Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Kids, Kids, Kids

I can hardly believe it. Little Rissa and Baby Bree are starting to sleep through the night. But it hasn't been an easy task lately. It all started back near the time of Thanksgiving when Shelly decided to go dairy with Bree. In mid December Bree started having issues during the night again and the last week of December was the climax for me. Both Bree and Roo were up multiple times during the night and I was having a real tough time with it. Since then, Mama took herself off dairy again and Roo is trying to earn a skateboard for sleeping through the night for a full week. She's been trying for it for about 3 weeks now. Roo is getting to 5 nights in a row and then slips, but it hasn't been like the last two weeks of December were. Bree has only been waking a few times during the night, instead of waking up nearly every 45 minutes to and hour last during the same time span. Life has been getting back to normal. Good news, I was able to help Kiran get his Arrow of Light last month. That's a huge deal since he didn't do a whole lot while at his dad's during the summer and missed a ton. He's now moved on to 11 year olds. He is a great kid. He'll be missed. Lately in Scouting we've been trying to build a crystal radio. One of those where batteries aren't included. We've spent the last two den meetings trying to builld it. It sounds easy, but it's actually quite difficult. I'm going to spend one more den meeting on it next week to see if we can get it done. We're going to need a lot of luck. :) Trent turned 4 on January 8. I cannot believe how much that boy has grown. According to Nana, he's a minature me. Poor guy. I can see it, though. All except I was more into sports at that age than he is. Hopefully I can help him change that. One day. No real news on the Astros. 3 prospects made the top 100 list, which doesn't mean much to me except that we'll have great farm clubs and a lousy major league club. Oh well. Spring training is literally a couple weeks away. I'm stoked.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Goodbye President Smith, GM Wade, and the NL Central (???)

HOUSTON -- The Houston Astros fired general manager Ed Wade and team president Tal Smith on Sunday night in the first of the changes promised by new owner Jim Crane.

The moves come less than a week after the sale of the team from Drayton McLane to Crane was officially completed last Tuesday, a transaction that requires the franchise to move from the NL Central to the AL West in 2013.

In a news conference on the day owners approved the sale on Nov. 17, Crane vowed to meet with all the executives and "make some very, very quick adjustments."



Wade was hired in September 2007 after spending the previous two years as a professional scout for the San Diego Padres. He was the general manager of the Philadelphia Phillies from 1998 until he was fired after the 2005 season.

The Astros made a 13-game improvement in Wade's first season as general manager and finished 86-75. But that would be their only winning season under Wade as they won 74 games in 2009 and 76 in 2010 before posting this year's franchise-worst mark of 56-106.

In the last two years Wade traded away stars such Lance Berkman, Michael Bourn, Roy Oswalt and Hunter Pence for mostly young prospects, saying he had "inherited a pretty barren farm system" that he had to replenish.

Smith, who has been team president since 1994, has spent more than 50 years as a baseball executive and more than 30 of those years have been with the Astros. He worked for the franchise in its first season in 1962 when the team was known as the Houston Colt .45s and remained in Houston until 1972.

He spent some time working for the Yankees before returning as general manager of the Astros from 1975-80.

Smith's input was key in the development of both the Astrodome and Minute Maid Park. A small hill in center field at Minute Maid Park is known as Tal's Hill as a nod to his work on the project.

This is directly from ESPN. I've known that the Astros were moving to the AL West for about a week or two now, and I still can't believe it. I've been a BoSox fan for a while now. I've got a BoSox tie, shirt and hats. My World Series dream match up would the 'Stros vs BoSox. I am now looking for a new NL team to root for. I'm not going anywhere with the 'Stros. I, too, have a tie, shirt and hats of the Astros. I have to admit that the Astros and the perfect World Series winless team to root for. The BoSox have won 2 in my life time. Go Astros!!!!!! Now if they will just do something.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Season Over, but.....

The St Louis Cardinals are the world champions for the 11th time in team history. I have to admit, the way that they got hot all of a sudden is simply inspiring. They were 10 games out of the wild card in August and ended up winning the World Series in 7 games against the Rangers. Who would have thought. I called it, though. I told people that if the Cardinals were to win game 6 (which they did), that the Cardinals would end up winning the series. And it was game 6 that did it.
It was a fantastic series and a fun season of baseball. Now that it's the off season, it'll be interesting to see if the Astros will actually do something this off season to bring in some pitching and some bats. Rumor has it that the Astros might be heading to the AL West, which means Scott Bardin and I will be rivals. Scott is a Seattle fan through and through. Face it though, we'll be getting bragging rights on who will not be on the bottom of the division if these rumors become a reality.

Work has been tough for me mentally lately. It's been real hard on me when I go to work and all I feel like I'm going to picking up everyone else's poop. I've tried to keep a prayer in my heart, but the Lord knows who to send my lately to test me. I feel like I'm not doing to well with those tests. For example, I really wanted to start yelling at my first caller of the day when he started insulting my intelligence. Well, I'm sorry that I look at my monthly mortgage statements every month and I know how much interest is being applied to my mortgage every month. Why on Earth would I want to figure that out on my own? So we got the mortgage company on the line with us. I couldn't just hang up after connecting with the mortgage company. I wanted to, but couldn't. He started insulting that representative because she had a hint of an accent. He declared that it was hard to understand her because he is an American! I wanted to slap him. I wanted to tell him that if he was an American, he should start acting like one! ID10T!!!!!!!! That started my day on the dark side. And it only got worse from there.

My day would have been a little better if my 2 eldest had slept better in there own beds last night. Last night was Halloween, and some college kids had some innocent fun with the kids last night, but it sure scared them spitless. Trent wouldn't even trick or treat at the Vincent's because he got scared so bad. Funny, though. Trent was the only one to stay in his bed last night. Marissa came in at about 1 and Audrey followed suit at about 2. Bree woke up at 1:30, so Shelly had a real long night last night. Me? I had a back massage that made me real irritable all day. Here's to a better day tomorrow.

It's about 9:30 and I'm ready to turn in for the night. Good night and keep the faith! Don't forget to pray!

Friday, August 5, 2011

No Brewin' Tonight (Gallardo vs Happ)

Well, I can't say much about the game tonight. Happ losing again and is now a dismull 4-14 for the season. Allowing 3 runs to score in the first inning and then only scoring one run the entire game does not bode well for the veteran pitcher who needs to figure things out in a hurry. Astros lose 8-1 tonight. They are now 3-7 for the series.
My brother stated something on Facebook the other day which rings so true with the state of the Astros right now. He said that the Astros have turned into the farm team for the Phillies. It's so true. We've traded 3 people to the Phillies and all we've been helping the Phillies win. Since Pence got there, the Phillies haven't lost. Last year when we traded Oswalt, the Phillies got the NLCS.
Poor Trent didn't get to go with the girls tonight and he's really bummed. Who wouldn't? The girls got to go with Lelend to see The Smurfs.
I won't be able get more info about Seminary teaching until Monday at the earliest. That's the bummer news. The real bummer news is that I start full time work again on Monday. So note to self, call the Institute again at lunch time on Monday.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Dontrelle Did What? (Willis vs Lyles)

What a crazy day in baseball today. Dontrelle Willis is known as a pitcher who can hit. But really? A homerun? Incredible! Yet it was not enough for the Reds to finish off the Astros tonight. Did I just write that? True story. And they won the game by bunting the ball. The Reds just could not field the bunt. The Astros won todays game 5-4. They won the 3 game series 2-1. They trail the Reds in the season series 5-7. Not bad considering the Reds are still seeking a Central win and get into the playoffs.
I got invited to Scott's house tonight to watch some baseball. Unfortunately, the Astros and Red Sox games were finals already. So we decided to go with the Twins and Angels. I had never seen a grand slam on live TV or in person before until tonight. It was exciting. First baseman Cuddyear for the Twins nailed it in the 4th inning.
Still trying to get the info situated for Seminary teaching. It hasn't been because of lack of trying. I'm still trying.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Fifth Inning Blues (Bailey vs W. Rodriguez)

All I can say about todays game is when the opposing team scores 5 runs in the 5th inning and 4 of those runs are due to a grand salami, your team is not likely going to win. And today was no exception. With Durango RBIing to score the only run for the Astros, the Reds and there grand slam in the 5th on Wandy just was an eye sore for the ailing Astros. Reds tie this series 1-1.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Hope Is Not All Lost....Yet (Arroyo vs. Norris)

Wow! Some how these young younglings pulled out an impressive win today. Paredes hit a 2 run triple in the 2 inning to get the Astros up 2-0. Then Quintero hit an RBI double to bring in Paredes to take a 3-0 lead.
In the 6th inning Norris pitched in the Reds into a tie score at that point and left the game with a blister issue. We'll see if he heads to the DL or not because of it. In comes F. Rodriguez, Escalona, and Carpenter. Together they helped make sure the Reds couldn't do anything. Then came Melancon, closer with the game still tied at 3. Melancon held his ground, luckily, and made the game go into extra innings. The man of the night, Altuve, sacrifices himself in the 10th with a RBI and wins the game for Melancon and the Astros.
The Astros take a 1-0 lead in this series against the Reds, but still trails the season series 4-6.
I asked my supervisor TJ today about the possibities of moving my schedule around today. He said that it would be VERY likely that it could be arranged. I also went up to WSU to see about what I would need to do to start taking those classes that I need, and I ended up with the institute instructor's phone number. I called it and left a message. So we'll see what fruits come out of it.
I think that I'm really excited for the possibilities of becoming a teacher again. But I'm more excited about having the possibilities of getting out of Teleperformance. I am growing more and more frustrated about that job. One can only take the abuse from the customers for so long before one breaks. I'm thinking that I'm getting to the breaking zone. Lord help me, please.