Me & Baseball

I love baseball, but as recently as 5 years ago I would have told you I could care less about baseball. I fell in love with baseball when my parents moved to Houston and I started going to Astros games with some regularity. I'm not sure what it is that I love about it so much, but I think a big part of it is the slow tempo. It leaves me time to think about other things on my mind while still catching all the action. I do not have cable so I don't get to watch much baseball, but I listen to it on AM radio almost every night. I like listening to baseball on the radio; whenever I do, I can't help but think that there was probably some guy 50 years ago listening to a similar game doing the same thing I am doing at that very moment. Probably straining to hear the radio (as I often have to).

Some of you may know this already, but for those that don't, I'm going on a baseball trip at the end of this month. I'm uber-excited about it. The main point of the trip is hitting up as many baseball stadiums in as short a span of time as possible for as little money as possible. Currently the count is 7 games in 7 stadiums over a 7 day period for about $850. The destinations: St. Louis, Milwaukee, Chicago (Cubs and W. Sox), Boston, New York (Yankees only), and Philadelphia. I am going with one of my college roommates (Robert Stevener for those of you who know him). The trip involves traveling by bus, train, car, and airplane, as well as sleeping in hotels, cars, friend's houses, and buses. Questions? Comments? Words of amazement?

Me & Shamu

We went to Sea World yesterday morning! I really enjoy going there. No lines for the rides, enjoyable shows, Elena goes ga-ga for everything there, and we have season passes so we don't have to stay all day to get our money's worth. This Saturday we caught the Shamu show, rode some rides (this involved only me), and checked out the penguins. The Shamu show is called "Believe". The entire show is about believing in your dreams. Of course I find the theme running through the show annoying (I mean come on, believe in your dreams?) but you cannot help but be very impressed with the beautiful Orcas that star in the show.

Let me preface my next statement by reminding you that I cry pretty easily (ridiculously easy actually). I welled up about 3 or 4 times during the show. Not because of all of the "believe in your dreams" junk, but rather because of the beauty of the animals themselves, and the connection between them and the workers co-starring in the show. I'm pretty sure Amy did not figure out I was struggling to maintain my emotions, then again maybe she was just being kind by not pointing out that I am a little baby.

Bottom line, I highly recommend checking out the entire park next time you are in SA (you can stay with us while you're here). I only ask that you do not study my overactive tearducts during any of the shows.

I'm a travelling man

I'm blogging to you from the middle seat of a minivan trekking through the rolling hills and towering pine trees of East Texas. I love seeing the country from this vantage point. I'd rather be driving, but then I would not be able to blog, not to mention I would be driving my in-laws minivan with them in it which would be a little awkward. Anyway, I'm going to make the best of the situation and blog away.

I love Texas. No offense to anyone reading this who is not from Texas or does not have the distinct privilege of living here, but we have the best state in the union! I love to travel in and out of our great state, but when I leave the friendly confines (to steal a line from a Shaun Groves song) "there is something in me that always misses Texas". It's a unique and wonderful state and I hope I never live anywhere else. For those not keeping track, I am on my 5th city in Texas. I have lived in: Beaumont, TX (born here, the city is pretty ugly), Dallas (grew up here, home to my favorite sports teams outside of the Astros), College Station (discovered myself and my wife here, will always feel like home for this proud former student), Houston (learned what love was here, some of the nicest people in the nation live here and this is where Amy and I first lived together and had our first child), and San Antonio (current residence, prettiest big city in Texas, needs an MLB baseball team). As you can see, I love every place I have ever lived in Texas.

Speaking of moving, my little sister (yes, no matter how old, pregnant, whatever she is, she is still my little sis) and her husband Nate are proud owners of a contract on a house out in lovely Katy, TX as of Thursday. I love to make big purchases, and I really enjoy people I know making big purchases as well (I'm going to call this VP - Vicariously Purchasing from now on). Anyway, congrats ya'll! Amy and I pray it will be a blessing to you for many years to come.

It is strange for me to see Abby all grown up and doing grown up type things. I was thinking this morning about why this is the case and came up with something. Bear in mind that this was thought up at 5:30 AM after pulling in about 4.5 hours of sleep, but here goes. I moved out of my parents house in the fall of 1999 to attend (when I could get up early enough for class) Texas A&M University. When I moved out, Abby was 16 years old and (sorry Abby) not very mature. I'm not saying that I was more mature than Abby, but that is beside the point anyway. The point is that the last time I lived with Abby full-time she was not all that mature. Since then she has obviously made amazing strides (I am very proud of her). The problem is I have only been around part-time to witness it. So to me, there is still part of me that thinks of Abby the way I knew her for the majority of my life. I assume this will change at some point (after all we do not argue over who gets shot-gun that much anymore). If she keeps on doing all these big-girl things, she may force my hand.

Follow-up from last time:   I caught someone in the act of taking my spot today.   The nerve!   I gave him a dirty look and parked a couple of spots over in an inferior spot.

In other news, I got home late today.   Work has been pretty crazy this year.   Due to some new processes and less than stellar scheduling, everyone is working their tails off.   I don't mind too much.   For the most part it makes me feel important to have so much to do that I have to work late every day.   Unfortunately this takes away from my time with Amy and the crew, which I do not care for at all.   

Anyway, getting back on track... I got home late today and Amy had just wrapped up raking the entire yard!   I was really happy to see this because I HATE doing yard work.   Amy is good to me.

Last thing for today:  I love March Madness.   I love sports in general, but there are only a few sporting events every year that really really get me going.   One is March Madness.   So much basketball...   So much heart...   So many great story-lines...

Here goes something (hopefully)

I've always resisted starting a blog.  I think this is mainly because I try to avoid starting things I know I won't finish.   I finally decided to go for it earlier today, and blogspot was down!   Blogspot is run by Google.   What are the odds something run by Google is going to be down?   I probably should have taken that as a sign, but for some reason I refreshed over and over until blogspot came back online.

I'll go ahead and jump right in...   

I am a VERY particular parker.   I have a spot at work that I always park in.   I discovered this spot early in my tenure at my current company.   It has a concrete staircase on one side of it.   This may sound inconsequential to somebody who does not pay much attention to where they park, but to me it means I can park within 1 inch of the wall, leaving 3 feet on the other side of the space.   This effectively ensures that some brain dead person does not ding my $10,000 used car (thus reducing it's value $1).   I struggled to consistently obtain this space early on.   Jerks (who obviously hated me) would take it if I was not there in time.   This drove me crazy, because they didn't even use the spot effectively (i.e. they parked in the middle of the spot rather than snuggling up to the staircase).   So I began showing up for work earlier to ensure I got my spot.   This is the sole reason I get up for work when I do.   I love backing into my spot in one swoop at 7:30 and then watching people in their Impalas take 5 stabs to get into a spot head first!   

To kind of quote George Costanza: This story has not been embellished, nor does it need any embellishment, it is simply and horrifyingly the tale of the kinds of things that go thru my mind every time I park my car.

On a completely side note.   My daughter fills me up with more love than I can bear on a regular basis.   This picture is from this past weekend.   I love it!