Baseball Cards

Cutter's Log - Supplemental

I figured out an estimate on the value of all of the baseball cards I've collected over the past 21 years - at ~ $3,000.00. This is using Beckett "lo value" pricing as of 2007.

To put that in perspective, the most coveted Albert Pujols rookie card is worth $4,000.00 in mint condition.

I have also estimated that I have at least 31,000 baseball cards collected. There are also another 5,000 other cards of basketball, football, racing and hockey combined.

I made the decision last year to semi-retire from baseball card collecting. After I made that decision, I made a long trip to places around the Quad Cities to find some good buys. Turns out it wasn't worth the effort.

I'm now selling one-third of my collection. Most of it comes in big boxes that I have planned for the "Chinese Democracy-ish" Yard Sale I plan on having. There are several other singles I have in a small binder for individual sale.

HERE IS A LIST OF WHAT'S FOR SALE, from past blog entries.

Below is a list of the individual cards (mixed sports) I have for sale, in that binder:

2010 Topps Turkey Red - Ernie Banks - $1.50
1989 Donruss - Craig Biggio (rookie) - $2.00
1989 Topps - Craig Biggio (rookie) - $2.00
1991 Ultra - Barry Bonds - $1.25
1995 Emotion - Barry Bonds - $2.00
1997 Bowman Chrome International - Barry Bonds - $8.00
1997 Bowman's Best - Barry Bonds - $2.50
1997 Topps Tek - Barry Bonds - $4.00
2001 Stadium Club - Barry Bonds - $1.50
2003 Bowman's Best - Barry Bonds - $3.00
2007 Topps Bonds Home Run History - Barry Bonds - $1.00
2008 Upper Deck Retrospectum Swatches - Marcus Giles - $5.00
2010 Topps Peak Performance - Honus Wagner - $1.50
2010 Topps Opening Day Attax - Evan Longoria - $3.00
2010 Topps Opening Day Blue - Nick Swisher - $1.00
2010 Upper Deck Biography - Justin Verlander - $1.50
2010 Topps - Ryan Braun/Prince Fielder - $1.00
2010 Topps Attax Code Card - Ichiro Suzuki - $3.00
2010 Topps Attax Silver Foil - David Wright - $3.00
1984 Donruss - Tony Fernandez (rookie) - $1.50
1992 Topps - Shawn Green (rookie) - $1.00
1989 Fleer - John Smoltz (rookie) - $1.50
1986 Fleer Update - Will Clark (rookie) - $2.00
1995 Collector's Choice SE - Cal Ripken - $2.00
1998 Score Rookie/Traded - Cal Ripken - $2.00
1997 Topps Tek - Tony Gwynn - $1.25
1987 Topps - Mark McGwire - $3.00
1989 Upper Deck - Cal Ripken - $2.50
1990 Leaf - David Justice (rookie) - $2.50
1992 Stadium Club USA - Shawn Green (rookie) - $1.25
2000 Fleer Gamers - Tony Gwynn - $1.00
2000 Upper Deck All-UD - Derek Jeter - $1.00
1987 Fleer Stickers - Nolan Ryan - $1.00
1989 Donruss Traded - Nolan Ryan - $1.25
1987 Topps - Jose Canseco - $1.00
1992 Donruss - Nolan Ryan - $1.00 (I've got 3)
1991 Ultra Gold - Bo Jackson - $1.00
1991 Ultra - Don Mattingly - $1.00
1987 Topps - Rafael Palmerio - $1.25
1989 Bowman Reprints - Mickey Mantle - $1.00
1984 Topps - Andy Van Slyke - $1.25
1991 Ultra - Cal Ripken - $1.25
1978 Topps - Willie Hernandez (rookie) - $1.00
2009 Bowman Chrome refractor - Alfonso Soriano - $2.00
2007 Topps Opening Day - Ichiro Suzuki - $1.00
2007 Fleer - Ryan Howard - $1.00
2007 Fleer Crowning Achievement - Tom Glavine - $1.00
1990 Upper Deck - Randy Johnson - $1.00
2006 Topps Mantle - Mickey Mantle - $2.00
2009 Topps Chrome X-Fractor - Nick Swisher - $2.00
2010 Topps 20-20 - David Wright - $2.00
1995 Flair - Brad Radke (rookie) - $1.00
2010 Topps Turkey Red - Lou Gehrig - $3.00
2010 Topps - Eddie Matthews - $20.00
2010 Topps - Babe Ruth/Lou Gehrig - $2.00
2010 Topps Vintage Legends - Reggie Jackson - $1.00
2010 Topps Attax Code Card - Ian Kinsley - $1.00
2010 Topps Attax Code Card - Alex Rodriguez - $2.50


FOOTBALL:

1998 Bowman's Best - Drew Bledsoe - $1.50
1999 Playoff Prestige - Tim Brown - $1.00
1995 Upper Deck Stick'ems - Brett Favre - $3.00
1995 Collector's Choice Update - Brett Favre - $1.00
1996 Collector's Choice - Brett Favre - $2.00
1991 Pro Set - Ed McCaffery (rookie) - $2.00
1997 Skybox NFL Experience - Jerry Rice - $1.00
1999 Playoff Prestige - Jerry Rice - $1.00
1996 Select Certified - Deion Sanders - $1.00
1996 Collector's Edge Pres. Reserve - Junior Seau - $1.00
1991 Pro Set special - Emmitt Smith - $1.50
1995 Bowman's Best - Emmitt Smith - $3.00
1991 Pro Set - Ricky Watters (rookie) - $1.25
1999 Aurora - Steve Young - $1.00


BASKETBALL

1996-97 Topps - Steve Nash (rookie) - $1.25 (I have 2)
1998-99 Skybox Premium - Shaquille O'Neal - $1.25
1994-95 Flair Personal Note - Shaquille O'Neal - $1.00

***Or you can have the whole binder, which also includes several $0.25 cards, for $200.00.

Blizzards

Cutter's Log - Stardate 1102.10.20
Current Song - the sounds of winter, or war

This isn't Egypt.

When Money is Tight

Cutter's Log - Stardate 1102.13.10
Current Song - Lonesome Loser (Little River Band)

The economy has hit us all in some way. My hit has come direct from the source of income, work. It's in the form of hours worked. Less hours - less pay.

I've already found ways to cut website costs, but haven't really found ways to cut overall costs. I pretty much live paycheck-to-paycheck, which is something I'm not proud of but it'll have to do.

Whenever I find myself doing nothing simply because I can't afford it, there is a book on my bookshelf that I zip through: "365 Ways to Live Cheap" by Trent Hamm, publisher of thesimpledollar.com.

Yesterday I found myself going through this 225-page book trying to find tips in order to cut costs. Most of these ways are far-fetched ways ("Find Frugal Friends," "Attend Community Events," etc.). However there are some tips that I could start doing in order to save that extra dollar.

These were stemmed from tips in this book (and I will follow this with stuff I came up with as an indirect result of the book [the not-really-stealing-ideas type]):

1. Clean out my trunk. Thinking to my trunk, I have a few old car stereos (as unpaid collateral, sigh), some empty boxes, a folding chair for outside sports events, and a few more odds and ends. I don't know whether I really need this stuff, so out they will go. Cleaning out my trunk reduces the drag, and increases the gas mileage. I guess losing weight will help in this regard, too.

2. Divy a portion of my weekly paycheck to my savings account. When an enexpcted shortfall comes, the source of that money is my savings account. There is a certain amount I would not like to go under, but eventually I go under it when needed. I step foot in my bank about once a month, so I'll just set aside four checks and go once a month rather than making the extra errand.

3. The whole yard sale thing. I've blogged about it over and over again, and still can't find the time to put one up. Part of that problem is pricing everything. Perhaps when the weather is nice, I'll give items a certain pricing range: this stuff for five cents, this stuff for 0.25, 0.50, 1.00, etc. That may eliminate some of the time, and maybe I'll get this set up finally.

4. Motivational photos - I have tried this a couple of times, but with no luck. I once took a fast-food receipt and wrote "NO MORE" in black marker and taped it next to my speedometer. Didn't last. Time to find an image, be that of my family or a specific someone, and look at that before shopping.

5. Go the the library for similar books like "365 Ways." It doesn't cost anything. Plus I can add to this list. (Don't be surprised if this is a reoccuring topic).

6. Designate books for swapping. I have a bookshelf, but I also have books that are on top of the shelved books, and an overflow pile next to it. Some of these books I do not read anymore. Perhaps while I'm at the library, I can trade some of these for others that interest me. However, when was the last time a book at a swap-shelf interested you?

7. Pop for water. Yeah, best of luck with that! Turns out that drinking water will keep one's stomach occupied when it comes to finding something to eat. I have a pop cooler that I keep in my room that is quickly accesible from my computer, rather than going downstairs to the fridge. This cooler is small enough to take with me on trips. Often times, there is water on sale at a store cheaper than pop, and there is more water than pop in the process.

Going back to point No. 4, would a water label next to the motivational photo help? Perhaps. There are also places that sell water in the same soda fountain for a discounted price.

8. Typing these things in the blog. Provokes discussion, and therefore more ideas (HINT HINT!).

9. Coupons. They have pros, but there are cons involved in them as well. When I work Sunday nights at the gas station (maybe twice a month), I save coupons from the SV Weekend, Tribune, Dispatch, Register Star and QC Times. HOWEVER, I ONLY save such coupons of things that I purchase on a normal basis. There was one time that I cut out coupons of cool and interesting things and spent the money on these truly one-off things. Wasn't a good idea.

In my coat pocket are coupons for Steak 'N Shake. When I travel to a metro area such as Rockford, the Quads, Peoria, Madison or the suburbs, I will almost always have dinner on the road. More times than not, the meal usually comes from a drive-thru window. However, a place like Steak 'N Shake is one where not only I can get a discount on a meal, but also sit down and tally up my sports stats.

10. Eating breakfast. Breakfast is one of those things that sort of gets old by the time you turn 15 years of age. Then when you're 30 and have kids, you regret skipping out. While I don't have kids, yet, getting back into the breakfast slate of things helps fill the stomach when it's supposed to be filled.

11. Coupons.com - The first time I went there, there wasn't anything that I wanted, or needed. I never know now, perhaps when my things-needed list gets full, it's time to visit the website.

12. Comparison shopping. As mentioned, I go to Wal-Mart for my things. I know its cheap there; but when the things-needed list list just consists of food, I should remind myself that there are a few other grocery stores in town. However, this may not happen as often as you'd think. When the things-needed list gets full, it is often a mix of food and other items. These other things, such as pens and paper, are more expensive at grocery stores compared to Wal-Mart.

13. Shop local. There were times that I went the extra mile (or 75) to get something for the extra meaning. I once went to Wisconsin to get Wisconsin cheese, only to find out there is Wisconsin cheese back home. There have been some Christmas items that were available back home that I went far away to get. However, when the certain something I know for sure is far away, I'll go get it.

---

So these above are from the book.

Here are things that I came up with on my own that I already do to save money, and even time, as well as killing two birds with one stone.

1. I don't get stamps at the post office. Instead, I'll get my stamps at Wal-Mart, while I'm shopping, in order to save a trip. It's the same price at Wal-Mart as the P.O.

2. Set aside a certain time to do every single errand. I call it running errands. When I do this, I map out all of the places I need to go and go to them in order of location. And rather than making four or five trips to places at four or five certain times, I try to bunch everything in one.

3. Collect silver. Silver is a hot commodity right now, and there are times you'll find it in cash registers. I know whenever I find silver when working, I'll trade it with something in my car container. I have a certain amount that I'd like to achieve before cashing it all in.

4. Bring small treats to the games I cover. This may seem like a knock on our high school booster clubs, but some things are overpriced. How do I know? I've been to enough high schools and eaten from enough concession stands to know the reasonable rates.

5. Fill up the things-needed list. I don't require much shopping, beings I live with my parents, but sometimes there are things I need to get on my own. Rather than going somewhere to get the one thing when I need it, I have five spots on my things-needed list. When these five spots are filled, only then do I go out.

6. Try not to gloat about being cheap. This is a long blog entry, yes, but it's not like I'm trying to cram something down your throat. I can see the future: taking my girlfriend home, living in a dump, but saying I'm proud to be cheap. That's not what I want to be. Every once in a while I'll get that hot item, or spend something for an entertainment purpose.

I think it's like saying: I'm not trying to be a tightwad for the purpose of being a tightwad, but rather making these things apply AS common sense.

The comment section is open, folks. Thoughts? Ideas?

Social Shutdown

Cutter's Log - Stardate 1102.03.10
Current Song – Subdivisions (Rush)

I experienced yet another episode of “social shutdown” recently. Social shutdown is what I call it when a conversation abruptly ends. That happens a lot with me when talking with people from school.

Why? I simply run out of things to say.

“Hi Cody, what's up?”

“Oh, not much.”

That's the conversation. How do I try to extend it after “not much”? I have tried to say something like “Oh, not much. You?” Then I get the response, whatever it is. Then I run out of things to say again.

It's not just verbally, too. It extends to social networking: way back when on ICQ and now on Facebook.

Perhaps it is best that I try to build off of the person's response to my question “You?” But what, and how do I find this in my mixed bag of things to say? Why can't I find something truthful to say? Social shutdown begins.

I have overheard conversations that continue forward after the introductory “what's up” with the mentioning of some sort of factual data of that person. But what do I say? The time it takes for me to come up with that bit of information is a turn-off. Social shutdown begins.

I don't know the best way to tackle this. Is there a list of sample questions to help continue the conversation? I don't know. A little help here?

Once I find this out, I think I can tailor the right question to the right person.

So I tried to find these questions – and then, out of nowhere, my imagination showed that I seem dull asking question after question after question after question after question after question. I'm not supposed to be conducting an interview, that's my sports job! However, interviewing has been my only means of communication to people that I do not know. So that seems to carry over to people I haven't seen in a while.

Now, how to prevent a conversation from turning into an interview.

Listening skills. I've been a very poor listener, and get distracted very easily. This is probably another trait of journalism, as my goal is to get quotes and not really talk to the person. Note to self: This is probably why the quotes in my stories are SO dull.

I have to listen more to what the person has to say. I do so with a smile, if you don't know by now. So I kind of get it now – I'm a poor conversationalist because I am a poor listener.

Now, to help the listening skills.

I have found in broken conversions I've had in the past that I converse the best when I'm talking to a single person in a room that only has the two of us. This does not happen often, however, and when it does it's a slow day at Shell. I have noticed that late at night when I'm calling one of my writers up about a story that the conversation seems to branch away from work. When this happens, I'm usually all alone in my room, or in my den; either way with nothing else on my mind.

Also I have found that I seem to converse more when I'm in the car with someone else on a long trip. Hasn't happened all that often, however. There will be one in a couple of weeks, though, as a high school sports friend and I are riding down to Riverton (near Springfield) for a basketball event.

So I guess I converse best and listen more when (1) I'm all alone by myself or with one other person in a room, and (2) there is nothing else going on in my mind.

This is actually part of my daily routine, it seems like. It happens right before I go to bed, or right before I take a nap. They are great times to catch me. And after such conversations happen more often, wouldn't I be able to chip away at the distractions and social shutdowns?

Late at night is my downtime: usually from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. Catch me if you can. Phone number is on the website somewhere.

Meanwhile, I'll spend the rest of the night staring blankly into space for the hundred-millionth time.

Hall of Fame

Cutter's Log - Stardate 1102.92.10
Current Song - Something About You (Level 42)

Tonight is the night where the 2001-02 Sterling HS Girls Basketball team and Wrestling team are inducted into the SHS Athletic Hall of Fame.

As well as two individuals - Amee Binder and Taylor Carbaugh - that were on that girls basketball team that I was a part of. Lynn Siemert, one of the best swimmers in SHS history, was inducted as well.

A lot of memories should re-enter my head from the girls basketball season. I still have the letter from coach Scheidegger asking me if I want to be the manager of that year's team. I kept it after all these years because it would be a stepping stone for the career I have today as a high school sports journalist.

We started the year winning the New-Mor-Roc-Ster Tournament by going undefeated. I still have the medal somewhere in my boxes; I remember being called down from the camera area at Rock Falls to get it. I didn't know managers got such medals. Coach told me to tape the medal ceremony, whether or not he planned on tricking me into taping my own reception I don't know.

I was a very shy person at the time, I still am but was a lot shyer at that time, so I kind of didn't interact as much amongst the girls as they did themselves. Plus, they were older than I was. However, this was a group that I liked a lot because they were very kind to me despite my shyness and youth. I think this all worked out well during that year's Valentine's Day when I decided to make a hefty donation to the Student Council, in the form of $23.00, to send roses to every member of the team.

I remember some of the tough games we had as well. The Sterling Christmas Tournament was just as tough then as it is today. We took third place at the Dixon Tournament a couple of weeks later, and I remember the trophy being one of the biggest I've ever seen. That was a third-place trophy! I think I was in charge of caring for it on the ride back home and nearly hit the top of it on the top of the bus. Whoops!

Galesburg was always a tough opponent, and was one of our few losses on the year. During games, I was in charge of videotaping the games. Galesburg was a huge nosebleed up, and the hardest place to tape at. Guilford, too, was a nosebleed at the top.

The trip up to Guilford was an interesting one, because there was construction on Alpine Road at the time. I suggested an alternative route, and coach was sort of worrked that we were not going to make it to the game in time. When we got there, I remember some of the girls on the bus seeing someone taller than even JP Shore. A black kid. The rest can be figured out from there.

Anyway, back to positive memories. We played Chicago Mother McAuley at the Amboy Shootout. I remember seeing the words "Mother McAuley" on the schedule, and thinking there is some nun that is really good at playing basketball. I've come a long way in high school sports knowledge. We won that game, and the videotaping setup was weird. I was once again in charge of the plaque on the busride home.

As appreciation for the roses, the girls all gave me a gift bag and signed a card for me. To my dismay, I couldn't remember which game this was. Another game that I just can't seem to remember the who and when, but I was invited over to Kim's house for a postgame gathering.

We hosted the Regional, which we won, and I still have a piece of the net that was cut down. Also in the collection is the piece of net from the Conference win. We beat Sycamore for the Regional title, and I remember seeing a letter from the Sycamore program wishing us well in the Sectional, which was held in DeKalb.

Our first game in the Sectional was against Geneseo, and I remember a familiar chant from the Geneseo student section: 55-0! That was the final score of the infamous football game between the two of us earlier in the year. We beat Geneseo, and it was on to face Moline, a team we lost to in our Christmas Tournament. It ended up being close in the end, but I remember a couple of foul calls (against Amee and Amy) that didn't look right toward the end. We lost that game, and that was the end of our wonderful season.

Certainly a season I won't forget.

It was a great time to be a Golden Warrior: not only with our season, but with the Wrestling team advancing to the Elite 8 as a team, and James Wike doing his thing in the pool. Don't forget, this was before the "S-and-the-dreamcatcher" period. It seemed like things changed after that. I can't explain the feeling to a whole, but there's something I miss about it, and something that I like about it.

The program was just starting to rise from the ashes of a once great program of the 1970s and 1980s. This particular season (2001-02) was the one that put us back on the map of top programs in the state. It's carried on to this day, and a lot of that has to do with something that gets overlooked by most people regarding Sterling Girls Basketball of that year: our sophomore team went a perfect 26-0. That led to even more success over the next few years, eventually going back to the Class AA State Tournament in 2007.

(This year's team just handed DeKalb its second loss of the year on Saturday (Jan. 29), so perhaps we could see something even more special?)

It felt a little empty during my senior year when I was the only person from that team left at Sterling High. I was the last student link to two other varsity programs (football and volleyball) my senior year. I was still with the people I grew up with, but I really missed those fellow teammates from those years. Two of the seniors I would never see again until our reunion. There are still a few of the girls that I see every now and then.

Me? Well, I eventually moved out of the managerial capacity during my junior year. I was doing more videotaping for Prep Sports Online at that time, as well as occasional scorebook and even announcing (!!!) To think Coach Scheidegger would let me and my nasely voice do that ... well, I enjoyed that too. I wonder if the girls still have the PSO highlight video DVD of that year. That's my cinematography on it. I eventually moved on to the Daily Gazette and wrote for them for a little while before starting Northern Illinois Sports Beat, the website I have to this day. Running that eventually ended my tenure with the program, but I ended up covering a couple of their games.

However, when I think of where I'm at now as a high school sports journalist, a lot of this had to do with the 2001-02 Girls Basketball team. To most of these girls, I was just some little manager wanting to be a part of a team. I don't think some of them remembered who I was until we were announced at the ceremony. However, these girls have a special place in my heart nonetheless.

It's good to see that the girls are doing well in their current endeavors. I just wish I would have talked to them a little more that night, as my social skills have diminished a lot since 01-02. I always wish them the best with whatever they do.

Love 'ya always!

Playing with tuition

Cutter's Log - Stardate 1102.52.10
Current Song - Viva la Vida (Coldplay)

This is a fun webpage for trying to figure out how to raise money:
http://www.niu.edu/bursar/tuition/estimator.shtml

It's taking a little longer than I thought, but a while ago I chose NIU as the place to study. That part is done, now comes the next step: what the heck do I have to pay for just ONE class?

One class = 3 credit hours. That's easy enough.

Let's do this together, shall we?

1. Illinois Residency: I live in Sterling, so I live in Illinois.

2. Academic Career: Undergrad, still (even with an Associates).

3. IL Truth-in-Tuition (Ugrad in-state): okay, I guess they want my money now? Perhaps I can assume that I'll enroll for Spring 2011??

4. On-Campus (DeKalb) Hours: One class = 3 credit hours.

Now we're seeing some numbers.

5. Course Material Fees: They suggest in the subscript below that it's usually $50-$100, so I'll just go $150.

6. Books: Just by viewing some of the classes listed on the Bookstore's page , the book fees don't seem to be any different than the book fees I paid while at Sauk. Still, I'll plan for a cost-rise, so I'll put down $150.

7. Other Fees: I do not believe I would have any.

AT THIS POINT my grand total for taking just one class at NIU is: $1,545.32 (assuming I did everything above correctly).

8. Room and Board: (I don't think I clicked a mouse quicker in my life after seeing the rates).

9. Meal Plan Option: I seriously do not understand what this is. If I want to eat, can't I just pack a sack lunch? Pass, I guess.

10. Financial Aid: You mean this still exists?

11. HIP fee: I guess this is better than a GROIN fee. This similar to the deferred payment plan I used for Sauk. This would be four installments of $398.83. $398.83 in January (plus the $54 yellow parking permit fee), $398.83 in February, $398.83 in March and $398.83 in April.

$398.83 is just a little more than double what I normally paid a month for Sauk's plan.

This is just for one class.

Let's fill out a FAFSA form ... on second thought, I'll just cover the girls basketball game tonight.


(Next up in the college series of Blog entries, assuming there are no issues with what's already mentioned: planning to be the old geezer receiving the Bachelor's. Or, the four-hundred-year plan.)

It Takes One to Know One

Cutter's Log - Stardate 1102.01.10
Current Song - Return of the Mack (Mark Morrison)

I learned a lesson a couple of nights ago. It didn't have anything to do with the website, either.

If you're not a betting man, and a betting man asks you for a bet, don't do it.

I made the mistake of agreeing on a deal for buying lunch at Hooters. It was with a friend of mine that plays a lot of poker. My analysis of professional poker on television tells me that this type of communicative style benefits the person starting the bet.

As you can tell, I lost this bet.

What's so bad about it is that it's not a solid thing we agreed on. Lunch at Hooters is an unknown amount of money. It depends on the mood, and stomach, of my friend.

As for now I have to pray that he's not hungry that day. I don't really have a whole lot of money. If I set aside a certain amount, and he goes over it, I'm screwed.

It will be the final time I let someone try to pull an advantage on me like that. No, I'm not deep in anger over this, but it kinda sucks a little. All in all, it's still fun in a way.

The lesson here: don't get in bets. Doing so will mean you are certain not to lose anything. I will learn from this. Actually I'm glad I'm learning it now rather than later in life - when things at stake can be very crucial.

I have found the bright side. It takes an experience to know an experience.

Car Problems (and more games)

Cutter's Log - Stardate 1102.80.10
Current Song - One More Time (Daft Punk)

I'm having a problem with my car lately. It seems like every year something goes bad on it.

The car is a 1998 Pontiac Grand Am 4-door. I've had it for four years, and it is 13-and-a-half years old, when you include the time it was put together. When I bought it, the car had 117,000 miles. It has 173,000 on it (including one 3,000-mile round trip through the northeast).

It's hard to believe it's that old. In 25 years, my family is on its sixth family vehicle. Our '88 Ford Taurus lasted 10 years, and our '97 Plymouth Voyager lasted about another 10. Both had about less than half of the miles I had on mine when I bought it. So I'm going for a good two more years with this car before looking at another one.

Right now the car has some problems:

1. The right front wheel's stabilizer link is completely gone. I blame this on the poor construction of East Lincolnway in Sterling. It was refirbished with some very cheap asphalt about 10 years ago, and every winter there are large potholes that come up. They get sealed, and become eroded once more. I work on East Lincolnway, and that's Sterling's main business district.

My steering wheel was becoming shaky.

Anyway back to my car, I noticed my wheel was bent somewhere and I went over to a tire shop to get it fixed. When I left the bay, I drove for a while and the steering wheel was still shaking. Anyone's first thought would be to go back to the place I was at and tell them, "hey, wait a minute." I was on the other end of town when I just decided to go to the shop that fixed my drive axle last year, because it was close-by. That's when we looked under it and noticed the missing stabilizer link.

I was planning on going to a basketball game in Port Byron that night, and decided it wasn't worth risking it. (I will make up for that with 6 basketball games at the Rock Falls Shootout today).

2. New tires. Actually, my back tires are holding up real well. I have a place in mind that I can take my car to for this problem. I just need two new front ones.

3. Warped rotors. This comes from a habit of hard braking. I never considered it hard, but actually it really is. I was told that I shouldn't be recoiling in my seat when braking. For a big guy like myself, even a small recoil can do problems.

So great, another habit to try to break. I quit biting my nails a year ago after doing it for nearly 15 years. I just hope it doesn't take me that long to overcome this one.

4. No left-front turn light. I haven't had one for two years, when I smashed it against my dad's rear bumper one night. Since then I've had to stick my hand out and hand-signal the left turn.

I plan on getting that stabilizer link done on Monday morning. That way, hopefully I will have the car back for seeing games next week. The new tires and rotors I plan on getting done before taking a vacation in late March. The light fixture can wait, but only if I have any sort of financial windfall of a gain will I do something about it.

---

In the next ten days, I plan on seeing about 12-15 basketball games. Still nowhere close to the Quest for 150, though. Italicized games are those I'm not covering for NISB.

1. Rock Falls boys (F/S) vs. Plano boys (F/S) - Saturday 11:00
2. Newman boys (F/S) vs. Seneca boys (F/S) - Saturday 1:30
3. Newman boys vs. Seneca boys - Saturday 3:00
4. DeKalb boys vs. East Peoria - Saturday 5:00
5. Bloomington boys vs. Hinsdale South - Saturday 6:30
6. Rock Falls boys vs. Byron - Saturday 8:30
7. Tuesday ???
8. Wednesday ???
9. Forreston boys vs. Freeport Aquin - Friday 1/14
10. Oregon boys vs. Rockford Lutheran - Saturday 1/15
11. Algonquin Jacobs boys vs. Normal West - Monday 1/17 (9:30)
12. Hononegah boys vs. DeKalb - Monday 11:00
13. Naperville Neuqua Valley vs. Normal Community - Monday 12:30
14. Antioch boys vs. Zion-Benton - Monday 2:00
(or, with apologies to both teams, lunch)
15. Normal vs. Jacobs - Monday 3:30
16. Zion-Benton vs. DeKalb - Monday 5:00
17. Hononegah vs. Neuqua Valley - Monday 6:30

On the F/S games, I simply do a small two-graf capsule on each game. Still, that is better than nothing. I try to give the sophomores some mention when I can.

Hope this holds up. Hope the car holds up.

My College Football Longshot Idea

Cutter's Log - Stardate 1102.40.10
Current Song - Metro (Berlin)

This will never fly, but here goes:

The top 2 teams in the 11 BCS conferences are put in a bracket, seeded by a BCS rating. It's a 22-team bracket without Notre Dame, and a 23-team bracket with Notre dame.

There are four divisions: A Rose Division, Fiesta Division, Sugar Division and Orange Division. There are still the respective Bowl Games. This is followed by a BCS semifinal, and then a BCS championship game.

2011 Birdwatcher's Fat Man Challenge

Cutter's Log - Stardate 1102.20.10

There is a message board that I frequent that has a weight-loss challenge every year, going on for the past seven. I think I briefly was in it one of the first years.

But this time it's serious. All that rambling I was doing a couple of posts ago is about this.

My scale read 318.6 last night. I've only been going up until about two years ago when I was at 338. Then I got down to 297 this past March before working life swept me up.

As far as a goal is concerned, I'm going to go for a series of short-term goals. For example, I would like to get down to 290-300 by the end of January. Then another 10 in February, and so on until at I'm at least 200. I know there'll be struggles here and there, but I would really like to be at 200 no later than January 2 of 2012. This factors in Holiday pounds and the push to not eat as much in crunch time.

I grew up pretty sedentary, with the exception of a few years of little league baseball, and being able to ride my bicycle some far distances. That all ended with getting a car. There was one long bicycle ride I took to go see some friends at a softball game in Geneseo, as a surprise. I'd like to be able to do the same 10 years from that date (5/8/12), just to say I did it again. Anyway, this is someone who blew off the last three years of the mile-run in gym, has traveled many places for sports events and thus eating on the road a lot, and someone that really can't be figured out psychologically.

The cutbacks in portions and the increases in moving around better are going to come gradually, but only after cutting back on the intake a good chunk. Just saying I'll do away with this and do more of that isn't easy for me. I have to excel in HOW I do these things, and these things are a process. The Nike slogan just doesn't do it.

What shouldn't I be doing that is hurting me? - There are two or three nights that I am coming home from covering a game at some far away place. I usually get a quick bite to eat just before leaving the town I'm covering a game in, or leaving the nearest town with a drive-thru. The more farther away the game is from home, the most likely I'll eat on the road.

Just saying "stop it" isn't as easy as you think, because the one bump in the road can be fatal. What I am doing to curb this is to cover games closer to home (closer to home = less likely to stop). This kills two birds with one stone, as it should help website traffic from nearby Sterling/RF improve. By the time I do have to go somewhere far away, the desire to eat shouldn't be as great as it used to be.

Also, it has been hard for me, but I would like to trade in bottled pop at the concession stand for bottled water. I should probably consider the football pork chops as dinner, and the basketball pizza as dinner when necessary.

So the short version of this is: not eating as much on the road as I have been.

What do I need to do more of? - When I was in Chicago for New Years, I walked all over creation it seemed like looking for something to do. It turns out, after thinking about it for a while, that walking around a lot is actually a good thing to do. My little brother does it every day it seems like. I'm not ready to run yet, doing so throws my mind off-balance.

I've already started parking far away and walking quite a ways. That's a tiny start. I just have to get in the habit of doing it when I'm covering games. It seems like I try to find the closest space when I'm writing. That means getting to the place of the game EARLY.

I live in Sterling, and there are two high schools in Sterling. Getting back to birds and stones, heck I used to walk to and from the high school (3/4 mile) when I was a freshman. Newman is just another half-mile west. Rock Falls HS is about a 1.5 mile walk. I've dodged worse weather in walking to and from school. I shouldn't let the cold deter me. However, if I have errands to run at many different places, then I have no choice other than the car.

When I was on the Metra, I was thinking of the time spent walking. I was thinking briefly, if there's some good game pitting an NISB-area team at a school not too far from a Metra stop, just park in Elburn or Aurora or Elgin.

Aside from walking, our family got a Nintendo Wii for Christmas. Video games were a habit of mine (Marios 1, 2, 3, Lost Levels and SM World, as well as Sonic 1 and 2). I'm finding myself wanting to play more on the Wii than on the N64, Playstation and Xbox - three devices that I could never understand with all of the 3D involved. There's a Mario game on there that involves work with the arms, and there's a Wii Sports game where I can move around the living room.

How am I going to do all of this? - Change how I sleep.

The first thing I have to do is re-prioritize what I do during the day. On consecutive nights off of work I tend to sleep for 10-12 hours. I need to start getting seven hours of sleep every day.

When it comes to work, I need an hour to get ready (two hours if there are errands to be run). So it should work like this: Time of work [minus] one or two hours [equals] bed time.

I return to work on Monday morning at 11 a.m. If I were to get up at 10 a.m., I would need to go to sleep at 2:00 a.m.

I work nights again on Wednesday, at 5:00 p.m. If I were to get up at 4:00 p.m., I would need to go to sleep at 10:00 a.m. Sure this seems weird, but there can still be time to do walking and Wii'ing.

Ultimately, a goal is to be awake during more daytime hours than nighttime hours. That's going to be extremely hard. I used to tell myself that if I work up and then worked, I would perform much better than staying up and then working.

What's going to make changing the sleep pattern happen? Remembering to set the alarms, and then getting up after shutting the alarms off. Another factor in the sleep process are the dreams I am having. Yes, controlling my dreams. If there's not much in the dreams, I won't fall back into them after waking up. They say the dreams loosely tie things that happened in the past couple of days.

I think my fingers have gotten a good workout with this post. I think I'll see if the TV is open for the Wii.

Happy 2011!

Cutter's Log - Stardate 1102.10.10
Current Song - Deacon Blues (Steely Dan)

I knew I was going to do something for New Year's Eve. I didn't know exactly what. So I let the surroundings guide me around.

My grandparents thought it was a good idea to take the Metra from Elburn into Chicago. Turned out to be a fiscally good idea. Last year when I was in Chicago for Christmas Shopping, I parked at a parking garage. Between walking all over the towers and crossing the river 10 times, the parking bill was something like $29 or so.

Park in Elburn for only $1.25, go to Chicago for $6.50 and go back for another $6.50. Or, if it is the weekend, buy a Weekend Pass for $7 (I think, I made the mistake of buying two one-ways instead).

The trainride itself wasn't as enjoyable as I thought. Let me explain - all I do when I'm traveling and not driving is looking at the scenery. The windows are green-tilted and you couldn't really see out of them. Plus, it was dark out by the time I boarded the train.

What I did see were a lot of nice downtowns in the suburbs. Everyone thinks the suburbs are full of manufactured houses that look alike, divided highways with trees in the middle, and complex after complex of national chain stores. Just go into the heart of these towns and you'll find some good things. They do a good job in keeping their mom-and-pop stores open (compared to Sterling, where they may not last two years). Geneva, West Chicago, Winfield, Wheaton, Glen Ellyn, Lombard, Villa Park and Elmhurst. After that it gets dry. Perhaps one year it will be worth just getting a weekend pass and do shopping at these places. I remember one year being in Glen Ellyn for some Illinois HS Glory Days research on a high school, and the building was in a downtown bank building.

Half of our riders were college kids from Wheaton, that's when the most departures and arrivals occured.

I got into Chicago by maybe 8:00. So I thought I would just walk around and see what's happening. I was probably walking in the wrong part of downtown. Note to self - the Loop is full of work buildings. So after walking along Wacker Drive I got to Wacker and Michigan. I don't think I've photographed any other intersection more than this one.

It occured to me then that I wondered what my sister Diana was up to. She lives in one of the Loop apartments. I called her, and she was spending some time with her boyfriend that night. Still, it was nice to talk with her.

I wanted to go ring things in at the Original Billy Goat Tavern. I had been there a couple of times. It's a haven for newswriters, due to the Tribune Tower being almost just above it and the old Sun-Times building a couple of blocks away. For some reason it closed early and I was forced to change plans.

There was this restaurant on Wacker called Houlihan's, and I got there around 11:15. So I ate dinner there (good food) and ate as slow as I could while watching Chicago's televised version of the countdown. Around 11:40 or so the main TV turned to the Carson Daly countdown. I was wondering what was up with that, because that happened an hour ago (New York is in the Eastern time zone, and Chicago in the Central time zone).

This young couple from New York was sitting at the bar. There were only six of us left by 11:54. So they invited us all to the bar area. I had just finished by chicken strip dinner and took my refill of pop with me. At 11:56 the TV was put back on WLS. The New York couple was complaining. So I had to inform them about the fact that they are in Chicago and the time zone thing and such. The place was open for a few more minutes while I chinked my glass with the others.

It was a quiet walk back to the Metra station, compared to the hustle beforehand. I had four or five young couples ask me how to get to Navy Pier. From where I was standing at these times, it was hard for me to figure it out. I knew how to drive there using the bi-leveled streets, but walking there is another story.

The train ride gradually got quiet. I was the only one left in my car by the time Elburn came up. I was tired, and drove to the BP in Elburn for a drink. The clerk there had a problem with a young couple and felt bad about it because there were two young men and myself behind them. The clerk, an Indian, kept apologizing and all that. Pretty soon we were talking about gas station work because somehow I said "I also work at a gas station."

Whether the Dr. Pepper kept me awake is hard to tell. I drove down 88 to the DeKalb Oasis and decided to get some more pop. I don't know if it was me, or the ground, but I wound up driving over a large median. When I drove back, I saw signs for the East part of the Tollway and none for the West part of it. So I felt stupid having driven over the same median to get back to the correct part of the Oasis.

I got home safely and took a big nap. Maybe it was all the walking I did, which I don't mind a bit.

Straight Does It

Cutter's Log - Stardate 0102.13.21
Current Song - True (Spandau Ballet)

Apparently it's time. Apparently it's time that I get my priorities straight. Judging by a few events late this year, there has been some call for change. The change is to better myself in many ways.

The inital call was to get myself in shape. The discussion of that turned into a call for change in a few other areas. Most importantly, there needs to be a change in the way the sleeping goes. There are a lot of days that I sleep for 10-12 hours. Only I know why it's so. It has to do with the dreams that happen that night.

So the dreaming needs to be controlled. Dreaming has to do with what happens the night before. What is done the night before has triggered the long dreams. The No. 1 thought process is that of the long desire. That will need to be curbed. This will be done by changing what is already done. No more seeing things that trigger these emotions. That means a change in the coverage schedule. AND WAKING UP WHEN THE ALARM TELLS ME TO!

If you can figure out what this is, then this will be complimented with the bombing of certain subscriptions. A certain subscription of mine is staling off a bit. The freshness is getting stale, and what's left is only history. The other thing to compliment this is to close off something else that is very useful. This will require a change in a coverage thing.

Good-bye YouTube and Wikipedia?

Time on the computer will be limited, by means of restricting certain things. It should lessen the time spent. Another time shortener is this blog. Spending too much time writing in here. It doesn't mean this will be gone, but shorter blog entries maybe. Writing with less words.

Start here, and we'll see how far I go.

2010 YIR

Cutter's Log - Stardate 0102.82.21
Current Song - Boomin' Bump (John Baker)

You want to know about my 2010? Simply click on "2010" under "Blog Archive" to the right of your screen. You may be reading for a while.

But in short:

I achieved an academic milestone - the Associates in the Arts in Mass Communication

I kept a job for the full year for the second straight year - never happened before

NISB has never been more popular - probably better than not working at a paper in six years

I made every baseball fan's pilgrimage at the ripe old age of 23 - Cooperstown

I made every football fan's pilgrimage at the ripe old age of 23 - Canton

It's nice to see everyone's okay - celebrating the five-year high school reunion

Kicked a habit - retiring from baseball card collecting

Found my future - NIU, some time.

Aside of the accomplishments and enjoyments, I will remember this year as one of transition.

I found out a lot about myself personally. I'm starting to find out the difference between "friends" and "people I know." It's like shaking that box with the filter in it. I have begun to associate myself with other people within the high school sports world.

As my classmates move on in many different directions, I haven't been in contact with them as much as I was from 5th grade to high school graduation. There's a group of people that's been around you for so long, and when they leave you're left with very few. Well, that's when you man up and grab something. I feel like I'm doing this with the friendships I have in the high school sports world.

While finding people to be friends with is on the right track, what still hasn't been on the right track is finding that certain woman. I just can't make a predction for 2011 when it comes to this. However, I have learned certain things this year that may help me in this regard.

There have been a couple of women that have pushed the trigger in my brain over the past year; and they have one thing in common. They were not links from school. So there's people out there, I guess. So I was faced with a decision of either turning back and going forward. Turning back isn't a good idea, because the field has dried up. So I guess it's marching forward.

What do I mean by "turning back?" There were a lot of girls I know in my school days. I can't go back and try to go forward with them. They've moved on. I understand that. But there are still a few small ones lingering around that I can't get out of my head, in addition to one big one. She was in the forefront of my mind throughout most of my teenage school life. While she was shuffled around in favor of other crushes at certain times, she still lingers in my mind.

She's the last link from school. I can't decide whether to keep it or sever it. I will find out soon.

4 Things They Can Do Without

I just look at these things and go, WHY? It's a waste of time.

1. NORAD's Santa Tracker - Not because we know there's no such real person, but because how do we determine the north and south locations of Santa? Does he go from Galena to Cairo, or Cairo to Galena? Besides, noe of the little boys and girls will be awake when the moment strikes.

2. Author pictures on front cover of novels - This isn't the music industry. Nor is this a person's opinion. I've never understood why we see more of a picture of, say, Stephanie Meyer, or the name "Stephanie Meyer" than we do the title. To me, we read things because of what it's about, not because of the author's name. This same philosophy goes for high school sportswriting, IMO.

3. Self checkouts wherever there are regular ones - Maybe it's just me, but it seems longer to go though a self-checkout than a regular checkout. Suppose you just want two things. You have to put them in the bag one-by-one. Then you have to press buttons on a screen, sometimes twice if the screen is touchy. Then you have to put the dollar bill in a certain way, and not fold it, and hope it doesn't reject it. Then there's a pause before your change comes out. Sometimes you-centered things don't work out as well. Plus, isn't there a good chance that shoplifters can foil the system using these things?

4. The ESPN ticker during a rebroadcast of a game late at night - Those who work second shift and miss these games live and hope for an overnight rebroadcast. However, when this happens, you have the ESPN ticker scrolling around. They'll even show you the final score of the game you are watching, and who the stars of the game were.

So Much for Hiatuses

Cutter's Log - Stardate 0102.22.21
Current Song - American Boy (Estelle/Kanye West)

I was in a real crappy mood for a couple of days there this past weekend. Let me kind of explain what happened.

On Wednesday I was up all night working on a few things and decided not to sleep on Thursday morning. I worked on Thursday and the night just didn't go all that great. So I got home, slept for a few hours, and went back to work at 11 Friday morning. Another day of work, another not-so-good day.

There was a game in Rock Island I wanted to see, and I drove there right after work. There was another problem related to the website that bogged me for a while. There was no parking near the school, and the closest place I could park was in a Post Office parking lot down a hill. I had to walk up it, and down it in the snow. I slipped on the way down and ripped what I thought were my best work pants. The drive home wasn't that great, and I wound up just blowing off the entire story because of my frustration.

Website-related troubles continued into Saturday, when I worked. I had Sunday off of work, which kind of helped calm me down. The website things were going okay now and I tried to freshen myself up on a clean slate. I was just so irritated by things that I wrote the stuff I wrote in the past couple of entries.

But things have been going okay lately.

We had a snowstorm on Monday night as I was working. This decreased the customer flow and I was way ahead of schedule. It was a happy work night for a change. Then there was a game on Tuesday at Port Byron Riverdale. Part of the reason why I was unable to do the Rocky-Moline writeup was because I didn't write my notes quick enough. There is a Shell truck stop in Hillsdale and I decided to write my notes there and drive back with a "spine" of sorts to write. Anyway, Newman beat Riverdale in boys basketball.

It felt really good doing the things I like doing: and that's high school sports reporting. I covered the Montini-Hononegah game of the Sterling Girls Shootout tonight, and was pleased that I got the article done in timely fashion.

So I'm in a good mood right now. Plus, they say another snowstorm is coming tomorrow night. So if the customers don't come, it will be another good day.

I work from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve - when we open the presents from Mema and Kimmy. I work from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Christmas Day - when we open the presents from my dad's family. Technically, this is the start of my one-week vacation.

I don't work at all on the day after Christmas - when we open the presents from mom and dad. This is because my mom is working on Christmas Eve and most of Christmas Day, so we're opening presents a day late. It's a third day of Christmas, the way I look at it.

As far as my vacation goes, I have decided that I'm not going anywhere from the 26th to 29th. There's just nowhere to go. But I will be using this time to think up where I want to go from March 20-27. I'm thinking Myrtle Beach.

So in those few days after Christmas, I would like to see some sports. Technically, this is vacation from work and I will be doing something I enjoy.

Monday 12/27 - OFF (yay!)
Tuesday 12/28 - E.C. Nichols boys basketball Tournament @ Marengo - or maybe OFF
Wednesday 12/29 - Dixon girls basketball Tournament
Thursday 12/30 - Warkins Cardinal Classic @ Erie (both boys and girls)

Still thinking about Chicago for New Year's. I was told that Chicago is a very good place for New Years. Still looking for suggestions.

Hopefully the coming days and the vacation turn out well. No more hiatuses for now.

Chess

Cutter's Log - Stardate 0102.02.21
Current Song - One Night in Bangkok (Murray Head)

I'm a skilled chess player.

No, not the chess with kings and queens and rooks and knights and pawns. The OTHER kind of chess.

Yeah, THAT kind of chess.

Don't mess with me. There's no more eating me alive anymore. There's no more pushing me aside so you can get what you want. There's no more weaseling your way around me. Try to, and you'll feel it, literally. My shields are up and I'm on red alert.

The first step in making sure I actually survive and not get pushed around is indefinately ceasing blog entries on here. That way, in order to read my mind, you'll have to do more than just see what I'm writing about.

Tough.

Things That Annoy Me

Cutter's Log - Stardate 0102.91.21
Current Song - My City Was Gone (The Pretenders)

Having worked with the public for nearly five years at gas stations, I have seen people from all walks of life. Likewise, there are many things that annoy me about certain people and certain things. I'm someone who tries to figure out the world around me, apparently since I'm stuck in my own.

People will do these things, and I have to quietly ask myself "WHY?" or end up slapping my hand on my forehead. These are pet peeves and more than them.

These are things that annoy me. I have a short list, and you can complete it. Maybe we can understand what gives for all of these, and all of yours (in a "trading post" fashion).



These are things that annoy me:

1. People who look at this list and proceed to say or do something on this list to see how I will react. My condition makes me very vulnerable to teasing, and I don't like it.

2. People walking inside during the winter and saying that it's cold outside. Well, DUH!!! It's not a conversation piece anymore, it's meant to make you feel better. Cut the puppy eyes.

3. People that pronounce "pennies" like "pEEnEEs" or "pinees." They're probably obsolete, but quit making them seem cute. The first part of the word "pennies" is "pen," which is pronounced with a schwa (the upside down 'e').

4. They are GIFT cards, not GAS cards. So much for the "special" part of the present.

5. People who refuse to buy the Dixon Telegraph if there are no Sterling Gazettes left. The same stories are in the two papers, just three or four pages off. If this bothers you, it tells me you have little patience.

6. People who see an "Out of Order" sign, and then ask if it's out of order.

7. When a discription of a complaint has a TON of "I"s, "me"s and "my"s. The first person isn't going to solve the problem, it's just going to solve YOUR problem. So much for "making a difference."

8. When there are not enough parking spaces to accomodate a crowd. There's a particular basketball game I attend every two years at this location. It's been going on for nearly 100 years. What's worse is when you're forced to park in a business's parking lot DOWNHILL from the building, and have to walk up it and then down it. Bonus points: Name the school.

9. I've never fully understood the infatuation with Copenhagen Snuff chewing tobacco. Apparently it's fresh until it's coming right from the assembly line right after canning? Send it to the warehouse, and apparently it's stale? So it nerves me to hear about stale Copenhagen. Yet, the company can't seem to make a product that lasts?

10. When there are no rosters at the door at high school sports contests. Tournaments I understand, but when it's two teams going against each other how are we supposed to know who is who? The PA isn't enough.

11. Black Friday clerks asking you whether or not you'd like to apply for their shopping card, or talk about some special offer. Take this garbage talk out and the lines would move more, and perhaps Friday will be less "black."

12. Those who can't figure out the difference between a school's "conference" and "division."

13. Wrestling fans who cringe when they hear the word "basketball." You don't hear basketball fans cringe when they hear "wrestling."

14. Bill facing. Period. When a single is turned over, folded, or slightly tilted, it's still a one-dollar bill.

15. The Northern Illinois Big 12 bowling and golf scoring formats. Bowling is scored on individual vs. individual, while the conference golf tournament is composed of "conference points" rather than the performance at the tournament. Is it really that necessary to be unique? It's like you're demanding attention.

16. People announcing to me the price of the item at another store. What do you want me to do about it? Another thing about that: are we high, or are they low?

17. "Call it both ways!" (My high school sports peeps don't need an explanation on this one.)

18. I have not, and will not, buy a Garmin, Tom Tom or any other GPS system. That being said, I can't stand people who drive while using the system as the only means of navigation, and not looking at the signs posted.

19. (feel free to comment to add to this list)

Vacation Planning

Cutter's Log - Supplemental

I have asked for Dec. 26 though Jan. 2 off of work. I haven't really planned any "trip," like the one I spent this past spring when I went to Cooperstown and Canton. A real "trip" will be made the week after state basketball is done.

There will be one day of interruption, as December 30 is the final day of the Warkins Cardinals Classic boys basketball tournament in Erie. I have covered the final day for the past four years. I don't plan on changing the annual commitment anytime soon.

Simply put, I'm looking for more of a getaway from the 26th to the 29th: staying overnight somewhere on the 26th, 27th and 28th to return on the 29th and stay at home. I've been to Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, Indy, St. Louis, all within a day's drive from Sterling. I'm still thinking about where to go. Or even perhaps somewhere small with a good Christmas Tournament? I'm still thinking about where to go.

The day after Warkins is New Year's Eve. For the past four years I've spent this night working. Not anymore. Before then I stayed home and one year was spent at the grandparents' house. Rather than spending the night somewhere, I'd rather drive back in the wee hours of the morning.

So I'm looking for somewhere to spend midnight at. Chicago? Milwaukee? Indy? St. Louis? Elsewhere???? I'm looking for suggestions.

The Great Migration? Yeah Right

Cutter's Log - Stardate 0102.61.21
Current Song - nWo Theme

My one-year study on the effects of the Great Migration of the NISB boards is complete.

My findings show that, in terms of overall coverage area geography, message board posts have been confined to a smaller location. Posts from outside this location have seen a dropoff. Furthermore, posts from veteran message board posters have dropped off.

What was promised from this Great Migration was the expansion of traffic on the message boards with the new postings next to the usual postings. Well, the usual postings have been nowhere to be found. This wasn't what I thought would happen. The mood has changed, and it's changed for the worse.

The message board is something that I've tried to make something different than the label that they are used to: a sewer of negativity. I've imagined a place where coaches and players of these teams can even wander around without feeling frightened about certain posts. There's too much fright going on in the past year. That very fright is preventing the full geographical representation from appearing. It's exactly what I feared, and hoped wouldn't happen. Well, it's happened.

The Board in the past year, and even the website to a certain degree, has seen a rise in avoidance. The increased website traffic presence from the southeast corner, thanks to my three contributors, is keeping it afloat. So, why it is missing from the Message Boards?

So, time to get out the old flyers and do something about it.

Trapped

Cutter's Log - Stardate 0102.11.21
Current Song - How Can I Be Sure (The Rascals)

I have been told I have a lot of potential. Ironically, if only I moved.

What's keeping me bogged down these past few years is a conflict between dreams, wants/needs, independence, money, morals, reputation, and many other things. It's like a large pile of wires that need straightened out. By "bogged down," I mean I'm not moving forward at all at this point in time. I would ask myself why everyone else can figure this out and I can't. It's the way I think, that's the answer. So I have to budge the way I think in order to get moving again.

I'd like to get moving again. Here's my story:

Right now I live paycheck-to-paycheck. The money I make at work goes toward fuel for the car, work on the car, bills, NISB, and the little shopping I do. The paycheck dries up in a hurry. Then comes the next paycheck, and that dries up in a hurry. I guess in a way this curbs my spending, and I won't eat as much as I should - and there goes the weight. But I still find myself stalling.

Take out the Shell gig and I'll have nothing, really. There's nothing open THAT I CAN ACTUALLY DO - journalism-related and non-related - that is paying more money that what I make at Shell at the moment. What I mean by "what I can actually do" is, I can't do something I don't like doing. This just keeps frying my mind and goals. Factory work tires me, I know this because I once tried it and didn't last a whole shift before I walked out. I guess my eye-hand coordination is shot. It's too bad nothing high school sports journalism-related that I can actually do is open - this would merge working and hobbying into one with time to spare.

So meanwhile, I'm stuck here not going forward yet. What's it going to take to fix this mess?

I don't think I can start alone. I want support. That I have from my closest family. What else? Perhaps the key to unlocking this trap door is establish some sort of social life?

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about how I couldn't seem to enjoy things socially. How bad has it been? It has been so bad, that I am slurring and bungling my words from not speaking so much. That may be changing. There are four good friends of mine I have met in the past year though high school sports. I don't know how they look at me, but I look at them as good friends that I apparently do not annoy. Three of them help me out on the writing part of the website, and the other has in the past. I just hope I can maintain these friendships, or even expand on them or expand on the number of friends I have.

There's this feeling that friends, and support from these friends, lead to confidence in doing things. I don't think I have much confidence at this time. But with friends, that's something that can be worked on.

Off to listen to a radio show that I should be listening to every week at this time.

What Some Songs Do

Cutter's Log - Supplemental

I can't even remember when the line was crossed when comparing website work with one of the things I yearn for in my personal life.

Working on the website involves a lot of time, and when there's a lot of time I get bored in the repetitive processes. So I listen to a mix of music. Things I write and see judge the playlist.

Well, something was seen and something was written about.

If you're a follower of this blog (and great thanks to the one of you), you'll know that establishing a "status quo" personal life is difficult for me. That's why I've had nearly 40 crushes, and only once tried to break through. Then over these few years, things started to go sour like an 80s rock band going into the 00s. But like some of these, they come back and do a token performance.

Bull. Here I come.

Try to Take a Guess at What This Means

Cutter's Log - Stardate 0102.20.21
Current Song - Take a Bow (Madonna)

Although quite endangering to the curious mind, I can't help but react to strange news I saw yesterday.

It does what it wants to do, but a barrier thought to be hidden approached it. Now the fight to survive carries on, but it's been known not to work effectively. How disappointing.

There, I typed it off my chest.

TIME! Marches on!

Land of Confusion

Cutter's Log - Stardate 0102.52.11
Current Song - Land of Confusion (Genesis)

A lot of people liked the fact that I had a great memory when I was younger.

I guess you can figure out the theme here.

This is one of those weeks when childhood friends come back to town from wherever they are. Those I haven't seen in months, and even years. I'd see them every day at school or every week elsewhere. Then we graduated high school and took the first train out of town following the graduation ceremony. I wouldn't see them for years.

In the five years since I graduated high school, a lot of things can change among us. Physically we get a little heavier, especially those women that have kids at the moment.

I saw many people I haven't seen in a while tonight at the gas station. My best friend from grade school, Jared, stopped by. I recognized him in an instant. Another friend, Corey, also stopped in. It went on for a while, up until about midnight.

There was this girl that came in and adressed me by name. Obviously she knew me, but I couldn't quite figure out who she was. I'm going through my database of friends inside my brain, and I couldn't come up with a match. Then she asked how Mike, Chris and Dan were doing.

I kind of figured out she was probably one of my friends from Sterling, considering that nearly all of my friends from Rock Falls don't know the names of my three brothers. Since she knew the names of my brothers, I figured it had to be someone near my graduating class that had brothers and sisters the same age as my brothers.

So who would know my three brothers? It took me a while and I thought of only one option, given the description of this girl. It just didn't seem like her.

Okay, so I thought of cousins from both sides of my family. Nope.

Then I thought of kids on my old block in Rock Falls, as well as my old block in Sterling. Rock Falls didn't turn up any matches. Then back to Sterling, where I lived from age 2 to age 7. There was only one possible person. Then I'm going, how would she remember Dan or Chris?

I gave up. I didn't ask her who she was, because I would feel stupid if it were someone obvious. Then there goes a rumor that I have alzheimers, and so on and so on ...

I've had these kinds of brain farts a few times at the gas stations. Whenever I do, it seems to be someone from Sterling. I, for some reason, remember my Rock Falls friends better than I do my Sterling friends.

At least I have some criteria to go by when trying to figure out who someone is without asking their name.

I think why this is happening is because I don't spend a lot of time around those that I have been around with back then anymore. A bunch of high school sports stuff pushes this kind of memory back deeper and deeper.

I still think back to my class reunion where someone told me that I don't get out a lot because I'm too busy. Then I try to eliminate some of this busyness. Can't do it. On the days I'm not working, I'm covering something. I dedicate the day to covering the event, and I have stats and story angles and such in continual thought for hours before the game.

Not trying to put an autistic angle to things, but it seems we all gather around a different group of people after we become disconnected from the long association that is K-12 schooling. It's taken my a few years to find my kind of circle, but I'd like to say that I have a lot of good sportswriting friends out there and high school sports friends (even if they don't consider me a "friend" but rather an acquaintence). Outside of sportswriting, I have a few friends from the gas station.

Those friends at the gas station I see more often than I do my sportswriting friends. Of the people I know outside of work customers, family, co-workers and these work friends, I see the area's sportswriters more often than I do friends from school. I think I've covered games with more than 50 sportswriters in the area I cover. Some I see at least 10 times a year, others less.

So there's this group of people that do the same things I do, and enjoy doing it. I remember moving back to Sterling after a few years in Rock Falls, and how hard it was to make friends. I feel the same way now with these people. It's extremely difficult for me to make friends, given my autistic nature. But I'm not going to let that restrain me.

Conversation pieces are abundant: from the high school sports scene, doing our jobs, and the inner workings of the game we're covering. I guess from there it expands outward?

I've always wondered how people I know take the fact that I go see high school sports events at someplace where I don't even know one person. If anything, the only person I know is likely the sportswriter or coach.

Sideline vs. Press Box

Cutter's Log - Stardate 0102.81.11
Current Song - We Almost Lost Detroit (Marquis Porter)

Today, something was revisited to make me go back and find what was written earlier in a Publisher's Desk blog:

"Speaking of deterring my way of covering things, I'm considered a "sideline reporter" for football games, as opposed to reporting from a press box. A couple of times I have been informed of a new rule regarding media restrictions at football games at the 20-yard lines. For years, sideline reporters like myself can intermix with the bench and watch what goes on near the 50-yard line. What if something important happens at midfield? From our vantage point at the 20-yard line, not much is seen. How are we supposed to accurately tell what happened? Go to the press box? There's no room in most press boxes for that one extra reporter. And why was this rule in place, anyway? As long as we do our job properly, don't interfere with us, please."

Is there not enough "box" for the "press?" Seems to be this way.

In the past few years there has been a growth in the number of "press" in Illinois high school sports. The newspapers all point to me and blame me for that :)

It's not as if my husky body takes up space in a press box, but rather they cringe at the sight of a start-up publication. Likely this particular start-up publication is there for a purpose: to be better than the newspapers. Not NISB. At least not since the doctrine that I layed out in this past NISB State of the Site Address. We're here to supplement the newspapers, and work together with them.

Along with writing journalists (this meaning someone like me and a newspaper writer), there are radio journalists and even television crews. There needs to be room for them, too.

Plus when it comes to playoffs, a newspaper will send an extra reporter or two, or three, or even four to write a sidebar or two, or three, or four.

There's only so much room in a press box, and I understand this. I'm a young person, so I can run around a sideline.

Here's where the problem lies:

Certain schools are trying to limit the use of sideline space for reporters. One particular school has a rule where you can't go between the "twenties" on the sideline. This same school is covered by at least five different newspapers, two radio stations and a television crew. That's just the home media. That's not including the box crew, visiting media and the coordinator coaches. This partiular box is "spacious" according to them.

When you limit my sideline space, I'm not going to be happy.

Could we perhaps run from 20 to 20 when the ball goes into the other team's territory (crossing the 50)? If we can't even do that, we've got a problem. Our vantage point after about 20 yards or so becomes rocky. If we are supposed to write about key runs using detail, and perhaps use the paint-a-picture lede, it is somewhat distrupted by the fact that we aren't closer to the action.

I've been roaming football sidelines for only nine years, but I think I've been to enough high school football fields to say this: I've never had a problem with coaches while trying to write about something, shoot something or film something. The closest I've come from being told something by a coach was in a big game for this particular team, and the coach was very nervous because he kept yelling at everyone to go back five feet from him. Couldn't blame him, it was an important divisional game.

Nowhere in the new IHSA State Series Press Box Priority List does it state the sideline limitation, so it's a school-based rule. I hope no more schools catch up to this. I'm sure the schools look forward to great and accurate coverage by their newspaper or website. If it's their sideline enforcement that makes us write shotty articles, don't come running to us. "We USED to be able to do this, and not any more."

Hall of Fame

Cutter's Log - Stardate 0102.61.11
Current Song - Something About You (Level 42)

I found out tonight that the Winter 2011 Induction for the SHS Athletic Hall of Fame will be on January 28. I am a member of the 2001-02 girls basketball team as a manager.

Looking forward to the event.