A season over the air

March 31, 2008

Baseball season starts today. For Twins fans, at least.

And while television brings us most of the games, I’m still stuck on getting my baseball the old fashioned way. The way I learned when first rediscovering the Twins after several seasons of indifference. By radio.

To me, Twins season means toting my portable radio around, tuned to 1140 KSOO, bringing Dan Gladden and John Gordon around with me, lamenting the loss of the great Herb Carneal, pouring over every statistic in an old folksy way and learning names before faces, wondering later at how oddly they seemed to be spelled.

I used to listen to the Twins while working at the Parks Department in St. Cloud. I’d sit back in the shelter with the radio tuned to the day’s game, soaking in the stats, reacquiring the taste I once had as an errant Cardinals fan, the sun of someone else’s reception or event warming their heads, the sound of sport warming mine.

In past years, I’ve listened to the Twins while digging gardens, planting flowers and laying stone borders. I’ve listened to the them while cutting sod and cleaning the garage, while rewiring light switches and organizing our basement, during grill-out parties and while completely by myself.

It’s the smell of dirt and mown grass and dust and sunflower seeds, as if a little portion of the game itself was being wafted through the speakers toward me. Hard work. Leisurely rest. A glass of water or a bottle of cold beer.

What’s great about baseball on the radio is that no matter how long the season gets, you never have to stop doing what you’re doing to catch a game.

How much is a nostalgic longing for times? Times I was never old enough to experience? And how much is an actual dedication to great baseball on the radio is?

I’ll never know. Maybe it’s a little bit of old soul that’s been stuck in me. But give me the crackle of the radio any day.

Tags: Sports, Baseball, Outdoors, Minnesota Twins |

2 Comments

ABC3D

March 28, 2008

ABCs. In 3D.

Via Projectionist.

Tags: Random YouTube, Words |

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I want to write books

March 28, 2008

Someday, I want to write books.

Books of short stories, probably. I can’t even wrap my mind around writing a novel. It’s just too big. Too daunting.

I’ve got some ideas, already. Some have been done. Others have not. All hold promise. All just need some push and a lot of time.

I want to write about two friends who discover a horrible secret at a lake house.

I want to write about what it was like to witness my grandfather as he died of cancer.

I want to write stories based on the songs from Ween’s Chocolate and Cheese.

I want to write stories.

Who knows. Maybe one of these will turn into a book. It’s happened before. A short story by the title of “Rabbit, Run” turned into book, which in turn created a multiple time Pulitzer Prize winning series and made John Updike the name we know today.

Someday, I’ll write a book of short stories. I’ll make time to write more than just a hastily created blog post. I’ll struggle to have it published. I’ll frame my rejection letters. I’ll create cover art in MS Paint. I’ll hide it in a drawer. I’ll create seventeen DVD copies of the file and scatter them throughout the world, just in case.

In fact, I’ve already started. Who knows how long it will take. Really, who knows how long anything will take.

Tags: Books, Writing, Career |

1 Comment

Life Insurance Awareness Month

March 28, 2008

This is about six months early (or late), but did you know that September is Life Insurance Awareness Month?

With so many Awareness Months claiming their cause, This shouldn’t come as a surprise. It’s just kind of, I don’t know, disingenuous, like we’re promoting FLEX Spending Awareness Month or Flight Insurance Awareness Month.

My favorite, though, might be that the 2007 spokesperson for Life Insurance Awareness Month was Molly Shannon. Molly Shannon? What, Chris Kattan wasn’t available? Kevin McDonald was busy?

Listen. I understand the need for life insurance. I get how important it is. But a Life Insurance Awareness Month? It kind of doesn’t have the same ring as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Excuse me for thinking this, but it smacks of opportunism and commercial pandering.

The big question: I wonder what the cause ribbon looks like. And do they make lapel pins?

Tags: Annoyances |

3 Comments

Three years (and one month and six days)

March 26, 2008

Oops. I guess it was Black Marks on Wood Pulp’s birthday one month and six days ago.

I celebrated the occasion with a bunch of posts on movies. No wonder I missed it - I was too busy gushing about Becket and Braveheart and attempting to design a blog with little to know design sense or skill. And you, the faithful reader and commenter, were too busy gushing over Andrew Saikali’s list (or more accurately, Andrew and David Chilton’s conversation on directors in the comments).

If you’re curious about what I wrote on my first day as amateur blogger, check out the first post, aptly titled “The First Post.”

So, yeah. Happy birthday, you tremendous time waste and career networking tool!

Tags: Black Marks on Wood Pulp, Blogging |