I am updating it to make it current.
Just like many Americans, I have more than one job…actually, I got 3 jobs!! I have a full-time job and 2 part-time seasonal jobs.
The seasonal jobs start in the last weekend in August and lasts thru the week before Christmas and it is only on Thursday’s, Fridays, and Saturday’s. I do get paid and sometimes I get free food at my seasonal jobs, but that is not why I have em; I have em cause I love what I do!!
So know you’re probably wondering, what the heck do I do?
Well, my full-time job is at Chase Bank in the Unclaimed Property department. I work Monday thru Friday, 8 am to 5 pm. My quick advice for you…MAKE SURE YOU HAVE CUSTOMER INITIATED ACTIVITY for all of your bank accounts once a year to avoid having your money transferred to the state.
My seasonal jobs revolve around FOOTBALL. I am a statistician for high school football games. I started doing high school football radio stats in 1997 and tv stats in 2009.
If you aren’t an avid reader of my blog (you should be), I will tell you that I am not eating fast food. What does this have to do with football? Well, in the past, I could get a quick food fix before or after the games. Not this year!! I am going to have to pack more snacks (I even purchased a larger lunch bag) so I can nosh at work and have enough left-over for before, during, and after the games.
Dude, Thursday’s and Friday’s are extremely long days for me that start at 7 am and end around 11:00 or Midnight; but I always get a jolt of energy at 5 pm (I just flip a switch and wholla, I am on for football)!!! I am very happy that I got several Fridays off this season.
Yes, I am tired when I come home, but I got 8 months to recuperate!!! Saturday football games are easy since I can sleep in but I may not work as many Saturday games this year as I normally have in the past.
The majority of the football games I work are in the San Antonio area and from where I work are not that far of a drive, but the drive home will be farther than the past since we moved to Canyon Lake.
I do hit congested areas for a few stadiums, but that is called 5 pm rush hour and everyone wants to get the hell home!! I just want to get to the stadium and when I see the stadium lights, I always get goosebumps!!!
If I am available, I will work road games and most of those are in the playoffs.
I am going to Pflugerville (about 90 miles from my house) for the first Friday football game this year. Are you a fan of Friday Night Lights, the television show? if not, please skip this part and continue to the next paragraph. Well, the Dillon Panthers are a mirror image of the Pflugerville Panthers. Yeah, pretty cool and dude, the football stadium where I am going was also used as the Dillon Panthers home field!!! WOW!! Maybe there will be some plaque telling everybody and I can get a picture of it.
During the football games, I can’t get caught looking at the cheerleaders, the bands, or the fans; I have to watch the action on the field and keep track of a bunch of stats like total plays and total yards, first downs, 3rd down conversions, 4th down conversions, penalties and yards, punts, turnovers, time of possession, individual and total rushing and passing numbers for the offensive players, drive summary, how long a particular play was (that could be a pass, run, punt, or kick-off and also the return on a punt or kick-off.
I use a dry erase board to keep track of everything and yes, there have a been few instances where I have forgotten the number I am updating so I have to make up a number and pray to the “football gods” that it is close. I do sometimes compare my stats to the official stats and I am really close to those numbers. I won’t brag, but I am good at what I do. The abacus and the human calculator are two of my favorite nicknames. Yeah, there are always numbers floating in my brain!!!
I started my blog in April of 2011 and when football season started that August, I wrote articles for each game I worked (it was a lot of work but I really enjoyed it). During the ride home from the games, I would often talk to myself and begin plotting my article!!!
From January till August, I relax a lot, take a bunch of naps, watch television, and blog, but I also really enjoy spending time at home with my wife. Yes, this banker, stat man, and writer is married!!! Respect the ring!!!
We met at Washington Mutual Bank and in October of 2007, I was telling Nina (my wife) that I was going to Smithson Valley high school for a football game and was concerned about getting lost since it was very dark out there. I rambled on to her that a few years ago, I was pulled over by a Comal County sheriff’s officer after a game at Smithson Valley (the truth, I pulled myself over cause I made an ILLEGAL U-TURN and saw the copper after the fact). Since Nina lived in the area, she gave me her phone number and said, “call me if you get lost, don’t worry how late it is.” Soon after that, we started to hang out outside of work and well, the rest is history.
Nina calls herself a football widow and every August, she says, “I will see you in January!”
Thinking about everything I have on my plate, I find it absolutely amazing that I am doing it and doing it pretty damn good. I am used to being busy and really good on time management. I also don’t wear myself down at my full-time job and don’t stress out over stupid little things.
I will again (just as I have done since 2011) be writing about every game I work this season. Please follow me on Twitter and like my Facebook for stat and scoring updates throughout the season.
