My world

Holy smokes did we have a close call today. A little too close for my liking. And thankfully, it ended with no problems.

I got up this morning and went on the computer. Went to HooHaa and I get a godaddy page. All it says is my domain expired and I better renew if I want to keep it. Right next to it, the page showed something about “Want to purchase HooHaa.com? Go here!” Or some crap like that.

Well, as you can imagine, I freaked.

So I go to the website, trying to renew my domain. I can’t remember my customer number. I also can’t have it e-mailed to me, because the e-mail they have on file doesn’t work anymore. So now I’m really freaking. I mean, hell, I’m thinking I have like 10 minutes to renew or lose and there are like 50 people there looking to swoop in and get the domain (don’t laugh, maybe not 50, but I’ve had several people offer to buy the domain from me).

So I run to my laptop, which of course takes like 5 minutes to turn on, and get into my emails. I can’t find the info. So I call them and the first number tells me that their mailbox is full. Goodie, I’m thinking, I’m gonna lose this domain because they can’t answer their phones.

Then I call billing and get someone, who is quite helpful, even though I must have sounded annoyed and anxious. Anyway, within 5-10 minutes, he had me all up to date, renewed for two years (so we won’t have to worry about this until 2007), and a promise my site would be up within 24 hours. For me, it was 30 minutes and hopefully for the rest of you, it will be quicker than 24 hours, too.

Anyway, thankfully things are back to normal, kind of. Now I can go get some things done today!

Well, got back from the New York State 10-Man B State Tournament for modified-pitch softball on Sunday.

Unfortunately, it was without any hardware.

We went 2-2 and had to play all our games Saturday. And this is where I’ll go into a slight rant and if you’re not into softball, you might be like “What the hell?”

The tournament was 27 teams, which is the biggest I’ve ever seen for this tournament. And I’ve been going for probably 12 years. I love the fact the tournament has grown because it shows softball is doing well. At the same time, it hasn’t grown with true “B” teams, rather “A” teams finding ways to slip through and drop down to have a better chance at winning. This will all make sense later.

We open the tournament with an ass-whipping. We get up 11-0 on this team, our pitcher had a no-hitter going through four innings, and we were all set to end this in five with the run-rule. Instead, one of our players mentions the no-no, it ends with two outs in the fifth, they score three and we move on. We ended up winning like 12-3 or some crap like that.

Then we have to play right away. In the winners bracket. Unreal. AND we have to travel to another field, which is BS. We get there and who do I see? This A pitcher I know. And his team isn’t B by any means. We get lambasted, they hit a shitload of homers off us and we’re knocked in the losers bracket. We basically had no chance after the second inning or so.

We then have to play right away _ again. At the same field at least. It’s against a team we have played a bunch before up at this tournament. And we haven’t ever lost to them.

You know, when you play sports, there are teams you just can’t seem to lose to? They are that way to us.

It didn’t look good, however. We’re down 5-1, they are owning us and then one inning went crazy. We scored seven, took the lead and rolled from there. I think the final was 13-5 or something along those lines.

But, turnabout is fair play, I guess. See, we also have those teams we can’t ever seem to beat at this tournament. And next up was them. We led, 6-5, entering the seventh. Got tight, gave up two, didn’t score in the bottom, and lost, 7-6, and got eliminated from the tournament.

All in all, I guess it’s OK. We’ve had some good strides at the tournament the last year. And we haven’t played great the whole season, but here we played pretty decent. I would have liked to have placed a lot higher, but you can’t do anything about it.

The only thing that sucks is we had a deep team there this year. We had a total of 17 who went up and everyone got at least one at-bat and got into most games, which was pretty sweet.

For those that actually know us, the team shot will likely be up in the gallery soon under my random shots.

Next up is to finish the regular season, move into playoffs, and plan for nationals.

I got the new car and it kicks ass. I’m going to really get to try it out en route to Cortland today for states. I’m leaving in about an hour and can’t wait. The car is comfortable, roomy and a fun drive. I think I made the right decision in going with the new car and the lease.

The dealership even called me today with a follow-up call to see how I liked it. Awesome!

And now, it’s off to states. A 27-team tournament with a lot of good teams. Just hoping we can play well and place. And if all goes well, maybe we can get on a roll and win the damn thing. But, to win that tournament, you need to play a flawless weekend, hit well, and have some luck riding with you. Hopefully we get all three and good pitching.

Anyhoo, I’ll try and post more photos of the car in my gallery at the end of the weekend. Hopefully I’ll get some good shots!

Well, today’s the day. The new Jetta. At least all the paper work. I’m hoping they’ll be able to prep the car in time to indeed hook me up with it by this afternoon. I won’t be able to stand to wait another day knowing all the paper work is done and the car is supposed to be mine!

This will also be my first “new” car. Although it’s actually not being owned by me, it’s still my first new car and I’m pretty pumped about it.

I actually slept decent last night, which shocked me. But I woke up around 6 a.m. and was like “Oh damn, I’m never going to be able to get back to sleep.” But I did, thankfully.

If I get the vehicle tonight, I’ll take some shots and post them in the gallery and maybe one here. Hopefully all goes well!

Ha. Get it? End of the road? I’m getting a car. Road. Ha! Nevermind…

Well, I’ve given a lot of thought to all this and finally came up with a decision. And I went in a total different direction.

I sat down and discussed the car situation with my mother today. Good advice giver those parents can be. And usually, when I can’t make any sense _ AND _ no matter how old I get, parents still are good ones to turn to. Anyway, after realizing I needed to weigh my options and the pros and cons to the Integra, I opted to call around to see if any local dealers had any 5-speeds.

Oh, backing up a bit, I found out for sure the lemon law doesn’t cover private sales. And I didn’t want to get hosed.

So I’m calling around and the second place I call is the VW dealership here. They have some audis, some VWs, all high miles and a little over my range. But they had a Dodge Dakota. Whooopie.

Off the cuff, I ask about leasing. They have the $199 per month deal going for a 2005 Jetta. I say I need more than 12,000 miles though and he says we can do whatever. So he prices 15,000 per year _ 209 per month. Sweet. The one I drove was 212 cause it had a couple other options. No moon roof, but it is a 5-speed.

So I go try one out. I love it. Drives nice, it’s sweet. I’m in like flint, so to speak. On Thursday, I go back to do all the paper work. Hopefully by the time I head to work Thursday, I’ll have some new wheels.

And so ends my journey. Seems like it all happened for a reason. I drove out of the VW dealer with a big-ass smile today. First time I’ve been like that when thinking about cars in a long time.