While we would love to get the whole fan-damily down to the Phillies game today, only four of six brothers will be there. Scott, Jeff, Me, and Pat. That's a recipe for disaster, still. We'll be getting there between 11 and 11:30, and the game starts at 1:20 PM. However many Connell brothers go, there's always a chance for a 100% violent removal from the stadium. Either from something that we're all doing wrong, or if one of us gets kicked out, the others will quickly become the judge and jury, prove the guilty party's innocence with violent resolve, and thus be kicked out on their own right. There are only a limited number of chances to see them in the wild, in their natural habitat, doing completely crazy sh@%, it should surely not disappoint this time, simply because it never ever does :)

After the game, it's block party time!! Lots more drinking, celebrating a Phillies' win (or mourning a loss), talking about Howard's home run last night, and hopefully one today, and loads of laughing, live music, and love!! Ok, that sounds Woodstock'ish. Loads of laughing, live music, being wasted, and having a great time! That's better. Tune in tomorrow (God help the internet if I decide to make a post tonight!) for an update on random recollections and hopefully some actual occurrences during the day, and possibly in the order of which they happened, and if all goes well, it won't be memories from other times or lives mixed in with today's story.

Also, the Phillies play at 1pm!! Today could be the greatest day ever. I'm watching the games over at my brother Scott's. I was there last night too, we watched Penn State (Nikki, my sister-in-law, graduated from Penn State and is a fan for life), but they got romped by Notre Dame. I played with my neice, Meghan, and my nephew Danny. Danny did his "E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!!!" chant. He's 3, so it comes out like "E-L-G EAGLES!!!" It's the cutest thing.

Some people watch the preseason games. I could care less. I'm a huge Phillies fan right now. One time during preseason, they both played at like 7 o'clock one Thursday night, and I didn't turn on the Eagles, not even once, until the Phillies were over. They could make the playoffs, and in baseball, anything can happen after that. A lot of World Series winners have been Wild Card teams. Boston '04 was one... So anything can happen. But baseball will be in the background today. It's f@#%@ing football season!!!

I went golfing with my Dad yesterday. I was out until around 1:30 am on Friday. I was completely bombed. My Dad told me to meet him at their house at 8 am. But instead, plans changed a bit. My Dad tried to call me and I didn't answer. So he came over at 7:55! I woke up right away, got dressed, got some stuff together, brushed my teeth, put the stupid dog in her crate, and met my Dad outside. At this point, I realized how hung over I was. Oh man, golf was not going to be fun today. I had a monster headache for the first 7-8 holes. I wasn't even functional until the 5th or 6th hole, and by the end of the round, I tried to think back to the beginning of the round, and it seemed like a lifetime ago. Being just the two of us, the starter tried to pair us up with this couple, but they didn't want to because they were there celebrating their anniversary or something. God bless 'em. So we got paired with these two guys, probably mid to late 50s. Friendly guys. Of course, you're supposed to be friendly to the people you get paired with, it's a friendly game. Not being functional, I was like "Hi.". I didn't say much other than cracking a joke, like about a bunker that they both got stuck in, saying "You could spend a lifetime in there." It was a brutal, brutal bunker with steep sides. The one guy almost had to go out sideways.

After an advil that my Dad had, a cheeseburger after nine, and a f2#%@ing sh@#%load of water, I felt much better. I was back to myself :P At this point, I explained that I was out celebrating the night before because I got a new job, and was probably still wasted when I started the round! They understood :) One of them actually offered me work since he found out I was a programmer! I gave him my info so we should be in touch.

I had this shot on "the humpback hole" at Paxon Hollow. I drove way left and couldn't get to the green, so I chipped out to the edge of the fairway, around 140 yards away. I took out my 7 iron, knowing it was the exact club I needed. I hit it, and it was beautiful. It bounced, and again, and rolled up and settled right behind the cup, 2 feet away. The two guys I was with cheered and clapped, I took a bow. It was awesome.

The funniest thing about this story, though, is that I scored better on the front nine than I did on the back. And by 9 whole strokes! The back is harder, but still... I was totally out of it for the front nine, shooting a 44! I thank water and food for my miraculous front nine.

Observe exhibits A and B:

Immediately I thought "Stupid forwards..." right?

I got that email from my Dad at 1:17 PM as indicated by Gmail. Within the hour (2pm), I got a call from my recruiter, Audrea, that I got the job. I called my Dad and told him that I got it, and he asked "Did you get my email?" I said "Oh yeah, but I didn't send it to anyone..." And he said "I know, I did, and something good happened to me within the hour. You called telling me you got the job."

How about that?! Don't worry, I still won't forward them. It didn't work because of sending it to 2342352 people. The question is, of course, are you the type of person that sees things as coincidence, or do you believe in miracles? Sorry, that was blatant theft from the movie "Signs". I'm definitely not saying that there isn't a higher power at work here (in fact, there most definitely was!). Just that I don't believe in forwards! They're the same source of "Send this to as many people as you can, and Bill Gates will send you a check for a bazillion dollars."

Also, there was this little joke going around between my recruiters (Laura and Audrea) and I. One time I had eaten only toast for two days straight, so I emailed saying

"I probably need to find something soon, since I am now in a "save money" mode, and have been living on toast for 2 days!"

They had vowed to find me a job :) Every once in a while, the joke would be replenished with new material. Hilarity ensued. I won, no lie, $1.65 on the nickel slots in Atlantic City and bragged that I splurged and got jelly! Livin' it up, indeed. So, they promised me a treat if I get the job (other than, of course, getting the job). While filling out the papers, I had a delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwich on wheat bread! It was gourmet. Thank you Laura and Audrea!

If you need a job, definitely email me and I'll direct you to them. Their company is called "JCPW", short for, obviously, "Jason Connell's Personal Workforce". Their website is ehcmi.com, which has a different name, but it'll be changed soon. I got lost driving to their office because I couldn't find it under the new name, then realized that they probably didn't update the directory at the entrance to the parking lot yet. They gotta get on that.

I report to work on Monday. Finally!

I feel like Beavis and Butthead. That time when there's nothing on TV until many hours later, and they have to find stuff to do to kill the time. "Hey Butthead, I think I have to throw up..." "Cool, that should like, take some time."

I've been working out, playing video games, watching more comedy, playing guitar, etc. I'm running out of stuff to do. I could get in my car and drive around, but that costs gas, e.g. money. I could play more guitar but my finger's about to fall off. I could hit golf balls out front, but that could cost lots of money. I'm golfing tomorrow with my Dad, that should be fun. We're going to Paxon Hollow where I once shot a 41. Err, on the back nine. I had like 4 birdies in a row. Missed 2 putts on 18, else I would have shot 39. Motherf@#$@#$@#. Til tomorrow.

I woke up today and felt like death due to the fact that I've smoked like 4 packs of cigarettes in 2 days. And I hadn't worked out since Monday. I had to work out, it expands my lung capacity if something like that happens. And I have to find something else to do besides sit and drink coffee and smoke.

I could watch TV, but that's boring. I've already seen the first 4 "SportsRise"'s and "SportsCenter"'s on Comcast and ESPN respectively. I have "Syriana" and both times I've watched it, I paused it to go to the bathroom or something, and never got back to watching it. So, as it stands, that movie makes no sense to me. I guess I should see the end eventually. Not today though, I have the attention span of a goldfish. I might work out again, that's about the only beneficial thing I can do, besides program more, but see my note on my temporary ADD in the previous sentence about why that's impossible.

Guitar's fun though. I've been playing more Jimi, learning how he does some stuff that makes his songs sound like no others. I like his Blues album best. I love "Once I had a Woman", and "Bleeding Heart", and "Born Under a Bad Sign". When I first heard them, I had a sliver of an idea of the notes he was playing, but now as I play more and try to immitate, it's becoming more clear. He's just a genius.

Video games are frustrating right now. They're much better enjoyed after a long day of work.

I laugh at the titles of the messages that land in spam in my gmail account.

I'm gonna take a shower.

[Update] It's weird. I got the job WOOHOO!!! But the weird thing.. I'll explain later. Gotta go fill out paperwork and stuff.

I woke up in the wee hours of the morning (3:30 I think) again, and I've just been stressed out. Digital cable was tuned to "HBO Comedy" (Beaner had watched some show on there, then watched a free "On Demand" Donnie Darko, but fell asleep to it) which I usually find useless and a waste of money, but right when I was in the process of waking up, but still in that asleep phase, I heard something that made me laugh. This standup show came on that was taped in 1990, and it was this guy called "Blake" something. I watched it and it felt good to laugh. So I went to HBO on demand to see if they had any standup shows, and of course they did. Chris Rock was on there, I watched it and laughed. Then there was a Robert Wuhl special which was on history, but it was classic and funny, but only 29 minutes long. At this time, it was around 5:30 am. They also had Dane Cook's "Vicious Circle". That made me laugh as well. It felt good.

I was just pissed and nervous and anxious. Pissed because I took my car to the dealership to get inspected. I learned the hard way. They won't let anything go. This was a bill for $1300. They wouldn't bill me, so that pissed me off. They need payment then and there. Nervous because I had a job interview today, which went pretty well I think. We'll see. Anxious because I'm just an anxious person. My anxiety gets me up at 3:30 AM then keeps me up because I'm anxious, wondering if I got enough sleep to not yawn at the interview. It's a chicken and the egg thing.

It's 6am and I couldn't sleep last night. Ryan Howard hit his 53rd homer of the season, Chase Utley his 25th to win it in 10th innings, I did manage to settle down for a decent nap of like 4 hours until midnight. After that, I've been too excited to sleep. I have a job interview at a company that I really want to work at.

Besides being a creative small company which has impressed me in the past, as I've seen their work long ago, in a location that is totally awesome, 8 miles away, and me having lots in common with the guy I phone interviewed with last week... if you take all that out, it will still be an awesome place to work. Well, actually, if you take all that out... hmm. Anyway, all those things are a part of it, so it makes it an incredibly appealing job at a time when I've been unemployed for 2 months, having turned down a job where I would have been miserable, without a lick of fear or certainty for the future.

"No fear?" you ask? Yes, no fear, baby. Somehow, I've always managed. Struggled but managed. Being a contractor, the only thing that's set in stone is that you'll be unemployed after a few months. So you can just try to save up enough to get you to the next job. It makes saving for a house a pain (not House of Pain). You jump around jobs a lot (get it?! Jump Around?!? I'm hilarious). But that has an upside, if you do what you're supposed to do there. You meet a lot of people and they are generally willing to give you a positive reference for your next job. There's another benefit to contracting. You get to test the waters of a lot of places. If you don't see it fitting your lifestyle or just generally don't like the work, then you can leave, and the best part is there's no hard feelings! No burnt bridges. It just makes it difficult, during a break, to make Ends meet (another joke!! In this case, it's Everlast, not House of Pain. I'm on fire today).

However, if and when I find that place, where I love the work, love the people, the size is just right, and everything I consider secondary is beneficial, like location, hours, flexibility, pay, route to work (must pass at least one Dunkin Donuts and Wawa), parking, lack of office politics, extracurricular activities, etc... when I find that place, I'm gonna try my ass off to stay there. This might be the place. More on that later.