Well, ok, baseball is already here at least where college baseball is concerned.  As a matter of fact, Arkansas beat Alabama today with the help of Springdale native Thomas Hauskey.  Go Hogs!

I’m actually thinking minor league, specifically Northwest Arkansas Naturals, baseball.  Season tickets are being mailed out this week!  The season starts Thursday, April 8!  On Friday, Centerfield by John Fogerty came on my iPod and I got excited.  It’s not a Friday night post-game fireworks show without that song being played.

Minor league camp is still in session so the opening day roster hasn’t been announced yet.  One bit of roster news from this past week is that Fayetteville native, former Hog, & recent Kansas City Royal draftee Ben Tschepikow (pictured above) has voluntarily retired from MLB because of injuries that have plagued him since the end of last season.  No Naturals uniform for Ben.

See you at Arvest Ballpark April 8!

Today is the first Arkansas Razorback football game of the season.  The Razorbacks are taking on the Missouri State Bears at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.  Go Hogs Go!

Some Exciting Former Hog News:

• Former Hog baseball player Craig Gentry has been called up from AA Frisco to the majors – the Texas Rangers.  Northwest Arkansas has been fortunate enough to keep up with Craig’s progress through the Rangers organization because Frisco plays the Northwest Arkansas Naturals.  Good luck, Craig!

Brad Keselowski has helped Dale Earnhardt Jr make JR Motorsports a weekly contender in the NASCAR Nationwide series.  Brad has 5 wins in the NW series and got his first Cup series win in April at Talladega.  Penske Racing announced Tuesday that Brad will join them beginning in 2010 and will drive the #12 Penske Dodge in the Sprint Cup series.  Congratulations Brad on this great opportunity!  Just remember that Rick Hendrick & Hendrick Motorsports isn’t out of reach!

The Northwest Arkansas Naturals have 3 games left (with only 1 win needed) and they will have clinched a Texas League playoff spot for the 2nd straight season (in only 2 seasons in existence in NWA).  Good luck Naturals against the Tulsa Drillers this weekend!

The Northwest Arkansas Naturals opened their 2009 home season on Thursday evening at Arvest Ballpark in Springdale.

The first home series of the season was against the San Antonio Missions.  The Naturals won the series with 5-4 win on Thursday night and a 5-2 win last night.

Thursday & Friday night I sat in my regular seats, which are located kind of behind home base.  My view is what you see in this picture.

Saturday night me, Shelby, Mom, & Dad got tickets to sit up in a suite.

Both views are great.  I like sitting in my regular seat because of how close it is to the action.  I also like sitting up in the suite because you get a whole different perspective on the action.

Friday night was a special night called “Pink in the Park”.  The Naturals wore pink uniforms.

The uniforms were auctioned off at the end of the night with proceeds going to the Susan G Komen Foundation to help fund breast cancer research.

As I mentioned in a blog entry earlier this afternoon, northwest Arkansas has been fighting the rain off and on all weekend.  Both Friday & Saturday evening games saw rain coming down pretty steadily at times.

We saw a rainbow on Friday night.

Saturday night’s rain required the tarp to be rolled out.  Luckily, the rain quickly passed and, as you can see in the picture above, the Naturals crew got to put the tarp back up and finish the ballgame.

Springdale resident Vance Wilson has joined the NWA Naturals this year.  He has previously caught for the New York Mets & Detroit Tigers.  He has been rehabbing from elbow surgery and is expected to join the play rotation soon.  There were lots of VDub fans in the audience each night.

Check out my photo album from the Naturals-Missions series.

It’s hard to believe it but 2008 is almost over.  While there have been a couple of personal challenges this year, the year as a whole has been a very good one.

2008 was a year of traveling, or so it seemed at times.  (You can read all about my travels this year, if you’d like, by visiting my My Travels page.)  I added 5 new states – Nevada, Arizona, Ohio, Michigan, & Georgia – to my list of states I’ve visited in my lifetime.  My mom, sisters, and I took a great unforgettable trip to North Carolina in June.  It was full of sight seeing, family history, and even a bit of NASCAR.

(more…)

My flight to Las Vegas leaves at 10:15 in the morning.  We have tickets purchased to see The Phantom of the Opera at The Venetian on Friday night.  Beyond that and the conference, we don’t have anything planned during our downtimes.  I’m sure there will be sight-seeing, a bit of gambling, and a bit of eating.  There are several Food Network stars with restaurants in our hotel.  I’m hoping to at least make it to Emeril’s.  I’m, of course, taking my laptop and camera so expect me to check in during the week and take lots of pictures along the way.  And, of course, you can follow me on Twitter.

The Arkansas Razorbacks play Louisiana-Monroe this evening in Little Rock at War Memorial Stadium.  Go Hogs!

The NWA Naturals play game 3 of the Texas League North Division series championship.  Go Naturals!

I have been seeing photographers on Flickr and elsewhere using a technique called HDR.  I’ve started playing today to see if I can figure it out.  I’m thinking my camera isn’t quite good enough to make it look really good but look for my work to start creaping on my blog if I can figure it out.

We’re fixing to eat a tamale fest at my parents’ house.  Mom & Dad spent Thursday night making the tamales.  Yum!

I moved into my apartment last November.  I using loaner furniture and some throw away chairs at my old place and didn’t bring that stuff with me so I pretty much have no furniture in my apartment, even now.  When I get back from Vegas, I’m going to officially start trying to decorate and furnish my apartment.  Maybe by the time I hit my 1 year anniversary in there, it’ll be a nice looking place.

I think I have developed carpal tunnel syndrome in my right wrist/arm.  I have a little bump coming up on the underside of my wrist.  My right hand and arm from elbow to wrist have been pretty sore the past week.  I guess I’ll be making a doctor’s appointment for that when I get back from Vegas.

Well, my grandmother should be here soon.  Everyone have a great week!

Update: Arkansas beat ULM 28-27 tonight.  They are now 2-0.