Same as last year

Well, it's 2009. I know we're all supposed to make resolutions, but I'm not going to do that. Actually, I hear it's bad for your mental health to do so.

My new year will start out like most; anticipating a college football bowl game (in this case two, with Nebraska and Florida playing in 2009), and looking forward to news from the Macworld Expo (which will be 100% Steve Jobs free this year).

One major change will come, however. Within the next two weeks, I look to be back living in Nebraska. As it turns out, things aren't what I anticipated them being in Pensacola. My section of town has seen it's crime rate rise in the past few years, which many believe is an after effect of the displacement Hurricane Katrina caused. That's a situation I don't feel comfortable with, especially when given the option to not live in that situation.

I also haven't been able to find work. I've grown tired of simply sitting around and waiting. Upon calling my old job in Lincoln, the thought I could go right back to work up there was confirmed.

Not having work not only affects my pocket, but affects my social life. I've met nobody since moving here, and frankly, I don't really feel like making new friends. I'm perfectly content with the ones I had in Lincoln. Those friends don't have to work through the trust issues I have with people in general.

Also, on the topic of work, I have career connections at my disposal in Lincoln, something I can't say for Florida. My dad & step-mom gave me Final Cut Express, a industry standard video editing application, for Christmas. So, all I need now is a camera to shoot video with that I can chop up.

I'm able to move back in to my mom's, where I'm only going to be responsible for buying food, so I'll be able to save up money for a lot of the things I need, such as a new camera and a car, and to be able to save up for furniture when the time comes for me to leave the house again. However, unless the job takes me somewhere else, I don't anticipate leaving Lincoln for a long time.

Upon adding everything up and weighing my pros and cons, if the cold weather is the only thing I have to complain about, then that's not much. I find job security and good friends too valuable now.

First Month in Florida

It's been almost a month since I returned to Pensacola to live. I have to say that things are going good, for the most part.

I returned here on November 7 after being gone for 14 years. I only had two visits back since my move to Nebraska, and the late one in March of 2007 really stirred the pot for me on returning here. Pretty much since the day I left, I've been itching to get back. Nothing against Lincoln, Nebraska, where I was living for the majority of this time, but there was always a bit of culture shock to me in living there and I always felt like there was something missing. Even now that I'm back, I can't really put my finger on it, but I feel like I'm where I belong.

The ball really got rolling for me when my Nevada experience failed and the reality hit I needed to move before things got really bad. I figured I only had two options, Lincoln or Pensacola, where I have a parent in each location. I simply didn't feel I could return to Lincoln to live again, so I returned for a month to get my barrings back, and made it back out here a month later. It would of been sooner if it wasn't for the fact that my Pontiac Sunfire went to crap on me halfway back to Lincoln in Wyoming. Frankly, the entire month of September of this year can go nuke itself for all I care. I guess these kind of things are supposed to make me stronger.

So, how have things been? Like I said, good for the most part. The only issues I'm having are job related, as in I can't get anyone to bite. But, other than being broke and sometimes bored, I'm doing ok. Honestly, just being back in my old stomping grounds is usually enough to keep my spirits up. I've been doing a lot of walking around West Pensacola, just taking in the city around me. While it's not the best looking city in the world, it's what's familiar to me and really what built a large part of my make-up as a kid. I'm sure its much of the same thing that drug my mom back to Nebraska after the long time she was gone.

Anyway, nothing too much to report at this time, or at least that I can think of. I'll make another post if something else comes to mind.

Old Classmate of Mine Signs with Orioles

I ran across this article in today's Pensacola News Journal:

It's been the toughest five years of Tim Spooneybarger's baseball life.

Now there is a happy ending in sight.

Battling back from two Tommy John elbow surgeries and countless sessions of intense physical therapy, Spooneybarger, a 28-year-old relief pitcher and Pensacola native, signed a one-year contract with the Baltimore Orioles Monday.

"Oh, man, I'm thrilled to death," Spooneybarger said. "I've just been throwing, getting back into it, just waiting until the time was right. Now that it's finally happened, I can't believe that I'm sitting here. I'm back doing it again. I'm excited as can be."

Drafted in the 29th round of the 1998 MLB Draft, the former Pine Forest standout broke into the major leagues in 2001 as a relief pitcher for the Atlanta Braves and started his promising career with the Braves (2001-02) and Florida Marlins (2003).

Everything changed in June of 2003 when Spooneybarger was sidelined with what was thought to be a minor elbow injury. It proved to be the first of two reconstructive elbow surgeries — he re-injured his throwing elbow in 2005 — and he hasn't thrown a major league pitch since.

Spooneybarger left Pensacola for Sarasota Monday morning and will participate in the Orioles' extended spring training. He will get game action moving up through Baltimore's minor league system and hopes for a return to the major league club by the All Star Break in July.

Spooneybarger was a classmate of mine at Bellview Middle School up to 1994. I remember watching a Braves game one night and suddenly there's this pitcher warming up for the Braves, who just happened to be from Pensacola. So, I looked him up and sure enough, there he is in my class. Glad to see he hasn't given up on his dream and hopefully he makes it back.

So, I Went To a Baseball Game & Froze My Ass Off

While at work on Wednesday, I was offered Nebraska baseball tickets for Friday's game vs. Kansas, by my store's back room manager Randy. I've told him in the past that anytime he had to give them up, I'd be interested. At $10 a ticket, I can go with that.

At the time of buying these tickets it was supposed to be about 65 and sunny. Then this low pressure system that came through on Thursday decided it liked the Midwest and hung around for another day. So, upon starting the game at 6:40 pm on Friday night, it's 45 degrees with winds out of the north at about 25 mph with dark grey skies. Even though it had stopped raining about four hours earlier, the air still felt damp. Not exactly baseball weather, unless it's April in Seattle and you're taking in a game at Safeco Field. I thought with how the stadium was positioned, we'd get a break from the wind. But, of course, it found a way to swirl it's way around from several directions, as if to make sure every inch of us was cold.

Oh yeah, Pensacola was in the 70's.

As for the baseball, the normally reliable Johnny Dorn, Nebraska's starting pitcher, seemed to have two Kansas baserunners or more on in just about every inning. Nebraska, however, seemed to rally and get back into the game, eventually pulling out a win. Unfortunately, I only saw the first six innings due to time constraints (mom had to go to work) and, oh yeah, it was COLD!!! She actually went to the car about two inning ahead of me.

But I did take advantage of one thing I wanted to do, and that was take pictures of the very nice Haymarket Park, the home of Nebraska baseball and the Lincoln Saltdogs. Those photos are on my Flickr now.

I'll be back to Haymarket Park next month as my hometown Pensacola Pelicans make their first trip into Lincoln. If you happen to be attending that series and wonder why there's one completely insane Pelicans fan in the crowd, you now know why. For the third year in a row, the Pels will host the Dogs in Pensacola to open the season. It's about time the Pels made a trip up here.

Take care folks.

A Surprise Gift & Bluehost

When I came home from class today, I was a little surprised to see that my dad had sent me something. I open it up and found it was a Blue Angels pin. Pretty cool if you ask me. If you're wondering the significance of this, the Blue Angles flight team has it's home base in Pensacola, FL, my hometown that I can't shut up about. So, it's just another one of those sentimental things that always make me perk up when I hear or see something about them.

Just thought I'd mention this.

One more thing of note, I must give a lot of praise to Bluehost's customer service department. A couple weeks back I had decided to take the dive and bought myself some web hosting for the year. I wanted to do some more things with my page and eventually turn it into a portfolio, because I am after all a web designer that needs to sell himself in the future. So, I took the suggestion from Wordpress and went with Bluehost.

Well, one day after having my blog hosted on there I noticed they had suspended my page because they weren't successful in contacting me (I'm assuming by phone, although I had no calls). So, I gave it a little though and let it ride figuring that money I was putting out towards them I could use somewhere else and that without contacting me I wasn't going to be charged. Apparently I was wrong.

I always keep my iPod Touch under my pillow to charge at night where I'll just check my email from it when I wake up in the morning. Upon checking my email, I notice I have an email from my bank saying it had to tap into my overdraft protection. Me thinking I should have money left before all of this, I quickly got on my computer and checked my account where I find Bluehost did charge me.

Right away I call, pressed one button for their automated robot that you get with most customer service departments these days, and was surprised to get right through. Even more surprising was after giving my domain name, quickly explaining my situation, and then giving her the last four digits on my credit card, I was told no problem and that I would get a full refund. Awesome!

This is by far the least painful experience I've ever had with a customer service rep. So, big time kudos to Bluehost! I will definitely come back to you when the money is right.

Playing around with Vimeo

There's one thing I think people can agree with in general and that's YouTube is great for content, but bad when it comes to video quality. Because of this, I decided to play around with an alternative service called Vimeo.

The above video is some shots of the Blue Angels practicing while I was staying in Pensacola in March 2007. It was my first time back in my hometown in 11 years, so I was doing pretty good to have these guys flying directly over my head on my first full day back in town.

But anyway, hit play an you'll see what I mean when it comes to video quality.