Pretty slight tonight. No real exciting weekend hijinks. Nothing of particular note during the past week. Just lots and lots of folding clothes, and a bit of envelope-stuffing, and some running, and a brief, quadriceps-stinging debut as the club mascot. I made three children cry in about 40 minutes of public time, which has got to be near the record.

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I bought groceries this morning, and happened to arrive at the store wearing my team "Staff" jacket. As I was loading up the conveyor-belt thing at the register, a lady chatted me up. "What position do you play?" "Oh, I'm just part of the office staff. It's getting pretty crazy over there." "It sure is exciting, isn't it?"

It was pretty neat to hear, "It sure is exciting, isn't it?" instead of "What's it like to work for that guy?" or "How do you possibly deal with that guy?" or "That guy's stealing money from the city."

It's a pretty nice change.

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We're closing in on Opening Day for our club, which comes Wednesday night. Earlier this week, we held an open tryout, because that's what teams at this level do. Players came from around the Midwest and Canada to get their shot at a summer on the ring fingernail; a bit more than fifty showed, and none were kept, but they got their chance, I guess.

The morning session was standard scouting kind of stuff - 60-yard dashes, pitchers working with catchers and radar guns, a little bit of live batting practice - and I didn't see any of it. The second half of the day, however, was a scrimmage between the tryout guys and the guys currently on the roster, and I had a small role - operating the scoreboard as our sound guy, public address announcer, and message center guy got a chance to do some tinkering and dry-running.

The best part of baseball, I've decided, is watching pregame infield practice. Baseballs flying all over the place, the crack of the bat and the sound of glove on ball, a little bit of ridiculous chatter. I really, really like the the rhythm of it, and it was exciting to get the chance to watch; it's been since a few days after Labor Day, after all.

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So, a group went out for dinner after work on Tuesday (I think) to celebrate someone's birthday. During a lull, I asked the birthday boy, "So, as you look back on the year, what's the best thing you accomplished?" It was asked with a giggle and a let's-keep-this-conversation-off-of-shop-talk look, and it got the silly answer it required.

He then asked me, "Well, what was the best thing you accomplished this past year?"

Without flinching, I answered, "Leaving a full-time position for a freakin' internship," then giggled. Brought the house down. It could be a fringe-depressing, when you think about it (or don't), but it's not.

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WIDiRVoFOW

This Week's Reason: He is most certainly a liar. Extent of lying is unknown, and the lies are usually harmless, but they sure are annoying. It's frustrating when you're sure you can't believe everything that starts with, "Did I ever tell you about the time...?"

Supporting Evidence:
My first night in town, he declared himself "an accomplished chef." As it turns out, he rarely cooks, and when he does, it's macaroni and cheese. This is not the evidence, however.

The evidence comes from Saturday afternoon. I asked what he was eating for dinner.
R/DS: "I bought a nice steak on the way back from work."
Me: "How are you going to prepare it?"
R/DS: "Well, I've got a meat seasoning rub for it. [Ed: No complaints here.] And I always love to make my steaks on the Foreman."

On the Foreman? Accomplished, schmoccomplished.

Season starts Wednesday, which means he'll be gone half the time. Rejoice! The WIDiRVoFOW isn't particularly good, but I'll do my best to keep it going. We'll see.