Shyzer.com

I take this very seriously. Anyone who knows me and anyone who understands me will get this post. And for all of you who don’t fall into that category, I’d suggest just waiting until my next post.

I’ve never seen a team just roll over and die each and every August & September like the Mariners the past 3 of 4 years. They just give up. After having the best record in baseball for the first 3 months of the year, they now have a losing combined record in July, August, and September. And one of the hardest things I have ever done as a baseball fan is finally accept the fact that we need to throw in the towel and rebuild. This current team just can’t do it. Over the past few years I’ve fallen in love with guys like Olerud, Rhodes, Cameron, Freddy, McLemore, and Sasaki. But in all honesty, each and every one of them need to go. Olerud and Cameron were both aquired in 2000 and all but made Seattle into the best defensive team in baseball, which is one of the main reasons we won so many games. But Olerud is retiring at the end of next year and Cameron is up for free agency at the end of this year. Nobody really knows if Seattle will re-sign him, but his offense has been such a huge hole in the team. He strikes out far too many times and he just seems to not give it his all up there at the plate. Rhodes also joined the team in 2000 and became one of the best set-up men in the game. However, I still blame him for causing the Mariners to not reach the World Series in 2001. He gave up game winning homeruns in two seperate games to Dave Justice on the exact same pitches that everybody knew he shouldn’t throw. And recently, he has plain out sucked. It’s time for him to move on. Freddy came over in the Randy Johnson trade and was deemed the “key” to the trade. He flashed some of the promise that he supposedly had in 2001, but since then he has become a total head case. I still think he will become one of the best pitchers in baseball for a few years, but I just think he needs a change of scenery and a team that believes in him. And the Mariners have lost faith in him, especially after this year. McLemore came over in 2000 and became the best utility men in baseball, helping fill any hole the Mariners had. But he has become so old, he is no longer useful to the team. And Sasaki. God, I hate saying he needs to go. Sasaki joined the team in 2000 and saved the Mariners. I don’t care what any baseball fan says, Sasaki is the player who saved the fans of Seattle in the new generation. The 1995 season saved the sport of baseball in Seattle, but Sasaki saved the fans. Not since Sasaki had we ever had a good closer and it had killed us time and time again. But when Sasaki took over that role, he dominated. He made the fans see what it felt like to not get the jitters in the 9th inning and we liked it so much, we went and built a bullpen around him like a championship team should do. But ever since injuring himself, he’s lost his stuff. He now cost 8 million dollars and no team wants him. We are stuck with his contract for another 2 years at which point he will retire and fade into the sunset.

In 2000 we barely made the playoffs, but we weren’t even supposed to be there if you had asked anybody at the start of the season. People were just thrilled to have made it. But the truth of the matter was that we were doing awesome come September. We should have easily coasted into the playoff instead of stumbling in like we did. It wasn’t until after the season that people finally realized what had happened.

In 2002 we were riding high. We had the best record in July and there was no looking back. But when the calendar changed to August, we stopped playing. Oakland and Anaheim both surged past us as we struggled to stay afloat. In mid-September we had a shot at making our comeback. All we had to do was beat Texas (the worst team in our league) 2 out of 4 games and we were back in it. We were swept in all 4 games by Texas and after that, we as the fans and the players completely gave up.

In 2003 we were an exact mirror of ourselves in 2002. Just as late as mid-August, we were doing fine. Most people were predicting that we would go all the way. And then we just fell apart again. We started to lose to Tampa Bay, Baltimore, and worst of all, Boston. We again controlled our own fate until a series about 2 weeks ago when Boston swept us in 4 games. And now it feels like deja vu all over again. If we could just beat Texas (again a horrible team), we could possibly slip into the playoffs. We lost last night and at current look, we are losing tonight 9-0. We are about to be swept by Texas in 4 games for the second year in a row. I can feel it coming. We still play Oakland 6 times this year and I can promise you now, we won’t make the playoffs for the second year in a row. Hey, I told ya in May, didn’t I?

You don’t know how much it pains me to write this. Two of the best players in Mariners history will be gone soon. Edgar Martinez will most likely retire at the end of this year and in 2 years, Jamie Moyer will follow his lead. By then, hopefully the players above will have moved on and Seattle can begin the painful journey of rebuilding. It’s time for some new blood to flow through our veins. We’ve had some young kids come up recently and show that they can play - after some adjusting time. In a few years, the only main, everyday players who play for Seattle today that will still be around is Ichiro, and even he has some work to do. Being more selective at the plate is one thing, but that is a discussion for another time. Olerud, Boone, Martinez, Cameron, Wilson, McLemore, Moyer, Freddy, Sasaki, Rhodes, Winn, and (thank god) Cirillo will be gone. The team that I grew up with, that showed me some of the finner points of baseball and who opened my eyes to how baseball is meant to be played is about to be no more.

I’ll always remember the 116 wins in 2001 and the playoff runs of 2000 and 2001. But it’s time for the young kids to step in and take the reins. It’s time for a few (or more) shitty years of rebuilding and getting strong again. It’s time. It’s time.

Ok, Ok, I know it’s been a while since I posted, but I’ve had good reason why it’s taken me so long. Last weekend I drove up to Virginia to see my family and take my brother Clay to the Mariners-Orioles game, which was a damn fun trip. I jumped in my truck on Thursday afternoon and drove the un-godly drive up there. Quick little tip for those of you who are about to go on a long trip. Make sure you won’t be hitting a major city, like oh I don’t know let’s say Charlotte, at rush hour. Seeing my family was great though. It was fun wrestling with my siblings and

The drive to Baltimore was….ok, I won’t lie, it was one mistake after another. First off, Mapquest was a fucking joke. They had me getting onto interstates and roads that DIDN’T EVEN EXIST! Somewhere in West Virginia (a place where I found out might actually rivals South Carolina for number of hick towns) I decided to ditch the mapquest directions and make my own. I pulled out the map I had and started mapping out a path to try and take. We were already so far away from any major highway that I had to do it taking all back roads and while constantly flipping pages between Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland. 4 hours latter we got to the game just as it was starting and we were in our seats in time for the first pitch!

As for the Mariners game itself, well that was fun =) The Mariners ended up losing 3-1, but Clay and I had a fun time. There was only one thing wrong with Camden yards. They have a bug problem. And by bug problem, I am talking sever swarming bug problems. Somewhere around the 4th inning, a gigantic swarm of gnats appeared making it physically hard to breath without sucking some in. I’m not kidding folks. People were running out of their seats and Clay and I were just bursting with laughter since it seemed like something out of a cheesy horror flick. We went to the other side of the ballpark and viola, there were no bugs there! After enjoying our stadium hotdogs and cokes, we finished watching the game and headed on home (which only took me 2 hours thank you very much).

I got back here in Columbia on Monday morning after making a quick stop in my hometown Sunday night. Ok, side note here folks. Being the wise old man that I am, I feel it’s time to pass along some of my wisdom to some of you whippersnappers out there. There is a certain etiquette you must follow when driving on the highway. We all know these drives can be long and boring. Therefore, sometimes you become “friends” with fellow drivers. You know what I am talking about. Like when you follow Black Saab and Maroon Golf for 150 miles since they have a radar detector, helping you dodge the speed traps. Or when you follow BRN2FLY through a long stretch, helping you stay awake. Now once you have established that you are friends, you are required to say goodbye when you depart. A blink of the lights, a honk, or even just a simple wave will relieve you of your duty and let you sleep peacefully that night. However, I witnessed a break in this cardinal law on my drive back. Crossing the state line into North Carolina, I came upon an SUV from Florida who had some writing all over the windows. I got close enough to read it and saw that on the back it said “Don’t think everything is true just because Fox news says it is” and on the sides there were plenty of anti-Bush sayings. I loved it! So I drove up next to them and Tommy and I rolled our windows down, gave them the thumbs up, and honked. They acknowledged us with a flash of the lights and from there, we stuck together through the mountains. Every time one of us passed each other, we waved and this continued for another 100 miles. But then, I watched in my rear view mirror as they suddenly pulled off at a Rest Stop without so much as a goodbye honk. I felt betrayed. I felt hurt. I felt kinda angry. I thought about pulling off at the next exit and waiting for them to pass by so that I could register my anger with them. I thought about pulling over right then and there and then backing up on the shoulder so I could make sure they knew what they just did. I couldn’t believe they did that to me. And I thought they were cool people…

Well, Tuesday morning I woke up asking my roommates to kill me. I had a sinus infection, soar throat, and chest cold that wouldn’t let up. I stayed in bed all day and just tried to sleep it off to no avail. I’m finally feeling a little better now, but I still wish my head felt better. I have a constant headache that just won’t go away. Hopefully I’ll be feeling better soon. I knew I shouldn’t have shared drinks with my siblings since they had the same damn thing!

Sometime earlier this week I got named captain of my intramural softball team, despite making it clear that I didn’t want to be. I didn’t really care though, I now get to make the lineups every game and tell people where they can play. MWAHAHAHA. I’ve already told everybody that they can play wherever they want if they start sucking up to me now. I’ll be the first to admit that we won’t have the best team out there, I’m just hoping for a competitive team. However, after looking at the rules, I realized that we are playing pussy softball. You get 2 pitches to get a hit, otherwise you are out. No stealing, no sliding, to leading off, no touching home plate when you are scoring, the pitcher can’t field the ball, and it has to be underhand. *sigh* Why must we play with these shitty rules?! We are trying to think of a good team name too. Any suggestions? (And Nhan, we ARE NOT BEING CALLED DORLUM!)

I’m starting a petition to make kickball an intramural sport. I’m not quite sure how many signatures I need, but I’m heading up to the office Monday to get the form and try and get some money from the school. So if anybody reading this goes to USC, let me know so you can sign the petition and get kickball as a intramural sport!

Well, this is honestly long enough as it is. I still have more to talk about, but most of everything else I have to say is only pertinent to people who actually know me, so I’ll save all that for my next post. Be sure to leave me a comment below, because I can assure you I post more when more people leave comments!

I am damn sick. I feel like shit. Couple that with driving 1,400 miles over the weekend and you can see why all I did was sleep today. I’ll post next as soon as I start feeling better again, which will hopefully be within a day or two.

I did, however, want to say Happy Birthday Jess. I hope you enjoy it =)

Wow, if you haven’t already done so, you’ve got to check out this article. Unfortunately, I think Hollywood will see this as a great idea for a movie.

So this coming weekend, I am heading up to Baltimore to take my little brother to watch the Seattle Mariners beat the Baltimore Orioles. Yes my friends, I am damn excited. Not only do I get to hang out with my brother, I get to see my boys play for the first time in person in over 2 years. I’m long overdue for a game, so I didn’t feel bad spending the money on the tickets.

I’m now addicted to The Boxcar Racers. My brother turned me on to them when he was wondering if Blink-182 had changed their name or something, because they sounded so similar. Turns out two of the members from Blink formed a little side band in their spare time and the music rocks. I put one of their songs on my site (over there on the right). Anybody who likes Blink should check it out. The ending is probably the best.

I’ve had a few people ask me what the hell I was talking about in my profile lately, so I figured I’d just post the story for all to read. It all started (and ended for that matter) last Friday when a group of us went out bowling. We were all riding in and SUV type car, so we were able to cram a lot of people into it. However, there was still 1-too-many so I offered to lay in the very back. As it turned out, it was so damn comfortable back there that I fell asleep. When we were getting into the car to come back, some of the people who had ridden with us went home with other people, so I should have went up front and gotten into a seatbelt. However, due to the memorable experience I had on the drive over, I decided to lay in the back again.

So we’re cruising - no, make that speeding - down the highway when a cop decides we’d be a good target for his cocky attitude. As I am laying down looking out the window, I hear the siren come on and the window is filled with blue lights and I immediately think shit…he’s gonna see me back here and give me a ticket for not having a seatbelt, especially when I COULD have one on. Me good friend Lee was driving and we were just at our exit, so he figured he’d pull off and then stop, where it was a little safer. After getting off the ramp however, Lee decided he’d drive to the next road to pull over.

Now I’ve got to be honest, I can’t blame the cop for thinking we were trying to get away. When it’s 2 AM and a truck-load of college kids won’t pull over, you can’t help but think that they’ve got something to hide. However, I’m still in the back, glued to the floor and praying that he never sees me, so I’ve got no clue what’s going on out there. Yet I notice that the cop’s lights are no longer coming from behind us, but instead seem to be next to us. Lee finally finds a spot to pull over and he is greated by the cop shouting “SHOW ME YOUR HANDS. LET ME SEE YOUR HANDS,” which makes me think, “Oh GREAT, this is going to look fabulous when he makes us all show him our hands and he sees two hands come flying out of the back.” Luckily however, he doesn’t make us all show him our hands and he strolls up to the window and proceeds to lecture us on how he was about to spin us out since he thought we were trying to run away. Somewhere in the middle of Lee playing dumb, this comedic dialogue was struck.

Cop: “Son, didn’t that turn on the ramp seem extremelly fast?”

Lee: “Uh….it should have?”

Pure gold my friends. As my luck would have it, since he pulled up next to us, he never walked by the back of the truck and therefore, never saw me and we got off with a warning since nobody was drinking. However, on the way home, Fellner was talking about how he was thinking the cop was about to spin us out since he pulled up right next to us, which they only do before they are about to spin us out. Hearing that we were about to be spun out and that Fellner actually THOUGHT we were, I calmly stated:

Me: “Uh guys…the next time a cop is about to spin out the car, I can personally assure you that the guy in the very back who has no clue what is about to happen and who has no seatbelt on would HIGHLY APPRECIATE ANY WARNINGS THROWN HIS WAY ABOUT A POSSIBLE SPIN OUT!”

And so that is what I was talking about =) Until next time… Oh and remember, tip your pizza man.

This is a song that was requested by one of my viewers. Just right click and save as. Enjoy =)

*Note, link has since been removed*
Rob D - I’m Not Driving Anymore (Instrumental)

I’ll have another “real” post up tomorrow. Take it easy everybody!

I really love this site. Unless you own a website, or even just a blog, you won’t quite understand. I know I can’t code worth a shit. I know my skills in the graphics department suck ass. And I also know that my writing may not be the most interesting thing in the world to read. But I love doing it. This site is like my child. It’s not just something that I can easily walk away from. You have no clue how many times I just wanted to hop on my computer and start typing away. But I’m glad I restrained myself. I had to prove to myself that I was still in control of my life, that I still could do what I actually wanted to do.

I underwent some major changes this summer in my life. One of the biggest was saying goodbye to Spartanburg, the town that I loved to hate. With all the time that I spent away from it, it made me realize where home really is. I love being there mainly for the comfort associated with it, nothing more. After being in Virginia and California, I can safely say that I can’t wait to graduate so that I can finally leave South Carolina. Maybe not for good - hell, maybe I’ll end back up in Spartanburg. But I need to get out of here for a while. A good friend said that it’s almost like people are running from the problem and that’s true. But most of us don’t see it that way. We see it as running to where we actually feel wanted and welcome. Liberals can’t thrive in South Carolina. It’s just not possible without fighting for it everyday. And I don’t feel like fighting that battle any longer.

Another was grappling with the fact that I had to accept the fate of my parents’ relationship. For the past few years it’s been something that I never really thought would affect me since I was out and on my own. Whatever happened between them was their problem and fate and I would just accept whatever happened and move on. But it was a little harder then I thought. I think it finally hit the day after my family moved to Virginia and my dad and I were left to finish cleaning out the house that I had grew up in and I had to leave - never to return. When I woke up the next morning at my friends, I just thought to myself, “Ok, I’m ready to go home.” Then I remembered I didn’t have a home. I drove by my old house a few times this summer and saw the new people living there. I just wanted to scream to them to get the hell out of my house.

Tommy and I had a running joke that we always laughed at when we were out shopping or something. Whenever we would see some fake family in a picture frame or an actual family walking around, we would just laugh and say “Now, THAT’S what a happy family looks like…” This summer that joke lost it’s humor though.

The only good thing that I could draw from my parents’ divorce what that it finally silenced those people whom I grew up with that were still under the false assumption that I had a perfect family. It always appeared to people on the outside that since we appeared to have a good supply of money, a nice home, good cars, and my parents never fought publicly that my house was perfect. I always hated that; hell, I still do. But at least now I don’t have to hear people tell me how much they wished their family was like mine. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family. But I was sick and tired of people thinking we were some perfect family that never experienced anything negative.

I worked another job in which I was reminded why I am going to college and why I don’t want to work for the rest of my life in a boring and unchallenging job. If I can’t use my mind wherever I am working, I know I won’t be happy. Trust me, catering to a bunch of vacationers for the rest of my life would send me to an early grave. I applied for a few internships for next year and hopefully I’ll get one of those, which will help give me a better idea of what I want to do after I graduate. I swear, as the days pass by, it’s looking like my best only choices will be law school or teaching, neither of which I really want to do.

Another major adjustment was learning how to be single again. During the past few years, I never really wondered how I would go about being single because I never thought I would have to worry about that again. But this summer, I was forced to face that realization again and along with it came the floods of uncertain questions, none of which were fun to confront. What is one of the biggest things I hate about being single you may ask? Sleeping alone in a big bed. It sucks! But then again sleeping with somebody in a small bed is no picnic itself, so I guess it’s twofold. But still, being single again was a whole new ballgame. It just felt weird.

BUT, despite any and all of the negative things that happened this summer, there was one thing that made me certain everything happens for a reason. There was one thing that made me ultimately smile in the end and realize that the events that led to this summer were a blessing in disguise. Easily, the best part of my summer without any possible doubt, was the time I spend bonding and growing closer with my brother Clay. It was ungodly hard seeing him leave to live in Virginia. I’ll miss seeing his grinning face every day as I walk in the door and I’ll miss hanging out with him at night. I’m heading up there next weekend to take him to a Mariners game in Baltimore - this is serious stuff folks. When an older brother takes a younger brother to a Mariners game, you know there’s a serious bond there. But after next weekend, I have no idea when I am going to see him next, which sucks ass. But, like I said, this summer was well spent with him. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

But alas, here I am now. Ultimately, not that much different from where I started, save for a few new memories and a few different outlooks on life. I’ll being posting full time again now, which means every day if possible, just like always. I’ve got a few new sections going up within a week or so, one of which will be titled “Supporting Cast” and will pretty much give a short bio of all the people I talk about in my blog every now and then. For the most part, things are pretty good right now. My Boys have fallen out of first place and in a free fall, so this season is all but done for. Hey, I knew it would happen back in May, so honestly I can’t say that I’m surprised. BUT, I’m still going ot take my bro Clay to see them next weekend up in Baltimore. But I guess I should save that for another post… =)

God it feels good to be back.

No, this isn’t me coming back just yet. That will probably be happening after I get back to school in mid August. While I’ve been away, there have been some things that I have been foaming at the mouth to talk about and I can’t hold back anymore.

As I am sure all of you know by now, earlier the Supreme Court struck down the anti-sodomy law in Lawrence v. Texas earlier this summer, which has finally put some attention on homosexual marriages. Earlier this month, I stumbled across this little piece of work…

Americans must preserve institution of marriage
By Rick Santorum
The majority of Supreme Court justices may not be willing to admit it, but everyone else seems eager to acknowledge that the greatest near-term consequence of the Lawrence v. Texas anti-sodomy ruling could be the legalization of homosexual marriage. Although the court’s majority opinion attempts to distance the ruling from the marriage debate, the dissenting justices say, “Do not believe it.” Major Web sites such as America Online’s home page, as well as newspapers and TV commentators, have signaled that the decision puts the gay-marriage debate in high gear. The Washington Post’s front page trumpeted, “A debate on marriage, and more, now looms.” And Newsweek’s July 7 cover asks: “Is Gay Marriage Next?”

Before, the right to privacy in sexual matters was limited primarily to married couples. Now the court in its sweeping decision expanded constitutional privacy protection to consensual acts of sodomy, striking down anti-sodomy laws in Texas and 12 other states.

The court’s majority opinion telegraphed unmistakably its position on the question of homosexual marriage. It listed “personal decisions relating to marriage” among the areas in which homosexuals “may seek autonomy,” just as heterosexuals may.

The dissenting justices, including Chief Justice William Rehnquist, noted: “Today’s opinion dismantles the structure of constitutional law that has permitted a distinction to be made between heterosexual and homosexual unions, insofar as formal recognition in marriage is concerned.”

After the ruling, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., expressed concern over the court’s encroaching upon Americans’ right to protect the family and joined the majority of Americans in backing a proposed constitutional amendment to ban homosexual marriage. I also would support a constitutional amendment to affirm traditional marriage.

In fact, I believe that Congress has an obligation to take action to defend the legal status of marriage before the Supreme Court or individual state supreme courts take away the public’s ability to act. Every civilization since the beginning of man has recognized the need for marriage. This country and healthy societies around the world give marriage special legal protection for a vital reason — it is the institution that ensures the society’s future through the upbringing of children. Furthermore, it’s just common sense that marriage is the union of a man and a woman.

There is an ocean of empirical data showing that the union between a man and a woman has unique benefits for children and society. Moreover, traditional family breakdown is the single biggest social problem in America today. In study after study, family breakdown is linked to an increase in violent crime, youth crime, teen pregnancy, welfare dependency and child poverty.

Marriage has already been weakened. The out-of-wedlock childbirth rate is at a historically high level, while the divorce rate remains unacceptably high. Legalization of gay marriage would further undermine an institution that is essential to the well-being of children and our society. Do we need to confuse future generations of Americans even more about the role and importance of an institution that is so critical to the stability of our country?

The last thing we should do is destroy the special legal status of marriage. But galvanized by the Supreme Court victory, proponents of removing that status are out in force. Ruth Harlow, lead attorney representing the plaintiffs in the Texas case, said, “The ruling makes it much harder for society to continue banning gay marriages.”

That is where we are today, thanks to the Texas ruling. But the majority of Americans will have the final say in the battle to preserve the institution of marriage.

I hope elected leaders will rally behind the effort to defend the legal status of marriage from a non-elected group of justices, and I urge you to join those elected leaders in this vital case.

Rick Santorum is a U.S. senator from Pennsylvania and chairman of the Senate Republican Conference.

Yes folks, this is an actual United States Senator speaking here. I literally don’t even know where to start. So let’s just look at his first idiotic point. Santorum argues that “it’s just common sense that marriage is the union of a man and a woman.” Well hell, it’s common sense to do a lot of things, but we don’t have constitutional amendments enforcing them. Santorum claims the “out-of-wedlock childbirth rate is at a historically high level.” Well good! If the parents don’t want the child, let them put up those children for adoption, let the gay couple adopt them, and we can work together to make sure these children have a good home to grow up in.

Santorum keeps bringing up the breakdown of marriages leading to the breakdown of families, yet he fails to even once begin to link how homosexual marriages will lead to traditional marriages falling apart. Furthermore, he fails to show any proof that a majority of homosexual marriages will end up in failure and help speed the “decline” of society due to failed familes.

It’s people like Santorum and the Senate’s majority leader, Bill Frist, who are finding ways to encourage the attitudes that keep homophobia alive and well in this country. Frist, said the court’s decision threatens to make our homes places where “criminal activity … would in some way be condoned.” I see: Open the door to consensual sex between gays, and all kinds of hell will break loose in America’s bedrooms — you know, polygamy, bigamy, prostitution, incest, hell, who knows what else?

These homophobes want a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex couples from being able to have the same rights and privileges that straight women and men can by the simple act of a marriage contract. However, there is no way any of these conservatives could argue against the fact that this would insert religion into the Constitution, because their objection to gay unions comes straight from the document the religious right relies on: the Bible.

Like it or not, the USA is firmly rooted in the principle of separation of church and state — despite recent attempts to blur that distinction. A constitutional amendment would profoundly alter that founding intention. While I want to believe that the proposed amendment is unlikely to become law, the mere fact that such a movement is afoot is alarming. Its archaic language would further institutionalize discrimination against gays. (Not that it isn’t done already: Thirty-seven states, including good ole’ South Carolina, have “defense of marriage acts” limiting marriage contracts to persons of the opposite sex and banning recognition of same-sex marriages, even if legal elsewhere.)

As for the argument that sanctioning gay unions will undermine “traditional” marriages: how? Marriages between men and women will get along just fine, with children, infidelity and divorce intact. Those opposed to gays marrying ignore that marriage is, in the state’s eyes, a civil contract, not a religious one. Let’s keep religion out of this, just as our forefathers kept it out of the Constitution.

Without legal marriages, gays are denied shared property arrangements, adoption rights in many states, joint insurance and bank accounts, inheritance rights and more. Perhaps the most poignant example of what the lack of such a contract confers happens in a hospital corridor. Any floor nurse who thinks like Frist and friends has the authority to arbitrarily deny anyone the right to visit a partner who’s seriously ill because she or he is not “family.”

The scientific evidence now indicates that homosexuality is hard-wired into men and women, meaning it isn’t some curable disease and that neither therapy nor prayer can change that. In other words, God in his infinite wisdom made some of us gay, some of us straight. If people like Santorum and Frist begin to gain support and ultimately win their ways, I will strongly consider raising my family elsewhere. My child will not grow up in such a close minded society.

As promised, I posted the random song that fate brought me.

First off, what I’m doing has nothing to do with making some dramatic exit from the Net only to return a few months later with a new site and looking to get more hits like a lot of people on here do. I am in the group of people who are closing their sites just because they need some time away from their normal lives - some time to regroup, get a new plan, and go kick the world’s ass with it. My life has turned to shit this past month and things just aren’t working anymore. The path I am on is obviously not the right one and like I said, it’s time to re-evaluate, do a little “soul searching”, and gear up for what life decides to throw at me next. I’ve realized plenty about a lot of the people aroudn me and even more about myself…but now it’s time to work a little more on that and try to focus on only myself.

I honestly don’t know how long I’ll be away but trust me, I’ll be back. I think Doc said it best with: “And, really, how the hell could I give up blogging? There’s nothing quite like having a responsibility to a large, nameless, faceless crowd—a responsibility that neither lines my pockets or my bedsheets but requires additional bleary-eyed time in front of the computer. Hoo-fucking-rah.”

I’ll be leaving all the sub-pages up. I updated a few more pages this morning, so that is all the updating I’ll be doing for a while. Check out the Music page to see the songs that have a deep personal meaning to me. I might type up a page tomorrow explaining what each of my favorite songs mean to me and what make them special. I guess that depends if anybody would even care if I did that or has downloaded the songs =) I do know that before I come back, I’ll have finished everything that I promsied I would (i.e., my 50+ things about me, my video games section, my mariners poem, etc…) So when I do come back, there will be plenty of things to read and some new stuff as well =)

If anybody needs to contact me, just get my cell number from below. That and my e-mail are probably the only ways of contact I’ll leave open since I use my cell phone when looking for jobs =) So, if you need me, give me a call and leave me a message since my phone doesn’t really like to ring when people call and I’ll call you back…I promise =)

Until my next post, everybody take care of yourselves and until next time….

Goob

Oh yeah, and GO MARINERS!!!!

Gotta keep smiling….gotta keep laughing….I just have to…

Things like [outdated link] help, even if only for a short period of time.

EHFAR….just trust me on that one I’ll explain later.

Out of 300 songs, I decided to follow my moto, shuffle my songs to where it would pick a random one, and let fate decide my future. I clicked the first song, fast forward to the end, and waited for the random song. And damn, did it ever decide for me. I’ll post the song it picked later on and let you all figure it out for yourselves.

WHIFF! That’s strike three folks. God I love baseball.

Last night my boys beat the defending world champions Anaheim Angels behind a solid outing from Ichiro, who hit two homers, and Boone, who hit a grand slam! Seriously, does it get ANY better then that? Well wait, ask me that again in late October and see what my answer is then.

I have the next three days off from work, so I am going to sit back and relax! I actually took a nap today when I got home from work, so I’ll probably be up all night. I know Tommy, Clay, and I are going to play a few games of StarCraft together tonight, but other then that, I’ll just be on-line talking to people. It feels weird not planning on going to bed at 9:30 =) I went and paid a few debts I owed today with my flea market / tip money. I paid the taxes on my truck and then got two money orders for a few hundred bucks that I owe people and stuck those in the mail. Now the only money I owe is on my credit card, which I can easily take care of….ah, to be in the green again =)

Somebody give me this phone number please. Imagine all the fun you could have with it. That’s my newest life goal. Prank phone call a world leader.

It’s funny how one person can be so willing to help another, no matter what they ask of you. Yet when they ask for a small favor in return, it’s shot down and denied. I’ve had this happen to me by like 5 people this week and it’s very damn annoying. But I really don’t even care anymore. I wish I could say I’ve become jaded, but that’s not even close to the truth. I just am sick and tired of playing these little games. I’ve got other things I can spend my time doing and other people I can spend my time with.

And thanks again old friend….I needed that. =)