Not the blog, but me. I'm done with school, and I'm skipping the whole graduation ceremony this weekend since I already went through it once at Penn State, plus my friend told me he spent over $1700 on tickets and cap & gown rental. Screw that noise.

Since a whole lotta people seemed interested/concerned over my little plight with Amanda, here's an update:

I didn't talk to Amanda at all on Tuesday, which was the first time since I met her in November that I hadn't talked to her at least once over the course of a day. And you know what? It fuckin' killed me. I was completely miserable all day, and thank God I didn't have a final that day cause I was not in the right frame of mind. Call me a wuss if you want, but I was a frickin' wreck.

She works late on Wednesdays, so I went home after my final and killed time by packing and helping the new kid move into my apartment and stuff like that. Ten o'clock rolled around and I headed over to her house to see if she'll talk to me. I was sure her sorority sisters had a field day bashing my the past couple of days, and that was verified with a nice little "Mandy (apparently they call her Mandy) doesn't want to see your worthless ass" welcome phrase as I approached the front door. Ouch, my pride. I managed to avoid the swarm of obscenities thrown my way and made it door, and her little sister Rachel answered. It's not her biological sister, but in sororities and stuff the new pledges are "adopted" by one of the older members who looks out for them and stuff during their time at in the sorority.

Rachel is the only girl in the house besides Amanda that knows me as more than just some guy dating one of the girls, so luckily she hears me out and goes to see if Amanda wants to talk to me. While I'm waiting my spirit is half broken from what all the other sorostitutes are saying to me (man, girls are friggin' vicious), but thankfully Amanda eventually made her way down the steps (still in her scrubs, yummy) to come talk to me. Completely unprepared as usual, I just kind of stood there in silence for a couple of seconds before she asked me if I wanted to grab a bite to eat.

I'm a sucker for comedy - standup, slapstick, any kind really - but more often than not a good comedian provides some valuable life lessons in the midst of their hilarity. Take this line from Van Wilder for example: "Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you anywhere." Now tell me that's not the truth. I'm bringing this up because a couple months ago I saw Kevin James (the fat guy from King of Queens) do a standup on Comedy Central, and he mentioned something every man should take full advantage of: notice something special about you girl during some special event - first date, first anniversary, whatever - and bring it up at a later date.

So we're at this little Mexican joint waiting for the food and it's kinda awkward. There's not much more than small talk going on when she asked me if I remember the first time we went to this restaurant. After accessing the memory bank, I come back with "Yeah, that was the time you wore those contacts that made your eyes the same purple color as the dress you wore. You looked beautiful that night." Hook, line and sinker. "Oh my gosh, you remember that?"she asked as she practically melted in her seat. "Of course I remember that, how could I forget" I replied in my most caring voice. That completely broke the ice (thanks a ton Kevin James), I apologized for being a douchebag and we started talking about us and everything.

I turns out she was just as miserable as me the day we didn't talk (booya! score one for my ego), and we've decided tokeep things going between us once we both move. Even though I said I wouldn't do a long distance relationship, I'm going to give it a shot because I realize how much she means to me. If things don't work out, then so be it. If I end up moving to San Diego in a year or she moves to NY, then that would be great. Chances are I'd move there, cause she'll be in medical school and there's no way I could ask her to leave that. All I know is that without her, I'm a disaster. She keeps me sane and makes everything so much better when I can share it with her. (awwww, how cute)

So I'm driving her home to San Diego later today and I'll be there with her until Saturday morning when she leaves for her 2 week trip to Europe with one of her girlfriends that she's been planning forever. Hopefully when we go to beach this time I won't scream like a little girl when I see a shark that in actuality is nothing more than a little 3 foot baby dolphin (dude, the fin was sticking out of the water). Anywho, after she leaves I'm driving up to go meet up with some buddies at the most beautiful and most romantic place on Earth: Las Vegas. After a night in Vegas, I'm going to go visit one of my old roommates from Penn State where he lives in Denver (ah the Sunshine State) for a day, then from there it's back to Jersey.

I made it from my mother's house in Jersey to Chico in 58 hours last time I drove across the country, but I hit snow and ice in Nebraska and Wyoming, otherwise I think I could have made it in 50 hours flat. Based on that, I think I can make it from Denver to Jersey in 35 hours, putting me on schedule to arrive in the Tri-State Area sometime Tuesday evening/night. If that holds up, I'll return to IGWT sometime next Wednesday. If I don't return ever, that means either a) I died in a horrible car wreck somewhere in Iowa, or b) I hit it big in Vegas and am currently in negotiations with Mr. Steinbrenner to become the principal owner of the Yanks.

So long California!

Down on the Farm:

Triple-A Columbus (2-1 loss to Richmond in 12 innings, I don't think the Yanks would be dumb enough to flat out bench Eric Duncan for this long, so he must be nursing something)
Kevin Thompson: 0 for 5, 3 K
Andy Cannizaro: 1 for 4, 1 RBI, 1 HBP
Jason Conti: 0 for 5, 2 K
Rob Stratton: 0 for 5, 3 K
Carlos Pena: 0 for 4, 1 BB, 2 K
Mitch Jones: 0 for 5, 2 K
Danny Garcia: 1 for 4, 1 R
Wil Nieves: 1 for 2, 1 2B
Kris Wilson: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 1 HB - 11-6 GB/FB ratio
Matt Smith: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

Double-A Trenton (7-3 win over Portland)
Gabe Lopez: 1 for 4, 1 BB, 1 K
Bronson Sardinha: 1 for 5, 1 R, 1 3B, 1 K
Randy Ruiz: 4 for 5, 2 R, 2 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 K - he's been a godsend for this team (.923 OPS)
Shelley Duncan: 1 for 4, 1 BB, 2 K
Omir Santos: 1 for 3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
Kevin Howard: 2 for 4, 1 R, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 E (throwing)
Justin Christian: 1 for 3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 SB - on pace for 70 SBs, and he just might do it
Rudy Guillen: 1 for 4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI
Carl Pavano: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K - what a complete waste of $40M. I hope he cashes those $417,000 checks every 2 weeks with a paper bag covering his head.
Jeremy King: 3 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
JB Cox: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K - scoreless innings streak ends at 21, but that's like picking on the Mona Lisa for her smile (44-13 GB/FB ratio on the year)
Justin Pope: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K - stranded all 3 inherited runners

High-A Tampa (3-2 loss to Vero Beach)
Brett Gardner: 2 for 5, 1 K, 1 SB - 37 games into the season and he's still getting on base more than 50% of the time (.504 OBP)
Eduardo Nunez: 1 for 4, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 E (fielding) - on pace for 51 errors this year
Cody Ehlers: 0 for 2, 3 BB - the Jason Giambi of the Florida State League
Marcos Vechionacci: 1 for 4, 1 BB
Hector Made: 2 for 4, 2 SB
Tim Battle: 0 for 4, 2 K
Phil Coke: 7.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K - 14-6 GB/FB ratio

Low-A Charleston (5-2 win over Savannah)
Austin Jackson: 1 for 4, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 SB
Reegie Corona: 2 for 4, 1 R
Jose Tabata: 1 for 3, 1 K - led the GCL in SB last year, yet he was replaced with a pinch runner in 6th inning of this game (I hope he didn't get hurt)
CJ Henry: 2 for 3, 2 2B, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HBP
Chris Malec: 1 for 3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 K
Wilkins Arias: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K - 9-1 GB/FB ratio
Zach Kroenke: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K - 6-1 GB/FB ratio

Is this not the most annoyingly catchy song in the history of recorded music? I don't listen to this kind of crap, but it trapped me in the car last night and it hasn't left my head since. Dammit.