20 days of chill writing challenge

I wanted to be all sorts of creative with this.

Maybe talk about buying like an old Ford Pinto and driving cross country with the windows down and the 8-track player (if you are too young for this, look it up) blasting Willie.

Alas, every time I thought about this, all I could do was thing … real.

Seriously — what if you had a million bucks? What would you do?

Honestly, the first thing I’d do is get out of debt. Student loan debt, especially. Yeah, I have a lot of it. Financing an undergrad out of state, and then a master’s degree at a private out-of-state school … let’s just say I should finish paying about when I’m ready to retire.

So that’s first.

Then I’d climb out from some other debt I’ve accumulated. At that point, I’d be pretty happy. And I’d look to invest and get me ready for when I actually did retire.

But come on — if you had a million bucks, I’m going to assume you’d splurge a little, no? I would. I’d have to. Not like $500,000 splurging, but I’d have some fun.

That would include some gaming supplies, like a board game table and a bunch of games.

That would include a few trips, which of course would include some geocaching and baseball.

That would probably include a new car, though I’d have to decide what I wanted.

It definitely would include an old Model T — which is a car I’ve always wanted.

And I’d totally do some serious home brewing and learn a lot more about it so I could do some bigger batches and create my own brews.

I’m sure I’m missing a few things I’d want to “splurge” on, but it’s all good. I don’t have a million bucks.

After splurging, though, I’d invest.

Some would be invested for me. Some for, say, my godson for his future college costs.

Alas, a million bucks couldn’t allow me to retire. Though it very well possibly could allow me to retire a little sooner than planned.

But it would allow me to be a little more comfortable in life. And, hopefully, remain debt free.

How about you?

A million bucks. Tax free.

What are you doing with it?

*Side note to participants: I’m a little behind on reading and commenting … hoping to catch up in the next few days as I want to see what people have been coming up with!*

This post is part of the 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the link if you’d like to see others or join in. You don’t have to do every theme if you don’t want! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants! You can see the 2016 themes by clicking here. 

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

I’m a dreamer.

I always have been. When I was younger in school, I was one of those kids always letting my mind wander off and daydream.

There are times where I still do it and I love when you mind wanders to far that when you are dreaming, it almost seems like reality.

Yes, I’m one of those “If I won the lottery…” people. In fact, I do that quite often. However, the reality is I do actually play the lottery.

There are times when I am driving where I think about dreams I had as a kid and wonder how life would be if those had come true.

Such as if I had been good enough to be a professional baseball player. Or that dream of being a wrestler.

Heck, just if I didn’t go into journalism.

What if I hadn’t taken time off after school and worked before going back to get my degrees?

So many things to dream about.

I find these dreams are way better than those at night. Well, sometimes. But most of the time I don’t remember what I dream about at night.

Those daydreams, though, there’s a sense of reality, even if you just let your mind wander.

Dreaming is believing!

And I know, not all dreams come true. In fact, it’s a safe bet to say that most don’t. But if you don’t dream, then it seems like life takes a serious hit. This crazy world we are in can be hard enough on it’s own. So having those times to dream a little about different things can really make a difference in a day.

How about you? Dreamer or no?

This post is part of the 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the link if you’d like to see others or join in. You don’t have to do every theme if you don’t want! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants! You can see the 2016 themes by clicking here. 

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Over the past few years, I’ve been to many baseball stadiums — at the minor and major league level.

And the food has been superb at most places.

Even when it’s not the best, there’s some unique things (How about a hot dog in a Krispy Kreme doughnut with bacon and a jelly — interesting). I always look for great hot dogs.

So over the course of the years, there’s been some insanely great things to eat.

Bull’s BBQ in Philly comes to mind.

Then in Baltimore, you have Boog’s BBQ.

I’m biased and like Bull’s better, but they are fully different, and are both excellent.

The maple covered bacon sticks in Allentown (Lehigh Valley IronPigs) is insanely good.

Going back to Philly, the Schmitter is fantastic. 

This year, in Syracuse, they had a version of “chicken and waffles” that I had to try. It was interesting, for sure. I always give props when the food choices are different.

A few stadiums had a garlic/Parmesan setup for french fries and they were amazingly awesome.

Some stadiums I’ve hit have the Chickie’s and Pete’s crab fries … which are always awesome.

Batavia had its version of a Rochester garbage plate, which was decent.

There were specialty burgers and hot dogs, sausages, and all your normal ballpark fare. Often hot dogs were different brands, which made it always interesting. Places had Italian ices, ice creams and local beers.

Saying best park food ever is tough as I don’t remember everything, but for the last two years? It’s an easy choice.

Baltimore.

I wish I could remember the name of this dish. I should have taken a photo of the sign. But … I can say this. It was a little spot behind the third-base line. They made their own chips there and the doused it in this crab sauce of sorts.

Oh. My. God.

Or, as the kids say … OMG!

You talk about food bliss? Oh man. This was AMAZING. The group behind me said they had looked at it. I let one of them try it. Within minutes, he was on his way to get his own.

Yes, that good.

There’s a chance I might be in Baltimore again this spring. I’m looking at an event I might try and get to. If that happens, the weekend I might be there … the Orioles are home. I’d probably try and catch another game. And, of course, get this. Maybe twice.

My lord. So worth it.

This post is part of the 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the link if you’d like to see others or join in. You don’t have to do every theme if you don’t want! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants! You can see the 2016 themes by clicking here. 

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

We’ve all had misfortune.

But sometimes misfortune can be one of those times when you slap yourself in the head and say … what a dolt.

For this story, I need to go back to when I was in college. So we’re talking the 1999-2000ish range when this happened. I was home for, I believe, a long weekend. I went over to the next town over to have a few cordials with friends.

I remember it was winter.

Two of us were there and we left probably in the 11-12 range.

Something sounded odd, that’s for sure. But off we went.

I attended college in central Pennsylvania, so any time I came home for a weekend it was a bunch of miles. Keep all that in mind.

Again, this is sometime in the winter. So probably December? Maybe late November? Maybe even January? Can’t remember, to be honest. It all gets foggy.

Anyway, we’re not far from where we started and something seemed odd. Then my car turned off. As I was driving.

Mind you, it was an automatic, so it’s not like I stalled it.

So we pulled over. I turned the key off, then tried to start.

Nothing.

We let it rest a little before we tried again. Nothing.

Then it was a call to the tow company, which brought us back to my town and dropped us off. A couple of days later, the shop I used at the time came and grabbed the car.

Turns out it was a seized engine.

I’m still not sure what happened. I was pretty good with oil changes. I kept an eye on things. No engine lights etc.

Could it have been the miles? Possibly. It was getting up in those.

Years later, I blew another engine. That time it was totally the oil change thing. I even had signs that I basically had ignored.

But that first one?

Pure misfortune. Especially because I was a poor college kid at the time. Oh well… live and learn, right?

This post is part of the 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the link if you’d like to see others or join in. You don’t have to do every theme if you don’t want! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants! You can see the 2016 themes by clicking here. 

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!