What's a guy to do?

As it nears--okay, surpasses--my bedtime, I am writing this instead of sleeping, like I should be.

Few things: New design, new background song. Hope you like them.

Since my last blog, I've gained some interesting insight in a couple different avenues. Okay, two: girls and sports. You know, the usual.

The list of reasons not to date me has grown longer. Just when I thought I'd heard them all. But no hard feelings. Not much I can do about the way people feel (or don't feel)--nor would I want to. This latest girl is one of the really good ones. I could only be so lucky. But, like I said...not much I can do...right?

Same book, different chapter: Another idea has been floated around (again) recently by two separate friends--both of whose judgment I trust. And I've pondered the idea off and on since I was 11, but it's a risky one, to say the least. Perhaps too risky to warrant more than a passing thought. Wow...is that cryptic, or what? Perfect.

Different book (I'm not really talking about books, by the way): Finally saw my first Cubs games this weekend. They were a blast, even though the Cubs lost 2 of 3. As if I'm surprised. Oh, and I saw myself on TV--or one of the TV replay videos I found online, anyway. I'll cut short on the sports talk, because at last check, no one cares but me.

I fully intend to be back soon. But first, I'm gonna go drum up a life interesting enough to blog about. Or try, anyway.

Cheers,
Derrick

I'm talking to myself, don't eavesdrop.

It's late, so this'll be short.

Did you ever hope for the best, but deep down expect the worst? I bet you have. Human nature, at times. Sometimes, in those cases, when the worst is what we get, we're sad, but not remotely surprised. Ya know?

Yeah, woe is me.

Blame in on the Cubs fandom, if you will.

No one would blame me for doing this as a sports fan. I mean, it's the Cubs. 103 years? Yeah. That's 3.96 of my lifetimes. But...why do I do this in real life? It doesn't help anything. Still, can't help it.

I've been doing it lately, and if I'm being honest, it scares the bejesus out of me.

I could very possibly be in the midst of experiencing 'the worst' of a current situation. Which would suck, because I (like a Cubs fan does) had gotten my hopes up. Then again, I could be overreacting because of past experiences. Either way, I feel like my reaction is justified. Or maybe it's not. I tend to rationalize. Which is what people tend to do when they're wrong.

So to whom it may concern, let me apologize for that.

Time to stop talking to myself and get some sleep.
Hoping to dig deep to find the motivation to run in the AM.

Final thought:
No matter how bad a situation gets, a good enough pitch(er) always gives you a chance. 

Cheers,
Derrick

New this, knew that.

Hey all. Been 6 weeks since my last blog. I've really got to get back into this. It was once a comforting outlet for me. Here's what's new...

The girl situation I mentioned last time turned out to be nothing. No ill will here. Just wasn't right, you know? It happens. A younger me would've fretted (the past tense of 'fret' sounds weird, by the way) over it, but I reckon God has something bigger in store, so I'm rolling with it.

There's even something else I could mention here, but I'll withhold it this time--hate to jinx it. ;)

In the meantime...I finally got a new car! Long time coming.

Old car: 1998 Ford Escort. Owned for 8 years, 4 months, 1 day.
New car: 2007 Pontiac G6. Owned for 15 days.

Other news: My Cubs have been horrible lately. Worse than horrible actually, but my vocabulary doesn't extend that far. That said, I'm still pretty stoked to get to see them in person for the first time ever in 19 days.

The last 5 days have been among the most frustrating in all my time as a Cubs fan. However...due to alternate circumstances (lack of better word), I've still had one of my better weekends I've had in quite some time. Corny, huh?

I still have no idea if anyone reads these things anymore. I appreciate the time, if so. But in case not, I'll stop now and continue with my evening.


Cheers,
Derrick

Long time, no blog.

It's been 4 months, 12 days since my last blog...

Here's what you've missed in my world:

I've been working at Horizons for 6 months and 6 days.

My 2011 resolution of blogging every 2 weeks has failed miserably. I had several others, though. Here are a few...

Read every night: Went very well through February, then fell off. Back on it tonight, though.
Do something nice for a stranger: I anonymously donated 8 hours of PTO to a lady who needed it.
Do something crazy: Nothing yet. I'm kicking around ideas.
No fast food for 2 months: Done. And it wasn't too difficult. Granted, I still had Subway and Quiznos.

Sports:

Last time I blogged, the Bulls were 14-8. They finished the regular season 62-20, best record in the NBA. They lead their first round series vs. Indiana 3-1. In short, they've played 64 games since my last blog. Sheesh!

Cubs are 10-11 to start off the season. Not as good as I'd like, but a couple of the youngsters are playing well. Starlin Castro is the future of the team. Heck, he's the present, too. The kid is [barely] 21, and looks even younger. Dude can play some ball, though.

Other stuff:

- I like this girl. Enough to make it worth mentioning, which if you know me, is significant. I don't know where it's going, but I like where it's at so far.

- Actually...that's pretty much all I have for this time. Gotta do some picking up and prepping some things for work this week. I'll do my best to blog again soon.

Cheers,
Derrick

Merry Christmas, Happy Blogging

I haven't blogged in 22 days. Yikes. Sorry, self. So now I'm back. If for no other reason than to say I was here.

Let's see, what's new? Cubbies signed a new first baseman. This guy:

Carlos Pena

He hit 46 home runs two years ago before a down year last season. Nice, polite guy with pop in his bat. Glad to have you aboard, Carlos. --that reminds me: With Zambrano, Marmol and Silva, Pena now makes it four Carloses on the Cubs roster. How cool is that?








Bulls are playing nice lately. Five straight W's and a 14-8 record thus far. I can dig it.

My league in Hutch is back from a two-week hiatus. After losing our first game, we shellacked our opponent in Game 2, 64-18. We take our 1-1 record into tonight's 7:00 game with certain signs of rust.

I will try to blog again before Christmas, but in case I don't...uh, it's Christmas time! I love Christmas. Everything about it. The music, the shopping, the decorations, the spirit. It's all just so fun. I'm literally, well...a kid at Christmas.

I still have most of my shopping to do, but I'm looking forward to it all.

I'm planning to buy myself a new (big) TV on the 23rd. Merry Christmas to me! But you can still buy me stuff, if you want.








Also, I'll be making my first ever (voluntary) student loan payment at some point this week. Big step! And planning to penny-pinch like crazy in January/February, in hopes that I can buy me a new vehicle (ahem, truck?) around March or shortly thereafter.

But in the meantime, trying my darnedest to take things one step at a time.

Next step: Cookie.

Merry Christmas and Happy Blogging,
Derrick

PS, I'd like to share this song with you. Heard it for the first time a couple weeks ago, and it's fun. You may not like it the way I do, and you'll have to pause my already-awesome music on here, but I'm sharing anyway.

In case you wanted to know. And even if you didn't.

Long time, no blog. Changes abound! My good friend Katie Hill suggested I expand the narrow column that was the blog itself last time. I was happy to oblige. Also, I'm hoping that by the time you read this, another couple changes will have been made. No promises.

Just for fun, here are a few little tidbits about me that you may not have known, and/or for any new readers...

My favorites:

Movie: Cinderella Man
Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio/Ben Affleck [occasionally changes]
Actress: Sandra Bullock
TV Show: Seinfeld
TV Channel: MLB Network
Musical artist: James Otto
Song: Measure of a Man - Jack Ingram
Radio Station: 100.5, The Wolf

Restaurant: Olive Garden
Fast food: Popeye's

Sport to watch: Baseball
Sport to play: Basketball

Team: Chicago Cubs

Bible verse: "You are sheep among wolves. Be wise as serpents, yet innocent as doves." - Matthew 10:16

Moving on.

5 weeks in at the job. Getting better with time, as I get accustomed to things. Things I've learned so far:

1. Be thankful for what you have. Most people have zero idea how hard things could really be.
2. I can't/won't talk about girls on Facebook anymore. The girls I work with are relentless, to say the least. It's not worth the hassle.
3. I will not take things that happen at work home with me. Soon as I walk out the door, it's over.

Don't mistake these things to mean that I do not like my job. For the most part, it's actually pretty interesting. Big picture: I get paid to help people. Can't complain about that.

Once again, not much of substance here. Beginning to think I'm not as deep as I once thought I was. Wait, that seems like circular logic. Well, you know what I mean. Maybe. On that note, feel free to share thoughts. And have a good weekend, all.

Cheers,
Derrick

[insert random clever title here]

To whom it may concern,

Two weeks in at new job. So far, so good. Definitely some intrigue of a few different varieties already. Some I could probably talk about if anyone is so inclined to hear...others, I'll keep to myself. [chuckle]

For this last week of October, I wore a pink ribbon pinned to my shirt each day. Took some flak for it, but I don't care. Pink t-shirt on Thursday night, too. Look, evidence...

Our home crowd at the High School game was clad in pink and pretty raucous for a 62-0 win to end the regular season. Players wore blue unis with pink numbers [and names] for the occasion, too. Pretty sweet.

Bulldogs head into the playoffs having outscored their opponents 473-36 in nine regular season games. Impressive.

However, I will miss the Regional game here at home on Tuesday vs. Ness City, due to working late. Dang it.

I don't really have a whole lot to say in this blog [go figure], but wanted to post something since I haven't since starting the new job. Also, it gave me incentive to change my layout off the the pink backdrop.

Note: People [ahem, girl(s)] who think they're going to get on my good side while badmouthing friends of mine... I think not.


Upcoming: Basketball league in Hutchinson starting next Sunday. Pretty pumped for that. Should be interesting.


Not much else to say at the moment. This one was pretty short. Maybe next time I'll have more to say. I need to try and blog on weekends, now that I'm working weekdays. Here's hoping!

Let me know what you think of the layout. It's kind of bland, but it occurred to me that maybe I've been too flashy in the past. Need to tone it down a bit. Any thoughts?

Happy Halloween.

Derrick, out.