Two Months, Moneyball & the Apple Orchard

 At this point in life time seems to being going by so incredibly fast. Tobiah is turning two months tomorrow, work requires me to be better than my best and the seasons are changing so fast that I thought summer just started. Add that all up and carry the one equals a great life with tons of excitement going on.

As I already mentioned my little Tobuddy is turning two months tomorrow. TWO MONTHS! Wow! It is literally hard for me to comprehend that he's been a part of our lives for two months. When I first think about it, I feel like he was just born yesterday, but as I continue thinking about it I can't really remember what life was like before him. I know that's weird and probably doesn't make much sense (heck I would of called me crazy if I heard that 3 months ago). To think back on all the things we've brought him to and experienced with him. He's went to his first (of MANY) Twins games, we did the State Fair, he's been to bonfires, birthday parties, a drive-in restaurant and he's got to meet hundreds of people that are so very special to Steph and I. Of all the things listed above, I enjoy most when Tobiah gets to meet or spend time with people that Steph and I respect and have developed good relationships with. To me, its another area that Steph and I can share our lives with people.

On Friday night my parents graciously volunteered to watch Tobiah so Steph and I could watch Moneyball. Before the movie (I have to give a plug for my Husband of the Year Nomination), I made a nice supper for Steph. I grilled two different types of steaks, the first was a bacon wrapped sirloin and the second was called a canoe. It is a thinly sliced (probably 1/4" inch) sirloin with mushrooms, onions and swiss cheese on top of it. Then the steak is folded up so the steak acts as a canoe for the mushrooms, onions and cheese. Quite delish! I also make jalapeno poppers and broccoli with cheddar cheese. After supper we were on our way to the movie. Overall it was a wonderful movie and I strongly encourage people going, especially if you love baseball. I won't give to much of it away, but the movie does a good job of sharing actual baseball lingo and gives an actual depiction of what happens behind the scenes at the front office. Afterwards my dad asked what I thought and I shared my feelings and shared a little bit more of the storyline with him. Then he asked would it be in my top 10 baseball movies, I said absolutely, but then he asked me something I wasn't prepared for. He asked what are my top 10 baseball movies. I sat there frozen, with no real good answer for him. So below is my top 10 baseball movies of all time.

1. Field of Dreams - I talked a lot about it in my Tobiah's First Twins Game post.
2. The Rookie - An emotional story about a man's dream of playing major league baseball.
3. Fever Pitch - Jimmy Fallot's character reminds me of a cross between Scotty & I.
4. Moneyball - Probably the best pure baseball movie made. Real good, I can't wait to own it.
5. A League of Their Own - Such a quotable movie. "There's no crying in baseball"
6. For Love of the Game - Chick flick & a great story of his past and recounting important memories
7. 61* - This is a great movie about Maris and his 61 home run season
8. Bull Durham - Lot of bad language, but hilarious and a lot fun
9. Major League - Again some inappropriate language, but love the line "Just a bit outside"
10. Eight Men Out - A good rendition of the 1919 Black Soxs and how they were banned from baseball
Honorable Mention - Pride of the Yankees - I recently saw this movie and learned a lot about Lou Gerhig and his remarkable streak, but then also his rapid decline because of ALS. Emotional movie.

Then today we took Tobiah to the Minnetonka Apple Orchard. It was such a perfect day for it. The weather was 65 degrees, but the sun felt so warm. It truly was a beautiful fall day. It was Steph, Tobiah, my parents, Mike, Em & Zeker that all went. Tobiah and Zeke were so good. They both were looking around and smiling. I know they don't understand where they were or what they were doing, but it was fun for us to take them there and enjoy such a nice day. The orchard was set up real nice, there is a lot of open space for people to walk around, they have a petting zoo with llamas, goats, rabbits & chickens. Finally they had a really cool and fun corn maze. The corn was probably 8.5 feet tall and they did a good job of creating routes and dead ends. I was really impressed with the maze and the whole orchard. The weather was a big piece of it, but I would strongly recommend anyone with kids should take them there and let them run loose. I know someday Tobiah will enjoy that.

It's Been A While....

It's been a while since my last post. I honestly don't like that fact that it has been such a long time, but sometimes life gets in the way and laziness over takes ambition. A lot has happened over the past month that I need to share and give updates on.

My last post was about Tobiah's first Twins game and how special that was. Unfortunately, not much has gone well from them since that day. They are in a stretch of losing 35 out of their past 44. Not only are they playing terrible baseball (situational hitting, fielding, baserunning & pitching....to think about they aren't doing any one thing well....UGH!), but they aren't even putting a MLB team on the field each night. The Twins would be fined by MLB if they had this lineup playing in Spring Training games. At the end of the game tonight, only Michael Cuddyer was the true major league hitter and to think I  (and 39,000 other people) have paid for these games and are receiving such a poor product in return. The only thing that can be said is it's embarrassing. I hope Mr. Pohlad and the Dave St. Peter have the guts to fire Bill Smith, the training staff and potentially Joe Vavra. Paul Molitor needs to be some where in Ron Gardenhire's coaching staff, preferably as hitting coach. To say the least, the Twins have many offseason moves ahead of them and it will be interesting to see what they do. A slow start next April (and a difficult schedule they have) could lead to a lot of open seats in Target Field throughout the rest of the summer.

Also since my last post the political environment has heated up. President Obama gave his Jobs Bill Act Speech (which should be passed, Right Away. Right Away Congress should pass this bill) last week and even though it was delivered OK (he's a great orator, anything he says will sound good), he knows that it will never pass because of the tax increase that are attached to it. I would bet that most House Republicans would  support the bill if instead of income tax increases for the top 2% wage earners, he cut spending somewhere to pay for this bill. If you look at the proposed Act from a very high level, it is government spending and taking money from one group and redistributing to another group. Raising taxes is never a good idea in the midst of a slowed/stalled economy. Capital and cash needs to remain flowing in order for the free enterprise system to fully function.

As far as a Republican Presidential candidate for 2012, the field doesn't look quite as weak as it did just a few short months ago. I watched parts of the first two debates and even though the field is missing a few key names such as Bobby Jindal, Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee, Paul Ryan and Jeb Bush, the current candidates are getting the attention of the American people. In my mind the party has two legitimate candidates, one that I fully support (Rick Perry) and the other I don't want to see get the nomination (Mitt Romney). Below is a list of the top 5 candidates and a quick summary of how I see each of them:

• Michele Bachmann - Tea Party Republican. Outspoken, adds tons of energy to the party and I agree with most things she believes, she is unelectable. She's too polarizing and has too many gaffes, the media would destroy her just like they did Sarah Palin in 2008.
• Newt Gingrich - Former Speaker of the House. Great leader, good speaker and has outstanding insight and experience. Unfortunately for him he has marriage issues (mainly he can't stay married) and a large majority of his close campaign staff left him this spring. Newt could be a good VP candidate or even a good cabinet member, but not President.
• Ron Paul - Libertarian. Has good grass roots support and not all of his ideas are bad. Let's be honest, he's too extreme, polarizing and isn't likeable. The longer he stays in the race the more he hurts the party.
• Mitt Romney - Moderate Republican. Successful businessman and in a time when the country faces its most difficult financial challenges. He's become a career politician and plays the game well. Unfortunately for him he's known as a flip flopper (John Kerry) and for me way too moderate and doesn't have the conviction and leadership that this country needs.
• Rick Perry - Conservative Republican. He's added a lot of energy to the party since he announced he was running. Has stolen a lot of Bachmann's support and has catapulted to the top of the polls. There are a lot of unknowns about him and what he would do as President, but initial thoughts are he is the best candidate and has a really good chance of defeating President Obama in the 2012 election. 

Also, in the last month has been the rise (and fall) of Target.com. As mention earlier, Target has taken their website back from Amazon who supported the website for the last several years. The transition from Amazon to Target hasn't gone that smoothly. There has been several issues with getting the Amazon system and orders history to sync and transfer to the new Target platform. In addition to that, there have been the expected system issues that come with launching a brand new website. Finally, Missoni (right, I didn't know what that was a week ago either), has been successful beyond Target's wildest imagination. The craze was not only like a Black Friday day at the stores, but the traffic overloaded the website. All this means is that I've had to work more hours than initially anticipated. While it has been fun and exciting, it has come at a time when I long to be at home. This has put a lot more pressure on Steph to take care of Tobiah while I tend to matters at work. Thank goodness Dana (Steph's dad) has decided to move in and be an extra set of hands around the house. The important this is that Target.com has learned a lot and should be in great position come the Christmas season and beyond. The growing pains should end shortly as well as the long hours.

Finally, my new favorite subject, Tobiah! He's such a good little guy. He's starting to smile more and more. He's not nearly as fussy as he was two weeks ago. He truly is a happy baby and it is so much fun watching him and wondering what he's thinking. When he's sitting in his bouncer he will usually be looking around at what's happening and then he'll just start talking. I've added "The Great Communicator" as one of his new nicknames because he'll just start talking and he uses voice influctions like he is actually speaking! It really is amazing! It's fun taking him out when we run errands or when we go on family walks. He'll just be chatting away. Between him and Steph there won't be room for me to say anything. I continue to make progress on being a dad, for example, the other day I was holding Tobiah and he spit up on me. Previous Darek would of freaked out and gotten a new shirt, but not that day, I embraced the spit up and continued to burp him and clean him off before changing out my shirt.


That's all for today, I know it was a ton, but I really wanted to give an update on how things are going. Stay tuned for more posts and adventures of Tobiah!