Neglect!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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/