I made it (Day 12)

I saw my name in Baseball America print.

That was exciting enough to make today into a good one for me. It was on the article I did on the Mets hiring their new manager, and I got to see it when someone was showing me the edits they were making. I think it goes to press tomorrow, but that might just be something I thought I overheard.

When I got to the office, after a brief stop at McDonald’s for a smoothie (that’s right, they have smoothies at McDonald’s here), I started immediately working away on the Tigers article. I felt good about it, and I had ignored it long enough.

I made progress and eventually had a finished product that I was happy with. Of course, before sending it to Editor 3, I sent it to my mom to give a quick proofread. Editor 3 got back to me pretty quickly, saying that he liked it and thought I was on the right track, and I was pretty pumped about that. But he also said that it was meant to go to Editor 1, so he forwarded it, and that was who I should be expecting to hear back from.

Then I continued to work on quick-hits, learning all about this season’s White Sox and Reds. Chicago was harder to write about, because its year was generally uninteresting to me. I enjoyed Cincinnati though because I was writing about the success of Joey Votto, and the debut of Aroldis Chapman, which I took in right from the Great American Ball Park.

Near the end of my day, one of the guys that I work with, whose name escapes me and who has never approached me before today, asked if I could help him out with writing something else for the 2011 Almanac. Of course I said sure, and though he asked me to start it tomorrow, I began before I took off for the night.

My glamorous new task includes transferring box scores from the games in the postseason to paper, in a form that will be usable for the Almanac. Truly exciting stuff. But at least I feel like I am helping someone else out. The more people that like me, the better chance I have of sticking around. Not that I know if there are any positions available for future jobs at BA, but if there are, and I’ve made a great impression, I don’t see why I wouldn’t be in the running.

When I left I decided to have dinner at Panera Bread. Another lunch had gone by without my having it, and my drawer of granola bars and sour Skittles was becoming increasingly empty. So, a decent dinner seemed in order, and Google maps had informed me that there was a Panera Bread close by.

I’m not sure if I was deceived by Google, or by my GPS, but it wasn’t that close. Apparently the one nearest to the office was at the mall with the movie theatre. So I went on a trek to find it. I must have walked to every corner of the building, and checked at least two directory maps before I finally found it. But I did, and it was worth it, outside of burning my tongue.

But this is where it gets embarrassing. When I tried to leave, I realized that I didn’t know where I had parked. I knew I came in at an entrance, and not through a department store, so that narrowed it down.

Unfortunately the mall has a whole bunch of helpful security guards who are just waiting to answer the questions of people looking at the mall maps. So when I was trying to figure out where I might have entered the place, one of the guards asked what I was looking for. When I told him, he continued to be helpful, despite what I’m sure had to be an urge to laugh out loud in my face, and asked if I wanted the other guys to drive around and look for my car. I politely declined and decided if I had to, I would just walk around the outside of the mall until I found something familiar.

I knew where I had come off the highway, and headed in that direction. It paid off, because I only had to walk for a minimal amount of time before I ran into my Sunfire. It might have been a stupid mistake, but it definitely won’t happen again. I am just constantly learning.

Then I headed to the gym where I made yet another mistake. I took a spin class. I haven’t been to one in a long time, and it was evident. But it’s week two of my new workout regime, and I have upgraded my exercise to include spin classes. We’ll see how long it lasts.

Tanning was my next stop, and then back to the apartment. The new episode of Law and Order: SVU was calling my name.

And off to bed early tonight because I actually want to go for a run in the morning like I’ve been planning on doing for the whole week. But it will happen. I’m in phase two now. Morning workouts.