It's over

We got Choate buried this weekend. His funeral was the largest I have ever been to. There were people I hadn't seen in years who came out of the woodwork to pay their respects. To say that Marc's passing will have an impact on my life and those around me would be an enormous understatement.
A phrase I heard about a million times in the past week (because it is so evident and true) is that Marc was "one in a million". But fuck that. He was one of a kind all together. Completely unique and without equal.
The funeral was gut-wrenching. KB put together an awesome slideshow of pictures that took us from Marc's birth right up to the night of the wreck in Vegas. Then a group of his closest friends got up and spoke about Marc and the impact he had on their lives. Chuck was still pretty banged up and it was obvious he will be emotionally scarred for a long time, but he toughed it out and said his piece.
I haven't cried like that in years.
When the burial was over and everyone had time to recollect themselves, we met up at club Shade in Dallas. It was a great time as glasses were raised in Choata Boy's honor all night long.
The celebration of Marc's life ended early for me, as I had to catch a flight Sunday morning for St. Louis.

The interview in St. Louis went pretty well but I got kind of nervous during the rapid-fire interrogation session. It doesn't really matter though. I don't want to move out of Texas, so this morning I signed a contract with the company in Kansas City and gave my 2 weeks notice to the current boss.
This new job allows me to continue living here while traveling during the week to work. And the pay is pretty decent. They want me to be in Indianapolis on the 17th to start. I'm excited.

In loving memory of my friend and brother, Marc Dustin Choate.

Rest in Peace, Choata Boy.
Gone too soon but never forgotten.

Choate was one of those guys who lived every day like his last. He pretty much epitomized the saying "LIVE FAST, DIE YOUNG, AND LEAVE A GOOD LOOKING CORPSE".
Always the life of the party. Never a dull moment.
Bad ass rappin' ninja white boy.

Gots to get mine

First, let me tell you about the crazy softball team we played last night. Now, the group of guys I play with on Wednesdays is your typical 20-something, college-educated crowd. Good athletes, nice cars, good teeth.
The team we played was "Get-R-Done". Seriously, that was the team name. And they said it (Get-R-Done) every time they got a hit. Luckily, they suck so I didn't have to hear it much.
These guys were all in their mid-30s to upper-40s, except for one big ol' bubba who was playing the outfield for some stupid reason. They all had nasty goatees.
We scored 14 runs in the first inning and they got 2 for the whole game. blowout is an understatement. I think it ended in a mercy rule after 3 innings at 19-2.
During the second inning, my friend Stark was tagging up from 3rd on a shallow fly ball. So Stark is running towards home plate at a pretty good clip when the catcher (a grey-haired old man) steps right into his path.
Stark does his best not to form tackle the guy, but ends up catching his shoulder anyway. The old man gives Stark a "what the fuck" and Stark says, "Don't stand in front of the fucking plate."
And that's about it, right? no big whoop.
until the end of the game when Cletus the Slack-jawed shortstop decides to call Stark out during the "good game" handshake lineup. There were a few "fuck you, buddy"s and a couple of "you guys got lucky this time"s thrown around. Thankfully, my guys didn't brawl or react too harshly.
However, the next time we play them there will be no mercy.

Secondly, I'm leaving on a jet plane for Kansas City tomorrow. A consulting company is going to interview me for a position with them at noon and fly me back in the evening. I really like the idea of taking this job because it's about twice the money and I would be able to work as a contractor in this same field. Which means I can stay in Fort Worth and move in with the New Guy (his name is Dwight) and Sparky. I will just be flying to job sites during the week.

Thirdly, another company in St. Louis is going to fly me out to meet with them in 2 weeks. They are an amazingly fast-growing company with great benefits. But it's in St. Louis and I really would like to stay in Texas. We'll see.

Finally, I almost (but don't) feel bad about continuing the job search. My current company gave me a pretty large financial increase to keep me here. The problem is that even though they upped my pay I'm still coming in at about 10k less than the national average.

Blazin' it up

12 blazin' hot BW3 wings. that's all. no beer. no ranch. no water.
A stopwatch and a 6 minute time limit.
the result. Four minutes. Forty seconds.
A free T-shirt. your picture of the Wall of Flame. the respect of your peers.

Fingers crossed

This softball season has gotten off to an amazingly awful start. Four games in and we're 0-4. I had to pitch last night because the regular pitcher was out. Yeah, we lost 20-5 in 3 innings. In my defense, it's slow-pitch softball. There's not much you can do as a pitcher to throw the batter off. If the guys are good (like the teams we're playing), they're going to get hits. But it's still early in the season. We can turn it around.

I went back to Beaumont this past weekend to see the family and hang out with friends. Everyone is doing well. Most people are keeping busy with repairing and remodeling homes damaged by the hurricane.
My dad has his 3rd (and hopefully final) disability hearing in April. He's staying optimistic and really looking forward to pleading his case. I pray it all works out for him.

The girlfriend situation is going really well. She's been coming over every night since I got back into town. This is not because she's clingy or anything. It's because she'll be in California over spring break and we won't get to see each other. I think she really likes me. I definitely like her.
So I guess I haven't fucked this one up yet.

Life returns to normal (if you can call my life normal)

The softball season officially kicked off again last night. And we officially suck. Again.
We actually played decently in the first game and lost by two. The second game was fugly.
I hurt today.
But it's a good hurt because I really missed softball. It makes me happy.

And in other news, I've started dating this chick (the one from Valentines Day). She's pretty awesome. It's been a long time since I had a relationship that I could consider serious and exclusive. Hope I don't fuck this one up.