Oh....by the way....

Oh...by the way...Team Bad Guy fell to 0-8 by losing 8-2 on Tuesday night. Our defense is incredible compared to what it was at the beginning of the season. We weren't perfect on the night, but the majority of the errors did not hurt us. What did hurt us, were our bats....again. Can you honestly expect to win a game when your top four batters go 2 for 12? Obviously not! In all honesty, I feel very responsible for the team's poor hitting and low number of runs scored the past few games. As the leadoff hitter, I need to get on base more by whatever means it takes. My inability to get hits has stifled any possible rally and positive momentum. Hopefully some visits to the batting cages in the next few days will help me fix my swing and remove the mental block I have.

Oh well, there's always next week.

High School Rankings

River Dell High School, my school back in New Jersey, ranked relatively high on this list of the best schools in the country. Check out school number 711!

The Week In Review

I must say that it's been a very interesting week. Here's the rundown:

Monday: Mr. Personality finally ended. I was a little worried going in to the final episode that Hayley was going to pick the guy in the green mask, Chris. I didn't like this guy, and all his Jedi mind trick B.S., from the beginning. So when Hayley selected Will, the guy in the silver mask, needless to say I was excited. For those of you that don't remember, let me remind you that from the little I knew about Hayley at the show's outset, I predicted that Will would be in her top two, and not solely for his money. I'm happy that I was right because Will struck me as a very classy guy and I hope things between he and Hayley work out.

Tuesday: Team Bad Guy took the field in an attempt to not let the opposing team score twenty runs, score more than ten runs, and lose by fewer than fifteen runs. Surprisingly enough we accomplished most of these goals and even a few more. I must admit that I had a very good feeling prior to the game and we proved that we are not nearly as bad as the first half of the season made us look. Going into the fourth inning we trailed by only a few runs, but had not scored yet. I remember standing on second base saying to myself "I hope we don't get shutout! That isn't even possible!" Luckily I was right once again. Our bats finally came alive and we put up some runs. In previous games when we weren't hitting well, our fielding didn't keep us in the game until we started getting some hits. This game was different though because through four innings we had only one error and had caught every fly ball hit to us. So, with two outs in the seventh inning (the last inning) and trailing by one run, 6-5, with two outs and nobody on base, Brad came to the plate. And with one mighty swing of the bat, Brad tied the game on our last chance and sent the game into extra innings. Unfortunately for us, our luck ran out when they scored three runs and we went down in order. Although this 9-6 loss in extra innings was disappointing, it gave us a glimmer of hope for the future. I'm proud of how much we've improved over the season. I am going on the record right here and now: Team Bad Guy will win at least one game this season!

Wednesday: The season finale of American Idol was the highlight of this day. The final show pitted the flamboyant Clay Aiken against the mountain of a man Reuben Studdard. I've been pulling for Reuben the entire season. In my eyes, he has been the most consistent and has the best recording artist voice of all the contestants. Now before I continue, I must make this clear: I like Clay. I think he is a very down-to-earth person with an excellent voice. I just believe that he didn't have the tonal quality to be the American Idol. So, after an hour and forty five minutes of prolonging a decision that would take sixty seconds to say, Reuben was announced as the winner, which I was very happy about. After watching this reality television show religiously and very intently over the past few months, it led to a discussion between my girlfriend, Sarah (happy now? I said it!), and I about what made this show so interesting and different from the other reality shows. We came to the conclusion that it's just really cool to watch someone, who is as normal as you and I, have their dreams recognized right in front of your eyes and that they did it with their own talent by working hard where nothing was handed to them. I guess it just makes you believe that anything can happen and my extraordinary dreams my come true someday as well.

Thursday: I went on a job interview for a ColdFusion/SQL Development contract. I applied for the position earlier in the week because the position sounded intriguing and was at a widely known company. If the money and the future opportunities were good, I would definitely consider leaving my full-time position here at BioLab. I think the interview went excellent though. I answered the technical questions well and had experience in doing a similar project. I also liked the two gentlemen that interviewed me. They made me feel confident in the fact that the environment would be a positive one and one that I would like to join. No matter what happens, I am proud of what I have accomplished thus far I my career and the manner in which I handled myself during the interview. When I am ready to leave my current position, I am sure that I will be able to find something that will fit my needs and wants.

I wonder if next week will be as eventful?

Slowly But Surely

Team Bad Guy is right. We are bad. We used to be very bad, but now we are just bad. Last night, our softball team fell to 0-6 by losing 20-10. The score seems much worse than the actual outcome. In our last outing, we made it to the fourth inning before collapsing...a new record. Team Bad Guy one-up'd itself and took another step forward by collapsing in the top of the sixth inning. We almost played an entire game without having the mercy rule come into play. Entering the sixth, our outfield made the plays they needed to make, which changed the outlook of the entire game, thus we trailed by only four runs, 8-4. We recorded the first two outs in the field with relative ease and no extreme damage. But then the softball fairy came and took all of the ball skills that we showed the previous five innings. We couldn't catch a fly ball, field a ground ball, hit the cutoff man, or make the throws to the necessary bases. To top it all of, our opponents learned how to hit the ball, which didn't help the cause. In the end, the game ended up like the rest...with us on the losing end, hanging our heads in shame.

Oh the pain!

I am slack

So I've been a little slack as of late...and busy at times as well. But things have finally calmed down now that we are in the new building.

This is my first morning here and I can't even begin to explain how much better it is. First off, my drive is no longer fifty minutes to an hour every morning....with light traffic! I can now roll out of bed and be at work in 25 minutes....with light traffic. A nice change. I no longer work in the basement of a fifty year old building with no windows or fresh air. My cubicle is on the third floor of this gorgeous building where the air is not rancid, musty, and flat-out unhealthy and I have a nice view from my window, which allows for natural sunlight. It'll be pretty cool to know what the weather is like outside or know if the sun even comes up in a day. How novel! Even the cubes are great. Mine is 10 ft. by 8 ft. with sharp looking furniture, and once again, a decent view of I-85. The new foosball table rocks and is exactly the same, a Tornado table, on which I won the foosball tournament at the Fusebox Conference.

This place is just much cooler in general. They'll be more to come as I find out all the new and exciting details about my new workplace.

The First Lady of Wrestling

The first first lady of wrestling, Miss Elizabeth, died yesterday.