World Champions!!!!!!

After 25 long years Philadelphia has another championship under its belt after the Phillies defeat the Rays 4-3 last night, winning the World Series 4 games to 1. I'm so hyped right now, this whole thing seems unreal. Finally we have a winner in this town, finally my suffering is over. Congrats Phils on a phenominal season, and lets repeat next year.

Game 5.5

Something unprecidented happened the other night, the World Series had a game suspended by weather. It started raining very early on in Monday's Game 5 and the idiotic Commissioner decided to call the game in the bottom of the 6th inning, just after the Rays tied the game 2-2. This basically fucked us over because it forces us to remove our best pitcher well before he was ready to leave, and also because the got an extra at-bat in conditions that heavily favor hitters.

Well anyway they are resuming the Game tonight, and if we win we will be World Series champions, giving Philly its first major sports title in 25 years. I hope to hell they get it done tonight because they are in Philly, and because the final two games are in Tampa.

In baby news we took Alyssa to the doctor for her 1 month checkup and things seemed to be good. She hasn't gained any weight so he had us up her calorie intake a bit. She also has a nasty diaper rash that he gave us some anti-fungal cream to help get rid of it. He wants us to come back in a week for another checkup and to see if she starts gaining weight.

Tonight I'm watching the Obama TV special and then watching the Phils win the World Series. I've got a fridge full of cold beer and fireworks ready to be lit for the celebration. It looks to be a great night (I hope).

Almost there

Election Day is only 11 days away and new polling shows Obama with his largest lead yet in the Electoral College 375-157. The final result will not be nearly this wide likely but it will still likely be a landslide victory.

In more pressing news, the World Series is now tied at 1-1 with the next three games here in Philly. We took game 1 with a 3-2 win highlighted by Cole Hamels having yet another lights out pitching performance and Chase Utley hitting a 2 run home run in the 1st inning. Game 2 we weren't nearly as sharp and ended up losing 4-2. I'm a bit concerned because our hitting has been terrible so far, capped by our abysmal 1 for 28 with runners in scoring position. Its a wonder we even won a game with that stat.

In baby news everything is still going good. She has sort of gotten into this pattern of barely sleeping one day, then sleeping a ton the next day. I mean its nice to get a small break but the days she doesn't sleep she is just a real handful to deal with. The doctor says she is fine so I guess she is. Her 1 month birthday is fast approaching, and pretty soon it will be 2 months, then a year. I will post more pics I promise when I get a chance at home.

On to the World Series

So the Phillies completed their spanking of the hapless Dodgers the other night to beat them 4 gomes to 1 and advance to their first World Series in 15 years. I have a really good feeling about our chances of winning and hopefully soon we'll know who our opponent is. The Red Sox/Rays series is still going on with Game 6 later tonight, which I'll probably watch.

Also the last Presidential Debate happened the other day, but I was busy watching the Phillies game so I didn't see it. By most accounts Obama won though and polls suggest it too. Obama now has statistically significant leads in enough states to give him the election, and is leading in nearly every remaining swing state. Its looking more and more like it will be a huge blowout victory for him on November 4th.

Alyssa is doing great so far, only problem is that she is super gassy most of the time. My mom is visiting right now and is in her glory with the baby. She bought her a ton of crap yesterday and took care of her today while the my wife caught up on sleep. We also got her a little swinger that has music and vibrations and she seems to like it so far. One thing about her is she absolutely loves going out, doesn't matter where, she has the time of her life.

The World series starts on Wednesday so I know what I'll be doing that night. I'm gonna try and pry myself away from the baby long enough to post some pics in the next few days.

Halfway there

The Phillies won yesterday 8-5 to take a 2-0 series lead against the Dodgers, meaning they are halfway to reaching the World Series for the first time since 1993. They got outstanding clutch hitting, especially from their pitcher Brett Myers who had 3 hits after only getting 4 all season before the playoffs. Tomorrow the series heads to LA where we have our wily (and extremely old) veteran pitcher Jamie Moyer going. He always seems to pitch well in big games and hopefully he will again this time.

In baby news, she cries, she eats, she poops, then she sleeps. Rinse and repeat lol. Seriously though she is perfectly healthy and has a nice pair of lungs to cry with (/joy......). I took her "out" for the first time on Thursday to the Mall. I was really worried she would cry the whole time, and I'd be one of those people that drags a whiny crying baby and pisses everyone else off, but she was very good. She only cried once and because it was time for her to eat.

I'm starting to notice certain personality traits coming through already. She seems to love when people come over to visit so it looks like she will be a social person (unlike her daddy lol). She is also pretty good at gripping things and whatnot, like she holds her pacifier and puts it in her mouth and takes it out by herself. I think its the cutest thing personally.

Other than that not much is going on. I'm hoping to be able to get a few free hours this week to play some FFXI or to chat. Who knows, hopefully I'll see you guys around.

Lessons learned

As I reach day 9 of my journey known as fatherhood, I learned a few things.

1.) Whatever "plan" you have for how things will go, just forget it, not gonna happen.

For example, we were fully intending to breast feed only, but thanks to her being stuck in the intensive care nursery for 3 days, she won't take the breast. Now we have to pump and supplement with formula. I don't know if you've looked at the price of formula but that shit is expensive.

2.) Don't make plans to stuff.

Seriously, don't even try it. I was watching her by myself the other night, and I figured I'd feed her and put her to sleep for a while, then make myself some food and do some laundry. Alyssa decided that she didn't want to sleep and wanted to be held for about 3 hours straight. Any time I tried to put her down she would start crying her eyes out.

3.) All those people that said this was hard, yeah, they weren't kidding.

This shit is hard, all that needs to be said. I can't even imagine how single parents do it, much respect to them.

In other news my Phillies won today, advancing to the National League Championship Series to take on the LA Dodgers. If they win next round they will be in the World Series and will hopefully win it. Its still early, and yes this is a Philly team (ie always choke) but I have a feeling this might be our year for once. I truly believe we are good enough to win it all.

VP Debate

So last night was the one and only Vice Presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. Biden was the heavy favorite coming in and didn't disappoint. He won a decisive victory against Palin, who seemed lost half the time, although Palin did exceed my expectations. Of course the only possible way she couldn't have is if she drooled at the camera the whole time, but I digress.

Biden stuck to the facts throughout, while Palin just kept repeating Republican talking points over and over, and trying to "charm" the audience with her down home, soccer mom appeal. It worked somewhat since most everyone agreed she did better than expected, but mostly everyone (except hardcore Republicans) felt she was beaten handily. Regardless I doubt this debate will affect the outcome in any way.

Now that its finally October, and we are just over 1 month till Election Day, I went back to looking at the polls. I knew the Dems were pulling ahead a bit, but damn even I didn't expect this much of a push.

http://www.electoral-vote.com/

According to my favorite polling site Obama is currently enjoying a 338-185 lead, with one state tied. With the recent news that McCain has pulled out of Michigan it means that Obama will almost certainly win the Kerry states (252 votes), and with huge and widening leads in New Mexico and Iowa, will win 264 votes. This means that McCain has to sweep the swing states to win the election, period. He has no wiggle room at all, he must win them all.

Speaking of swing states, as I predicted a few weeks back, Obama has pulled ahead in Florida and will in my opinion win the state, giving him the election. He has also pulled ahead in Ohio and I also believe that our economic woes will give Obama the win there. Its looking more and more like Obama will win in a landslide this year, and I can't wait till November.