Shyla Victor Visits Section 36!

Section 36 had another visitor! Shyla Victor is passionate about sustainable tourism, a talented dancer, and the current Miss Kona Coffee. I was so excited that she was willing to visit with us to discuss those topics, and a few more. 

So, let's see what happens when Shyla Victor visits Section 36!

How did you celebrate winning the Miss Kona Coffee crown? 

After the competition, I was showered with more love by my friends and family at home. But my number one request was to eat! We had a huge dinner and I slept like a baby.

What part of the Miss Hawaii competition were you most nervous about? 

I was most nervous about the level of competition. After competing in my local competition, I was able to get the nerves out but I knew there would be more experienced women at that caliber. 

What has been the biggest surprise about your time as Miss Kona Coffee? 

I did not expect the amount of love and support I would receive from my family, friends, and community. Competing in a pageant was not my normal and new to us all. When I announced my running, there was no doubt from anyone. Everyone supported me and continues to support me in all my endeavors as Miss Kona Coffee 2023. 

How did you select your CSI “Educating Regenerative Tourism”? 

In the beginning, I knew I wanted to do something about Hawaiʻi to draw more attention here but couldn't pick a topic. I was choosing between perpetuating the Hawaiian language, Hawaiian culture, then landed on eco/sustainable tourism. After speaking with a few individuals in the industry, they introduced the new term of Regenerative Tourism and I absolutely fell in love with it. 

What is your favorite part about performing your talent on stage? 

My talent is dancing hula and it means so much to me. I was born into a hula family so it was only natural that I danced hula as well. I have been dancing hula for as long as I can remember and it truly allows me to connect to my Hawaiian culture. Dancing hula tells a story about our ancestors that dancers are able to bring back to life.

If you could be a Disney character for a week, who would you choose? Why? 

I would love to be Ariel for a week. Being an Island kid, you are always surrounded by water so it becomes your safe place. I could swim across seas to travel the world and walk on land with the humans. 

How would you complete the sentence “I get great satisfaction when ___”? 

...when I complete a task I set my mind to. Whether it's competing for a scholarship competition, creating service projects, or even as simple as folding my laundry and putting the clothes a way. A win is a win no matter how big or small. 

Is there a feature or activity at a baseball game that you’d especially like to experience? 

I would love to watch a live MLB World Series game. I played softball from middle school and really enjoyed the game. By the end of my softball career in high school, I was the starting pitcher and 2^nd baseman.

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A World Series game is definitely an incredible experience.

As always, I want to thank Shyla for visiting with us, and for sending along the pictures to go with the interview.

I'm sure you'd like to follow along with Shyla during the short time left in her her journey. You should be sure to check out her title's Instagram account. It's a great way to keep track of everything she has going on, and you'll be sure not to miss anything. 

Thanks again Shyla, and good luck in the future!

Welcome Back Craig Breslow!

I remember when Joe Biden was getting ready to announce his choice for running mate. There were stories after stories speculating about the choice. Would it be this senator, or this congressman, or this random person. Every expert had their own angle and their own reasons why they were predicting the correct candidate. Then, when he selected Harris, the stories came out that she was actually a college friend of his son. They'd known each other for years, and Harris had shared many a meal at the Biden house over the years. I remember thinking...wait, people knew this and were still "wondering" who he would choose? Might the "longtime friend who he almost considers a daughter who is also a very qualified senator from the biggest state in the country" be an obvious choice? Were all those stories...what were they...just to push content for clicks?

Or, remember when Amazon was trying to select the location for their next warehouses or whatever? They put on a "nationwide search" to find the perfect location. Local governments were sending Amazon their master plans to show Amazon why they'd be the perfect fit. There were meetings, and concessions. Finaly after a thorough search, Amazon selected...NYC and Washington DC. Was the big search really needed? I could have picked those myself at the beginning. Why the hoopla? (OK, in Amazon's case, the hoopla was to collect planning information from cities and towns for free in order to resell it since Amazon isn't a retail marketplace. It's actually a GIS firm. But you get the point.)

I feel that way this now about Craig Breslow.

All these months of speculation. All these endless stories about who didn't want to job. All these headlines about where the Sox were headed. After all that searching, they selected the guy that the team president's best friend previously hired, trained under another friend, and then recommended. Oh, and the guy happens to be a former Sox player who has the same team building philosophy as the owners and the rest if baseball ops.

Duh!

I mean, what were we even doing here? Were all those stories just clickbait headlines to make the front office look bad? (Wait, don't answer that. I already know.) How many of the other GMs who "took their names out of consideration" did so because they too knew Breslow was too obvious, and didn't want the "loss" on their resume when they didn't get the job. If I'm the GM of another team, why would I publicly court another job with another team if I knew I wasn't going to get it? I wouldn't. Sure, the guy who already works for the team cn give it a try. No harm there. But, why would anyone else waste their time?

As for the hire itself? I have no idea. I don't know what a Chief Baseball Officer, or whatever they're calling him, does. Sure, they have day to day duties running the staff. But, I'm guessing they're big picture guys. I think he can do that. I remember when Theo was hired as GM one of the comments was that he should be able to do the job since he had negotiated the previous free agent contract the Sox just signed. So, that would imply the actual negotiations and contract stuff are a couple pay grades below Breslow. That leaves him with "here's how we should spend our money, and here's how much of our playroll player X should take." With that job description, the Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer influences seem like a good place to start. 

Let's see how it goes! 

2022 Topps Chrome Platinum Blaster

How about some more of these? I have to admit they're growing on me. Even if the "Living Set" has saturated the 1953 design, I still find these to be fun. Not to mention that it's just fun to open packs. Right? 

Let's see how it went!

You know, the box.

And the packs inside the box.

And a Red Sox card! A shiny Pedro is always welcome in my collection. Nice picture (painting?) of pedro as well.

Unfortunately, that was the only Red Sox in the box. But, just to talk a bit more, how about some players who played for the Sox, but not on these cards?

Like Fisk here. The Red Sox have really done their best to reclaim him as their own. Which is interesting. He certainly played longer in Chicago. It's especially weird now that winning a series three games to four isn't the biggest recent Red Sox highlight.

Love the old Marlins uniform. Don't love this hat. Why does it look so weird?

Speaking of losing a series four games to three, here's a fun one of Perez.

And there you have it. One Red Sox card, and three former players former players. But, still a lot of fun to open.

How did your box go?

2022 Panini Prizm Blaster!

Another different one today...the discount Walmart blaster. So, once again, while I wouldn't normally jump on a Panini baseball product, I figured the price was right to give it a chance.

Let's see how this went.

Here's the box, with the sticker. Once again, more than half off. Pretty good time to take a shot.

And here are the packs. Six of them. Still crazy that six packs of 5 unlicensed cards for $17 is a great deal that I should jump on.

Here's a shiny card of Boston rookie Connor Seabold. Standard bland generic design from Panini.

And here's an extra shiny card of Boston rookie Kutter Crawford. I think it's a different type of shiny than the Seabold. But, really, who's to know?

And there you have it. Two Red Sox cards. Oh, sorry, two Boston cards. I'm really glad I didn't pay full price for this blaster. But, still a lot of fun to open.

How did your box go?