Journal
We’ve lived in Chicago for over a decade now which is definitely a baseball city. However, baseball had been a background interest for most of my life until about 3 years ago. There was a combination of factors that brought it out of the background sports noise (shoutout the Secret Base and Foolish Baseball YouTube channels), though the biggest one was my son’s passion for the sport.
We’d tried a few different sports and it was easy to tell pretty quick if he was interested or not. Soccer and basketball were unable to hold his attention, though I also think he didn’t like having to aggressive in the sense that you have to want the ball. However, when we tried baseball he immediately connected with the game. Anytime a 7-year old asks you to practice more you know there’s something happening. Since then we’ve gone to a number of MLB games, but Pete Crow-Armstrong is the first player he’s really gravitated towards. He always acknowledges the crowd before games and this gesture is emblematic of his attitude which I (and most of the rest of Chicago) have greatly appreciated.
I don’t quite have the camera to get the fidelity I’d like from that far away but it was a great moment to capture.
As my kids have gotten older it’s become easier to go out on small excursions during the weekends. Their increasing interest in photography has definitely helped.
Fishkeeping is another hobby I’ve gotten more into the last several years. I had some fish as a kid but never got too into it at the time. As my son got older, I decided one day he should have a pet and one that stays in a box seemed to fit the bill perfectly. That single betta has grown into 4 tanks in the house, much to the chagrin of my wife. I’ve found creating somewhat self-sustaining ecosystems with fish, plants, shrimp, snails, and any other tiny critters to be extremely enjoyable. It was only a matter of time before I tried to take pictures of the denizens of these boxes of water, which has proven to be another difficult but fun challenge.