Play Day

Mandie is taking off of work tomorrow and we are having a play day. It is my last official day of my jobless life. We thought it would be a great chance to hang out for the day, not on the weekend. I will let you know what we do.

Family Ties

I start my new job, bright and early, Friday morning. It will be good to get up early and be productive. I also get to wear a tie. I love ties! I probably should go buy a few more. You can never have to many ties, right?

A little bit short

The Cubs game last night was off the chain. We were sitting upper deck, even with the third base. I must say that the best attribute of the warehouse that is Tropicana Field, there isn't a bad seat in the place. Our view was great, we were surrounded by hundreds of Cubbie fans. We had really good Nachos and a Mountain Dew the size of my head. The only downer was that the Cubs lost, 3-2. Overall, the night was a roaring success.

Passed with flying colors

I took my first drug test yesterday. It is required for my new job. At the advice of my Dad, I studied hard and passed with no problem. Well actually, the fact that I don't do drugs is probably why I passed, but I sound smarter when I say that I studied.

Remember kids, "Say no to drugs." They are bad for you and you won't ever get a job!

Let's, woo, Go, woo, Cubs, woo

The Cubs are in town to play three with the rays. Mandie and I are going tonight. I am pumped. Hopefully Dempster will throw a gem. My fantasy team needs a pick me up.

Eye of the Tiger

Well done Tiger Woods...Well Done! Tiger won his third U.S. Open yesterday, that makes 14 majors.And I love it. He could win every tournament and I would still cheer for him to win. I'm not sure why that is, maybe it's because I know that he will be the greatest golfer I will ever see and I want to see him break the all-time records. This is probably why people don't mind that he destroys the other players of today. It's almost understood that he is playing against the records set by Nicklaus and other greats, not against the current PGA tour players.

This win was even greater because of his recovering knee. Only two months from a knee surgery and he wins after playing 91 holes. What a stud. Some have suggested that he was faking a bit to create better theatre. To that, I say, "no way." He grimaced and winced after good shots also. Thursday afternoon, on the 18th hole, he first grimaced in a major way and limped off the tee box. The drive was 300+ in the fairway. Continually through the week, he hit good shots and limped off the tee. The announcers even said that you couldn't tell where his shot was going solely on his facial expressions. What a gutsy performance.

That said, I was a little sad for Rocco Mediate. What a great run! His attitude and guts to stand toe to toe with the greatest deserves high praise. I would have been completely fine with him winning.

The 18 hole hole playoff was sensational. That is not always the case with full round playoffs. I was glued to my seat. Good job Tiger and Rocco!

Oh, how I love the U.S. Open!

Some kind of record

I have been getting ready to celebrate my one year anniversary since I last had a paying job. Mentally, I have been creating a guest list and thinking through the activities/games I will want to play. Then low and behold, out of nowhere, God drops a job in my lap. I call about it on Monday morning and interview for it that afternoon. After five minutes in the interview, I get the job. I am the new assistant to the IT director at the Sheriffs Department.

The next day I receive a call to inform me that I would not be receiving the job due to circumstances out of the control of my boss for a day. Instead, they had an opportunity to work on a project for the next two months. I gratefully accepted, again, and will begin next Friday.

Lets recap:
I got a job. Lost that job. And got a new job, before I have began my first job.
You can't make this stuff up. I am just thankful to have a job at all!

Fore!

I actually went golfing this past weekend, and it felt really good. It was only the second round of the year and that is not ok. Me and my buddy J.D. went and played Sand Piper Golf Course. The course is nothing too special, but we had a greens fee deal, so it only cost us $9 to play. I ended up with an 81. I'll take it and head to the practice tee.

My brother has been playing a lot of golf. I need to get with it before he starts beating me.

Yankee Stadium was off the chain.

We got there before the gates opened, so we had time to look at the new stadium as well as walk around the house that Ruth built.

Once inside, we were able to watch batting practice. Caleb actually got two BP balls. I must however, clarify that he didn't catch either ball. The curse lives on!

Caleb has an ongoing battle with himself to catch a home run ball with his bare hands. He has had numerous opportunities over the past few years and has yet to come up with a catch. His batting practice trophies were a little bittersweet because he had to pick them both up off of the ground.

That's OK Caleb. Maybe next year!

Central Park

Central Park was one of my favorite parts of New York City. We walked around the park for an hour or so, on Wednesday afternoon and I could have easily spent a day or two. There were so many different things to look at throughout the park. The vast amounts of green grass was absolutely beautiful to walk through and look at.

I was surprised by how hilly it is. You get a healthy workout by simply walking through the place. We saw the checker/chess house. At the top of a bunch of steps, they have a bunch of cement picnic tables. Chess and checker boards have been painted on top of the tables. It looked just like you imagine it would in the movies.

While at the park we also sat around the pond where people drive remote control boats. It was funny watching people trying to keep the boats upright.

Pizza! Yum!

Here is a couple of pictures from our basbeall trip. Thie first pic is My pops, Caleb and me in front of the Brooklyn Bridge, which will be celebrating its 125th birthday this year.

The second pic is my little brother trying to fall into the river. He almost made it too!

The first thing we did once we got to manhattan was to head to the Brooklyn bridge. After taking some pics there, we rode the subway over to Brooklyn for lunch at a pizza joint called "Grimaldi's."

Literally stationed underneath the Brooklyn Bridge, Grimaldi's was a great place to eat. You go to Grmaldi's for great pizza and the experience. The place is sky high with nostalgia. It's Grimaldi's way or the highway! You sit exactly where they tell you to sit and you're happy about it. I was seated between the wall and he table, I scooted the table away from the wall no more than two inches, within thirty seconds of my move, a waiter saw that the table had moved and push the table back to its original locale.

Caleb was nervous about going to New York, because he was afraid New Yorkers would sense his "southerness" and not like him. This is why he literally rubber banded his wallet closed once we arrived in New York.

After ordering our pizza, we are sitting around enjoying the oldies music playing. Low and behold, "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynard Skynard begins to play. Caleb perks up and remarks "maybe they like Southerners after all." Fifteen seconds later, the channel was changed and Caleb's feeling crushed. He swore up and down that they tuned it off because of him. The next two days were filled with Caleb's paranoia of Northerners.