to my friends who still have unreturned phone calls, i can assure you that it's not because you're not my friends. it's because i'm working in the most beautiful ballpark in the world now, but that requires a lot of work. it's also because i've been on the road, just about exclusively, for the past three weeks.

i think things will slow down perhaps the 10th of May...and i may have some time off the seventh of may, which is a thursday, i believe. but, until then, just call me swamp mcswamp. we're talking unreturned calls from five weeks ago, which is embarrassing, but emblematic of the awful/wonderful time i've been having lately.

in other news, i think sumo has officially moved to the top of the charts of the 'smartest person i've ever met' list. not to scoff at all of my very smart friends, but...london school of economics!? i mean, that's cool.

finally, guided by voices has announced that their next album, half smiles of the decomposed, will also be their last. i guess it was inevitable, and i have been with them for seven years of their 13-year brush with 'stardom,' but it's just a bit sad. i haven't read postal blowfish in awhile but, i'm thinking that it'll be depressing come next february. pavement-like, only. but less so, because their dvd's out already. (if gurs is still a reader, he'll get it. you probably won't.)

there exists a possibility that i am just not a person of the times. as a young man, mid-20's, i should certainly be versed in the accepting of text messages. but, alas, i am not.

and that is why, at approximately 712 eastern this evening, this occured when i accepted a text message: the time was 715 eastern, and i had just talked through 30 minutes of nothingness, as our game was about to be rained out. i got off air and, as i always do, i turned my personal cell phone back on. (it's been strangely out-of-use lately, as i've been swamped.) i got a series of beeps, and i received a note that said "Yeah fill," or something like that. So I went to the text message section, and read the full message: "Yeah filling dead air." and so i was overjoyed that someone was listening, and i assumed it was e-to-the-ileen, who's a regular, and i quickly deleted the message. i called eileen, who said "huh? i didn't send you a text message. i didn't know you could accept text messages."

and so i felt like a dweeb, because i have no idea who was wonderful enough to have been tuning in. i've got my wonderful suspects, but i don't want to hazard a guess. to whomever you might be: thanks for tuning in.

in other news, i have been swamped of late. (witness the 'continental breakfast' post.) tonight's game was rained out and, while it'll result in a whole host of awful travel situations, it was nice because i got to drink, and drink a lot. it's been far too long, and i enjoyed my time greatly.

off to listen to the soft bulletin, and catch up on some work. peace, i'm outta here.

i'm real sorry for the intermittentness of my posting...i'm still working, far too much.

the team has started the season off in fascinating fashion, losing six of their first ten, including four one-run games. three times opponents have had 'walk-off' hits, all with two outs. this includes a two-out walk off grand slam to secure a 7-6 defeat, from the same guy who had a two-out hit in the bottom of the ninth of a 1-0 game. the other game-ending hit game? the one in which our guys came back from a 10-1 deficit, took a 13-12 lead, and lost, 14-13, in eleven innings. wow.

now, there is one incredible benefit to working my odd hours. it's 245 eastern in the am, and i wanted vending machine food. i don't have singles or change. i head to the front desk of the hotel for singles. as i exchange my ten, i notice that the continental breakfast is already out. (seems unfresh to me!) i ask if it's free game. i'm told yes. and i save the 90 cents i would have spent on famous amos cookies.

bedtime at 445, i think.

two thoughts:

- the nba is stupid for disallowing bobby sura's triple-double because of the intentionally missed shot. triple-doubles are cool, and three straight triple-doubles are cooler.

- apparently, those gray road jackets the cubs are wearing are league-mandated. they're the awful-est looking jackets i've ever seen.

things still busy. team arrived in town today, which meant meet the team dinner time. fun time had by all. it was just a buffet-style meal, and we had the players sit about two or three to a table...fans came in and joined whomever they wanted to join. it made for a surprisingly comfortable atmosphere, actually.

it seems to me that this team is a lot friendlier with each other than past teams i've been with, and we're only 4 hours into the experience. it is my belief that the escalation of the cell phone has absolutely killed the camaraderie that used to be a part of minor league baseball - instead of playing cards and bonding, these guys are always on the phone with their girlfriend/wife. it's sort of disheartening...the minor league equivalent of '20 cabs for 20 guys.'

without a stadium or clubhouse that are readily accessible, these next two days (media day - full uniform - wednesday afternoon, short workout - road sleeves and old pants - wednesday night, travel for thursday game - road uniform - thursday morning), it's making it particularly tough on our groundskeeper, who is doubling as clubhouse manager prior to the stadium's opening. he said to me, about 10 (we were at the office) tonight: "remind me this time tomorrow that i love my job." and so i will.

made my california (old guy) radio debut monday morning, and i think i left the listening public unimpressed. long-winded and overly-esoteric, i just didn't give the people what they wanted. i made the following awful predictions: nl west: dodgers; nl central: houston; nl east: atlanta (which i really, really want to believe); al west: seattle (i forgot about anaheim and oakland...it happens); al central: minnesota; al east: yanks, i think.

i tried to justify the picks the following way:
atlanta: bobby cox is still the best manager in the game, you can't do much better than the jones brothers, and i think jd drew will finally stay healthy.
houston: simply put, i can't pick the cubs...makes me nervous
los angeles: i like milton bradley (!), and i think that jeff weaver finally puts it together this year (!!)
seattle: ehh...why not? oh - wait - it's because freddy garcia'll be back this year. (if i were smart, i'd've mentioned the fact that rafael soriano will either win ten from the bullpen or win 17 in the rotation.
minnesota: i love joe mauer...blah...blah...blah...power will come...walked 62 times and only struck out 41...numbers have gotten better as he's gone up the ladder...blah...instantly becomes the best defensive catcher in the a-l...he's so humble...what an amazing story...blah....blah...blah... (and i didn't even mention johan, who i love)
new york: vazquez is an ace (although i don't think i can spell his name). i think kevin brown will hold up.

thankfully, he didn't ask for a series or wild card prediction. i'd've probably found some way to remember oakland, and then pick the giants over oakland, in a 15-year-anniversary revenge series. i'm dumb. but it was early.

we said we'd do it again, and, if we do, i'm coming armed with material. real material. better material than: "how many dominican infielders can you fit in john kruk's suit?"

coupla cd purchases today, probably the last ones before (next month) the polyphonic spree record comes out. wire's pink flag and modest mouse's newly-released good news for people who love bad news. pixies announced a saturday, november 13, show at the riviera (i think) today. don't know when tickets are on sale. i'll probably try to see them, although i only really know surfer rosa. i've got half a year to learn.

to all of my friends who have tried to contact me in the past two weeks, i am quite sorry. it's been busy busy times, perhaps (i guess) because i dawdled (daudled? dawdelled?) for the first few months of the offseason and am now playing catch-up - in a big way. i've referenced the three publications that i'm working on. one's to bed. one's watching letterman. one's just getting out of his morning shower. like, i mean, i've designed exactly zero of 48 pages. (theoretically, the entire thing needs to be laid out by monday afternoon. the team's in town tuesday, and then things get busy.) 21 of those pages are theoretically ads, but only 10 of those are confirmed. this weekend'll be a long weekend.

and this past week has been a long week. 8 hour days on both saturday and sunday. at work until 9 on monday. it was 11 on tuesday. after midnight on wednesday. seven last night. i'm working right now, although i went to dinner from 8 until 10 or so.

it sure looks like our roster is going to be good, and the staff could be dominant. offensively, we've got two number one picks - one leadoff guy, and one middle-of-the-lineup power threat - plus a middle third that was the best middle third at their level last season. our number two hitter is an australian, which is cool. our starting rotation features three guys that are listed among the best 15 prospects in our system, and the number 22 guy's currently on the disabled list. the number 12 guy'll be a midseason promotion, it appears.

the team yearbook is essentially unstarted (that's the 48 pager), which means that i'll be going for my pre-season oil change saturday, then buying a few groceries, then paying some bills, then heading into work for about ten hours. straight to work on sunday, it seems, although i would like to get home to see the bosox and orioles. ahh, baseball.

in other news, thanks much to unstadt. a new double mix cd arrived today, because he's an all around nice guy. still haven't returned his call, because i'm awful.

and, finally, my pal nemo is dealing with the loss of a good friend right now, because mr. tony's off the air. (i heard 3 minutes of 'the herd' on wednesday, and the host seemed to be a pretty intelligent, eloquent guy. not the buffoon he was portrayed as, but i also didn't hear any callers.) due to my love of bernstein and boers, i've never heard much tony, so maybe i'm not knowledgeable enough to comment. but, in my bernstein and boers experience, i think that complacency is an issue. those guys have such a bevy of inside jokes intertwined with other inside jokes (usually about penises) that it can probably be off-putting to potential new listeners. was mr. tony the same way? hmmm.

monday's goal: listen to old guy radio at work.