Sitting Here Baffled/My Favorite Pastime

I am sitting here baffled... what the hell just happened??

Let me think, how can I compare this with something I might consider important in my life?? SPORTS!! Yeah, that's it. I love my sports; it is my favorite pastime... Baseball to be more exact. I love my baseball team. I invest a lot of time on my favorite team. I watch every single game, every single game.

When I am out of town, I pay for a subscription to MLB.com so that I can watch the games from the comfort of some hotel room with puffy pillows. When I am home and having dinner, I record (TiVo, Hard drive) the game so that I can watch its entirety, pitch by pitch. I fast forward in between pitches. I have timed it perfectly. After the pitch, I press the fast forward button 3 times, wait 500 ms, then press play. That will get me exactly before the next pitch.

If I am at my office (day game), I will time my lunch so that I can go to some local sports bar and at least watch the last 3 innings (unless they are losing by a bunch, then I just say to hell with them for that day).

We live 1 mile away from the stadium and catch as many live games as we can. Yeah, I'm the guy with the personalized authentic team jersey (thanks hun), team hat, team jacket, team slippers, you name it.

When my team loses, it bums me out for the following few hours. When they win, it makes me happy.

When someone talks about my team, I get angry. I argue, and argue, and argue, and if I have a drink or two in me, I might yell "Hey other team, you suck!!!!, Beer MAN, I need another light!!!". I am very defensive about my team, and I take it personal. I know its stupid right? How can I let me emotions be taken over by nine men on a field chasing a ball?? I know it's not logical, but that is the way I feel. That is my favorite pastime and I invest a lot of time in to it. Smart or not, I do.

If a stranger offends my team, well they can go to hell. However, if my SIL (who loves the opposing team) or my wife's cousins (who also love the opposing team) make fun of my team... I have to shrug it off right? How can I get angry and hold any resentment towards them, my family? At some point I have to draw the line right? Isn't family all we have? Family is family, strangers are strangers. I will not defend someone who is not my blood over my own blood.

I guess everyone has their own pastime and are just as passionate about their pastime as I am about baseball. I understand now.

So, with that said, I would like to publicly apologize to anyone I might have offended (intentionally or unintentionally) with my posts or comments. I don't really care too much about blogging, but just because I don't care does not mean it is silly, just like baseball to me is not silly.

So, I will dedicate my spare time to comparing stats, teams, observing the schedule, making mental notes on which teams we can beat 20 games in advance, eating peanuts, and chewing gum. I will leave the blogging to the bloggers. This is your world, and I was just momentarily living in it. There are more important things to me... like family.

That is the Truth.... according to me.

SC

Oh, one more thing... This is Arnold, I blacked out key identifiers as I would not like a mountain lion, snake or any other animal from Wyoming attacking us at our place of business. These are our new badges, I put mine on top so as to show the authenticity of the badge.

Arnold is real, and his comments are made by him, not some ficticious character from Venus.

Peace!!!

A Letter to "Jamie"

Jamie,

Sing me a song.

SC

Gun Laws in the State in Which I Live

Part 1

The state in which I live in has the strictest gun laws in the nation. We are one of the few states which does not permit CCW (Conceal Carry). The city in which I live in has a total ban on handguns. This means that if you are a law abiding citizen, you will not be able to protect your family in the event that a "non-law abiding citizen" were to break in to your home and threaten you in the sanctuary of your own home, your temple, your castle.

Picture this, it's three o'clock in the morning. Thug gang banging criminal breaks into your home, YOUR HOME, with an illegal unregistered handgun . You wake up because the dog is barking and you hear foot steps heading towards your bedroom. Terrified, you try to lock the bedroom door, grab your wife, hold her close, and ask her to be as quiet as possible as you stumble through darkness looking for your cordless phone. The thug knows you probably keep your most valued possessions in your bedroom and begins to kick the bedroom door down. He yells and says that if you do not open the door immediately he will harm your children who are terrified, holding a blanket over their heads, in their own beds, crying and calling your name.

You hand the phone to your wife and ask her to dial 911 as you try to reason with the heartless, ruthless, sadistic, piece of shit thug. He has finally kicked the door down and showing no mercy puts two rounds into your chest... he sees your wife trembling in the closet with the phone in her hand....

Forty minutes later the police arrive, it's too late, they are forty minutes late.

This might never happen to you or anyone you know, but it happens, and quite often too. Just watch the news, read the paper. The reality is that only the bad guys in my city are armed. They are surrounded by that shield of invincibility which makes them scared of no one. They walk around looking for someone to intimidate with a look on their face that truly, only their mothers can love.

The city in which I live in does not protect the law abiding citizen. They leave you at the mercy of these delinquents, felons, thugs.

Part 2 will be posted later...

TTRH