I'm Back

I’m back. I think. After a three-month leave, Love, Life and APBA has returned.

And all it took was my cell phone being run over in the parking lot at work.

I don’t have internet at home. After the cable company seemed to raise its prices monthly, and after I was laid off from my newspaper job, cable television and internet service went from being a necessity to a luxury. So, in the past, I’d write these things and then either take the laptop to work the following day to use the office Wi-Fi or drive to a nearby hotel and pirate their Wi-Fi to file them after I wrote one.

After covid hit, the hotel management wouldn’t let me inside the hotel, so I’d sit in the parking lot like some stalker auditioning for a role on Dateline NBC, hunkered down in the car with the laptop balanced on the steering wheel and my girth.(Laptop? In my case it should be called "belly top.") On cold nights and when the Wi-Fi was slow, it was a tough chore.

And, when I was writing these blogs, the ideas came quickly and I’d enjoy putting them down just as quick. Saving them for ‘later’ when I could file them online was not much fun.

So, I quit writing these. My cell service was supposed to have a “hotspot” program that turned the phone into an internet conduit, but it never worked. I don’t want to name the phone service other than to say there were days I’d like to Boost it out of the house.

But then the other day an accident happened that turned for the better in the long run. I dropped my phone out of my pocket in the parking lot during a lunch break. I didn’t notice it gone until a deputy working security called me to say he had found a shattered phone and wondered if it were mine. Apparently, some idiot – probably me – ran over the phone and rendered it useless.

Holly, my wife, went into action and found me a new phone. My technical skills would have me looking for a cup and string and hoping it would work as a communication device. Instead, she found a good phone that is bigger than the previous phone and has better internet service. My phone was a 3G, the lowest available. In the past, to get game scores online, I’d have to go outside in the backyard and stand in the right spot to grab the one zone of decent internet. When it was cold, my chattering teeth replicated the desire for a 5G phone “GGGGG,” I’d shiver.

Because Holly is a genius, she found me a 5G phone and a protective case at a very reasonable price.

This one allows me to find the scores without having to get my fat ass off the couch.

And, it has a working hotspot! Any of you who actually like this blog can thank Holly for getting it back online.

Despite not writing the blogs, I have been writing a lot of stories for the magazines I contribute to. In those cases, I do hold them and file them later at work, using the internet there to proof and fact check the stories before submitting them. Those who write will understand this concept: The blog is heart-writing. The freelance stuff is mostly head-writing.

And I have been still rolling the games in the 1965 APBA baseball replay. This season has to be the best one I’ve done; there’s been a lot of action and story lines that have been fun to watch. For example, the St. Louis Cardinals took off quickly and seemed destined to be the National League pennant winner. But then, in late August, they swooned, losing, at one point, seven games in a row. Cincinnati roared ahead and now lead the clipped Birds by 3.5 games. San Francisco, anchored by ace Juan Marichal and sluggers Willie Mays and Willie McCovey, are 4.5 games behind the Giants.

The Dodgers, who won the 1965 Series in the real world, have been a disappointment, but are waking up and are now 7.5 games out.

In the American League, Minnesota is maintaining a four-game lead over Detroit. The Tigers just can’t make up ground. The Twins lost two of three games to Cleveland, but Detroit faltered in California and Kansas City, blowing two games they should have won. I’ve reached Aug. 30, 1965, in the replay. Teams can’t be losing must-win games this late in the season.

There’s still over a month left in the replay. I’ll update the progress here, along with other observations.

I can do that now. Thanks to a busted phone with tire tracks across it.