DBacks-Cubs Spring Training

Yay for the start of Spring Training baseball! Yesterday, I went out to HoHoKam Stadium in Mesa to watch the Diamondbacks take on the Chicago Cubs in a battle royale between my top two favorite teams. My seats were awesome, as you can see in the photos below. I was on the right side of the Cubs' dugout about five rows back from the field. Primo foul ball territory; in fact, I did have a couple that were hit right at me, except low, so they bounced off the tarp or the bottom of the wall and flew elsewhere. This first photo is the DBacks batting practice about an hour and a half before game time.

My seats were so good, in fact, that prior to the game, people crowded the small area just in front of me to try to get players' autographs. Alfonso Soriano, #12 in the picture below, was a fan favorite as he threw during Cubs' warmups just before the national anthem.

During the national anthem, many of the Cubs' position players lined up in front of us during their warmups. You can see (from left to right) #25 1B Derrick Lee, an unnamed trainer, #4 CF Joey Gathright, #17 2B Mike Fontenot, #37 P Angel Guzman, #49 P Carlos Marmol, #62 P Marcos Mateo, #58 P Jose Ascanio, and #55 C Koyie Hill.

On the basepaths, the Diamondbacks had plenty of runners, collecting 12 hits, 3 hit batsmen, and 7 walks during the game. All told, that's 22 men on base! This photo, taken during the Diamondbacks 8th inning, shows DBacks shortstop Wilson on first just before moving to third on a single by pinch hitter Watson.Bottom of the fourth, and Josh Whitesell is ready at first base.New infielder Josh Whitesell gets time on the basepaths before being driven in by a pair of doubles by Hallberg and Wilson in the top of the ninth inning.I know you can't see it on the scoreboard via this picture, but the final score is Diamondbacks 9, Cubs 1!

Peanuts and Crackerjacks

The smell of hot dogs cooking on their rollers. The pristine green grass, perfectly manicured, sodded, and lovingly graced with chalk lines. The roar of an excited crowd four months removed from the thrill of gameday. The feeling of that ragged and worn-down glove - the one with the laces half coming undone - gripping a brand-new ball. The electric tingle that shakes the stadium as the National Anthem finishes and the umpire announces two words to start the season: "Play ball!" These sensations signal the renaissance of Spring Training baseball in early March, the rebirth of a sport doomed to relinquishing the public attention span for four months to football, basketball, and hockey. A renewal of the American pastime which has announced the arrival of springtime after the white death of winter since 1857, though the game's origins stretch back centuries to the French clerics of 1344. As you may be able to tell, especially if you've been a regular reader of my rantings and ravings since this blog's inception one year and one week ago today, I love baseball. I love watching the progression of the game; how each game always becomes unique despite starting with the same basic rules as a never-changing shell. I love the excitement of scoreboard-watching, even as early as mid-April to get a sense of how the Major Leagues' 30 professional teams are going to do this year. I even love the Fantasy Baseball aspect of the modernity of the sport, even though I've ended up dead last or next-to-last every season I've played! As of tomorrow, the first Spring Training games of the 2009 MLB season begin in Arizona and in Florida, the homes of all 30 teams until late March, when they head to their home stadiums. And until MY team, the Arizona Diamondbacks, heads to the BOB (it will never cease to be the BOB no matter which corporation owns it!) to try to dispel the notion that the only teams in the league worth watching are those on the East Coast. As a brief outlook to the 2009 D-Backs season, consider the following: 1. Pitching: The Diamondbacks still have both Brandon Webb and Dan Haren, along with Doug Davis. This alone makes them one of the better pitching teams in all of baseball. The Webb-Haren one-two punch is reminiscent of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling in 2001, when the team won the World Series. Speaking of Johnson, though, he has left and joined another NL West team, the San Francisco Giants, leaving some big shoes to fill for the new fourth man in the rotation, Jon Garland. Back from the minors, again, is Max Scherzer, the kid who garnered 13 strikeouts in his first MLB pitching start - a record, by the way - for #5. If the game were all about pitching, I'd imagine we could win the pennant every year. Unfortunately, it's not. 2. The Infield: The biggest, and saddest change in the infield is the deal that just happened on Friday. The D-Backs traded Orlando Hudson (2B) to the LA Dodgers for their first-round pick (17th overall) and a supplemental pick between the first and second rounds. For you non-baseball junkies, that means we could get some really good players, or not. In Hudson's place will be sophomore player Felipe Lopez, supplemented by Augie Ojeda. Granted, Lopez does a lot better on the road than at home, which could be beneficial to the team, which struggled on away games all last year, but on the downside, we just lost a multiple-Gold Glove award-winning second baseman, who was kind of a staple on the team. The rest of the infield is stacked just like last year, Chris Snyder and Miguel Montero as catchers, Stephen Drew at shortstop, Mark Reynolds at third, and back from microfracture knee surgery, Chad Tracy at first base. 3. The Outfield: Well, this is the tricky part. On the one hand, theoretically Eric Byrnes is healthy again and could play his regular left field position, but that would boot out Conor Jackson, who really impressed fans in the last half of 2008 out there. Of course, Jackson could always play his "regular" first base position, but then Tracy is warming the bench. They've got one too many good players for all their positions! Good thing Bob "Mad Scientist" Melvin, the D-Backs manager, is there to make the call. He's probably going to keep switching up the roster every night, giving Tracy 3rd base on Mark Reynolds' nights off, going with Jackson at first those days or letting Tony Clark keep his skills sharp, and swapping out Jackson and Byrnes in left from time-to-time. Frankly, I'd rather see us trade Byrnes altogether for another solid 2B or setup man in the bullpen, but that's pretty unlikely. The outfield is finished off by Young back in center field and Justin Upton back in right, supplemented by Alex Romero just in case something does happen injury-wise. If anyone is interested in getting a group together to go see a few games, maybe split the cost of one of those DBacks 10-pack ticket deals or something, shoot me an email and let me know! PLAY BALL!

Phillies Defeat Rays

Tonight, the Philadelphia Phillies are World Champions of Baseball after they finally won the World Series 4 games to 1 this evening, overtaking the Tampa Bay Rays in the city of brotherly love. I say finally only because game 5 of the Series was actually delayed by about 46 hours due to rain. Technically speaking, the game was "suspended" under a new baseball rule that only took effect in 2007 which states that a game which must be called due to weather, technical failure, etc., and which has met certain qualifications (like the away team ties or changes the lead in the top half of an inning and the home team does not get a chance to bat), will be suspended until such time as that game can be rescheduled and started from the point at which it was suspended. Because on Monday, the rain got so bad during the middle of the sixth inning (actually, they probably shouldn't have even started the game, but whatever) and the Rays had just tied the score at 2-2, without the Phillies having a chance to bat in the bottom of the sixth, the game was suspended until 5:30pm Arizona time today and restarted in the bottom of the sixth. Brad Lidge, if you're curious, got his (still perfect) 7th postseason save for the Phillies, and Pedro Feliz knocked through the winning run in the 7th inning (second inning of play tonight).

My Super Busy (and Super Fun) Weekend

This weekend, by which I mean Friday-Monday, I am going to be SUPER busy having loads of fun on a variety of different projects. Here's a rundown: Friday: Fundraiser for Rep. Adams in LD-19 featuring former House Majority Leader Dick Armey. I am helping with volunteer coordination, registration, and whatever else needs to be done. Four CRs will also be there from ASU as my volunteers, so that should be good times! Saturday: Fly out of Phoenix at 9am and arrive in Tampa, FL around 4pm EST. Then, I'm going to try to catch the Red Sox-Rays game that night at 8:07 EST, though I might not be able to if I can't find any cheap tickets by start time. Either way, I'll check out the stadium! Sunday: I plan on going to the beach in the morning and checking out the Atlantic Ocean, since I've never actually been to the Atlantic before. (The two closest times were when I was in Washington, DC and in England/France, but I never actually got to go to the ocean. Then at 1:00pm EST, I have free tickets to see the Panthers and Buccaneers game, courtesy the radio station. The Buccaneers' stadium is pretty darn cool, nicknamed the "Crown Jewel of the NFL." My seats are right down by field level in front of the famous Pirate Ship in the north end zone. After the game, I am not sure what we'll be doing, but I do plan to try to explore some of Tampa!

The Pirate Ship

Info: (from www.raymodjames.com/stadium/stadium_facts.htm) "The same company that produces props for Walt Disney World created the mighty pirate ship that is permanently harbored in Buccaneer Cove. The pirate ship comes to life after the Buccaneers score a field goal or touchdown. Its loud cannons fire seven times to signal a touchdown and three to announce a field goal. The pirate ship is an authentic replica of an early 1800s pirate ship, arguably one of the most recognizable stadium features in the world. It is 103 feet long with huge 32x50 foot sails."

Monday: The flight back is at 4pm EST, so we have most of the day to explore the area and see what's around. We land back in Phoenix around 5:30pm MST having gained an additional three hours or so that we had lost when we flew out. The only downfall: the flight is nonstop, so I'm sure I'll get antsy being stuck on a plane for 4 hours. I guess it'll be great opportunity to catch up on some reading. I just got a new book called "Painting the Map Red" by Hugh Hewitt, and I need to finish "Legend," the second Event Group thriller. Tuesday: Back to work! Hopefully I'll have pics and recap of my trip up on the blog here by then, so definitely check it out!

By the Numbers

Lately I've been noticing that a lot of things are circulating numerically in the world, and I thought I'd take a moment to showcase a few that I've found particularly intriguing. Some are subjective and of my own personal opinions, others are factual. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I do! Baseball: NLDS A: Phillies 2 games, Brewers 0 games NLDS B: Dodgers 2 games, Cubs 0 games ALDS A: Rays 1 game, White Sox 0 games ALDS B: Red Sox 1 game, Angels 0 games Debate scores (subjective): Presidential Debates: McCain 1, Obama 0 (it was close, but I think McCain pulled out the win) Vice-Presidential Debate: Biden 1, Palin 0 $700,000,000,000,000.00: The amount of money the Senate and possibly the House intend to shove down the throats (or up some other unmentionable places) of taxpayers to bail out the US economy. I guess I can kiss my hopes for any kind of savings plan goodbye for a few decades. (Other, related numbers: Senate vote: 74 Aye, 25 Nay; House vote: 205 Aye, 228 Nay.) Total miles I drive per day for work-related tasks: 24.4 (on average). Total miles per gallon my car gets: 25 (approximately). Current dollar amount per gallon of gas at the Diamond Shamrock near my house: $3.29. Total amount of money I will spend filling up the car each week: approximately $45.00. Total percentage of my approximate weekly income that is: 12.9% (Ouch! Just for gas! Add in the cell phone bill and that percentage jumps to 28.6%) Number of books I have started since school ended on 5/10/08: 6 Number finished: 1 Number of days spent working since school ended 5/10/08: 12 Number of those which were volunteer work days: 6 Number of paychecks received: 0 Number of resumes sent out in the 30 days prior to starting work at Halo PA: 63 Number of responses received: 4 Friends of mine who have had birthdays within the last 30 days: 12 Number I've been able to visit with in the last 30 days: 1 Can anyone add to this list? I'd be interested in hearing what some of your important numerical moments of the recent past have been!

End of the Road

Finished. Caput. Done. Finite. Washed up. Ended. Stick a fork in 'em. Pushing up daisies. Wait... that last one was for "dead," right? Anyway, the Arizona Diamondbacks' hopes of going back to the playoffs this year and winning the NL West came to a halt this afternoon as they lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, giving the Dodgers the title. I can't say I blame the Dodgers for our predicament, though, what with all the Arizona injuries (Hudson, Byrnes, Jackson for a bit, Upton for a bit, Young, etc) and the extremely poor condition of the bullpen staff (Lyon couldn't close effectively, Rouch and Qualls' problems, Cruz being injured), it's not a surprise that we slid so far. So, thus ends the 2008 bid for the DBacks. Things to watch as the final three games are played: 1. Brandon Webb getting victory 23 on Saturday to hopefully solidify his place as NL Cy Young Award winner. 2. Dan Haren's 200th single-season strikeout, which could come on Friday if can can punch out three batters. Also, a Haren win on Friday would net him his career-high 17th single-season win. 3. Mark Reynolds already has set the mark as the first ever player to strike out 200 times in a season, and he will retain his title as the player with the most Ks provided Ryan Howard (5 behind) or Jack Cust (9 behind) don't overtake him in the final three games. 4. Mark Reynolds could also get his 30th homer of this season with 2 more and his 100th RBI of this season with 4 more. 5. With just one more double, Adam Dunn will claim 200 career 2Bs. Things to look for in 2009: 1. The return of Orlando Hudson (2B) and Eric Byrnes (LF) tops this list. Had these two been healthy, we might have been looking forward to some October baseball. Instead, Byrnes' hamstring injury and Hudson's broken hand really cost the DBacks big time. Their return and hopefully healthy 2009 season should be a big pick-me-up for the slumping youngsters from the farm system. 2. Big changes in the bullpen pitching staff. The Diamondbacks need a closer, and they need one badly. Why they ever got rid of Jose Valverde in favor of making one of their setup men close out the games is beyond me, and frankly goes down as one of their most boneheaded moves in my book. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of Brandon Lyon (not just for the roar from the scoreboard that accompanies every Lyon strikeout), but he is a reliever, not a closer. They need to pick up (in the best case scenario) someone like Francisco Rodriguez, Eric Gagne, or Jason Isringhausen, all of whom will be free agents after this year. 3. The return of the Big Unit. Seeking his 300th career victory, Randy Johnson will hopefully be back next year provided his health holds up. He deserves 300 wins, given his storied career. Then he can retire as a Diamondback! 4. Defensive changes? I still like our main outfielders of Byrnes (LF), Young (CF), and Upton (RF). Conor Jackson should move back to 1B once Adam Dunn leaves (he'll be a free agent after this year, and I don't imagine he'll stick around, though you never know). 2B will go back to Hudson, Drew at SS, and Reynolds at 3B. Chris Snyder behind the plate caps it all off. However, the Diamondbacks could try to capitalize on some of their young talent, trading off maybe Upton or Byrnes to try to gain some other big name outfielders who would boost both the hitting prowess of the DBacks and act as veteran anchors of the team. I like Ibanez, Burrell, or Carl Crawford. 5. Getting back to baseball season in 2009! For now, I guess I will root for the Chicago Cubs in the postseason. I have plenty of Cubs fan friends, and I think it's time the Curse of the Billy Goat was broken. This year, the 100th anniversary of the Cubs' last World Series victory, it's their year now (now that the DBacks are out, anyway)!

Instant Replay is Unwarranted

Today, I read an interesting opinion article by NBCSports.com writer Bryan Burwell titled "Why Limit Replays to Home Run Calls?" Burwell's opinion inspired me to write down some of my own thoughts as an avid baseball fan in defense of what Burwell calls the "old-school" way of thinking. For those that haven't heard about it, America's pastime recently got a technological makeover in the form of instant replay for the sole purpose of allowing the crew chief of an umpiring crew to see if his crew got a home run call of fair or foul, over the wall or not, and fan interference or not correct. Major League Baseball is the last major sport to not utilize replay, unlike football where replays are used nearly every game to dispute almost any play, hockey to dispute goals, or tennis to dispute close line calls by the line judges. The basic setup of the replay system is simple - in all thirty MLB ballparks, a video screen and phone are set up. This is connected to an off-site central replay center for all replays. The crew chief of the umpiring crew calls for a review of a homer, views the replay on the screen, and exercises sole discretion in upholding or overturning the call. Unlike football, there are no "coach's challenges" or player requests like in tennis. This might seem like a good thing, and perhaps it is, as Burwell suggests, "belated" as compared to the other sports. However, I offer a different perspective. In football, hockey, and tennis, fans don't exercise the option to yell at the referees for a bad call - they yell for the coaches to challenge the judge's decision. In baseball, one of the best things about the game is it's fallibility. When a player smashes one down the right-field line and it goes into the corner and looks to be out of the park, but is subsequently called foul, who among us doesn't like to yell at the umpires? Baseball fans have a much more intimate relationship with the umps than any other sport does with its officiating crew: before each game, the umpiring crew is announced to the stadium, scorecards have spaces on them for the umpires as well as the players, and many fans can pick out the umpires from the quirks they harbor behind the plate or on the field (just TRY to ignore Jim Joyce calling a called strike!). The point is: we want to yell at them, then accept that the call didn't go our way that time and sit back down with the subtle reminder that human error is a part of the game. Same thing for safe/not safe, balls and strikes, and fair or foul. It's fun to watch the umps get it wrong; I would say its almost an essential part of the game. "The idea in every game we play is fairness," says Berwell. "The idea in every game we play is to get it right." What he fails to recognize is that that officiating crew "gets it right" 99 percent of the time! And even when they don't, the play was almost always so close that the call could go either way, even with replay. Trust me, after watching several years' worth of baseball games on TV, where every close play is shown over and over, even slowed down to "Extreme Slo-Mo" speeds, it can still be hard to determine what the call "should have" been. And if it's that way for every team and every player, what's not fair about that? While the technological part works for football (where you really can't tell what's going on without replays anyway), tennis, or hockey, it's a system that seeks to bring down the level of the game of baseball. My opinion as a fan of the game and a modern student of technology is that not only do we need a traditional game that puts aside the ideals of so-called perfection that only the National Enquirer can showcase, but that taking this "advancement" any farther than it already has would continue to degrade the enjoyability of baseball considerably. Those people, like Mr. Berwell, who argue for the mechanization of the game are not fans in my book, but rather glorified statisticians seeking nothing more than a reason to argue.

Steamrollin'

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

Making Plans

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

Another Update

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

Answering Phones

In keeping with the phone tales of the past few weeks, I started my first temporary job since graduating college at my dad's office as the fill-in receptionist while the normal receptionist moves this weekend. Boring job, especially on a Friday, because in the construction industry, everyone apparently takes off after 3:30, and I needed to be there until close of business at 5:00. At least I got to read one of my books - Ice Station by Matt Reilly. I should find out all the final details about my job with Summit Consulting Group this week in preparation for my start there on or about July 7th. I'm looking forward to finally getting my foot in the proverbial door. As a final note, I'm watching history in the making right now, as the LA Dodgers are beating the LA Angels without having gotten a single hit.... it'll be cool if the game ends that way!

Well, I know I promised updates on the job hunt last week, but I got "busy" doing other things. However, I'm here now and, well, that's what matters, eh? I had my interview last week Tuesday, and it went very well. There should be some temporary work lasting through the election that I can do - mostly a variety of projects for a variety of people - at least through November. After that, I will probably need to start looking again, but at least I'll have my foot in the proverbial door. I was also recently contacted about another opportunity doing research and networking for someone else, but I need to get more info about it before I commit to anything. Research would be more to my liking than electioneering and grassroots stuff, but I do enjoy staffing a good rally every now and again! Otherwise, the most exciting thing of the past few days is that I finally got Season 6 of The West Wing, so I'm enjoying watching that. Just one more season to go, and I'll have the whole set - not an easy feat by any means, considering the price of each season on DVD. I'm also disappointed in my Diamondbacks, who, except for last night, have been stinking up the diamond defensively and offensively the past month or so. Hopefully they can make a couple trades for some team leaders in the near future and upgrade their hitting coach or something so that they can start producing more. Otherwise, I don't care if they stay in first the whole year in the NL West, they'll never be able to compete in the playoffs against any NL East or AL teams.

Big Block of Cheese Day

"Andrew Jackson, in the main foyer of the White House, had a two-ton block of cheese. It was there for any and all who were hungry...." - Leo McGarry of "The West Wing" Well, what can I say? It's another long lazy Sunday night following a long lazy Sunday of helping my parents clean the house, watching Tiger Woods tie Rocco Mediate in the US Open Championship on the 18th hole in typical dramatic Tiger Woods fashion, and watching President Josiah Bartlett battle the press and Congress over his MS scandal. Happy Father's Day to any and all who may read this blog. The past few days, I've been working hard to get job interviews; my newest one is this Tuesday where I will be meeting a guy about a job at the Tempe Marketplace. Kinda cool since I've never been there (it was constructed and opened while I was at NAU). So I might have good news come Wednesday or thereabouts. We shall see. I also (this is how exciting my week has been, that this made it to my blog) got a new set of bookshelves, put them together, and finally got all my books organized on them this weekend. I have a lot of good books that I have yet to read: Dinesh D'Souza's "The Enemy At Home," Todd Buchholz's "New Ideas From Dead CEOs," Nonie Darwish's "Now They Call Me Infidel," and William Clark's "The Judge," among many others. Mostly these are books I got at YAF conferences or were old books thrown out by professors that I was able to obtain, but I am excited to read them nonetheless. I also got five Tom Clancey novels from Half Price Books for only $6 (all hardback, too!), so I'm going to read those just as soon as I am finished with the newest James Rollins book, which is amazing! I didn't even know he had written a new one until I went to Wal-Mart and saw it in paperback. He is my second favorite author behind Matt Reilly, so it turned out to be a fantastic impulse buy for me. Otherwise, I'm disappointed my D-Backs are sucking it up against the Kansas City Royals this weekend, something which shouldn't be happening 'cuz KC sucks. I also finally have wireless internet for my laptop, so I can do a lot more online and hopefully keep up the blog better when I do find a job. Updates to follow later this week on the job hunt and various other activities! Also, a big THANK YOU to Jim Ogsbury and his awesome campaign staff! You guys know what it is for.

Spendin' Saturday with the D-Backs

Yesterday I got to do one of my favorite summertime activities again, namely going to watch the Arizona Diamondbacks take on the Nationals. This time, I went alone save for my scorebook - I do enjoy scoring the games, and I've only missed somewhere around 4 so far this season. The club was also giving away some sweet DBacks duffle bags for the first 25,000 fans in the ballpark, so I got there early and snagged one! The game was GREAT - possibly one of the best I've seen. Brandon Webb pitched a complete game shutout for his tenth win of the season, complete with 8 strikeouts and no walks. Chris Young and Orlando Hudson each hit a homer, and Mark Reynolds blasted two in the game, one a 460-some footer to deep left! In the ninth, Reynolds also showed some major skill with a jumping/diving over the shoulder-behind the back-ish catch out in shallow left field. Possibly the best catch of the season for the team! But not to be outdone, the Nationals' pitcher Bergmann also pitched all 8 innings of his game, and he worked FAST. The game was the quickest in Diamondbacks club history at one hour, 52 minutes, and both teams used a combined (and minimum) 18 players. No pitching changes, no pinch hitters or runners, and no defensive switching. I'm almost glad I only paid $5 for the ticket because the game was shorter than the new "Indiana Jones" movie! Plus, the guy I was sitting next to was pretty cool. We chatted the whole way through the game about baseball. He works now for Boeing, but he used to be a player and scout for some of the minor league teams back in the day. He actually saw the Boston Red Sox go back-to-back-to-back-to-back with homers at Fenway Park last year, and nearly caught a homer by Carl Yastrzemski the year he won the Triple Crown in baseball. Good times, and thanks for bringing some extra fun to the ballpark for me, Boeing Guy!

This is one picture from the DBacks-Rockies game on Saturday I went to while I was down in Phoenix. It was a great game where they were celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Arizona Diamondbacks, and I got a sweet giveaway 10th anniversary hat. I went with my buddy Scott and had a great time!

Home Is Where the Heat Is....

So, I'm going home this weekend. And I'm only halfheartedly excited about it for a few reasons. The first of these is that the reason I'm going home is to babysit my younger brother and sister while my parents fly out to Michigan to celebrate my grandfather's 80th birthday. I haven't seen him in about 3 years, because my parents typically entice me (monitarily) into staying home to house-sit while they take the rest of the family to Michigan on vacations in the summer to Michigan to see the relatives. Not that I'm complaining at all - it's wonderful having a house all to myself, have a few friends over for a party, including BBQ and swimming, all paid for by the 'rents!

The second reason is that I recently found out that this weekend is the big "new staff" dinner and celebration for the RAs who will be taking the spots next year of those of us that are graduating this year. Back one year ago, this was a very special thing that the old staff at Mountain View did for me and my staff, and I am disappointed I'll have to miss it. One of the biggest things we did was that the "old" staff passed along a few words of wisdom to the "new" staff, so I think I'll write up something for all of them. Still not the same, though.

However, I did get two tickets to Saturday's Rockies-Diamondbacks game at Chase Field - Sec. 328, Row 19 - off the third base line on the third level - which I'll be using to take my best friend from high school, Scott, to a game so we can catch up and have some fun with the weekend. That should be a good time! I'll be looking for the D-Backs to soundly beat up on the Rox again like our big-league SWEEP of the Rockies in their home opening series this past weekend!

I leave Thursday morning early. EARLY. Like, 7am early. I'm not a fan of the morning stuff, but c'est la vie, and I'll get back into Flag around 9pm Monday. So, I won't be posting during that time, but I will write more once I get back. I just have to work on a one-page paper and an online quiz before I leave, and I'll be good to go!

Big Mothaf#($*!@^ Rock!

Last night certainly was eventful, what with having to deal with some people in the building who decided it would be a good idea to break things. Among the issues: a broken window from a rock someone threw, a broken exit sign someone tore from the ceiling, a broken door and door handle, and one of our fraternities' letters were broken by someone. Three issues involved NAUPD, and I was up (along with my partner on call and our ARHD) until 5am writing reports and taking care of business. All-in-all, the most eventful night I've had all semester. The good news is, I only have 2 more nights on call for the remainder of the semester: one Thursday night in a couple weeks, and one Sunday night at the end of April. Then it should be all downhill from there! Oh, and my Diamondbacks SWEPT the Colorado Rockies with a final score today of 5-2 coming on a ninth-inning 2-run home run by Mark Reynolds and a tenth-inning solo homer by Stephen Drew. Prior to both of those, the DBacks only had three hits, zero runs in the game! I LOVE late-inning heroics!

Baseball Season Is Here!

Yesterday marked Opening Day of baseball for the 2008 season for most of the teams in the majors except for the Red Sox, Athletics, Braves, and Nationals, which had played earlier in true MLB openers. But for my Diamondbacks, we brought the noise to kick-start a great season with a 4-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds, thanks in part to some absolutely spotless defense from 3B Mark Reynolds and 2B Orlando Hudson and three homers from CF Chris Young, PH Jeff Salazar, and LF Eric Byrnes. I mean, that's over half the team participating in the win right there. P Brandon Webb turned in 6.0 spotless innings of work allowing just 3 hits and 2 earned runs, striking out 6, but walking 4. It was the first of what I hope will be many, many victories this season! And of course, I got to score the game for my scorebook, even though I missed my class to watch all of the game. Tomorrow is game #2!

I Was At Nationals Stadium Today!

Well, okay, I was there only in spirit, but still...! (Not to be confused with Chelsea who I heard was there for real to see the action - I'm really quite jealous....) But I did watch the USA home opener for Major League Baseball between the Washington Nationals and the Atlanta Braves in Washington, DC this afternoon. It was a heck of a game, with Zimmerman's 9th inning 2-out walk-off home run over the right center field wall as the perfect ending to the Nats first game in their new home. I can't wait to go see a game there someday, with the spectacular views of the DC landmarks from various places all over the stadium. I hope Chelsea gets back to posting soon, because I wanna hear how it was watching President Bush throw out the first pitch (even among the boos there, Chels, I still heard your cheering!) and the amazing job done by both starting pitchers - minus the 1 error, 26 in a row sat down by Tim Hudson and the Braves' bullpen between the final out of the 1st inning and the walk-off homer by Zimmerman.

Snappish!

So, the next time you are considering staying up until 6am to watch a baseball game live televised in the Tokyo Dome at 3:05am in Arizona, maybe think again. Or maybe that's just solid advice for myself. I'm tired, though, admittedly, the game was pretty darn good. Couple of homers, couple of really good defensive plays, great pitching from Rich Harden....

Unfortunately, now I have to go to class and try to think about.... ugh.... organizational psychology. A topic which, if it wasn't actually a requirement, I would just blow off entirely. I'm done with school right now. Done entirely. I want to get out into the workforce and start making something of all this "learning" that I've supposedly been doing over the past 22 years. Though, frankly, I don't see how learning about some of the stuff I've been learning is ever going to help me. Like calculus. Serious, who fucking uses calculus outside of nuclear physicists and boring, stodgy old guys wasting away as math professors at podunk universities?

So basically, to link this to the title of this post.... little sleep makes Andrew a wee bit snappish toward things. I was asked today by my supervisor in our weekly meeting what my goals were for the staff here for the remainder of the year, like having a good fundraiser next week, maintaining strong relationships with my fellow staff members, etc. And you know, the only thing I could think of was: "I think those are just fairly obvious things, not really goals. I mean, of course I want our staff to remain strong over the rest of the year. I'm not going to say I don't want our fundraiser to go well, you know?" In hindsight, I hate doing that, but really, that's what happens when I stay up too late. I'm going to bed early tonight so I can get some shit done tomorrow. Papers and stuff.

Oh, and apparently I have a library book that was due in October still in my possession. I think the library is screwing me over. All I can say is that this better not fuck with my graduation or I am gonna be ticked.