So, this Sunday Jennifer and I are taking a trip out to Cali. It’s just a brief trip to do the haunted houses at Knott’s Berry Farm, but it’s a trip nonetheless.
And I’ll bring my camera, which means there should be some pictures of the festivities.
But will Friday Photo return?
After some nagging from @molliekatie, I set up a way to subscribe to my blog via email… it’s really easy and can be done with FeedBurner.
The steps I found to set it up are here. It was really easy!
Here’s what I’ve got…
First round:
NLCS: Phillies v. Braves: This is a really tough one to call…. divisional teams that know each other all too well. But I think it’ll be the Phillies here. They had the stronger regular season in the matchup and the Phils will have home field, which doesn’t hurt either.
ALCS: Yankees v. Rays: Rays have home field and went 10-8 against the Yankees this year. I think they’ll win this one.
World Series: Rays v. Phillies: For the first time since Selig came up with that BS idea to make the All-Star game “mean something,” the NL will have home field for the series. They didn’t play each other, so there’s no way to compare them there, but I think the Rays are the stronger team, winning the toughest division in baseball and I think they’ll bring home the trophy.
The team behind Windows Live Writer, my blogging software of choice, finally released the finished product for WLW 2011 yesterday. I’d been playing around with the beta versions of it, which I’ve liked for the most part, but now that the final is out, here are my thoughts.
Oh, and there’s one more really, really big improvement…
…if for no other reason than that I’ve now got the domain name paid for through December 2014.
So I will…
So, about that whole Ines Sainz being catcalled by Jets players thing…
New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, addressing the alleged harassment of a female TV reporter Saturday at practice, told ESPNNewYork.com Monday that the team will begin interviewing players as part of its investigation with the league office.
[…]
The NFL is looking into a complaint made by the Association for Women in Sports Media against the Jets after Sainz [of Mexico's TV Azteca] reportedly was subjected to footballs being thrown in her direction at practice and, later, players' catcalls inside the locker room.
I’m not going to comment on this… instead, I’ll let Hyman Roth comment for me.
We had to get a cone of shame for Bruiser because he’d managed to mess up his feet somehow and he was licking the heck out of them and making them just that much worse.
While I was at work, my wonderful girlfriend shot this video of him trying to escape from it to no avail:
I’ve always heard that everything happens for a reason, but I wasn’t sure if I always believed it.
As most of y’all probably know, I up and moved to Phoenix about five months back.
Well, this story begins long before that.
If it wasn’t for a lightning strike that hit the pole outside our house in Beaumont and sent everything haywire.
It, of course, happened on a Friday so we were stuck with dealing with most everything being wonky all weekend. Which sucked, but Twitter’s @jpenaz sent me a direct message that said to text her if I got bored or miserable or whatever. So I did…
And, from that, a friendship grew and turned into a relationship that grew into me coming out just after Christmas. Which was a great trip that convinced me just how amazing a woman Jennifer is.
That led to my coming back in April, which led to my staying here and getting my job with SUPPORTCO, which I enjoy most of the time.
Last month I got myself back to Texas to get my stuff, and I went to see my eye doctor while I was there… finding out that I had a pretty big problem going on with them, so they referred me to a doctor in the Phoenix area to go to. I called and got an appointment scheduled with him the next week.
I met the new doctor the next week and I’m now convinced that I’m way better off going to see him than seeing the old doctor I was seeing in Houston. I’ve got nothing but confidence in Dr. Rabinowitz, who not only explained the situation to me in way more detail than my previous doctor, but made me feel pretty good about it. He simply told it to me like it is.
For now, medicine’s holding my condition in check, but I’ll almost surely need to have surgery done for it someday and I can honestly say that I’ve got nothing but a ton of faith in the doctors I’m seeing now… something I couldn’t say before.
Everything happens for a reason. I believe that now.
It’s been forever since I’ve blogged anything.
Rest assured, though, that I’ve got a three-day weekend coming up and I’ve got a post or two in mind for that time.
…and well after the trip back to Texas.
I did learn a few things, though:
Dear Southwest Airlines,
I’m flying with y’all this morning back to my home in Texas. Could y’all do me a big favor? Because I’d really appreciate it that if I get a singing flight attendant that they actually be good at singing. The guy I had singing on my flight out here was pretty awesome, so I’d take him again.
Sincerely,
Justin
Dear thunderstorms in the area,
Look, guys, I know you have an important job in giving the Valley of the Sun some much-needed rain during the summer monsoon season, but could you please stay far enough away from the airport this morning that you won’t mess up my flight? Because that would be awesome.
Sincerely,
Justin
I went outside last night (I have Sunday and Monday off) to mow the back yard.
Before the actual mowing, I went and got the pooper scooper to clean up…
I’ve had the date for my return to Texas planned for a while, but I’d been seeing it as something that’s “still a ways off.”
Until I realized something this week: that it’s really not all that far off anymore.
It’s less than two weeks.
In all fairness, I’m only spending a few days back at home and most of the time will involve me packing my car and taking care of things.
But it’s still a few days with family and friends that I really hadn’t said “bye” to… after all, it’s not like I’d planned on staying in Arizona.
UPDATE: And, yes, Bruiser is coming with me on the drive back to Arizona.
Last night just might have been the best night I’ve had since I moved out to Arizona in April.
Thursday or Friday I made reservations at Ruffino’s, a local Italian joint that one of my girlfriend’s friends had recommended we try.
So we went… and although the prices there were a little higher than my sensibilities would usually allow me to pay for food, it was an incredible meal. Quite possibly the best Italian I’ve ever had.
As we drove home from that, we could see lightning flashes in the distance. Looks like monsoon season is on the way…
We weren’t done, though. We headed to the local movie joint a little while later to go see Inception. In IMAX. Though it did have moments where it felt a lot like Shutter Island, the last film DiCaprio did, it was just an amazing flick. To me, it’s amazing that someone could just think up a story like the one that movie told, much less make it work so well.
If you go see any movie out there this summer, make it Inception. Just trust me on this one. It’s amazing.
Berry out, Bagwell in:
The Astros have relieved hitting coach Sean Berry of his duties, general manager Ed Wade announced today.
Berry will be replaced by former Astros first baseman Jeff Bagwell, who has been serving as a Special Assistant to the General Manager since his retirement in 2006. Berry, who had been the Astros hitting coach for the past five seasons, has been offered an opportunity to remain in the Astros organization.
As a few of y’all might know, Bagwell was my favorite Astro growing up, so I welcome anything that’ll get him back in an Astros uniform.
Of course, this move won’t help them this year, but I do think it’ll be of benefit to the young kids coming up to the majors.
I was going to link to the photo gallery from Baggy’s retirement, but something seems to be wrong with the gallery. Not that I ever use the gallery anymore or anything. So I’ll link to a picture I did as a Friday Photo of Bagwell catching his daughters throwing the first pitch when his number was retired.
Today my lovely girlfriend and I joined a gym. Yes, that’s right, me… a member of a gym. I’m not making this up…
And, you know what? I’m kinda looking forward to getting started.
I’ve needed to get myself in better shape for years, after all…
So the adventure begins…
OK, so it’s not really going into “hibernation” because of the oppressive desert heat… even if it is 1 AM when I’m writing this, and still 98 degrees outside.
Yes, that’s right, it’s 98 at 1 AM. It’s insane.
Anyway, the reason I’m really hibernating the feature is because my computer, and with it almost all of my photo collection, is still in Texas.
Anyway, I should be bringing it back sometime next month after I get my computer moved out to the desert with me.
Until then, I’ll try to blog a little more about other stuff… like my life in Arizona.
That’s right, I’m not talking about SB 1070. I’m talking about the law punishing employers for hiring illegals.
The Supreme Court is entering the nation's charged debate over immigration, agreeing to hear a challenge from business and civil liberties groups to an Arizona law that cracks down on employers who hire undocumented workers.
The justices on Monday accepted an appeal from the Chamber of Commerce, American Civil Liberties Union and others to a lower court ruling that upheld Arizona's law. The measure requires employers to verify the eligibility of prospective employees through a federal database called E-Verify and imposes sanctions on companies that knowingly hire undocumented workers.
Some of y’all might remember that I’ve blogged about this law before. I still don’t think there’s a snowball’s chance in hell that the law will be overturned, but who knows. After all, I didn’t think the SCOTUS would even take the case.
Yesterday way my first day going solo on the phones at SUPPORTCO. It was… interesting.
First few calls were nerve-racking, but I got more comfortable as the night went on. I was actually feeling about as confident as a person doing their first day out there could be.
We were told to not take a call after 10:45 and go back to our classroom to take care of some stuff. At 10:44 I literally had my finger on the button that logs me out of the phone system when I got a beep that told me I had a call.
It’s a call that should have taken about 10 minutes, but out of my stupidity it took about half an hour. Thankfully, though, I did get the issue resolved.
So, I learned two really big lessons today:
And now? THREE DAY WEEKEND!!!