whirwind - aren't they always (?) - trip back to chicago over the previous 36 hours. after a day game on tuesday afternoon, i packed and departed for chicago at 4:30 or so.

after visiting with the family briefly that night, i microwaved some dinner (no fault for them not waiting) and headed to the gingerman to drink with jenny and her friends monica and lindsay. beer was consumed, conversation was generally interesting, and it's always good to see jenny.

slept at the jenny household, woke up shortly after she departed for work, and called my brother. the boy came to the city via el, and we headed down to comiskey for comped tickets. they've done a fairly tremendous job with comiskey, what with the 'no more spaceship' and 'no more blue' design, as well as the constant use of their plentiful video screens. (main one in center, horizontal one above batter's eye in center, and uber-horizontal ones along upper deck.) i'm fascinated by the way they've included the pinwheels so widely in the design, with them throughout every single open space.

my biggest gripe is their starting lineup thing, where every player is introduced and enters the field individually. it's a minor league thing i don't like, and it's ridiculous-er in the big leagues.

highlight was seeing a mr. zero enter the game. shingo's my favorite. saw two innings of shingo, saw the twins win...it was pretty perfect, really.

after dealing with incessant rush hour traffic, returned home 630 ish for wicked mommy rud dinner. steak, salmon. salad, potatoes, red pepper, corn on the cob, perhaps something else. even dessert. probably too much, but really really good.

fascinating portion of the trip included both the drive home and the drive to the 'port, which featured - without fail - am radio. i guess i'm fascinated by the politicos or something...conservative radio is strangely interesting, i think. so is bob uecker.

maybe it's because i'm a wee bit arrogant sometimes, but i consider myself to be a fringe celebrity. among the 'why did you say my boyfriend grounded out? you're so mean' emails i sometimes get are also messages like 'i really enjoy listening to you' and 'i know that sometimes you've spoken about the concessions at other midwest league ballparks. what's good at peoria?' (i actually got that last week. she loved the mesquite chicken sandwich, or at least told me she did).

anyway, my fringe-fringe-celebrity status has been assured, because one of the local papers wants to do their weekly (i'm pretty sure) 20 quesitons feature on me. so they were in the booth shooting some pictures during sunday's game (i'm hopeful i'll get an 'action' shot, although i'm pretty sure they'll use the 'headphones around neck, smiling, with field in background' shot, sadly). and i'm thinking of stories i can tell and interesting illuminating anecdotes about myself, and then i speak with the beat writer today.

and he hands me a questionnaire.

with things like 'peak moment' and 'pit moment' and 'favorite food' and 'favorite music' and 'people don't know that i' and 'i wish i could' and 'person i'd like to meet' and 'personal quote or motto' and things like that.

and, let me tell you...there's some readership of this thing, and it's very difficult for a pretentious tool with limited and pretentious interests like me to look likable in this thing. and i'm sort of left-leaning, and that doesn't fly here, so i can't really write things like 'i wish i could change' completely honestly, because it'll alienate people.

but, i mean, favorite book: ball four; i'd like to meet: jackie robinson; pit experience: game six of the 2003 nlcs; there's a theme here, and it pigeon-holes me. in my spare time i like to: 'watch 60 minutes and read and do laundry.'

i tell you, it's tough. i've got about a week to ponder.

ps - i'm not really concerned, although it makes me a bit hesitant, or something. people will read this, and i want them to like me, beause that's good for business and good for listenership and it's just generally better to be liked, i shallowly think.

a pair of recent stories:

1) there's this company, formerly called howe sports, now called howe sportsdata (and somehow affiliated with wire service sportsticker, although i've not figured out how) that - forever - did all of the stats for minor league baseball. like, we've got 'final reports' from the illinois-indiana-iowa league from 1947, compiled by howe sports.

anyway, minor league baseball signed a stats contract with a new company, the sports network, this past offseason. the sports network, a recently-formed company formed by computer geeks, provides neat things like inning-by-inning scoring updates and box scores made available online within minutes of a game. (with howe, they weren't publicly avaialble, and they weren't available to people in the business until about 2 a.m. central. howe probably was a bit behind on technology.)

well, the sports network, run by computer geeks, isn't real good at interpersonal communication. they're crass and rude and generally arrogant when you have a request or a question via telephone. they also encourage that you send them emails with questions or roster updates and the like, rather than using a phone and actually talking to somebody.

(howe was very friendly. and helpful. you always got the answer you needed.)

apparently, they've been flooded with requests with phrases like "here's an updated scoring file from last night's game. our scorer erroneously credited two at-bats to player a, when player b had already entered the game. please email me to confirm that you've updated the change. thanks much."

being run by computer geeks, they don't really understand why people would need a confirmation email. so now, whenever a release or roster update or game recap or stats update is sent to them (and every game recap and roster update is emailed to them, per their request), you now get an immediate email that says "autoreply: the sports network has received your request and is addressing the problem."

seems to defeat the purpose of a 'confirmation email,' i'd think.

geeks.

2) the press box at our stadium is a construction abomination. the window doesn't stretch all the way to the desk (there are about eight inches of steel between the top of your counter and the beginning of the actual transparent window), meaning that a broadcaster needs an elevated chair to see home plate.

a recent club in town (and now the current one) has two broadcasters, meaning that we've needed to provide the opposing radio booth with an extra chair. i provided them *my* cushy office chair, which has the ability to be raised and lowered, and took an alternate junkier one for my own office use.

apparently, my boss is a bit set off by the fact that i've provided one of our high-quality (read: probably $25-$35) office chairs, instead of, like, a rock-hard folding chair. he sent an intern up yesterday to repo the nice chair. fortunately, i was in the booth, explained that a) a broadcaster can't see using a folding chair and b) anyway, it's my goddamn chair, and, being a good host, i've elected to give my colleague use of it.

so greg the intern, who is a super dude, explained this to the boss. and, after our game today, the boss confronted me. according to the boss, "i'm concerned that those radio guys won't treat the chairs real well."

what i wanted to say was, "these people are adults. they're mature and got this job over a whole lot of candidates. i can vouch for their responsibility. we've got stoned interns. stoned interns that don't give a crap about the relative success or failure of the team. i think the adults probably treat their chairs better." what i said was "mhlkadfoi3idlkasdflkjw," which is to say, i nodded a bit and mumbled a bit.

new team exits town tuesday afternoon. i'm not sure what i'll do with the extra chair.

3) i just saw ben affleck get interviewed during the yankees-red sox game. if i'm a red sox fan, i'm eternally embarrassed that this guy is 'our voice.' besides dropping in things like 'a-rod's gotten weak hits' and 'this seat (next to the dugout, which is where steinbrenner sits when he's at the yankees game at fenway) just stinks of the evil empire,' he also called the umpires 'the refs.'

he's a real dumbass turd and, from what i can tell, hasn't made a good movie since his first one.

4) an upcoming wednesday off day could bring a day trip to comiskey park. perhaps even a day-and-a-half trip.

let me explain to you the joy of a 'commuter' trip, which is what i'll be embarking on tomorrow. you get on the bus mid-afternoon, stay on the bus a long time, watch a baseball game, get on the bus again, and get home really late.
 
i'll be embarking on a commuter trip to peoria illinois tomorrow morning, as first pitch is scheduled for noon. (generally we've got night games...bus time usually 130 for those.)  so i'll get to the stadium at about 715 to print out stats and things for coaching staff and myself, get on the bus by 745, and we'll depart at 804 (staff's not a prompt one this year). i'll pop on my ipod and, perhaps, open up a book (the old dan brown book that my mom gave me to read...not da vinci code) or a magazine (sports illustrated or magnet)...otherwise, i'll go to sleep.
 
we'll get to the park at 10...i'll probably not do an interview because i have to set up my equipment and put my stats just so, as weirdos say. then i'll talk to myself for three hours. then i'll head back to the bus...we usually leave about a half-hour after i get down there. then we're on a bus for another two hours or so, and then i'm back home.

actual time at work: 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
actual time working: 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
 
to quote a wise man, these days are effin' annoying.
 
we had a noon game today, so i've been home since about 530 or so. got to talk to my mom, and made some sort of dinner out of "what's in the fridge" (which isn't much because i haven't been out for groceries since last month - when i spendt $68)...this meant white rice with salsa and kidney beans and a few jalepenos. it was good, i'd say.
 
high school buddies, most notably coach, were in town this past weekend. it's real tough to be a host when you work in baseball, and tougher when your game lasts four hours the night they arrive. so we were out 1130-2 on friday night, did lunch for an hour on saturday, and were 'out' at our incredible stadium bar about 11-1 on saturday. not real efficient, but pretty fun. they got to play catch on the field and pretend to bring back homers, which is always fun.
 
congrats to nemo! and carrie! it happened some time last week or something, and i made a call when i read it on saturday, and i've still gotten nothing back. i mean, damn. we spoke last monday, so i probably should've gotten a sneak preview...i think we talked engagement-ish things, although i'm not sure.
 
two recent record purchases: polyphonic spree's together we're heavy which is as cliched and joyful as the demo/debut, and fiery furnaces' blueberry boat which is a bit tough for me to get a hold on, although pitchfork says its genius.

gbv's announced that their final tour will end with back-to-back shows at metro in chicago on december 30 and 31. i'm going to both, regardless of cost. i think toby sprout's coming as well, and the go are opening. (they rawked in dekalb.)
 
cubs-cards was tremendous. cubs lost. i'm not one to overstate the importance of mid-july games, but it sure seems to me that this one hurt a whole lot.

two recent communications have convinced me to reenter the blogosphere, although i'm not completely sure how long it'll happen.

to summarize recent events:

- late june marked the mwl all-star game in cedar rapids. rather than taking the time off (as i've done in the past - graduation-2002, royals-twins in kc-2003), i joined the staff in going to the game. And while, thankfully, there was beer consumed on the bus (left at noon), i spent much of the actual night working. (my scorebook was in impeccable shape, and i took some winning pictures.)

- i made the biggest blunder of my professional life sunday morning, when i slept through a 5 a.m. bus trip to dayton, ohio. (i had stayed at the stadium overnight, expressly to avoid this, but the alarm didn't do the job.) i woke up at 540, yelled "F#*$_)@#," went home, and went back to sleep. i got up at 1030 and drove to dayton in time for the game. also got to hear marty brenamann (i can't spell it) on the way out there.

- the trip continued to kane county this past weekend, which brought me chances to a) eat postgame with dad, thursday; b) drink postgame with didi, friday; c) eat postgame with parents and parents friends, saturday; and d) return home to spend the night, sunday.

- sunday night was uber productive. i returned home in ratty shorts (i've got three pairs of shorts, featuring a) gigantor crotch hole, b) tattered/safety-pinned pocket, c) accidentally-highlighted crotch), and my mom responded "we've got to get you new shorts." i said i didn't need them, so she went to the store and bought me four pairs of beautiful new shorts herself. woof.

- i then continued to the city, and spent about 2 hours with gurs and em-dub at the gingerman tavern. although jenny was sadly out of town and didi wanted to get actual "sleep," the night was tremendous. gurs + em-dub + a combined three minutes with neil, marc and dave makes for a tremendous night.

- monday and tuesday marked back-to-back off days. i didn't do much of much excitement, really. drive home. wear my new shorts. do the entire previous week worth of dishes. buy together we're heavy by the polyphonic spree. clean my room and do laundry. watching crazy ken break the million-dollar mark on jeopardy (he's just not that fun). this changed when, strangely, one of the local tv guys called and asked if i wanted to eat dinner at his house last night. it was fun. free steak. playing with his kids. watching a few hours of all-star game. (tv guy jay and i are convinced that piazza was telling al hitters what was coming. even it it's not true, it's fun to talk about.) neat.

- that's all i've got. if jeannie zelasko and chris berman were to die, we'd all be better off.