He is officially my favorite Twins player these days. He plays the kind of game that connects with me, the kind I wanted to emulate growing up. A true utility player with a great intuition at the plate, he plays smart, and quietly does his job correctly.
Baseball Virus
I joined a city softball league with some people in Erin’s program (along with some free agent strangers) this past month. It’s been fun getting out and competing again, playing a version of the game that I love. However, it’s caused a problem. After years of not playing baseball (or softball) at all, I fooled myself into thinking I’d “replaced” it with other athletic activities. I assumed the personal challenge of disc golf, for example, would fill the gap left when I stopped playing baseball after high school.
I was incredibly wrong.
Continue reading “Baseball Virus”The Spirit of Competition
Competition is a slippery idea. In both professional and casual interactions, people often walk a fine line when showing a desire to compete. It can be fun and humorous to have a friendly intensity, but there’s always a tipping point where it becomes uncomfortable for those involved. Competition is one of the most natural things in the world, but needing to play out the act of competition in society muddies the waters.
Continue reading “The Spirit of Competition”Antenna TV
The NFL playoffs are long over, but I still wanted to quickly document my experience using an antenna to watch a fair chunk of it in my San Francisco apartment. I bought an $11 “HD” antenna from Amazon after consulting with my dad. It’s good to see that it’s affordable, and made it an easy purchase. I scanned for channels a few times to find the ideal location for the antenna in my apartment1Hanging in the slatted blinds. and started experiencing my childhood again.
Naturally, the two most notable drawbacks were the reintroduction of commercials, and a slightly inconsistent signal. It’s amazing seeing how many commercials are repeated, how often a show is interrupted by them, and also how they’ve changed since I was a kid. However, one dramatic improvement from when I was younger is that commercials are no longer noticably louder than the main content. In fact, I felt they were quieter at times. I’m not sure if that’s due to legislation, new marketing research, or something else entirely, but I’m thankful for the change.
The antenna also proved useful for watching the Winter Olympics. I’m not into them enough to bother paying for Peacock+ so, despite how bad the broadcast coverage on NBC was, it proved sufficient for watching live events in the evenings.
Beyond the Super Bowl and Olympics, I haven’t used the antenna. I don’t watch local news, and there are no sports on right now that I care to pay attention to. However, I’ll be happy to have it available for nationally broadcast events. Maybe there will be something else it’s useful for. It won’t hurt to hold onto.
- 1Hanging in the slatted blinds.
A Taste of Competition
This weekend, I played my first competitive round of disc golf. On a whim, I signed up for a league round where everyone pays 5 dollars. What I hadn’t realized when I signed up is that it was a course I’d never played before, so I didn’t have the benefit of being comfortable with either of the factors involved. However, I had been craving a way to force some assessment of my current skills, and also generally some athletic competition that I haven’t had for quite a while. This round gave me plenty of both, and really hooked me.
Continue reading “A Taste of Competition”Romanticism, Fairness, and Baseball
After moving to San Francisco this year, I was lucky enough to fulfill a childhood dream by getting season tickets for Giants baseball. There were no expectations for the team. I just wanted to follow baseball closely again, have a team to root for, after being mostly on the fringe after college.
Continue reading “Romanticism, Fairness, and Baseball”A Brief Encounter
I watch my shot glide to the basket on hole 18. It’s a short hole to finish the course, but treacherous. The basket is perched in front of a large boulder, and anywhere off a straight line to the basket is a precipitous drop-off.
My shot lands a little short, to the left, but on the flattest line down to the basket. It’s my typical safe shot. I hop off the tee pad and collect my things. As I begin walking down the path, a little tuft of fuzz catches my eye. It’s quite still overall, but the bits of fur at the end wiggle in the light breeze.
They’re mostly black, with a clear white stripe down the middle.
Continue reading “A Brief Encounter”Starting on Disc Golf
I’ve wanted to try disc golf for a couple of years. I discovered it through the fantastic YouTube channel JomezPro, and have been into the sport since. However, I never took the time to buy and mess around with discs, or check with my friends for people to play with.
While in Washington, I discovered that a few friends of mine have started playing. That was enough to encourage me to give it a go while back in Minnesota. It’s already been a lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to working on it even more once I’m back in California.