It is the end of August. The weather is on the verge of changing. Fall is just around the corner and most people are excited about it. Whether they are excited about the start of the football season, the cooler weather, or pumpkin spiced EVERYTHING, I think this is the time of year people are just flat out done with summer. Done being hot and humid. Done with using the air conditioner. Just done. I'm not the biggest fan of summer. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy summer. I enjoy wearing shorts and the long days. I don't enjoy the humidity. I'm not the biggest fan of high temperatures. One great thing about summer is that there is one major sport going on...baseball.
This is the time of year that most everyone forgets about baseball. It's a long season. It started back in April (for some of us, it started during the Winter Meetings). By this time of year, the playoff teams are mostly in position. It's just a matter of where they are going to be sitting at the end of the season. A lot of games don't really matter other than pride amongst the teams that are close to, if they haven't already, been eliminated. No one really cares if the Twins beat the Astros this time of year (or at any point of the year maybe?), but all eyes are on the Angels/Athletics series. And why? Because there are three games separating them in the standings. The Angels have won the first two games so before the wins, there was just one game between them. Both of these teams, barring a complete and absolute meltdown, are going to make the playoffs. It's just a matter of which one will win the division and which one will be a wild card team. And that's the fun of this time of year.
Another tight race is in the AL Central with the Tigers and Royals. For the most part, the Tigers have had the division lead this year. However, there have been times when they have struggled and the Royals have surged. They happened to take place at the same time and currently the Royals are in first place in the division while the Tigers are going back and forth with Seattle for the second wild card spot. For the first time in several years, the Tigers and their fans have something to worry about this late in the season. As a fan of the sport, this is great. A close divisional race (before the start of today's games, the Royals are up by half a game) makes it fun to scoreboard watch. As a fan of one of the teams involved in this race, it is ulcer inducing. I knew, as most people did, that the Royals were the only team ready to wrestle with the Tigers for the division. And they are proving that they can hang with the Tigers. There are six games left between the two teams, and while games in April and May are important, these six games are even more so. If you ask players from both teams, they will say that they are just going to be focused on the opponent of the day, but you know deep down that they are all looking at these upcoming series.
And these tight races are what it's all about. Do I want the Tigers to triumph and win the division again? Of course I do. But if they don't win it, they don't win it. And you have to tip your cap to the Royals. It seems that they have finally turned their 'this is the year they will challenge the Tigers' chip in and are ready to make it interesting. The nice thing is that this is what the division has been missing for the past couple of years. While Minnesota and Chicago have been rebuilding and Kansas City and Cleveland have had up and down years, it has been kind of a boring division race to watch. Again, I love seeing the Tigers win and I love seeing them in the playoffs, but with an actual fight on their hands, they can't coast into the playoffs. And that is where they seem to have faltered. Build up a large lead and coast into the playoffs. You can't turn it on like a light switch. Winning builds momentum. It makes you play confidently. You're in the middle of an eight game winning streak and although you are down 5-1 in the 5th inning, you know you're playing well enough to come back and take away the win from that opponent. It is that confidence that the Tigers have been missing in the playoffs. It is that confidence that, if they can win this division, will carry into the playoffs.
51/120
30 August 2014
26 August 2014
Terrible Timing
My wife and I went to the Minnesota State Fair on Sunday. And while it was fun to see everything and spend the day there, I'm pretty sure we picked the hottest day to go. It was just awful timing. Later this week it is suppose to cool off, but we planned it out to go on the weekend. And it happened to be in the high 80s to low 90s with lots of humidity. It was very sweaty. As we were getting ready to go, she remembered that we went to the Kansas State Fair every year we were living there and it was like 100 degrees so this couldn't be as bad. Right?
We played it smart and brought water bottles and just hydrated throughout the entire day. I kept seeing people walking around with cups of beer and thought that it looked delicious, but stuck with the water. Because I'm SMART! And yes, I probably could have had one beer and been fine, but that doesn't replenish all the water you are sweating out. Also, it was hella expensive for a beer. It's like beer at a baseball game. I have never understood that, the price gouging of beer at public events. Actually, I get it (profit and greed) I just don't like.
For the most part, the weather wasn't that bad. Was it hot? Yes. Is that better than raining? Yes. Could it have been better? Yes. There were clouds for the most part during the day and they hid the sun. That wasn't always the case though, and it seemed like when the sun did come out, all the benches and tables in the shade were occupied. I look at yesterday, it was sunny but tolerable. About twenty degrees cooler because it wasn't as humid out. I look at today, it's overcast and about thirty degrees cooler. Seriously, it is 56 degrees at the time of this writing.
I took a few pictures throughout the day. At some points, it was just too hot to want to take pictures. However, we sat down just to sit down and cool down a little bit. While we were sitting down, this family of four sat a few rows ahead of us. My wife and I both started cracking up because the following happened. They all pulled out their phones. Out of context, this is a hilarious photo because this just looks like a family that doesn't want to talk to each other. However, it's what we do now as a society. When we stop moving, we go to our phones. We both thought it was funny and I thought I would share.
50/120
I took a few pictures throughout the day. At some points, it was just too hot to want to take pictures. However, we sat down just to sit down and cool down a little bit. While we were sitting down, this family of four sat a few rows ahead of us. My wife and I both started cracking up because the following happened. They all pulled out their phones. Out of context, this is a hilarious photo because this just looks like a family that doesn't want to talk to each other. However, it's what we do now as a society. When we stop moving, we go to our phones. We both thought it was funny and I thought I would share.
50/120
19 August 2014
Music Reminiscing
I found a new podcast about a month ago. It's called 'This part's the best'. The host, John Frusciante, has a guest over to discuss one of their (the guest's) favorite albums. There have been eight episodes so far. All of them have been fantastic. The very first episode was weird because the guest brought over a Swedish metal album. The nice thing is that I have little to no knowledge of any of the music that has been played on the show, so it's cool to hear new stuff. It's not all about the music, it's more about how you feel about the music. Memories, stories, feelings. Favorite parts of songs whether it is an instrumental part or a certain lyric. And what is great is that music has this affect on most people. I'm sure everyone has that one song or that one particular album that they can play and it brings back just a rush of memories.
The reason I bring this up is because a few weeks ago, I found an old CD under one of the seats in my Jeep. It was Less Than Jake's 'Pezcore'. The reason it made me just so happy is that it brought me back to high school and my introduction to ska and the new era of punk music. I always looked at this type of music as 'skateboarding is not a crime' punk as opposed to 'fuck authority' punk. Think of the Sex Pistols when it comes to that type of punk music. This new punk/ska era, at least the stuff I was listening to, was mostly coming out of California. Bands like Buck-O-Nine, No Doubt, Reel Big Fish, Sublime. They all have connections to California and they all at one point had a very similar sound. Each band evolved and changed their sound and style. It had a laid back feeling to it. Just a bunch of people getting together to make music. I have fond memories of riding around my hometown with my friends blasting some of this music. Just being high school kids. You know, driving poorly and being obnoxious to those that drove past. But it was all in good fun. We weren't dangerous to the public. We weren't drinking at a friend's house while their parents were away, having sex, or getting arrested (you're welcome Mom and Dad). We were just being teenagers.
Another memory about these bands and CDs is that they were my first 'parental advisory' type CDs. Crazy, I know. I was living on the edge. During middle school and high school, I mainly listened to country music, so this was a big step for me. Having music where the word 'fuck' was used without a care was awesome. A favorite Reel Big Fish song (Nothin') ends with them screaming 'I don't fucking care, no I don't fucking care, no I don't fucking care anymore!' Repeatedly. If that isn't a great motto for a high school kid about to go off to college, I don't know what is. Most of my other music at the time, the worst word was mayyyyyybe 'ass' and that would be pushing it. Looking back at it all, it's pretty hilarious. These CDs were only played in my car or portable CD player (remember those?), never within earshot of my parents (again, you're welcome Mom and Dad). And if they did hear it, they never really said anything (thanks Mom and Dad).
One thing that is funny is that some of the music and lyrics are more profound as I listen to it now than when I was listening to them back in high school. Buck-O-Nine has some songs on their 'Twenty Eight Teeth' album that are just amazing. It's weird how a song like 'Steve Was Dead' is just a funny song when you're seventeen, but now it's eerie when listening to it. The song is about how a rumor gets spread so quickly. Especially now in the social media fixated world we live in now, it's both hilarious and insightful. Just one of the few things that you can find when listening to music from your younger days is new meaning in the lyrics. Some songs aren't meant to be profound. Some songs are just meant to be fun. At different points in your life, a song can mean something to you but later on it might not mean anything to you. It's all about your interpretation.
Music is great. Everyone needs a soundtrack to their life. Whether it is country, thrash metal, folk, or rock n roll, it's all about you.
49/120
One thing that is funny is that some of the music and lyrics are more profound as I listen to it now than when I was listening to them back in high school. Buck-O-Nine has some songs on their 'Twenty Eight Teeth' album that are just amazing. It's weird how a song like 'Steve Was Dead' is just a funny song when you're seventeen, but now it's eerie when listening to it. The song is about how a rumor gets spread so quickly. Especially now in the social media fixated world we live in now, it's both hilarious and insightful. Just one of the few things that you can find when listening to music from your younger days is new meaning in the lyrics. Some songs aren't meant to be profound. Some songs are just meant to be fun. At different points in your life, a song can mean something to you but later on it might not mean anything to you. It's all about your interpretation.
Music is great. Everyone needs a soundtrack to their life. Whether it is country, thrash metal, folk, or rock n roll, it's all about you.
49/120
16 August 2014
House Hunting Hiatus
You know how you find something really big to focus on and that is all you can think about? And when it turns out you can't have that really big thing and you go into a state of denial about not being able to have said really big thing? That has happened. And it revolves around home ownership.
We have been renting apartments since we were in college. We are both sick of it. This past January, my wife finally found a job after looking for a handful of years. We finally had a second income and by the time our lease in our current apartment was up at the end of September, we thought we would have money for a house. We started looking, passively, as we looked at our options. We didn't want to get our hopes too high. We started paying off more and more of our debt in an attempt to increase our credit scores. I went to a first time home owners' seminar put on by our bank to get some information we might not have known or found via the internet. We even found an area in the Twin Cities that we started to look at houses and even looked at a couple in person. After we came to the decision that buying a house is what we wanted to do, we put in paperwork for a home mortgage pre-approval to see what price range we could look at. We didn't want to fall in love with a house only to not afford it. Then we got a phone call and the bottom fell out.
My wife's employer is considered a temp agency and therefore her income will not be considered when it comes to a home mortgage. Even after talking with the loan officer about the fact that this wasn't a job that was going to be going away any time soon, some of my wife's co-workers have been employed by this temp agency at her current employer for the past five years, it was to no avail. Some questions we have had to answer revolve around going to work directly for the employer she has her job at instead of working through the temp agency. Here's the problem, the shifts that are available for this employer are either overnight (midnight to eight in the morning) type shifts or early morning (four in the morning to noon) type shifts. The fact that she drives forty five minutes each way put those shifts out of the question. So my wife has been looking for a job again, in the hopes of finding something permanent in the eyes of a loan officer. It was very disheartening, or in the words of my dad 'fucking bullshit'.
We did find a new place to live, though. So there's that positive note. We will be moving into a townhouse at the end of September. There are many positives to this move. It cuts my wife's commute time in half while only adding about eight to ten miles of a commute for me. There is way more space than we have now. There is room for a grill (MGT will once again be a thing)! We'll have a second bedroom for any visitors instead of a couch, air mattress, or hotel...as soon as we get a second bed.
So we took a totally negative situation and turned it into a positive. This will give us even more time to pay off debt. We are getting ever so closer to paying off our college loans. We will be able to stash away money for another year or two to put towards a down payment. Whenever it is that we can buy a house. Sure, it would be nice to be a homeowner and have a place to call our own, but thanks to the banks, sub-prime mortgages, and the housing bubble burst, we'll just have to stave off the American dream a few more years.
48/120
We have been renting apartments since we were in college. We are both sick of it. This past January, my wife finally found a job after looking for a handful of years. We finally had a second income and by the time our lease in our current apartment was up at the end of September, we thought we would have money for a house. We started looking, passively, as we looked at our options. We didn't want to get our hopes too high. We started paying off more and more of our debt in an attempt to increase our credit scores. I went to a first time home owners' seminar put on by our bank to get some information we might not have known or found via the internet. We even found an area in the Twin Cities that we started to look at houses and even looked at a couple in person. After we came to the decision that buying a house is what we wanted to do, we put in paperwork for a home mortgage pre-approval to see what price range we could look at. We didn't want to fall in love with a house only to not afford it. Then we got a phone call and the bottom fell out.
My wife's employer is considered a temp agency and therefore her income will not be considered when it comes to a home mortgage. Even after talking with the loan officer about the fact that this wasn't a job that was going to be going away any time soon, some of my wife's co-workers have been employed by this temp agency at her current employer for the past five years, it was to no avail. Some questions we have had to answer revolve around going to work directly for the employer she has her job at instead of working through the temp agency. Here's the problem, the shifts that are available for this employer are either overnight (midnight to eight in the morning) type shifts or early morning (four in the morning to noon) type shifts. The fact that she drives forty five minutes each way put those shifts out of the question. So my wife has been looking for a job again, in the hopes of finding something permanent in the eyes of a loan officer. It was very disheartening, or in the words of my dad 'fucking bullshit'.
We did find a new place to live, though. So there's that positive note. We will be moving into a townhouse at the end of September. There are many positives to this move. It cuts my wife's commute time in half while only adding about eight to ten miles of a commute for me. There is way more space than we have now. There is room for a grill (MGT will once again be a thing)! We'll have a second bedroom for any visitors instead of a couch, air mattress, or hotel...as soon as we get a second bed.
So we took a totally negative situation and turned it into a positive. This will give us even more time to pay off debt. We are getting ever so closer to paying off our college loans. We will be able to stash away money for another year or two to put towards a down payment. Whenever it is that we can buy a house. Sure, it would be nice to be a homeowner and have a place to call our own, but thanks to the banks, sub-prime mortgages, and the housing bubble burst, we'll just have to stave off the American dream a few more years.
48/120
13 August 2014
Rotating Beds
The second to last day of our vacation, my wife and I came to the same realization just about the same time. We packed, unpacked, and slept in too many beds this vacation. I use the term 'beds' loosely as there were some nights we were on an air mattress. So, how many beds you ask? In the ten days that we were gone, we slept in five different beds. Why so many? Let me explain.
We left Minnesota Friday night after work. Our plan was to drive half way home that night and finish the trip on Saturday morning and afternoon. It takes about nine to nine and a half hours to drive home if you drive straight through. We have done that drive numerous times since moving to Minnesota. It's nice to get home in less than ten hours. So we drove to Green Bay (the half way point) after work and stayed the night in a hotel. Bed one.
After we got to Michigan on Saturday, we spent the weekend with my family. We have started to do family gatherings during the summer. We use to do a big family party at Christmas time, but with all the grandkids growing up and moving all around the country, it makes it easier to get more people together during the summer time. My entire immediate family was staying at the cabin. With my sister and brother having kids, they stay in the cabin and my wife and I stay in the loft above the garage. Funny thing though. The bed in the loft is two twin beds. Yeah....yeah. My wife and I joked about this song that SNL did a few years ago. Side note: can we talk about how hilarious the women of SNL are? Not only did we joke about that song, we also joked about the episode of 'How I Met Your Mother' where Marshall and Lily go to a bed and breakfast and accidentally book a room with two twin beds and have the best sleep they had in years. So, bed two.
After the weekend, we drove to our hometown and stayed with my in-laws. We were going camping for three days starting on Tuesday. We had to find a bed to stay in Monday night. We debated back and forth. Their pop up camper was open because we still needed to pack food and all that. The other option was to blow up an air mattress and stay in the basement. We went with option one. We stayed in the pop up. Mainly because we didn't want to unpack and pack the air mattress. So we stayed the night in the camper. Bed three.
Because the pop up camper is small for five people, we brought a tent so my wife and I stayed there for the camping trip while my parents in-law and brother in-law stayed in the camper. We brought the air mattress because who wants to sleep on the ground? Or so I'm told. We slept on the air mattress for the three days. Bed four.
Back at home after the camping trip we continued to sleep on the air mattress in the basement in my in-laws house. No new bed. The bed count in still at four.
For the last night, we went down to the cabin to see my family one more time. By this time, my sister and family had moved down to Missouri so there was an open bed in the cabin. This was our last night of vacation, and needed as much sleep as possible as we were driving back to Minnesota the next day. A little problem though. The room we were staying in was so hot that I couldn't sleep. I got up in the middle of the night and slept on the couch downstairs. It was much cooler and I got a few hours of sleep. My brother, sister in-law, and niece were up at around 4:30 to fly back to Seattle, so we were up to say goodbye to them. We then went back to sleep after they left and got a few more hours of sleep. That was bed number five.
While it was a very nice vacation and very relaxing, it was extremely choppy because of all the packing and unpacking as we moved from place to place and bed to bed. Normally when we go home, we stay at either one of the parents' house or split the time between the two families. So at most we sleep in two beds. By the time we got back to Minnesota, I felt more tired than when we left. Maybe it has something to do with all the different beds? Who knows.
47/120
We left Minnesota Friday night after work. Our plan was to drive half way home that night and finish the trip on Saturday morning and afternoon. It takes about nine to nine and a half hours to drive home if you drive straight through. We have done that drive numerous times since moving to Minnesota. It's nice to get home in less than ten hours. So we drove to Green Bay (the half way point) after work and stayed the night in a hotel. Bed one.
After we got to Michigan on Saturday, we spent the weekend with my family. We have started to do family gatherings during the summer. We use to do a big family party at Christmas time, but with all the grandkids growing up and moving all around the country, it makes it easier to get more people together during the summer time. My entire immediate family was staying at the cabin. With my sister and brother having kids, they stay in the cabin and my wife and I stay in the loft above the garage. Funny thing though. The bed in the loft is two twin beds. Yeah....yeah. My wife and I joked about this song that SNL did a few years ago. Side note: can we talk about how hilarious the women of SNL are? Not only did we joke about that song, we also joked about the episode of 'How I Met Your Mother' where Marshall and Lily go to a bed and breakfast and accidentally book a room with two twin beds and have the best sleep they had in years. So, bed two.
After the weekend, we drove to our hometown and stayed with my in-laws. We were going camping for three days starting on Tuesday. We had to find a bed to stay in Monday night. We debated back and forth. Their pop up camper was open because we still needed to pack food and all that. The other option was to blow up an air mattress and stay in the basement. We went with option one. We stayed in the pop up. Mainly because we didn't want to unpack and pack the air mattress. So we stayed the night in the camper. Bed three.
Because the pop up camper is small for five people, we brought a tent so my wife and I stayed there for the camping trip while my parents in-law and brother in-law stayed in the camper. We brought the air mattress because who wants to sleep on the ground? Or so I'm told. We slept on the air mattress for the three days. Bed four.
Back at home after the camping trip we continued to sleep on the air mattress in the basement in my in-laws house. No new bed. The bed count in still at four.
For the last night, we went down to the cabin to see my family one more time. By this time, my sister and family had moved down to Missouri so there was an open bed in the cabin. This was our last night of vacation, and needed as much sleep as possible as we were driving back to Minnesota the next day. A little problem though. The room we were staying in was so hot that I couldn't sleep. I got up in the middle of the night and slept on the couch downstairs. It was much cooler and I got a few hours of sleep. My brother, sister in-law, and niece were up at around 4:30 to fly back to Seattle, so we were up to say goodbye to them. We then went back to sleep after they left and got a few more hours of sleep. That was bed number five.
While it was a very nice vacation and very relaxing, it was extremely choppy because of all the packing and unpacking as we moved from place to place and bed to bed. Normally when we go home, we stay at either one of the parents' house or split the time between the two families. So at most we sleep in two beds. By the time we got back to Minnesota, I felt more tired than when we left. Maybe it has something to do with all the different beds? Who knows.
47/120
01 August 2014
Vacation Planning
Tonight, we are heading home for a vacation. Very exciting stuff. We'll be able to see family that we haven't seen in quite some time. There is a family weekend party planned that starts tonight and wraps up on Sunday. Because that's how we do. A full weekend. None of this one day shit. We go all out. Three days, three different places.
As I was planning out what to pack, there are a few things that I am not bringing. And I feel that these items should always be left at home when vacationing. The first thing is my watch. This is the most important thing to leave behind when going on vacation. Because who wants to keep track of time when you don't need to? I know I don't. The other thing I am leaving behind is my razor. It's one less thing to pack. It's one less thing that I won't use for the week. And let's be honest, having a beard helps hide the stubble.
46/120
As I was planning out what to pack, there are a few things that I am not bringing. And I feel that these items should always be left at home when vacationing. The first thing is my watch. This is the most important thing to leave behind when going on vacation. Because who wants to keep track of time when you don't need to? I know I don't. The other thing I am leaving behind is my razor. It's one less thing to pack. It's one less thing that I won't use for the week. And let's be honest, having a beard helps hide the stubble.
46/120
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