April 6

I don’t know why my wife wouldn’t go for it, but I told her that I was going to blow off work as I am expecting to win the lottery or the Powerball tonight. (I’m not particular) For some reason, she wouldn’t go for it. So, now I’m at work and I have another new project. Boy is her face going to be red when I win the lottery and all this work I’m doing is going to have been for nothing.
On a brighter note, the Rockies swept the Dodgers in their two game series yesterday and today. I didn’t get to see the whole game today, because I had a training thing I had to go to at work today. It was a day game, so I went right to bed when I got home and then right to work when I woke up four hours later. I purposely didn’t turn on the TV when I got back, because I knew they were going to rebroadcast the game in the evening. So, I got a few more hours sleep. When I woke up, it turned out that the game wasn’t going to be rebroadcast until seven. So, I only got to see the first four innings before I had to come back to work. In those four innings, however, I saw Todd Helton hit a three run homer. When I unintentionally inferred that he might have lost a step or slowed down this year, I was completely off base. He hit his first homer today which is only their fourth game this year. Last year, he didn’t hit his first homer until May 18th. (By the way, the only Rockies jersey that I have is Todd’s) So let me sit back and eat my words while I tell you that Tulo also hit a two run homer. The only problem that I saw was Hammel had a rocky third inning. I would have loved to see the rest of the game, but here are some of the highlights. Carlos Gonzalez saved the game with a ninth inning catch that was sure to score the tying run. He also was two for three at the plate and scored three runs and hit an RBI. Not a bad day for Carlos. I always groan when Franklin Morales goes in to pitch, but he put up two scoreless innings. It was his first game today, so I’ll save my comments until I see him a little more. (And, I’ll try not to groan and throw up my hands) Street ran into a little trouble in the ninth, but with two back to back base hits. Then, Carlos pulled off the game saving catch and he regrouped to strike out the next two batters. Over all, it was a great game. It ended at 7-5. We have the Pirates tomorrow for our first away game. It’s a four game series in Pittsburg and then the Rockies take on the Mets in New York.
I was almost late to work this morning for the training thing at noon. My daughters were running late for school so they took the car. When I got up and went outside, I was very surprised not to see the car. I know one of the girls knew I was supposed to work early today. But, they said that they didn’t know. Luckily, when I called, she was at lunch and the school isn’t that far away. She came and got me. I dropped her off back at school and make it to work with less than a minute to spare. I called and told them that I might be late, and my boss tried to give me grief for it, but I was on time.
It turns out that we’re not going to get to go to the Rockies game on the 19th. My wife read the flier wrong when the nephews and nieces brought it home from school. The money to get the tickets was due yesterday. She thought it was a May game and the money was due on the 19th of this month. So, we’re going to try to get tickets for the 16th or 17th when they come back to town. They will be playing the Cubs and it should be a good game.
Well, I better get going on the new project for work. I’m putting some ZZ Top, AC/DC, and Whitesnake in the playlist. It feels like a day to rock out. Too bad I can’t put the radio up louder.
-Thom

April 5

Tulo finally got his first homer. The Rockies won their first game against the Dodgers today 3 to zip. Ianetta also hit a homer. He has been a monster offensively since he was named the starting catcher. Helton nearly hit a double. It was over the fielder’s head and off the wall. He rounded first and headed for second, but he just wasn’t fast enough. I don’t think his double days are over. The fielder just got a good jump on it and had a lucky throw. Wiggington and Lopez had a few good plays. I was hoping Johnny Herrera would have gotten the start at second base, but Lopez has been filling Barmes’s shoes very nicely. With the snow day Sunday and the day off yesterday, the Rockies have played the least games in the NBL. But, that doesn’t matter as long as we’re winning.
My wife picked up some colored pencils for me today, so I should be able to work on the cover for Cutie Pie, Baby Pie tomorrow. If I get if finished, I’ll scan it in and update the website. I took a bunch of the crap off of it so I have a few pages that are pretty sparse. I’m thinking about revamping the entire thing. If anyone wants to take a look at it before I change it up, it is at www.thomnichols.com Now that I got the supplies, I’m thinking about getting ahead on some of the other covers to the upcoming books and turning one of my pages into a coming soon page. We’ll see how it goes.
Speaking of my books, it took me longer to finish my work project yesterday than I thought. I didn’t get a chance to begin chapter two. So, I’ll get that started first thing today.
I have to get off at six in the morning tomorrow and then come back at noon for some training thing. That’s going to suck. I’m really not looking forward to it. But, two hours of overtime is better than no hours of overtime. I just wish it would have been more convenient.
There was a mugging outside of the building last night. I called it in to the police, but they never showed up. The guy that was the victim was being beat up by three guys. He looked homeless, and after we interrupted the beating (It was more of a thrashing than it was a robbery) he refused medical attention and didn’t want to stay around for the police to take his statement. We followed the perpetrator with the security cameras and got a real good close up of him. When I was talking to the 911 operator, I gave the description of the guys and told him the direction they fled into. The operator told us to wait for the police car, but since the victim didn’t want to hang around, I guess the cops didn’t want to come around. We only waited out there for them for a half an hour or so.
Well, it’s time to get started. I’m putting Rush, Men at Work, and Billy Idol in the playlist tonight for background listening and I’m starting chapter 2.
-Thom

April 4

What a weekend, let’s kick it off with the Rockies. The lost our home opener, but they beat the Diamondbacks on Saturday. The Friday game was really close. We were hosed on a couple of calls which I am sure would have turned the game around. Helton was called out on a fan interference call which shouldn’t have happened. Para, the Diamondback’s left fielder was nowhere close to the ball when the fan reached over and caught it. But they called him out anyway. Then, Smith caught a ball out in right field and they said it hit the ground. The instant replay showed that he clearly caught it. I don’t know what the officials were smoking that day, but it cost us the opener. Saturday’s game was a three to one win. It was a good game. Ianetta got a couple of good hits and Fowler, Gonzalez, and Tulo made some amazing catches. But, our hitting hasn’t blossomed quite yet. I think Sunday’s game would have been our break out game. It would have gotten the ball rolling for our first winning streak. Unfortunately, Colorado weather got to us. It was eighty degrees Saturday all the way into the evening and then it snowed on Sunday. Since there wasn’t any baseball for the Rockies today, we have to wait until Tuesday. I know it’s just two days off, but it shouldn’t happen so early in the season. It’s almost like we were back in Spring Training waiting for opening day. The only good thing is that our two starting pitchers will have an extra day to recover from their finger injuries.
Even thought I had planned to make time for Saturday’s game, the family and I had a full day planned. I’m not sure what happened, I woke up with a severe pain in my stomach. It was so bad I was sweating and felt dizzy, I nearly passed out. My wife kept trying to get me to go to the hospital, but I’m pretty stubborn. I told her that I would see if it passed during the day and then go on Sunday if it didn’t get any better. I took a laxative and rested most of the afternoon. The pain was still there, but I told her that it was mostly gone so that she wouldn’t worry. But, it ruined the whole day and we didn’t end up doing anything.
Sunday, the pain was still there, but it was lessened. I’m sure that I just ate something that didn’t agree with me. So, we slept in late and then went to a family get together on my side of the family. We all met at Chuck E Cheese. Only one niece and one nephew didn’t show up. We had a lot of fun with the kids and caught up on the family gossip. My mom brought homemade goodies. There were chocolate and peanut butter fudge squares and lemon tarts. They were delicious. She also made deviled eggs. I didn’t get any of them, but I brought the other leftovers home. We had about a dozen pizzas and hot wings. I forced all of the kids to get a picture for me. I’m going to scan them in and make a collage as a background on my computer. I think we’re going to try to make this a monthly thing over the summer and maybe permanent depending on how well everyone else thinks about it. My mom wants the next one to be at the zoo, but she’s open to suggestions. I’m going to put up an event in Facebook for everyone to enter their suggestions hopefully tonight. We’ll see.
After Chuck E cheese, my wife and I took my mom out to Sweet Tomatoes. It’s an all you can eat salad, soup, and potato bar. It’s really good and I hadn’t been for a long time. So, we didn’t really eat at Chuck E Cheese so we could save up for the salads. I went to town on mine. I was so full that I didn’t even get a chance to eat any soup or potatoes or the variety of breads and desserts. It was lemon month and I love lemon flavored things, so I took a bunch home for later. It’s Monday evening now, and I still haven’t eaten it all. (I’m going to be soooo full for the next few days)
While we were at Chuck E Cheese, we were all looking out at the snow and talking about how you couldn’t predict the weather in Colorado when my wife remembered that we left the dog outside. She frantically called her mom and had someone go upstairs to open our door to let her come inside. We didn’t think anything about it after that as we enjoyed the rest of the day. Canela is a fairly well behaved dog. She goes crazy with excitement whenever anyone comes into a room, and she has an accident every once in a while. But, otherwise, she’s ok. When we got home, however, I realized that I didn’t take out the trash. It was all bundled up and ready go when we left. When we opened the door, it was strewn from one side of the apartment to the other. It looked like there was twice as much as there was before we left. Everything was shredded and flung everywhere. It was amazing at how much of a mess there was. To top it off, the puppy was up on the bed when we walked in. She’s allowed up on the sofas, but she knows she isn’t supposed to be on the bed. My wife was furious. But, her mad only lasted until everything was cleaned up. After that, the puppy peed on her pad and she was babying her again.
To celebrate, we went out and picked up some movies. I didn’t get to see them all, and like usual, the kids brought some of them downstairs to watch. Unlike last time, we got a few movies that the kids wanted to watch. So, when they took some downstairs, they took those and not the ones I wanted to watch. Last time, I didn’t even get to see any of the good ones. They never brought them back upstairs.
Today I went to visit my mom like I try to do every Monday. I didn’t get to last week because of the car. It’s fixed now. When we took it to the shop, we took it to the one that my wife and her dad always goes to. When they saw me, they quoted a price of nearly two hundred dollars. Then, later on, my wife called the mechanic and asked if they would also take a look at our clutch. (It has been slipping out of reverse lately) The mechanic said that he would give her a new quote the next day after looking at it. The next day, my wife went down to the mechanics to find out what was going on. She spoke to them in Spanish and told them that I was just her ride yesterday. So, with the added work of the clutch, the price went down to only $120.00.
We also went to the DMV to try to get my license plates for the new car. The last few times we went, it was crowded and after waiting through the line for hours, we got up to the window only to find out that our paperwork hadn’t been submitted from the car lot. Today, I went to the DMV and got a number. It was #303 and they were only on #215. Then, I left and went to pick my wife up from work. Nearly an hour later, we returned to the DMV and they had made it all the way up to #240. Instead of staying for another two or three hours, we decided it would be better to go get something to eat and come back another day. So, we’re still driving on an outdated temp tag on the new car. I’ll try to go after work on Wednesday. I have to come in for a couple of hours around noon for some training thing. Hopefully it won’t be as busy then.
Well, I didn’t get much work done in the latter part of last week. I was working on that project. I’m about three quarters of the way through, so I’m going to get that done today. Tomorrow, I’ll start chapter two of the River of Magic. I’m putting some Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd, and April Wine in the playlist today for background listening. Last week, while working on the project, I threw in the ending of Harry Potter’s book seven. I just wasn’t in the mood for music while I was doing real work. I might finish it off today, they were in the middle of the battle of Hogwarts when I finished last week. We’ll see.
-Thom

Mar 29

I survived the second day of Spring Break. Actually the kids were really good. They only woke me up once so that I could give them my credit card to go get something to eat. But, I think that was on purpose. When I’m only half awake, they could ask for pretty much anything and I would just agree so that I could go back to sleep. We used to do that to my wife whenever she had a few too many. In fact, we would encourage her to have an extra or two and then tell her that we needed to go to the store. Then, it wouldn’t matter what we threw into the buggy. I did wake up once because the dog was outside the door whining. It was cold and no one was out there for her to play with. So, I let her in. I’m not sure how she got out again, but when I woke up, she was outside again.
The Rockies lost to the Mariners again today. That’s two in a row. We had a few really good hits, but we had a little problem with pitching which gave Seattle a few more good hits than we got. But, there is only one more game before Spring Training ends and then the big day is Friday. At least today’s game was televised. For the longest, they weren’t showing any games. Then, they would show only the Sunday games. I’m hoping that they’ll show tomorrow’s game. It’s the last one, they should. In the interview after today’s game, Tracy said that he would have the starting lineup published. I’m sure we can all guess what it is, but it’s better to get the official word. I’ll still be sorry to see some of the guys go. Tracy’s going to have a tough decision.
It was laundry day today. My wife decided to wash all of the blankets and pillows and stuff. That just makes it take twice as long. But, I survived. (I really didn’t do much. I’m more the loader and un-loader.)
My youngest daughter left herself logged in on Facebook today. Being the kind of father that I am, I began sending messages out to all of her friends. Actually, I only sent one. Somehow, about an hour later, she gave me a call and knew it was me that did it. I thought I was being very sneaky.
I was listing to the Cars today while I wasn’t helping with the laundry and was working on the cover for Cutie Pie, Baby Pie. Just what I needed came on and that song seems good while listening to it, but I’ve never been able to figure out what he says in the chorus. So, I looked it up and here is what Ric Ocasek says:
I guess you’re just what I needed.
I need someone to feed.
What does that mean? Why would you need someone to feed? It doesn’t make any sense in the song and now I’m even more confused than when I didn’t know the words. I think I’m going to go back to what I did before I knew what it said and I’ll make up my own words.
Speaking of the Cars, I’m going to put them in my playlist tonight along with Olivia Newton John, the Eagles, and Fleetwood Mac. Now, let’s hear the applause. I’m starting chapter two tonight. Chapter one is in the books.
-Thom

Mar 28

All right, let’s get the bad news out of the way right up front. We lost to Seattle 6-7. We were all set to win, but Seattle pulled in two runs in the bottom of the ninth. Still, Taveras and Wigginton both had three hits and it was still a great game. I know this doesn’t matter because it is Spring Training, but even with the loss today, we are at the top of the standings with 20 wins and only 10 losses. The Giants also have twenty wins, but they have 12 losses. In the Grapefruit league, the Tigers and the Phillies each have twenty wins, but they both have thirteen losses. So, we are at the top of the heap with only two more games. Then, we have great news and not so great news. The great news is that Opening Day is this Friday, only four days away. The not so great news is that I must have blocked the fact that Opening Day was on Friday. I have to work on Friday during the day. So, I won’t be able to watch it live, but I am going to record it and watch it after I get off work. I’m pretty sure that there is no chance in the world that I won’t know the score before I get a chance to watch it. But that’s ok. I’ll pretend I don’t know what’s coming.
I had a big weekend. My wife took her parents to visit her brother, so I had the whole house to myself and didn’t even get up until about ten o’clock. (Yeah, I’m that lazy) I caught up on a bunch of the TV recordings I’ve been neglecting. I even watched the movie I borrowed. It was Red, with Bruce Willis. It was pretty good, a lot of action. On Sunday, (Getting back to baseball) they televised one of the Rockies games. They played two at the same time. So, half of the club was playing one game and the other half was across town playing the other. The one I watched was great. We won both. The best part, was that we were having a barbeque on Sunday and I didn’t have to do anything for it until after the game was over. I got to see the whole thing. The kids actually took control of the grill. My biggest contribution was playing airplane with my granddaughter. I was swinging her all over the place while she tried to grab things off of the shelf.
The kids are on Spring Break this week, so they are going to help with the babysitting while my son and his girlfriend go job hunting. They’re looking to move and they need more stable incomes, especially because the landlord at their current apartment found out that they have a dog. They didn’t have the money to pay the pet deposit, so Canela came to stay with us. The plan was for me to take my wife to work today so that we could leave one of the cars for the girls to use. But, of course, there is a noise in the engine of my car. It was pretty gnarly, so we decided to put it into the shop. Usually, I go visit my mom on Mondays, but I needed to drop off the girls and stuff. To top off the mechanical problems, it was snowing. All that white stuff is supposed to be gone. It’s Spring. The news even said that there might be some more snow in our future. That’s not good. Well, it might be. We’ve only had about half of the usual snowfall for this year. That will probably mean a water shortage later on in the year. But, what that really means is that I’m going to have to drive in it.
With only one car, I got some chores done, the big one was moving a bed. The kids borrowed one of ours because my granddaughter wants her own bed. She’s three and it’s about time for her to be sleeping on her own bed. I remember when our kids were little. They would always end up in our bed. And my granddaughter is a wild sleeper. She is all over the place when she sleeps, and she kicks all of the blankets to the floor. She doesn’t like having anything cover her while she sleeps. My wife is constantly covering her and I watch as she kicks them right back off.
Well, I received a huge project at work, so I wasn’t able to get too much done. I am going to finish chapter one today if I have to stay late to do it. (That was an empty threat. I have to get off on time to give the car to my wife so she can get to work on time.) So, I’m putting Quiet Riot, Twisted Sister, and Dokken in the playlist tonight to get everything going.
-Thom

Mar 24

Jhoulys Chacin had a rough outing today. He pitched four innings and had base runners every time. But, he didn’t allow a run. Still, we lost 7-5. Nobody likes a loss. So, on the positive side, we are ranked third place in all of baseball in Spring Training. We are 16 – 8 - 1. Only the Giants are ahead of us in the Cactus League. They’re sitting at 18 – 9. In the Grapefruit League the Tigers are 18 – 10. The best news, however, is that, as of this moment in my blog, there are only seven days, fifteen hours, fifty four minutes and twenty seven seconds left until Opening Day.
My eldest daughter, the one going into the Army, came home today exhausted. For the last two days, the Army prep guys have been working them out like crazy. Yesterday, she flopped down on the sofa and fell asleep. Today, she stayed awake begging someone to go get her something to eat. Of course, being the mean people that we are, we made her get her own food. Actually, I would have gotten it for her, but she wanted pizza rolls and we didn’t have any. So, my wife gave her the credit card and she went to the store. I’m actually glad that the Army is helping her get into shape like this. That way, when she gets to boot camp, she won’t be in for such a shock. We also set up her military bank account today. It’s in the processing stage now, but as soon as it’s ready, she can begin drilling with the company she will be assigned to after she gets out of boot camp. (She couldn’t beforehand because they have to pay her)
My youngest daughter went to a career fair. It was mostly for summer jobs for students, but there were also people there to help them get jobs relating to what they wanted to do when they get out of school. She is still up in the air about the Air Force or getting right into a computer field. So, she spoke with both today and she is still as confused as she was before she went. It looks like she wants to do both. But, either way, she brought home a bunch of goodies for me. There were key chains, little stress balls, bumper stickers, key lights, etc… She brought home a whole bag of stuff. (When I say bag, I mean BAG) So, she’s going to go online and check out some of the companies she talked to.
I dodged a bullet today. My wife wanted to go do laundry, but neither of us had any money for quarters. So, I convinced her to put it off until tomorrow. (I have to work during the day tomorrow, so I’ll have to miss it. YEAH!!!) Then, she’s going to take her parents to visit her brother, so she’ll be gone the whole day on Saturday. I’m not sure what I’m going to do. Being lazy and watching movies all day sounds good, but we’ll play it by ear.
I’m putting some Foreigner, Cindy Lauper, and Bread into the playlist today. I’m still working on chapter 1 of River of Magic. I should finish today. If not, it won’t be until Monday.
-Thom

Mar 23

It’s the top of the eighth and the Rockies are up 6 to 4 and I’m at work. I’m being forced to listen to it on the radio. (The Mariners just brought it within a run) De La Rosa pitched a great game today, but it’s getting pretty tense now that it’s nearing the end of the game. (Yes, it is hard to type and listen at the same time. So, if I go off into a tangent, it’s my fingers doing it and not me.)
I was watching American Idol today, and it’s just not the same without Simon. All three of the judges love all of the contestants. They need someone like Simon to spice things up. Constant gushing just doesn’t work for American Idol. So, even though I like a lot of the contestants this year, it still might be my last year for the show.
I had to lay down the law at work this morning. We have a guy that comes in to relieve us at six in the morning and he is always late. It started becoming an everyday problem back in October. But, that was the beginning of all of the overtime. So, I had to rearrange my home schedule so that my wife and I weren’t swapping back and forth with our car. (She has to be in at 7) So, five or ten minutes late weren’t that big of a deal back then for me. It was for the guy working with me. He had another job to get to after this one. Back in early November, the other guy tried to talk to the tardy guy, and he just laughed him off and blew him off. I don’t know if he took it further, because he was only a temp and his last day was the November 31st. So, now that all of the overtime is gone, I’m back to a normal schedule. We did buy a new car, but that’s going to be for my daughter to get back and forth between the army and college. Since she’s still in high school for a few more weeks, the six o’clock guy’s tardiness hasn’t started affecting me, but when my daughter starts taking the car and my wife and I have to start swapping cars back and forth again, it will be a problem. So, I decided to nip it in the bud before my wife starts showing up late for her job. I spoke with him this morning, but he seemed to shrug it off. So, I took it up a notch and spoke with my boss. She spoke with him and of course didn’t do anything except threaten to write him up if he came in late again. So, I am sure that the six o’clock guy isn’t going to take her seriously. He’s off for the next couple days and then I’m off. So, Monday we’ll see if it made any difference or not.
It’s the top of the ninth and the score is 6 to 5 still. Ooh ooh, one pitch, one out. That’s the way to start the inning. Well, I’m going to just put the radio on today after the game instead of loading the playlist and then I’ll get started on the River of Magic. It looks like that book is going to be next. None of the others are fighting for position. OH YEAH, out number two. Come on Rockies!!!! One more and that’s the game.
-Thom