Changing one's meter

Oh but where to begin?

Maybe I will start by thanking the governor of the great state of Pennsylvania. It is not often that I will thank those of political ilk on my blog, but thanks I guess are in order. When I started at Subway, some three weeks ago, I was told that I would start at $6.25 and hour, which is the minimum wage, and then after thirty days, I would get a .25 cent raise. I forgot, that the minimum wage was also going up, as part of the two tiered increase here in Pennsylvania, therefore, I may be getting a raise to $7.15 that I hadn't even anticipated. As a result, I guess kudos are in order, if only from my own selfish perspective.

I do have a change meter update of note too. I say of note, because many of you I am sure snicker at my paltry totals that I post from time to time, but that received an unexpected boost the other day, when walking home from work at Subway, I spotted a bright and shiny, well maybe not bright and shiny that may have just been the dollar signs in my eyeballs, $10 bill. Yes, we have an increase, the new total is now $25.96. I may crack $30 by the end of the year, woohoo.

I am also halfway to my next check from the survey people. They just dropped a new survey in my email, which I filled out, and the account now stands at $5.70. Once it gets to $10 I can have them issue me another check. They haven't posted my points for doing a mail survey last month, so that total should go up again in the near future, they usually take about 4-6 weeks to process mail surveys as opposed to the immediate credit you get for doing them online.

I have officially taken over last place in the fantasy baseball league, just as we reach the All Star break. I still lead in stolen bases and I am in second in strikeouts, so I may get some of my money back, but it would take a miracle for me to get one of the top three money spots at this rate.

I usually tend to shy away from our local PBS station this time of year because they tend to interrupt the programming with lots of pledge breaks. That being said, the last couple of Sundays have been awesome as they have been rerunning Ken Burn's series on the Civil War. That my friends is quality television, as opposed to the claptrap that passes for programming on TV these days.

If I see one more promo for "Age of Love", I think I am going to scream. For those of you who are fortunately unfamiliar, the premise is that someone will eventually be paired up with tennis star Mark Philippoussus. The twist to this show is that he is 30ish and there are two groups of women, one in their twenties and one in their forties and I guess we are supposed to care if he picks a young woman at the end, or an older one. My question is, how fucking sad is he, that a wealthy, relatively attractive tennis pro needs a TV show just to get a piece of ass? Talk about pathetic, this takes the cake.

I guess while I am doing this thing, I should probably include a Joe Random update, because I know how much you all care about the goings on in my video game life. When last we left, I had received a call up to the major leagues and went 1 for 5 in my first start for Tampa Bay. I would like to say things have gone swimmingly since then, and I thought they might. My next game, I was again getting a chance to start and in my first at bat, I hit a ground rule double, then everything went all third world on me as the electricity went out, thus wiping out the game. Instead of me having a nice start to my second appearance in season two, I had to go and start again from immediately after my 1 for 5 game, and my next appearance was a pinch hitting role, where I came into the game late and was promptly hit in the head, then I was demoted back to the minors, where I continue to languish as best as I can. I can't request a callup for about 20 days yet, and the major leagues haven't come beckoning my presence. Between that, and my stint on the 60 DL earlier this year, my numbers aren't as good as I would like. That being said, my second year numbers in the minor leagues are as follows; (48 games played) .461 average, 47 runs scored, 21 doubles, 18 home runs, 55 RBIs. I can only imagine what the numbers would have been had I not missed all of those games. I might be in the major leagues as opposed to toiling away in the minors.

I haven't picked an Asshat yet, so if anyone has any suggestions, I am all ears. Not that I can't find one, I just haven't been looking all that hard. I have been trying to get things squared away for my vacation later this month. I still have to get my bus ticket and start packing those things that I will need, like my swim trunks, which I am definitely taking, especially given how warm it has been here recently. Once again, we cracked the 90 degree mark, the second straight day of such summery goodness. That being said, there is something unappealing about it being so warm your ass sweats. It looks like there will be plenty of ass sweating (maybe Richard Simmons can do an Ass Sweating to the Oldies) as the next two days look to be over 90 degrees as well.

I did get to catch some of the Wimbledon Final today, at least most of the last set. That being said, I am sorry I had to work, because it looked like the final between Federer and Nadal was one for the ages, going 5 sets with two of them ending in tiebreakers. Usually I just watch sporting events for one of two reasons, either they are compelling and they draw me in, or it has hot chicks involved. Given the hotness level wasn't there for me in the women's final and it wasn't all that compelling, it was good to at least see some incredible tennis in the men's final.

I am sure there are other things I wanted to jabber about, but it is hot and late and I have to try to sleep at some point in time.