Do you believe in magic?

Last night was amazing!!! I went to my first Milwaukee Brewers game of the season. It took a long time to finally get there, but the wait was well worth it. I saw a half inning of baseball that was probably one of the greatest I will ever see. It was the bottom of the sixth inning and the Crew were trailing the Houston Astros 4-2. This score made me especially unhappy because they got the lead by ex-brewer Carlos Lee belting a 2 run homer earlier in the game. However, all this would change in the bottom of the sixth. The Brewers came out and loaded the bases right away for Rickie Weeks. He hit a triple that would clear the bases and give the Crew the 5-4 lead. Eventually the triple would be counted as a single with an error, which I think is total bogus because the outfielder did not error…he simply missed the ball completely. Anyway, that was very exciting and would have been sufficient for the Brewer faithful. At this time Tony Graffanino came into the game to relieve the current pitcher. Graffanino ended up going yard for a 2 run shot giving the Brewers the 7-4 lead. The story gets even more amazing yet. The Brewers would then load the bases again and Johnny Estrada would come to the plate. After a couple swings I asked my friend next to me if Estrada had ever hit a Grand Slam. His response was, “No”. So I looked over at Estrada at the plate and I said, “what a perfect time to hit your first grand slam”. The next pitch sailed across the plate and Estrada got a hold of it, and it was back, back, way back, going, GONE!!!! GRAND SLAM!!!! All of this in one inning, and still the Brewers had only 1 out. However, the magic would end there, but the Crew would hold on to an 11-5 victory and made my $20 ticket well worth it. Another piece of exciting info was that Brewer rookie Ryan Braun managed to go 3-4 with a first inning HR to get the game started. The future is looking bright for Milwaukee.

A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken

Well, my world has changed some since the last blog post, and I have a whole new set of things I need/want to do and accomplish. Anyway, this is what is going on in my life currently…

1. I recently graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.
2. Actually, I sort of graduated from the UW…I walked in the graduation ceremony, but I am still slightly short of the credits I need for my degree to be valid, which leads me to number 3.
3. I just started a 3 credit Wildlife Ecology course about extinction of species. I think it should be fun. The course only lasts 4 weeks, and when that is complete I will be finished with school for at least a year.
4. I am currently job searching. I need to find a job to occupy my time for the next year, and not to mention I NEED $$$. I have kept my job search really narrow. I am looking into several jobs at different hospitals around the Madison area, and I am also looking into a couple research positions as well. The problem with that is I have no specific area of research I would like to study so I don’t really know what to look for at all.
5. My girlfriend Gina moved into my house with my 3 other roommates since spring semester ended. That is a whole new adventure for me, and I sure living with 4 guys has been even more of an adventure for her. The change has been going great so far, and it really helps a lot that she gets along with my roommates well…sometimes better than with me. Even though we share a tiny room together we still get a lot of space from one another. Gina is currently working a full time job over the summer for a dental clinic. In the meantime, she is busy applying to dental school. I am really excited because she is applying to schools all over the country, so in a year or so, I will most likely be moving to a new location that I have never lived before. Now that school's out for summer, we actually have a little bit of free time to hang out. The terrace has definitely become a favorite of ours (see photo at the bottom).
6. Since my roommates have been pretty busy with their summer jobs, and I have lots of extra time when I am not at class, I have really gotten back to my true passion…COOKING! I have cooked a meal nearly every day since graduation. My favorite thing to do in this beautiful weather is grilling. The other day Gina and I got ostrich burgers from the farmers market, and gave them a try. They are fantastic. Ostrich burgers are like red meat, and have half the fat of chicken. Also, the farmers market (check out the slide show) here in Madison is unbelievable, and gives me a reason to wake up on Saturday mornings.
7. I have been working out on a regular basis for over a month now. It feels really good to be active again. I have been lifting weights, running, biking, and playing Ultimate Frisbee games with my roommates and girlfriend in the Madison Ultimate Frisbee League. That has turned out to be a lot of fun. I have finally gotten to the point where I am seeing results from working out. The results are nice because they make the previous work worth it, but also give me incentive to keep up with the workouts. I actually look forward to workouts now rather than dread them…most likely because I am in good enough shape where I don’t feel like I am going to die every time I go for a run.
8. The last big thing I have been up to lately is catching up on my Blockbuster Online Queue. I recently switched over to Blockbuster from Netflix. I love it. I get twice the movies for the same price. Recently I viewed Syriana, Luck Number Slevin, Smokin’ Aces, The Queen, and The Da Vinci Code. I enjoyed all of them except for The Queen. After the awards it won, I really had higher expectations of The Queen, and it definitely fell short. Some items I am waiting to see are Breach, Hannibal Rising, Children of Men, Delicatessen, Hotel Rwanda, and Northern Exposure Season 1. I also should be getting Adaptation in the mail today, so I know what I’ll be doing tonight.

That is pretty much what I am up to these days. I’ll try and keep this blog up to date a little more.

“If the facts don’t fit the theory…change the facts” - Albert Einstein