MVP '05 Update

I'm currently riding a 12-game win streak into late May, holding strong the AL Central.

As far as my created players go, they're just too darned expensive. Nobody's taken a look yet, so I'm hoping that after the season is completed and teams are making some huge free-agency deals, those fellas will get picked up to make some Hall of Fame careers.

Very Much Alive, Barely

Yes, I'm alive and well.

It's just that I've been so darn busy with stuff -- it just seems to pile up the last few weeks of school, add work, plus all of the wedding planning -- yuck.

It has just been stressful. I'm even more tired than before. I'm eagerly waiting for graduation on the 7th of May, so all of this student teaching is over and done with.

I didn't get the job in Arlington. They hired locally, so it's understandable. I also have a few other applications out there to nearby area schools, but I'm waiting to hear back from them.

Last Saturday, I drove up to Brookings and visited Josh and his 4-month old son Parker. He's a good lookin' baby, loves to smile a lot, and LOVES attention (especially from me). We watched the NASCAR race that night, kicked back with a few (or more) beers and got to check out Josh's new '05 Chevy Silverado. NICE.

Other than that, I got about 5 days left of student teaching. My students are sad to see me go, but it's time. They're getting a little unruly and it's driving me nuts.

Well...?

I had the interview this morning.

Well, what can I say? Only God knows (and the two interviewers, of course) know how I did.

It was difficult for me to sit there and look at two blank faces. I know that interviewers, like my own father, have to sit emotionless. For me, that's pretty hard to do. I play off other's emotion and expressions for me to be comfortable.

They asked straight-forward questions, like what are my strengths, what are my weaknesses, what is my educational background, etc. They tried to stump me on a few questions, like "how flexible are you in the classroom," and "would you like to try new things in the classroom..." Well, yes! Obviously, I am flexible in dealing with students and assignments and working with other teachers and I'm always up for new things in the classroom. It was pretty hard to elaborate on that.

But hopefully they got my own emotion over the fact that I love what I'm doing and I like working with my students. It's just something that I am passionate about. I was nervous -- like who wouldn't be -- but I did my best. I'm expecting a call on Monday whether or not I got the position.

Pressure!

Addresses Needed

I sent out a mass e-mail and voice mails to people regarding the up-coming wedding. I am in need of addresses for the invitations to send out to the masses.

So, if I didn't send an e-mail or a voice to you, you should know my e-mail address. Drop me a line!

One Step Closer

With all of my application materials in to Arlington for the open position, I was nearly floored on Friday night when I came home and had already received a message regarding that the superintendent wanted to interview me.

At first I thought, "Darn, that was quick...," already thinking that not too many people had actually applied for the position. Anyway, I was to call him back on Monday morning.

3rd Period rolled around and I finally had the opportunity to call Arlington. But the lines were busy in Chester, so I ran out to my truck to grab my cell phone. When I had arrived back to the classroom, my cooperating teacher was already on the phone with Arlington's superintendent. The guy was already tracking me down, having already talked to Chester's high school principal.

I briefly spoke with the superintendent, setting up an early morning interview on Thursday. Afterwards, I found out that the principal and my cooperating teacher had put in some good words and some excellent advice on how to go through the interview.

Should I nervous? Heck, no. I'm at the point in my life where I see something good, I'm going all-out. I'm pretty comfortable in situation like these, so I'm not going to worry a whole lot.

Overall, a fairly stressful week. I'm studying up for my PLT test on Saturday plus preparing for the interview. Add student teaching and work and that adds up to a heavy-work load.

Crash Publications, Inc. Update

Because of the ever-so-busy schedule that takes over my life, the new installment of "THFNW: The New Threat" has taken an unexpected backseat.

But never fear -- I've got 150 pages of worth-while text and I'm still adding to it. I started this little bugger of a project last summer, at which I poured in a quick 100 pages before school started in the fall of '04. Ideas are still raging in my head, additions are still being made. Hands down, this will be the finest and most complete project yet in the THFNW Series.

As of now, I'm working this many different story lines, making sure it's fitting together with a nice, easy flow -- plus learning when the story should stop. The ending is complete -- but like I've always said, it's that third-quarter of the story that's a pain in the butt to do.

Whoa, Memories of Prom

Chester's big Prom night is tomorrow night, so all the juniors have locked themselves in the gym to decorate. What I get a kick out of is that they think that they are going to get it done in one day, plus they all expect to be out of the gym at 3:30 p.m.

Think again, young ones.

Back when I was in high school, I thought it took about a week to decorate our entire gym. All of the junior boys here are complaining that they do not want to do a whole lot -- because the junior girls have already taken over the whole designing process. Go figure.

I didn't mind, along with others like Mike, Robb, or Sean -- to get ready for the Prom. One thing that motivated us was the hot ladies telling us what to do. As Steph would always tell us: "Hey, boys, hold the ladder while I hang something up," and she'd crawl up the ladder while us guys would be: "Ga, ga, ga, ga!" She would be wearing SHORT shorts, by the way.

High school hormones. A wonderful thing.

Now I see a lot of that in the Chester junior class -- boys showing off to the girls, while the girls in turn would boss them around to try to get some of the "heavy" lifting done. Then, I realized that I was getting old when some of them started asking for my advice (about how things should look). It wasn't my place to tell them my opinion; I just gathered a discussion about certain things and I ended up being the mediator.

My two hours in the gym this morning was enough for me. It's their turn to make some memories of their high school years, and I've got plenty of my own memories of Prom to last me until I'm dead. I guess I cannot wait until I'm dead because my senior Prom -- whoofta. Crash and Burn!

Cutting It Close

It's been one of the most stressful weeks of my life -- juggling work, teaching, and now -- applying for an "official" teaching job.

There's a computer-slash-social studies teaching opening in Arlington, a small town which is just 15 miles away from where I live. Not too shabby! But I didn't find out about this job until late last week and everything, like my resume, a letter of application, academics course list, and the rest of my credential file needed to be in the superintendent's hands by tomorrow.

Let me tell you what kind of chore that was, running all over the place this week and having people write up references for me. I needed three of them -- two of them were easy to give to and they at least got them in a couple of days ago, but the third ...

The third went to my human resource supervisor at work. I gave it to her on Monday -- her excuse "I don't have time to do it right now, with meetings and stuff on Tuesday, etc." I explained that I didn't need it until Wednesday, so I could have enough time to mail and have it in Arlington by Friday. Yesterday, she comes up to me at work and explains once again: "Tony, I'm sorry, I thought it was Tuesday today and it's been a shitty week ... I didn't get it done."

Deep down, I was pissed. A little selfish on my part, but filling out a reference sheet does not take no more than 10 minutes. I doubt that she was busy at all; she just didn't want to do it. I think I torqued her off a while back when I said I couldn't wait to look for a "real" job.

Back to the conversation yesterday -- she seems to turn things around and tries to place the blame on me for getting her the reference sheet to her too late. Apparently, she wasn't listening before, because I had explained on Monday when I first gave her the sheet, I had just found out about the job the previous Thursday/Friday. But she had a solution -- she would get it done first thing on Thursday morning and personally deliever it to the Career Services center at college.

So after she left and told me all about her "problems," I just sat there and steamed a little while, stressing out some more about how I'm going to get this crap all together.

This morning, I sent out e-mail after e-mail to the Career Services center at college, one to my student teaching supervisor, and others just to make sure my file was in order for it to mail today. I got all my confirmations this morning that all was well -- now I just have my fingers crossed for a phone call from Arlington requesting an interview.

As I look at it, this is pretty much a "dream job" right now -- it's close to home, Katie can finally go to school, and I'm finally going to be doing something worthwhile that I can apply my college degree to. All I need to do now, is pass the Principles of Learning and Teaching (PLT) test and I'm all set.

Another "Transformers" Movie?

Reading through CNN.com, I just happened to come across this little article.

Michael Bay directing the new movie? Well, that's the new rumor. Bay is known to direct action movies like "The Rock," "Armageddon," "Pearl Harbor," and "Bad Boys II."

This would be pretty cool -- the master of modern action movies taking on an animated 80's classic like "Transformers." This newer movie is already slated for a November 16, 2006 release date.

But nothing can compare to the old-school original 1986 of "Transformers: The Movie," which I proudly own on DVD. I was a huge fan of the Transformers franchise, with my collection of the old action figures. But I have to beat myself up a little bit: I still do not own the original seasons of the original cartoons on DVD.

Brosnan Back as James Bond?

Man, I sure hope so.

Although there has been some time in between Bond movies -- the last one was "Die Another Day" -- and the next one has already been named "Casino Royale," based off an old Bond creator Ian Fleming novel (and a re-make of a 1967 movie -- not really a part of the traditional Bond line-up).

Pierce Brosnan was slated to play in the next movie, but was let go due to failed negotiations between MGM studios and himself. The look was out for another actor to play James Bond, including actors like Jude Law and Clive Owen.

Brosnan has not been the official pick to come back to play Bond yet, but I personally am hoping for it. Brosnan has finally brought back the suave and the coolness of the Bond character, although he hasn't played in some of the best Bond movies ("GoldenEye" was excellent -- while others like "Tomorrow Never Dies" and "The Whole Is Not Enough" were iffy).

I've been also hearing rumors that Sean Connery will be back sometime in a future Bond movie to play a villian ... but that's doubtful. But Connery made the James Bond character mythical ... the best that ever was.

MVP '05 -- Update on Created Players

I've only created a few players. I've maxed them out and they are currently sitting in free agency right now. Since these guys are the ultimate ball players, they are asking WAY too much to play.

I created myself, for example. Max this character out -- and while he's sitting in free agency, he's asking for $24.7 million for 2 years. My God!

It'll be a miracle if these guys will get signed. But who knows, maybe a team is so desperate out there that they'll actually sign one of these guys.

As for my season, I'm 10-2. Pitching really isn't the problem, hitting is. My team batting average is around .250 with only a few home runs, although Joe Mauer finally broke out of his shell and smoked a couple against the Cleveland Indians.

My pitching is dominant, especially with guys like Johan Santana and Kyle Lohse on staff. Santana is averaging 10 strikeouts/game in his 3 starts so far, and team ERA is under 1.

Not too shabby!

Spoiled

April 2 was a big -- a huge day -- for me. It was the release of anything related to "Star Wars -- Episode III: The Return of the Sith."

I was in Sioux Falls that day with Katie to celebrate our third anniversary of dating. I immediately ran to the Toys section and basically drooled all over the new action figures. At $6 a figure, I should've bought up the store. But I'm poor right now, so I held off.

Until I got to Barnes & Noble.

Episode III literature was everywhere and I couldn't pass it up. I picked up the new Episode III Visual Dictionary, Cross-Sections of Vehicles, the Making of Episode III, and the novelization of Episode III.

Up to this point, I knew nothing of what was going to "happen," so to speak, although we do know that Anakin will become Darth Vader. It's all the "in-between" stuff that we are confused about.

Well, I caved. I read through the books -- especially "The Making of Episode III" book. I know what happens to who, when it all goes down, etc. But while I was just sitting there looking through the book, I was swept up by the emotion of what actually happens during the movie. It looks like it's going to be the best -- and the darkest -- Star Wars movie yet.

Damn, I just cannot wait to see it in theaters. Hopefully this Star Wars will be the one that fans will give its praise to and not the crap that Episodes I and II took when they were released.

Gas Prices, Again

$2.18/gallon here in South Dakota.

I've been pretty much strapped of cash ever since prices took off. I'm a really hurtin' unit now -- just eagerly awaiting for my tax refund.

Ugh.

Daylight Savings

Crap, I lose an hour of sleep this weekend. On Saturday night, we're supposed to set our clock ahead one hour before we got to bed.

It's also Katie and I's third anniversary tomorrow. We're going to rip it up in Sioux Falls tomorrow night, including watching the Sioux Falls Stampede last regular season game at the Arena.

Sunday -- the best NASCAR race of the year, Bristol.

MVP '05 Update -- Took the Series

I ended up taking the series from the Seattle Mariners last night by winning 5 to 2. I got strong pitching from Carlos Silva and a 3-run shot from Michael Cuddyer. Even Torii Hunter and Joe Mauer are coming around, since the first two games in the series they only had 2 hits combined. My middle part of the order was weak, but now they're hot!

Hopefully this weekend I'll dive deeper into the free agency-side of things, mainly "creating" new ballplayers. I'm going to create some of the fellas I know from back in the softball days in Minnesota. For you South Dakota guys, leave a comment and leave some vital information, like do you bat or throw left- or right-handed, height, weight, glove or bat color, position and favorite number.

I will not put these guys on the Twins ... I'll let the computer take its course and have it decide where you boys play. You may be picked up early in the season, you may later past the All-Star break, who knows! It'll be fun, looking at the stats and comparing how we "fare up" to the rest of the league. I'll update your stats right here on TonyTimes.

So drop a comment and leave some information and you'll be in!

Bob Casey

This guy was a stud ... the huge booming voice that carried over the huge loudspeakers and echoed throughout the Metrodome.

He passed away last Sunday and they buried him on Wednesday.

This is the only voice the Twins had ever heard, ever since the Twins home-opener back in 1961 at the old Met. Obviously, he's the only guy I've ever heard when I attended many, many ball games at the Metrodome.

I'll never forget his "Kirbyyyyyyyyyyyyy Puckett!" or his "NOOOOOOOOOO smoking in the Metrodome!" It's just sad to see a legend pass away.

And there's also jealousy in my heart, because a few years back when Robb was playing softball at the Dome, Mike had the opportunity to call out the batter's names when they stepped to the plate ... just like ol' Casey did. I still haven't seen that tape!

Hovan Gone, Signs with Tampa Bay

Eh ... Chris Hovan really wasn't having the productivity that the Vikings wanted. His tackle and sack totals were on a steep decline the past couple of years and the Vikings just did not have an interest in signing him. Although he was a stud a few years ago (especially when he was a rookie playing along side John Randle), he's pretty much a has been. I certainly will not miss him much.

With the NFL Draft just around the corner, there is a lot of speculation about who the Vikes are going to pick in the 1st Round. The Vikings got the Oakland Raiders' 7th overall pick from the Randy Moss trade.

Why not get another wide receiver? The Vikings have been stockpiling on defense, making key free agent acquisitions -- so I'm partial to seeing the Viking selecting Braylon Edwards, a wide-out from Michigan. Mike Williams from USC has come up, but he didn't play at all last year, so I would rule him out quickly.