went pretty well, although I know I could have done a better job selling myself - which I blame on nerves and my lack of confidence. I was told after the interview that Mr. McCarthy and his board of directors would have a decision by mid-July on who they wanted to hire.

I purposely did not tell too many people about the job prospect, primarily because I didn't want to get my hopes up too high for the job. Those of whom I did tell were all very supportive and promised to keep me in their prayers while I waited. I admit, though, I was excited and hopeful at the mere prospect of getting the job and being able to finally get on with MY life, move out of my parents' house, and get a car/apartment of my own. With about 1/3 of my life already over, assuming the average age of a typical male is 75 years old, it sometimes feels as if I'm wasting time without a job or any real leads.

Anyway, this morning I finally found out by email from Mr. McCarthy, who gave me notice of his decision without having to wait on a formal rejection letter, that I was not the person selected for the research analyst position. It was a bit disappointing, of course, but even though I was again not picked for the job, I know I should feel good about making through a pool of several hundred applicants to get to the interview and for being considered. Mr. McCarthy also said he would forward my resume on to some other people with whom I might be a good fit for a couple jobs, so I certainly appreciate his generosity in doing that on my behalf.

I told my close friends about the rejection after I found out this morning, and they were all very nice and supportive, for which I am grateful. Looking on the bright side, as I am always apt to do in situations like this (ha ha), at least I got some feedback on my job search, and to have it culminate in an interview and serious consideration for a good job is certainly rewarding. I only hope now that my good fortune here continues into the next few weeks and months of my job hunt and that something comes along that is an even better fit for me than ATRA.

Thanks for the well-wishes to all who have done so.