What happened 28 years ago today?

This is not a quiz, as very few of you would have a chance to know the answer.

Before I get to that, though, I am still getting used to the intricacies of this site. I just found out that there is one button I can click on to see all the comments that have ever been posted here. That's nice to know. I though I had to look at them one by one.

Just finished my taxes. They will be mailed tomorrow. I transposed two digits when I did them before, so I owe about $270 to Uncle Sam instead of $150. (Hey, I am only a mathematician; I am not perfect. There are brilliant mathematicians who have trouble adding a column of numbers.) I owe Ohio (sounds like a song, doesn't it?) but Rita owes me. All in all, I'm down a few hundred.

Still better than what I'm used to. In recent years, most of my income has been of the 1099 variety, and I didn't withhold or pay estimates. So this time of year, I would have to make out a rather large check.

Anyway, speaking of income, 28 years ago today, April 18, 1983, I started my first job in the field of pensions. That field and I have had our go-rounds in the time since, but here I am, still in it. (Sometimes I feel very deep in it. LOL.) Of course, now I am an actuary, so I'm supposed to know what I'm doing. (Seriously, if you do pretty much anything for 28 years, and people still want you to work for them, I think you must have done something right.)

I remember that first day. I was 24 going on 25. (Cue "The Sound of Music" soundtrack.) I really didn't know what to expect, although I was confident I could do the work. But I was self-conscious about what others might have been thinking about me, so I wrote a couple mathematical formulas on the pad on my desk, so people wouldn't think I knew absolutely nothing. That seems *really* silly now.

A lot has happened since that day. I recall in the early 90's, I think, when my friend Dan Plonsey and I were sitting on washing machines in a Berkeley laundromat, and we were comparing notes on our careers. I felt as though something was missing-- that I wanted to create things. And not too long after that, thanks in large part to Gary Veverka, the opportunity to do sports writing for the Star Beacon fell into my lap. And I have been in that field for more than 17 years now. It does give me the constant opportunity to create. And of all the things I do, it gives me the most pleasure, and everyone, including those I work for and have worked for in pensions, knows that.

Still, I remain in pensions. There are a lot of things I like about it, including the fact it challenges me. There was a time --from 2003 to 2005, to be exact-- when I had lost most of my interest in it and thought I was going to go into teaching. That took a detour, though, but at about the same time, pensions became interesting to me again. As a friend of mine suggested, maybe I just needed some time to step back from it. But I have never left the field.

Well, Happy Anniversary, pension field. You and I have had our ups and our downs, but there are a lot of good things about our relationship, and I hope it does continue for many more years.

Weekend stuff

I haven't been writing here much lately. Sorry about that. But I guess that's one of the good things about a blog-- that one can write as often as one wants.

This weekend has been kind of weird. One of the good things is that my taxes are pretty much ready to be done with final numbers. (Yay!) And it looks like I will owe Uncle Sam only about $150. (Double yay!) In recent years it has been a lot more. I have had a lot of unincorporated income that I didn't withhold from, that I didn't have in 2010.

BTW, the correct spelling is "Yea!" but most people don't know what you're talking about when you type that...

Also, the Indians have won 6 in a row after dropping the first two. It's still early, but there is reason to be hopeful. And a good start to the season helps bring more fans into the seats.

Speaking of good starts, the weekend didn't get off to one. I was at work on Friday, when something happened that got me upset. It wasn't anyone's fault, and nobody even noticed it but me. But anyway, I couldn't eat after that, and it takes a major jolt to do that to me. (Funny thing was, I was hungry. Eventually I ordered pizza after I was home. But that afternoon, I was not in the mood to eat.)

I'm a sensitive person. Most of the time, I don't think I'm overly so, but I am sensitive. Sometimes people say that men aren't supposed to be sensitive, but the heck with that. I don't believe in that kind of stuff, and even so, I am who I am anyway. As I alluded to, as long as things don't get out of hand often. Maybe they did on Friday though, because when you get down to it, what I was upset about was pretty stupid. Yet it's still bothering me, albeit not to the degree it did on Friday afternoon. ("Albeit"-- often heard at the start of a game of Hide-and-go-Seek.")

Sorry for being so cryptic; I just don't want to talk about it right now. I suppose I should talk about it with someone; there are people who know about the situation, and a few others who don't but with whom I would feel comfortable in talking about it.

Anyway, the weekend is wrapping up. That can get me down on occasion, although we have most of Sunday left (at least the way my waking hours run, it's most of the day). Besides that, though, I try to look to the good things throughout the week. This is very similar to how I try to extend the type of spirit we usually encounter around Christmas (even if one doesn't celebrate Christmas, they can enjoy the spirit of the holiday season and join in that spirit) so that it lasts year-round. Often not all that easy to do, I realize, but that's my general philosophy, anyway. Life is truly a miracle, and we should try to spend as much time as we can enjoying it. And that can mean different things to different people.

OK, not so much concrete stuff today. Just saying what's on my mind. Next time maybe it will be about one specific subject. Or maybe not. That's another great thing about these blogs--- we can write about pretty much whatever we want...

Opening weekend

Opening weekend is in the books for the Indians. They opened at home this year against the White Sox, losing the first two and winning today.

Funny thing about the home opener in recent years. They always sell out for the opener. Then the crowd disappears for the next game.

It wasn't always that way. Remember the 455-game sellout streak, which obviously included several Game 2's and 3's.

But when I was a kid, it was pretty much the same. I remember 1973, when I fought my way into the old Stadium against more than 70,000 others. Didn't arrive until the second inning. The Indians were up 2-0 against the Tigers, and they ended up winning 2-1.

Then the next day, I think there were fewer fans than there were today. And today set a record for the smallest crowd in Progressive Field--or Jacobs Field-- or whatevr-- history.

Opening Day this year reminded me of when I was 12, and I made my way downtown to watch the Tribe beat Boston 3-2 on Gomer Hodge's two-run, two-out ninth-inning single.

I've been to many more home openers since. Most recently, I have covered 12 of the last 13 for the Star Beacon. (The exception was in 2004, when I was taking a class at CSU, and had a presentation to give.) Other memorable ones: 1975, Frank Robinson's debut as baseball's first black manager, in which he homered. 1982, when Bert Blyleven made his Indian debut. 1993, the final home opener at the Stadium. And that game in the early 90's---was it 1992?-- that went about 17 innings before the Tribe lost.

Truth is, as a writer, I like the second game more than the first. Pretty much only the usual media are there, and you don't have to fight your way for every inch.

The Indians aren't supposed to contend this year. But although it would be nice if they did, hey, I'm a baseball fan. I'm going to enjoy the season no matter what happens.