Rest In Peace, Mr. Jennings

What else can you say?

God Bless, Mr. Jennings.

One Update, One New

I found my cap!

The Lids at Highland Mall had my size on the very last hat.

What was confirmed was the service level at said store. Even with being tax-free weekend in Texas, the store (and mall) were like any early weekday morning.

I stood in front of the cash register in the same spot for five minutes (literally) without being asked if I needed anything. It was only one guy there, but I was the only customer in the store.

When he came from up front to the register, I tried to ask for help, but he just started typing away on his register... stopping and starting, checking his watch, until he finally looked at me and asked if I needed anything.

So anyway, I found my cap and paid $23.99 for it instead of the regular ~$32 (tax-free weekend plus my discount card).

On to the new news. While I was sitting in a parking lot eating breakfast (the Target on Research Blvd.), I notice a woman standing at the bus stop. Well, it's been off-and-on drizzle/rain all morning. So while I'm there (about a quarter-mile away), I notice a guy drive up to her, get out and give her an umbrella and take off. She seemed reluctant at first to accept it, but apparently the guy insisted.

Scenes like that are what keep me sane.

I Just Want A Simple Cap

I've wanted a cap for the past few weeks, even telling myself it'd be a little birthday gift to myself. Problem is, I can't fucking find it. Anywhere.

Oh, sure, it's online from a number of places; I would just prefer not to wait 14 business days or pay $6 in shipping.

I used to love Lids. You could always find a cap in there and they never ran out of your size - then people started wanting shitty-looking caps with designs and colors and such. Some aren't bad and I own a "fashion cap" or three, but what about the simple, authentic game caps? I remember when they had the frequent-purchaser program, the birthday program and they were actually nice when you walked into the store. Hell, I remember when the discount program was free.

I paid $5 to sign up for a 3-year membership and it's paid for itself many times over, so no complaints there.

Now - especially at the one here in San Marcos, they kind of just stare at everybody and make me feel really uncomfortable. Plus, I pretty much know what I want in a cap - so I go in, look at what I want to look at and get out.

I just want a Seattle Mariners authentic cap in either 7 1/2 or 7 5/8. Is that too much to ask?

I think I saw some at Highland Mall in Austin, so I'll hit that up before work tomorrow.

Rant over. Hopefully.

Whaddya Know? 25 Years.

So today's my birthday. Twenty-five years.

You know, I've never been one to celebrate holidays or occasions or such. Sure, I love being with my family and eating a huge dinner and stuff, but for some reason, I almost always get down on birthdays and New Years.

It's 54 minutes in (I actually wasn't born until 7:37 a.m. on a Sunday morning), but I don't feel any depression or anything like that.

Maybe this is one of those reflection times in my life. I'm nearly finished with school, I've further solidified my dreams of becoming a journalist and am taking big strides towards joining the professional ranks.

I have some true people that care about me without qualification. I have people that I would call friends.

I had a weird realization about myself this weekend. On Saturday night, I went with Will (my best friend of more than ten years), his little brother Justin (junior here @ State) and their friend Josh to play basketball with Manny, LJ, Kris and some other people on the home floor of Trinity University.

Well, as in nearly any basketball game, tempers flared up on a foul between Kris and Will. Some shoving and some breaking it up, but no punches thrown or anything like that. Well, in years past, something like that might have set me off and put me in a situation I wouldn't have enjoyed (namely, having my ass handed to me).

As we were driving home, Will kept telling me how surprised he was that I was totally cool during the whole thing (on the second wind of the near-fracas, I just grabbed Will and calmed him down) and how much I have changed in that sense.

I really owe that to one special person. She knows who she is and what she's done to help me with that.

Oh, I still get steamed and nuts. While cleaning out the office e-mail accounts, I came across some e-mail that set me off earlier this semester about coverage (or in this professor's case, lack of) in my section.

Had I not had a class in the middle of all this, I would have walked to that professor's office (or even class if he had one at the time) and told him exactly what I thought of his e-mail in vulgar, verbally violent terms.

Instead, after cooling down and talking with some people, I simply sent a scathing, biting e-mail that called him on his hypocrisy. That issue may come to a head sometime this semester, and to tell you the truth, I can't wait.

Anyway, this is my moment of zen for the night. Maybe I'll have something more later on today.

BTW, I still have yet to recieve any kind of correspondence from Ms. Anita Miller (the blog post prior to this one) about the problems in our competititor's stories.

That sucks. I really wanted a dialogue on that one.