The Redbirds versus the real birds

There's always something new to annoy me at work. I finally get a big break -- a legitimate, nationally-known writer whom I respect is interested in working with us on a book idea that I came up with. But, of course, what he wants to be paid for an advance is far more than I'm able to offer. It's not that he's asking for something outrageous by normal publishing house standards, just by ours.

On top of that disappointment, some birds have nested above my office window, and their babies are now chirping 24-7. I don't mean outside my office window. I mean directly above my office window, inside the building. We work in an old converted warehouse space, and apparently some birds have figured a way through the brick exterior and have taken a liking to my ceiling. They're above the ceiling tiles and insulation, nesting directly on top of my window frame. In short, I can hear them as clearly as day, and they're driving me up the fucking wall. So, I've had to relocate to another office upstairs to find some peace and quiet. (Good thing I lobbied for that laptop during my review.)

Anyway, work sucks right now. Big time.

But all's not gloom and doom in The Noiseboy's world. For starters, my attempts to resuscitate my long-distance running hobby have proven to be a success. I'm not anywhere near my high school self, but I'm doing better than I expected. I've made a goal this summer to get my ass in better shape. I'm hoping to get up to 25 miles on the bike, which would be about twice as long as I averaged last summer. And I'd like to get my 2-mile run down to 20 minutes. (Well, in truth, I'd like to get it up to 2 miles, period.)

The weather has sucked as of late -- lots of rain to balance out the gorgeous April weather we enjoyed, I suppose. Softball was rained out this week, so no update there. My batting average is still frozen at .500, gosh darn it. Basketball was rained out as well, although it's supposed to be gorgeous this Sunday so I suspect the high tops will make an appearance. Hopefully my jump shot will feel like showing up as well.

Athletics aside, the best news I've saved for last: today marks M and I's three-year anniversary. I've got something fun planned for tonight, and in a couple weeks we're going to down to the new Busch Stadium to celebrate. We took our first trip together down to the old Busch Stadium almost three years to that date. It was sort of our "coming out" party, in many ways.

I'm excited to see some live baseball. Along with the new ballpark, there's a new product on the field and hopefully some new food at the vendors. To a certain degree, there's a new us, too. Sure, we're a replica of the old us; we've carried over some of our old traits into Year Four. But we've also improved upon the product we're running out to the field on a daily basis. I hope the new Busch Stadium can boast similar results.