Web Site of the Day

For all you grammar and usage snobs out there (yes, I'm talking to you, Sarah, Catherine, Paula, Monica and anyone else who reads this and hates people who can't command the English language). <--Yes, i know that is a fragment. Save it. http://funnytypos.com/

Two Years Ago...

A lot can change in a couple years. Friends get married. Other friends graduate from school. The first African American president in our nation's history is elected and sworn into office. The freaking Arizona Cardinals make the Super Bowl. You move once twice three times (with a fourth pending). You gain people. You lose people.

Things aren't necessarily better...but they aren't necessarily worse. They're just different.

Living
Two years ago, I lived in an apartment in Reseda with ARob. We'd pretty much just moved out of the house on Lanark, and he already had an eye toward purchasing another house (which, of course, would turn out to be the one on Cohasset). A few months later, we moved into that house, and for a year and a half, it was game on. The keg flowed. The grill sizzled. The music room blasted. It was the party house. Parties, hookups, illegal fireworks, magic shows...it was a little bit of everything.

Then Tania moved back to SoCal, which was awesome, but it was also clearly the beginning of the end of an era.

I love them both to death and am happy that they have each other and are able to share their lives together...but at the same time, once it was time for a ring, it was an implicit eviction notice for me. So the first great craigslist hunt began, and it led me to the apartment in Woodland Hills with my first random roommate. All who know me, know how well I fit in there. So after a month and a half of not being able to freaking stand it, the second great craigslist hunt began. This one led me to the much more amicable living situation (at least for the time being) with Annette and Spuds Frankie. W

Friends
One major driving factor in my decision to move out to Ventura, though, was the fact that I was not going to be on an island out there. I had, of course, the C-Squad. Previous trips I'd made to the VC had been fun adventures, and I figured, 'Why would a move out there be any different?' The one obvious drawback was moving further away from the fam and my valley friends, but as it's turned out, they've been more than happy to follow me out here for weekend shenanigans. And in one case, the follow resulted in a relationship and a desire to take the added step of a complete relocation. Worlds colliding...can be a beautiful thing.

Speaking of serendipitous meetings, there is the random occurrence that led to this friend and I wandering back into each other's lives. Who knew a game at CSUN would become a key turning point in life? Jordt and I had gone over there to see Ollie play and ran into Nick Grant. After a short discussion, we realized that all three of us were living in the valley and had no further plans for later that day. That's how it all started. None of this existed two years ago. W

Family
Nor did anyone at Wade Stadium have any idea that life existed without my brother working there for the summer in some fashion, but then he took the LSAT and moved out west for law school. Now he's "Looking California" but still has days of "Feelin' Minnesota." It's not the ideal close option that we had hoped for, and he'd always been an IM or a phone call away, but now it's coming from the same time zone. Furthermore, for adventures this summer, it's a two hour drive--without the three hour flight in front of it. Love it. Also, while mom and dad are further away (boo), they do love Ventura, so they'll visit (yay). WW <--like sweeping a double header

Work
Another thing my readers know about me is that I spend inordinate amounts of time in my office. With the account shuffling, it's been a struggle to keep up, and I've been on the fringe of burnout for...oh...about four months now. This is the same four months that I've been a Sr. AE. I've been in a constant state of chasing and feeling like I'm drowning. While I haven't caught up per se, I haven't drowned either. I still have the same great guidance and help coming from my superiors at the agency. I do need every day of vacation that I'm taking in the next two months, though. All of it non wedding-related. Thank God. W

So, here you have what are essentially the dimensions in my life. The one gaping void, of course, is a relationship (L). It's just something you just can't chase. You can drive yourself crazy worrying about it, or you can just let it ride. Maybe I'm too laissez faire or overly cynical by approaching it this way, but even when you think you've found the right one and you've got it all figured out, sometimes the rug gets pulled out from under you and its gone. The people who are most important stick around. That's what i found out...two years ago.

Third Consecutive...

Night in the office past 7 p.m. Among softball games, feature stories and an upcoming product launch, it is busy times at the DJA. I'm finally starting to adjust to my new accounts and don't quite feel so much like I'm drowning. Now I'm just regulation busy as opposed to buried. Gotta hit it hard tomorrow, though, so I can get out of the office in time for prom Friday night. Oh, the adventure!

Article of the Day

Had to get one in just to get my post total up above the minimum double digits for the month of April...never a doubt!

In honor of the upcoming prom adventure, here is...

The Article of the Day

Thank you, MSN for passing along this greatness. The ex-w and I have set the over/under on number of girls who will cry at prom at five. Place your bets. More prom-related posts to come this weekend/next week in the run-up.

Loaded Post...

I'm back in the saddle after a moving-induced hiatus, and post #101 is coming at you from a little further up U.S. 101 in scenic Ventura. It's been a week since I've been here, and I finally have all my stuff put together in my room, so after some unnecessary venom gentle prodding, I am back on the blog. Happy Easter to everyone, by the way, since actually having a couple days off is what is really driving the completion of this post.

Move was about as much fun as any move...i.e. it sucked, but I had big time help from Jordty on the front end, some organizational help from Catherine on the back and a GIANT assist from mom and dad the whole day (sorry, guys!). Annette and Spuds Frankie are great roommates, even though Frankie keeps trying to sneak into my room, since it was (apparently) his hideout spot before I moved in. Sorry pal. You gone.

The commute is a little bit longer than from Woodland Hills but is about the same as it was from ARob and my apartment in Reseda (if any of y'all remember that location).

Other random tidbits:

Freshman team is playing well as long as I am not out there...meaning, we win on any day of the week except Saturday. Coach Clark is about to fire me.

Speaking of Coach Clark, he has been the most common visitor out to the new location in the VC and has split his time between hanging with me and hanging with the fw, Catherine. Photos to follow up in the next couple days. (I promise, fw...patience!)

Also in said photos, is the newest member of the Ventura County posse, Sarah M number 5 is my favorite Martinak, whose birthday was the occasion that produced said photos. She is a colleague of the fw (chemistry teacher) and has become prominent in the VC migration.

R.I.P. Nick Adenhart. Losing anyone to a tragedy is, of course, really awful, but the fact that he was a guy who was just on his way from making the transition from 22-year-old prospect to professional in baseball, made him a guy with whom I could identify as it easily could have been any of a number of former teammates/friends.

In addition to Easter festivities, Jophes is being baptized tomorrow evening at St. Bernadine, and with Uncle Matt in town...well...it will be shenanigans. That is about all I can say about that.

So then, I'm laying low in Burbank with the fam for the weekend. Happy Easter, again, to everyone. I'm settling in, so blog posts should be back to the regularly scheduled frequency.

Freshman Report: 500

Beautiful number...and can be used to describe our record after a 10-4 W at Thousand Oaks Saturday. If was a little dicey for a while, as we did the usual kick it around and throw it away on defense, but once we woke the bats up, there was no shot they were catching us.

For freshmen, these kids bang...seriously. I saw a couple balls hit Saturday that guys in varsity lineups can't barrel up to as well as these kids. There isn't anyone in the lineup that I would consider a soft out, and there are a handful who can steal bases like it's their job.

Good stuff going on this week...taking a half day off of work on Wednesday for the big away showdown against the Fighting Hillmans Seraphs of St. Bonaventure. Hopefully in between leaving work at noon and heading to St. B for the game, I am picking up the Amazin'. Then on Saturday, it gets even more interesting, as Coach Clark has an interview with the LAFD and can't make the game, so I get the league opener at Loyola by myself. Back to giving signs and coaching 3B. This is going to be a gong show, but I'm such a control freak...I love it.