chapter 51: yankees, dreams, and... read on!

If you didn’t come here to hear about sports, and in particular the New York Yankees, then I encourage you to press alt f4 and exit this page immediately.
Now, is everyone gone yet? Good:
How can I express my feeling of satisfaction due to the Yankees’ latest success? I am not sure, but I will start my story here:
Once upon a time, I had dreams of baseball. I spent time thinking about the day when I would be announced as manager and could pick my own line-up, one that would bring wins and a world series to New York City. I hoped that one day we would actually finish first or second In our division (I became a Yankees fan in the 80’s so that is where my frustration came from). When Torre started as the manager of the Yankees, he brought my dreams to reality and my thoughts soon changed: let this guy handle it, I no longer need to worry about being the manager. Long story short, I have been a huge fan of this team for my entire life. Therefore, I am extremely pleased with the way that the Yankees have been playing this year, especially after the all-star break.
There is another reason why I like this team so much. The following is a chart which explains how I rank my interest in each sport.
1. Baseball
2.
3.
4.
(just imagine pages of blank space)
(finally you will get to the bottom of the list and find everything else)
I really enjoyed “watching” the Yankees in the late 90’s because I felt they had a great team chemistry (this is when I began to route for Jeter and he is still my favorite to this day). Each player was not playing for his own statistics (can you say A-rod, oops), and I truly believe that this was missing for several years. However, presently, it certainly isn’t 1996 anymore, but we are improving.
Yes, I know some of you are wondering, do I really watch the game? (What I mean is, as someone who is blind, do I physically watch it?) I technically listen, but I find it so natural to say watch. Sometimes I use the television like the Yes channel or ESPN, sometimes on the radio on WABC, either way I tend to say that I watched the game.
This summer has been quite busy for me. In fact, Monday will be the first free day that I have had (besides weekends) since June 1! Take care everyone, the birthday blog will be posted around the 24th.
Dan

turning thirty

What can I say? In two and a half weeks, on august 24th, I will be 30 years old. This feels like a very significant birthday for me, and it will begin a new phase in my life (not old, but headed towards middle adulthood in the Erikson’s stages of life). Depending on who you talk to, 30 can be viewed as young or old: last week a 23 year old girl at the VCB institute called me “over-the-hill”. On the other hand, people who are 40 or 45 years old thought that I was still pretty young.
Overall, I feel satisfied with the fact that I have done so much by the age of 30: I’m graduating from lehman in December with a BSW (and currently a 3.9 GPA, sorry I don’t mean to brag, actually yes, I do), , I owned a business, made a few close friends, and found and lost love. Isn’t that quite a lot of things to accomplish early in life?
I have big plans for the future: (trust me on this one, I wouldn’t just say “big plans” without really meaning it): first, I plan to get my masters degree in social work by the end of 2011. Next, I want to find a job where I can help people with disabilities like myself. Next, I will start hanging out with Bill Gates in order to try to get a part of that Microsoft fortune (just kidding, maybe).
All joking aside, I am proud that I am totally blind and totally independent (well, maybe not totally, but I can at least manage my little money, cook a little and be somewhat self-sufficient). I don’t want to become a statistic, one of those people with disabilities who is unemployed. No matter how long it takes, I have a firm belief that I can find the right job with ambition, motivation, perserverance, and connections? (For me, it’s not who I know but what I know, that’s why I watch Jeopardy).
Stay tuned for the next exciting and action-packed episode of: blind blog!
Dan

employment and technology institute: the good bad and strange

Hi everyone, well I recently came back from the Visions employment and technology institute. I had a great time despite the weather and food? (that question mark was intentional, not a typo) Anyway, I attended several workshops and seminars including confidence building, interview preparation, cell phone accessibility, and affordable assistive technology. I am very interested in technology, probably more than most people I know. Therefore, I learned more from some of these workshops than from others. In addition, I was able to network and meet new and interesting people with whom I hope to stay in contact with. The best part was that I won the highest merit award: (not bragging, sorry, just stating what happened) I won an ipod! Pretty awesome, I think. However, now I am returning to reality and I am back to work.
The Yankees finally lost! (I know, we had a great winning streak going there for a while) When I was young, I was a big fan of offense and of hitting, I always valued hitting more than pitching. However, now that I am more mature and grown up, I realize that maybe pitching is what makes the difference in the end. I noticed that during our winning streak, the thing that really stood out was our dynamite pitching staff! Yes, the offense helped us out, but what really won games was pitching.
That’s it for now, please comment on this blog and let me know your thoughts. Thanks. Dan