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April 3, 2000 |
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I'm an avid baseball enthusiast. I hesitate to use the term fan
because it's technically the shortened version of fanatic, which, to me,
has an air of extreme and irrational. I don't think of myself has extreme
or irrational (though I'm sure some people would…), so I don't
normally call myself a fan. I've been a Braves enthusiast for
years …since 1982, actually. That wasn't going to change with
geography; I've never lived in Atlanta.
The baseball season always seems to creep up on me. I know that I had a
preparatory lunch with Dave a few
weeks ago, but it doesn't really get me into the right mindset. I suppose
my baseball spirit is a bit like a locomotive, it needs time to work up its
momentum, but then once it gets going, it is hard to stop. Some may argue
that I too many of my brain cells are occupied by baseball. I suppose that
I can't really disagree, but it makes me happy… so deal!.
Still, I won't spend all my time talking about baseball. just the
occasional snippet about a lingering thought.
However, since it is the start of the baseball season, I figured
that I should include something about it. I am signed up for this service
where they e-mail me the box score of from each Atlanta Braves score. I got the final
for the first game. Is it that time already?
The score was 0-2 in the Braves favor. It was their home opener. Greg
Maddux got the win; he's got some amazing record for opening days. Andres
Galarraga got a home run. I realize that in the grand scheme of things
that is not saying much, many players get home runs in many games. However,
it is a bit of an emotional win. He was out all of last year battling a
cancerous tumor in his back, and this is his first game back. In a strange
way, it gave each of us some hope. He wasn't battling Colorado pitching,
he was battling the odds, and presumably he has won one battle.
You'll occasionally hear me talk about magic numbers, which,
roughly speaking, how close a team is to winning their division, which
happens when this number reaches zero. This is something that they
normally start to track during the final weeks of the season. Except that
I start to track it from opening day. So bear with me…
Atlanta Braves magic number: 162Well, enough about baseball… It is only opening day.
Pam's flight got back from Atlanta (oh, the irony!) tonight. I told her that I would pick her up from the airport, and I intended to. I had a few things to attend to tonight. Since I had missed my workout on Saturday, I would be doing a run tonight… I had to attend to my refrigerator… and I had to track down dinner at some point.
I left work about 6:30pm to go on my run, which sucked today, but I stuck to it. Wasn't able to maintain a 5.0 mile per hour pace. I have to remind myself that my target is my heart rate, not the milage. However, I can't help but to use the milage as a gauge my level of fitness, which means that my general level of fitness is not really moving. [Sigh]
I had to pick up a wrench to fix my refrigerator. I initially thought about going to Freddy's to pick it up, but as I was driving by, I thought that maybe I should get a Craftman's wrench from Sears. I broke down; I drove to the Sears across the street and picked up the 6" wrench. I then stopped by the Teriyaki place to pick up dinner. All pretty dry.
I didn't grab a shower until I finished dinner. I watched parts of the Ally McBeal in the process, it was the one where Nell, first joins the firm. I like Nell. She's a cool character. I didn't really see the circumstances in which she joined the group, but did see the discussion between John and Ally later. Pretty strange… not that the show is not strange to begin with.
I went to pick up Pam from the airport. I had a little bit of a tough time getting through the x-ray contraption, since I forgot that I was carrying a pocket knife. They're cool with the knife as long as you show them what it is. They also wanted to see and hear my pager beep.
I was a few minutes early. I know it has only been a day, but I've missed her. It was strange knowing that she was thousands of miles away instead of just a few minutes (or hours, in the Seattle traffic). I gave her a big hug when she came off the plane. We chatted about her interview while we traversed the airport, dealt with the newer, but still confusing (though improved) parking payment system. I then drove her home.
I spent a few minutes at her place while she was unwinding from her trip. I left shortly afterwards, it felt nice to know that she was back safe and sound here.
I got home past 1am. I still had not fixed my refrigerator. I got the wrench that I had purchased only a few hours before and started to attend to my neglected fridge. I briefly debated not fixing it, partially because I'm lazy, but also because I realize that I don't use the water or the ice very often. I did fix it by the way. It really wasn't a big deal. The plastic hose had cracked, so I just severed the last few inches and re-attached it. It was a little tricky getting it put back together without a leak, but I managed to do it and tested it a few minutes later for any slow leaks.
It was pretty late by now, but I had some things to attend to in the morning, so I elected to stay up rather than wake up early.
April 3, 2000