>>>>>>I do love baseball. The Red Sox at Cardinals game is paused in the next room. It's a clear, warm night in St. Louis, not steamy. The park is full of people wearing red, as it usually is. The Cards scored 3 in the bottom of the first, all of the work-it-out variety appreciated by true fans. Move the runner over. Then a double steal which flummoxes the catcher. Then a double to the opposite field to bring them both home. That's beautiful baseball.
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>>>>>>Three years ago I was fortunate enough to work on a contract in St. Louis and got to witness Cardinals fans up close. I had always heard they are great fans. I had no idea. Polite but passionate is the phrase that comes to mind. One night I took my two housemates out for a birthday dinner and one of them was beside herself watching the Cards blow a lead to the Mets on the overhead TV. At that point they were considered dead and gone. Then came the improbable stretch run to make the playoffs, the playoff win over the Brewers, and then the World Series rally. Katrina, the housemate, and I had a running commentary on the refrigerator whiteboard. We made a bet that whichever team won, the other of us had to wear a T shirt for the other team to work on Friday. I still have that Cardinals shirt ;-( Our landlady, who had little interest in baseball, was bemused.
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>>>>>IIRC, that was the year that the Phils swept the Braves in Atlanta the final weekend to let the Cards into the playoffs (and to set a franchise record of 102 wins), and then paid for it by losing to them in the first round, with the last play being the one where Ryan Howard went down with a torn ligament.
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>>>>Yup. It was a miracle that the Cardinals were in the playoffs in the first place. They sure got hot at the right time. It really was cool being there. My favorite Cards fan at work (well, other than the terrific young woman whose cubicle was straight across from my office) was an accounting manager who looked like a female Danny DeVito. God love her. Before the last game she came to work in full regalia: Cardinals jersey and cap. The Cardinals are in their blood down there, just like that horrible crap they call pizza.
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>>>>You may be pleased to know that I am officially enrolled in rehab. I go in a week from today, or maybe a week from tomorrow depending what time I get back from That Conference on Thursday. I am finally ready, strongly spurred by my daughters' growing disgust with me. They say in AA that you have to sober up for yourself first but if I lose them, I don't know. They are really good people and I don't want to go on failing them.
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>>>Hurrah! I know it'll be hard work, but I know you're up to it.
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>>I am going to give it an honest shot. The success record of rehab is not all that hot but I am going to give it my best effort.
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>>If it's OK with you I would like to go back to our Tuesday conversations after I get out of rehab. Preferably on the phone so it's easier for you to tell if I am BS-ing.
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>Let's see how you feel about it afterward.
>

I really think I am going to feel great about it. This has gone on way too long already and I am not getting any younger.

But first, That Conference. I leave tomorrow. Clark Sell sent out an appeal to all attendees to arrive early and help out with the youth program. He has a real thing going for young programmers. He believes they are pure, unspoiled.