Welcome to the Big Leagues, Mr. Castro!

From the San Jose Mercury News:

Awakened by his first call to the majors on Friday morning, top Chicago Cubs prospect Starlin Castro shook off sleep and disbelief to become an immediate star.

The 20-year-old became the youngest shortstop to make his Cubs debut when he stepped on the field about 12 hours later, and that was just the start of an historic night.

Castro hit a three-run homer off Cincinnati's Homer Bailey in his first at-bat, making him the sixth player in Cubs history to connect his first time up. The last to do it was Jim Bullinger in 1992. Three innings later, Castro hit a bases-loaded triple to the gap in right-center, sliding headfirst into the record books again. The six RBIs were the most for any player in a modern-day debut. Four others had five RBIs, most recently Ben Grieve in 1997.

Already, a Cubs sensation.

He made the jump from Double-A Tennessee, where he was asleep after a night game when the phone rang at 7 a.m. on Friday. The Cubs' top-rated prospect didn't expect to be in the majors until much later in the season.

Castro became the youngest Cub to make his big league debut since Oscar Gamble did it at the age of 19 in 1969.

What the fu ...

One of my coworkers is a genuinely lovely man. Devoted to his kids and blessed with a lyrical visual sense. But there's something very, very disturbing about him.

He either can't hear or doesn't comprehend.

In a meeting today, both my boss (sitting next to him) and I (seated across from him) were explaining something to him. Something he should have understood from a previous meeting, where it was originally introduced.

It's a very easy concept. We need to create something to go into a presentation deck on Monday -- something that represents a web page in content and appearance but will never BE a web page. It's just a suggestion, something to get the client thinking about adding a landing page to the project. Got that?

He said he doesn't know how to build web pages.

My boss and I repeated that this will never be a web page. It's just a representation, something static that will only appear on an 8 1/2" x 11" page in our deck. So the question is, if I get him copy by the end of day today, can he create something in time for Monday's meeting?

He repeated that he doesn't know how to build web pages.

After the third explanation, he got it.

I'm alternately frustrated and freaked out by this. Is it his hearing? Or worse, is it his comprehension?

Whatever it is, it's sad.

I feel like I should do something about this, but it's almost 3:30 on Friday and it's been kind of a rough week and I just want to get my work done and go home.

Less than $6 for a lovely smile

One of my coworkers -- a very earnest, hardworking girl -- just announced she's pregnant. She's new to the team, and since times have been tough at this agency lately, I wanted to make sure she feels comfortable with us. So while I was buying myself flowers for my desk, I picked up a single spray rose for her. I just put it in a 99¢ bud vase (second hand from Goodwill, as a matter of fact) and left it on her desk with a card, wishing her a "happy first Mother's Day." I'm the happy one -- for this simple gesture meant the world to her. She even took a picture of the vase/flowers so she could always remember her first-ever Mother's Day gift!