Pats Year Round

I woke up this morning early again for an informational interview I had scheduled and checked the weather forecast, as my hands were too cold to even celebrate with myself (Lester Burnham style). Of course my weather.com page still opens up to San Diego's forecast where I get to see that it is 70 and mostly sunny even at 4:40 in the morning. As I type in my current zip code it tells me it is 4 degrees, but that it "feels like -11". Awesome.

The interview itself went well, although I could've been either way over-prepared or under-prepared, having never had an "informational" interview. The guy was cool, lived in San Diego for a while and when I told him I had worked for the Padres, he asked me if I knew a lady friend of his who worked there. I had told him that the name sounded familiar. Meanwhile I walked by this chick's cube every day stealing glimpses with my x-ray vision and offering awkward, hoarse "hello's." As if he was a mind-reader, the following exchange occurred:

Interviewer: "She's hot"
Jimmy: (reverently) "Yes. She really is."
I: (standing up excitedly) "Let's call her!"
J: (stammering) "Uh, I didn't really know her that well, I used to just walk by her cube and look at her."

Yup. Classy guy right here. I spent the rest of the interview feeling as ashamed as if I had made love to myself into an old sock for the third time that day. But overall I think it went well, "I made some amazing points, got some good contacts, and even finagled some professional literature off of his bookshelf. Unfortunately it was not of the self-help variety, which I clearly am in need of.

On another note, it appears that Philadelphia has taken the Cursed Sports City title from Boston with T.O. lost for the season. It's been building for years down there, most likely due to the awful karma from their BITTER residents, fans, and media (see Stephen A. Smith for example). "You don't know. You've NEVER BEEN THERE!"

Meanwhile, I grow increasingly more frustrated at the hometown front office for their mediocre transactions and have officially declared to Merriman for the first time since the World Series victory, "Pats Year Round". For those of you not in the know, "Pats Year Round" was proposed by Merriman this past June during one of the Sox typical 4 or 5 game summer losing streaks. At our wits end, I had decided to shift my allegiance to the surging Devil Rays who had won 14 straight, and promptly ordered my Aubrey Huff jersey. While this idea tempted Merriman, he flat out rejected the notion of following baseball altogether and suggested point blank "Pats. Year Round." While this may not make sense or humor anyone else, coming from the easily riled up Merriman, (after game 3 of the 2004 ALCS, a bitter Merriman verbally accosted me for continuing to hold on to the possibility that the sox could win) it was highly entertaining.