The SoapBoxers

For the last year, a serial killer had been slaughtering stranded motorists on the night of the full moon.  The Marauder had carved up twelve victims.  A motorist stumbling across the body of his fourth victim had glanced up and noticed a maroon car escaping into the distance.  This tiny scrap of information was the only clue to the identity of the killer.

From his home three states away, Dallas Roberts had been closely following the activities of the Marauder.  Dallas was unhappy with his own life.  He had failed to make any sort of mark upon the world.  He had failed in his career and failed in love.  On this night, he was determined to become famous.  He had driven six hundred miles to be in place for his destiny.

Roberts was parked on the side of the road with his hazard lights on.  The clock inside the car showed that the time was 1:45 AM.  Dallas was sure that his wait would be short – the Marauder always attacked between 1:57 and 3:48 AM.  Tonight, he would achieve fame – becoming the thirteenth victim of the Moonlight Marauder.

Dallas was shaken from his thoughts by lights in his rear view mirror – a vehicle was pulling up behind him on the shoulder.

A moment later, a form appeared next to his window.

“Need some help?”  Dallas looked up and saw a tall, blonde woman in her early twenties.

“Got a flat,” he explained.  “I’m waiting for a friend to get here.  Can’t very well change the flat with this broken wing,” he explained, showing off the arm sling that he was using as a prop.

“No need for you to wait.  Pop the trunk and I’ll change it for you.”

This woman was ruining Dallas’ perfectly laid plans – but he couldn’t think of a good way to get rid of her.  Dallas popped the trunk and jumped out of the car.

The woman effortlessly grabbed the spare tire and jack.  She loosened the lug nuts on the tire and quickly jacked up the car.

After changing the tire, she grabbed a flashlight from her back pocket and inspected the tire.

“Wow.  You’ve got a big chunk of metal in this tire.  I’m afraid you’re going to need a new tire, sport.”

Dallas was well aware of the magnitude of the damage to the tire.  After all, the damage was his own handiwork – to ensure that that Marauder wouldn’t sense a staged scene and pass him up as a victim.

“Name’s Megan White.”  The woman held out a dirty hand for Dallas to shake.

“Dallas Roberts,” he said, shaking the extended hand.

“What sort of work are you in, Dallas?”

“Unemployed at the moment, I’m afraid.  I’m a web developer when I can get work.”

“Oh?  What sort of web development?”

“Mostly PHP, but I dabble in Java from time to time.”

“Give me a call in the morning.  I run a small web consulting company, and we’re a bit short staffed on the PHP side of the house.  I wouldn’t mind seeing more of you,” she said as she smiled broadly and gave Dallas a wink.  Megan pulled a business card out of her pocket and handed it to him.

Dallas’ heart jumped in his chest.  Was she flirting with him?  He would definitely take her up on the offer.  He’d love to have the opportunity to start earning money again, and he thought he’d enjoy working with the smart, athletic, attractive woman.

“Keep safe,” she shouted, as she got back in her truck.  “The Moonlight Marauder has been known to strike in these parts.”

Dallas had a smile on his face as he jumped back into his car.  He pulled back onto the interstate and started looking for a motel that was open at this time of the night.  The few places he passed had “NO VACANCY” signs buzzing atop the inns.

Twenty minutes later, Dallas noticed a vibration and then felt a tire blow out.  He pulled to the side of the road and ditched the useless sling.  As he popped the trunk to grab the spare tire, he came to the realization that Megan had put on the spare to replace the perfectly good tire that he had carved up.

As Dallas pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and wandered around trying to find a signal, the sound of scattering gravel told him that another car was approaching.

“Help you, son?” asked a tall, grandfatherly man.  Dallas glanced up and noticed that that the car parked behind him on the shoulder was a maroon Taurus.  When his eyes shifted back to the right, he saw the light of the moon glinting off the blade of the Moonlight Marauder’s knife.

Stephen Strasburg will make his major league debut on Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Pirates.  The Pirates were originally scheduled to have Monday off.  However, a rained out game pushed a game against the Cubs to Monday, meaning that they won’t have the extra day of preparation.

Judging from all the hype around Strasburg, some fans may be disappointed with anything less than a no hitter and 20 strikeouts.  My own expectations are a bit lower.  I do think he’ll win the game, but I also expect some rookie jitters.  After all, he IS a rookie – and is facing immense pressure as the face of the Nationals.

17 year old Bryce Harper will become the second face of the franchise when the Nationals pick him with the top pick in this year’s draft.  Harper skipped his final two years of high school and is attending community college in order to gain eligibility for this year’s draft.  He’ll actually turn 18 in October, so he’s not substantially younger than some of the high school seniors in the draft.

Harper’s high school years were spent criss-crossing the country competing in All-Star tournaments.  This year, he led his school to the Community College World Series.  Harper was ejected from his final game (which his team lost) after drawing a line in the sand with his bat to indicate that a called strike was actually out of the strike zone.

This brings more attention to the issue of Harper’s maturity.  Many observers say that Harper is quite immature and vain.  While I’m not going ton condone these behaviors, it is important to remember that he’s just 17.  Think back to high school – was the star athlete a bit immature and vain?  Did he grow out of it later in life?

Harper has always been the biggest star, and life has been a bit of a whirlwind for him.  On Monday, this will change.  A day after he is picked, he will largely be forgotten as the media flocks to cover Strasburg’s debut.  This should serve to reinforce the fact that he is playing second fiddle with the Nationals, not lead guitar.  Getting into the routine of a minor league system should also help him.  I am convinced that Harper will mature as he ages.

With all the attention given to the top pick in the draft, it can be easy to forget the other 1499 players picked in the draft.  I’ll give a nickel to the first person who can tell me the name of the player picked second in the 2009 draft.

Do you you give up?  It was Dustin Ackley out of the University of North Carolina.  Ackley was an outfielder for most of his career before being relegated to first base during his final season as he recovered from Tommy John surgery.  The versatile Ackley is now playing second base in the minors.  So far this season, Ackley is hitting just .244 for Mariners AA affiliate West Tennessee – but he has walked 38 times in 49 games.  I’m sure Ackley’s numbers will improve by the end of the year.  Even the best prospects usually struggle a bit in their first minor league season.

I’ll start with a note to the regular readers – we had no article yesterday for the first time in many months.  I simply ran out of time and energy and didn’t get the chance to write anything.  For those of you who read the RSS feed, you didn’t see anything new on Thursday OR Friday.  That’s because Thursday article leaked out a day early (oops) so you saw it on Wednesday, along with the article from Wednesday morning.

We’ve been a bit sports-heavy lately, and we’ll be mixing up the variety of articles soon.  Today, however, is another sports article.  We hear a lot of bad things about many of today’s sports figures – today we’ll focus on some positive role models.

A Perfect Game

On Wednesday night, Armando Galarraga of the Detroit Tigers came tantalizing close to one of the rarest feats in baseball – a perfect game (in which no opposing runners reaches base via any means).  Major League Baseball has been around since the formation of the National League in 1876.  In this span of 135 years, there have been 2o perfect games (including, oddly, 2 this year).

Galarraga had retired the first 26 batters.  With two outs in the ninth inning, Jason Donald of the Cleveland Indians hit a ground ball that was fielded by Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera.  Miggy tossed to ball to Galarraga (who was covering first base on the play).  Replays show that the throw beat the runner by a step – but umpire Jim Joyce ruled Donald safe – ending the perfect game and no-hitter.

This situation could very easily have taken an ugly turn, with the umpiring insisting he was correct and the pitcher lashing out angrily.  But that’s not what happened.  When the game finished after the next batter made an out, umpire Joyce immediately went back to the umpire’s locker room and had the play cued up so that he could watch the video.  He immediately saw that he was wrong.  He sought out Galarraga and apologized.  Galarraga accepted the apology.  Honestly, if you didn’t know better, you’d think it was Joyce who had the perfect game taken away from him – he looked much more distraught than Galarraga.

There were calls for Bud Selig to overrule the call and deem the feat a perfect game.  While Selig made the comment that he would consult with advisors regarding the possible expansion of instant replay, he decided not to overturn the call.  For longtime baseball fans, this was hardly a surprise.  Out/Safe and Ball/Strike calls are judgment calls by the umpires and are not subject to being overruled in the same manner as a rules interpretation (such as the George Brett pine tar incident).

On Thursday, the citizens of the United States, in the form of General Motors, gave a gift to Galarraga – a brand new Corvette.  I suspect that this is the first time that a pitcher has ever received a Vette as a reward for a one-hitter.  The Detroit fans even seemed to be accepting Joyce’s apology – aside from a handful of nuts who have apparently never made a mistake in their lives and feel justified in lashing out at the umpire.

The Wizard Moves On

The sports world lost a legend on Friday night when John Wooden passed away at the age of 99.

The Indiana native first made his mark on the game of basketball as a 3 time All-American at Purdue.  His coaching career completely overshadowed his playing career, but the fact is that he is one of only three people enshrined in the Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach.

Wooden, of course, is legendary for his success at UCLA.  To say that his feats are unmatched is a gross understatement.  The 1963-1964 season was Wooden’s 16th season at UCLA and 18th as college head coach.  His team the NCAA championship that season.  UCLA also won the title in 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, and 1975.  That’s a total of 10 championships in a span of 12 years – including seven straight.  No other coach in history has more than four championships.

The championships were no fluke.  During that 12 year span, Wooden’s teams lost a total of 22 games – and 12 of those losses came during the two non-championship years.  Four times Wooden’s teams finished the season undefeated – including consecutive seasons (1971-1972 and 1972-1973) in the midst of a record 88 game winning streak.  After the 1974-1975 season, Wooden walked away – the very definition of leaving at the top of your game.

It has been 35 years since Wooden coached a game, but he has never been forgotten.  After his coaching career was over, he continued to share his thoughts with those fortunate to spend time with him.  He autographed a voluminous amount of items for fans – until failing health forced his family to ask that fans refrain from sending him any more items.  The daily work of signing the items was causing him physical pain, and Wooden himself would never dream of denying a request.

The Kid Retires

On Wednesday, Ken Griffey Jr. retired from the game of baseball (and was subsequently overshadowed by the Armando Galarraga game).  I immediately felt very old.  I’m 35 years old, and I can very easily remember Griffey breaking into the minors as a 19 year old kid in 1989.  How can he possibly be old enough to retire?

A generation of fans will remember Junior as the greatest player they ever saw.  During his younger days, Griffey won four home run titles and a shelf full of Gold Glove awards.  In spite of the fact that injuries marred the latter years of his career, Griffey still ended his career with 630 home runs – 5th most all time.

During an era when nearly every power hitter came under suspicion for performance enhancing drugs, there was never a whisper of this with Griffey.  The biggest controversy of his career may have been this year, when a reporter wrote an article saying that Griffey had fallen asleep in the clubhouse during a game (in which he was not playing) and was thus not available to pinch hit.  This report was denied by everyone in the Mariners organization – but even had it been true, would it have been that big of a deal?  Trust me, he wouldn’t have been the first unused player to catch a nap during a game.

Griffey, along with Alex Rodriguez and Randy Johnson (and, lest we forget, Jay Buhner) revived baseball in Seattle.  Without Griffey, would there still be a team in Seattle?

At the start of each season, each team sends its ace to the mound on opening day, squaring off against the other team’s top pitcher. The next day, the second best pitchers on each team face off, and so on. At some point in the season, this does get disrupted by rainoff and off days so that the pitching matchups no longer align.

But I’ll pose this question: is this the best strategy, anyway?

Let’s look at the rotation of two teams.  Note: the ERAs are exaggerated for the sake of illustration.

Good team:

• Pitcher 1: 1.00 ERA
• Pitcher 2: 3.00 ERA
• Pitcher 3: 5.00 ERA
• Pitcher 4: 7.00 ERA
• Pitcher 5: 9.00 ERA

Bad Team

• Pitcher 1: 2.00 ERA
• Pitcher 2: 4.00 ERA
• Pitcher 3: 6.00 ERA
• Pitcher 4: 8.00 ERA
• Pitcher 5: 10.00 ERA

If the teams were to play five games, with the top pitchers facing off in the first game, the second best pitchers in the second game, etc, the bad team would be the underdog in all five games.

But if the bad team makes a slight adjustment to its rotation, it would be the favorite in four of the games. How? Let’s look at this:

• Good pitcher 1 (1.00) vs. Bad pitcher 5 (10.00): Advantage Good
• Good pitcher 2 (3.00) vs. Bad pitcher 1 (2.00): Advantage Bad
• Good pitcher 3 (5.00) vs. Bad pitcher 2 (4.00): Advantage Bad
• Good pitcher 4 (7.00) vs. Bad pitcher 3 (6.00): Advantage Bad
• Good pitcher 5 (9.00) vs. Bad pitcher 4 (8.00): Advantage Bad

It’s important to note that this is a very extreme example.  In the real world, the ERAs would be much closer together.

If you’re a card player, you probably understand what’s going on.  It’s a situation where your opponent has an Ace, Queen, Ten to your King, Jack, Nine.  You lose all three tricks if you throw your King against the Ace, your Jack against the Queen, and your Nine to the Ten.  However, if you discard the Nine against the Ace, you can take the Queen with your King and the Ten with your Jack.

I’m not advocating this strategy for everyone.  It basically involves surrendering one of the games to your opponent.  If you feel that your pitchers are close to the same level of the opponent, this might not be the best strategy.  However, if the opponent has a record of 22-1 with a 0.99 ERA, throwing your ace against him might be a waste of a good pitcher.  The teams that would benefit most are teams whose pitchers are a bit inferior to the opponent.

There are only a few times a year when teams would have the ability to use this strategy without seriously disrupting the preparation of the pitchers – the start of the year, the beginning of the second half (after the All Star break) and on days when there is a doubleheader.  If your ace is going to pitch one of the games of a doubleheader, it may make sense to pitch him opposite the other team’s ace, if the other team’s ace is a super-hero.

When I was in college, Statistics 227 was a required course for all business majors.  Unfortunately, there were never enough openings in the class.  There was actually an endorsed workaround.  Instead of taking the 5 credits Stat 227 class, you could take Stat 101 (4 credits) and Stat 201 (2 credits).  In an effort to cross this degree requirement off my list, I took this alternative.

Within days of the start of class, I regretted my decision.  The concepts being taught in the class were very basics – concepts such as mean, median, and standard deviation that I had learned in high school.  I cursed myself for not having realized this.

The instructor was nice, and I gave the appearance of following along in class.  In actuality, I was only attending class because attendance was part of the grade.  I spent a minimal amount of time studying for the class – just glancing through the book before each test.  During the actual class, I was usually working on homework for another class.  I sailed through the course, earning the highest grade in the class.

That doesn’t mean that the class was without its challenges.  The guy who sat next to me was named Jay.  Jay had worked full time while attending college to ensure that he graduated without any debt.  It had taken him six years to get his degree in Sociology, but he would be graduating at the end of the semester.

Jay had one little problem.  He had an extreme aversion to math.  This statistics class was the only math-oriented class required for his degree.  The class that was a complete joke to me was a major problem for Jay.  He needed to pass this class in order to get his degree – and he wasn’t quite sure that he was up to the challenge.   

Jay seemed like a nice guy, so I didn’t want to see him fail.  He had a strong work ethic and a desire to succeed, but just seemed to have a mental block when it came to the subject.  Within weeks, my goal for Stat 101 was making sure that Jay passed.

Along with the lecture portion of the class, there was also a hands-on session once a week where the class would meet in small groups to solve problems.  Most of the groups would finish the assignment, hand it in, and then leave.

Jay and I were usually among the last people to leave.  After finishing the actual assignment, we would delve into discussions on any topic that was causing Jay problems.  I served as an unofficial (and, of course, unpaid) tutor, helping Jay through these topics.

I won’t lie to you and say that Jay aced the class.  He didn’t.  However, he compiled acceptable grade time after time.  By the time the end of the semester rolled around, Jay had earned a C and had satisfied all of his degree requirements.  Never in my life have I seen someone so happy about a C.

Jay and I had a deal.  If I could tutor him well enough to pass the class, he’d buy me a pizza.  However, the end of the semester can get hectic, and we lost touch without a pizza ever changing hands.

So, Jay, if you’re out there, you owe me a pizza – preferably Canadian bacon.

The blogosphere has been chattering about the potential of a Strasburg call up all week.  Strasburg, the top overall pick in the 2009 draft, has been dominating the minor leagues.  Strasburg is 6-1 with a 0.99 ERA and 54 strikeouts in 45 1/3 innings for the year – while allowing just 22 hits and ten walks.  He actually kicked his game up a notch after being promoted to AAA Syracuse – he has a miniscule 0.39 ERA with the Chiefs.

Earlier rumors had Strasburg in line for a start on June 4^th against the Reds.  Later in the week, June 8^th against the Pirates was the unofficial date.  The June 4^th date made some sense.  It was the first home game after a road trip, and it’s late enough that it’s nearly certain Strasburg would not qualify as a Super 2.  (More on why Strasburg was sent to the minors here).  There’s some confusion on why the Nationals are choosing to push the date back until the 8^th.  Strasburg seems to have nothing to prove in AAA, and they have pushed back his arbitration a year, there is no financial reason to keep him down.

The only reason I can fathom for delaying Strasburg’s debut is that he’ll have a better chance at a win.  The Reds are in first place in the NL Central, while the Pie Rats are on pace for their 18^th consecutive losing season.  The Pirates don’t have the worst record in baseball yet, but they have by far the worst run differential – so it’s quite likely that Pittsburgh will be picking first in the 2011 draft.  The Nationals – laughingstocks for more years – on the other hand, are in contention in the NL East.  Can the positive energy of a Strasburg promotion push them to a division title?  I’m going to say no for this year, but watch for them in 2011.

How will Strasburg do once he is promoted?  Well, I doubt that he’ll post a 0.99 ERA in the Majors, of course.  In fact, I do think he’ll hit some rough spots during the season, once hitters get a second look at him.  Almost every rookie struggles at some point during their debut campaign.  I do think Strasburg right the ship and end the season with strong numbers – perhaps a 3.50 ERA.

THE RESIN BAG

The other member of the “young pitchers who signed big deals” club, Aroldis “Chappy” Chapman has experienced some struggles after a hot start to the season.  I expect the Reds farmhand to get a June call up after establishing more consistency.  It’s important to remember that the Cuban defector is adjusting to a new home country as well as playing baseball.

Rockies pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez continues to dominate the National League.  U-Ball gave up no runs in 8 innings on Wednesday night, pushing his record to 9-1 with a 0.88 ERA.  In 71 1/3 innings this year, Jimenez has given up ONE home run.  His only loss on the year was on May 9^th against the Dodgers – Jimenez gave up one run in seven innings, but Clayton Kershaw and Jonathan Broxton combined for a shutout for LA.  Jimenez attempts to notch his 10^th win of the year on Memorial Day against reigning Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum.  The Giants ace has struggled lately, and I’m hoping Timmmmmmmmmmmmmmy has another rough outing.

Speaking of struggles … Charlie Morton of the Pirates picked up another loss on Thursday night.  Morton is 1-9 on the year with a 9.35 ERA.  Morton has allowed 66 hits and 16 walks in 43 1/3 innings.  Morton has allowed 12 homers and has also hit four batters.  Morton’s only win this year was against the Cubs – who are somehow 1-5 against the hapless Bucs.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock – or just don’t care about sports – you know that LeBron James is about to become a free agent.

The 25 year old James is arguably the best player in the NBA. The financial piece of the equation is very easy. Under NBA rules, his current team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, can offer him more money than any other team. If he simply wants the cash, he stays with the Cavs.  The financial negotiations would not be complex.  The Cavaliers would simply write down the maximum salary allowed by NBA rules and wait for LeBron to sign the contract.

Over the course of the past few years, there has been widespread speculation that the New York Knicks would try to snap up James and some other top free agents. In an effort to gain “cap space”, the Knicks have rid themselves of expensive players. In addition to reducing payroll, this has also reduced wins.  The Knicks finished this season with a record of 29-53.

If LeBron picks the Knicks, he’ll be playing in the media capital of the world, and can become an even bigger star than he is now. There’s also the possibility that the Knicks can throw enough money around to build a championship caliber team.

If I were James, though, I’d be very cautious. Throwing money at players doesn’t guarantee that the team will meld into a championship contender. It’s just as likely that the Knicks will end up with a huge payroll and a crappy team.  The Cavaliers, on the other hand, have already proven that they are able to build a contender around him.  Yesterday, they fired Mike Brown – whose .663 winning percentage is tops in Cavaliers history – apparently to make way for LeBron’s choice of coach.  LeBron has a huge amount of influence over the future of the Cavs organization.

In terms of media exposure, I’m really not sure how much more exposure James can get. He’s already the most popular player in the NBA and a cultural icon. What does he really want – his own late night talk show?  At some point, don’t you get to a level of “global icon” that makes your geographic location irrelevant?

Although James may gain a bunch of fans by moving to another city, he might lose a lot of his existing fans.  Certainly Cavalier fans would leave in droves, but so would many other fans around the country.  LeBron is an Ohio kid (from Akron).  Watching him attempt to lead his hometown team to an NBA title is a great story line for me.  If LeBron is trying to lead the Knicks to a title, I’m not nearly as interested.  If he’s playing for Phil Jackson in Chicago (the Bulls are rumored to be courting Jackson) then I would be actively rooting against him.

As you can guess, my advice to LeBron is to stay in Cleveland.  He may make a few less bucks in endorsements, but he’ll be treated like royalty in Cleveland.  He’ll also continue to be just a short car ride away from family and old friends.  How will he be treated in New York if the Knicks plans to rebuild around him fail?  Sometimes being a big fish in a small pond can be the better choice – especially when that team can pay you better and contend for a title.

THE RESIN BAG

The US Supreme Court ruled against the NFL in an anti-trust lawsuit.  The league is being sued by apparel maker American Needle, Inc.  The company alleges that the manner in which the NFL collectively bargains with apparel companies is in violation of anti-trust laws. In the case of American Needle, they had produced hats for a variety of NFL teams before the NFL awarded an exclusive headgear contract to Reebok.  American Needle would prefer that teams could make independent decisions on apparel licensing.  It is important to note that the scope of this case was limited to apparel licensing and does not impact the league’s collective bargaining with players.  The case now goes back to a lower court that had previously ruled against American Needle. 

Former Major League pitcher Jose Lima passed away on Sunday at the age of 37.  In 1999, Lima won 21 games and was named to the All Star team.  In 1998 and 1999, Lima went a combined  37-18 with a 3.64 ERA.  For the rest of his career, he was 52-84.  As an encore to his 1999 campaign, Lima struggled to a 7-16 record with a 6.65 ERA.  His final full season in the majors (2005) was marked by a 5-16 record and a 6.99 ERA.  Through the good times and the bad, Jose Lima appeared to be the happiest guy on the world, declaring it to be “Lima Time” and, in general, acting like a guy who was being paid large sums of money to play a child’s game.  RIP, Jose.  Coincidentally, Lima was on the same Astros pitching staff as Darryl Kile, who died at the age of 33 in 2002.

The Colorado Rockies have been very average so far this year.  After hammering reigning AL Cy Young winner Zack Greinke on Sunday, the Rockies went into play on Tuesday with a record of 22-22.  Oddly, they haven’t been more than two games above or below .500 all year.  There are signs that the Rockies could be about to bust out, though.  Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki had been mired in a power slump all year.  After hitting 32 homers last year, he had just a single homer during the first 38 games of the year.  In the last four games, Tulo has hit three homers – all on the road.

Nationals prospect Stephen Strasburg is on the cusp of being called up to the majors.  Delaying the callup this long will allow the Nationals to push back Strasburg’s free agency and arbitration eligibility by a year.  With the Nationals beginning a road trip today, Strasburg’s debut will likely be on June 4th against the Reds in D.C.

For the last year, I have been spending a fair amount of time writing fiction.  Every Friday, with very few exceptions, there has been a brand new short story.  There have been occasional bonus stories on other days, and even holiday specials like Friends for Thanksgiving.

Most of these stories are less than a thousand words.  Every few months, I have had the goal of writing a 10,000 word longer story to be included in the short story collections that I sell in the Hyrax Publications store.

The longer stories have a dual purpose.  First of all, they provide exclusive content for the purchasers of the short story collections.  Purchasing the eBooks is the only way you can obtain these stories.  The main goal, however, is to get me into the habit of stretching my ideas into longer stories in preparation for my novel.

Several months ago, I began work on a novel focusing on the exploits of a serial killer.  I sketched out a synopsis of the story, and quickly got 6000 words written.  At that point, life got much busier.  Unfortunately, I haven’t written a single word in the novel in months.  In fact, I have struggled even to write the 10,000 word stories.

I expect to be able to begin making progress on the novel again, as the kids settle into a more predictable bedtime routine.  However, at age 35, I seem to be getting a bit of a late start.  What if I never finish my novel?

Throughout most of my entire writing career (dating back to elementary school), I have considered the novel to be the highest art form.  All other forms of writing – shorter fiction, poetry, and non-fiction –  were of considerably less interest to me.  In the words of John, Paul, George, and Ringo, I wanted to be a paperback writer.

I still do want to finish my novel.  However, over the course of the last year, my opinion of short stories has changed considerably.  When I began writing short stories, the main goal was to refine my writing style and experiment with various techniques – all in an effort to improve the writing in my eventual novel.

At some point along the way, the stories stopped being stepping stones toward a future goal and became writings that I was proud of.  Is it possible that I’ll never become a novelist, and will instead spend my time churning out hundreds of short stories?    The one downside is financial – as mentioned in my guide to short story writing, publishers don’t pay very much for the stories.  However, there’s a certain feeling of accomplishment in writing an interesting, yet compact story.  At times, I can hammer out a short story in 20 minutes (which, given my typing speed, is very near the theoretical minimum time).  Others have taken an hour or more.  Interestingly, there’s not a strong correlation between the time taken the write the story and the quality of the story.  Some of the more popular stories have been written during an episode of The Office.

Today, I celebrate my 35th birthday.  Or, as I like to refer to it, “the end of the first third of my life.” Here are some Casual Observations from my first 35 years.

• Laughter is the best medicine.  It’s not always the most effective – insulin is much more effective for treating diabetes, for example – but it’s free, and it can be used to treat any ailment known to man.
• When I was younger, I always assumed that the Challenger disaster would be the dominant news memory of my lifetime.  In fact, I had the foresight to save two newspapers from the next day.  Then came 9-11 and took Challenger down a notch.
• I am now old enough to run for president.  I think I’ll take a pass on that for the moment.
• Fantasy baseball teaches some great skills.  Most notable are negotiation and scarcity of resources.  A shortstop who hits 40 homers is worth a lot more than an outfielder with a similar offensive skill set.
• Everyone should hike in the mountains and play in the ocean at least once in their life.  I’m what swim coaches refer to as a “drowner”, but I thoroughly enjoyed the ocean at Daytona Beach.
• You have some control over the stress in your life.  A favorite quote of mine comes from Reinhold Niebuhr’s Serenity Prayer:
  

  God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.

• Technology is a tool, but not a panacea.  It cannot be used as a substitution for adequate parenting, teaching, or training.
• Past performance is no guarantee of future results – but it can often be a solid predictor.
• Take time to stop and smell the roses.  Or even better, watch the birds and squirrels play.
• Tolerance breeds peace.
• Eat lots of bacon.
• One of the best ways to improve your writing is to read books written by great writers.
• College is a time to learn.  You’ll certainly gain academic knowledge during these 4 (or 6) years, but just as important are the life skills you’ll acquire.
• Wave a pedestrian across the crosswalk when you’re at a stop sign.  Really, are you in that big of a hurry?
• I have been a baseball fan since I was very young.  My teams have made the playoffs five times – the ’84 and ’89 Cubs and the ’95, ’07, and ’09 Rockies.  The long waits make the eventual experience even sweeter.
• Don’t confuse education with intelligence.  You can have education without intelligence or intelligence without education.
• Tackle a fear every now and then.  I went from being afraid of roller coasters to being a huge fan – literally in a matter of minutes.  In the words of President Franklin Roosevelt, we have nothing to fear but fear itself.
• Whether you support the actions of your government, show support for the armed forces.  These brave men and women don’t have the ability to choose their work assignments.

Well, that’s all for now.  This turned a bit more into advice than I intended, so I’ll hop off my soapbox now.

Back in October, I first wrote about our experience with DirecTV.  Seven months later, how do I feel?

Positives

• The DirecTV DVRs are far superior to the DVR we had with Mediacom.  The Mediacom ones would flake out and need to be powered down at least once a week.  It was replaced several times, but all the units acted the same.  The Mediacom DVRs store about 50 hours of programming.  The DirecTV DVRs have been relatively trouble-free, and they store 200+ hours of programming.  That comes in really handy when there is a need to have lots of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episodes on hand.
• Aside from the fact that baseball’s blackout rules suck, I absolutely love having access to MLB Extra Innings, which was not available through Mediacom.  I can’t blame DirecTV for the blackouts, as these are imposed by Major League Baseball.  I have been able to catch a lot of Rockies games this year.
• The ability to program your DVR from the internet is great.  If you forget to set your DVR, you can go to a computer (or smart phone), access the DirecTV web site, and set the show to record.

Negative, but not really their fault

• We have our TV, phone, and internet bundled through Qwest.  A couple of months after doing this, we realized that they had not been bundled properly, and that we weren’t being given one of the discounts.  The multiple charges and discounts on the bill can make deciphering it difficult – especially since cryptic phrases are attached to the charges and discounts.  I had actually reviewed the bill and was under the impression that we were getting that discount.  Alas, the credit I was assuming was related to that discount was actually related to something else.  This was eventually resolved and we got credit for the un-discounted months.  I’m blaming Qwest for this instead of DirecTV.  The Qwest representative wasn’t willing to fix the problem; the DirecTV rep was.

Negatives

• Bad weather can create problems.  Our service was completely knocked out for periods of time during a recent system of severe thunderstorms.  This is an area where dish-based service is always going to lose when compared to cable companies, due to the fact that cable is hard-wired.
• At times, the signal can be a bit garbled.  This comes and goes, but can be annoying when it happens.  The picture gets scrambled a bit and the audio can get distorted.

Please, please, please add these features

• There doesn’t seem to be a way to truncate a saved program.  This can be especially problematic with sports programming.  MLB Extra Innings allocates six hours for a baseball game – an absurdly long time period.  I haven’t found any way to shorten this timeframe, other than manual halting the recording when the game is over.  The inability to truncate means that I may have a 2 ½ hour game that takes up 6 hours of space on the DVR.  I’d like to be able to fast-forward to a particular point in the programming and just delete the rest.  Even better, I’d like for the DVR to be smart enough to know when the game ends.  How would that be possible?  Have the TV stations transmit a unique program code as part of the signal.
• Picture-in-picture.  I’m stunned that this doesn’t exist.  My TVs have PIP capability, and I know how to set it up … but there doesn’t appear to be a way to get it to work with DirecTV.  When I had digital cable, I’d split the coaxial cable before it got to the digital box.  I’d run one split through the digital box and then on to the TV.  I’d take the other split and run it to the TV.  The second split carried just the analog signal, but it gave me PIP functionality.  However, you can’t do this with DirecTV, because the out-of-the-jack signal is scrambled.  The only apparent way to set up PIP would be to have two converter boxes tied to the TV.  Am I missing an obvious solution to this?
• I’d like to have the ability to create a custom playlist.  I often listen to TV while I’m doing yardwork.  I’d love to be able to set up a playlist that would allow me to watch a saved NCIS episode, a saved espisode of The Office, and then jump to channel 742 to join the Rockies game when it begins.  If that’s not possible (which, really, it should be) at least let me choose the order of the NCIS episodes.

Overall, I’m happy with the product.  The disruptions have been relatively rare at this point and DirecTV give me access to programming I can’t get with cable.