My last post

This is my last post for the IST class. I don't know if I'm going to continue with this blog, but I have to say that it was a pretty enjoyable project. Most definitely better than the first one.

Thursday was a pretty good day. I only had one class and I got a good grade back on my Philosophy paper. I've also got to say that I'm oh so excited that the Rangers beat the Islanders at the Garden. I don't want to jinx the team or anything, but it's a great thing to watch. I love this team.

My dad went to Florida to rescue my grandparents from the aftermath of Hurricane Wilma. They had a lot of their house messed up, and wouldn't have electricity for upwards of two weeks. My grandparents are pretty old, so I'm glad my dad went to get them, so they don't hav eto take care of themselves throughout the time it takes to fix everything.

I hope you enjoyed reading my blog. I guess I don't have anything that interesting to say, but it was a good time nonetheless. In any case, I hope I do well on this!

Harriet Miers Withdraws

Well, Harriet Miers, President Bush's curious pick to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court, withdrew her nomination today after being beaten senseless by the right wing. I'm split on this; as a liberal, I would have loved seeing the Republians continue to beat each other up over the nomination. Still, this shows that Bush cows to the Evangelical right and cannot be trusted by modersate Republicans. Either way, it'll be interesting to see who he nominates now.

What's really important is that people see just how hypocritical the right is. John Roberts, they said, deserved a fair and speedy hearing. Then they go and stop Miers from even getting to the Senate Judiciary Committee. That's just one example.

I'm also very excited to see what indictments special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald will hand down. I'm 99.9% sure that I. Lewis Libby will be indicted, but I'm really hoping that Karl Rove gets an indictment, as well. That'll not only crush the Bush administration, it will stop him from planning the next big wave from the right.

Rove will probably get busted for indictment if anything, and already the right wing spin machine is churning. They've already put out press releases and talking points saying that perjury is not a crime, and that indictments should only come for "real crimes", like what Libby will be gotten for, which is giving away the identity of a federal undercover agent. Of course, let's look back at the whole Clinton perjury IMPEACHMENT. Listen to what they were saying then, and it's just another example of their hypocrisy.

Wolf Parade tomorrow night

Tomorrow night I'm going to see one of the great new bands I've begun to listen to this semester thanks to my cousin and friends. Wolf Parade is playing with two other groups at the Schine Underground. I'll be there with a bunch of my friends enjoying the time.

Wolf Parade is a lot like Modest Mouse. In fact, their debut album Appologies to the Queen Mary was produced by MM's lead singer. They combine a more techno/funk/post-punk sound, which is something that I love.

Also, game four of the World Series tonight. Chicago looking to wrap it up. I just can't believe that the White Sox will finally be breaking their 88-year streak without a title. Especially after Boston won for the first time since 1918 last year. Chicago hasn't won since 1917. Their team is predicated on small ball and pitching, and thats really impresive these days.

Rainy Saturday

The rain and cold put a real damper on a day. I went to play basketball at Archbold today, but it almost wasn't worth it. I was soaking wet when I got back, not to mention freezing. Not only that, but I played horribly. Oh well.

Strange that I dislike the cold but love hockey. Right now I'm getting pumped to watch the Rangers play the Sabres. We really need a win and a strong performance after Thursday night's dissappointment. Thankfully Henrik Lundqvist is back in nets; he's become a folk hero already amongst Rangers fans.

Tonight's also the first game of the World Series. I don't really care that much about either team, but as a baseball nut, it's always fun to watch the penultimate matchup. Plus, you can learn a lot about playing, managing, dealing with post season pressure, and just about the history of the game when you watch the World Series.

I'm going to go play some guitar. I'd say something nice like, "keep warm everybody", but no one is reading this. Or, at least no one will be reading it for the next two weeks or so. I guess if it's cold when you're actually reading this, IST grader, keep warm or something like that.

TGIF

I don't generally use the "thank god it's friday" cliche, but this week it rings true. After being home for about five days, coming back to school and doing work is a rude awakening. I've had so much work, which made it even worse.

I had to write a philosophy paper in about an hour because I didn't do it this weekend. The paper was about three and a half pages, and I can't believe I churned it out. Not only that, but I had a ton of Spanish work, and had to have my Spanish oral interview.

I really miss home, but it's good to be able to hang out with friends over the weekend. Watching the Rangers play good hockey really makes me happy, because that's a real link to NYC and home, and them doing well makes watching them that much better. Especially because it's been a tough decade for the Blueshirts.

I'm getting closer to my interview with the Mets, and I'm starting to pump out scouting reports, to build my portfolio. I'm getting pretty nervous, especially because their assistant GM, who was helping me out with the process, took a job in Baltimore. It's a good opportunity for him though, so I can't be too upset.

World Series Set

If, at the beginning of the playoffs, you had told me that the World Series would feature the Chicago White Sox and Houston Astros, I'd have routinely at you. Well, I suppose I wouldn't have laughed that hard; I thought it a possibility that Chicago would make it, even though I was rooting for the Red Sox. In fact, I really had no AL prediction, come to think of it. The Yankees were flawed, the Red Sox had no pitching, and Anaheim, well they just didn't excite me this year.

As for the NL, I was uber confident that St. Louis would make it. They had the same high powered offense that got them to the Fall Classic last year, and now they had Chris Carpenter and Mark Mulder. While Carpenter was on the team last year, he missed the NLCS with an injury.

More importantly, if you look back to the beginning of Spring Training, I don't think anyone would have picked either team to even make the playoffs. Houston had just lost playoff hero Carlos Beltran (to the Mets, where he fell way short of expectations, unfortunately) and Jeff Kent. Jeff Bagwell was just about ready to have a fork stuck in him. And, Lance Berkman would miss half the season after tearing his ACL. There was no way this team's offense could back its great pitching.

Well, Morgan Ensberg had a career year, Berkman came back strong and Willy Tavares had a good year as their rookie centerfielder. Chris Burke also had a strong debut with the bat. Like last season, they seemed dead in June. Each time, Phil Garner did something to magically kick start his team. Still, I'm amazed at the offense they put up against a very, very good Cardinal staff. I'm sure Walt Jocketty will fortify that bullpen this winter, though he'll need to get another outfielder or two with Walker retiring and Sanders and Edmonds getting up there in age.

Speaking of managers, Ozzie Guillen in Chicago is a master. He's a great player's manager. Having worked in a clubhouse, I can see how he really pulled those guys together. I can say from experience that a close knit group is very underrated when it comes to success. Oh, and his rotation wasn't too bad, either.

I forgot how boring this town was

Jeez. I've sat here most of the day, doing work and wishing my friends were around. My friend Steve was supposed to be, but he got a ride back to NYU a day early. Alex came over for about an hour last night, but today he's with his girlfriend all day. At least I had fun playing with the baby.

It's a lot harder than I thought to find a real good coder who doesn't charge an arm and a leg for his or her services. I've been searching all day, and I may have finally found one, but it was almost a waste of my day. I guess there was nothing else to do, so it wasn't too bad.

Jon Garland just finished a complete game win against the Angels to give the White Sox a 2-1 lead in the ALCS. Great pitching performance in Anaheim, very clutch. Now they have Freddy Garcia going up against Ervin Santana, a rookie filling in for Bartolo Colon. It could be getting real late real quick for the Angels. Also, Paul Konerko just gave one of the worst post game interviews ever.

As a final note, my cousin's band is playing as the soundtrack in the montage for the end of the game. Nice.

Day Two at Home

Well, it's a little bit strange being home. Although I came home two weeks ago, that was really just to attend the two championship series games that the minor league team that I work for was playing in. Now, I'm part of my family again, and if you knew my family, that's strange in itself. But it's wierd seeing life go on without you. Even though I knew to expect it, given I'm a sophomore, I still feel a bit like a ghost.

I worked late into the night on a new scouting report for FlushingsFuture.com. I'm starting my top 25 prospect scouting report countdown now so that when I interview for an internship with the team in November, I'll have them all done and ready to present to them in a portfolio. Every day I get more and more nervous about the interview. This is my big chance, and I don't want to blow it.

I've also continued working on my top secret computer project. I was up until about 5 am working to fix the problems we were having with the server. I talked all night with this guy whose name I don't even know. He owns some small hosting companies, and was helpful in fixing the problems with our setup.

My friend Alex is coming home tonight, so I'm looking forward to seeing him for the first time in nearly two months. We're best friends, having known each other since elementary school, so it shouldn't be too weird. Tomorrow, I'll probably get to see my other best friend, Steve, who goes to NYU. I'll probably just go into the city, which is only about 25 minutes from my house.

So, I was watching the ALCS last night, and I remain baffled by the non-call by the umpire on the AJ Pierzynski strikeout. It would be one thing if he had clearly stated that the ball hit the ground, but he didn't. In fact, he called him out. Then reversed his own right call with a horrible butchery of a call that allowed AJ to go to first. A pinch runner's stolen base and a Joe Crede double later, and the series was 1-1 going back to Anaheim. I want to root for the White Sox, but it's really hard to at this point, especially after they beat the Red Sox, whom are my second team.

Back at Home

My friend Shelly gave her friend Alexandria and I rides home to NJ today. I thought we were going to leave at around 3, but she called at 1:30 and I had to scramble to get packed and finish a paper I was doing last minute. I made her wait a little longer than she might have liked, but she's a good friend and didn't really mind too much. We hit the road around 2:30, in the midst of a light rain storm.

Central NJ, where we're from, is about five hours away by car, but the way Shelly was driving, we got home in about four hours of driving, though we did stop to get something to eat. My dad picked me up at Shelly's house, because I live about 25 minutes further from school than she does.

I've been so busy lately, with a ton of side projects that are starting to eat up my school work time, which isn't good at all. I'm busy managing my Mets' website, www.flushingsfuture.com, which I'm hoping gets me an internship with the team for next summer. I have been talking to people with the team all summer, and it seems are going to come to a head in November when I have my first interview with them.

I really just need to relax, because I know more about baseball, specifically Mets baseball as well as the complex world organizational management (such as player development, signings, trades etc), than just about any other kid my age. I could probably compete with most writers. I don't want to start getting all nervous for no reason and blow my chance to get my foot in the door of my dream world.

I'm also in the midst of working on another special project, but I'm going to hold back on mentioning it until I really begin to make some big progress on it. This one will be of particular interest to the IST community here at Syracuse.

Well, I'm going to go play with my baby niece Itsabel. I'll post again soon.