Archive for September, 2007
Heavy rotation.
It Dies Today - Sixth of June
Imogen Heap - Hide and Seek
The Juliana Theory - We Make the Road By Walking
Cute is What We Aim For - Sweat the Battle Before the Battle
Gotta love Pandora!
EDIT: I forgot, kyleboddy.com is back up and on a WordPress RSS feed from my Livejournal. Completely rewriting the rest of the site, though.
Pictures from my baseball game at Safeco:
Walking through the hallways to the clubhouse
Visitor's clubhouse
My locker
Picture from the visitor's dugout
I'm going to buy the professional photos and video of the game when it is made available, so I'll share that when I get it!
Reap what you sow, America.
Saudi Arabia has refused to cut interest rates inlockstep with the US Federal Reserve for the first time, signaling thatthe oil-rich Gulf kingdom is preparing to break the dollar currency pegin a move that risks setting off a stampede out of the dollar acrossthe Middle East.
I've been golfing a bunch recently - it's a phase I go through every so often, picking it up, getting pissed, then stopping. However, a few friends here have free time on demand (they're professional poker players) and golf 2-3 times a week, so they're keeping me in the groove. I went to the local discount golf store and picked up a real set of clubs (still low-end for now, but defnitely the nicest set I've owned), some shoes, a lob wedge, and recommendations on where to get coaching.
My distance off the tee has always been good for a beginner/intermediate player - it's my short game that sucks. Hitting 8/12 fairways when carrying my 3-hybrid iron 210-240 yards and still ending up doubling the holes is getting annoying. The addition of a sand wedge and a lob wedge in my bag should help a lot, but I need to learn to putt (though that's been getting slightly better). It's not like I spend my time at the range bombing my driver and long irons all day; I actually do work on my approach game for over half the time.
I'm around 100 for a par 71 course here, and I'd like to be in the low 90's consistently in the near future.
Anyway, back to staring at programming code!
PSSBL Safeco Game
I'll be playing at Safeco Field on Saturday, September 22nd at 4 PM with other members of the PSSBL. Come by if you want (it's free - printable ticket below) and watch me strike some people out!
Online poker is rigged.
I'm not joking. Absolute Poker has definitely been compromised. Look at these screenshots:
Reaaaaally interesting stuff. If you care to read more, check out this 2+2 link.
On future planning…
I've really got to figure out what I am going to do with my life after the winter. Here's what I know is going on at least:
Fall/Winter Plans (September - March)
-Rededicate myself to work, become completely debt free (mainly just paying off pesky student loans), accumulate enough for six months' living expenses plus a down payment for a house.
-Stay dedicated to working out, become stronger and fitter.
-Coach my Little League kids well and prepare them for high school baseball. Related: Get my fastball over 80 mph consistently with an average breaking ball and changeup.
After that, it's not so clear. Specifics will be given in a filtered post, but suffice to say that I'm not sure I want to stay in Seattle for a long period of time. My last trip to Cleveland was not only a blast, but a real eye-opener to the world in general. Do I love Seattle? Absolutely. However, I'm paying over twice as much for a comparable apartment in a not-great area of Seattle as my friends are paying in suburbs of Cleveland. I'm also paying more per month for this two-bedroom apartment than my friend James is for a much nicer two-bedroom in downtown Cleveland.
Housing prices in Seattle are ludicrous. I could easily pick up a 3/1 place in Cleveland (West Park) for under $80k. That's sick. For a place like that in Seattle, $80k is a good down payment.
I love Seattle; don't get me wrong. This place rekindled my entrepreneurial spirit and pushed me into baseball. I thought I hated Cleveland, but after being away for almost two years and revisiting, I think a lot of my hate was based on hyperbole. At 24 years old and solidly into a small business ownership mentality, I'm getting psychologically and mentally older. There's a lot of things I'd like to accomplish by the time I'm 30, and while I still have no idea what I want to do with regard to interpersonal relationships, I know what financial and professional goals I want to meet. A lot of these goals become significantly harder when housing prices and cost of living are inflated.
It's becoming easier and easier to see myself out of Seattle and back into Cleveland:
-Astrid and I are no longer dating; this was the primary reason I moved out here.
-The business has restructured and only has one other partner besides me; I can see myself running the business on my own with trusted employees in Cleveland who would jump at the chance to work with/for me.
-Housing prices are four times lower in Cleveland.
-Though there are less active groups in Cleveland, I can find some baseball/soccer groups who play in the fall through summer. And hell, I still retain NAIA and Division-III eligibility if I ever wanted to try playing collegiate baseball again!
Yeah, the weather sucks and the people aren't as hip/intelligent/whatever, but it's all about opportunity costs. I could easily buy a house in Cleveland within a year and have it paid off within five with significant cash reserves, move my business, hire the right people to run it, and be semi-retired at age 30. That's the goal. Could I do that in Seattle? Maybe, but it would be a shitload easier in Cleveland.
It's been awhile since I thought deeply about this kind of thing and posted it to Livejournal. Your advice and comments are welcomed.