Tuesday evening: Cleaning, cooking and writing . . .

1. Is there a CD equivalent for LibraryThing?

2. Had to come home from work today. All the tension in my life settled in the lower-left hand corner of my back. A heavy dose of Advil, a nice back rub from alethea_eastrid and a nap helped alleviate it. Part of it was that I was facing a whole day at my desk in the office. Tomorrow, I have errands to run, then I am at the Washington County Fair helping run our Guitar Hero competition.

3. Think good thoughts my way. I mailed three teaching resumes yesterday. (Actually A. mailed them). I also have four applications out from a week ago Sunday and a variety of others floating around.

4. The good news is that I have picked up several free-lance gigs, including three stories (with summary box and roster) for the local paper's football preview tab. I am also talking with a weekly newspaper publisher who is going to put out a winter guide for a local tourist destination area. My first story idea is a local brewery. I have one commission for an obituary (see previous post), and I am doing another one as a thank you for a donation for the Passion Plunge.

5. Speaking of the Polar Plunge (no, I won't plug it every day), three days in, I have $300. That's pretty darned cool. At that pace -- and no, I don't expect to keep that pace -- I would more than double my $5,000 goal. It's 106 days until I plunge. I think I am the only person on the site with donations already.

6. I am cooking. I made a casserole of rice and the coconut milk/garlic/peanut satay chicken I made in the crockpot the other night. I am also going to fry up some fresh onions, peppers and potatoes. Anyone got good squash/zucchini recipes?

7. I have been meaning to link to this youth baseball story.

I would be interested in comments both from sports fans and non-sports fans.

An excerpt:

Associated Press

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.  — One inning at a time, Brady Kemp is getting closer to his dream of playing for the Atlanta Braves. He has endured numbing road trips to no-name ballparks and crashed in small-town motels after late games.

A seasoned veteran, Brady is 8. He's been playing ball since he was 3.

Once mainly for middle- and high-schoolers, traveling baseball teams are luring younger and younger players. Teams rove the nation like big-leaguers so kids still learning to read can play the best competition in the nicest parks for the biggest trophies.

It's August: Is the tournament this weekend in Cooperstown, N.Y., or Orlando, Fla.?

The trend troubles some parents and coaches. They worry about spending thousands annually so youngsters can play in baseball tournaments run by national organizations pulling in millions of dollars. One nonprofit's CEO took in $400,000 in a year.