Oak Lawn softball was a losing effort, albeit a close one with a near comeback. We were down something like 9-3 heading into our last raps, and cut it to 9-7 or something along those lines (actual scores may vary, but those are close). I had a solid game...nothing spectacular...I think I went 3-for-3 with a double and two singles (I can't really remember my second at bat for some reason. Anyway, next week is another week.

Did some Mother's Day shopping...still have a little more to do. I'm working on something...so I need a couple things. Home Depot was (not a shock) a madhouse today, as it is the first good weekend in May.

My flowers are growing, for the most part, rather nicely. I can't complain.

I'm now waiting for Gina to call me so I can meet her at Old Orchard (where she is shopping with her friend) and go up to Northbrook to finally pick up her new bike. We also will stop at Home Depot, because I need a few things for around the house, including something to put the new bathroom shelf on top of, because our toilet is ever-so-slightly too tall. But it's easily remedied. Otherwise, it's a good fit and will do a lot for our bathroom organization abilities. Thanks Kim (and Nick)! :)

Yesterday I successfully connected my TV via the coaxial cable...using ONLY A POCKETKNIFE, BOB! :) The "tool" my dad gave me didn't do much of the work...it actually just gave me the leverage to twist on the twist-on connectors to the ends of the wire. The instructions that came with the tool were a lot more helpful than the tool itself. And, my dad rocks, by the way...leave it to him to have all the parts I needed, so I didn't even have to go to Radio Shack or wherever and spend money. Dad always has random things like that lying around...I should have known to go to him first. :)

OK, that's about it for now...

Well, the landlord never called me back, but the maintenance man came in the evening of his own accord (because he knew things needed to be fixed, both next door and here). That said, I was stuck here until 9pm even though I had several things to do. Fortunately, I was able to pick up some shelves from Kim and Nick before they went to bed. I'll put those up today. But I also needed to go to my parents' house to pick up a tool to splice coaxial cable and to Radio Shack to get ends for the coaxial cable that I have.

So today I'll do those things and work on setting the TV back up and putting up the shelves in our bathroom. Hopefully neither of these will be massive projects.

At any rate, the toilet is fixed. I won't describe the horrible mess it was to fix...just know that it was quite funky when he pulled the toilet off its setting. But it's OK now. He also patched the ceiling, so hopefully that stays good for a while. However, if there is truly a leak, well, it isn't gonna stay very long. We'll see, I guess.

Later, Oak Lawn softball season starts. The one day it's not warm has to be today, right? :) It figures. Oh well. It'll make my hands go numb faster.

So that's about it for now...I need to get rolling. I'll catch y'all later...I sent out a b-day party invitation, so if you didn't get it, let me know and I'll forward it to you...likely I just forgot your email address...or you live out of town (ha HA! thought you could get me on that one, eh?).

I would say I was too busy celebrating Cinco de Mayo yesterday, but that would be a bald-faced lie.

Actually, I had to work at 2:30, and I slept in until then, roughly.

Nothing new to report, except that I know for sure that I'm not living in this apartment again, come October. Not that I needed any further proof. Now, the bathroom ceiling has been falling in (at the drywall tape) from a slow leak upstairs, probably. We've told the landlord at least three times. The maintenance man showed up yesterday morning, unaware of this still...he just happened to show up to check on things. I showed it to him, and he said he'd be here this morning to fix it. It's 1pm...no maintenance man.

He mentioned that there was some water in the basement and asked if there was any problem with our bathroom drains. Forgetting about the problems we've had with our toilet recently, I said no.

Oops. There's now some water on the bathroom floor that came from the base of the toilet. I'm gonna go downstairs and see what the damage might be down there. And then I'm calling the landlord. And they better get moving, or there are gonna be issues.

All this in between trying to secure health insurance. I'm glad I'm a healthy 26-year-old. It's not so bad. HumanaOne is pretty solid (so far). I'm waiting for State Farm to call me back.

"Friends" ends tonight. I don't care. I've NEVER watched a single episode of that bullshit show. Never found it believable or funny even. Ah well...off to mop the bathroom and check the basement.

Ah, softball...love it.

After an ominous start with batting practice (I was nailed just above the knee with a sharp line-drive off my own teammate's bat) that will probably leave a bit of a welt, we rolled.

Our hitting showed up, thankfully, and I pitched OK but got phenomenal defense behind me, particularly from our SS-2B duo. We ended up winning 20-8. Good, good, good. Friday, more softball.

The interview went, by my accounts, very well. I was told that I was a very strong candidate (then "an excellent" candidate by another of the people who interviewed me), and I think the interview went quite well. Of course, we shall see, right? It seems like it'll be a ton of work, particularly in the fall, but that's not a bad thing. I need a challenge, ya know? :)

Hmmm...otherwise, after softball, Gina and I went to the open swing dancing at the studio we took classes at. We didn't stay long at all, because my legs were tired and she was generally tired to begin with. But we needed to brush up, because we hadn't danced in two weeks. We have to keep practicing, ya know?

Oh, pardon me whilst I bitch...about ESPN. This is why I didn't even talk to the asses at the Medill Job Fair. Because they can kiss my ass. Esteban Loaiza had been 4-0 prior to today, and while they hung all over Roger Clemens and his 4-0 status, they gave no props whatsoever to Loaiza (nevermind that the Sox had been the better team in the standings than Clemens' Astros). But Loaiza gets pounded today, and it's suddenly front-page of ESPN.com news? Pure bullcrap. It's why I hate ESPN...hate it. Sadly, of course, we have to live with crap, because there's nothing else. And what there is, it's all copycat crap anyway. The one sad thing I learned in the national sports Web site business is that once one person has something and puts a spin on it, just about everyone else falls in line. It's freakin' sad. I hope I can stay out of it from here on out. We shall see...

Ah well...I'm tired, so I'm off to bed.

Lisa reminded me, via her last comment, that I never revealed the location of the planned (now cancelled) combined b-day party with Luis. Luis will be in Mexico most of the month and thus unable to invite and plan for the thing, so we're flying solo on parties once again.

The idea was this. Personally, I thought it'd be cool...but only if it was $1,200 for two cars or more (that would equate to about $15 per person, minimally). I never called to find out, since I figured most of you assholes and bitches would whine and complain about a bar that had a cover, but this would be a cover with no alcohol, furthering your whininess. :) But it would be cool in a "never would have thought I'd attend a birthday party THERE" kind of way...and cooler still because you could laugh at the people on the platforms as you sped by them while they stood looking all confused and/or angry. It would be fun to do, say, during the time when the Cubs had a home game. I'd just tell the train operator to go back and forth between downtown and Howard, pissing off every Cubs fan trying to get to the game. Hee hee! :)

At any rate, I'm planning on having something most likely on Saturday the 29th. I'll determine what that is soon enough...it may be a little more freeform though. We'll see.

But now I should get to bed so I can get up and be ready to roll for my interview with time to spare. Yeah...

Here I am!

Or something...

Well, it was a busy weekend, as it always seems to be nowadays. But who cares? :)

Today, I worked most of the day on my "presentation" for tomorrow's interview with my high school. I came up with and outlined my marketing strategy for potential students. The last time I ever did an outline was probably high school. So I'm gonna print it up and see if I have a little binder thingie to put it in, and hopefully they'll say, "Wow, this guy has his shit together, let's hire him." :) I'll really be pissed if they just toss it aside or give it a cursory glance. I worked pretty hard brainstorming on it.

I'm actually excited about the prospects of this job. I hope it pays halfway decently, because I'd really like to work at my high school...especially if I can do other things, like moderate the newspaper or the yearbook or coach something or whatever. It would be cool. But we'll see. I don't want to get too excited about it, because then if I don't get it or it pays shit, I'll be crushed.

Luis is on his way here to watch the last two weeks of "24," which I saw but he missed. We're gonna grill up some chicken breasts and have a feast...well, a bachelors' feast, but a feast nonetheless. :) Both my softball teams are holding practices tonight, and I'm not going, because I had these plans already. Besides, I went to the batting cages already twice, so what more can I do? :) Tomorrow is Game One of the PFW softball team's season. We play the Vintage 50s, a team of 50-plus men with whom we split last season...and I think lost to in the playoffs, if I'm not mistaken. Should be fun.

I also just made out my birthday wish list, though I realized that really, I don't expect many, if any, people to buy me a present. :) But, if you do want to buy me something, I (or someone else) can forward you the tiny list.

I want to see "Envy." Don't anyone spoil it for me.

I have to pay my bills, send an RSVP for a cousin's wedding, and MOST IMPORTANTLY secure health insurance this week. I did none of that today. Ho hum.