There's always next year

It occurred sometime last week and I missed it. To be honest, it has actually occurred every year since 1908 at different times of the year so I sometimes just lose track of things. Not that I dont care but I do try (not) to "celebrate" this event.

Yes, you might have guessed it, the Chicago Cubs have been officially eliminated from the playoffs, let alone winning anything this year. In honor of this moment I have turned to a book that offers some levity to this situation, titled: "The Cubs Fan's Guide to Happiness" by George Ellis, circa 2007.

With chapters such as; Beer will make it better (Chap 2) and At Least You're Not a Sox Fan (Chap 7) to the 15 Habits of Highly Happy Cubs Fan's the theme of being "frustrated" for 100+ years is evident throughout out these pages.

So as the season winds down with some teams preparing for or pushing themselves for that last run at the playoffs and potential World Series celebration, other teams just go home ashamed of under-performing, I turn to a book.

We however as the eternal optimist called a Cubs Fan, we simply chant "wait til next year".

Trying again

Dear fellow bloggers, followers, baseball card junkies and baseball fans in general

I am attempting a comeback. Being that this is my first post in almost three months I will take it slow and do my due diligence in returning to your nightly reading lineup. It has been a "summer to forget" in my part of the woods and it is now time for me to get back on the playing field. Ok enough of the baseball analogies, I am going to give my blog another shot.

Just a bit of a recap of my personal life: my daughter returned from her year in Finland on May 24, and two weeks later my wife asked me for a divorce (and I agreed). We decided to put the house on the market and I would move out in 2 - 3 months (I thought we agreed). I packed up most of my "stuff" (including my baseball cards, binders, supplies etc) and within two weeks was "ready". Then my wife said she was "moving out" and out she went. I unpacked my "stuff" and she used my boxes and crates. She was gone by July 15 and I took the house off the market (never really had officially listed it). This past weekend I moved my beautiful daughter into her college dorm (she is attending Flagler College in St Augustine Florida and is an incoming freshman). My house is now empty, quiet and clean. No more dog, no more cat, no more wife, no more teenager. The house is too big for one so now I will try to sell it more vigorously. So that's my "brief" update of my summer . . .

Now for my baseball update: at the time of my last post in June the Cubs were 29-26 trying to find their groove. They never found it and now sit at 65 - 64. Another "summer to forget" as well. Quite coincidentally the day of my previous post the Cubs beat the Astros 7 - 1 (yesterday the Cubs lost to the Astros 5 - 3).

This past weekend I started reading a George Will book titled Bunts. In a rather poignant way Will concludes his introduction like this: ". . . baseball is a work in progress. If you dont believe me, just remember, and heed, the fans familiar cry, Wait til Next year".

A great big thank you to all of you who have expressed concern for me. I will try to get back to the basics of my blog (a personal salute to the Cubs of 1969 and baseball of that era), try to remember why I started this, try to get back into the trading mode and try to rekindle some blogger friendships I have ignored. I am going to try again . . .

to tweet or not to tweet

for some unexplainable reason I have decided to join Twitter and become a twit. For those of you who think I just flipped my lid and have no clue what I am talking about, I am proud of you and you can stop reading this post now.

For the two people left reading (ok maybe less than two if not only one or none) I can be found here: Wait til next year Twitter

Twittering, or as they say "to tweet", is the craze these days. Real-time short messages from people and organizations all around the world telling of what is happening "now". My life is certainly not exciting enough to be followed by too many but if you do have an account I would like to follow you.

Maybe I have lost my mind but with this blog, facebook and now twitter I think I have entered the 21st century of communication (albeit nine years late). Time for me to tweet.