Take a Whiff...It's Springtime...Almost.

So it seems it's always springtime or summertime in San Diego. It's how we roll on the left coast. Isn't that why we all pay the extra sunshine tax to live in our little niche of Nirvana? Putting up with state legislators refusing to come to grips with astronomical budgets and playing to our sympathies because the poor babies had to catch their zzzzs in chambers. But it did make for auspicious photo ops. The Herculean efforts of these long-winded martyrs. I am giving them my personal one-handed applause. Why not furlough these State employees rather than DMV clerks? At least I'd still be able to get my license and they'd still be able to collect their paltry $110,000 yearly salary and $138 per diem minus one day a week. But fahgetabout all that. These hard working salt-of-the-earth types pressed on in one of the longest sessions in the history of the world Part II and passed a budget. Funny, I wonder how long I'd last if I merely pushed my home budget process aside and filibustered my creditors? Mayhaps I'd be writing this diatribe from the sanctity of a debtor's prison lockup. But then again, would it matter? Most likely not because it's springtime (almost), I'm feeling better physically after my doctors performed my mid-life tuneup, checked the fluid levels and the pressure AND the Padres have reported to Peoria for spring training. It makes me feel warm all over. Just like when I was a kid in Monterey Park trying out for Little League at Barnes Park. Hey I got drafted by the Fireballs! First practice is Monday. Wow, I'd better re-lace my glove with new shoe strings (who needed cow hide). Maybe this year I'll replace the white ones with waxy black laces. Get out the Shinola and put a dozen layers of polish on the rubber cleats--that were more rubber than cleat. And with my size and girth...well, like cleats would even make a difference. Ever see anyone try to run while carrying a Steinway Baby Grand on their back? I might beat them by a step or a step-and-a-half (if I just visited the Rotary Club Memorial Restrooms.) Little League was my yearly renaissance--my reason for putting up with school work, home work, yard work the rest of the year. It was a simpler time. And maybe that's why Major League Baseball spring training means so much to me. A simpler time. Time spent in the dirt, on the grass with friends and my dad--who dearly loved baseball. A kinder, gentler and healthier time in my life. Here's hoping I can regain that threesome again...I'm trying. But there are some things that truly are genetic; that being, the Steinway Baby Grand on my back. I never could run that fast and I don't think I ever will be able to. Now I'm satisfied with a 3 mile power walk and a fresh, new look at a healthier life. Play ball!