Way too much time on your hands

Some things are enough to make a person shake his head and sigh.  Sometimes its watching a friend act like a fool.  Sometimes its reading a horrible poem written by someone who thinks he has talent.  Maybe its reading about an escaped animal.

Maybe it is coming across that escaped animal’s twitter feed.

I might have just heard that collective sigh from whoever has actually been reading this blog. So let me explain.

It has not been all that long ago that the story broke that an Egyptian cobra escaped from the Bronx Zoo in New York City.  As soon as the escape was noticed, the zoo’s reptile house was closed, and it is assumed by zoo officials that the cobra is inside.  They say it is very unlikely to come across the snake out in the open, since these snakes tend to prefer enclosures to open areas.

Enter the internet age into this play.  This snake not only escaped, but has access to, at the very least, a smartphone.  This snake is now broadcasting exactly where he is.  It’s amazing they haven’t found him yet, because according to twitter, @BronxZoosCobra has over 153,000 followers. 

Not only that, one of his cyber-stalkers is @NewYorkMongoose.  One would think that our asp would have taken notice and run on the DL for a while, as I’m sure that Mongoose is looking for some good NYC cooking. 

At least that is how things are playing out if you want to get lost in that world.  It would not be that hard to, because those accounts actually do exist on twitter.  What this really shows is that some people have way too much time on their hands.  This of course is nothing new if you try to look at how many fake Charlie Sheens, Lindsay Lohans, and other public figure accounts there are. 

Making fun of celebrities on the fall is bad enough, though it happens because it is easy.  But what does a snake offer for comedy?  Well when it is deadly and escapes from a zoo in the biggest city in America, apparently quite a bit.  Maybe we should sign him up for Foursquare or Yelp.  Make it even easier to track him down.

Not as I seemed

Today, I talked to a couple friends.  I talked as I would if everything were normal.  Mentioned some baseball and hockey.  I joked a little with them.  I probably came across as if everything was fine.

In all honesty, not everything was good.  I can honestly say, I’ve felt better about things than I did today.  Though I decided to carry on as if nothing was wrong, it lingered in the back of my mind.  As I watched my Capitals win.  As I watched the spring training games and the animated sitcoms on Fox.

Sometimes, hearing bad news does that to you.  You just keep it tucked away in the back of your mind and don’t let it show.  It’s your way of dealing with something.  You remeind yourself to pray fiercely for the best, but don’t let on to those around you that anything had happened.

This morning, I was told of a freak accident a cousin of mine had been involved in.  I had seen some cryptic Facebook messages and statuses.  Then, the news came to me at breakfast this morning and they all made sense.  She is currently in the hospital with serious injuries as they try to figure out exactly what caused what.

Not completely sure what to make of it, I just carried on, and waited for more news.  Probably because as a practical matter, there wasn’t much else that I could do.  Just go about my day and hope for the best.   After all, this all happened in Arizona, and I am in Maryland.

I suspect that over the next few days that I will hear more.  I’ll say my extra prayers each day for the best possible outcome of what happened yesterday.  Hope everyone else is doing alright.  Clearly, I’ve had a lot more on my mind than I’ve let on today.

A minor annoyance.

For those of you who don’t know, I work in the Mail Room at a satellite internet providor.  This means that I get to work with a machine designed to post a large number of envelopes in a relatively short period of time. 

The problem with a machine this fast is it sometimes skips an envelope or two.  Not a huge deal.  Usually we catch them and get them stamped.  On a rare occaision, they come back to us from the Post Office.  Then things can get interesting.

When you get a letter back from the post office, it usually has a note.  The note is either rubber stamped, hand written, or in the form of a pre-printed label.  Whatever form it comes in, it simply says “Returned for Postage.”  When it’s in the rubber stamp or hand written form, not a problem because it is strategically placed in the upper right corner and can be covered with a label of our own. 

Its the labels that get annoying.  They all say “Affix Postage, remove this label, and send.”  The first and third would be of little issue.  Removing the label is what gets annoying. 

When I first started working here, most of the labels came off very cleanly.  No problem.  Usually one try as well.  The label did its job, and didn’t leave a mess.  Life was gravy.  I could deal with those all day.

However, gradually, they started using different labels.  Labels that wouldn’t let go.  They’d tear.  Leave resdue.  Tear the envelope.  Refuse to come off the envelope so that we could post them properly.  What kind of sense does this make? 

Think about the irony here.  “Remove Label.”  It’s harder than tearing the price sticker off your car now.  The Post Office is probably laughing at my company because they keep telling us to do what can’t be done.

This is a call to action to get the USPS to start using the old labels when we miss an envelope.  Not be hypocritical by telling us to do something that can’t be done.  Not to have companies waste their money by having to use another envelope. 

USPS, change back to how you once were!

I must be crazy

I say this because Never in my life would I have ever expected to try this.  Writing for fun.  I hated writing growing up, what the heck was I thinking when I decided to do this?

And now, my love for sport has got me starting a second one?  Inspired by seeing the requirements for MLB’s Dream Job, I decided I didn’t have the qualifications for this year.  So maybe try it for next year? 

The Dream Job itself requires writing.  One of the ways they choose is by looking at your baseball blog.  So, of course in the heat of the moment, I start one.  And now, for all those who don’t already know that it exists, the URL is http://MidAtlanticBaseball.Wordpress.com 

The truth is, as with everything I start, I have grand visions for it.  I’ll probably try to set up other social media with the name Mid-Atlantic Baseball.  We’ll see how it goes, and maybe expand as feasable.  If it becomes a business instead of a hobby, then great. 

For the most part, I’ll try to be easygoing with it.  I’m not really expecting to make a living, or even a few extra bucks off of it for now.  It’s just expanding on two of my favorite things.  The writing, and Baseball. 

GO ORIOLES AND NATIONALS!!

Update.  I decided to change the name.  URL is now http://betweenthebetlwaysbaseball.wordpress.com and twitter is @BTB_Baseball

Surprisingly relaxing

There are some days that you realize you enjoy something you never thought you would. 

Writing blogs was one of those things for me.  I used to despise writing.  I couldn’t stand English classes for a long time because I could never get started or, many times, motivated.  Writing just wasn’t my thing. 

So one day, after I post a complaint about a wave of hatred showing up in the press on facebook, I get a lot of compliments on my writing.  I decided to start this blog.  That complaint became my first post of this blog.  And suddenly, I enjoyed writing. 

Well, today I finished something that I started unexpectedly a few months ago.  I only started it so I wasn’t bored when my friend dragged me with her. 

Let’s rewind.  One of my absolute best friends needed someone to vent to late last summer/early fall.  She calls me and invites me to spend the afternoon with her.  Of course!  I end up in this place called Fireworks Art Cafe.  The artistic bones in my body are this writing and playing music.  If anyone has seen my handwriting, you’d probably agree that I couldn’t do what you do here very well

In this place, you paint pottery.  Figuring, “why the hell not?” I pick up a bank in the shape of a stock car, and start painting it.  I enjoyed it somewhat, but didn’t think to go back until these last couple weeks. 

To my surprise, it’s still there, and I work on it some more.  And just today I finish the thing.  And it looks good.  Clearly not the work of a pro, but it isn’t bad for someone who has no painting skill whatsoever.  Even more surprising, I really did enjoy working on this thing.  It will be going to my nephew after it’s runs through the kiln. 

I will be going back to this place soon as well.  She says she’ll have some massive freakin beer steins coming in soon.  I need to do one for myself.