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Went to the Ranger game on Saturday night which was kind of odd because the day before I had been thinking that it would be kind of cool to go to a game but I really didn’t want to spend the money on tickets because A) I’m not a big baseball fan and B) I don’t want to waste my money on a team that’s not doing well. But somehow through my family I was offered a pair of good seats for free to go to the game on Saturday. Apparently I can see into the future.

My sister said I had to make a Sophie’s choice and pick one son to take. I figured the one that loves sports would want to go but I checked with the skaterkid first and he said he would like to go. Crap. So much for an easy choice. I bought skaterkid a new board which made him happy and took sportskid to the game.

I told him he’s lucky I don’t have a girlfriend or she would be with me instead of him. He just looked at me for a second and then said “What girl would want to be with you?” and so I kicked him out of the car on I-30 near Fielder Road. I’m kidding. I kicked him out near 157 so he didn’t have to walk as far.

By the way, if you haven’t driven by the new Cowboy stadium lately, you really should. This thing is HUGE!  I had no idea how close it was to the Rangers Ballpark. We parked right in between the two stadiums and I wonder what they are going to do when the Cowboys and the Rangers play on the same day. Who am I kidding. That’ll never happen.  Hey, guess how much cash parking is? $12 bucks. For 12 bucks, I should get valet parking and a car wash.

The seats were really good ($40!) behind 1st base about 12 rows up. One of these days I would like to sit behind home plate and make faces at the pitcher. You know, when you sit close at a sporting event, you really develop a deeper appreciation of how good these athletes are. It’s amazing. Same thing with basketball. If you ever get a chance to sit on or close to the floor, do it. It is very cool.

I bought nachos, peanuts and 2 regular lemonades. Anybody want to guess how much? $18 bucks. So far my “free” tickets have cost me 30 dollars.  Trevor bought a sundae and the Rangers kept it close against Tampa Bay until the 8th inning when they went down by a couple of runs. We left during the 9th and listened to the end of the game in the car. Rangers had a chance to tie it but came up short.

By the way, there were TONS of families there and lots o’ babies. Does a 6-month old really appreciate a double play? Oh and surprise, Fox 4’s weather guy, Dan Henry was sitting behind me celebrating his son’s birthday. I talked to him for a minute and he said he understood why I left the morning show and that it was gig he used to do and really did not enjoy the hours. I’m still not sure that people understand it wasn’t the early mornings that got to me. It was the 2 jobs combined  Oh well.

Overall, we had a good time although Trevor said he would like to go to a game where Texas actually wins. Was it worth it? Ehhh, we had fun but tack on $80 for tickets and I’m thinking no way, Jose’ Canseco.

(rimshot)

I went to the doctor last week. Nothing wrong, just wanted to use my insurance from my other job before it expired at the end of the month so I got a full check up. The full take your shirt off, turn your head to the side and cough now turn around and bend over and look at the mirror while I introduce you to my little friend kind of check up. Blood sample, urine sample, sper… kidding, they didn’t ask for that even though I gladly offered.

Got the test results this week and…. I’m healthy as a horse. Cholesterol levels, blood sugar, everything is fine. Perfect. In fact, the only advice I got from my doctor is that I need to exercise more. D’uh. And now that I have the time, I can. Oh and he said that I look more relaxed then ever before. Maybe it was the tropical print shirt I had on?

Now with all that being said, I woke up on Thursday night at 2am with the most horrific pain in my right lower back that I have ever experienced. You know that scale of 1 to 10 that docs and nurses use when they are asking their patient how bad the pain is? Well this was a 9. A get down on your knees and repent kind of pain. I actually went and took a tylenol codeine after I had downed 2 aspirin earlier. I set the heating pad on high and tried to lay down and watch a replay of the Boston-LA game to take my mind off the pain. After about 30 excruciatingly long minutes, Boston won. Oh and the pain finally died down to a dull roar so I could fall asleep. (Actually really awesome sleep, thank you codeine!)

The panicky thought that kept going through my head the whole time I was in agony was, “I just had a check up. Everything is fine. What did they miss!”

And so I have 2 hypothesizes on what happened.
1. Kidney stone. I have had them before and they hurt like hell. And that’s why I don’t drink sodas anymore. There was a study that linked sugary soft drinks with the formation of calcium deposits that create kidney stones and so…. no more cokes for me. However, I didn’t have any err, stream issues and so I think that theory is highly unlikely.
2. New office chair. I have a new job. A new office. And a horribly expensive form fitting office chair that I hate and can’t get comfortable in and I wonder if it caused a muscle spasm in my back.

Holy crap, that really hurt. I wonder if my new company will buy me a bean bag chair to sit in?

So  how am I spending my day now that I’m not dancing on the tv?  (In the tv?)  Well, for starters, this morning I walked the  dogs, ran on the treadmill, drank my fancy coffee that I got from Central Market while watching the wind howl through the trees and paid my bills. All before I left for work.  I know that sounds so boring but to me it was awesome.

Now as far as work goes, this is what I do. (I sit on you, sorry inside joke). I work in a cubicle in a very relaxed darkened room with a bunch of graphic artists. Did I mention they are all guys.? Yeah,  it’s a sausage-fest.  Really could use some ladies in there.  Anyway, I am the digital audio/video guy.  I have been hired to spice up their presentations and drag them into Web 2.0.  So far so good but I have to pace myself because I have a tendency to work really fast. One very cool thing that is happening in 2 weeks is a work trip to Washington DC to shoot some testimonials about the company.  Plus I might throw my bid in to be Barack’s VP.  Hey, I have political experience! I used to be student council president back in junior high.

Anyway, here are a few random thoughts for Friday morning.

1. Speedracer is apparently a better movie than the critics say.  I have two friends that saw it and they both thoroughly enjoyed it.

2. Craig Ferguson is funny. Joel McHale is funnier.

2. Fancy coffee is worth it if you make it yourself.

3. My replacement, Rebecca Flores is doing a good job. But it’s still nice to hear that people miss my humorous morning antics.  I bet she won’t dance for you.

So, I was updating my Core Talent resume because I have an audition for a beer commercial on Tuesday when I decided to google my last two jobs and see if any pics that they took might have shown up on their website or in an ad.   What I didn’t expect is that I would be on the freakin’ front ????????page.

How funny is that?  I remember it being a fun shoot inside a real office building where we had to wait for real traders to finish working before we could start taking pictures. Notice that nobody is smiling because we are serious stock traders. I means business!

All that stuff you see on the computer screens was done in post.  We were either staring at black or just generic screens full of gobbledy gook.  I have a pencil in my hand and I remember drawing a snoopy cartoon saying “Sell! Sell!” on the real trader’s notebooks about 20 pages deep. He or she should have a nice surprise in about a month.

Wow! One little mention on TV and my website exploded! So many nice people leaving a bunch of comments or at least checking out the poll about my decision to leave Fox 4. I wish I had put funnier options on there but 47% said that “yes, I made the right decision but they wish I was still on TV.” 27% said, “yes, 1 job, reg hours and good pay, duh!” which is really almost the same thing as the first one. My favorite answer, “No, I need you to be on TV so you can dance, monkey boy!” came in third.  I thought about  starting my own  morning news show from my house but I can’t get any advertisers interested in my business plan.

Plus I don’t have any cameras or  broadcast equipment.  Note to self:  revise business plan.

Speaking of dancing,  when I was out celebrating/commiserating this past Friday night (thank you Michelle and Kalina and everybody else who came out!)  and there was a club on McKinney near the MAT that had 80s music and a line out the door. Interesting….I think I needs to get my 80s dance on. Freeze…….rock. Anybody?

New job starts tomorrow. More lowdown on that coming up later this week. Should be interesting.  Oh, and with my new schedule, I am curious about what time people go to bed so check out the poll on the right side and let me know.