I'm pretty sure Karl Ravech referred to the Mariners as the "C-bags" on Baseball Tonight

I guess he meant "Seabags" but still, is that supposed to make it any better?

I had this couple paragraphs about what I thought this group blog was supposed to be about and what I contribute to it and why I do it but it was horrid. Long-winded, not funny, rambling and contained no actual substance. So in trying to tell everyone what's going on the the life of one Melonhead Fields I'm going to tell a story that features a job in sports, Lou Vaccerelli, Maker's Mark and some other stuff.

It's the Fall of 2004. I have just gotten back from setting up basketball tournaments all over the country, driving over 13,000 miles in a minivan with two other guys. Fiscal responsibility wasn't paramount during this summer as I come back to the ROC with no job prospects and not much money left.

Also, our house needs to be stained. Because we never chose to get it painted, we have to put stain on it so the wood doesn't weather and turn black, shit like that.

Since I don't have a job and am not paying rent and eating food for free at 533 Wegman Rd., I can't really say 'Fuck off Granny, I'm not helping you stain the house." I can't. So for a couple weeks in late September / October I'm staining the house everyday, getting the shit all over my shirt from the restaurant 'Zach's Eats and Treats' I got from Jekyll Island and some Old Navy jeans that I wore in high school. It's cool but not snowing yet, pretty normal Fall weather. I also wear a lot of fleece. On my portable cd player I listened to these two cds (the latter containing a song called 'This Old House', appropriate) lot and some Led Zeppelin, naturally.

I'm not sure how I started to hang out with Lou again. It's not like we talked a lot that summer when I was away. Maybe via IM or maybe we agreed to watch a Yankees game somewhere I can't remember. I think Palmer still was saying he wanted his goobee gone back any time Lou's name was mentioned. But anyway, Lou started stopping over once in a while when he was on his way back from MCC, he'd call my house phone see if I was there. Of course I was always there, I was staining the house! He'd usually want to go to lunch or something. And this one particular afternoon he wanted to go to the Westgate Diner. Going out to eat when I have food at home is one of those things that, especially now, is something I feel is a unwise decision. I already spent money on food, I don't need to spend more. I'll stop before I start to sound like someone else we know. But to get me outta the house and stop applying stain while standing on a ladder in my front yard, sure I'll get a club sandwich.

So we get done and decide to walk into the liquor store in that plaza. I'm pretty sure both of us had no intention of actually buying anything that day. Window shopping in a liquor store is not a sign you have it all together.

I looked into the prices of Maker's Mark. During the summer, at our first stop some of the older referees that were staying at the same hotel were drinking it straight. And them being older and black and therefore cool, I wanted to fit in so I started sipping on some Maker's Mark. Sure it burned but it was a good burn and opened up my eyes to the wonderful world of whiskey. And I haven't looked back.

I'm not sure if I told Lou or if this was just a personal goal that I kept to myself. Regardless I said, "I'm not buying a bottle of Maker's Mark until I get a job in sports or something I went to school for." Because at the time I was considering taking a job through a temp agency in Victor. Driving back and forth to Victor in the winter is not a good look. I didn't take it and eventually left for Florida, after the maiden batch of Playoff Punch was had of course.

Not that I hadn't had a couple of Maker's Mark on the rocks at the bar ( I see you Smokin' Joe's). And sure, I bought my share of bottles of Crown. But Maker's Mark was special. It was separate.

I bring this story up because I bought the biggest bottle of Maker's Mark I could find tonight. For the past 10 days or so I've been working in guest services for the Dodgers. The term 'Guest Services' is intentionally vague on the part of the Dodgers I guess. So I'll spill the beans on what I actually do. Basically I'm an usher. I wear a Blue polo shirt and attempt to answer questions and help people find the ATM, their seats, the escalator, where they sell cotton candy and a lotta lotta standing around.

Is this the ideal job I had in mind? No, not by a long shot. Basically all I had to do to get this job was stand in line at the job fair, not have a criminal record and wait in line some more at various orientations. Did it matter that I interned with the Red Wings for a summer? Did it matter that my fuckin major at IC was called Sport Information and Communication? Did any of my other experience matter? The polite answer is no.

So this isn't like I'm having discussions with Lasorda on the regular. It's more like I'm saying, "Yes, you can exit the park up the escalator."

But I still needed a new job besides the bookstore or at least another form of income coming in, might as well work for the Dodgers.

And there's that whole ol' American dream work ethic aspect to taking a bottom-ladder wrung job. Get your foot in the door, work hard and if you are a good worker, you will eventually and fairly get promoted. Nose to the grindstone and all of that noise. Which I believe in only about 15%. Lots of things make that idea seem prehistoric but The Wire pretty much sealed it for me. I could double this post length writing about that show, but I'm not going to right now.

Anyway, I hope it leads to something more after this summer. The worst case is that I have part-time jobs for the summer that would be ideal jobs to have when you are in college or those summers while at school. You know that you aren't gonna be there forever, got some okay money coming in but it doesn't matter too much because you live at home and you don't have a lot of bills to pay. And you know that you won't be around to work there soon enough. Obviously this is not my current situation so I hope things improve soon. So we'll see how it all pans out.

That's about all that for now. Maybe later this week I'll write about my 2nd run in I've had with a 24 character. I was stunned when he came up to me, asking where his seat was. I even took him to the wrong side of the aisle at first, eventually he got to where he should be.