Walking, Interleague Play, and the Jonas Brothers

This has basically been what my life has been like outside of work as of late.

First of all, I have been doing a very good job getting outside and exercising more and more.  Lately it’s been walking a large loop around town.  It usually takes me over an hour and I have a very fast walking pace.  Sometimes I ride a bike or do yoga, but I really like the latest playlist I have on my iPod and I don’t feel comfortable riding a bike with headphones on my ears.

The Twins have been absolutely dominating lately.  Interleague play works quite well for them!  They are playing the Brewers as I write this right now, but they’ve been on a nine game winning streak!  Three series’ in a row they’ve swept!  I am very surprised and happy to see my team proving everyone wrong!  Rebuilding year?  Yes, but this is just the way they rebuild.  By being awesome!

This brings me to the band known as the Jonas Brothers.  A little over a week ago, I barely knew who these kids were.  Now I have a pretty good idea and I think they are absolutely adorable.  I think more than anything, my current fascination stems from the nostalgia I feel toward the “boy band” aspect of their fame.  I had my two youngest cousins tell me all about them last weekend.  I recall saying to others that I hoped someday boy bands would come back into popularity because it is fun to have a crush on your favorite in the group and buying the CDs and just being a fan.  Sure, the music can leave something to be desired, but the fact that these boys write all of their own songs is a plus.  And that they seem to be genuinely good boys is admirable these days.  I’m not sure if I can really call myself a fan, because they have so many intense ones and I am far from that stage anymore (and I feel like I am a bit old for this group), but they have piqued my interest and I am sure I will be able to recognize their music eventually.  (But I still have my heart set on an NSync reunion one day…)

It’s not everyday you get to attend a private party at Lambeau Field

In honor of the 55th wedding anniversary of my Grandpa and Grandma on Saturday, our family celebrated in a private box in Lambeau Field.  It was one of those experiences that will likely never happen again for most of us.  I was born in Green Bay, so the Packers and everything that involves with the organization have a special little place in my heart.  Both sides of my family are (almost) entirely die-hard Packer fans.  I was raised to loathe the Metrodome and anything to do with the Chicago Bears.  Every time I catch a glimpse of Lambeau a smile flits across my face.  When I walk into the bleachers for an actual game, it literally can take my breath away.  Being able to go up the escalator to the ultra elite luxury boxes was unbelievable.  I know anybody can rent the very same suite and have the very same party, but when your own family does it, it’s special to you.  The fact that it was for my grandparents’ 55th anniversary is amazing.  I can’t even imagine how long fifty five years can be!  These days those achievements are becoming more difficult to come by.  Five years ago we all gathered at my family’s home and had dinner at the fanciest restaurant in town.  (Which, by the way, was the last time I actually had dinner at the said establishment.)  Fifty years is a milestone.  Fifty five is all the more amazing.  I love my grandparents and am so glad we were able to celebrate their love and the beginning of an amazing extended family with them.

I cannot root against the Twins

This past weekend the Brewers and the Twins played against one another.  Inter-league is great, with this exception.  I thought I would have troubles deciding what team to cheer for without sounding like a bandwagon fan.  But no, that is not what happened.  As I was sitting on the couch Sunday afternoon wearing a Ryan Braun Brewers t-shirt, I found myself getting upset with the team for beating the Twins!  Turns out, when it comes between those two teams I know where my heart truly lies.  During the game on Friday night I wore a Brewers shirt on top of a Twins shirt.  After the Twins blew the Brewers away, my Mom told me that I wore the Twins shirt underneath because they are closer to my heart.  Ha!  Saturday’s game was probably the best of the series.  At least the most exciting.  I was glad when this week came and I could root for both teams to win (and both teams could win) without the fear of unintentionally offending the other.  Both teams just swept this week’s opponent by the way as of this afternoon!

So until next weekend (the 27th-29th) I have nothing to worry about.  That’s when Milwaukee heads up to the Cities to play in the beautiful…Metrodome.

Thank you, Boston

(That’s not a phrase I utter all too often.)

But I love KG, and despite the fact that I was a little heartbroken when he left Minnesota for Boston (like so many other former MN athletes before him), I was rooting for him to win a championship.  Even though that city deserves another one less than any other.

The game tonight was a little ridiculous however.  How many points did they beat L.A. by?  Forty?  Crazy.

I think it was the fact that I learned that KG has the initials “KP34″ on his shoes in honor of Kirby Puckett.  I do love the Twins you know.

In Memoriam: Tim Russert

I often check CNN’s website throughout the day to see the headlines. Just in case something big happened, or what they are saying about the upcoming election. I thought this afternoon all I would see was more news about Des Moines being evacuated due to flooding. But no. I found out that one of the VERY select few journalists I respect, love, and admire died suddenly. I cannot believe that Tim Russert is gone. As I watched NBC’s Nightly News devote the entire half hour to his passing, tears streamed down my face. He was a few years younger than my own father. He had so much more to give, to say to this country. I decided not to major in journalism because I have little respect for the media. But he is one of the few I do respect. (Alongside Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, Ann Curry, Brian Williams, and Christiane Amanpour. Watching All the President’s Men almost makes me wish I was in the J-School.) I am surprised with how upset I am over the news of his passing. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that it was so unexpected. And he was one of my heroes. Especially the fact that this is an election year, everyone will miss him. Meet the Press will never be the same. I cannot fathom another person moderating. Who will give the best interviews of the candidates later on this year? It used to be Tim. He was truly a fair minded individual and immensely intelligent. My little brother didn’t understand why or how I was feeling, so I compared it to the hypothetical situation of one of his favorite hockey players, Chris Chelios dying suddenly in the middle of practice. I will certainly miss his take on the world, and so will many others. Rest in peace.

Thursday Thirteen

1.  Will it ever stop raining and being cloudy and will summer weather actually arrive?

2.  I started doing yoga again and feel much more relaxed as a whole.

3.  I am on book two of the seventeen I purchased a week and a half ago.

4.  My prediction for the series between the Brewers and Twins = sweep by Milwaukee.

5.  Braun will have at least one homer.

6.  Hart will have two.

7.  There was a fire alarm at work this afternoon.  No one thinks they are real anymore because we have weekly tests, plus a week or so ago they tested every single one in the plant all day.  But this one made everyone file out of the building.  There wasn’t a real fire though.  Down the street some city workers were doing some maintenance on a water tower and it triggered the alarm.  Thankfully it didn’t happen during the torrential downpour an hour before.

8.  This weekend my goal is to clean out my closet.  This has been my goal for about two years I am guessing.  I kept making the excuse that I wasn’t home long enough to adequately organize the thing.  But since I am here all summer, those don’t work anymore.  I have actually been here a month and sort of have my room in order.  But not anymore.

9.  My little brother goes to camp for the summer this weekend.  I would rather he just stay here, but I suppose he’ll be home on Saturdays.

10.  He also got a haircut today and all of his pretty curls are gone.  I haven’t seen a buzz cut on that kid in a long time.

11.  Thank God for casual Friday.

12.  For Father’s Day, I still need to find a card.  My goal (and my brother’s) is to find one that gets our Dad to tear up a little.  My mom cries every time we get her a card (mostly because we look for the sentimental ones), and Dad not so much.  We’ll see what happens this year.

13.  Even though I think the Brewers are going to win this weekend and that will make me happy, I’ll be equally as sad to see the Twins lose.  More.

Multi-tasking

Typically, each evening I have two baseball games to watch.  The Brewers and the Twins.  The Brewers I can find on television almost every time, but the Twins on TV in my part of Wisconsin is rare.  Only when they play Chicago (rarely) or Detroit or Milwaukee are they televised.  And every now and then they are on ESPN, but that seems to be when they play New York or Boston only.  I subscribed to a month of MLB.tv so I can see the Twins play.  It works for the most part.  It is better than staring at the Game Day box score changing every once and a while at least.  And I get 14 free issues of Sports Illustrated.  This weekend will be nice (and not so nice) because the Twins travel to Milwaukee to face the Brewers.  I’ll get to see both on TV at the same time!  So I both win and lose.  I see the two teams as pretty equally matched so far, and I cannot decide who will be the stronger of the two.  Right now the Twins are winning (for once) but the Brewers just lost their lead with a tying run scored.  I love the fact that I am teaching my little brother about the little things in baseball.  My Dad laughed at him earlier saying, “you’re learning about baseball….from your sister!”  His sense of humor surprises me sometimes! 

What a week!

Never have I ever been so busy at work.  It’s nice I suppose, but when I start getting stressed out over my job as an assistant, then it is too much.  The weekend came right when I needed it!

I just mowed our entire lawn with the push mower.  That’s a workout and a half, for sure!

I think it is time for an amaretto stone sour and some baseball.

Work

This summer I am employed by my father’s company once again.  I have been working there off and on since I turned eighteen, which is about three and a half years.  I started working out on the shop floor in the assembly department, but have been in the office since I graduated from high school.  For the most part I help out the accounting department, since that is what my Dad oversees.  I did not work there last summer since I remained at school, but the two summers prior I was the accounting department assistant.  This summer they have been keeping me VERY busy.  It’s only been two and a half weeks, but I have yet to run out of work during the day.  This is due in part to the fact that my Dad offered my services to the Customer Service department, which is having troubles lately with one of their representatives out on medical leave.  I mostly enter orders into the system for them, but it takes up a lot of my time.  I can tell I’ve been really busy because the filing pile I have of invoices is getting to be about a foot tall.  It helps that they are trusting me to do more tasks.  I have been working for an accountant at school for two years as well, which helps.  I’ve been doing math a lot more than I usually do, which is basically none.  I’ve noticed I am a lot more confident in what I am doing as well, and not constantly questioning whether or not I entered in information correctly or not.  Keying errors happen, and it is nice to know that the system will not allow me to go on if I make a mistake.  Or that I can change things after the fact.  I am very busy, but I would rather have too much to do than too little to do.  It makes the day go by faster, which is always nice.  But I don’t want the summer to fly by quite yet.  Maybe towards the end I’ll be excited to get back to school.  But since it is my last year of college, I don’t know.  I need to find a real career soon.

I love books.

One of the local bookstores here is closing in about two weeks.  I must admit I am a little saddened by this news, but right now everything in the store is marked down by 50 percent.  I of course had to take advantage of this, so I went over there after work today and left with SEVENTEEN books.  Is that too much?  There is no such thing as too many books.  Not in my view, that is.  Now my problem is which book to read first.

On another note, the Detroit Red Wings are playing the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight in game five of the Stanley Cup.  If the Wings win, they win the series.  My little brother is a HUGE hockey fan and an even bigger Wings fan.  Needless to say, he’s a bit loud this evening.