BREAKING NEWS -- New Job!

My days at The Land of Suck are numbered.

I have accepted a teaching position at a school back in Minnesota.

Excited, to say the least!

More details later -- and no, I am not dead.

"Star Wars" Review

I never did get around to putting my own two-cents in about the newest Star Wars movie -- so here goes.

I actually went on my 27th birthday, May 22. Katie and I drove to Sioux Falls to the Century 14 Theaters for the 8:45 p.m. showing. I was all pimped out in my Darth Vader "Sith" baseball jersey and my Star Wars cap, rip-rearin' and ready to go.

This movie is solid. I thought Episode II was pretty good -- Episode III is much better. Besides the visuals (which were simply mind-blowing), the acting and dialogue were a lot better.

But what a story! George Lucas ties up the loose knots, fitting things together until they fall into place when Episode IV rolls around. Needless to say, the movie was dark, had its emotional moments (when the Jedi "younglings" asked Anakin-Just-Turned-Into-Vader what to do, before being cut down). Even the last lightsaber duel between Obi-Wan and Vader turned out well -- although it was quite gruesome and sad to see Anakin/Vader in his poor, pathetic state (no legs, no left arm) until he was burned alive.

Ewan McGregor was great as Obi-Wan, but Ian McDiarmid, who played Supreme Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious was excellent. Man, did he turn out to be one tough mo-fo -- although we already knew about his secret dealing with the Dark Side.

I've only seen this movie once -- probably all I'm going to get to, very uncharacteristic of me NOT to see this movie more than once, like the other previous two. The DVD will most likely be released sometime in November.

All Good Things Must End ... Like Bachelor-Hood

With a few days left in my short life of being a bachelor -- do I really think that I should worry?

At The Land of Suck, every has been asking me if I'm nervous. Well, not really. Katie and I have been living together for over two years now, engaged since last October, so it really does not make it seem like I should freak out over the fact that I will be with one woman for the rest of my life.

These old guys at work have been really trying to convince me that marriage is not the best thing in the world. Sure, you get older, have a couple of children -- the SEX LIFE goes to pot -- but hey, deep down I know that they think that marriage isn't the worst thing in the world.

But to encompass my feelings, I'm more excited than anything. Family, friends, everybody -- it'll be cool to have everyone there, getting drunk as usual.

MVP '05 Update -- Finally, Somebody Gets Picked Up

Of the five created players I put into the game, only 2 have been picked up by Major League teams.

I was sure disappointed to find out that I wasn't one of them!

My future brother-in-law, Matt, was picked up by the Yankees. I looked at his career stats today: he played 2 minor league games (Triple-A) and went 2-0. He pitched 18 innings (meaning two complete games), 24 K's and allowing only 1 walk. Then, he got called up to the majors and is now in the starting rotation. I have already faced him twice. He's tough! In the two games, he suffed one loss and got a no-decision. Overall, after 17 starts, he's sitting pretty at a 9-5 record.

The other guy that was picked up was Mike. He was picked up by the Boston Red Sox, played some Double-A and Triple-A ball and now he's making it big in the majors. I too, have faced him. If I could pitch him right, I could strike him out (I think like twice), but if I messed up, he could hit it. My highlight is that I actually threw him out trying to steal second base (impressive that I jacked his speed up to 99 -- the max). So far, he's only played 14 games in the majors and he's hitting somewhere between .320 and .330 with 2 home runs and one stolen base (which, again, is surprising).

As for my team -- I'm riding a 69-game winning streak and have already won the division in the second week of August. I traded away Jacque Jones a couple of days before the trade deadline (July 31) for a rookie whose scouting report says that he'll be a Gold Glover and will be one of the best hitters in baseball for years to come. Plus, that move saved me almost $30,000 day!

I'm still winding down -- hopefully I reach the playoffs here in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned!

A Weekend in Minnesota

Damn, for fun! And I deserved it.

As it turns out, my future father-in-law scored some tickets to see the Twins-Yankees match-ups at the Dome. My future brother-in-law was going to play an American Legion game on Sunday some time after the afternoon game (yes, on the field itself!), so we all headed up there for a wonderful weekend.

We shacked up in Bloomington, just a stones throw away from the Mall of America. I did all of the driving, since I pretty much know the 'burbs like the back of my hand. We couldn't sit still for long -- then drove to Minneapolis.

Man, I love I-35W. A lot of folks hate it because of the congestion -- I mean, who doesn't? -- but once you get going and you're flying along with merging traffic, woo! what a rush! I even freaked out my father-in-law, who was grabbing for the door handles along our way to downtown Minneapolis.

On Saturday night, the Twins took an early 3-0 lead over the Yanks off a Jacque Jones 3-run home run. The Twins didn't hold the lead for long though, as they dropped the game 4-3 in 10 innings.

Sunday was the highlight. We only managed to get 2 hours of shopping in at the Mall of America since we were in such a rush (and stores didn't open until 11:00 a.m. on Sundays). The Twins killed the Yanks 9-3 during the afternoon game, then found out that the Legion game didn't take place until 9:00 at night. We didn't have a lot of time to do whatever we wanted, since the team needed to be back by 7:00 p.m. But it was well worth it -- the Legion game was between heated rivals -- and my brother-in-laws team won 5-4 in 9 innings (Legion games are usually 7). Nobody jacked one out -- but I bet my brother-in-law, the lefty, that if he hit it over the "Baggie" in right-field (327 down the line, with a 23-foot wall), I'd give him 50 bucks. But he struck out twice.

We left early Monday morning from Bloomington. Then came my pissed-off moment of the trip. We were making excellent time until we stopped at the new Wal-Mart Supercenter in Marshall since my father-in-law needed some drugs for his sinus headache. Since it's a new area around there, there were road construction crews working to put in new curb and gutters. To turn right back on Hwy. 59 to reach Hwy. 23, a set of cones lined up along the area where a new curb was going to be. Confusing to say the least, I drove in-between the cones and the dug-up area. There were two vehicles in front of me who drove through that area before I got through there -- it looked like a lane for vehicles turning right! But the second I got through there -- apparently I get an ear-full. It was muffled enough since the windows were rolled up, but I said:

"Were they talking shit?"

My father-in-law started to laugh. "I think they were!"

Damn, was I mad. The road construction guys placed the cones in a confusing matter -- let a couple of vehicles go in front of me but I get the brunt of their abuse. I felt like turning around and giving them the ol' Death Race 2000.

We got back to Mad-Town around 1:00 p.m., then immediately I was hit up with wedding chores to complete. I wasn't the happiest camper in the world, since I was dead-ass tired from the driving and I had to work at 3:00 p.m. But all-in-all, I was back in Minnesota, watching the Twins, and ripping it up on I-35W.

I Gotta Start...

...hitting this bugger up!

Damn, I've been busy. Too busy. With work, wedding plans, and just plain running around, I've alienated my own blog for nearly a month.

As far as work goes, it sucks. It's finally starting to get hot inside the plant, with summer temps and humidity just adding to our demise and torture. To help ease that pain, I've been sending out applications left and right.

But it pisses off to no end. Out of the 6 different applications I've sent, I've only received 1 interview -- and that was last April in Arlington. I'm planning to send out 4 more tomorrow to 3 Minnesota schools and 1 South Dakota school. Hopefully I can get a bite out of those. But everytime I send out an application, it's costing me time and money. It's getting to the point that I'm really not starting to see the point -- and maybe all these years in college are a bad thing. I still have some confidence out there that somebody'll take a chance on me. I would really like to get the HELL OUT OF HERE.

Wedding plans -- oh, man. Again, I'm getting sucked back in to the whole planning process, even though I was promised several times that I didn't have to do much. After a long weekend in Minneapolis, I was at it again -- tired as usual, but making phone calls and running all over God's green earth to make things that are set and in order.

Other that that, check out the above posts for anything specific!